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February 28, 2012

Romney Projected to Win Michigan and Arizona

Carroll Andrew Morse

CBS News is projecting Mitt Romney as the winner of the Michigan primary. He has a 41% to 38% lead over Rick Santorum, with about 80% of precincts reporting. Ron Paul is 3rd at 12%, Newt Gingrich is 4th with 7%.

And with a little over 50% of precints reporting in Arizona, Romney leads with 48% of the vote, over Santorum (26%) than Gingrich (16%) and Paul (8%). I think it's interesting that Paul did so poorly in the state that, at least at one time, was considered to be the icon of "Western" libertarianism.

But the main story, of course, is that with the candidates pretty well known to the primary voting public at this point, if none of them could beat Mitt Romney on a primary day with just two contests, it's hard to see how any of them will knock off Romney, generally regarded as the best-organized candidate, when 7 states hold primaries and 3 hold caucuses on next Tuesday.