The G.O.P. is supposed to release caucus results at 5:00 pm, but who knows what will really happen.
Here are some sources for results:
- AP state summary
- AP county summary
- HuffPo’s summary of AP results
- WSRP Caucus Result web page
- Twitter #WAcaucus
- Google election results
- CNN WA results
Feel free to share your caucusing story in the comment thread. I’ll provide some updates if and when anything interesting happens.
3:15:
Kate Martin @Gov_SVH
BREAKING: SKAGIT #Wacaucus results: Romney 41%, Santorum 21%, Paul 18%, Gingrich 17% (rest undecided/other) Total votes: 969
Mike Faulk @Mike_Faulk
OFFICIAL YAKIMA COUNTY RESULTS: Romney (394), Santorum (252), Paul (225) and Gingrich (136) #wacaucus
3:18:The APs Chris Grygiel tweets:
Chris Grygiel @ChrisGrygiel
@AP_Phuong – WA GOP Chairman Kirby Wilbur says caucus turnout could hit 80k. #wacaucus #wagop
Man…there must be a lot of Democrats showing up today. Mitt Romney sent a bold example. Or it might has something to do with no primary election this year….
3:26: Kirby Wilbur now says results will start coming in at 3:30. But the narrative so far on twitter feeds and political “chat rooms” is that thousands of people were turned from caucusing. The Ron Paul supporters have turned it into a conspiracy theory about keeping Paul supporters from participating.
3:33: Neither the WSRP page nor the AP page have any results yet. But there is this tweet (from Seattle Times’ Brian Rosenthal):
Brian M. Rosenthal @brianmrosenthal
With vote counted from 15 small counties, Romney is leading #wacaucus with 31.5%. Paul at 26.9%, Santorum 24.4% and Gingrinch 12.9%
…with the follow-up:
Brian M. Rosenthal @brianmrosenthal
These initial results probably represent only 10% or less of the #wacaucus vote, WA GOP Chairman Kirby Wilbur says
3:44: Here is a link to a photo of the initial official results:
4:33: With 12% reporting:
Romney 30.9% Paul 27.1% Santorum 24.1% Gingrich 13.5%
Oh…man, a narrow loss by Ron Paul is going to cause an uproar among his supporters!
5:03: Now we have 29% reporting:
Romney 36% Paul 24% Santorum 24% Gingrich 12%
5:13: At 31% the results are unchanged. Looking at the map of reported and unreported counties it seems pretty clear to me that Mitt Romney is going to win the beauty pageant in most of the remaining counties. (It will be interesting to see if Paul takes Watcom county—a sign that WWU students have been motivated and mobilized for Paul the way WSU (Pullman) students have been in Whitman county.)
Anyway…I’m calling the G.O.P. caucuses for the Mittster.
5:54: The quarter of King County that has been counted is heavily for Mitt (52% of the vote).
So now with 42% in state-wide we have:
Romney 37% Paul 24% Santorum 24% Gingrich 11%
Just for fun, here are some Ron Paul tweets coming across the innertubes:
Gabe @ninjagaben
Looks like they stole another one #wacaucus #RonPaul2012 this is bs
Sorry, kidd-o, but a couple of crappily run caucus sites does not equal “stolen election.”
Joe Public @Just_A_Joe
RON PAUL WINS MAJORITY DELEGATES in #WAcaucus today!! WOOT WOOT. Runner up Mitt wins the straw/sign-in poll. #RonPaul vs #obama
No, Joe…Washington doesn’t work like that. We won’t know who actually wins delegates until the state convention.
6:07: Every election season Snohomish County looks more and more like King County: Romney 42.4%, Paul 24.9%, Santorum 22.4%, Gingrinch 10.2%.
6:12: Ron Paul is speaking now. Live stream here: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/cvplive/cvpstream1
6:19: That’s interesting. Santorum takes Whatcom! Santorum 33%, Paul 27.8%, Romney 22%, Gingrich 11.9%.
6:22: Kirby Wilbur is refusing to call the election. Apparently he remembers the Luke Esser debacle of 2008.
6:29: Last Thursday I saw a pack of Lyndon LaRouche supporters set up at a table in front of Denny Hall on the UW campus. It made me wonder if some of the Ron Paul supporters, disgruntled by Mitt getting the nomination, would go on to form a Ron Paul cult akin to the LaRouchian Movement.
6:36: Mitt Romney tweets:
Mitt Romney @MittRomney
I’m heartened to have won the Washington caucuses, and I thank the voters for their support today. #Mitt2012
“Support” is, perhaps, too strong a word. Mitt won because Santorum, Gingrich and Paul are fucking freaks! Mitt wins by being the least bad of the pack.
If it’s anything like the caucuses here in Nevada it will take three days for somewhat accurate results: 2 hours for rural caucuses, 2 days for Las Vegas, and an additional day for the Saturday night religious observance caucus swarmed by Paulites
Why not link directly to the WSRP results?
http://wsrpcaucus.tumblr.com/t.....ial-caucus
As for my caucus story, kinda funny down here in Ridgefield where they could afford to do a mail ballot for a single tax measure, but not for a primary…
Joshua R. Poulson,
I’m happy to add that link. The first place I went to this afternoon was the RSRP web site, but there was no obvious link to the results web page from there….
In Kennewick, the GOP really messed up. Over 1500 people were turned away from their caucus site. One person turned away (a lawyer) is already threatening to sue the state GOP.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/.....qus_thread
@Poulson: Because, so far, the Rs have been pretty much complete fuck-ups when it comes to running elections and reporting results this cycle (e.g., Iowa, Maine, …).
I’m especially interested in t/o numbers. Again, so far, the Rs have turned out in smaller numbers than 2008 pretty much across the board. Wilbur predicted 60k (a record). I’m looking forward to mocking him mercilessly.
@Poulson: Re 6, see 5.
Yep, they got one helluva faux pas over in Benton County. Turning away thousands of people in the state’s most reliably Republican county. I assume they will be forced to come up with a fair and equitable solution. Meantime, the Benton County GOP Party leadership looks like a bunch of clueless bozos.
Still, getting 3,000 or 4,000 people to attend in Benton County is a major accomplishment …
So, we all know that Rush Limbuagh works for Clear Channel, but do you know who owns Clear Channel? Bain Capital, that’s who. Rush is Mitts boy, bought and paid for.
@5
Awesome…
Limbaugh Sort Of Apologizes
“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.
“I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.
“My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....d=webmail1
Roger Rabbit Commentary: That “apology” wasn’t good enough for this CEO:
“Even as he walked back his comment, though, there were signs that Limbaugh is not out of the woods yet. Another advertiser, Carbonite, posted a message on Facebook saying that it was ending its sponsorship of his show.
“‘No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady,’ CEO David Friend wrote. ‘Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show.'”
Let’s hope the rest of Limbaugh’s advertisers follow suit, because this pompous jerk has been polluting our airwaves long enough, and it’s time for him to go.
@5 Well whaddya know, GOPers can’t run their own caucus, but they want to tell the rest of us how to run elections …
@ 8 Richard Pope
To be fair, they had to bus in a lot of people from southern Idaho to get that many.
“Benegas said it quickly became apparent there weren’t enough volunteers to check everyone in — which in most cases involved looking up their voter registration on a list provided by the county Auditor and helping them find their precinct number, and that the rooms they booked were filled to capacity.”
What I want to know is, did they check everyone’s photo ID before letting them vote? If not, isn’t that hypocritical?
@9 Does this mean Mitt Romney is gonna fire Rush? And if he doesn’t, what does that say about Mitt Romney?
@15
It means that some enterprising folks on the left should start a “hey Mitt fire Rush” campaign, seeing how Mitt loves to fire people and all.
@16 Sign me up.
GOP Dirty Tricks Dep’t
“The King County Republican Party says it has received multiple reports of robo calls to voters falsely claiming the Saturday caucuses have been delayed a week.
Lisa Shin, executive director of the King County GOP, said the calls came in Friday evening bearing the caller-identification number of the county party headquarters in Bellevue.”
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c....._robo.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Bwaaaa-haaaa-haaa!!! When Republicans fuck with their own voters, you know for sure its obsessive-compulsive!
Maybe they put the wrong tape on. Maybe those calls were supposed to go out for the Democratic caucuses.
If you come from a rich Republican family, a college degree is a birthright. Anyone else who wants a college degree is a “snob.” So says Ricky Sanitarium, who went to law school, which makes you wonder whether he considers himself a “snob,” too.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ota03.html
Full disclosure: Roger Rabbit went to law school on the G.I. Bill after serving in Vietnam. My parents weren’t rich Republicans — hell, they weren’t even Republicans — so I guess that makes me a “snob.” I’m probably considered a “snob” for having the temerity to enlist in the Army and volunteer for Vietnam! You didn’t see any kids of rich Republicans do that, and since they’re the only ones who aren’t “snobs,” then by definition every poor kid who got drafted into the infantry and sent to die in Vietnam is a “snob,” too. Therefore, I consider it a great honor to be called a “snob” by the likes of Ricky Never-Served.
Oh, but I forgot, Ricky’s daddy worked for the Veterans Administration so that makes Ricky a “veteran” too. Remember when Dan Quayle put a “Vietnam veteran” bumper sticker on his briefcase? Quayle avoid the draft and Vietnam by grabbing a journalist slot in the Vietnam-era Indiana National Guard and he thought that made him a “Vietnam veteran.” Some real Vietnam veterans made him take it off.
Someone tell me again this guy is NOT a freak:
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/sta.....apital.jpg
The family dog also feels.. well the dog doesn’t feel at all because the dog is dead.
@20
More proof, as if any more was needed, that they’re not the Republican Party anymore, they’re the Neo-Feudalist Party.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....68972.html
From the Wa Rethug website, looks like there were about 48000 voters in their primary.
I think this is WAY less than what Kirby Wilbur predicted, IIRC.
Funny Money Dep’t
AIG sold $3 trillion of credit default swaps and set aside $0 to pay claims.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association decided last week they won’t pay if Greece defaults.
(Source: Barron’s)
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I have a sneaking suspicion that people will quit buying credit default swaps when they figure out they’re not worth the paper they’re written on. Who’s going to buy an insurance policy that never pays under any circumstances?
“LaRouchian cult”?
Waitaminute, isn’t he dead? Last I heard anything about that fucktard, Mike Myers was riffing about him and Colonel Sanders in “So I Married An Axe Murderer”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMS6tGOACo
“The problem with socialized medicine – socialized anything? It’s a narcotic,” Santorum said. “You don’t even know what you’re missing. You don’t even see the dynamism of life, and the economy, because you’ve been given something for nothing, and you’re happy to have it. This is not us. We are different.” — Ricky Bullshit
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....tian-ethic
Roger Rabbit Commentary: This is bullshit because you don’t get Social Security or Medicare for nothing. The money that pays for these programs doesn’t come out of thin air, nor is it taken from rich people; you work and pay taxes all your life.
What difference does it make whether your old age income and health care security is managed by the government or private businesses? I’ll tell you what difference it makes. Our government has never welshed on a promise. It has never gone to bankruptcy court to break its promises to workers and retirees. Every cent of promised Social Security benefits has been paid — and paid on time.
That’s why a pampered asshole like Ricky should never be president.
Liberal Scientist @ 24
I went to the AP site, which also lists uncommitteds 1,656 and write-ins 93, and the total for all votes was 50,764.
Not too bad, when Kirby Wilbur was predicting 60,000.
In 2008, the Washington GOP Party claimed 25,000 had attended, but never really released the attendance totals. Maybe only 15,000 attended four years ago.
Isn’t that the business model for the modern American health insurance company?
@27
Amen.
Perhaps the most grievous injury done to our country by the right wing has been the meme that government is bad, and with that the hobbling of collective action.
Democratic government, when it has the participation and support of the people, is the reflection of our collective will. The great hoodwinking has been the small number of wealthy/powerful convincing the overworked, undereducated and TV-narcotized masses to vote against their own self interest, or to not vote at all.
The PR campaign vilifying government has been wildly successful and wildly corrosive to our society. The wealth/powerful fucktards are the ones that want something for nothing – the fruits of the labor that they steal. Programs like Social Security and Medicare, as you say, do not have their funding come from nowhere – rather a slice of the production – likely too small actually, and taken from the bottom too much – is appropriated and directed toward insuring that people who have worked all their lives do not spend their final years in miserable poverty.
That’s a reflection of our collect American values, far more so than allowing some corporate manager or owner to have a say over what you can do with your uterus.
God, these sociopaths known as Republicans make me want to throw up, to paraphrase Frothy Santorum.
@30, LS:
Fundamental insight: Insurance companies are essentially investment banks.
So, basically you pay your health insurance premium to a bank. If/when it pays a claim, it is considered a loss, hence, a key measure of profitability is the “medical loss ratio”. And they typically charge between 20-40 cents on the dollar to write a check to your provider. Assuming they pay at all — as most of their employees are dedicated to denying coverage (they call these employees a “revenue center”).
Health care comes last after profits, share holders, and growth. It’s why they just hate the new requirement to pay out 85% of what they take in and/or return the overage to their customers.
I get a check from State Farm every now and again.
@31 Medical care was a lot cheaper back when you wrote a check to your doctor yourself and there was no financial middleman. We should return to that model. Just get rid of the insurers, because they’re as useless as they are expensive.
Btw, that figure is more like 30% to 80%. That’s right, some insurance companies (think cancer insurance) keep 80 cents of every premium dollar. From the customer’s point of view, it makes about as much sense as buying default insurance from AIG, who kept all the dollars and never paid anything to anybody.
I just saw The Lorax with my son. Not a great movie but way better than the Cat in the Hat. The Anti-Greed song in the middle is great and the visuals that go with it are the best. I hope it gets an Oscar nomination so they have to sing it during the Oscar night presentation.
Corporate conservatives and our trolls are going to LOATHE this movie because it questions unfettered greed and shows a consequence of that with a catchy song and great imagery.
Now to wait for John Carter of Mars!
#33. Pay the doctor directly.
That’s good for the cheap things like a broken arm or strep throat, but you try to pay for a Hodgkin’s Disease cancer treatment sequence or the monthly costs for HIV meds, out of pocket. Can’t be paid for by normal people.
That’s health care for the rich and only them.
My “hero”
(strongest of quotes on this one)
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.
I’m freaking sick and tired of these extremist right wing freeloaders in the empty counties. I’m ALL FOR cutting them off…
Heh. Let an idiot right wing governor show them how it can be done!
Yeah I’m half kidding but the sentiment is real.
# 35: Well, there’s nothing wrong with the “major medical” model, which only kicks in after the first $10,000 or so. It’s considerably cheaper than regular insurance.
Some have argued that what we need is a three-tier approach. Preventive services would be no-charge. Regular medical care would be on a customer-pay basis. Major medical, which would include most hospital admittances, would be covered by a major-medical plan.
So….
About 2% of the registered voters in Washington State, attended primaries, and less than half of them voted for Mitt Romney, who will undoubtedbly be their nominee.
Maybe that will be the total turnout for the Republicans this year – less than half of one percent of the total?
So the WSRP drew a “record” caucus attendance of about 50,000 statewide.
I must say that that’s extraordinarily unimpressive. Why, in 2008 the Democrats drew 20,000 caucus attendees in the 43rd Legislative District.
The 36th had just about the same count as the 43rd. The 34th and 46th each drew somewhere north of 15,000, and the 37th probably had over 10,000. So that’s approximately 80,000 attendees in the city of Seattle alone. As I recall, the statewide total was somewhere in the range of 180,000 to 200,000.
To the WSRP, then, I say feh!