Visual source: Newseum
Reuters:
Mitt Romney's narrow win in Michigan is unlikely to ease lingering doubts about his candidacy or head off the possibility of a long and divisive presidential nominating fight that is damaging Republican chances in November's general election.
The close result in Michigan at least temporarily returned Romney to his frontrunner status and averted an outbreak of panic among Republicans worried that staunch social conservative Rick Santorum could doom the party in the November election.
Rick Santorum scares Republicans. That is a political fact, established by primary voters and reinforced by the pundits. Understand that before writing comments about how scary you think Santorum is. Hey, it's one of the few things that unites conservatives and progressives. Another, of course, is that Romney sucks as a candidate.
NY Times:
After 5 caucuses, 6 primaries, 20 debates and $30 million in television commercials, Mitt Romney leaves here facing the same stubborn question: Can a onetime Northeastern governor with a history of ideological migration win the Republican presidential nomination in the era of the Tea Party, with all its demands of political purity and passion?
That base sure isn't donating. Romney's got the billionaires and who else? The only reason he won, say the exit polls, is because Republicans vote as strategically as the Democrats.
AP:
Given to awkward utterances, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney sized up his Michigan primary victory with memorable precision.
"We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough," he told cheering supporters Tuesday night after eking out a hard-won triumph in his native Michigan over a determined Rick Santorum.
Romney will be the nominee. America deserves much, much better, but it is what it is.
Maureen Dowd:
Rick should scat.
Mitt Romney needs to be left alone to limp across the finish line, so he can devote his full time and attention to losing to President Obama.
Kathleen Parker:
Politicians say the darnedest things, especially when their lips are moving.
Perhaps it is on account of such a long primary season, but the more they talk, the tastier their feet. While Mitt Romney is merely guilty of saying things that make him seem disconnected from the lives of most Americans, Rick Santorum makes ideological statements that make him appear to be disconnected from the present tense.
Okay, so he's more Ronald McDonald than Ronald Reagan and this isn't 1980. So here's something to make it simple: if you can't win, Rick, you lose.
Harold Meyerson:
The longer the Republican presidential contest drags on, the more uncomfortable Mitt Romney seems around blue-collar Americans, and the more antagonistic Rick Santorum seems toward America’s professionals, current and aspiring, and their ideals. This does not portend Republican success in November. Romney’s victories in Arizona and Michigan on Tuesday do not alter this dynamic.
Can you just smell the momentum in the morning? Oh, wait... maybe it's something else.
Dana Milbank:
Fellow Republicans, as I stand here tonight to accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States, I feel like a million bucks. Actually, I feel as if I am worth between 150 and about 200 some-odd million dollars. It is difficult to say with certainty because some of it is in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Luxembourg and a Swiss bank account.
Word.