Mitt Romney gets at-large Michigan delegates, Rick Santorum cries foul

A delegate fight in Michigan, a testy radio interview, a Tom Hanks/Bob Dole endorsement and a strange birth certificate press conference.

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WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

* The Michigan Republican Party voted Wednesday night to award its two at-large delegates to Mitt Romney, despite a memo sent to campaigns saying the delegates would be allocated proportionally. Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum’s campaign has cried foul: Spokesman Hogan Gidley accused Romney of trying “to rig the outcome” and called the decision “back room dealing political thuggery.”

* In an Ohio radio interview today, Santorum got heated over a question about his position on birth control. He called the focus on contraception by the media “absurd” and said “we’re doing increasingly well with women.” The line went dead in the middle of their conversation, and Santorum did not call back. Meanwhile, a Senate amendment that would exempt employers from mandatory birth control coverage died in the Senate.

* Former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap has decided to run for the state’s 2nd congressional district instead of for Senate. Rep. Mike Michaud (D) is considering running for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe (R), meaning his House seat would be up for grabs.

* Former GOP senator Bob Dole and actor Tom Hanks have endorsed Rep. Marcy Kaptur in the Democratic primary against Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The two were pushed into the same seat by redistricting. Kaptur worked with Dole and Hanks to get a World War II memorial built on the National Mall. Kucinich has his own celebrity supporters, including Willie Nelson and Russell Simmons. The primary is next Tuesday.

WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T MISS:

* Former president Bill Clinton is campaigning with North Dakota Senate candidate Heidi Heitkamp, gubernatorial candidate Ryan Taylor and House candidate Pam Gulleson in Grand Forks on March 17.

* Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says Romney will win, the race will likely be over by next Tuesday, and that he doesn’t even have one whole rival: “I think for certain it is a two-person race now and you might even say it is a person-and-a-half race.” Grassley hasn’t endorsed Romney but says he’s prepared to support him as nominee.

* Mark Miner, longtime spokesman for Texas Gov.Rick Perry, has joined McGuireWoods Consulting as a senior vice president in the firm’s Austin office. The office is led by Luis Saenz, another former Perry aide.

* Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona, held an odd press conference today in which he suggested President Obama’s birth certificate “was manufactured electronically.” Arpaio, who faces a grand jury investigation over alleged abuse of power, conducted a six-month investigation of the birth certificate at the request of a local tea party group.

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