In wake of Rick Santorum’s surprise trio of wins on Tuesday, Mitt Romney is dialing back expectations for the upcoming primaries in Michigan and Arizona.
“I’d like to win Arizona and Michigan because there are a lot of delegates at stake in both states,” Romney said in an interview set to air tonight on Fox Business Network. “And I’ll be campaigning hard to win in those states. I can’t make a prediction as to what will happen. Last time I won, but I won by 2 points. So it was pretty close. I’m not expecting a landslide. I can’t tell you 100 percent that I’ll win. I’m planning on it. I’m going to work hard for it.”
He said it was “unlikely” that no candidate would gain a majority of delegates before the convention.
“I hope I win all the remaining contests,” Romney remarked. “But remember last time around, John McCain, lost 19 states on his way to getting the nomination. You don’t win them all.”
“I expect,” he added, “that I’ll lose a number of states before we actually get to a point where I get the 1,150 delegates that I need.”
Romney would actually only need 1,144 delegates to clinch the nomination.