From Atlanta, Georgia -
Wednesday was another lengthy day on the campaign trail, as I drove 450 miles to get from Atlanta to the Knoxville, Tennessee area for an event with Rick Santorum. It was a much different drive for me than in some other states.
Unlike in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and just a few days ago in Michigan, where the airwaves were saturated with ads against Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, I didn't hear any negative ads, just a lot of positive chatter for Santorum on local radio shows.
It wasn't that the various radio personalities didn't like Romney - they were clearly siding more towards the GOP edge of the table - but they just didn't care for him in a way that reminded me of how southerners often get a bad feeling about some big city slicker from the East Coast.
My listeners told me on Facebook and Twitter that they hear attack ads all the time, but for whatever reason, my day in Tennessee - furiously pushing the "Seek" button on the radio - it wasn't happening for me.
Attack ads or not, Santorum is already well ahead in the polls in the Volunteer State, as the only suspense seems to be whether Mitt Romney can finish second and qualify for any delegates.
That delegate math became an important story as Santorum took the stage at Crown College in Powell, Tennessee, just outside of Knoxville, when news leaked that there was a tie in Michigan in the delegates from Tuesday's Primary that was won - in the raw vote totals - by Romney.
"This was a huge win for us," said a beaming Santorum, who refused to let reporters rain on his parade by asking him why he lost the Catholic vote in Michigan and more.
"We're going to walk out of Michigan with 15 delegates and he's going to walk out of Michigan with 15 delegates," Santorum said to cheers.
While Santorum gained that tie in Michigan, next week on Super Tuesday he could be on the other end of the stick if things are close in Ohio, as Santorum did not file a full slate of delegates in the Buckeye State.
So, a scenario is possible where Santorum wins the raw vote in Ohio - just as Romney won in Michigan - but doesn't win the delegate count. Stay tuned on that one.
The race truly expands today, with eleven states in play over the next five days.
Mitt Romney starts his day in North Dakota, then goes to Idaho and Washington State, which holds its caucus on Saturday.
Santorum meanwhile will hold two events in Georgia before jetting out to Washington State as well. He'll go to Ohio on Friday night.
As for Gingrich, he will campaign again in Georgia on Thursday and Friday, which is probably just fine with the Santorum and Romney campaigns, because every day that Gingrich stays in Georgia is a day that he's not grabbing votes from them in other states.
Even though Georgia has the most delegates to offer on Super Tuesday, it has largely been ignored by the candidates not named Gingrich, as he has basically tied himself to his home state in recent days.
Romney was here for a quick stop and fundraiser three weeks ago; this will be Santorum's second visit in the last few weeks.
As we have discussed before, if Santorum can run a strong second to Gingrich here in Georgia, they may be able to make sure that Romney doesn't win any delegates in the Peach State - and the same could well happen in Tennessee and Oklahoma.
Obviously as we saw in Michigan, the delegate math is important. It will keep us up late next Tuesday night for sure.
