"The good news for Romney is that he is still the front-runner. The bad news is that the doubts about his candidacy are only going to grow stronger."
If there was urgency in the messaging from Camp Romney it was also because the next stretch looks rocky. Caucus voting in Kansas on Sunday followed by contests next week in Mississippi and Alabama give fresh openings for Santorum, who has ample reason to declare himself the only viable alternative.
Illinois, voting on March 21, is also a state where Romney might trip up.
A Romney memo laid out why it is impossible for anyone to catch up in the delegate count - Romney has 415 delegates while Santorum owns 176, Newt Gingrich 105 and Ron Paul 47 - but failed to say how he hopes to gain the 1144 needed to clinch the nomination.
"Super Tuesday dramatically reduced the likelihood that any of Governor Romney's opponents can obtain the Republican nomination," the memo said.
"As Governor Romney's opponents attempt to ignore the basic principles of math, the only person's chance of winning they are improving is President Obama's."
That Romney addressed the chatter that the race may not be settled before the convention in Tampa was an admission of weakness.
"One thing I can tell you for sure," he said on CNBC, "is there's not going to be a brokered convention where some new person comes in and becomes the nominee."
Conservative bloggers rushed to puncture the Romney balloon. "Were I Mitt Romney I'd be wondering how I spent 5.5 times as much money as Rick Santorum and barely won Ohio," wrote Erick Erickson of the conservative blog RedState.
Exit polls in Ohio and Tennessee showed four in 10 voters were unsatisfied with the candidates they picked. The polls had Santorum heavily outscoring Romney among evangelical Christians, rural conservatives and blue collar Republicans.
But Santorum's case for crowing was also weak. If he had taken Ohio it might have been different.
"For Romney, a win is a win," Peter Brown, of Quinnipiac polling, said. "Finishing a close second in Ohio is nice for Santorum, but second is second. What's his argument to donors? 'I can finish a close second?"'
- Independent