Romney Leads By a Million Votes

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has started to use an argument commonly employed by front-runners—that he has collected more popular votes than his rivals.

[See pictures of Mitt Romney.]

It turns out that Romney leads not only in delegates but also in the popular vote—by the vast margin of a million ballots—so he is emphasizing both. It makes sense.

This is the same argument that Hillary Clinton used against Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic race. For many weeks, Obama had more delegates than she did. So Clinton emphasized her showing in the popular vote as a way to argue that she was really stronger with rank-and-file party members.

But, as is true today with the Republicans, the delegate count was the decisive factor and Obama won the nomination.

[Santorum Sweeps, But Delegate Count Paints Bleaker Picture.]

Addressing charges that he is the candidate of the rich, Romney told Fox News, "You can't win a million more votes than anyone else in this race just by appealing to high-income Americans."

• Check out U.S. News Weekly: an insider's guide to politics and policy.
• Opinion: Don't Hold Your Breath for a Romney-Santorum Ticket.
• U.S. News Debate Club: Should Newt Gingrich Drop Out?

Reader Comments Read all comments (3)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.