Romney Reigns In Puerto Rico, Ctd

Patrick Caldwell castigates the coverage of Romney's triumph as compared to other caucuses:

Romney won 88 percent of the vote, shutting out Rick Santorum from collecting any new delegates. The estimated 22 delegates Romney collected in Puerto Rico are three more than Santorum won in Alabama and 13 more than he reaped in Mississippi. Yet scan the newspapers this morning and you'll find scant coverage of the caucus. Unlike the state's Santorum won last week, Romney's dominating victory hasn't triggered a series of articles questioning whether the state of the race has been overturned.  …

However Illinois shakes out, the best Santorum can likely hope for is a close split with Romney, perhaps granting him around 35 of the state's 69 delegates. Those delegates don’t have a higher value just because they are gleaned from a tighter race.

Steve Benen is equally unhappy with the Romney campaign's attempt to spin the caucus win as proof of his ability to appeal to Latinos:

In case the GOP frontrunner has forgotten, take a look at the latest Fox News Latino poll:

Latino-chart

[O]n the left, the columns show Obama's edge over the GOP nominee in 2008, when exit polls showed McCain losing this constituency by 36 points. On the right, those columns show Obama's advantage over Romney among Latino voters. "Those people who don't think that Latinos will vote for a Republican need to take a look at Puerto Rico"? Let's be serious — Romney drove Latinos away to curry favor with his right-wing base. A primary win doesn't change that fact.