SCHAUMBURG, Illinois — Mitt Romney took a big step towards becoming the Republican nominee for President tonight by overwhelmingly winning President Obama’s home state of Illinois. Romney will take a majority of the State’s 69 delegates.
Romney lead Santorum 48% to 35% with 61% of precincts reporting. Santorum has repeatedly been unable to defeat Romney in states that have a large urban population.
Romney, as he has this entire primary season outspent his rivals to the tune of $3.7 million dollars to $530,000. This is perceived as a major weakness for Romney because he will not have that type of financial advantage over President Obama if he faces him in a general election.
Illinois would have been a tough state for Santorum to win in the first place, but in what has become common for Santorum, after wins in Alabama and Mississippi he was unable to stay on message and instead got bogged down talking about pornography. In a time of high unemployment, high gas prices, a destroyed housing market and military threats from abroad the American people do not really want to hear his strong feelings about porn.
Santorum also made two huge gaffes in comments he did make about the economy saying,
“The issue in this race is not the economy,” Santorum said in Rockford Monday morning.
Then in Moline, Santorum said , “I don’t care what the unemployment rate is going to be. It doesn’t matter to me. My campaign doesn’t hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. There’s something more foundational that’s going on here.”
Contrast that with Romney who actually was able to make a speech that didn’t make him sound like Ebeneezer Scrooge.
Romney said,
“So tonight is a primary, but November is a general election, and we’re going to face a defining decision as a people. Our choice will not be about party or even personality. This election will be about principle. Our economic freedom will be on the ballot,”
But there were still red flags for the former Massachusetts governor. Exit polls showed that about 53 percent of those who voted for Romney said they had “reservations” about their candidate.
In addition Santorum’s campaign is saying the delegate count is a lot closer than it seems. Santorum’s spokesman, Hogan Gidley, said on an hour-long conference call with reporters,
“Romney’s treating it as a foregone conclusion, and he’s putting delegates in his count that aren’t theirs, he’s taking delegates away from other people that he can’t take away,”
Santorum needs to get some momnentum going in order to stem a Romney tide.
He is forecast to win Pennsylvania, but that looks less likely now. Santorum expects to win Louisiana’s primary this coming Saturday.
Then unfortunately for Santorum 7 northern industrial states vote over the next few weeks.
But Santorum was defiant when asked by the Huffington Post if he was considering leaving the race.
He said,
“Did I give anybody the impression that I was getting out of this race anytime soon? I’m not too sure you guys are quite getting the flow of this yet. Hang in there with us. We’ll be around for a while.”
Do you think Rick Santorum has any chance of beating Mitt Romney for the Republican nominations?