To understand why the Republican presidential race is over, check out the Super Tuesday delegate chart put together by Satya1 at DailyKos. Mitt Romney is the only candidate who won delegates in all 10 states. He won over half the delegates that were chosen in yesterday’s primaries and caucuses.
Romney finished with the most delegates in 6 states, second-most in 3 states and third-most in tiny North Dakota. His closest competitor, Rick Santorum, won three states and finished second in five. Those second-place finishes come with an asterisk—the “tied-for-second-place” candidates in Idaho and Massachusetts combined for zero delegates. Newt Gingrich finished (alone in or tied for) last in 7 states. Ron Paul did come in second in North Dakota, Vermont and Virginia—for a grand total of 14 delegates from those states.
Political scientist Jonathan Bernstein has said for weeks that Romney has the Republican nomination in hand; last night’s results just confirmed his earlier expectations. Anything can happen in politics, but it does seem to me that Romney’s seven-year primary campaign (he started running for president in early 2005, halfway through his one term as governor of Massachusetts) has finally entered the “dead girl or live boy”* stage. He could lose—but it would have to be because of something unprecedented in presidential primary politics in the past 40 years.
*A reference to perhaps the most famous of four-term Louisiana governor (and convicted felon) Edwin Edwards‘ many quotable quotes. When running for governor in 1983 Edwards declared, “The only way I can lose this election is if I’m caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.” (That was also the year Edwards described his opponent as being “so slow it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.” Gov. Edwards was a rogue and a crook, but nobody ever accused him of being dull.)
Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/
