Mitt Romney may have won Ohio by the small margin of one percent and about 12,000 votes over Rick Santorum, but the question remains: Where can he win a combination of states to equal a majority of 270 electoral votes?
Can he win New England, even his home state of Massachusetts? Unlikely, with maybe the exception of New Hampshire.
Can he win the Middle Atlantic states? Unlikely, with the best chance in Pennsylvania, but unlikely.
Can he win the South? Unlikely, despite being the GOP nominee, because of his Mormon faith. Sure, he will win some of the states but unlikely to win Florida, North Carolina or Virginia, the swing states, and a chance to lose Georgia to Barack Obama as well, with the growing Hispanic and Latino vote in the Peach State.
Can he win the Midwest? Well, maybe a few states, but he has lost all of the Midwest and Great Plains states that have had primaries and caucuses so far, except for his birth state of Michigan and a narrow win in Ohio. Rick Santorum has real support in this area of the country.
Can he win the Mountain States? Yes, for those which have large numbers of Mormons, including Arizona, Utah, and Idaho, and probably Montana and Wyoming as well, but not likely to win New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.
Can he win the Pacific Coast states? Is that a serious question? NO, except for Alaska.
If the economy continues to get better, Mitt Romney has lost his biggest issue.
If the anti woman vendetta of Rush Limbaugh and social conservatives in Congress and the states continues, as with the failed Blunt Amendment and the Virginia vaginal probe law, Romney will lose.
If the anti immigrant (Hispanic and Latino) mentality of Arizona, Alabama, Georgia and other states continues, the only Hispanic vote Romney might win is the Cuban vote in Florida and elsewhere, but not the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Colombian, and other Latin nations’ immigrants, meaning only those who are legal and can vote.
If the extremism of the GOP continues down its destructive path, Independents will leave them in droves.
Of course, Barack Obama and the Democrats must work and plan as if they could lose the election, because they could, but the obstacles facing Mitt Romney are massive, and this could have a deleterious effect on the Republican Party in many state races and in both houses of Congress.