Winning Margins Significant in The GOP Primaries

Here's a strange thing for you. Go to any major news publication, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NYT, etc, all will have it somewhere where they believe Mitt Romney will win the nomination as the Presidential Candidate for the GOP. For the most part I agree with these projections and so do many national polls. He probably is the best of the last four major candidates to beat Obama in a national election. However, with the upsets in Missouri & Colorado along with the fairly expected win in Minnesota, Santorum now has won four primaries, leaving Romney with three wins (Florida being major winner take all state). Gingrich and Paul rounding out the caboose with one and zero respectively. Here's what I find really interesting however. Beyond the near identical percentage in Iowa, when either Romney or Santorum win, it has been by a significant margin. In the graphic, courtesy of Google, Santorum won Missouri by 30 percentage points, Minnesota by ~28 percentage points, Colorado being closer with just about a 5% win. On the flip side, Romney won Nevada by 40 percentage points, Florida by 33%, and New Hampshire by 30%. Romney did capture a solid second place in South Carolina, losing to Gingrich by 13% and beating Santorum by ~11%.

I understand each of these states have different cultures, preferences, and desires, but these are in my opinion significant differences. It shows to me, GOP state parties are very different in their hopeful candidate. The question is, is this a good thing for the GOP and for those hoping to beat Obama come this November? Gingrich has said yes, but at this point, it is really going to be a very big come from behind victory for Paul or Gingrich. So really, its become a two man race essentially with neither of them really mattering any longer. March 6th, otherwise known as Super Tuesday will be the day that will most likely determine who gets the final nod. Ten more states on that day will have their say, these being Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. If it does come to be that there is an even split between these states, Santorum or Romney each winning by a significant margin, what will happen later as Obama and the Democrats start to enter this race? 


To me, if the GOP wants to beat Obama come November in a general election, March 6th needs to be the day where 100% of republicans are behind one of these two men. If not, I really don't see the GOP occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Ave any time in the next four years.