Grand Rapids, Mich. — Rick Santorum said that he will take his campaign to the Super Tuesday primary states, as he declared his second-place finish in Michigan “a huge victory” this evening given the effort Mitt Romney had to undertake to win his home state.
“I feel pretty darn good,” Santorum told reporters after his election night party. “We came within a few points in [Romney’s] backyard . . . that’s a huge victory for us.” A member of his campaign staff added that “the congressional delegates are still very close” — referring to the proportional distribution of Michigan’s delegates, which will be awarded based on the number of congressional districts each candidate carries, rather than the popular vote.
Santorum’s supporters seemed to share his optimism. “That’s a big win for him,” said local voter Lisa DeKryger. Another Grand Rapids resident, Hillary K., thought Romney underachieved. “[Santorum] performed strong in a state that Mitt Romney was born and raised in,” said after Santorum’s speech. “It’s a little embarrassing that Romney didn’t sweep it.”
Pre-election talk of Democrats hijacking the Republican primary by voting for Santorum in order to weaken Romney ultimately proved ineffective — or at least indecisive — perhaps because so many traditional Republicans stayed home.
Even Kent County, known as a home of the social conservatives who comprise the most reliable of both Republican voters in general, and Rick Santorum in particular, saw depressed turnout. County turnout in the 2008 Republican presidential primary was 23 percent, according to county elections director Susan Desteiguer. She told The Washington Examiner, in the late afternoon, that turnout in this election was down to approximately 10 percent in many of the county precincts — creeping towards 15 percent in a few areas, but still far below traditional levels.
“I think they’re all blowing smoke,” Angie of Hillsdale, Mich., said earlier this afternoon. “I don’t think they’re going to get many votes at all with all the negative things they’re saying.”
Negative campaigning from Romney — or, more often, his superPACs — defeated Newt Gingrich’s campaign in Iowa and Florida, but the Republican frontrunner seems to have left a bad impression on some voters who are still not excited about the prospect of his candidacy. “I’ll vote for him if I have to,” Lisa Crouse, a West Michigan conservative, said of Romney. “I didn’t like what he did to Newt in Florida, and now I see him complaining about Santorum today and I think, ‘turnabout’s fair play.'”
