Game on! Have at it in the comment thread.
5:11 (PDT): Okay…so I just got here and I haven’t gotten situated yet. But on the way here I heard that Mitt has likely won Virginia, Vermont, and Massachusetts. No surprises here. Vermont is a suburb of Massachusetts, where Romney was Governor. And in Vermont, the polls in February and early March had Romney up by 30 to 50 points. Of course, Santorum and Newt didn’t qualify for the ballot, so Romney’s strong lead was over Ron Paul.
5:17: Newt wins Georgia. No surprise there, either—he represented Georgia. They hated him less as Mr. Speaker than the rest of America.
5:21: I’m listening to the NPR live coverage but watching MSNBC on the TV.
5:22: Mitt Romney is up by only some 4,000 votes in Ohio, with 7% counted.
5:26: Newt promises $2.50 a gallon gasoline. When will Newt Gingrich promise that, as President, he will completely prevent tornado deaths?
5:29: Romney is up 74% in Massachusettes. Newt is at 4% there. In Georgia, Newt is at 48%, Romney is at 22%. Does this mean that Newt is hated outside his home turf more than Romney?
5:34: On NPR they are wondering why Santorum isn’t “cleaning up” with the Catholic vote. Why is Romney winning more of the Catholic vote [in every primary so far] than Santorum? Two words: Catholic Women.
5:36: Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr (2008 Libertarian nominee for PUSA) is on NPR. He is trying to argue that Newt’s campaign isn’t Quixotic. His argument: “Newt has big ideas.” Most Republicans view that as The Problem.
5:40: Wife #3 is introducing Newt for his Georgia victory speech. NPR doesn’t care.
5:41: Not unexpected: Rick Santorum is the projected winner of Tennessee. All but one recent poll had Santorum winning. The outlier had Romney up by +1. The real issue is why the hell didn’t Gingrich do better in a Southern state? (Answer: Americans hate Gingrich more than just about any politician.)
5:45: The NPR pundits keep talking about how Mitt Romney wins among more educated and affluent demographics, and Rick Santorum wins among poorer and less educated demographics. Answer: Santorum appeals to the Stupid.
5:49: It looks like Oklahoma is now being called for Santorum…which just goes to show. Oklahoma your NOT okay!
5:54: In another “election” of interest, Netflix has become the 30th advertiser to drop Rush Limbaugh like a hot Santorum-seasoned potato.
5:59: Is Gingrich still fucking speaking? Or is MSNBC playing the same speech over and over again? Either way, it exceeds the ideas-absorbing capacity of most Homo sapiens.
6:02: Regarding Ohio: I know a Santorum win here would maximize the primary chaos, but I’m secretly hoping for a dead tie. Does that make me a bad person?
6:06: Whooot!!! Santorum just oozed into the lead in Ohio…up by ~2500 6407 votes.
6:23: Huh…NPR is carrying Santorum’s victory speech, but they only gave a few seconds of excerpts of Newt Gingrich’s victory speech.
6:46: And NPR carries Mitt Romney’s speech. I guess Newt Gingrich is chopped liver. Hmmm…actually, that seems about right.
6:58: I love the fact that MSNBC is carrying Mitt Romney’s speech with the right hand side of the screen showing he is getting his ass wiped by Santorum in Ohio (pun not intended).
7:32: Michael Moore is gesticulating all over MSNBC. He is clean shaven tonight…clearly, that was inspired by Breitbart’s demise.
7:40: Romney is putting the squeeze on Santorum in Ohio…down to 6,000 votes from a max of 15,000.
7:46: Man…Ohio is just the pinnacle of entertainment. Mitt Romney is closing up from behind on Santorum.
8:01: I went to Ron Paul’s web site this evening, ready to make a donation. Of course, I would only consider donating in gold. After going through the long registration process, the fucking site wanted a credit card number or paypal account. What the fuck?
8:06: Ohio is now down to a difference of 1,300 or so. PLEASE people, PRAY FOR A TIE!
I went back to Ohio
But my city was gone
There was no train station
There was no downtown
Southtown it had disappeared
All my favorite places
My city had been pulled down
Reduced to parking spaces
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?
I went back to Ohio
But my family was gone
I stood on the back porch
There was nobody home
I was stunned and amazed
My childhood memories
Saw this world past
Like the wind through the trees
Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?
I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Ohio
had been replaced by shopping malls
And Muzak filled the air
From Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls
Said Ay! Oh! Where did you go, Ohio?
1
Your work?
Romney’s loss in Tennessee, combined with the close vote in Ohio, ensures that the GOP madness of a race continues. Yes! “Gentlemen, load, turn and face each other, fire!” How sweet it is.
Romney only won 59 to 41 against Ron Paul in Virginia. The Rs just don’t like him very much.
I think Santorum gets North Dakota. Romney really isn’t doing all that well. Lacking soul just doesn’t seem to help him gain traction.
I heard Romney’s Speech on NPR. Reminded me of how Raygun was going to cut taxes in half, double defense spending and balance the budget at the end of 4 years..
the answer to anyone who thought about it: with mirrors.
Of course the Republicans always count on people not thinking and a lot of the time too many people come through for them..
I hope this year is NOT that time. This guy is really repellent to me.
If you listen to Romney, you are struck with how so much of the message is HATRED of Obama..
The hate gets the strongest whoop it up response from the crowds..
It’s too sick.
Romney’s speech was a disjointed collection of sound bites, half of which weren’t even true. Can’t wait until he’s up against Obama.
Gee, Romney won Wyoming. I think Wyoming has three electoral votes, the minimum any state can get (one for each senator, and one for a single congressman). Or maybe that’s Montana. I keep getting them confused.
Somehow I don’t think that’s going to give Romney’s delegate count a big boost.
And why didn’t Wyoming give Ron Paul a big win? I thought those guys & gals out there were rugged individualists, “taming the west”?
Santorum wins North Dakota! That’s three states for Santorum so far, and Ohio is STILL too close to call.
In Ohio, 85% of the vote is in, Santorum leads by a single point.
Time for Romney to call upon his good friend, Karl Rove. He can take care of a little problem like a 1% difference in the polls. And if it’s too late for that, he can tie Ohio up in re-count litigation that will go on until, well, 2016.
Okay, Romney is leading (convincingly) in Wyoming and Idaho, Santorum is winning N. Dakota. The western states clearly don’t represent a regional preference.
For those keeping count, that’s Romney with five states, Santorum with three, and Gingrich with one. Ohio is still too close to call.
With 15% of the vote in, Romney’s got 77% of the vote in Idaho.
http://www.spokesman.com/elect.....-caucuses/
It may be a long night in Ohio. Now 86% reporting (85% at the last report), Santorum still leads Romney by 1%. That’s within any margin of error. I’m guessing that whoever looses is going to demand a re-count. Could this come down to absentee ballots? Does it matter, since whoever is reported as the winner by the news media will claim that they won and that they have the “momentum” going into the next round?
Still at 86% reporting in Ohio, and suddenly it’s tied. Is Karl Rove in Cleveland, perhaps?
Question: Is Ohio “winner take all”, or are the delegates apportioned? My understanding of the Republican party rules are that any elections held before April 1st had to be proportional. If so, does it matter whether Romney or Santorum wins by a point or two, except to the news media that loves a “horse race”?
@11
Idaho and Wyoming, particularly Idaho, are big Mormon regions.
I saw at least three buses and a big billboard today with the cloying “I’m a Mormon” advertising – working to make Mitt more palatable to the non-cultists.
So, Catholics don’t like Santorum. At least, Catholic women don’t. And Evangelicals don’t like Romney, in part because he’s Mormon. This is going to get interesting from here on out.
I’m hoping Santorum can stay in the race right up to the convention, and that there’s a fight over the seating of delegates. Sure, Romney will probably win the nomination anyway, as the “super delegates” (party leaders, etc.) will throw their support behind him. But it’s going to look like the aftermath of a WWE cage match, with blood all over the floor.
# 17: Thanks, Liberal Scientist. I missed the obvious on that one.
Gingrich’s victory speech in Georgia attacked Romney as the “wall street candidate”. Thanks for reinforcing that for us, Newt.
Tonight, the presidential election is over for the Rs. It is clear they cannot win the Presidency.
It’s all about the Senate and the House now.
With 88% reporting in Ohio, Romney has pulled ahead by a single digit. The metro areas are reporting now, and that’s not good news for Santorum.
NBC just called it for Romney in Idaho. I had already done so quite a long time ago.
So, all that’s left is:
Wyoming – I don’t know why the news media hasn’t called this for Romney yet, he’s got 57% of the vote with over half the precincts reporting.
Alaska – too early to get any results.
Ohio – with 90% reporting, still too close to call, a single digit gives Romney a tenuous lead.
I’m guessing that Ohio is going to end up just like Michigan – with Romney winning by a so small a margin that it makes his claims of victory raise new credibility issues.
Either way, I doubt these victories will translate into Romney being able to capture either state in the general election. Both are in the industrial heartland, and in 2008 he was ready to cast them out to sea and let the die.
A quick look at the counties in Ohio with less than 100% reporting in, and it doesn’t look good for Santorum. The big metro areas of Cleveland, Akron, Toledo haven’t fully reported, and they are going for Romney.
Santorum’s base would be more to the south, near the Kentucky border (just across the Ohio river). But most of those counties have already fully reported.
Wyoming has been stuck at 65% reporting for quite some time now. Romney has a big lead, I can’t imagine it’s going to evaporate with the remaining precincts reporting. But nobody’s calling it for Romney, yet.
Ohio at 91%, Romney still leads by a single digit.
Idaho’s up to 47% reporting and Romney’s still holding steady at 77%.
Boise’s still not reporting, so it’s conceivable that Romney could go higher than 77%.
@28
Oops, I mean Ada county. Boise the city is not in Boise the county.
I think the people in Wyoming turned down their oil lanterns and sauntered off to the bunkhouse to bed down for the night. 65% still reporting, no change for at least the past hour.
Ohio at 93%, Romney still ahead by a single digit.
Notice that Romney didn’t take any chances, he had his “victory” party in Massachusetts, a sure win for him. He was prepared to argue that if Santorum won in Ohio, it didn’t mean anything.
Well, looks like I’m wrong. Romney took Ada county, but only by 51%, so he’s down to 68.6%.
Okay, 96% of Ohio reporting, Romney is still up only 1%, but NBC news is calling him the winner.
I checked, and the candidates will split the delegates proportionally based upon the precinct winners – I have no idea how that will work out, but it looks like it will be close to a 48%/48% split, with Gingrich and Paul sharing a delegate or two.
But even though Gingrich won convincingly in Georgia, the delegate split will still give Romney about 25% of the delegates, even though he came in third or fourth there. The rules seem designed to favor Romney, because even when he doesn’t win he gets delegates added to his total.
Just out of curiosity, how come Newt gets ZERO PERCENT in Wyoming? Heck, there must be a handful of nuts there willing to vote for him, somewhere? Not that he doesn’t deserve exactly this type of finish.
Santorum is calling on conservatives to pressure Gingrich to drop out. It makes sense, but it seems a bit too little, too late. I can’t see Newt dropping out after winning his home state (and NO OTHER STATES), due to his super-sized ego. The only thing which would cause him to drop out at this point is (a) his rich Las Vegas patron decides to quit writing checks, or (b) Calista decides that campaigning is too hard on her hair.
Okay, I’m calling it a night. I’ve got to finish my tax returns, if I still have the time. Alaska will just have to count their votes on their own.
Barack Obama got a whopping 57% of the vote in the Democratic primary today in Oklahoma — beating his nearest competitor Randall Terry by a margin of slightly more than 3 to 1.
@36
Can the rest of us ask Oklahoma to secede?
What matters is not who “wins” a state, but how many delegates a candidate wins, and on that basis Romney has moved a lot closer to the GOP nomination. Of course, this doesn’t matter either, because the 2012 GOP nomination is worth nothing.
http://elections.msnbc.msn.com.....blican/3/6
http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.c.....ican-story
That’s because Romney can’t win the GOP nomination without alienating the independents he can’t win without in November.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46649609
# 39: And moreover, it seems that even among Republicans, Romney’s base is still about one-third of the Republican electorate. Another 10% or so are going along because they’ve figured out that he’s going to be the nominee anyway, and they want to end the primary haggles.
That still leaves a majority of Republicans who would rather have a throw-back to the early 1950’s (Santorum), an egomaniacle serial adulterer (Gingrich), or a 1850’s throwback (Ron Paul) than vote for Romney. Romney figures he’s a big fish, but that’s a pretty small pond he’s swimming in.
Hmmm, somewhere in the list of two dozen advertisers who have quite Rush Limbaugh is “St Vincent’s Medical Center”.
I don’t know anything about them, except that they appear to be a Catholic hospital. You know, the kind of hospital who’s rights to oppose offering contraceptive coverage in it’s employee medical plans Rush was purportedly protecting.
Looks like the Republican Tea Party still thinks that “doubling down” on crazy is the answer. A four-term Congresswoman from Ohio has been primaried out, and “Joe the Plumber” has won his primary.
Among the Santorum supporters, they assume that if they can just get past Romney the rest of the election is already in the bag. They confidently talk about how “wildly unpopular” Obama is, and look at you like you are crazy if you suggest otherwise. Obviously, you haven’t been listening to the same sources as they do.
Remember how we used to have Trolls here confidently predicting Republican victories, and then slinking away whenever there was an actual election? It looks like this year they have gone away months ahead of time. The few trolls who dare raise their heads on this comment board just aren’t the same calibre of the previous trolls.
@43 “The few trolls who dare raise their heads on this comment board just aren’t the same calibre of the previous trolls.”
This is a difficult concept to wrap your brain around, because no matter what number you subtract from zero, you still get zero.
@42 Yeah, I heard Joe won his primary by 5 votes to 3 votes, and all 3 of the GOP votes in the district he didn’t get yesterday are going to defect to the Democrat in November.
“5:45: The NPR pundits keep talking about how Mitt Romney wins among more educated and affluent demographics, and Rick Santorum wins among poorer and less educated demographics. Answer: Santorum appeals to the Stupid.”
This, by itself, explains why the extreme right is so hell-bent on destroying public education.
For (low income) individuals bankruptcy is financial death. For companies it’s a quick, cheap, and convenient way to rip up union contracts and dump pension promises on taxpayers. In fact, corporate bankruptcy is such a joyous experience for companies that some come back for more.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46.....d_economy/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Personally, I think Twinkies are so bad for you they should just go away.
Looks like Romney also took Alaska with less than one-third of the vote, the remaining three candidates dividing the remaining votes among themselves. Only Newt got less than a quarter of the vote.
Gee, what a great victory! More than two-thirds of Romney’s own party in Alaska don’t like him!
Romney’s camp, in an attempt to talk the other candidates into quiting and future Republican voters to put the primary race behind them, has managed to put it’s foot in it’s mouth again.
The headlines of the discussion between Romney staffers and journalists say that Romney campaign says losing nomination would take ‘act of God’
That’s exactly the wrong thing to say to the Santorum camp. While the staffers intended to present the math challenge faced by Romney’s opponants in obtaining the necessary delegates, what people will hear is that Romney feels that he has a sense of entitlement to the nomination. Not a good personna to present, especially when it reinforces an existing perception that Romney is from a background of entitlement, and a bit of a snob about it.
Apparently Mitt Romney has never heard of Iran Contra.
Once again Mitt’s just spewing nonsense.
# 50: It’s the same old noise machine (i.e., spin doctoring) which Republicans have been doing since about 1978. At the time they claimed credit for the release of the hostages, citing Reagan’s sabre-rattling. But if the past thirty years or so have taught us anything, sabre-rattling at the Iranians usually creates exactly the opposite of compliance. The hostages might have been released at the moment of Reagan’s innaugeration, but not out of fear of Reagan. They just wanted to spit in the eye of the President who gave the Shah sanctuary, even if it was against their best self-interest.
And, of course, there is some evidence (not conclusive) that Republican operatives made a deal with the Iranians to NOT release the hostages until Reagan’s innaugeration, in return for promised military aid in their fight against the Iraqis. I’d tend not to believe it, but the way the Republicans handled the disclosure of the Stealth program tends to show that in that election they had no compunction against hurting American in the foreign policy/defense realm if it benefited them politically.
It’s worth pointing out what happened regarding the Stealth program to see how Republicans treat national security.
First of all, Republicans claimed that Jimmy Carter was “soft” on national security, especially the “danger” caused by the Soviet Union. This was a bit strange because Nixon and Ford had both relaxed tensions between the two nations. Republicans hit hard at the Panama Canal Treaty and Carter’s cancelation of the B1 Bomber program.
With respect to the B1 Bomber, the problem was that the invention of stealth technology (which we actually discovered by searching through old Soviet academic papers regarding physics) had made the B1 Bomber obsolete before it was put into production. I think we had two B1 Bombers at the time, which were for the purpose of flight tests and proving the concept. They were extraordinarily expensive. Why proceed with the purchase of several hundred of them if stealth technology had already surpassed them before they were even put into production?
Of course, Carter couldn’t give that as a reason for canceling the B1 Bomber program. It was top secret, code-name clearance protected. If we were able to get Stealth bombers designed, built, and tested in secret, then we could have a ten-year advantage in technology over the Soviets.
So once Reagan became the Republican nominee, and they started pounding hard on the “Carter is soft on defense” argument, Carter arranged for a top-secret breafing of Reagan and his team on the Stealth Bomber program. In short, they told him that this was secret, it shouldn’t be discussed, but in the interests of patriotism could they drop the subject so Carter didn’t have to defend himself on this issue?
Of course, the Republicans didn’t drop the subject. If anything, they hit harder, mentioning the cancelation of the B1 Bomber program daily as evidence that Carter was soft on defense. Privately, they dared Carter to call them on it.
Eventually, Carter had no choice but to reveal the existence of the Stealth program, but he tried to do so in such a way as it did as little damage as possible. If there were any way to make the release more vague, I’d be hard-pressed to do so.
So now the Republicans doubled-down on Carter, claiming in mock astonishment: “How DARE Carter betray national security secrets publically!” And they rode that one for several more weeks.
I learned from that to (a) never trust a Republican; (b) never expect a Republican to act according to their nation’s best interests, and (c) Republicans will say or do anything which gives them an advantage, even if they know their statements are false.
@50
It seems to me that the Republicans used to create myths based at least roughly on historical fact, but now they’re creating myths based on myths.
@51
I absolutely believe that Casey/Reagan made a deal with the Iranians.
Republicans are nothing if not treasonous in their pursuit of power.
The Republicans must sit up nights practicing how to be stupid. There’s no other explanation of this level of stupid.
# 55: I can hear the conversation now:
Balash: “Why did you publish that joke! That was intended to be private!”
Leader-Telegram Employee: “If you intended it to be private, you really shouldn’t have sent it to the local newspaper and radio station!”
Gott Mit Uns Dep’t
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) reports that the number of extremist militias has grown from 149 when Obama took office to over 1,200 today.
On a Spokane man’s militia website, “some forum members have raised … dire concerns about [this] fall’s elections. ‘Nov. the 8th should be the start of the next civil war,’ a member with the username ‘Thunder’ wrote in January. ‘May GOD guide us safely.'”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_n.....f-militias
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Hey, anybody got a photo of a dead German wearing one of those “Gott Mit Uns” buckles? Btw, trolls needing a translation should go here:
http://www.chacha.com/question.....t-uns-mean
Rape Is The Woman’s Fault Dep’t
“Wisconsin state senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) said ‘unwanted or mistimed’ pregnancies are the ‘choice of the women’ who should learn ‘that this is a mistake.’
“Grothman recently introduced Senate Bill 507, which would formally consider single parenthood a contributing factor to child abuse if passed into law.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....27940.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I have no commentary on this one. I’m speechless.
# 58: Grothman is one of those guys I used to see in church counseling sessions. Their wives were leaving them (usually for ample reason), and they wanted the pastor to tell the wife she was being a sinner, that she was breaking up the family, that that she should be forced to “recognize him as the head of the household” and to obey him without question.
I really can’t emphasize enough how often this occured.
These guys figure that divorce is always the woman’s fault, even if he was a serial cheater (“but I said I was sorry”), a serial abuser (“but it’s her fault, she knows she shouldn’t make me mad!”), or a deadbeat (“I know I’ve had a hard time getting or keeping a job for the past twenty years, but it’s always been someone else’s fault!”)
# 57: Well, it doesn’t show dead Germans, but here’s a video which the right wing nuts would probably emulate, and which should serve as ample warning to the rest of us:
Hitler Invoking God
@58. It takes two to create a child. Let’s have the males have some skin in the game. Require universal reversible vasectomies at the onset of male puberty, that can only be undone with a marriage license.
The only way unplanned children can happen is via cheating husbands and foreigners.
Problem solved. Everyone’s happy.
“Let’s have the males have some skin in the game.”
Uh, I think that’s part of the problem already ;-)
Of course, the dirty little secret among Republicans is that they WANT contraception and abortion to be available for their OWN kids to use, especially during their teenage years. They just don’t want it available to OTHER people’s kids.
And as for the argument that single-parenthood is a “lifestyle choice”, then they want it applied to minorities. They still cling to the “welfare queen” idea that minorities are cranking out kids just to get to live off taxpayer money. Anybody who’s tried to live off welfare knows that’s not the “easy street” the Republicans like to pretend it is.