Sweater Vest Santorum Surrenders at Gettysburg

On the verge of winning the Pennsylvania primary, Rick Santorum threw in the towel after holding a conference call with his advisors. Most observers speculate it really wasn't the delegate count that did him in but the health of his daughter.


The response from social conservatives was less than enthusiastic about Romney's inevitable nomination. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said that social conservatives will focus on taking the Senate and not supporting the Romney campaign. Richard Viguerie told the Romney campaign that unless Mitt accommodated the conservatives they would stay home in November. The Free Republic had a stroke when Santorum withdrew because Romney supporters are banned from the website and their founder Jim Robinson promised to close the website if Romney won the nomination.


Meanwhile Newt welcomed all Santorum supporters and said he was still in the race. He did suffer one slight problem today--his check for entering the Utah primary bounced. 


Meanwhile news of Santorum's withdrawal led into President Obama delivering a tour de force before an enthusiastic audience at Boca Raton, Florida. Obama is pumping the Buffett bill, which increases taxes of people earning more than $1 million a year.


Meanwhile Investors Business Daily says that --forget then gender gap with women, Romney has a man problem. President Obama beats Romney 46 to 38, with 10% undecided. Obama wins 48% of women to Romney's 35%. But with men, Romney loses to Obama by 44 to 42%. The conservative newspaper says there is always a gender gap with women because they favor Democrats but Romney's failure to win over men is the problem. President Obama wins 87% of Democrats, while Romney only 77% of Republicans.


PPP has finished their monthly poll of Colorado and finds that Obama has his mojo back. Obama has gained 11 its since December and his approval rating rests at 50%. He beats Romney 53 to 40. Among independents he wins by 57 to 31% and among women by 58 to 34%. PPP concludes that the Republican primary has diminished Romney's cross-over appeal. 


And finally to be fair, I saw Anderson Cooper explain on CNN how Romney has an easy road to 270. Nothing he said made any sense according to the polling numbers anyone has seen so far. He assumes Ohio is a lock for Republicans and Romney will win Michigan because he was born there. Expect to read and hear a lot of nonsense before the elections.