Matino

The Mitt Romney campaign just let out a great big sigh of relief.

After threats that he could possibly lose one or both of the Arizona - Michigan primaries yesterday, Romney pulled out a win in both! "We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough," Romney told cheering supporters in Michigan.

As of this writing, here are the election results from last night:

ARIZONA  (87% reporting)
Romney - 47.4%
Santorum - 26.4 %


MICHIGAN  (97% reporting)
Romney - 41%
Santorum - 39.9%

Until recently, Romney was considered extremely vulnerable in his birth state of Michigan.  But a poor debate showing from Rick Santorum, combined with some rather bizarre statements regarding Satan wanting to overtake America, seemed to blow Santorum's chances and give Romney a much needed win.

In the all important delegate count, Arizona was a winner-take-all state, while Michigan split their delegates. 1144 delegates are needed to secure the Republican nomination. Here is the most up-to-date delegate count:

ROMNEY - 152
SANTORUM - 72
GINGRICH - 32
PAUL - 19

Next week is the much anticipated "Super Tuesday" contest, with voting in 9 states including Georgia, Ohio, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Virginia.  Newt Gingrich is counting on southern states (including his home state of Georgia) to give his campaign a lifeline.  Romney is hoping his dual wins yesterday will propel him into a major victory next week, while Santorum is hoping to recapture momentum from his Colorado and Nevada victories.  Ron Paul is just along for the ride.

Today is Leap Year --- the day we celebrate every 4 years, where February magically gets 1 extra day added to its already shortened month.

Today is also a milestone birthday for anyone born February 29, 1972.  Although we may think of them as hitting 40 years old today, they are actually just 10 years old (counting 1 birthday per every 4 years).

Although it comes at an odd infrequency in our calendar, Leap Year is actually very useful.  You see, our normal calendar year is 365 days long --- or so we always thought.  A full cycle of seasons is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 16 seconds long, or about 365.25 days. Over time, the extra quarter of a day adds up.  So without Leap Day, the calendar would be 1 day out of sync with the seasons. After 30 years, it would be about a week off.  After 100 years, it would be nearly a month off. And so on...

In case you were curious, Leap Year has been around for 2,000 years, since Julius Caesar created the 365-day calendar. But it is Caesar's astronomer, Sosigenes, who gets credit for adding an extra day in February every 4 years and balancing out our calendar.

So, HAPPY "10th" BIRTHDAY to all you 1972 Leap Year babies.  You might look 40, but you're still technically just an adolescent pre-teen.

As Mitt Romney heads into the Arizona and Michigan primaries today in a virtual tie or even slightly behind Rick Santorum, many within the party and his own campaign are scratching their heads wondering what went wrong.

Just a few short months ago, Mitt Romney was on a ticker-tape parade float headed straight for the Republican coronation nomination for president.  But then something interesting happened --- voters started voting.  As ballots began to be tabulated, opinion became obvious that the electorate was not as in love with Mitt Romney as some thought they'd be.  But why?

The most obvious factor has been Romney's Mormon faith, which many Christian conservatives within the GOP are uneasy about.  The Evangelical wing of the Republican party wants a Christian in the White House, so that their staunch religious convictions will be upheld. But Mormonism is an untrusted and unknown crap shoot that has caused great trepidation within the party and has limited Romney's appeal.

However, Romney's road to the White House could never just be on the backs of Republicans.  To win the presidency, he would need to appeal to a broader electorate of Independents and the so-called "Reagan Democrats."  But therein lies his problem.  Romney has spent the last several months singing to the (Republican) choir, pulling out all stops to prove he is a legitimate conservative, while remaining totally out of touch with the average voter.  To them, he has become an unlikeable phony.

Mitt Romney is insanely wealthy.  Most Americans, particularly in this economy, are not.  So when he made a $5000. bet with Rick Perry on live T.V., or when he flippantly mentioned how his wife drives "several" Cadillacs, voters were instantly turned off and couldn't relate to him.  Or in other words, he came off as out of touch and not the type of guy who could understand average every day concerns.

Mitt Romney could conceivably lose today in Arizona or his home state of Michigan or both, which would be the beginning of the end for his presidential dreams.  And if so, his entire presidential strategy will become a case study of what not to do for political campaigns to come.

Have you ever heard someone say just about anything to get what they want?

Well, that appears to be what Rick Santorum has been doing in an attempt to excite his conservative Republican base and beat Mitt Romney in today's Arizona and Michigan primaries.

During a pre-election stump speech, Santorum used both the past and the present to give a little red meat to his carnivorous conservative colleagues.  He completely misconstrued the meaning of an old John F. Kennedy speech on religious freedom, saying the speech makes him want to throw up.  He then mangled a recent speech by President Obama, calling him a "snob" for wanting Americans to seek higher education.

But leave it to Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" to point out the hypocrisy in Santorum's poor logic as self-serving and political baiting.

WATCH:

On the eve of the all important Arizona and Michigan Republican primaries, the GOP couldn't be any more chaotic and running scared.

Polls have been up.  Polls have been down.  Rick Santorum had been in the lead, then Mitt Romney took the lead, then it went back to Santorum.  The dizzying see-saw has continued, much to the delight of Democrats and to the chagrin of Republicans, who see their chances of regaining the White House dwindling from slim to none.

Last week, OK WASSUP! reported how difficult it would be for any new GOP contender to enter the race and try to save the party from itself at this late date.  But desperate times call for desperate measures and Republicans seem to be preparing for a doomsday scenario.  At this point, they have nothing left to lose.

The Republican establishment has slowly but surely resigned itself to the bleak but obvious conclusion that none of the remaining 4 candidates have a chance in hell of beating President Obama in November.  With that in mind, a secret back room deal is said to be in the works to try and find a brave Republican to jump into a virtual suicide mission and run for the presidency at this 11th hour. According to former RNC chairman Haley Barbour: "In our party it is an advantage to be more conservative, but at the end of the day I think most Republicans want somebody who can beat Barack Obama. And nobody in my opinion has made that case to the Republican voters yet - Romney, Santorum, Paul or Gingrich. I don't think any of them has made the case that 'I am the guy who has the best chance to beat Obama.'"

Republicans want Barack Obama out of the White House more than they want their next breath.  But desires don't often translate into reality.  So, what's the next move?

Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie both want to be president in their lifetime, but both seem smart enough to realize this is just not their time.  Sarah Palin desperately wants to be president and has even gone on record as saying she wouldn't mind a brokered Republican convention (her only ticket to the nomination).  But even some Republicans may prefer Barack Obama than the polarizing Sarah Palin.

Needless to say, the options are limited and the risks are high.  So again, what's the next move?