John King explains why Romney hopes Newt stays in

There seems to be some disagreement over whether or not a Newt Gingrich exodus would help Rick Santorum. On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning, Mark Haperin argued Gingrich remaining in the race might actually serve to deprive Mitt Romney from winning the nomination. But last night, CNN’s John King (video here) demonstrated why the best way to stop Mitt Romney is for Gingrich to exit the race. (This is essentially because Gingrich’s presence deprives Santorum from gaining the delegates he needs to make up the difference)

Using CNN’s map, King gamed out a few scenarios (all of which included hypothetical situations which are generous to Rick Santorum).

Here’s what it would look like if Santorum continues to do well, but if Gingrich remained in the race:

As you can see, in this scenario, Romney actually garners the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination. Next, King proposed a “dream” scenario, where Gingrich stays in the race, but Santorum dominates the rest of the primary contests:

This scenario is arguably the least likely to occur. It does deprive Romney of the nomination, however, it puts him within striking distance. He would need to wrangle less than 100 delegates to be the nominee.

Read More at The Daily Caller By Matt K. Lewis, Daily Caller