Mitt Romney won Michigan’s Republican primary Tuesday, giving his campaign a much-needed boost after back-to-back losses and further scramblinga wide-open GOP race.
Coming on the heels of wins by John McCain in New Hampshire and Mike Huckabee in Iowa, Romney’s victory means there is no clear Republican front-runner just three weeks before Super Tuesday. The contest could become further muddled later this month if Fred Thompson wins South Carolina and Rudy Giuliani wins Florida.
With a 100 percent of the voted counted, Romney had 39 percent, McCain 30 percent and Huckabee 16 percent.
“Tonight is a victory for optimism over Washington-style pessimism,” Romney said.
Network exit polling showed that the economy was the paramount issue for 55 percent of Michigan’s voters, compared to just 26 percent of voters in Iowa, which held its caucuses 12 days earlier. Michigan is in the midst of a long economic slump.
Eight years ago, McCain defeated Texas Gov. George W. Bush on the strength of support from Democrats and Independents, who are allowed to vote in Michigan’s Republican primary. But the percentage of Democrats voting in Michigan’s primary dropped from 17 percent in 2000 to 7 percent yesterday. The percentage of Independents dropped from 35 to 25 percent, while the percentage of Republicans jumped from 48 to 68 percent.
This was due in part to the lack of a Democratic primary contest, thanks to an arcane dispute between the state and national parties. Furthermore, this time around, some mischievous Democrats voted for Romney in a concerted effort to prevent a front-runner from emerging in the Republican field.
Romney had long acknowledged that Michigan was his do-or-die state, telling supporters in Macomb County on Friday: “If we can’t win here, we can’t win anywhere.”
During a last-minute campaign appearance in Grand Rapids, Romney invoked his late father, George, who served three terms as governor of Michigan. “I think Michigan is going to vote for a Romney again,” he said.
