After a couple of weeks of relatively low activity, the GOP primary process returns to hit full speed on the next two Tuesdays. Twelve states will hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, Feb. 28, or the Super Tuesday date, March 6. Add the Washington state caucuses in between, and we’re talking about one-quarter of all states in an eight-day span.
Two of the more prominent primaries will be Michigan’s next week and ours right here in Georgia on Super Tuesday. They’re prominent not just because of the delegates awarded — although Georgia, with 76 delegates, will be the biggest prize during this stretch — but because two of the candidates have such strong ties to them.
Who would be hurt worse by losing his "home" state primary?
Total Voters: 192
Michigan is where Mitt Romney was born and raised while his father was a Detroit auto executive and then the state’s governor. Georgia, of course, is where Newt Gingrich lived as he rose to national prominence as a congressman and speaker of the House.
But recent polls show Rick Santorum is giving each man a run for his money in his respective “home” state. Most recent polls in Michigan, which Romney won by 9 percentage points in 2008, show the race between him and Santorum within the margin of error. Here in Georgia, polls show Gingrich’s large, early lead has narrowed to single digits.
Much of the speculation about these states has focused on whether, should Romney lose Michigan and/or Gingrich lose Georgia, either one’s candidacy would be fatally damaged. It’s unlikely that both Romney and Gingrich would drop out after losses. So, the question is: Which one would be most hurt by losing his “home” state?
That’s this week’s Poll Position question. Answer in the nearby poll and in the comments thread below.
– By Kyle Wingfield
129 comments Add your comment
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 24th, 2012
4:36 pm
What Obozo’s done is worse than some personal moral failings, gm.
$5 trillion in new debt. Record numbers of people on the dole. 8-10% unemployment for more than three years (worst since the Great Depression). Obozocare.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 24th, 2012
4:38 pm
Gingrich losing Georgia would be splendid because maybe then the blowhard would drop out.
Linda
February 24th, 2012
4:40 pm
Chuck@4:16, “…failed miserably at creating jobs throughout their 10 years of enjoying lower taxes…” Do you actually believe this stuff? After the Bush tax cuts were passed in ‘01 & ‘03, the unemployment rate steadily declined every year to a low of 4.61% in ‘07.
http://www.miseryindex.us/urbyyear.asp
If you actually paid taxes & worried about your income boosting you into a higher tax bracket, you might realize that we have a progressive tax system. The higher your income, the higher your rate with a current top rate of 35%. The high income earners work 4.2 months for the fed. govt. before they pay their state & local taxes. What is long enough?
Obama’s new budget included his Dream Come True Tax Plan. It includes raising all the taxes on all those he’s been harping about for a couple of years. Guess what? He still has a $1.3 T deficit, followed by more. There will never be enough taxes to satisfy the appetite of Spender-In-Chief.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 24th, 2012
4:41 pm
If Gingrich wants to get even with Romney for the Florida smear kkkampaign, siphoning the decent, moral, upstanding American vote from Santorum isn’t gonna help any.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 24th, 2012
4:43 pm
The State Department has begun coordinating with Syria’s neighbors to prepare for the handling of President Bashar al-Assad’s extensive WMD assets if and when his regime collapses, The Cable has learned.
It looks like the dimwits of the dummycrat party finally located all of Saddam Hussei’s WMD.
Dusty
February 24th, 2012
4:45 pm
Chuck Doberman,
Maybe you need a bit of reality. There is no middle party now. If you vote for Obama, you vote to keep the same losing party that is rapidly running us down hill now.
If you vote for a Republican, you have a chance to make a difference. If you can’t take a chance, that may be why you never made a million and don’t like it ’cause others did.
If you vote for Ron Paul, you throw away your vote.
It is your choice. I just hope you don’t throw away the chance for a stable America. Dems and demise are compatible.
Linda
February 24th, 2012
4:45 pm
gm@4:31, He voted 3 times for infanticide. The first time I read about it, I had tears in my eyes.
Do what??????
February 24th, 2012
4:47 pm
Back in 2009, Obozo said he’d bring the Olympics to Chicago.
This is the same kind of stupid arrogance that will bring him down.
Do what??????
February 24th, 2012
4:48 pm
Linda
Obozo voted to let living breathing babies die.
md
February 24th, 2012
4:50 pm
“Please could somebody tell when did Newt the adultry help bring the Olympics to Atlanta?”
You must have mis-heard the talking point:
“Gingrich stated that he himself had requested earmarks from the government for the Atlanta Olympics in the form of security and transportation money. He also aided Mitt Romney with the application for similar earmarks for the Salt Lake City Games.”
Now, go do your own research vs repeating that silliness.
md
February 24th, 2012
4:57 pm
Moral failings?
If Greece is any indication, one might say not balancing the budget will end up with huge moral implications……the kind where we can no longer afford even the safety net.
16 trillion while adding 1 trillion each and every year…….there is a point of no return, we just don’t know where it is. And Obama’s budget doesn’t even recognize the problem……..
Linda
February 24th, 2012
4:58 pm
When the American people understand Obama’s deliberate & successful plan to raise gas prices, he will loose by a landslide.
His adm. is claiming that the US is producing more oil now than in the last 8 yrs.
His adm. is also claiming that there is nothing it can do in the short run to bring down the price of gas.
Does anyone else see what’s wrong with those 2 claims? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim credit for boosting the production of oil in 3 yrs. & turn around & claim that you have no control over the production of oil/gas in a short term.
Both claims are totally bogus. Oil production is up, thanks to the Bush adm. & in spite of the Obama adm. There’s dozens of ways the fed. govt. can bring down the prices, but Obama is allergic to fossil fuels & is beholden to nuts.
MarkV
February 24th, 2012
5:03 pm
Dusty @4:02 pm
Dusty, the more subtle point of my post about your “pep talk” was that the blog program that sent you the message “you’ve already said that” was almost eerily perceptive. If not to convince others (and perhaps yourself), is there a point in repeating those opinions – and they are only opinions. I am not trying to be too critical, you go on as you like, I just wonder if there is not something that could be rationally discussed instead of writing the same opinions over and over.
Dusty
February 24th, 2012
5:09 pm
I Report, You whine 4:43
Now that is one mind reeling thought. WMD assets in Syria are probably those of Saddam Hussein.
The missing WMDS so long reported by CIA & British Intel might now surface in Syria!! That’s like finding Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa after all those years! Can it be possible?
Does sound like it. Where else would Syria get WMDS? Do they have nuclear plants? Nuclear scientists? Nuclear material? I don’t think so.
You mean, Bush must have been right to listen to the professional security people of our country?
There IS justice.
gm
February 24th, 2012
5:10 pm
Linda
You are the reason I had mix feeling about Obama passing the Ledbetter Act for women equal pay for work, some women on the right just love to be treated lke crap, they love men like Newt to have adultry affairs and love the Rick S. who wants to keep them bare foot and their mouth shut while he tells then want to do with their bodies.
I am sorry Linda, President Obama likes treating women like equals and he is a family value person, he would do nothing to hurt America, I guess when you come from a party of women haters, you expect that from all men.
Pizzaman
February 24th, 2012
5:11 pm
Who cares?
Rafe Hollister
February 24th, 2012
5:17 pm
Refiners have to produce 52 blends of gasoline to meet all the different EPA requirements. The one simple way to reduce gas prices is to increase the supply. Eliminate 51 blends and turn the refineries loose, price drops. Let the rest of the world know that we are not going to be held hostage, by increasing off shore drilling off the east and west coasts, lay out a plan to switch over our vehicles to natural gas, approve the Keystone Pipeline, ease the rules to allow for clean burning coal, and assure the world that we will not allow Iran to close the straits of Hormuz (sp).
Oblamer has someone to blame for every dang thing under the sun. He says he has no responsibility for rising gas prices. Nothing whatsoever is ever his fault. The Republicans are to blame for his failure to approve the Keystone pipeline, he says, but how he can say that with a straight face is amazing.
I heard today that he couldn’t find anyway to cut anything in his 2013 budget because he couldn’t count on getting any tax increases from the GOP led house. His regime says without tax increases they can’t afford to cut the budget. Not one thing can be cut!!! Tim Geithner testified before the House that any cuts would be too severe, unless they could soften them with some tax increases.
“It is not our fault” is the only defense, for their ineptitude or willful destruction of our economy, that the Oblamer regime can come up with.
gm
February 24th, 2012
5:22 pm
We did not hear a word for the idiots on the right when W. spent billions in Iraq and Dick the idiot Cheney made millions on the Infrastructure what a bunch of hypocrites now talking about spending.
Thanks President Obama for spending our money on Americans,
Real American
February 24th, 2012
5:27 pm
How did Mitt’s big economic speech at Ford Field go? Anyone see it?
md
February 24th, 2012
5:35 pm
“We did not hear a word for the idiots on the right when W. spent billions in Iraq and Dick the idiot Cheney made millions on the Infrastructure what a bunch of hypocrites now talking about spending. ”
More silliness……does it even matter how we got to the edge of the cliff? No……we are there and adding to it is not going to correct the situation. Your ignorance of the subject is part of the problem…..the “they did it so we can too” argument is weak and silly.
It doesn’t matter how much each spouse put on the credit card, the bill is now due…….
Linda
February 24th, 2012
5:37 pm
gm@5:10, In other words, the truth about Obama must have hit more than one of your nerves.
The party of women haters is the one you support. Planned Parenthood was founded to kill your black babies & used the black clergy to initially promote their agenda.
Your party is jeopardizing the jobs of thousands of women who work for religious organizations, some of them for decades.
Your party has taken away the rights of ALL women to pay for their own birth control pills, which cost $9 per month.
Your party has taken away the rights of ALL women to keep their birth control methods private, i.e. between them & their doctors (& drug stores).
Your party has taken away the religious freedom & the separation between church & state that has been protected in the constitution for a couple of centuries.
During the Komen decision, your party sided with Planned Parenthood & pressured Komen to reverse their decision. Women whose feet bled from walking for Komen & donors were misled about funds to PP. Komen will suffer from both participation & donations. We can only imagine how many women will DIE as a result of the Dems. actions to divert money from breast cancer research & use it to kill innocent black babies.
Orange12
February 24th, 2012
5:47 pm
Romney losing in Michigan would be worse for him by far. I don’t really think Newt is really in contention anymore.
Linda
February 24th, 2012
5:48 pm
gm@5:22, The total cost of BOTH wars as of 2/09 was about $1 T. That is, 7 yrs. in Afgan. & 6 yrs. in Iraq.
Isn’t it funny that the Dems. spent that same amt. in one bill, less than 3 weeks after Obama was inaugurated?
Bush did not spend billions in Iraq. He had congressional approval to send troops there & all appropriations were approved by congress, even the Dem. congress. Congress learned that Obama had started a war on Libya from TV when they returned home on that Fri. night.
If our military aren’t Americans, just who are they?
Do you really believe this stuff?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 24th, 2012
10:21 pm
gm: Thanks President Obama for spending the borrowed Chinese money on Americans. We’ll let the future generations worry about paying it back.
—————–
Fixed.
kiteless
February 25th, 2012
5:04 am
gingrich at this point is delusional if he truly thinks he’s going to get the nomination.
i voted gingrich losing georgia because that seems to be his last stand— if he doesn’t win GA, he’s out for good.
even if mitt romney loses michigan, he still gets AZ and is still in the race, it just makes the outcome on super tuesday a lot less decided.
all i know is that if santorum wants to win, he’d better pray that gingrich drops out, and if romney wants to win, he’d better pray gingrich stays in. the people who are still holding on to gingrich are obviously not going to go for romney after this long.
my prediction? romney wins AZ with a clean sweep and michigan barely. gingrich stays in until after super tuesday. on super tuesday, you’re going to have about about 5 out of 8 delegates going to romney, maybe more. gingrich loses georgia, if he drops out and endorses santorum, santorum has a chance at the nomination but possibly with a brokered convention. if gingrich stays in, he takes himself and santorum down with him, and romney takes the nomination.
Joel Edge
February 25th, 2012
6:36 am
Romney losing Michigan. Romney is pretty much about perception. Gingrich really doesn’t care how he is perceived.
catlady
February 25th, 2012
7:50 pm
I wouldn’t be hurt if either one, or both, of these happened. Both men are fringe. In fact, who did the casting call for these jokers? It had to be someone with a crazy sense of the absurd. Look at each of these and tell me…are these the BEST we’ve got, or the action figures for some weird sci-fi movie?
What we need, right now, is TWO (or maybe three) viable parties. Parties who will engage the serious problems we have with some real thought. Not candidates whose ability to debate leans heavily on “Nah, nah” for several, and for Gingrich, “Nah, nah, because I say so!”
Charlie
February 26th, 2012
11:34 pm
Gingrich polling single digits in Michigan. He may be a goner in Georgia also.
2012 Tuesday: Michigan is the show-me state for Santorum | Kyle Wingfield
February 28th, 2012
9:18 am
[...] unscientific poll last week found that, by about a 3-to-2 margin, readers believe Newt Gingrich would be hurt more by [...]