Ten more states voted on Tuesday night, bringing the running total to 22 so far. Coming in to the Super Tuesday contests, Romney led with eight victories, followed by Rick Santorum with three, and Newt Gingrich with one. Here is a quick recap of the Super Tuesday results and how each candidate fared:
Mitt Romney
As expected, Romney won Massachusetts (72%), Virginia (59%), Vermont (40%), and Idaho (75%+ est.) with ease. Most importantly, Romney picked up the biggest prize of the night, Ohio (38%), where he had trailed Santorum in polls for the entire month of February. Ohio was the marquee match-up of the night as the rest of the states played out mostly as anticipated. He also tacked on a win in Alaska (32%) for good measure. He finished the night with victories in states won, delegates earned, and in the popular vote.Rick Santorum
Also following the script, Rick Santorum won contests in Tennessee (37%) and Oklahoma (34%), but perhaps by smaller margins than originally anticipated. But he also added a caucus win in North Dakota (40%), which will give him 3 victories and enough momentum to carry on longer. He really hoped for a win in Ohio to prove he could win a tough state that Romney was competing heavily in. Santorum's 6 victories have all been in mostly-ignored contests.Newt Gingrich
Newt won only his home state of Georgia (48%). But he managed to give a speech that sounded like he just won the presidency. He vows to fight on, but so far has carried just 2 states in 22 contests.
Quick Analysis
Romney now has won 14 of 22 contests (64%) and his position as clear frontrunner is now solidified. He remains over the 50% threshold in delegates, which is a requirement to win the nomination. Romney's main advantage is that he competes in every state, while his opponents focus mostly on regional contests where they have an upper-hand, and ignore everything else. This hands a great deal of easy victories to Romney, while also allowing him to target important states for victory, like Ohio and Michigan.
Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
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