The Big Picture

Mitt Romney fights for primary votes

A Super Tuesday victory still doesn’t guarantee Romney a nomination

It’s been more of a fight than a race for candidates hoping to lead the Grand Old Party to victory over U.S. President Barack Obama this fall. For Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and front-runner for the Republican nomination, Super Tuesday was no exception—even if he did scrape up wins in six of 10 primaries and score more than twice as many delegates as any other candidate.

Super Tuesday, which fell on March 6 this year, is the U.S. primary when the greatest number of states hold elections to select delegates, who in turn eventually choose a party’s presidential candidate. It is watched closely because the participating states are diverse and the results often predict how well the front-runner will do in a national election.

Perhaps the most closely watched race this year was in the swing state of Ohio. About a week before the primary, candidate Rick Santorum registered a lead of about 10% over Romney in the state, causing the Romney campaign to start pumping out a stream of Santorum attack ads. The strategy paid off, with Romney collecting the win, but the margin of less than 1% was hardly reassuring.

While exit polls in Ohio showed Romney struggling to gain the approval of young Republicans, he continues to be the favourite to challenge Obama in November’s national election.

For Canada, a Romney government would likely mean gains for the oil and gas industry. “I’ll get us that oil from Canada that we deserve,” he said of the Keystone pipeline in a recent victory speech.

The next big event to watch is the 2012 Republican National Convention, to be held in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 27. There, the delegates will vote and choose just one candidate to run for president of the United States.

(From the April 2, 2012 issue)