Sasha Issenberg: “Once-meaningful distinctions between early voting, voting-by-mail, and absentee ballots are being erased as 32 states now offer voters the chance to cast their ballot before Election Day without a justifying excuse… Romney’s canny and competent handling of these varied early-voting processes this year has helped him accumulate a seemingly insurmountable lead in delegates. He is running the only modern, professional campaign against a field of amateurs gasping to keep up, and nowhere is that advantage more evident than in his mastery of early voting. Capitalizing on early-voting procedures demands formidable investment up front in the service of later savings.”

“Romney has likely already reaped enough gains from mastering the system in earlier states to ensure he is the only Republican who could enter the Tampa convention in August with enough delegates to become the nominee.”

Mitt Romney told Fox News that he would not pick Rick Santorum as his running mate because he’s not conservative enough.

Said Romney: “Well, that would preclude, of course, Rick Santorum. Because, I mean, look at his record. I find it interesting that he continues to describe himself as the real conservative. This is the guy who voted against right-to-work. This is the guy who voted to fund Planned Parenthood. This is the person who voted to raise the debt ceiling five times? … Rick Santorum is not a person who is an economic conservative to my right.”

[Read more…]

Nate Silver warns about paying too much attention to the recent primary polls from Alabama and Mississippi because “polls in these states have a pretty awful track record.”

“The problems also seem apparent in the other states that make up the Deep South — Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina. Polls in those three states have missed by an average of 4.2 percentage points — or 4.4 percentage points if you also include Alabama and Mississippi in the total.”

“I’ve got a lot of good friends — the owner of the Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets — both owners are friends of mine.”

— Mitt Romney, in an interview with an Alabama radio host Paul Finebaum.  Romney made a similar comment last month about NASCAR team owners.

Mitt Romney told Fox News that dragging the Republican presidential nominating process through the summer would be a big problem.

Said Romney: “Look, if we go all the way to a convention, we would be signaling our doom in terms of replacing President Obama… We sure as heck are not going to go to a convention, all the way to the end of August, to select a nominee and have campaign working during a convention. Why, can you imagine anything that would be a bigger gift to Barack Obama than us not having a nominee until the end of August? That is just not going to happen.”

“It’s always a burden to run with ‘R’ for Republican after you name.”

— Mitt Romney, in an WBZ4 interview when he was running for Massachusetts governor in 2002.

The most interesting detail from a new survey by Public Policy Polling is that a majority of Republicans in Alabama and Mississippi — states with primary elections on Tuesday — believe President Obama is a Muslim.

Key findings: In Alabama, 45% of Republican voters in Alabama think Obama is a Muslim, while 41% are not sure. In Mississippi, 52% of Republicans think Obama is Muslim, while 36% are unsure.

“If I’m a weak frontrunner, what does that make Newt Gingrich? Because I’m well ahead of him.”

— Mitt Romney, quoted by Politico, responding to Newt Gingrich’s characterization of his campaign.

Though he’s surprised many with his strong showing in recent polls, NBC News notes Newt Gingrich “has spent a combined 10 days in both states — six in Alabama and four in Mississippi.”

“By comparison, Rick Santorum has spent three days in each of those states, while Mitt Romney has spent two days in each. Ron Paul has not visited either state. And no candidate has campaigned in Hawaii, which also holds its contest on Tuesday.”

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that more than half of Americans for the first time expect President Obama to be re-elected.

But it won’t be easy: Even as expectations have moved his way, rising gas prices have dented the president’s rating on handling the economy, his overall job approval has slipped back under 50 percent and he’s reverted to a dead heat in public preferences against Mitt Romney.

“This isn’t a mathematical formula — this race has a tremendous amount of dynamics.”

— Rick Santorum, in an interview on Meet the Press, on the GOP delegate chase.