Last edited Wed Feb 29, 2012, 02:34 PM - Edit history (2)

The Green Papers website thought it had enough info to say which way 13 districts had gone, but it didn't give the margins. But remember this is largely an election by district; so those are the results that matter, not the statewide total (which was always going to divide up its 2 votes as 1 for Romney, 1 for Santorum - one would need to drop below 25% to lose their statewide delegate).

That's why decent reporting would show the results by district, not county.

Ah, a local report, which says it's CD 13 that was undecided at 11:30 local time: http://www.freep.com/article/20120228/NEWS15/120228082/Romney-Santorum-split-Michigan-s-delegates

CD 13 is "Detroit and portions of western Wayne County" - and was called by Green Papers for Romney, which makes sense (NYT site says Wayne is 100% counted, and Romney won there). So Maybe the final result is 17-13 to Romney, after all.

But the media (a) hasn't worked this out and (b) is rarely admitting that this, the actual result, depends on the new congressional districts, not the counties or statewide total.

On edit: It's a draw: http://www.freep.com/article/20120229/NEWS15/120229013/Romney-Santorum-split-Michigan-congressional-districts

That's the takeaway from last night. The delegate count wont matter. The GOPer establishment will be statisifed and the talk of finding a "white knight" is over.. for the time being. Romney is back on track and could end it if he does well on Super Tuesday. However, he could blow it again by making some dumb comments about trees or rocks or whatever. No one is dropping out so this clown show could go on for quite some time.

His slime machine did it's job on Santorum there. Let's not be surprised to see him use it on President Obama if he gets that far. He'll make the contests against Hillary and McCain look like cakewalks.

Still, I have to notice that he didn't penetrate the 50% mark in one of his many 'home' states where he's expected to have an advantage, and he just barely exceeded the 40% mark in Arizona, which is one of the few Mormon-heavy states. If Gingrich had already been vanquished, it would have been a lot closer between first and second there.

Is Mitt willing and able to turn up the slime machine in several states at the same time? Or does he just do it in Ohio, which becomes must-win for him next week? And since getting to the top means you babble incoherent or simply mean things, will that happen to Romney, too? His trees comments were just goofy, but they weren't hurtful to anyone.

Romney and his SuperPACs are going to drown the state in ads cuz they know a win there could be the knockout blow. Ohio is not a good state for Mittens since its mostly blue-collar and Santorum is almost a homeboy. Could be another ugly scenario developing there with lots of negative bashing from all sides... which is great for the President. A lasting scar for Romney in yet another swing state is just what we want.

The only thing is, is a week enough? Or has Romney turned on the slime machine before Michigan went to the polls?

I do expect Santorum to win Washington this weekend. If that happens, it sets the stage for Super Tuesday. So far, Mittens has not performed well in places that he doesn't have some sort of natural advantage. Other than Massachusetts and Virginia (where only he and Paul are on the ballot) I don't see him having any particular advantages any place else.

Now, the real interesting thing to see over the next week is Noot. My prediction is that he'll do poorly, even in Georgia. Clearly, his rich buddy in Nevada saw Santorum flailing around, or he wouldn't have doubled down on the Grinch. But I think it's too little, too late. Once we have the angry little attack muffin out of the way, we'll see what happens between Mitt and the anti-Mitt left standing.

Yes, I suspect that will be enough.. unless Romney says something stupid again... which is a real possibility.

Noot sure could change the dynamics if he drops but I dont think he is dropping out.

I pity the Ohioans having to deal with that crap.

I dont think they can deny him the nomination.