The Danger of Ron Paul

Even though Santorum didn't bow out until April 10

(NEWSER) - No one's been nominated yet—but the media crowned Mitt Romney the winner of the GOP primaries after he took Michigan on Feb. 28, a Pew report finds. Of course, Romney didn't essentially seal the deal until Rick Santorum dropped out. That happened on April 10, weeks after the media had effectively called the race for Romney, finds the report, which tracked 11,000 news outlets from Jan. 2 to April 15. After Feb. 28, we saw "a suddenly intense discussion of 'delegate math' and the conclusion that no other candidate could win," explains the report's co-author. More»

Though no 'winner' will emerge from today's meetings

(AP) - Rick Santorum was mining suburban St. Louis for last-minute support today, as Missouri Republicans began gathering in local caucuses that will help determine who gets the state's 52 presidential delegates up for grabs. Santorum won the state's nonbinding primary last month and was the only one of the four Republican presidential candidates visiting caucus sites today. Mitt Romney and Ron Paul also campaigned in Missouri earlier in the week, while Newt Gingrich skipped the state. More»

Prez now ahead of all four GOP contenders

(NEWSER) - The rising economy may be enough to carry President Obama to a second term, according to the latest New York Times / CBS poll. The percentage of people feeling optimistic about the economy has surged over the last few months, the poll found, and Obama's approval rating is back above 50%, the highest since May 2010 apart from a brief bump after the killing of Osama bin Laden last year. Obama now leads all four of his potential Republican opponents, the poll found. More»

Voters don't want Barack, but they really don't want these guys: Bret Stephens

(NEWSER) - President Obama is going to win the election in November, and the Republicans only have themselves to thank. "That's what happens when you run with losers," notes Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal . Forget Obama's wealth of policy troubles: "It doesn't matter that Americans are generally eager to send Mr. Obama packing." Voters simply want to be "reasonably sure" they won't get "another fiasco." But with this Republican lineup, "they can't be reasonably sure." More»

Anti-Romney voters might have found their candidate

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney snatched an 8-vote victory in Iowa , but a lot of analysts say "man of the hour" Rick Santorum looks like the real winner. He can now portray himself as the clear alternative to Romney, and to win the nomination he "won’t have to outrun the bear, as the old joke goes, he’ll just have to outrun Mitt," a GOP strategist tells Politico . Other takeaways from last night:

• But Santorum shouldn't gloat just yet, writes James Hohmann for Politico, because this pesky thing called reality is also in the room. "He doesn’t have the money or infrastructure to keep up with Romney in New Hampshire, and he hasn’t been in South Carolina since Nov. 12." Sure, he'll grab a ton of headlines this week, but he needs to "dramatically expand his campaign apparatus virtually overnight."