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| Mitt Romney wins Michigan and Arizona primaries – live reaction | Mitt Romney wins Michigan and Arizona primaries – live reaction |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| 10.59am: Candidate Romney was up early this morning in Ohio. Here he is in advance of a rally in Toledo. | |
| Mitt Romney works the rope line on a chilly Ohio morning. #2012unfilteredinstagr.am/p/HmEttJITpb/ | |
| — Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) February 29, 2012 | |
| 10.43am: Final spread in Michigan remains north of 3 percent. | |
| Final spread in MI seems to be 3.2%. i believe closest in our contest was @MelissaArie w/Romney by 3.5%. Supreme Wolverine Poobah! | |
| — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 29, 2012 | |
| 10.42am: Today in politics, if today were 1968: | |
| Great factoid from @detnews' Finley: "Romney's Michigan win came 44 years to the day that his father dropped his bid for the presidency." | |
| — Tim Alberta (@HotlineAlberta) February 29, 2012 | |
| 10.36am: Will Republicans rally around Mitt Romney after the candidate's victory in his latest do-or-die primary, in Michigan? There's not a lot of noise being made this morning about the resilient virtues of the race's now firm front-runner. But there is a lot of talk about how the Michigan race was Rick Santorum's to lose – and he screwed it up. You can listen to conservative don Charles Krauthammer pick apart what he sees as Santorum's mistakes here. | |
| Krauthammer's pithy formulation of how Santorum stepped in it: "Kennedy, college and contraception." | |
| 10.18am: Everybody knows that Ron Paul has brokered some kind of back room deal with Mitt Romney. The Texas Rep has spent the campaign attacking the front runner's rival du jour in a transparent effort to curry favor for his son, Kentucky Rep. Rand Paul, mentioned in some circles as a possible Romney veep pick. That's certainly how Rick Santorum saw things after last week's Arizona debate. | 10.18am: Everybody knows that Ron Paul has brokered some kind of back room deal with Mitt Romney. The Texas Rep has spent the campaign attacking the front runner's rival du jour in a transparent effort to curry favor for his son, Kentucky Rep. Rand Paul, mentioned in some circles as a possible Romney veep pick. That's certainly how Rick Santorum saw things after last week's Arizona debate. |
| "You have to ask Congressman Paul and Gov. Romney what they've got going together," Santorum said. "Their commercials look a lot alike, and so do their attacks." | "You have to ask Congressman Paul and Gov. Romney what they've got going together," Santorum said. "Their commercials look a lot alike, and so do their attacks." |
| This new Ron Paul ad, then, is a little tricky to explain. It attacks Romney as a "flip-flopper" who "supported TARP bailouts" and "provided the blueprint for Obamacare." | This new Ron Paul ad, then, is a little tricky to explain. It attacks Romney as a "flip-flopper" who "supported TARP bailouts" and "provided the blueprint for Obamacare." |
| You're on your own, Rand? | |
| 10.04am: Sen. Olympia Snowe's announcement yesterday that she would not seek reelection set off a round of hand-wringing about the partisan bitterness of contemporary American politics. And the hand-wringers aren't wrong: Here's a video posted by Ezra Klein that plots partisanship in Congress beginning with the very first session. The liberal-conservative spectrum is plotted along the "x" axis, left to right; the vertical position of the data points represent the extremity of Congress members' stances on the most divisive issues of the day. Watch what happens after 1970. | 10.04am: Sen. Olympia Snowe's announcement yesterday that she would not seek reelection set off a round of hand-wringing about the partisan bitterness of contemporary American politics. And the hand-wringers aren't wrong: Here's a video posted by Ezra Klein that plots partisanship in Congress beginning with the very first session. The liberal-conservative spectrum is plotted along the "x" axis, left to right; the vertical position of the data points represent the extremity of Congress members' stances on the most divisive issues of the day. Watch what happens after 1970. |
| 9.52am: What comes around once every four years to correct dysfunction on the highest levels? Nope, not the presidential election. Happy Leap Day, everyone. Tom McCarthy here – this morning we'll be watching as the race for the White House reconfigures itself following last night's twin wins for Mitt Romney. National Republican chair Reince Priebus is front and center repeating the line about a drawn-out primary being good for the party. "I'm not nervous about this at all," he tells Politico. "I think the drama and the tough primary is a is a good thing for us." | 9.52am: What comes around once every four years to correct dysfunction on the highest levels? Nope, not the presidential election. Happy Leap Day, everyone. Tom McCarthy here – this morning we'll be watching as the race for the White House reconfigures itself following last night's twin wins for Mitt Romney. National Republican chair Reince Priebus is front and center repeating the line about a drawn-out primary being good for the party. "I'm not nervous about this at all," he tells Politico. "I think the drama and the tough primary is a is a good thing for us." |
| A key stat out of Michigan: Turnout was actually up from 2008, from 869,293 voters to 976,340. That 100K-plus gap is more than can be accounted for by the rogue participation of Democratic spoilers in the open primary. Is the race finally gaining some traction in the way of voter excitement? | A key stat out of Michigan: Turnout was actually up from 2008, from 869,293 voters to 976,340. That 100K-plus gap is more than can be accounted for by the rogue participation of Democratic spoilers in the open primary. Is the race finally gaining some traction in the way of voter excitement? |
| A very important announcement this morning: No less than the NFL has decided to rearrange its schedule to accommodate the election cycle. To avoid a scheduling conflict with a planned speech by Candidate Obama at the Democratic National Convention, the first game of the season now will be played on Wednesday, Sep. 5, instead of Sep. 6. It's the first time in more than 60 years that the NFL will hold a game on a Wednesday, the NY Times tells us. | A very important announcement this morning: No less than the NFL has decided to rearrange its schedule to accommodate the election cycle. To avoid a scheduling conflict with a planned speech by Candidate Obama at the Democratic National Convention, the first game of the season now will be played on Wednesday, Sep. 5, instead of Sep. 6. It's the first time in more than 60 years that the NFL will hold a game on a Wednesday, the NY Times tells us. |
| 9.16am: Here's Ryan Devereaux about last night – and with the developments in politics this morning: | 9.16am: Here's Ryan Devereaux about last night – and with the developments in politics this morning: |
| • Mitt Romney managed to pull off wins in Arizona and Michigan's primaries Tuesday. While his victory in Arizona was substantial, the former governor beat back runner-up Rick Santorum by less than four percentage points in Michigan. In Arizona, Romney was allotted all of the state's 29 delegates (the state was docked half for holding an early primary). Michigan's 30 delegates (also docked half) are awarded by district, meaning Santorum would gather nearly the same number or slightly fewer delegates than Romney. Arizona's official primary results were as follows: Romney 47.3%, Santorum 26.6%, Newt Gingrich 16.2% and Ron Paul 8.4%. And in Michigan: Romney 41.1%, Santorum 37.9%, Paul 11.6%, Gingrich 6.5%. | • Mitt Romney managed to pull off wins in Arizona and Michigan's primaries Tuesday. While his victory in Arizona was substantial, the former governor beat back runner-up Rick Santorum by less than four percentage points in Michigan. In Arizona, Romney was allotted all of the state's 29 delegates (the state was docked half for holding an early primary). Michigan's 30 delegates (also docked half) are awarded by district, meaning Santorum would gather nearly the same number or slightly fewer delegates than Romney. Arizona's official primary results were as follows: Romney 47.3%, Santorum 26.6%, Newt Gingrich 16.2% and Ron Paul 8.4%. And in Michigan: Romney 41.1%, Santorum 37.9%, Paul 11.6%, Gingrich 6.5%. |
| • Romney told an election party in Novi, Michigan that his victory was a "decisive moment". "This is a big night," said the candidate. "A week ago the pundits and the pollsters were ready to count us out." | • Romney told an election party in Novi, Michigan that his victory was a "decisive moment". "This is a big night," said the candidate. "A week ago the pundits and the pollsters were ready to count us out." |
| • Romney did particularly well among older voters, more educated voters and higher income voters. Exit polls also indicated that he won in large margins, in both states, among voters who felt that the economy was the most important issue and among those who felt the budget deficit was the most important issue. In Michigan, Santorum was more popular than Romeny among union households, Tea Party supporters, white evangelical Christians and those who consider themselves very conservative. | • Romney did particularly well among older voters, more educated voters and higher income voters. Exit polls also indicated that he won in large margins, in both states, among voters who felt that the economy was the most important issue and among those who felt the budget deficit was the most important issue. In Michigan, Santorum was more popular than Romeny among union households, Tea Party supporters, white evangelical Christians and those who consider themselves very conservative. |
| • Yesterday's contests mark the beginning of a week of battles for the Republican presidential nomination. A dozen primaries will be held over the next week and over 400 delegates will be up for grabs on Super Tuesday, March 6. | • Yesterday's contests mark the beginning of a week of battles for the Republican presidential nomination. A dozen primaries will be held over the next week and over 400 delegates will be up for grabs on Super Tuesday, March 6. |
| • Ron Paul has vowed to stay in the race and built an extensive network of supporters at caucuses over the last three months. He and Romney are the only candidates on the ballot in Virginia next week. Gingrich, meanwhile, did not actively campaign in Arizona or Michigan and is counting on a resurgence in southern state contests. | • Ron Paul has vowed to stay in the race and built an extensive network of supporters at caucuses over the last three months. He and Romney are the only candidates on the ballot in Virginia next week. Gingrich, meanwhile, did not actively campaign in Arizona or Michigan and is counting on a resurgence in southern state contests. |