Super Tuesday features 10 primaries and caucuses, with a total of 437 delegates up for grabs. But no state is attracting more attention than Ohio, a perennial general election battleground. The state is especially important for Rick Santorum, following his losses to Mitt Romney in Michigan and Arizona. Many say Ohio's March 6 primary represents Santorum's best — and possibly last — opportunity to convince the GOP that he's the party's best bet against President Obama in November. Is Ohio Santorum's last stand?
Yes. A loss in Ohio would be devastating: Santorum's "candidacy will realistically be at an end if he loses the Buckeye State," says Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal. Michigan was Santorum's "best shot at delivering a fatal blow" to Romney's campaign — instead, the state confirmed Mitt as the frontrunner. Romney could survive an Ohio loss fairly easily, given his expected domination in the Northeast on Super Tuesday. Indeed, even an Ohio win for Santorum "leaves him on life support," unless he can beat Romney in Super Tuesday's Southern states.
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