Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington D.C. all held primaries yesterday and the results are in: a clean sweep for Mitt Romney. He took all three primaries with double digit wins, even taking 70% of the vote in D.C. None of the races held many surprises, Romney had been ahead in most polls and his closest rival wasn’t even on the ballot in one contest.
This latest round puts Romney even more squarely in the lead than he was before. He’s past the halfway mark in delegates he needs to secure the nomination, but that doesn’t mean the other candidates are bowing out to spend more time with their families. Newt Gingrich, who just barely cracked double digits in yesterday’s races, has maintained that he isn’t going anywhere except for Tampa in August.
Santorum has indicated the same thing, saying yesterday that this is just half-time and he’s ready to come tearing out of the locker room on April 24th when Pennsylvania, his home state, holds their primary. However, none of this changes the delegate math. Barring something absolutely cataclysmic, there is absolutely no way any candidate will be able to overtake or even catch Romney in terms of delegates.
So, is the race for the Republican candidacy over? Where does Romney stand with republican voters? And why do Gingrich, Santorum and Paul stick around when this thing is a good as Romney’s?
Guests:
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama advisor in 2008, who now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group
Arnold Steinberg, Veteran Political Strategist and Analyst