Matt Drudge is a funny guy.  

It is Leap Day, so even Maureen Dowd can be right for once!

Rick Santorum has got to tighten his game up.  I continue to believe he’s the best guy in the best position to knock both these progressives, Romney then Obama, off their lofty perches of power, but he has got to be more disciplined.

Throwing up, college arguments, flip-flopping on Dems in R primaries.  These self inflicted paper cuts things created a wound where there would have been none.  He’s got to embrace that as the A) social conservative B) anti-establishment Republican C) frontrunner, he is judged by a moving standard that only escalates in scrutiny.  I’m on his side, but if he can’t own that and be more than okay with it he’ll be done.

If you look at the numbers in Michigan, two things stand out in contrast to your assertions.

First, Romney’s negative ads didn’t move Santorum’s numbers.  Rick’s support last night was within the margin of error of his numbers in Michigan for the last few polls.  Romney was able to attract nearly all the undecided and late deciders, though.

His home-boy routine may have helped, but surely Santorum’s gaffe-a-minute performances since becoming the putative national frontrunner were the biggest part.  Keep telling yourself his stumbling debate and serial backtracking/explaining of his remarks has no effect.  They don’t move the True Believers, but those are not so many as you wish to believe.

Looking at exit polls, you omit the fact that Romney won the Tea Party vote in both Arizona and Michigan.  He also won it in Florida and Nevada and New Hampshire.

Looking at Ohio polls, you omit the fact that fully half of those who have expressed a preference in the recent ones indicate they could still change their minds.  That’s not the undecided voters, they are the “decided” ones.  If there is one thing we have learned in this cycle, it is that the electorate can and does shift faster than polls can detect.

Word now is that the “loser” Santorum may take more delegates out of Michigan than Romney will.  Please, defeat him like that some more.

 What really shocked me is Romney winning the Catholic vote in Michigan. He didn’t win a majority but he did win something like 41 percent. After I got to thinking about it though, Catholics are mostly moderate to outright liberal, so it makes sense, especially in an open primary.

Santorum was still riding his  wave as the last unrejected not-Romney when the poll was taken.  He wasn’t done shooting himself up, either. He  hadn’t yet  pulled his election-eve stunt of calling for pro-union ”Reagan Democrats” to spoil the Republican primary because, not *at all* like himself,  Mitt opposed the auto bailout.  (yes, Santorum also opposed the bailout, but because he, unlike Romney, also opposed TARP, that makes his hypocrisy acceptable. But, because its an open primary anyway, the tactic doesn’t stink. Or so his defenders claim). Oh, and he hadn’t been crushed in Arizona or lost Michigan, either.  When Romney’s campaign takes advantage of this *brilliantly foresighted* move which isn’t desperate *in the least*,   and publicises it, that’s all negative and mean.  He  hadn’t won the coveted Michal Moore and Daily Kos endorsements as most likely to spoil the Republican race. Well, at least he did better among the crossover Democrats than among actual Republicans. 
 

 Tell it to the chaplain.  Nobody else besides the rabid Santorum fan base cares.

When you have to claim a moral victory, it ALWAYS means you lost.

Drudge a Romney fan?

More like a wholly-owned subsidiary,  same as Coulter… and uncoincidentally he’s pumping her pro-Mittens tripe all the time now too

>” However, I don’t wish to sound all Bill Quick in my tepid attitude toward Romney.”

You might want to consult a thesaurus, becuase “tepid” does not mean “to hate a persons guts with an irrational spittle-flecked fury”.