Back to the Midwest

Ah, the Deep South creates primary problems for Mitt Romney and today (probably) the Midwest will make him look inevitable again.

last week's primaries in Alabama and Mississippi stalled for at least the moment, the claim that Newt Gingrich and/or Rick Santorum should drop out of the Republican primaries. Actually, with only second placings in both states, New Gingrich should have considered dropping out as he now has no reasonable path to the nomination. But that isn't why Newt is running and perhaps never has been. Newt said last week that he is in it for the duration, and I believe that no amount of third and fourth place finishes in the upcoming primaries will deter him from that manifest destiny.

However, for the benefit of the Romney camp, today is the Illinois primary with most polls showing Mitt to have a double digit lead over both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, with a recent PPP poll showing Mitt beating the combination of their two vote shares.

Will this be the beginning of the end?

I think it will increase the talk about it, but I kind of doubt that either Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich will decide to withdraw anytime soon. No folks, I think this game plays out for a while longer.