By Brexton Isaacs, Staff Writer
After a few uneventful weeks in the race for the Republican nomination for President, there have finally been a few noteworthy contests and even more laughable gaffes by the candidates.
As the first big contest since Rick Santorum’s three-state sweep in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado a few weeks back, the primaries in Arizona and Michigan were heated. Mitt Romney was looking to stop Santorum’s momentum.
The race in Michigan was the most interesting. Romney hoped he would capture the state without much challenge, being his home state and the state in which his father served as governor.
But this didn’t turn out to quite be the case. Santorum campaigned heavily in the state and forced Romney to spend valuable time and money there.
While Santorum didn’t win the state, he came close enough to pick up a handful of delegates and weaken what could have been a much bigger victory for Romney.
Santorum’s biggest victory was not in terms of delegates and votes but in the blunders Romney made while trying to relate to voters in the state.
“I was born and raised here. I love this state,” Romney said to voters. “It seems right here. Trees are the right height. I like seeing the lakes. I love the lakes. There is something very special here. The Great Lakes, but also all of the little inland lakes that dot the parts of Michigan. Uh, I love cars.”
Romney’s listing of geographical features of his home state left many voters turned off, as his speech didn’t seem quite genuine. Comedian Jon Stewart said it seemed as if Romney was playing “I Spy.”
But Santorum also made a mistake of his own when he criticized President Obama on a position generally seen as acceptable.
“President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob!” Santorum said. “There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them. [Obama] wants to remake you in his image. I want to create jobs so people can remake their children into their image, not his.”
This remark by Santorum has given many Democrats easy one liners and has made even more people skeptical when he doubled down on the comment in later interviews.
“To lay out that [higher education] should be everybody’s goal, I think, devalues the tremendous work of people who, frankly, don’t go to college or don’t want to go to college,” Santorum said.
This bizarre statement also led to many Republican officials, including Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, to come to the President’s defense.
Many people consider Santorum’s jab as unwarranted and taken out of context after reading Obama’s original quote.
“I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country — and this country needs and values the talents of every American,” Obama said in a joint session of Congress in 2009.
Ron Paul and Gingrich are becoming increasingly marginalized, but Gingrich recently had $10 million donated by Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson to a SuperPAC supporting him.
This may give him a boost going into the March 6 primary day – known to many as “Super Tuesday” due to the large number of primaries held. But his loss of momentum is something money can’t make up for.
This coming Tuesday will be exciting to watch as 10 states go to the polls. We should see at least one candidate drop out of the race, if not more, and a clear winner will potentially emerge.