The Romney Victory in Maine Halts Santorum???s Momentum (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Despite winning the Maine caucus by the slightest of margins, the Mitt Romney camp should leave the state with satisfaction as the Republican race for presidential nomination goes on hiatus for 10 days until the next debate and over two weeks (February 28) until primaries in Arizona and Michigan. The Washington caucus takes place on March 3.
All of which is a warm-up -- a preamble -- to Super Tuesday (March 6), where seven states will hold primaries and an additional three will hold caucuses.
Maine results
Despite Romney's (39 percent) narrow victory over Ron Paul (36 percent), it is a much needed boost to the presidential hopeful's psyche and provides the opportunity for his supporters to regroup after decisive wins by Rick Santorum in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri this past week.
Neither Santorum nor Newt Gingrich actively campaigned in Maine, a state in the backyard of the Massachusetts governor.
However, Romney supporters must now scramble to repair the damage Santorum has inflicted over the past 10 or so days. Regardless of the source, most polls reflect Santorum closing within 10 percent of Romney in the popular vote, a stark contrast to where the two stood at the end of last year when Santorum was considered an afterthought.
Romney and conservatives
The root of Governor Romney's struggles continues to be his appeal to conservatives in the Republican Party. The more Santorum links him to big government and Obamacare, the more this message resonates with Republicans to the right. Additionally, Santorum has been considerably more outspoken and pointed to his criticism of the Obama Administration and its handle of the current healthcare mandate versus the Catholic Church.
It is a dangerous time for Romney but time much needed to assess his message. His campaign, at least for the moment, derailed Santorum by keeping him off the front covers of newspapers and web sites.
What to expect from Governor Romney
Leading up to the next debates, I would fully expect the Romney camp to hold few punches in their attacks on Santorum. However, they will need to proceed with caution. Until now, the accusations of Santorum on his support of earmarks have failed to gain positive momentum for the governor, and as the economy improves, his private enterprise experience loses its strong appeal as well.
Additionally, he cannot keep pace with Santorum on conservative social issues.
All of which should take us back to the agenda that made Romney the frontrunner in the first place -- electability.
Romney supporters need only look at recent history to get his campaign back in order. The message that Romney, and only Romney, can unite enough conservative Republicans and independents to topple President Obama come this November. It's this message that resonated with the masses. It's this message that makes him look most presidential.
This break is beneficial to Romney -- the man who must present himself convincingly as the next President of the United States.
Robert Watkins is former investment professional and partner. He lives with his family in Glen Mills, Pa., and is a frequent contributor to Yahoo! News
Additional Yahoo! contributions by this writer:
Rick Santorum Becomes Relevant
President Obama's Contraceptive Mandate is Bad Politics
barbara walters government shutdown jacksonville jaguars jacksonville jaguars iraq war over iraq war over maurice jones drew
posted by jeffnuttalx @ 9:43 PM
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