How important will WI be in determining GOP presidential candidate?

MILWAUKEE -- Mitt Romney thought he had all the momentum heading into Super Tuesday. The former Massachusetts governor easily won Arizona's primary Tuesday, and won the popular vote in his home state of Michigan. However, it turns out Romney and Rick Santorum equally split Michigan's 30 delegates to the convention.

With Super Tuesday quickly approaching next month, no candidate has delivered a knock-out punch yet. Additionally, many are wondering how important the state of Wisconsin will be in deciding who the GOP candidate for president will be?

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke about his victory by a narrow margin in his home state of Michigan Tuesday. "We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that's all that counts," Romney said.

Rick Santorum said he sees Romney's narrow margin of victory in Michigan as a victory for him. "Being outspent anywhere from six to 12 to one, depending on the press reports, you believe this is a huge, huge win for us," Santorum said.

UW-Milwaukee Professor of Governmental Affairs Mordecai Lee says the results from Tuesday's primary could put the state of Wisconsin in the spotlight. "Whoever the Republican nominee is, whether it's Mister Santorum or Mister Romney, I think they're going to be moving to Wisconsin. I think they're going to be going door-to-door in Wisconsin - that's how close things are, and I think we could really look forward to that. When national candidates spend time in Wisconsin, that means they learn about what we're concerned about, and that means they'll talk about stuff we care about," Lee said.

In order to win Wisconsin, Lee feels the GOP candidates will be analyzing last year's Supreme Court election results - where Justice David Prosser defeated JoAnne Kloppenberg by only a half of a percentage point. "I've never seen Wisconsin as equally divided. They're going to say 'what do I need to do, so I get those 7,000 votes to win Wisconsin?' That's why I'm predicting we might be the state to decide who the next president is," Lee said.

Wisconsin has an open primary election, which means every registered voter can cast a ballot in the GOP primary in April.

Super Tuesday will take place on March 6, 2012, and will involve contests in Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. Super Tuesday is the day the most primaries are held, and the most delegates can be won than on any other day of the primary calendar.