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The former House speaker spent the day campaigning in Ohio and staying out of sight when results rolled in from Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. He had no immediate comment on an outcome that put into question his standing in the race. The first day of multi-state voting in the GOP race exposed a glaring deficiency for Gingrich: He lacked the resources and organization to compete. He's trying to project strength heading into a series of Super Tuesday elections on March 6, but his decision to barely campaign in the trio of states this week gave Santorum the opportunity to suggest that he's once again become the anti-Romney candidate. Both Romney and Gingrich clearly knew it would be a bad day. Romney political director Rich Beeson released a memo early Tuesday that noted that Arizona Sen. John McCain lost 19 states on the way to capturing the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. And, on Monday night, Gingrich predicted, "I think that Santorum's going to have a pretty good day." Gingrich also started making excuses for a poor showing. "I stayed in Florida to fight it out," Gingrich said. "He took the same amount of time and energy and he came to Minnesota and Missouri and Colorado. For him, that was the right decision." The race now moves to Maine, whose low-profile caucuses conclude Saturday, before heading to Arizona and Michigan. Romney is poised to do well in Michigan, given his family ties to the state his father once governed. Ultimately, history may reveal that Tuesday's results were little more than an embarrassing blip for a Romney campaign that holds massive advantages over underfunded and under-organized rivals. But it may take months to find out.
[Associated
Press;
Steve Peoples covers national politics and the presidential campaign for The Associated Press.
Copyright 2012 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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