Romney takes three major caucuses but Santorum refuses to surrender

Mitt Romney scored three decisive victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington DC increasing the gap between his main rival Rick Santorum, in a bid to win the presidential nomination. The win however, was not enough to discourage Santorum from surrendering as he remained defiant in his campaign to steal the victory in the upcoming states.

Among the three primaries, Santorum provided the strongest threat in Wisconsin which Romney eventually won 43-38. The Republican front-runner enjoyed easy success in Maryland after taking away about half the vote. His easiest victory against his rival however, came in Washington DC where Santorum was not on the ballot following his failure to gather enough signatures.

Following his victory, Romney retaliated against Barack Obama’s criticism on Tuesday on his victory speech, calling the president’s reign a “government-centered society”. He said: “In Barack Obama’s government-centered society, the government must do more because the economy is doomed to do less. When you attack business and vilify success, you will have less business and less success.”

Romney currently holds more than half of the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination as he comfortably leads the race with 646 to Santorum’s 278.

Despite the wide gap between the two and Romney seen as the inevitable victor, Santorum is still looking to change the course of the election as he sets his sight on Pennsylvania, the state he represented for 12 years.

Ignoring his recent loss, he tried to rally his supporters in his speech, acknowledging the remaining half of the delegates that were still up for grabs. He said: “Who’s ready to charge out the locker room in Pennsylvania for a strong second half? Pennsylvania and half the other people in this country have yet to be heard and we’re going to go out and campaign here and across the nation to make sure that their voices are heard in the next few months.”

In a bid to secure victory in Pennsylvania on 24^th April, Mr Santorum urged the conservative voters to reject his rival, labelling him the party’s “establishment and aristocracy.”

The pressure is starting to mount for Mr Santorum as a loss in his own home state would grant Mr Romney the victory whilst simultaneously knocking Santorum out of the election race.

Rajeeb Gurung