Mitt Romney wanted to head into Super Tuesday with some momentum, and after winning Michigan and Arizona earlier in the week, and beating Rick Santorum by double digits in Washington yesterday, he's arguably right where he wants to be.
Romney and the other three remaining Republican presidential candidates waged a tougher-than-expected battle for Washington's votes, even though no delegates to the national convention were decided there.Each candidate has spent time and money in recent weeks in hopes of picking up a victory -- and political momentum -- in Washington, as a table-setter to Super Tuesday, next week's slate of 10 caucuses and primaries across the country.
Though polling a couple of weeks ago showed Santorum doing well in the Evergreen State, his standing faltered, and the former senator ended up finishing third, just behind Ron Paul, who lost to Romney by about 13 points, despite having made an aggressive effort in the state.
All four Republican candidates campaigned in Washington, which traditionally doesn't see any GOP presidential hopefuls in person, and which in turn boosted turnout well above 2008 levels. Romney, in particular, exploited his organizational advantage to turn the polls around and come out on top, while Santorum, still unable to create a national campaign infrastructure, "struggled to build a big organization in Washington."