Intimidation Factor

Romney Rivals Ignore Delegate Count

Mitt aide: ‘Act of god’ needed for Santorum, Gingrich.

Mitt Romney’s campaign is claiming that an “act of God” would be the only chance for Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich to claim the GOP nomination! Santorum and Gingrich are wagging their White House-grasping fingers at such a claim. The former Massachusetts governor’s team is playing up the fact that Romney leads in the delegate count: a memo released Thursday noted the difficulty that any other candidate would have of obtaining the necessary delegates to secure the GOP bid for the party’s nomination. Two thirds of the delegates are still up for grabs as Romney has a sizable lead on Santorum, 421 to 181. Gingrich is a distant third with 107 and Ron Paul has just 47. A total of 1,144 delegates is needed to win the nomination. Santorum needs to win a reported 63 percent of the remaining 1,528. Romney, meanwhile, needs just 37 percent of those delegates. “It’s mathematically possible but very uphill,” Karl Rove said of a possible Santorum surge. The memo said that Super Tuesday “dramatically reduced the likelihood” that anyone but Romney would be the GOP’s nominee.