Yeah, Rick Santorum loses Illinois by double digits with a negligible delegate count of 8, pretty much like everybody said he would. Of course it didn’t help that once again his ‘organization’ (a misnomer if ever there was one) had no delegate slates in 4 of the state’s 19 (18 next year) congressional districts. There were simply not enough nominating petition signatures for Righteous Rick. So the flaming heterosexual wasn’t on the republican ballot in those districts. As it turned out, he really didn’t need to be on any ballots. Gingrich and Paul. Again, why bother?
There was apparently a bit of a far right crossover vote for Romney as his campaign attracted some Tea Party voters. Even extremists recognize when one of their number gets too extreme. In his victory spiel, Romney threw a political bone to the ‘screw the poor’, fickle TP’ers when he claimed that in a Romney Presidency (God forbid) “Poverty is replaced by opportunity not enabled by a government check.” Translation; if you’re poor, you’re f***ed!
Santorum’s ‘defeat’ speech, delivered in front of an enthusiastic Gettysburg, PA crowd was laced with predictable distortions like the fact that he “grew up in public housing.” You’re led to believe that it was in some dirty, rat-infested hovel with no electricity surrounded by neighborhood punks itching to force young Rickie into a gang. Truth detective: the so-called ‘public housing’ was part of a pay package to Santorum’s parents; a VA nurse and a VA clinical psychologist; hardly impoverished. They lived in ‘public housing’, free, I’m sure, on VA grounds. As is generally the case with uninformed Santorum followers, they applauded the pure bullshit line.
One more point. He accused opponents Romney and Gingrich of their one spark of reason, buying into climate science. He then declared; “It’s not climate science, it’s political science.” I’ll give the man credit, he’s willing to publicly display his complete disconnect from reality.
A look forward. We don’t really know if Romney now has the nomination all but locked up. It’s starting to appear that way. We do know Gingrich and Paul continue to have no prayer, a truism that has existed for a long time. Most pundits feel pretty much the same about Santorum, even though he has a sure thing coming up in Louisiana, one of the most conservative states in the nation. At least it was a sure thing pre-Illinois.
After Louisiana, Santorum’s chances appear to evaporate completely. In truth only 4 remaining primaries mean diddly. Those are the biggies with large, sometimes huge delegate counts and a candidate can greatly widen a lead or scare the pants off the frontrunner by winning a few of these. Truth be told, it might not be a bad idea to scare those goofy mom jeans off Romney.
Louisiana will basically be for the entertainment value of waiting for the next round of vocal vapidness, sprinkled with a few lies, to escape Santorum’s lips during his victory speech. After March 24th, it’s probably a month’s wait for at least one guaranteed positive for Santorum and that’s the assurance that he’ll take Pennsylvania, no meager prize with 72 delegates. That probable win would be small consolation however after Romney snags New York’s 95 delegates.
The monster delegate payoffs lurk in Texas, May 29th and California, June 5th with counts of 155 and 172 respectively. My guess (‘er my expert opinion) sees Santorum with the most votes in the loony Longhorn state and Romney on top in California, a state that houses almost no native Californians.
None of the remaining states carry much meaning though David Corn of Mother Jone’s magazine points up an interesting fact. Romney’s goal isn’t really 1,144 delegates. It’s 1,044 delegates to be gathered at any point before the last primary. That’s because the last primary with its 40 winner-take-all delegates is a lock for Mitt. It’s Mormon-laden Utah, a sure Romney win. So any count that at least equals 1,044 before June 26th gives the nomination to Romney. That means the breathless vote counting could be meaningless long before the end of June.
Actually, there might still be flickers of excitement from some of the lesser lights. Where conservatism is the only criteria, Santorum should pick off Nebraska, South Dakota and Kentucky for sure; maybe even Indiana, West Virginia, New Mexico and Kentucky. Wisconsin is also a possibility for the flaming heterosexual as that state remains chaotic with recalls and assorted investigations blazing a trail right up to the governor’s office. Most of the problems were reactions by democrats to the idiotic initiatives of Governor Scott Walker and right-wing legislators. Supporters could seek revenge in the form of a big Santorum vote. Some pundits think a Santorum win even could spark a revival of his chances. Fat chance!
Arkansas could happen for Santorum as well. But here’s the deal. So convoluted is the delegate-collecting process that it might make little difference.
Santorum has lots of catching up to do and even some winner-take-all states still end up being proportional as, contrary to the title, all delegates are not pledged to the winner. In some cases, there are winner-take-all congressional districts so Santorum could win one such district, Romney another.
The whole republican primary process is a cluster you know what. Texas is a prime example. Imagine Texas cockroaches (republicans) crawling every which way on the primary floor. Some of those cockroaches are pushing for winner-take-all. Others want the primary before April 1st. A spoilsport judge exterminates that idea. Other cockroaches come along and challenge delegate allocation rules. Voting Rights Act cockroaches get into the fray. Here comes the RNC. This scenario has been repeated in countless states this primary/caucus season.
The final Texas winner will be based on a proportional count in the state, not great news for the delegate-desperate Santorum who needs a winner-take-all haul.
Three stories will begin to take center stage any day now. Is there the remote possibility of a brokered convention and who is in the running for V.P.? And there are those of us curious to see how long Santorum’s nose can actually grow.
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