Romney Wins in Puerto Rico; Santorum Readies for Illinois, Louisiana
Front-runner Mitt Romney swept the primary in Puerto Rico Sunday but his prospects of clinching the Republican presidential nomination still look uncertain with his rival Rick Santorum trying to prevent him from getting the required 1,144 delegates.
Former Mass. Gov. Romney picked up all the 20 delegates in Puerto Rico, where statehood for the U.S. territory was a dominant issue. He got more than 50 percent of the votes. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul did not compete in the contest.
After the win in Puerto Rico, Romney now has 521 delegates, against Santorum's 253, Gingrich's 136 and Paul's 50.
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But former Penn. Sen. Santorum is making efforts to pull away as many delegates as he can from Romney to restrict him from reaching the score required to be the GOP nominee. The threat to Romney appears to be real after Santorum's victories in Alabama and Mississippi primaries last week.
Now all eyes are on primaries in Illinois and Louisiana on Tuesday and Saturday, respectively. Romney has a reason to expect a good showing in the more moderate Midwestern state of Illinois, which will have 69 delegates at stake. But, it's the number of delegates and not mere victory that matters. Moreover, Santorum is hoping to win in the more conservative Southern state of Louisiana.
Romney, however, is seeking to play down the threat he faces from Santorum. "I know a lot of people will talk about delegates and strategies and math and that's all very interesting to the insiders," he told "Fox News Sunday." "But I think the American people want to see someone who has the leadership, skill and experience to beat the president."
"I can't tell you exactly how the process is going to work. But I bet I'm going to become the nominee," he confidently added.
However, Santorum disagreed. "We still believe that there are plenty of delegates out there for us to do what we have been doing, which is actually going out there and winning states and winning the tough battles, and doing so over pretty overwhelming odds," Santorum told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
"I feel like I'm doing a training run for the general election. The same issues I'm out there campaigning on against Governor Romney are the same issues I'm going to campaign against Barack Obama on," he added. "Unfortunately, Governor Romney and Barack Obama are in the same place."
Santorum also attended a church in Louisiana Sunday. "One of the great blessings I've had in every political campaign is people underestimate me, people underestimate what God can do,'' he told the congregants.
"This is a primary process where somebody had a huge advantage, huge money advantage, huge advantage of establishment support and he hasn't been able to close the deal and even come close to closing the deal,'' he said of Romney. "That tells you that there's a real flaw there.''
