As much of a douchecanoe as I think Santorum is, I wouldn't get on his case for this one. If you're not from PA (and weren't in State College to hear the scuttlebutt that must have been around at some point) you have NO idea how much of a shocker this all was. None.

Mitt took Michigan and Arizona today.

My favorite part of Mitt winning in Michigan was his statement about repealing Obamacare. I can see why he's against universal health care after signing the Commonwealth Care Act in 2006.

Define "takes" -

"UPDATE: Despite Mitt Romney's overall victory in Michigan on Tuesday, he will split the state's 30 GOP delegates evenly with his chief rival, Rick Santorum."

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/..._contests.html

Touche' They didn't have that level of detail when they 'called it'.

Um, I have a question..

Why is ANYONE still voting for Rick Santorum?

Cause they want anybody but romney

I hate to say this, but the Democratic Party and unions in Michigan were encouraging Dems to vote for him in the primary in hopes that Romney wouldn't get the nomination because they think Romney has a chance of beating Obama but Santorum doesn't.

I do not agree with that in principle. Republicans should vote in the Republican primary. Democrats should vote in the Republican primary only if they would really vote for that candidate in the general election when November comes. (I did that once, for McCain, in 2000, before he started pandering to the ultra conservative right, and I would have voted for him that year.) Independents should vote for the candidate they would vote for in November also.

Purposely skewing primary results is shady to me.

GOPers were urging Republican voters to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2008 to keep Obama from winning the Democratic nomination. So, this isn't new. Shadiness goes and comes all the way around.

I know. And I think it is wrong both ways.

I agree. The first amendment guarantees the right of free association. I think that each party should be allowed to pick its own nominee, and open primaries are inherently troublesome.

...because he caters to unspoken and spoken religious and racial prejudices. Romney is far too sophisticated to get down like that--and that's what many on the far right want. That's obviously not the only reason Romney isn't that popular but it explains Santorum's success.

I don't like it even one little bit - but mostly because of the massive potential to backfire. I want Santorum nowhere near the White House, and even running against Obama in the general election is too close.

I mean, at least Hillary was a more viable candidate.

What's the potential for this backfiring? It's a political mechanism, one of many, that's both sides use and both sides, for whatever reason, allow.

And as has been noted, Rush Limbaugh advocated this in 2008, and Romney is on record as saying he did this himself, voting in the '92 Democratic primary for Paul Tsongas, to slow the momentum of Bill Clinton.

What if something happened (PLEASE GOD NO) to President Obama between now and election day, and Joe Biden either had to campaign for President Obama or campaign for himself?

I didn't word correctly - I don't think the potential itself is massive, I think the backfire is massive.