Santorum giving up on Florida

[Mr. Morden]

Looks like he's leaving Florida after the Thursday debate to fundraise and prepare for campaigning in other states.  Might not come back to Florida after this:

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/elections/mc-rick-santorum-leaving-florida-20120125,0,7676905.story

[RI]

Good. He shouldn't have wasted time there in the first place.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

LOL, remember when Phil bashed Paul for this?

[Eraserhead]

Hmm, makes Paul upsetting him for third a bit more likely. Still wouldn't bet on it though.

[Is Totally Not Feeblepizza.]

And he wants to be the nominee?

[Dereich]

I'm lucky. I saw him when he came to Tallahasee this morning. But even when he was campaigning here, it wasn't serious. Apparently he never went south of the Panhandle.

[Bacon King]

This is a smart move; he can't waste money in an expensive winner-take-all contest he has no chance of winning. Santorum's only path to the nomination is to hold steady for as long as he can, and hope that Gingrich and/or Romney go so negative against each other that their campaigns implode and allow Santorum to rise from their ashes.

[TheGlobalizer]

This is a smart move; he can't waste money in an expensive winner-take-all contest he has no chance of winning. Santorum's only path to the nomination is to hold steady for as long as he can, and hope that Gingrich and/or Romney go so negative against each other that their campaigns implode and allow Santorum to rise from their ashes.

Agree, but the calendar doesn't really get better for him after this.

[Joe Biden 2020]

The question is, is he going to Nevada or Colorado next?  Nevada caucuses next Saturday, and should be a Romney cakewalk with Utah right next door and Colorado should be a Romney victory, again, with Utah right next door.  There are considerable Mormon populations in both Nevada and Colorado.  I don't know where he intends to go next, but he needs to at least campaign in those states otherwise he might as well call it quits after Colorado.

[pbrower2a]

The question is, is he going to Nevada or Colorado next?  Nevada caucuses next Saturday, and should be a Romney cakewalk with Utah right next door and Colorado should be a Romney victory, again, with Utah right next door.  There are considerable Mormon populations in both Nevada and Colorado.  I don't know where he intends to go next, but he needs to at least campaign in those states otherwise he might as well call it quits after Colorado.

Uh...

in the 2008 election, Barack Obama lost Kentucky, a state next door to Illinois... big. He also lost Tennessee and Arkansas, two states nearly next door to the southernmost tip of Illinois... big. He lost Missouri marginally.   

John McCain lost California, Nevada, and New Mexico... big, and near-neighbor Colorado big.

In 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton never won Mississippi, Oklahoma, or Texas. Demographics and political heritage trump proximity.

Colorado and Nevada are much more similar to each other than they are to Utah, at least politically. The "Favorite Son" effect usually stops at the state line.

[Mr. Morden]

The question is, is he going to Nevada or Colorado next?  Nevada caucuses next Saturday, and should be a Romney cakewalk with Utah right next door and Colorado should be a Romney victory, again, with Utah right next door.  There are considerable Mormon populations in both Nevada and Colorado.

Colorado's only 2% Mormon, no?

I agree that Romney likely wins Nevada because of the Mormons, who were something like 25% of caucus-goers last time.  But Santorum should run hard in Colorado and Minnesota.  There's really no telling what's going to happen in the caucus states, since polling of the caucus states is pretty much useless.

[RI]

The question is, is he going to Nevada or Colorado next?  Nevada caucuses next Saturday, and should be a Romney cakewalk with Utah right next door and Colorado should be a Romney victory, again, with Utah right next door.  There are considerable Mormon populations in both Nevada and Colorado.  I don't know where he intends to go next, but he needs to at least campaign in those states otherwise he might as well call it quits after Colorado.

He needs to go to Minnesota and Missouri next and put his focus there. Don't waste time on Nevada, but maybe visit Colorado once or twice.

[Peeperkorn]

Uh...

in the 2008 election, Barack Obama lost Kentucky, a state next door to Illinois... big. He also lost Tennessee and Arkansas, two states nearly next door to the southernmost tip of Illinois... big.

Appalachia was overwhemingly pro-Clinton and Arkansas was practically her home state.

[Peeperkorn]

Anyways, good news for Newt. As I've been always say half of Santorum's voters will go with him in order to destroy Romney.

[5280]

The main question is, how long until Santorum drops out? Minnesota? Missouri?

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

This makes sense, sortof.

He can't win Florida against the heavy hitters. But then again, he is a terrible fit for basically every other upcoming caucus state except possibly Missouri and MAYBE (if he gets the mainline Republicans to turn out rather than crossover youth or independents) Minnesota. Too bad for him his best states aren't coming until the point where it won't matter.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Congrats, Phil!

[Gustaf]

Santorum voters who haven't already gone to Gingrich presumably don't like him that much, no?

Also, one would think Santorum voters like family values and should have something of a problem with Gingrich in that respect.