In a surprise result, Rick Santorum swept 3 Republican contests last night, including a non-binding primary in Missouri where Newt Gingrich did not even appear on the ballot. Both Santorum and Gingrich claim to be the true "conservative" alternative to Romney...er...Obama...er...both(?). However, right now what seems to be happening is the conservative/Tea Party Republican vote is being split between the two. Now, Gingrich did not really compete in either of the binding caucus states yesterday, instead focusing his attention on Super Tuesday states next month. Also, Romney still holds a solid lead in the delegates thanks to his 50-delegate win in Florida last week. Nevertheless, he is still over 1,000 delegates from clinching the nomination.
While this all may make great theater for the press (as well as upsetting the theory that I proposed yesterday that media polls make election results inevitable...even though they were caucus states), the Democrats are probably laughing all the way to the voting booth. If the conservatives continue to split the vote between Gingrich and Santorum, Romney will win the nomination by default. Since Romney provides no true alternative to Obama, the electorate will just continue with status quo, and Obama will win in a run away. What needs to happen is Gingrich and/or Santorum need to form some kind of alliance, preferrably before Super Tuesday, and consolidate the conservative vote to one candidate. This will force Romney to go mano-a-mano with one conservative/Tea Party guy. If that happens, the nominee will probably be decided on Super Tuesday. Voters need a clear choice, and right now there isn't any.
In other news, the Caps are back in first place, Ovechkin scored twice and didn't do anything that would get him ejected or suspended. Hockey season in DC is in full swing. If the Giants can have a parade down Broadway, why can't the Caps have a parade down Constitution Avenue? A man can dream, right?
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