(Newser)
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Rick Santorum may be at the top of the polls in Ohio, but even if he wins there, he may not win. Because his campaign missed several eligibility deadlines, he could lose up to 18 of the state's 63 available delegates, report the Cleveland Plain Dealer and ABC News. In nine districts, Santorum's campaign filed either incomplete delegate slates or none at all. Even worse, several of those problematic districts are areas where Santorum was expected to perform well.
Santorum is not even on the ballot in Virginia, and failed to file full slates in Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Illinois, but the eligibility requirements in Ohio were considered easier. Santorum's campaign said that because he is one of the leading candidates in the GOP primaries, he should—and will—receive the full delegate count he wins on Tuesday, but the Romney campaign disagreed. “The fact that he cannot execute the simple tasks that are required to win the Republican nomination proves that Rick Santorum is incapable of taking on President Obama’s formidable political machine," said the campaign. The state party would have the final say.
