The Wall Street Journal, maps out the pathway that led to Mitt Romney’s 30,000 vote win in Michigan, which was no small achievement.  After all, the Democratic National Committee was pointing its cannon at Michigan, and encouraging labor unions to take care of Barack Obama’s peskiest problem!  But the DNC failed, and Rick Santorum’s cut-throat strategy came close, but not close enough.  Here’s why:

“Michigan proves to be a watershed in the GOP nominating fight — and it might be — Mitt Romney should thank Catholics, women and suburban voters in the eastern part of the state. They helped to give the native son his narrow victory over Rick Santorum, whose focus on social issues in the final days looks to have narrowed his coalition by enough to cost him a victory that could have propelled him to the nomination. If we can judge by his election-night remarks focusing heavily on the economy and the “independent” women in his life, Mr. Santorum realizes his mistake.

Santorum Still Feels Good About His Prospects In Ohio...And Coming Close In Michigan

Mr. Romney broke even with the Pennsylvania senator among men, according to the exit polls, but he won women by five percentage points. Most strikingly, the Mormon beat the Catholic among Catholics, 44% to 37%, and he crushed Mr. Santorum in Oakland and Macomb counties, middle-class enclaves that aren’t as Republican as they once were and where Mr. Santorum thought he could make inroads among independents and Democrats. Mr. Santorum’s strength was in the heart of the GOP base, among the more culturally conservative western and northern parts of the Great Lakes State.

Mr. Santorum’s claim to electability in November rests on his appeal to blue-collar and struggling middle-class voters, and he did beat Mr. Romney among those who never went to college and made less than $100,000. But his margin over Mr. Romney among those voters was smaller than Mr. Romney’s huge wins among more affluent voters with college or post-graduate degrees. The turnout among those latter voters was significant and helped to carry the former Michigan governor’s son over the top.

The Wall Street Journal says the BEST thing Romney has going for him heading for Super Tuesday?  His new tax cut plan of 20% across the board.  THAT should speak to voters opening up their pay envelopes and seeing them ever…lighter.

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Filed under: Economy, Featured, Inside The KC, Politics by Sonja Eddings Brown, Feb 29, 2012