The Republican Primaries: Losers and Winners

Super Tuesday has now come and gone. After Republicans voted in 10 states, the question is: Who are the winners and the losers of the day?

Winners

Rick Santorum, who swept Tennessee and Oklahoma right in the middle of prime time, and who was leading during the counting of the ballots right up until late that night, making most Americans believe that he had finally won the state from Romney (though not by a lot). Especially since no one gave the ex-senator from Pennsylvania a chance, he gave off the impression of over-performing. Psychologically, he scored the most points.

The South. The fact that Romney hasn’t made a clean sweep and won most of the Super Tuesday primaries means that the Southern states, particularly Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana will be under the spotlight for the next few days. The South will be important in deciding the future Republican candidate, which is great for these states.

Mitt Romney, of course. He won 6 of the 10 Tuesday primaries. It’s a bit difficult to not consider him the Republican party’s candidate, and yet….

Losers

Ohio. Even if Romney and Santorum finished neck in neck, the problem in Ohio isn’t new: Ohio takes ages to count the ballots (over five hours to count 1.9 million ballots, which is barely 25 percent of the votes). For a state this crucial, at this moment, this close to the presidential elections, this is a problem.

Romney. He won Ohio and five other states after burning through $10 million, but when all is said and done, he still hasn’t convinced everyone, except those within the electoral body who are very rich. In Ohio, 3 out of 10 voters have an annual family income of $100,000 and more, and the majority of them voted for Romney. But 58 percent of those who voted for Santorum are unsatisfied with Romney. No doubt there will be problems on the horizon…

Gingrich, who only won Georgia, his home state.

Mississippi and Alabama are up next this coming Tuesday, and the show goes on. The Republicans will choose Romney as their candidate, but he will cross the finishing line in tatters. Obama is already rubbing his hands together in anticipation of a showdown.