COMMENTARY | While the mainstream media continues to label Mitt Romney the front-runner in the Republican Party's race for the presidential nomination, news over the weekend has called that claim increasingly into question. While Romney is clearly a strong contender, it is now clear he has only one clear-cut victory to his name, and a minor one at that.
Saturday's primary in South Carolina handed Romney a crushing defeat, as he garnered only 27 percent of the vote against Newt Gingrich's 40 percent, according to The Washington Post. While Romney's partisans are quick to dismiss their loss in the Palmetto State, Gingrich's victory presages a strong performance in other Deep South states such as Mississippi, Alabama and Texas (where sitting Gov. Rick Perry has endorsed Gingrich). Those with long memories might also remember it was in South Carolina that George W. Bush fended off the insurgent challenge of John McCain in 2000.
Compounding the South Carolina defeat is the news that Romney didn't win the Iowa caucus. The results in Iowa were originally announced razor-thin technical victory for Romney, but we now know the caucus was marred with irregularities, and the votes of eight precincts were not counted when Romney's victory was announced, according to the Des Moines Register. The best information available now suggests Rick Santorum was the winner, according to Time.
Unfortunately for Santorum, there is no recount mechanism for the Iowa caucus, and unless the former Pennsylvania senator chooses to challenge the seating of Iowa's delegates to the Republican Convention, Romney's "victory" will stand.
But the dual weekend blows of South Carolina and Iowa undermine Romney's status as the GOP front-runner since they leave him with only one clear victory to his name: New Hampshire, a small state in Romney's political backyard. Having only one decisive victory in the bag, and that in liberal New England, is not the stuff of a Republican front-runner.
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