A Grueling Super Tuesday for Romney and the GOP
Bloodied but still advancing, Mitt Romney methodically progressed toward the GOP nomination after a grueling Super Tuesday that underscored the continuing class, religious and ideological divisions in a closely divided Republican electorate. Despite clear signs of continued resistance in the GOP’s conservative heartland, Romney reaffirmed the verdict of his momentum-shifting victory last week in Michigan: the former Massachusetts governor is attracting a coalition just broad enough to hold off his principal remaining rival, Rick Santorum. In particular, Romney’s nail-biting win in Ohio, capping a night that widened his overall delegate lead, may allow him to begin shifting the conversation among Republicans from whether he will clinch the nomination, to when. [Related: Early Ohio results prompted mini-panic] Most impressively, Romney, across the broad Super Tuesday landscape, reconfirmed his hold on the better-educated, more affluent managerial wing of his party. Romney carried both vo...