Tagged: Rick Santorum

Mitt Romney has won the popular vote in Michigan.

Precincts Reporting - 96%

• 41.0%   Mitt Romney - 395,360 votes
• 37.9%   Rick Santorum- 366,146 votes
• 11.6%   Ron Paul - 112,232 votes
• 6.5%      Newt Gingrich - 62,858 votes

As we reported earlier, Michigan's 30 delegates will be awarded by the popular vote (2 delegates), and for winning each of the 14 congressional districts (2 delegates for each district).

As of 11:55 this evening, the Michigan Republican Party is still determining the final delegate count.

10:34 p.m.

NPR has projected that Mitt Romney has won the popular vote in Michigan. The delegates for the 14 congressional districts in Michigan still remain to be tallied.

10:13 p.m.

Rick Santorum has taken the stage in Grand Rapids, saying they've put up a good fight in his opponent's backyard.

"The people of Michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates in Michigan... and all I have to say is, I love you back," said Santorum.

10:05 p.m.

The New York Times reports that "Mitt Romney has received a larger share of the vote than in 2008 in 62 of the 76 Michigan counties to have reported at least some results so far."

A good sign for Mitt Romney.

More from Mark Memmott at NPR.org:

• From NPR's Don Gonyea: "Santorum crowd's hope for knock-out punch in MI fading as incoming vote totals now trending wrong way for them." (link) 3 minutes ago
• Here's how the AP is characterizing the race in Michigan: "Mitt Romney ... is pulling ahead of Rick Santorum." 4 minutes ago
  

Rick Santorum gave a speech to his supporters at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids.

He said his campaign put up a good fight in his opponent's backyard.

"The people of Michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates in Michigan, and all I have to say is I love them back," said Santorum.

NPR's Don Gonyea characterized the speech as a concession speech even though he didn't formally congratulate his opponent in the speech. Santorum could pick up Michigan delegates depending on how votes in Michigan's 14 congressional districts shake out.

Santorum spent part of the speech talking about energy and how President Obama is keeping a lid on traditional energy exploration in the U.S. to the detriment of the economy.

We'll have more later from MPRN's Rick Pluta.

In a race that's as close and contentious as Michigan's Republican primary has shaped up to be, one would hope that after the dust settles at the end of election day, a winner will have emerged and we can all start speculating about the next group of states set to vote on Super Tuesday (even if Michigan has secretly been enjoying all the extra media attention).

But as MPRN's Rick Pluta told Michigan Radio's Zoe Clark earlier today, it's not quite that simple.

According to Pluta, "winning"  in Michigan really depends on whether you're talking about taking the popular vote  or the delegate count.

With the way the State's primary is set up, the two don't necessarily have to be won by the same candidate.

Pluta explains that Michigan's 30 delegates will be apportioned as follows:

• 2 delegates will be awarded for the candidate who wins the popular vote
• 2 delegates for each of the 14 congressional districts* in Michigan, 28 delegates  in total (*Note: Michigan currently has 15 congressional districts but the state is losing a district this year because of the state's population decline in the 2010 Census).

So say, for example, that Mitt Romney, who has focused a lot on the relatively populous southeast part of the state, wins the popular vote.

He'll pick up 2 delegates for the popular vote and delegates for the districts he won.

But Rick Santorum, who has been courting conservatives outside of southeast Michigan, could pick up more delegates by winning in more districts.

It could mirror the 2000 election results where one candidate wins the popular vote, but the other picks up more delegates.

This is just one possibility - one exciting possibility, especially for political junkies.

According to Pluta, a lot of permutations are conceivable  including a full on tie with delegates evenly split. (For you hard-core political junkies, Nate Silver at the New York Times has a detailed breakdown of likely outcomes broken down by district)

With all this possible ambiguity, how is a winner decided? Are delegates or total votes more important?

Depending on who takes what, the candidates will no doubt try to spin the results in their favor, but Pluta says that at this point, just a week before Super Tuesday when roughly a third of all delegates are set to be awarded in a ten-state contest, perceived momentum from the popular vote could likely trump the relatively small number of delegates available in Michigan.

That is, of course, unless things drag on all the way to a brokered convention in which case every delegate could be crucial.

Either way, after today Michigan can sit back and watch the horse race continue.

- John Klein Wilson, Michigan Radio Newsroom

It's here: The Michigan presidential primary.

You've got questions? We've got answers.

Join Rick Pluta, Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network, and me for seven minutes of pure-politics (you just gotta click the "listen" link above... really, it's that easy).

Want to know more about the Santorum campaign's so-called "dirty tricks"? We got that.

Want to know how Romney could win the state's popular vote... but Santorum could actually win more delegates? We got that, too.

Oh, and how about the latest poll numbers? Don't worry, we've got you covered.

So, take a listen... in seven minutes you'll get up to date on what you need to know about today's primary.

In a close race, every vote counts.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is accusing his rival Rick Santorum of trying to squeeze votes out of Democrats in Michigan.

Michigan holds an open primary, so Michgian voters can vote across party lines.

One source from Grand Rapids has experienced this. Mary from Grand Rapids wrote into our Public Insight Network this morning:

Yesterday, I received 3 calls from the Santorum campaign to vote today. I am a registered Democrat. This morning I received one more from the Red, White and Blue Fund (Santorum).

More on Romney's response to this tactic from the Associated Press:

Mitt Romney says he's struggling with the Republican Party's right wing in Michigan because he's unwilling to make "incendiary" comments. He also accused rival Rick Santorum
of trying to "kidnap" the presidential nominating process with automated calls urging Democrats to vote in Tuesday's primary in Michigan.

Speaking to reporters hours after the polls opened, Romney suggested his rivals are making headway with the GOP base because they are willing to say "outrageous things" that help them in the polls.

Romney says he's not willing to light his "hair on fire" to try to earn support.

Romney also said phone calls by Santorum's campaign urging Democrats to vote against Romney in Michigan on Tuesday amount to an attempt to "kidnap the primary process."

Arizona also holds its GOP presidential primary Tuesday.

Everyone likes a winner. After Rick Santorum's three-state sweep in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado on Feb 7, it seems Michigan voters sat up and took notice.

The momentum he gained began to show in Michigan poll numbers on Monday, February 13.

According to Real Clear Politics, on that day, Santorum's poll numbers jumped eight percentage points, going from 14 percent on February 12 to 23.7 percent on February 13.

His numbers continued to rise until they peaked on February 15 at 37.8 percent, while Romney's were at 28.5 percent.

From that day forward the political horse race was on.

Both Santorum and Romney began to campaign heavily in Michigan, and their Super PACs were right alongside.

A week later, Romney closed the gap.  We'll see tonight whether it was enough for the presumed front runner.

From the graph above, it looks like support for Newt Gingrich fell around the same time support for Rick Santorum grew. That drop in the polls is why we're not seeing much of Mr. Gingrich in Michigan.

A day before Michigan's Republican presidential primary, Rick Santorum tried to outflank Mitt Romney on a fairly sensitive issue in Detroit: government bailouts.

Santorum blasted Romney for supporting the government's Wall Street bailout while loudly opposing its bailout of the auto industry.

Santorum, for his part, opposed both instances of government intervention in the private sector.

Election Day is here

After weeks of counting down the days, Michigan's presidential primary has arrived. Polls open this morning at 7 a.m. and Michigan voters will find eleven Republicans on the GOP presidential ballot and President Obama, uncontested, on the Democratic ballot. Votes for President Obama won't really count in today's primary, as the state Democratic Party will hold a caucus on May 5th.

Campaign finale

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul were the three major GOP candidates who spent the most time campaigning across the state over the past few days (if you're wondering where Newt Gingrich has been, you can read more about some political theories for his absence here). Here are just a few of the stories that came out of the candidates' campaign stops yesterday:

• Ron Paul speaks out against undeclared wars at campaign stop
• Santorum makes final campaign stops in Michigan
• Romney's last day on the campaign trail in Michigan

And, Michigan Radio's political analyst Jack Lessenberry; Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network Rick Pluta and I have been keeping an eye on the race:

• Michigan gets some lovin' from the Republican presidential candidates
• Huh? A vote for Santorum is actually a vote for Gingrich?
• Should you vote tomorrow?
• Michigan primaries, fascinating and bizarre

Voter turnout

Election officials are, "expecting between 15 percent and 20 percent of the state's registered voters to cast ballots in the presidential primary election. About 21 percent of the state's registered voters participated in Michigan's 2008 presidential primary, when Republicans had a contested race but Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot," the Associated Press reports.

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul spoke out against undeclared wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Federal Reserve system and the federal war on drugs to a packed auditorium at Michigan State University this afternoon.

"We still have enough freedom to wake this country up and change the direction, but it has to come from the people. It won’t come top down. It has to come from the people because government reflects the values of the people, so if that’s what you want and you speak and you do your job, Washington will change."

The Paul campaign says he has a good chance of picking up some delegates in Michigan’s primary tomorrow.

Paul says Michigan and other states should have the right to enact medical marijuana laws without worrying about interference from the federal government.

The Obama administration has taken a hands-off policy on enforcing drug laws against most medical marijuana users.