CNN’s Political Ticker reports that Mitt Romney is spending the day contemplating the next step:
(CNN) — Mitt Romney and top aides and advisers plan to huddle Wednesday to discuss the future of his campaign, including whether to launch an advertising buy in upcoming primary states.
Romney vowed late Tuesday to press on, though top advisers acknowledged the delegate match was daunting.
“It is tough to saddle up this AM,” said one top Romney adviser who spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Romney has poured more than $35 million of his personal fortune into the campaign, and after a rough Super Tuesday faces a decision of whether to spend more. Several advisers said there was a plan, in place before the Tuesday votes were counted, to begin advertising in the Washington, DC and Baltimore markets. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia hold primaries next Tuesday.
“As of early this AM it was a go,” said one of the campaign sources. “We can do the math but there are still openings,” said another.
Maybe, but as I noted earlier today (see here and here), those openings are pretty small and they would effectively require Romney to run the table while McCain and Huckabee completely collapse. As Rick Moran notes, the math just doesn’t favor that happening:
After next week’s “Potomac Primary” involving Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. – where Virginia and DC are winner take all states and where McCain is comfortably ahead – only Vermont remains as a WTA contest. All the rest of the states in play will award delegates proportionately.
Romney would have to win virtually all the remaining contests by at least a 3-1 margin – and even then you can’t ignore the presence of Mike Huckabee in the race. The Baptist preacher helped put the stake through Romney’s heart last night when he stole 5 southern primaries. This denied McCain the overwhelming victory he needed to put both candidates away but it also killed Romney’s chances of getting close to the Arizona senator.Not enough states, not enough delegates, and not enough time. The fat lady may not be singing in the GOP race but she’s certainly warming up in the wings.
I doubt that Romney will take my advice and drop out of the race, but, as James Joyner notes, he really doesn’t seem to have any other choice:
[W]ith Mike Huckabee emboldened by last night’s wins and likely to remain in the race, I don’t see an obvious path to the nomination. The question, then, becomes how much of his family’s money is he willing to spend chasing windmills?
Perhaps the Romney children need to talk to Dad.
