Super Tuesday

Today is Super Tuesday, when 10 states hold their presidential primaries and caucuses all on the same day, delivering over 400 delegates (nearly 18% of them all).

The states and their number of delegates are as follows: Georgia (76), Idaho (32), Massachusetts (41), North Dakota (28), Ohio (66), Oklahoma (43), Tennessee (58), Vermont (17), and Virginia (49), and Alaska (27).

We will learn at the end of the day whether the Republican contenders will keep slugging it out or if Mitt Romney makes himself inevitable once again.

My impression is that lots of Republicans who aren’t big fans of Romney are wanting these primary competitions to just be over. The candidates are tearing each other apart, making them all less popular in the general public and making Barack Obama’s re-election campaign all the easier. As a result, many Republicans are willing to settle.

Then again, Super Tuesday has so many varied states that Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul may pick enough delegates to allow the carnage to continue. And if Romney continues to be unable to “put it away,” the claim that he is “electable” will lose more and more credibility, perhaps opening the nomination to someone else.

What do you think will happen?

And thanks, by the way, for your counsel on whether I should vote for Romney or Paul, the only two candidates on the ballot here in Virginia. I think my way is clear.