The Republican race for the White House continues to be filled with intrigue, one week before two key races in Arizona and Michigan and just two weeks until Super Tuesday, as Rick Santorum tries to keep his momentum in the fight to stop Mitt Romney's quest for the GOP nomination.
New polls in Arizona and Michigan show a tight race in both of those states, with Romney ahead in the Grand Canyon State while Santorum leads in Michigan. Those two states vote in a week on February 28.
There was also a new poll out last night from Washington State - which votes the weekend before Super Tuesday - which shows Santorum with a strong edge over Romney, as the polling group PPP found 63% of general election voters in Washington view Romney unfavorably.
Among GOP voters, Santorum's favorable/unfavorable numbers were an amazing 69/18 in the PPP poll, while Romney was at 47/42 - much like polling in Minnesota and Missouri, where Santorum won.
"Santorum did better than Romney against Obama on both of our weekend polls," PPP reported, raising distinct questions about the "electability edge" that Romney has touted for weeks.
Santorum leads in polls in a series of Super Tuesday states - Ohio, Tennessee and Oklahoma, while Newt Gingrich leads in Georgia, and Mitt Romney is ahead in his home state of Massachusetts.
Romney should be the favorite there and in next door Vermont, plus Virginia (where Santorum and Gingrich are not on the ballot), while the three caucus states on Super Tuesday - Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota - would seemingly offer a better chance at victory to Santorum or Ron Paul.
Paul also drew very large crowds in Washington State in recent days, but his support again has not translated into big numbers in recent polls, either at the state or national level.
Moving past Super Tuesday, there are two more contests a week later in Alabama and Mississippi that certainly don't seem like Romney territory.
It makes tomorrow night's debate in Arizona all the more important.
Romney is in Michigan today, following a stop in Cincinnati on Monday that reportedly was lacking in enthusiasm.
Santorum is already in Arizona and has two events there on Tuesday; Gingrich stumps for votes in Oklahoma again, as he speaks to the Oklahoma State Legislature.
If you are one of those hoping for a "brokered" convention or just the simple situation where no one gets a majority of delegates, then you might need Gingrich to go one-two with Santorum in states like Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
That's because those two would then drain away delegates from Romney.
But let's wait on that kind of delegate dissection until after Super Tuesday.
What's clear is that Romney has a tough road ahead of him over the next week in Arizona and Michigan.
The story line is all about whether he can grab back some momentum from Santorum in those two states.
