after losing to santorum in iowa and gingrich in south carolina, romney racked up a number of wins in later contests, emerging as the eventual frontrunner after taking the lion's share of states and delegates in the crucial super tuesday contests, despite an embarrassing loss in the colorado caucuses and near-upsets in the michigan and ohio primaries. romney was nominated in august and chose congressman paul ryan, a young advocate of drastic budget cuts, as his running mate. throughout the summer polls showed a close race and romney had a good first debate, but otherwise had trouble reaching out to ordinary voters. he lost to obama 51% to 47% and instead of gaining in the senate as expected, republicans lost seats.