Here come the blind quotes about down-ballot fear on the GOP side: “The way this thing has been done has hurt the party some,” said one GOP House member facing a tough race, per The Hill. “There will be a whole lot more stability in the Republican Party overall as soon as we finalize who the presidential candidate is going to be. It’s cascading down into our races: People are all very undecided and not even paying attention.”
And how about this: “You almost have a reliving of the Civil War going on in the Republican Party right now,” said Craig Smith, a speechwriter in the Ford and first Bush administrations.
Bill Kristol said, per Political Wire: "So it's not over. And here's why D.C. GOP teeth are gnashing so fiercely and loudly: It won't be over for a while."
Karl Rove: "Every Republican running for president got something on Super Tuesday. Not all they wanted, but enough to convince themselves to carry on, making it likely the GOP race goes on for months, not weeks."
Rich Lowry calls Romney “The candidate of 'eh'.” And: “Rarely has a candidate seemed so inevitable and so weak at the same time.”
GINGRICH: “Republican insiders believe Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign is on its last legs and say the former House Speaker could leave the race after Tuesday’s primaries in Alabama and Mississippi,” The Hill writes.
PAUL: The Weekly Standard simply has this headline: “0-for-23.”
ROMNEY: “Mitt Romney’s campaign advisers Wednesday morning, hours after winning six states around the country, claimed they are amassing a lead that would be ‘insurmountable’ for any of their rivals to overcome,” the Boston Globe reports. “The former Massachusetts governor has oftentimes not delivered the kind of red meat rhetoric that excites the conservative base. But his advisers, making a methodical mathematical argument, suggest that it’s only a matter of time before he wins the nomination.”
By the numbers: “His advisers say they need to win 48 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination; he’s won 53 percent so far. Santorum, who has won 22 percent of delegates so far, would need to win 65 percent; Gingrich, who has won 13 percent, needs 70 percent.”
AP: “No, it's not over yet. But at this rate Mitt Romney's rivals won't catch him unless they pull off an unlikely fight at the Republican National Convention in August. Romney is on a delegate-winning pace to secure the nomination in June, and at their current rate none of his GOP foes will reach even half the number needed.”
SANTORUM: Santorum on FOX said of Gingrich, per GOP 12: “Well, of course, he should stay in if he wants to stay in. And I've said that from the very beginning. You know, what I'm -- what I'm saying is that the best chance for us to nominate a conservative is to get in a one-on-one match with Governor Romney.”
Santorum’s not for air strikes in Syria yet, saying he doesn’t know enough of what’s happening on the ground: “I'm not quite prepared to go there at this point in time. But certainly, since someone like Senator McCain has put that forward, then I would -- I'm certainly consider it."
“Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told supporters Wednesday in northeast Kansas that winning the state's upcoming GOP caucuses are important as he tries to overcome front-runner Mitt Romney and capture the party's nomination,” the Detroit Free Press writes from Lenexa, Kan.
