Gingrich and Santorum Are Delusional

As Rick Santorum so aptly indicated in his non-concession concession speech last night, we are at half-time in the Republican nomination process. With 3 decisive wins yesterday, its quite apparent that Mitt Romney -- barring any Howard Dean-like meltdown -- will be the Republican nominee for President. At this juncture, Romney has, on average, captured nearly 60% of the delegates that had been up for grabs. He now only needs to capture 40% of the remaining delegates to win the nomination; and, its obvious that he is gaining momentum. Yet, Santorum and Newt Gingrich refuse to drop out.

To me, Gingrich is the most delusional of the two. He seems to think that, somehow, he and Santorum will garner enough delegates to deprive Romney of the 1144 needed to win. Then, he's got this egotistical idea that he will make one, single speech at the Republican Convention and the delegates will fawn all over him and switch there allegiances to give him the nomination. This from a guy who has been fighting with Ron Paul for last place in the primaries. Think about this. If, consistently, 85% or more of the Republicans won't even vote for him in the primary races then, why, in the world, would a majority of Americans vote for him in the general election?

Then, there's Santorum. He now thinks he's some kind of reincarnation of Ronald Reagan. In last night's speech he compared himself to Reagan by implying that, like Reagan, he will run the table in all the remaining primaries. But, Santorum is no Reagan; neither in notoriety, personality, temperament, cleverness, or experience. Santorum believes he should attack Romney to win the nomination. Reagan believed in the so-called 11th commandment and he didn't attack other Republicans running against him. He won the nomination by attacking Carter's policies. And, when attacked by other Republicans, he simply deflected their attacks by using facts and, often, humor. Santorum is being a destructive attack dog that may well hurt Romney in the general election; thus, reelecting Obama. He can certainly stay in the race but, he should tone-down his harsh rhetoric. Lastly, Santorum has only been able to capture 24% of the delegates as compared to Romney's 60% win rate. Like Gingrich, the math is surely against him.