Republican Primaries: No End in Sight

It is possible that none of the candidates will receive the necessary 1,144 delegate votes.

Rick Santorum is by now the fifth “Anti-Romney” to ride at the top of the surge of sympathy in the polls in the Republican primaries. The notoriously conservative senator is not only well ahead nationally, but also in Michigan, where the next primary will occur in exactly a week. This is especially embarrassing for Mitt Romney; he was born and grew up in this state. If the polls are accurate, than not even the voters in his old home state like to endure him.

The question for Santorum is, as it was with Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, how long will the high hold? If he fares as well as frontrunner as his predecessors, the popularity could be lost in a couple weeks, leaving Romney back on the top of the Republican candidate race. That is, however, no reason for Santorum to give up. Just as for Gingrich, the longer he stays in the presidential candidate hunt, the more publicity he can win.

Observers speculate the outcome of a perpetual primary election could be a Republican Party convention wherein no candidate has the necessary 1,144 delegate votes for the nomination (Romney is currently at a mere 123). It is therefore possible that there will be no primary candidate, but rather a kind of “Republican rabbit,” who effectively pulls himself out of the hat.