Mitt Romney has won Guam and the Northern Marianis (in case you didn’t know, non-state US territories do usually get to participate in primaries), which gives him a few more delegates.
He’s going to want to play that up, because Santorum has strong hopes for a win in Kansas today. Santorum is pretty obviously trying to get Newt Gingrich to quit so he can make it a two-man race between himself and Romney. In speaking to the fringe-right Newsmax.com, Santorum recently made a thinly-veiled offer to Gingrich, although in speaking to Fox News an increasingly desultory Gingrich is pledging to stay in the race. Mostly I hope he does stay in as I view a social conservative like Santorum as very dangerous and Gingrich staying in is going to hurt Santorum far more than Romney.
Although he’s probably leary of the idea, Romney would do well to seriously consider making such an offer to Gingrich himself. Although Gingrich’s presence could prove a distraction, historically it’s not a bad strategy to have a running-mate who acts as an attack dog for a campaign while the front runner strikes a more high-minded pose; Gingrich could also help Romney in southern states come November leaving Romney theoretically try to work harder in other states Republicans normally have trouble in.
*Update*: Santorum has won a smashing victory in Kansas. We can fully expect this to help him in the upcoming fights in Alabama and Mississippi.
(This item cross-posted to The Moderate Voice.)
Dean Esmay is the author of Methuselah’s Daughter. He has contributed to Dean’s World, Huffington Post, A Voice for Men, Pajamas Media. Neither left nor right wing, neither libertarian nor socialist.