The first phase of the 2012 Republican presidential campaign, ending with the 10 states that vote this week on Super Tuesday, has been about money and message. The next several months will be about maps and math.
Having failed to secure the nomination in the first two months of voting, Mitt Romney is turning in earnest, his aides say, to the playbook of slow-but-sure delegate accumulation written by none other than the man he wants to replace in the White House.
Like the team that engineered President Obama?s victory in 2008, Mr. Romney?s lawyers and strategists say they have devised an approach to the second half of the primary campaign intended to ensure that he methodically amasses the 1,144 delegates necessary to win the nomination, staying ahead of his rivals in that count even if they win the popular vote in some states.
On Tuesday, that strategy revolves around Virginia, where the failure of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to appear on the ballot gives Mr. Romney a good chance of winning all of the state?s 49 delegates. He is also expected to pick up most of the 41 delegates in Massachusetts, where he served as governor.
By contrast, fierce efforts by Santorum to carry the popular vote in Ohio, even if successful, could win him just a few more delegates than Romney because they are allocated proportionally in that state.