Romney Campaign Preemptively Downplays MN, CO And MO Contests

Mitt Romney's campaign had a message Tuesday for those who would try to stop his forward momentum to the Republican presidential nomination — he's got this.

Oh, and Tuesday's contests really don't add up to much of anything really.

Romney's campaign made available to the world a memo by political director Rich Beeson in which the aide rehearsed all the reasons why nothing that will happen Tuesday evening, indeed in the rest of February or March will stop his boss' inevitable March to the glittering prize of the nomination.

An excerpt:

The Reality of February

It is difficult to see what Governor Romney's opponents can do to change the dynamics of the race in February. No delegates will be awarded on February 7 — Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses with nonbinding preference polls, and the Missouri primary is purely a beauty contest. Except for the Maine and Wyoming nonbinding caucuses running through February, the next contests are on February 28 in states where Governor Romney is strong. Arizona's 29 delegates will be bound in a winner-take-all contest. Michigan, the state where Governor Romney grew up, binds 30 delegates.

March Contests

The rules for the March states offer even less comfort to Governor Romney's opponents. With so many states and territories voting, organization and resources are key. Ours is the only campaign to be active in all of these states, and we have the resources and organization to maximize delegate totals according to each state's rules. Speaker Gingrich and Senator Santorum have no plan in the majority of the March states (although the Paul campaign has waged a systematic effort in a number of them). Governor Romney is the only candidate prepared to compete in simultaneous contests across the country.

In other words, resistance is futile.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.