Thread: Will California Buy Romney Time to Stay in the Race?

Will California Buy Romney Time to Stay in the Race?
Last-minute polls send both candidates scrambling to the Golden State.
By Byron York

Phoenix, Ariz. — Since John McCain’s win in Florida, the conventional wisdom has been that he has nearly locked up the Republican presidential nomination. But now, just hours before Super Tuesday voting begins, a new factor has entered the equation: California. Polls, both public and those taken privately by the Romney campaign, show Mitt Romney with unexpected strength in the nation’s biggest state, sending both Romney and McCain rushing to make unscheduled stops there on Monday night and Tuesday. If Romney could win California, people in both campaigns say, the race could go on for several more weeks. And if that happens, conservatives who are trying to organize to stop McCain would have more time to work. At this late moment, California means everything.

A Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll, finished Sunday, shows Romney leading McCain in California, 40 percent to 32 percent. A Rasmussen poll, finished Saturday, shows the two candidates tied at 38 percent. Other polls, taken before February first, showed McCain in the lead, sometimes by a substantial margin.

“Our internals show it about the same as the public polls,â€

Poll taken in California puts Romney ahead, among California Women.