Who won Super Tuesday?
February 6, 2008 at 1:15 pm by Wayne Garcia
That is a tough question to answer. The easier question is, who lost Super Tuesday, and the answer to that is Mitt Romney.
Romney saw much of his vote get siphoned off by a resurgent Mike Huckabee, especially in the South where the Huckster pretty much got a slam-dunk. The surprisingly strong showing by Huckabee puts him into the No. 2 seat and begs the question: Why is Mitt still in the race today? The wah-wahhh’ing and state of denial from Mittland began long before yesterday. Like this from the candidate himself on Super Fat Tuesday morning:
The signs are good that conservatives are listening and saying, ‘You know what, we don’t want to take the liberal path. [Unfortunately for Romney, he was right about conservatives but wrong about who they would gravitate to instead.]
And this from his campaign manager Beth Myers on the West Virginia results:
“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change.
“Governor Romney had enough respect for the Republican voters of West Virginia to make an appeal to them about the future of the party based on issues. This is why he led on today’s first ballot. Sadly, Senator McCain cut a Washington backroom deal in a way that once again underscores his legacy of working against Republicans who are interested in championing conservative policies and rebuilding the party.”
And then there’s Romney’s wonderfully scary speech last night in which he practically threatens America and tells us how we’re heading down the shitter without him at the helm (with some poorly choreographed call-and-response from the MittSturmTroopers):
By Wednesday AM, leaked copies of McCain campaign strategery were touting the near-mathematical impossibility of Romney winning the nomination, something that would require Romney winning 50 percent of the remaining primary votes.
(For an even bigger belly laugh, wander over to Wade Tatangelo’s Tampa Calling blog for a Top 10 list of songs for Romney, including Ray Charles’ “Hit The Road Jack”)
On the Democratic side, things are murkier than ever and leaves Florida and Michigan still at the center of the battle. Our delegates are not going to be seated, as things stand now, and would go to Hillary if they were seated. If nobody wins outright before the convention, there will be some wild maneuvering and wheeling and dealing to try to get them seated (on Hillary’s part) or blocking them and disenfranchising the votes in those naughty, naughty states (on Obama’s part).
Although HRC won just about every big state election yesterday (except for Obama’s Illinois and Connecticut), Obama won more states outright and by this morning was claiming a victory in delegates-won:
The Obama camp now projects topping Clinton by 13 delegates, 847 to 834.
NBC News, which is projecting delegates based on the Democratic Party’s complex formula, figures Obama will wind up with 840 to 849 delegates, versus 829 to 838 for Clinton.
Clinton was portrayed in many news accounts as the night’s big winner, but Obama’s campaign says he wound up with a higher total where it really counts — the delegates who will choose the party’s nominee at this summer’s Democratic convention.
So, the fun will continue …
(Mitt Romney photo credit: Joe Crimmings Photography / Some Rights Reserved)
