Halftime Report

Halftime
By Jeffrey H. Anderson on 2012-03-14T12:01:00+00:00

With the Alabama and Mississippi primaries now complete, and with the Hawaii caucuses counted, more than half of the states (accounting for more than 40 percent of the delegates) are now in the books in the Republican presidential race. Through these first 26 states, Mitt Romney has won 52 percent (479 of 911) of the available delegates, a shade over the 50 percent figure he must eclipse in order to secure a majority of the delegates (1,144 of 2,286) before the GOP convention. So while Romney is currently on pace to win the nomination before the convention, he doesn't have much margin for error. In fact, to hit that target, he needs to win 49 percent of the delegates in the remaining 24 states.

Through the first 26 states, Romney has won 39 percent of the popular vote nationwide, while 61 percent of that vote has gone to other candidates.

In states that border the Atlantic, the Pacific, or Utah, Romney's win-loss record is 11-3, while Rick Santorum's is 1-13. (Newt Gingrich has the other 2 wins.) In all other states, Romney's record is 3-8, while Santorum's is 8-3. The majority of the remaining states do not border the Atlantic, the Pacific, or Utah.