Romney Wins Illinois

As expected, Mitt Romney won Illinois. I was actually quite surprised that the networks didn't call it at 8 pm (they instead called it about 45 minutes later). Romney won fairly handily (47-35) and took 42 of the 54 available delegates. His hard total now stands at 485 although when you factor in caucus projections and verbal pledges from various unbound delegates he creeps up to about 545. This is about 300 delegates ahead of Mr. Santorum's total.


Next we have Louisiana on Saturday. We should also get the results from the Missouri caucuses. Those delegates are only to the district and state convention so their technically is still no allocation to any candidate. We won't get that until April 21. Then we have a reprieve until April 3 when Maryland, Wisconsin, and Washington DC all have their contests.

The big question that is floating around is when Newt will be forced to suspend his campaign. He is now officially running in the red and since nearly everyone but him sees the writing on the wall, his campaign donations are drying up. His major SuperPAC donor has also stated that he will no longer be giving that entity any more money. In all likelihood, Newt will limp through Louisiana and then cease to actively campaign. Whether he formally suspends his campaign is questionable, but economic reality will prevent him from doing anything other than keep his name on the ballot.