sort of organically be eliminated from this race? will conservative voters now look at him and say you re done, our vehicle now is santorum. we have that one-on-one race now. it s all solidifying around santorum. michele, by the math, mitt romney was the winner. he took the most delegates, cemented his national delegate lead thanks in part to the good people of hawaii and american samoa, those important states. why does it feel like he s in trouble today? well, i think because it was a bit of a surprise for santorum to take both states. nobody expected the santorum sweep so to speak in the south which suggests that the conservative bat is drawing to a close. as people have noted, there s no reason mathematically or in terms of being a real prospect for newt to stay in. at this point, it s sheer meanness or maybe there s the suspicion he s staying in there as a way to kind of keep the establishment happy and you
university professor microal eric dyson, michele cottle of news week and the daily beefrt and the senior writer from the salon.com. congratulations, steve. i have to start with you and i read your article the moment mitt s dreaded. with all the campaign disasters there have been for this man, i guess if he did drink alcohol, he would be crying into his beer today, wouldn t? he yeah, or at least maybe a little more apprehensive about the future of this race than he s probably had reason to be because he s kind of been protected from the beginning of this process by the fact that there were so many conservatives running against him trying to be that romney alternative and conservative votersen an activists couldn t seem to settle on one. you have this feeling coming out of alabama and mississippi that this is the moment that santorum, this is the moment that conservatives have been building towards here. i know gingrich is still there. doesn t sound like he s going to go away on his
election. and i would say with all respect to my friend from pennsylvania, senator santorum, there is a big difference between being a good team member and changing the game. and i can t believe i m actually saying this, but the man we hated to see leave the race may have summed it up all rather accurately. well, it wasn t a super night for anyone when you think about it being super tuesday. please, rick, come back. all is forgiven. joining us now, our panel, michele cottle, a writer for news week and the daily beast, democratic strategist julian epstein and political analyst professor michael eric dyson, a professor of sociology at georgetown university. ulian, you ve previously said that mitt romney is king pirus. he won six states last night but continues to suffer grievous injuries in the process. is he better positioned for the position following super tuesday or about to face for arrows down
silver lining for romney in ohio yesterday was that he was doing well in plays like cuyahoga county. so if he becomes the nominee, he can make the argument ostensibly that he can compete in areas of ohio and other swing states where he needs to be competitive in order to win those states. but look, i think professor dyson makes a critical point. why is it that santorum and gingrich stay in this race when the math is so foreboding for them? for gingrich, as professor dyson said, it s an exercise in nothing more than narcissism. it s almost impossible for him to win this race. for santorum who again i think is the key obama ally at it point, santorum is running for 2016. his folks understand that he really can t win this race but he s positioning himself for 2016. but both santorum and gingrich are putting themselves in front of party. there s almost nobody outside of those camps inside the democratic party that believe what they re doing is good for the republican party at this point.