Romney’s Rejection Continues in Alabama and Mississippi

Max Samis — March 14, 2012 – 12:28 pm | Election 2012 | GOP Presidential Candidates 2012 | Mitt Romney | Republicans Comments (0) Add a comment

Last night, the Republican presidential primaries in Alabama and Mississippi proved two things: That the extremist positions held by former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is increasingly becoming accepted by the Republican Party, and that former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) continues to be rejected by voters across the country.

After publicly pronouncing that he would win in Alabama and Mississippi, Romney was only able to muster a third place finish in both states, behind both Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA). Following the results, Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) released a statement pointing out that despite Romney’s significant financial advantages, he was simply unable to “close the deal with Republican primary voters.”

Wasserman Schultz wrote:

It wasn’t for a lack of trying on Romney’s part - he had a huge spending advantage over his rivals, which he used to carpet-bomb them with negative ads. He did everything he could to pander to the far right wing of his party with extreme and out-of-touch positions like vowing to get rid of Planned Parenthood, as he did today. Romney even took the unbelievable step of playing to Southern stereotypes by faking a Southern accent, declaring his affinity for grits and using ‘y’all’ every chance he got.

The full statement can be found here.

Meanwhile, Santorum - who recently stated that he finds the separation of church and state to be “antithetical” to his vision of America - was further anointed by the southern states as the leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. As Sam Stein of the Huffington Post notes, polls in Alabama and Mississippi continue to show that conservative voters prefer Santorum or even Gingrich to Romney. Stein wrote:

Romney continued to have trouble winning the GOP base. In Alabama, 67 percent of voters described themselves as conservative. Of those, 36 percent backed Rick Santorum, 35 percent backed Newt Gingrich, while just 24 percent supported Romney. In Mississippi, 72 percent of voters described themselves as conservative. Of those, 35 percent backed Rick Santorum, 32 percent backed Newt Gingrich, and 29 percent supported Romney, according to exit polls.

As American Jews continue to learn more about Romney and Santorum, they will continue to be appalled by what they find. Santorum has publicly stated that “we always need a Jesus candidate,” while Romney continues to place politics ahead of facts on crucial issues such as Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Both candidates, and the entire Republican Party, are moving farther and farther away from values held by American Jewish voters.

Click here to learn more about Romney.

Click here to learn more about Santorum.

 

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