Supporters of Rick Santorum talk about Tuesday nights watch party during the Michigan Primary. Santorum lost the state but picked up a number of delegates in the process.
—Novi, Mich. — Michigan ended up being a sigh of relief for Mitt Romney and his supporters.
After a tense race with polls showing a dead heat all the way up to election day, the GOP presidential candidate narrowly beat former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in the state primary, propelling him on his path toward Super Tuesday next week.
“It was just a week ago the pundits and the pollsters were willing to count us out,” Romney said at his election night rally in Novi, Mich.
The night was a neck-and-neck battle with the two exchanging small leads, only to have Romney pull ahead in the end. Romney won Southeast Michigan by a large margin, taking Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties.
Previous polls showed Romney and Santorum in a dead heat leading up to Tuesday, with margins between the two leading candidates barely a handful of points apart.
“We didn’t win by a lot, but we won by enough and that’s what counts,” Romney said.
Disappointment in Grand Rapids
As Santorum took the stage at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids on Tuesday night after several media outlets called his narrow defeat in the primary, he still was met by raucous applause from his supporters.
“We pick Rick! We pick Rick!” they chanted.
Santorum rallied his supporters despite the loss and thanked the people of Michigan for welcoming him to the state.
“A month ago, they didn’t know who we are,” Santorum said to a crowd of hundreds of supporters and reporters. “They do now.”
After a close race in Michigan’s 14 districts, Santorum ended up just shy of the state’s popular vote, trailing his Romney by 4 percent with more than 85 percent of precincts reporting.
Santorum said little about the race itself, although he said he was told not to take a chance in “the backyard of one of my opponents.” He said he felt the night was still a victory for his campaign judging by the close results.
Local results
Romney won Ingham County by about 8 points: 42.8 percent to 34.4 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
Political science senior Danny Gustafson said he’s supported Romney since 2006 and came to the Tuesday’s event to hear him speak about his candidacy and how he would fix the economy.
“(Romney’s) got a hand up on business, and it’s time we run the country as a business,” he said.
Following Romney’s speech, some voters still were undecided. University of Michigan alumnus Abby Zeitvogel said she’s been involved with the political process and has been keeping her ear on the issues — and the candidates — to make a decision in November.
“As a young voter, I want our leader to understand the long-term economic issues,”
Romney also took a majority of votes throughout East Lansing’s 17 districts garnering a few hundred more votes than Santorum.
Mirroring his finish at the state level, Texas Congressman Ron Paul took third in East Lansing taking four precincts — all of which were on MSU’s campus.
After the Ron Paul rally on Monday, economics junior and president of MSU’s chapter of Youth for Ron Paul Ethan Davis expected Paul to find success in Tuesday’s primary.
“Looks like he was very popular among the students to me,” Davis said. “I think that’s another indication that young people like Ron Paul and are receptive to his message and his ideas.”
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Skewing the numbers
Romney took Detroit — home to many Democrats — despite early reports in the day numbers of Democrats were looking to derail Romney’s candidacy by voting for Santorum, seeking to spite Romney and the fracture the Republican field for the general election.
Exit polls conducted by CNN showed 10 percent of all voters were Democrats — of those, 50 percent voted for Santorum, while only 15 percent opted for Romney.
International relations junior Chris Burnett, a Michigan Democrat, said around 3 p.m. Tuesday, he visited a local poll at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 3383 E. Lake Lansing Road, and voted for Santorum to win the Michigan primary.
Burnett said he based his decision on Romney’s claims featured in the 2008 op-ed article, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” in which Romney stated the automakers of Michigan should not be given a bailout check.
“I feel betrayed by that,” Burnett said. “I want to send to message to him that he needs to think more about what other people are going through.”
Law student Mark Evans, who attend Romney’s rally decked out in Spartan gear, said he’s certain Romney will secure the nomination in the end.
“They’ll become disenchanted with (Santorum), just like Gingrich or Perry or anyone else who has become a temporary front-runner,” Evans said.
Still, Santorum lead the conservative west side of the state, winning over Kalamazoo and Kent counties, home of Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids.
Santorum said he would turn the country around, starting from building up the free market for the people.
“That’s how America works best, from the bottom up,” he said. “And that’s the solutions we’re going to propose for America, the bottom up.”
Santorum still will pull away with some delegates, which are essential in securing a win at the party convention. Michigan — unlike many other states — gives two delegates for each congressional district won.
Two additional delegates will be given to Romney as the overall primary winner. It was not clear at press time how many delegates each candidate will receive.
