Mitt Romney won the Maine Republican caucuses Saturday, overcoming a strong challenge by Ron Paul that drew national attention to the normally low-key contest,” 39%-36%, the Portland Press Herald writes.
The Bangor Daily News: “The Maine Republican Party declared Mitt Romney the winner of its presidential caucuses on Saturday, but narrow second-place finisher Ron Paul said he wasn’t ready to concede the state until all communities had caucused.”
The Boston Globe: “Mitt Romney pulled out a narrow win in the caucuses in Maine [Saturday], reinforcing his front-runner status after suffering a trio of defeats Tuesday in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.”
Yet in a message to supporters last night, the Ron Paul campaign suggested at chicanery over Maine’s decision to declare Mitt Romney the winner before all the votes were counted, NBC’s Anthony Terrell reports. Campaign Manager John Tate called the Washington County GOP decision to postpone the caucus for snow an “excuse.” Tate even mocked the decision after the predicted three to four inches of snow resulted in only a “dusting.”
Per the Portland Press Herald, a county party official said he didn’t think the outcome in that county would give Paul the number he would need to make up the difference.
Just 113 people voted in Washington County in 2008, and Paul got just eight votes, according the FrontloadingHQ.
ROMNEY: The Globe’s Johnson writes: “Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign was undermined not by weakness in his deep and stellar resume; rather, it was damaged by doubts about the authenticity of a rightward shift — particularly in his social views — during the run-up to his first White House bid. In branding himself ‘severely conservative’ four years later, Romney added fresh currency to the seemingly never-ending doubts about his philosophical core, or whether there is anything he won’t say as he tries to win his party’s presidential nomination. It’s telling that immediately after Romney made his comment, his campaign had to issue a press release outlining proof of his fiscal and social conservatism.” (Hat tip: Political Wire.)
Romney tells National Review’s Costa: “I want people to remember that I was on the front lines on conservative social issues, on conservative fiscal issues, and standing up for conservative foreign-policy values. I wanted to reacquaint people with what they remember from four years ago.” (Hat tip:GOP 12.)
Rush Limbaugh panned Romney’s use of the phrase “severely conservative.”
SANTORUM: “Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum today implied that Mitt Romney paid for votes in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll on Saturday, where Romney beat Santorum 38 percent to 31 percent,” the Boston Globe writes.
(Um, that’s what always happens at straw polls – you entice your supporters to attend.)
The New York Daily News: “Mitt Romney had a key conservative caucus win over the weekend — but rival Rick Santorum says he bought the victory.”
The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent clips a Huffington Post piece noting that Santorum suggests that insurance companies shouldn’t cover birth control at all. “This has nothing to do with access,” Santorum said. “This is having someone pay for it, pay for something that shouldn’t be in an insurance plan anyway because it is not, really an insurable item. This is something that is affordable, available. You don’t need insurance for these types of relatively small expenditures. This is simply someone trying to impose their values on somebody else, with the arm of the government doing so. That should offend everybody, people of faith and no faith that the government could get on a roll that is that aggressive.”
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