G.O.P. in Chaos: Brokered Convention More Likely After Tuesday Primaries

alternet.org — It wasn't supposed to happen this way. But after outspending Rick Santorum by a ratio of 5 to 1 in campaigns for the Alabama and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, lost both states to the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. Romney didn't even manage to make the number two spot in either contest; he came in third in both. The pollsters had predicted this would be close one for Romney, but not against Santorum, who was running behind Romney by some eight or 10 points in the polls. Romney's threat in the south was supposed to be former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is something of a favorite son of the region. Instead, Santorum trumped Romney in both primaries. That's how much Southern Republicans don't like Mitt Romney, who is not only regarded as a less than "severe conservative," as he termed himself in February; he's not regarded as much of a conservative at all.

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