If you were running a race and at some point while you were leading by a long distance the second place runner got 1.35 percent closer to you, absolutely no one would notice.
All that would be written down in the news accounts of the race is that you absolutely annihilated your competition.
Unfortunately the political media isn't so honest about the races it covers.
The media is telling you that last night was a BIG WIN for Rick Santorum, and a BIG LOSS for Mitt Romney.
They say there is a "narrative" ( that means story) where Romney hasn't solved his "Evangelical problem" and "has problems in the South"?
This is a distraction. Let's talk votes and delegates.
Total up all the votes from all the primaries and caucuses and it looks like this:
Mitt Romney: 3,223,633 votes or (39.16%) of the votes cast.
Rick Santorum: 2,075,781 votes. or (25.22%) of the votes cast.
Mitt Romney has won almost 1.2 million more votes than Rick Santorum overall. How much did Rick Santorum gain on him last night?
39,119 votes.
So in Rick Santorum's "big wins" he erased approximately 1.35 percent of Romney's lead in votes. That's it. And remember, four years ago Mike Huckabee won these state primaries, but no one for a second believed that he had a chance of taking the nomination away from John McCain.
And Santorum fell further behind Romney in delegates last night, if you add the results from Hawaii and American Samoa.
The final tallies aren't in yet, but it looks like Romney will pick up at least 39 delegates, while Santorum will gain at least 32. Newt Gingrich looks poised to get at least 24 delegates, and Ron Paul has picked up 1 so far
It is only going to get worse for Santorum. Next week there is a primary in Illinois. Santorum's campaign didn't have the resources and organization to qualify for all the delegates according to State House News Online:
Santorum appointed just 44 of 54 delegates in the state. The other three candidates all have a full slate of 54 delegates.
Even if Santorum wins just a few more popular votes again, Mitt Romney is likely to win the delegates again.
So let's go through a couple of typical media "takes" on the race.
70 percent of voters in these Southern States voted against Mitt Romney.
So what? About 65 percent votes against Rick Santorum, and 68 percent against Newt Gingrich. That's the nature of a four way-race.
Mitt Romney has a problem with some sub-group of the Republican party. It could hurt him in the general election.
Four years ago we were told over and over again that Barack Obama had trouble with "working class white Democrats" because Hilary Clinton was winning them. Guess what, he still won. You might not be the first choice of every Republican in a group of Republicans, but against a Democrat most Republicans will vote for you.
The next contest is the pivotal one.
We've been saying this over and over again. Florida was the real test. Then Michigan was pivotal. Next Ohio was crucial on Super Tuesday. Two days ago Alabama and Mississippi were all important. Now it is Illinois.
And yet, Romney's lead in votes and delegates keeps growing.
Get used to it: Romney is winning.