By Mark Rhoads -
In politics, emotion often trumps logic and it is very hard for candidates with huge egos to give up their childhood dreams. But facts are facts. There have been 19 GOP primaries and caucuses since January 1. Newt Gingrich won his home state of Georgia on March 6 by a plurality even with a majority of GOP voters casting their vote for other candidates than Newt by 53 percent to 47 percent.
Newt won South Carolina with a forty percent plurality against the field in very unusual circumstances back on Jan. 21st. But Newt has failed to place any higher than third place in the other 17 state contests of 19 so far held. But his small percentage votes almost certainly cost Rick Santorum the margin of victory over Mitt Romney in both Michigan and Ohio. That is the classic definition of a conservative spoiler campaign. Ron Paul has not won a single state contest of 19 held even though he placed a close second to Romney in Maine. The days of high ratings TV debates with all four are now over. There will be no more opportunities for Paul and Gingrich to get that kind of free media before the convention in Tampa. Both Gingrich and Paul should at least re-consider why they still remain in the race when GOP voters have already rejected them so many times even though both have spent far more money than the Santorum campaign has had to spend when he faced Romney's millions alone in major big state media markets.
