Election '08: Super Tuesday

[rvg]

Basically, Romney was in danger of winning in the WV caucus. When this became apparent, the McCain campaign told their voters to all switch to Huckabee in order to prevent Romney's win.

Deliciously devious.

[CrossLOPER]

Huckabee! I want my constitutional theocracy!

[ICantSpellDawg]

I think that the only way I would vote this November is if McCain held HIS nose and picked Romney as his running mate.

Otherwise I am out. So are a number of other voters.

[rvg]

I think that the only way I would vote this November is if McCain held HIS nose and picked Romney as his running mate.

Otherwise I am out. So are a number of other voters.

Sadly, that will only mean your silent endorsement of the Dem candidate. Voting 3rd party == voting Dem, not voting at all == voting Dem.

[Strike For The South]

Pual. Simply becuase if elected he will make sure we dont quietly step down. We'll go down screaming and cussing China India and the EU's good name.

[Lemur]

Sadly, that will only mean your silent endorsement of the Dem candidate. Voting 3rd party == voting Dem, not voting at all == voting Dem.

In other words:

[rvg]

LOL. Yes, Lemur, sad but true.

[Lemur]

Strike, this should make you happy: CNN is reporting that Ron Paul is dominating in Minnesota. See? Up here in the icy wastes, we have good sense.

-edit-

What a difference a half hour makes. Now it's TuffStuff's turn to be happy.

[CountArach]

I will pencil my vote in for a turd in a bag on fire this november.

I thought you said you weren't going to vote Republican?

[Lemur]

Dang, Huckabee's picking up way more states than I expected. Is this entirely attributable to his deal with McCain, or is his support deeper and broader than anyone supposed?

Or is it just the Chuck Norris factor?

[rvg]

Dang, Huckabee's picking up way more states than I expected. Is this entirely attributable to his deal with McCain, or is his support deeper and broader than anyone supposed?

Or is it just the Chuck Norris factor?

He is a feel-good candidate for the deep south. Let them have a laugh because, heck, even the ultracons know that Huck is unelectable.

[Mikeus Caesar]

So, what have i missed? Has Obama won yet? Please say he's won. If that damn woman wins i will cry. She's bad news for the world, and so damn untrustworthy that it's scary.

[Lemur]

It's looking pretty even right now. I think the only thing you can say about the Democratic race right now is that it's going to keep going. My vote may actually mean something.

-edit-

Here's the latest:

David Plouffe, on a conference call just now, offered the Obama campaign's estimate of where they stand at this moment in terms of delegates.

"We are, in terms of delegates, ahead currently: about 606 to 534, in terms of pledged delegates awarded tonight," he said.

The Obama campaign's delegate guy, Jeff Berman, caught and corrected the inaccurate early reports of Nevada's delegate count, so they've got credibility on this count.

Plouffe cited wide margins in Kansas and Minnesota, as well as the fact that Obama had a larger margin in Illinois than Clinton did in New York.

-edit of the edit-

Hmm, ABC says it ain't necessarily so.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Romney's speech was great. I freaking' love that guy.

Again, I hope he runs again in 4 years, just like Reagan when he lost the nomination to Ford in '76 (in NH and FL no less). This could be a blessing in disguise - preview and practice for Romney to run a successful campaign when we may actually win. Republicans will be used to his style, be less sore from an 8 year problem presidency, and will most likely recognize the merits of having a candidate WHO DOESN'T LOOK LIKE HE'S READING A CUE CARD OR SOUND LIKE A MORON IN EVERY SPEECH!!!!!!

maybe an idea man instead of a fossil?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Conservatives vs. McCain

By David Harsanyi
Article Last Updated: 02/04/2008 09:12:25 PM MST

Why do so many conservatives detest — and yes, "detest" is the most accurate word — John McCain?

Why are radio talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Hugh Hewitt abandoning their customary stance on Republican unity by endorsing or supporting Mitt Romney?

Why would the right-wing queen of provocation, Ann Coulter, claim that she would rather campaign for Hillary Clinton than the longtime Republican senator from Arizona?

Why, many talking heads marvel, are conservatives ambushing their only real shot at a general election victory in November?

Well, just maybe, to conservatives, the principle is worth more than the victory.

After all, hadn't conservatives won the presidency with George W. Bush? Hadn't they won both houses of Congress in 2002? How many conservatives are celebrating this week's news of the first-ever $3 trillion budget unveiled by the president?

Anger towards McCain, despite the spin of his supporters, isn't exactly irrational. McCain has shown an elastic sense of principle. To conservatives, it seems like temperamental predilections are just as likely to determine his positions as poll numbers. He's a man they have trouble trusting.

Conservatives may remember that after losing the South Carolina primary in 2000, McCain derided conservative evangelical leaders as wielding "evil influence" on the Republican Party. ("Evil influence" apparently means convincing people not to vote for John McCain.)

Now, he's one of the believers.

Conservatives may wonder why McCain joined Russ Feingold in writing legislation that allows the federal government to dictate free speech in ways never before imagined. Or that he joined Ted Kennedy on an immigration bill that was opposed by most conservatives. Now, McCain sounds like he's ready to join the Minutemen.

Free-market types may wonder why John McCain supports cap-and-trade schemes. Others may wonder why he not only buys into end-of-world global warming scenarios, but opposes drilling in ANWR — comparing that stretch of tundra in Alaska to the Grand Canyon and Florida Everglades.

Fiscal hawks may wonder why McCain was one of two Republican senators to vote against Bush's across-the-board tax cuts. He justifies the position by claiming he believes it should have been tied to spending cuts.

A perfectly reasonable stand — if McCain has actually taken it. But the maverick must have kept those concerns to himself, instead brandishing the liberal rhetoric of "tax cuts for the rich" during the debate.

None of these issues, on their own, would be deal breakers. No candidate can meet all ideological expectations. But conservatives have been asking themselves: Other than Iraq, what does McCain offer us?

We'll soon find out. This week McCain will be stopping in at the Conservative Political Action Conference to cultivate the hard hearts of the rank and file.

He will, self-effacingly, forward the fable that he was a mere "foot soldier" in the Reagan Revolution. Serving in the house beginning in 1983, McCain was, at best, a soldier in mop-up operations.

Who knows? The mood of the country might be swinging towards John McCain pragmatism. Conservatives might be an ideological minority in the Republican Party, once again. But things change.

After all, one day Karl Rove is planning a permanent Republican majority, the next day he's a Fox News analyst, pondering whether Democrats will have a veto-proof majority in the Senate in 2009.

And perhaps conservatives are dead wrong. Maybe McCain will become a great Republican president. Still, there's nothing shameful about holding your ground on principle.

Reach columnist David Harsanyi at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com. Ed Quillen's Tuesday column will now appear on Wednesdays.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Really good night for Obama. He picked up Connecticut and Missouri, and msnbc is calling a delagate count of Obama-841, clinton-837.

Everything so far in the campaign has shown that when obama has time to use his money advantage and superior grassroots he wins votes.

[Lemur]

Is anybody else amazed at how many states Huckabee picked up?

[drone]

Is anybody else amazed at how many states Huckabee picked up?

Kind of, but not surprised which states (the South). It just highlights his unelectability with the rest of the nation, but I can see his appeal amongst Southern Republicans (at least over the other candidates).

Definitely happy to see the Democratic race still even. The landlord primaries (MD/VA/DC) will get some action this year. We have to live with them and their cronies, we should at least get a say.

[seireikhaan]

I am, to a degree. Certainly, if he was going to win any states, it would be the ones he won. But he isn't going any further than this, with the possible exception of winning Louisiana. His message simply doesn't appeal to non evangelicals and non-hicks.

[Xiahou]

Is anybody else amazed at how many states Huckabee picked up?

The funniest joke of this primary season would be if Huckabee actually managed to become a threat to McCain's candidacy. Yeah, it's a longshot given their implicit alliance and McCain's current dominance- but it'd still be funny.

[Rameusb5]

Are you finally having your own Ann Coulter moment?

Allow me to be the first person to volunteer to counter her vote.

It amazes me the number of Republicans who downright HATE McCain.

For Ann Coulter to actually say she'd campaign for Hillery if McCain is nominated just goes to show the amount of grandstanding the pundits are capable of.

I wish she'd follow the lead of certain Buddist Monks...

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Holy crap.

New mexico primary

98% precincts reporting

Obama: 65,036
Clinton: 64,965

71 votes!?

[Lemur]

Interesting ... apparently Hillary took a page from Mitt's playbook, and self-funded her campaign in January to the tune of $5 million.

Not a good sign for Billary. They don't have the kind of fortune to draw on that Mitt does, and they can't keep this up for long.

If you look at their relative net worth, $5M is a much bigger hit for the Clintons than all the money Romney has spent. I guess they're getting desperate.

-edit-

Too good not to share:

"The 'could we beat Obama?' conversation is purely academic. It's over. The Clintons have defeated him already, because he is leaving South Carolina as 'the black candidate.' He won't win another state."

-- National Review's Michael Graham.

[Xiahou]

In other election news, apparently voters in Chicago were told that touchscreen stylus that they were given to full out paper ballots were really magic pens that wrote in invisible ink. Of course, they obviously were not and their votes were not counted as a result.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/electio...agic06.article
Maybe this should have been in the news of the weird.....

[Redleg]

I was listening to Satellite Radio today while I was out and about driving in North Dakota. The Railroad sends me to all kinds of interesting places....

Well the thing was how much the Democrates are talking about not only Hillary's releasing the information about using her own money, which the neatly tied up with the fact that her pundits were alreadly calling to get others to donate even more funds to her war chest. They also raised the question about what happen to her very large campaign fund that was one of the largest of all. So some interesting developments might be forthcoming from the Democrates concerning the primaries.

Should make for an interesting next round of primaries and such - I really hope they bring it up in a debate with her, and get her to speak about how she is spending her campaign funds. It might wake some people up about how she is doing business to get elected. From what I have heard is that she is doing a high pressure sales process in her attempt to get elected.

Makes me wonder if some backlash is beginning to develop?

Then the McCain/Hucklebee connection is still be talked about. I personally think it was about keeping Romeny from getting the delagates, versus some other cordinated effort.

Hucklebee or Romeny could be in a position to force McCain to deal with either one of them to actually get the nomination at the convention.

I would really like to see both parties have to decide who the nominee is at the convention because none of them have the required number of delegates to actually capture the nomination on their own. It truelly is shaping up as a possiblity with neither party having a candidate that has a solid lead to gain the nomination. McCain is close but if Hucklebee or Romny capture the same percentage of states that super tuesday demonstrated - I dont think McCain will reach the required number of delagates to capture the nomination outright by the convention.

This has the possiblity to tearing both parties apart at the convention and maybe the outcome will be third party becoming viable in the future of the Untied States election cycles.

[CountArach]

In other election news, apparently voters in Chicago were told that touchscreen stylus that they were given to full out paper ballots were really magic pens that wrote in invisible ink. Of course, they obviously were not and their votes were not counted as a result.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/electio...agic06.article
Maybe this should have been in the news of the weird.....

People who believe that don't deserve to vote anyway

[KukriKhan]

With Super-Tuesday having come and gone, we'll put this thread to bed, and redirect attention to The new US Election Thread, which we'll use until the party conventions.

Thanks for all contributions.