One might well wonder what exactly happened here. For one thing, former MA Governor Romney spent an awful lot of money in one of his several home states to eke out a narrow victory. It wasn't supposed to be this way, but as I've stated before, his campaign is equal parts awkward and off-putting. Romney's last campaign act was showing up at NASCAR, insulting some fans for their cheap rain ponchos, and humble-bragging about knowing some NASCAR team owners. Unfortunately for Santorum, he was last seen slagging JFK over church/state separation and generally saying clueless things about....everything, so Romney won by looking out-of-touch, but not utterly so.
I really don't know what Super Tuesday will bring, but find it hard to suppose that Romney will lose overall. The reason for that is--Santorum is a horrible, horrible candidate, and I don't even think die-hard conservatives can miss his unelectability. I'm pretty sure Operation Hilarity failed to deliver more votes for Santorum on the basis of it being very hard for anyone even remotely liberal to vote for this guy and still feel....moral. And I can't help but suppose many conservatives look at him and also think "Too extreme." I particularly think his statements about college didn't help--who doesn't think that to get ahead, young people shouldn't try to get as much education as they can? Sometimes he just doesn't sound remotely practical.
I'm not predicting a Gingrich comeback, no matter how much money Adelson throws at him. Because of some Evangelical support, Santorum might do okay, but I think these two wins will probably trigger a movement of cohesion around Romney. I still think he will be a painful candidate, though, every little step of the way.
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