GOP Primary: Mitt Romney Back in the Lead Over Santorum in Michigan … What a difference a Debate Makes

What a difference a debate makes as a front runner …

Just a week ago GOP primary Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum had a lead in Michigan and everyone was talking about Romney’s campaign being in jeopardy if he lost his home state of Michigan. Then there was the woeful debate by Santorum as the front runner where he failed to wow anyone.

The result … Mitt Romney is back on top in Michigan and pulling away. According to the most recent Rasmussen poll in Michigan, Romney leads with 40%, followed by Santoum with 34% while Paul and Gingrich bring up the rear. What a difference a week and a bad debate by Santorum makes. The previous Rasmussen poll had Santorum in the lead over Romney 38% to 34%. Santorum’s bad debate was Romney’s gain.  As reported at The Hill, Romney turned in a strong performance in a pivotal GOP debate on Wedesday in Arizona as it was the first debate in which Romney and Santorum were the clear central figures, and Santorum was battered by attacks from Paul and Romney over his record as a senator in Pennsylvania.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters in Michigan shows Romney with 40% of the vote and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum with 34%. The poll was conducted on Thursday night, following the last scheduled debate among the GOP candidates. (To see survey question wording, click here)

Nate Silver also projects that Romney will be victorious in Michigan.

The FiveThirtyEight forecast model now projects a win for Mr. Romney by about four points in Michigan, roughly bisecting the Rasmussen Reports and Mitchell Research polls. Although that is inherently a fairly small margin, it is more meaningful given that there are just four full days of campaigning until Michigan votes; the model makes Mr. Romney about a 2:1 favorite in the state.

Mitt Romney also appears to be pulling away in Arizona as well.

UT/TT GOP Primary Poll: Santorum up Big with 45% … Gingrich a Distant Second with 18%

Don’t mess with Santorum in Texas …

Rick Santorum appears to be on a roll. He is up in Michigan and Ohio; however, he is blowing away the competition in the Lone Star state of Texas. Sanotum has a commanding lead in a recent UT/TT poll with 45% of the vote. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are a distant second and third with 18% and 16%, respectively. Although the polling is considered volatile, for the time being Santorum is up big in Texas.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania has a commanding lead among Republican presidential candidates in Texas, according to a new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll.

Santorum would get the votes of 45 percent of the respondents if the election were held today, according to the survey. The other three candidates in the GOP race — former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas — are clustered well behind. Gingrich got 18 percent, Romney received 16 percent and Paul garnered 14 percent.

As pointed out by The Blaze, the Texas poll also indicates that all candidates have a significant lead over Barack Obama in a head to head match up

President Barack Obama Trails 3 of 4 Republican Candidates (Romney, Santorum & Paul) in Head to Head Match-ups in Iowa

Even after GOP candidates have savaged each other in the Republican primary … President Barack Obama still trails three of four candidates in head to head match up.

A new poll from the Des Moines Register shows that President Barack Obama trails three of the four GOP primary candidates in a hypothetical match up in the key swing state of Iowa. Romney leads Obama 46% to 44%, Santorum leads Obama 48% to 44% and Paul has the largest edge over Obama of 49% to 42%. Newt Gingrich is the only GOP candidate who trails Obama. This is troubling news for Obama and his reelections minions for the 2012 reelection. Barack Obama won Iowa in 2008 over John McCain 54% to 45%.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leads Obama by 46 percent support to 44 percent among likely Hawkeye state voters in the latest Iowa poll. The survey shows Rick Santorum, winner of the state’s 2012 caucuses, besting Obama 48 percent to 44 percent.  Texas Rep. Ron Paul has the biggest edge over the president leading him 49 percent to 42 percent.

Only former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) loses to Obama in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. Obama receives 51 percent support to Gingrich’s 37 percent.

Full poll results can be seen HERE.

The Iowa poll also showed that 48% disapproved of the job that Obama was doing while 46% approved. Obama can hardly withstand a loss in a swing- state like Iowa, one that he easily won in 2008.

Mitt Romney Wins CPAC Straw Poll with 38% of the Vote

Mitt wins the CPAC straw poll with 38% of the vote with Rick Santorum coming in a close second with 31%. Speaker Newt Gingrich was at 15% and Texas Rep. Ron Paul stood at 12%.

Mitt tweeted: “Honored to have won the CPAC straw poll. I’m heartened that so many friends here agree with me about the need for conservative change.”

34% of the attendees at the conservative conference chose Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as Vice President

GOP Presidential Primary Hat Trick: Rick Santorum Clean Sweep over Romney in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri

RICK SANTORUM, YES HE DID …

The day started as a Romney GOP Primary momentum with wins in Florida and Nevada and ended in the most unlikely Rick Santorum Hat trick with wins in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Is Santorum the latest flavor of the month or a viable candidate to run against Barack Obama? The GOP primary has taken another turn. Who would have thought at this point that Santorum would have had more wins than Romney t this point in the race?

Rick Santorum had a breakthrough night Tuesday, winning GOP presidential contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado, all of which is expected to breathe life into his struggling campaign and slow Mitt Romney’s march to the Republican presidential nomination.

The Santorum triumphs promise to, at least temporarily, alter the face of the campaign going into the crucial “Super Tuesday” contests, as the caustic tone of the primaries is expected to continue and intensify. Romney and his allies have signaled that they will use their financial advantage to launch stepped-up attacks on Santorum and on former House speaker Newt Gingrich, the other main challenger.

Cal it what you want, sweep, hat trick or trifecta … what Santorum accomplished last night was impressive. However, the only fear of a Santorum-Obama match up are the words that actually came from Rick’s mouth when discussing an election without negative ads and being outspent in advertizing 5 to 1. Conservatives and Republicans have to take a realistic look at this and know that Obama is going to outspend any GOP candidate and as for negative ads, forget about it.

However, one thing is for certain, maybe its time for Newt Gingrich to get out of the race and Santorum is the people’s conservative choice. Gingrich is in trouble, maybe its time to fade into the sunset. Santorum is now the non-Romney candidate.