The Real Story of Romney's Northeastern Primary Wins Last Night

Mitt Romney won the northeastern primaries easily last night. Or did he?

With everyone knowing Gingrich was going to quit and Santorum out, Mitt Romney should have put up some impressive numbers considering the northeastern United States is his political home and Republicans tend to be moderately liberal in the Northeast. This is where the Rockefeller Republicans thrive, and yet Mitt Romney's numbers look quite weak considering the only candidate challenging Romney is Ron Paul, who doesn't get nearly the press time that Romney gets.

Last night were the Delaware and Pennsylvania primaries. In both primaries, Romney got less than 60 percent of the vote. This is significant.

Holly Bailey Reports:

Mitt Romney set a record with at least two of Tuesday's primary wins, but it's an achievement the presumptive Republican nominee probably won't be bragging about. 


The former Massachusetts governor won Delaware with 56 percent of the vote and Pennsylvania with 58 percent. According to University of Minnesota political scientist Eric Ostermeier, that marks the first time that a presumptive GOP nominee has failed to reach the 60 percent mark in a contest conducted after his last major challenger exited the race.


"While Romney avoided the embarrassment of winning with a mere plurality, never has a presumptive nominee won a primary contest with such a low level of support at this stage of the race with his chief challenger no longer actively campaigning," Ostermeier writes at Smart Politics, the university's political site. Smart Politics reviewed Republican primary election data since 1972.


In all the Republican contests, the Northeast is Romney country, and yet they aren't even excited about Mitt for Brains in the Northeast. Granted, Santorum's kinda, sorta home is in Pennsylvania, if you don't consider how he moved out to Virginia after winning the primary, but polls showed Romney was surging hard in Pennsylvania even with Santorum still in the race.

Even the most liberal of states where Republicans look down upon conservatives (see GOP 1964 National Convention), Romney isn't exciting Republicans. This is going to be a problem down the road.

You have to remember, and this is something that has gone unnoticed as the GOP establishment has chosen not to vet Mitt for Brains, his approval rating as Massachusetts governor was a low 36% when he left office. Even Obama hasn't plummeted to that level.