Puerto Rico Primary Now Proving Important

While many Americans may see the next big contest in the Republican Party's nominating process next Tuesday in Illinois, that might not be the case. Sure, with 69 delegates at stake, Illinois is an important contest, but this Sunday's caucus in Puerto Rico might actually prove to be bigger. That's because the commonwealth and unincorporated U.S. territory has 23 delegates at stake -- 20 of which will go to the candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

That means the winner of Puerto Rico contest could end up with more delegates than a lot of states, particularly those who have proportional delegate distribution. Here is a closer look at the race in the Caribbean:

* Rick Santorum was the first of the major Republican candidates to visit Puerto Rico during the 2012 campaign. He arrived on Tuesday following his victories in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries.

* On Wednesday Santorum met with Puerto Rico's governor Luis Fortuno, who has already endorsed Santorum's rival Mitt Romney.

* Fortuno is a rising star in the Republican Party. There has even been some speculation about Fortuno being a long-shot choice for a vice presidential role on the GOP ticket.

* Romney will travel to Puerto Rico on Friday, after Santorum has left, to host a rally at the Capital that evening. None of the other candidates have indicated that they will visit the commonwealth. Neither Newt Gingrich nor Ron Paul expects to be competitive in Puerto Rico.

* On Wednesday Santorum spoke out in favor of statehood for Puerto Rico but indicated that in order for that to happen it should adopt English as its primary language. Both Spanish and English are the official languages on the island.

* In November Puerto Ricans will vote on a referendum on U.S. statehood, the first referendum vote the commonwealth has had in 14 years.

* While no polling exists for the Puerto Rican primary of Puerto Rico's three super delegates, according to the Green Papers, two have already endorsed Romney. The other super delegate has endorsed Gingrich. They are not binding endorsements however.

* There is expectation that the turnout in the Puerto Rican primary will be high, perhaps as much as 400,000.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/puerto-rico-primary-now-proving-important-230800766.html

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