The top strategists at the Mitt Romney campaign may be kicking themselves today after they released a “strategy memo” to the media on Tuesday morning confidently describing why former senator Rick Santorum needs a “reality check” if he thinks he’s going to gain any traction in the February Republican nominating contests.
Of course, several hours later, Santorum significantly damaged the Romney campaign by winning all three Tuesday primaries and caucuses, in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri.
The Romney camp had previously pointed out that no delegates were awarded on Tuesday due to the convoluted process in those three states. Nonetheless, consider the almost-condescending tone of the Tuesday memo written by Rich Beeson, Romney’s national political director:
“The Reality of February — It is difficult to see what Gov. Romney’s opponents can do to change the dynamics of the race in February. No delegates will be awarded on February 7 — Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses with nonbinding preference polls, and the Missouri primary is purely a beauty contest. Except for the Maine and Wyoming non-binding caucuses running through February, the next contests are on February 28 in states where Governor Romney is strong. Arizona’s 29 delegates will be bound in a winner-take-all contest. Michigan, the state where Governor Romney grew up, binds 30 delegates.”
Worse yet, Beeson concluded the memo by declaring that the February primaries caucuses shape up as a series of losses for Santorum, as well as former House speaker Newt Gingrich.
“Speaker Gingrich’s and Senator Santorum’s campaigns have resource challenges,” Beeson wrote. “The remaining February states may not be kind to them, and their hopes for a comeback in March may be very difficult and based on an incomplete understanding of the delegate selection rules. Even ‘success’ in a few states will not mean collecting enough delegates to win the nomination.”
Now, compare those words to the gleefully partisan press release put out this morning by Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer:
“After losing all three contests on Tuesday, Mitt Romney will be limping into Michigan having won fewer states than Rick Santorum and being completely shut out in the Midwest. Once again, Republican turnout was way down, enthusiasm was nonexistent, and it was clear that the more voters learned about Romney, they more they disliked him,” said MDP Chair Mark Brewer. “Mitt Romney was counting on Michigan to seal his nomination, but with more than two-thirds of Michigan Republican voters preferring someone else (in a recent poll), Romney will now be looking to keep his campaign alive.”