It’s a clusterfuck down there. But somehow you just can’t help but gawk at the carnage.
Yep…we’re talking Florida, where Mitt Romney is prepared to slam Newt Gingrich to the matt—revenge for South Carolina.
I’m at the Montlake Alehouse, and maybe Lee and Carl will show up and partake of the live-gawking.
Have at it in the comment threads.
5:00: CNN just called it for Mitt Romney, 48% to Gingrich’s 31%, Santorum’s 13%, and Paul’s 7%. 56% of the vote is in, so that pretty much seals the deal. No Iowa repeat here, folks.
5:01: That was fast.
5:04: Is the race over? Is Romney the nominee? My inclination is to say, “yes”. I’ve been saying that for awhile. But then some ground truth emerges….
5:05: New polls released today:
- Missouri Primary poll: Gingrich 30, Santorum 28, Romney 24, Paul 11. Missouri hates Romney!!!
- Ohio Primary poll:Gingrich 26, Romney 25, Santorum 22, Paul 11. Ohio likes Gingrich a little better than Romney.
- National GOP Primary poll:Gingrich 28, Romney 27, Santorum 17, Paul 13. America seems to prefer Gingrich a little over Romeny
It ain’t over yet!
5:11: Don’t forget about the Oregon special election tonight. We’ll be anxiously awaiting those results.
5:22: Okay…so Lee is here and he started a competing thread to liveblog the results. This has now become an HA primary contest. Who will get the most comments? Just to be a good sport, I put his post on top. See what a great guy and good sport I am? Please leave a comment HERE if you agree.
5:32: Lee writes, “Finally at the Ale House only to find out that Darryl fucked up the Live blog plan.” Oh, man, after all Lee and I have been through. I feel just like Dominic.
5:35: As long as we are engaging in negative campaigning here, I though I would point out that in 2004, Lee voted for Dino Rossi. But voted for Gregoire in 2008. What a flip-flopper!
5:59: The next primary event is the Nevada caucus. Most of last year, Romney has led Gingrich by double digits in Nevada. That was through last October. The only more recent poll is this poll taken in mid-December. That poll has Romney leading Gingrich by +4%. Nevada may end up being more interesting than Florida!
6:04: As my opponent (Lee) mentions, the sound is off on CNN here at the Montlake Alehouse. We just had about 30 minutes of Santorum on the screen. What the fuck, CNN? That’s just disgusting!
6:06: Even though I am watching CNN, I am listening to NPR. Reporter in Florida just points out what a big win this is, “It’s the first state where [Romney] doesn’t have a house in the state or where he governed the neighboring state.”
6:08: Lee responds to the previous comment: “He doesn’t have a house in Florida?!?
6:10: Newt takes the stage, but more importantly, I see three comments on this thread and two on Lee’s thread. You LIKE ME! You REALLY LIKE ME!!!
6:11: There are two great things about Newt being in the race. First, he is one nasty motherfucker. Second, he has tons of baggage. When Newt first started boasting about running (in Dec 2010), I wrote:
But mostly it [a Gingrich run] would be fun for the memories: Contract with America, government shutdown, impeachment over a blow job. And there is, of course, that scarcely explored aspect of Newt life: his marriages:
Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he married Jackie Battley, his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26. They had two daughters. In the spring of 1980, Gingrich left Battley after having an affair with Marianne Ginther. According to Battley, Gingrich visited her while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery to discuss the details of their divorce. Six months after it was final, Gingrich wed Ginther in 1981.
In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior; they continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal. In 2000, Gingrich married Bisek shortly after his divorce from second wife Ginther.
The blogosphere really hasn’t had the opportunity to explore this side of Gingrich’s life. It’s fucking gold!
6:31: What I REALLY want to know is what Roger Rabbit thinks of tonight’s events. And yesterday’s. And maybe the entire week before. Roger?
6:34: Carl Ballard is here. He notices that at the Ron Paul speech there are three guys on stage…one with a bow tie, one with a regular tie, and one with no tie whatsoever. And they say there is no diversity amongst Republicans.
6:38: At least Ron Paul isn’t wearing a fucking sweater vest. (Carl is.)
6:46: The TeeVee tells me that “there are eight Santorum delegates.” Word to the wise: Be careful if you use the words “eight Santorum” in a conversation.
7:08: Damn! Lee is kicking my ass. But somehow his post got pushed back…. Clearly WE’VE BEEN HACKED!
7:12: Let’s see…we have me, Lee, N In Seattle, Carl Ballard, and Will showed up recently…Goldy is supposed to show up soon. The Montlake Alehouse has become a freakin’ HA class reunion!
7:18: Carl here. I’m not endorsing in this thread, but I’m opposed to typing on Darryl’s tiny computer. I guess I won’t get my passport stamped “Moon” any time soon.
7:24: Carl still. Rick Santorum is on CNN, and like Ron Paul, he’s also not wearing a tie. What the fuck? You’re on TV guys!
7:46: Darryl here…I’ve wrestled my computer (with its tiny little keyboard) back from Carl Ballard. Right now Seattle Jew is pontificating about Mormon church ownership of The Media. I notice that he speaks with as many typos as he writes with.
7:51: Goldy finally arrives. I guess the folks at The Stranger are done wringing whatever use they can get out him tonight to increase their page views.
8:15: Oregon Special Election: OR-1:
- Rob Cornilles (R) 53,215 37.52%
- Suzanne Bonamici (D) 79,386 55.97%
Congratulations to all the Washington Republican supporters of Willard M. Romney.
In 31 days King County Republicans will caucus and “choose” Willard as their nominee.
And frankly all of us government led health care supporters salute your choice of the man who can win nearly every time he outspends his opponent 5 to 1.
Who is going to pay the most for my vote?
I want to thank Newt and the other Republican attack dogs for shredding Mitt’s credibility and making President Obama’s re-election much easier than it would have been otherwise. Special kudos to the generous wingnut donors who poured millions into destroying their party’s own nominee.
I agree: You’re a good sport, Darryl.
1 comment for Darryl.
Wow, Carl, sweater vests?
Lee voted for Dino? Lee you need to come clean on this, man. WTF?
Damn, a decent crowd at DL on a night I ended up having to miss. I suppose I could try to rush over before everyone goes home. I think I’ll just go home to bed instead.
Zotz,
I most certainly agree. Lee, if you voted for Rossi, you need to come clean. Too much weed that night, or what? I can proudly say I have never voted for a Republican (except, perhaps in nonpartisan elections, like judicial races) in my life, and I’m now over 50. I have voted for third party candidates, but never, ever, for a Republican. And, BTW, Zotz, when are you having that oyster barbecue and martini gathering? Hood Canal oysters in February don’t even need cooking.
PL@9: When can you come out? Give me a call.
Yes they do. Because they’re better grilled. Also, if I had it to do over I would use eating a raw oyster as a test for a future wife: If she eats it, she’s a keeper because she’ll put just about anything in her mouth.
I’m still waiting for a final tally on how much each Republican candidate spent for each vote they received. The guy who gets the most efficient “vote per dollar spent” ratio gets to be the only one who’s entitled to call themselves “fiscally responsible” and “a good manager”. My guess is that rules out both Romney and Gingrich, Ron Paul would probably win on that basis.