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Romney nomination a done deal, says top Congress Republican
Source: Agencies |
April 2, 2012, Monday
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US Republican front-running presidential candidate Mitt Romney is expected to carry three more primaries tomorrow as the top Republican in Congress predicted his nomination is now a done deal.
The White House also signaled that it sees Romney as the likely Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November, with Vice President Joe Biden attacking the former Massachusetts governor in a television interview.
Three months into a bitterly fought race for the nomination, Romney has a strong lead and polls suggest he will win three more primaries on Tuesday -- in Wisconsin, Maryland and the US capital Washington.
"He's going to be an excellent candidate, and I think the chances are overwhelming that he will be our nominee," Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said yesterday.
"It seems to me we're in the final phases of wrapping up this nomination."
McConnell did not explicitly endorse Romney but suggested that the party should follow the lead of former president George H.W. Bush and Congressman Paul Ryan, a leading Republican and representative for Wisconsin, who did.
The Real Clear Politics website average poll had Romney, who has won 21 out of 34 nominating contests so far, leading Santorum 40 percent to 32.5 percent in Wisconsin.
But unless Romney can clinch the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination -- he currently has 565 -- he could be forced to wait until late August to get the nod at the Republican party's convention.
Santorum, who has racked up 11 victories but has less than half Romney's number of all-important Republican delegates, said he was determined to fight on despite efforts to anoint his rival.
"Absolutely, we're moving forward," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday."
"The map in May looks very, very good for us -- Texas and Arkansas, West Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky. We've got some great states where we're ahead in almost every poll in those states."
A fervent Catholic and strong critic of abortion and gay rights who is popular with evangelicals, the former Pennsylvania senator again urged voters to back him instead of Romney.
"If you listen to folks all across the country, we're hearing 'stay in there, we need a conservative'," Santorum said.
Romney has begun focusing almost exclusively on his likely battle against Obama.
In a campaign speech on Friday in Wisconsin, he didn't mention his Republican rivals once, opting instead to highlight his and the Democratic president's "fundamentally different visions for America."
"He's already playing the nominee, which is absolutely the right thing to do," American University professor Allan Lichtman told AFP.
"He doesn't need to savage his opponents, he just needs to look presidential and make distinctions between him and Obama," the political historian added.
But a new opinion poll made public late Sunday had bad news for Romney.
The survey, by USA Today and Gallup, showed Obama had opened a nine-point lead over the Republican frontrunner in the country's dozen top battleground states.
In the fifth Swing States survey taken since last fall, Obama leads Romney 51 percent to 42 percent among registered voters.
A month ago the president trailed Romney by two percentage points, USA Today noted.
The biggest change came among women under 50, the report said. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney's support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30 percent.
The president leads the former Massachusets governor 2-1 in this group, USA Today said.
Romney's main advantage is among men 50 and older, where he leads Obama 56 percent to 38 percent.
But Republicans' traditional strength among men "won't be good enough if we're losing women by nine points or 10 points," Sara Taylor Fagen, a Republican strategist is quoted by the newspaper as saying.
In the poll, Romney leads among all men by a single point, but the president leads among women by 18.
The swing states surveyed were Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Biden, meanwhile, laid into Romney, brushing off his attacks on Obama's handling of the economy.
"Governor Romney's a little out of touch," Biden said, arguing that the US economy had grown 24 months in a row and Americans were going back to work.
"What is the Romney answer? There is nothing. All they argue is cut," said Biden in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" program.
Romney's two other opponents in the Republican race -- former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul -- on Sunday said they were not going to quit, despite lengthening odds.
"We're not going to concede it to him," Gingrich, who has won only two states, told CBS.
Paul, who has no victories, when asked if he would continue, replied: "Obviously, yes."
The White House also signaled that it sees Romney as the likely Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November, with Vice President Joe Biden attacking the former Massachusetts governor in a television interview.
Three months into a bitterly fought race for the nomination, Romney has a strong lead and polls suggest he will win three more primaries on Tuesday -- in Wisconsin, Maryland and the US capital Washington.
"He's going to be an excellent candidate, and I think the chances are overwhelming that he will be our nominee," Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said yesterday.
"It seems to me we're in the final phases of wrapping up this nomination."
McConnell did not explicitly endorse Romney but suggested that the party should follow the lead of former president George H.W. Bush and Congressman Paul Ryan, a leading Republican and representative for Wisconsin, who did.
The Real Clear Politics website average poll had Romney, who has won 21 out of 34 nominating contests so far, leading Santorum 40 percent to 32.5 percent in Wisconsin.
But unless Romney can clinch the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination -- he currently has 565 -- he could be forced to wait until late August to get the nod at the Republican party's convention.
Santorum, who has racked up 11 victories but has less than half Romney's number of all-important Republican delegates, said he was determined to fight on despite efforts to anoint his rival.
"Absolutely, we're moving forward," Santorum said on "Fox News Sunday."
"The map in May looks very, very good for us -- Texas and Arkansas, West Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky. We've got some great states where we're ahead in almost every poll in those states."
A fervent Catholic and strong critic of abortion and gay rights who is popular with evangelicals, the former Pennsylvania senator again urged voters to back him instead of Romney.
"If you listen to folks all across the country, we're hearing 'stay in there, we need a conservative'," Santorum said.
Romney has begun focusing almost exclusively on his likely battle against Obama.
In a campaign speech on Friday in Wisconsin, he didn't mention his Republican rivals once, opting instead to highlight his and the Democratic president's "fundamentally different visions for America."
"He's already playing the nominee, which is absolutely the right thing to do," American University professor Allan Lichtman told AFP.
"He doesn't need to savage his opponents, he just needs to look presidential and make distinctions between him and Obama," the political historian added.
But a new opinion poll made public late Sunday had bad news for Romney.
The survey, by USA Today and Gallup, showed Obama had opened a nine-point lead over the Republican frontrunner in the country's dozen top battleground states.
In the fifth Swing States survey taken since last fall, Obama leads Romney 51 percent to 42 percent among registered voters.
A month ago the president trailed Romney by two percentage points, USA Today noted.
The biggest change came among women under 50, the report said. In mid-February, just under half of those voters supported Obama. Now more than six in 10 do while Romney's support among them has dropped by 14 points, to 30 percent.
The president leads the former Massachusets governor 2-1 in this group, USA Today said.
Romney's main advantage is among men 50 and older, where he leads Obama 56 percent to 38 percent.
But Republicans' traditional strength among men "won't be good enough if we're losing women by nine points or 10 points," Sara Taylor Fagen, a Republican strategist is quoted by the newspaper as saying.
In the poll, Romney leads among all men by a single point, but the president leads among women by 18.
The swing states surveyed were Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Biden, meanwhile, laid into Romney, brushing off his attacks on Obama's handling of the economy.
"Governor Romney's a little out of touch," Biden said, arguing that the US economy had grown 24 months in a row and Americans were going back to work.
"What is the Romney answer? There is nothing. All they argue is cut," said Biden in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" program.
Romney's two other opponents in the Republican race -- former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul -- on Sunday said they were not going to quit, despite lengthening odds.
"We're not going to concede it to him," Gingrich, who has won only two states, told CBS.
Paul, who has no victories, when asked if he would continue, replied: "Obviously, yes."
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