Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Texas Gives Romney the Ring, Ron Paul Eyes Newt

Mitt Romney went over the top, securing the last of the 1144 delegates he needs to clinch the Republican nomination with a win in the Texas primary yesterday.

# of delegates secured so far NYT WSJ CNN CBS MSNBC RCP
Mitt Romney 1191 1191 1172 1198 1191 1169
Rick Santorum 265 265 266 231 265 267
Newt Gingrich 138 138 144 125 138 145
Ron Paul 137 137 140 121 137 118
Jon Huntsman 2 2 1 2 0 0
Michele Bachmann 1 1 1 0 0 0
Total 1734 1734 1724 1677 1731 1699
         
% of delegates secured so far        
Mitt Romney 69% 69% 68% 71% 69% 69%
Rick Santorum 15% 15% 15% 14% 15% 16%
Newt Gingrich 8% 8% 8% 7% 8% 9%
Ron Paul 8% 8% 8% 7% 8% 7%
         
% of remaining needed to clinch:        
Mitt Romney -9% -9% -5% -9% -8% -4%
Rick Santorum 159% 159% 156% 150% 158% 149%
Newt Gingrich 182% 182% 178% 167% 181% 170%
Ron Paul 182% 182% 179% 168% 181% 175%

Ron Paul has pulled within 4 to 9 delegates of surpassing Newt Gingrich. With six states left to vote and a number of delegates to be selected at state conventions where Ron Paul is always well organized, he's on track to do that. That would put Ron Paul in third and push Newt Gingrich down to fourth going into the convention.

Well, everything after first place is for bragging rights, but that may go to the lone Huntsman delegate from New Hampshire, if there is even one. Lone Huntsman, that sounds like a superhero. Dr. Paul is the evil villain with the heart of gold. Newt Gingrich is the hapless henchman.

Update 5/31/2012:  The Lone Huntsman rides alone no more. After the Texas votes settled, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann were each awarded 1 Texas delegate. In Eye of Newt news, Ron Paul has now pulled within 1 to 4 delegates on mots scorecards of creeping up to third place.

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