California for McCain, Hillary

Mitt is done. No matter how he spins it, he lost and he should pull out now. Huckabee put up a strong performance but not enough to beat out McCain, who seems to have it wrapped up. Huck and Mitt should withdraw now, but it doesn’t look like they will.  Doing so would be the best thing for the party – it could allow McCain to start his general election campaign instead of having to fight off divisive challenges.

On the Democratic side, Hillary’s win is a big victory for her but not enough to put the race away. Its shaping up to be an undecided race far past Super Tuesday, a pundit’s dream, and maybe even undecided heading to the convention! That would be fun to watch, but I’d much rather see Obama win than Hillary, although McCain would have a much tougher time with him. But if the Democratic candidate does win, as expected, I’d hate for it to be Clinton and wouldn’t mind it being Obama.

Dems Unclear

Initially it started off looking like an abysmal night for Obama but as more states came in he pulled far ahead of Clinton in the pure state count, and is ahead by 3 states at last check. Clinton does have the bigger states, though but the Obama camp is claiming a lead in delegates. We need to see some clearer delegate counts before the verdict is out.

Romney Wrecked

Unless he wins California, it looks like after tonight Romney has very little reason to stay in the race. He’s finishing third in many states and getting beat on everywhere but his home states of Massachusetts and Utah. It will be a huge surprise if he wins California, and you’ve got to figure that all the coverage of his losses so far will affect voters at least somewhat in the last 3 hours of voting over there.

Logically, the thing to do now would be get out with dignity, preserving his chances for a possible 2012 run or even to challenge John Kerry in the senate race, an interesting idea that I heard a few days ago. He just declared, however, that he was in it until the convention in a fiery (for him) speech. If he stays true to that, he could go out in a humiliating fashion while being ganged up on by Huckabee and McCain, destroying any goodwill he has with the party. The far better choice would be to salvage himself now and look to the future.

SHOW RON PAUL

ABC’S coverage is completely neglecting my man Ron Paul. Did I miss something, or is he still in the race, outlasting Giuliani? There hasn’t been one mention of his name, nor is he in the picture when they put up the totals. I understand not being in the win counter graphic, as he hasn’t actually won anything, but at least put it up if he has more than 5%. Of course, if you look at it objectively, he’s a non-factor, but it just makes me mad from the standpoint of someone who supports him to realize that no one EVER mentions him. Maybe if they had earlier he’d have more of a chance.  Personally, I’m pulling for a win in Alaska and a strong showing in Montana where he has 16% WOOHOO

An Interesting Wrinkle

Just an amusing note: In Massachusetts the ballots for the Republicans were blue and the Dem ballots were red. Just goes to show how smart the people who run our state are. At least the Green Party ones were green.

So Far

So far, the only surprises have been Huckabee’s win in West Virginia. He won his home state of Arkansas and is leading in Georgia, all of which could be a big problem for Mitt. Mitt’s only win so far is here in Massasschusetts, a win that at least shows that we still believe he was a good governor. Indeed, that must be true or the liberal epicenter of the US would surely have gone for the more liberal McCain.  Of course, if Huck continues to have success (he is leading in Georgia) it could spell the end for Mitt, who is splitting the conservative and evangelical vote with him.

On the Democratic side no surprises so far, but an exit poll on ABC shows Clinton with only a 6% lead among women, which could prove problematic as they are her base of support.

SUPER TUESDAY

IT’S HEREEE… the day we’ve all been waiting for. Super Tuesday, which, as I’m sure everyone knows by now, is the biggest primary election day in US history. It should be an interesting night, and I’ll be posting as often as I need to.

As for predictions, I don’t think anything too unexpected will happen, but I think Obama will edge out an overall victory on the Democratic side, and McCain will wrap it up on the Republican side, especially if Huck’s early success continues.

Wrap

It’s over – but not before Cooper invited any Republicans to show up at the Dem debate tomorrow! That would be something to see.

Overall, it seemed that Romney got the edge on policy (at least his positions now), while McCain proved that he has better character. Romney got in a few references to his record, but he needs to get in more. The way I see it, they’re both saying that they would do essentially the same thing, so you need to look at who has actually done it. That is Romney’s strength, with a good record as an actual executive. Romney didn’t do anything extraordinary enough to knock McCain off his momentum or path to the nomination.

Ron Paul, although irrelevant by now, said things that made the most sense as usual. Speaking of records, he has the strongest one, having never voted for a tax increase. He also has the best ideas – eliminate the IRS, back our currency, and use our troops where they are needed – here at home. Tonight he didn’t get a chance to elaborate on any of them, because everyone writes him off as loony. As much as those of us who think he makes a lot of sense might like to think otherwise, he is fairly irrelevant by now, so I can see why he didn’t get much time.

Same deal for Huckabee, although he really doesn’t make any sense, at least not in the Republican party. His big-government, liberal economic ides belong in the Democratic Party. Fortunately he is almost as irrelevant as Ron Paul by now, and didn’t get too much time either.

Spin away in the comments.

Reagan Endorsements

Romney says Reagan would endorse him because basically Reagan had all of his same positions and was an outsider like him.

McCain says that Reagan was “unshakable” and doesn’t think he’d like Romney much – he has a bit of a point there. He basically said that they both stick with their principles, which is good, but he didn’t mention anything about actual policy.

Ron Paul gives, as usual, the best answer – Reagan said that no great country that abandoned the gold standard would remain great, and also points out that he was one of the only 4 congressmen to endorse Reagan when he first ran.

Huckabee says that he can’t presume that Reagan would endorse him, but that he endorses Reagan because he was a great leader. All true – Reagan was a great leader, and there is no way he would endorse Huckabee, who is economically a liberal.

Leaders

Romney gets in his record – private business, Olympics, and governor, to show that he’s an economic leader. He used his line about how he’s actually worked in the economy. I don’t think McCain, who has no executive experience, can compete with that.

But then it gets turned around – how would Romney be a better commander-in-chief than McCain? He gives an ok answer citing his experience again and says that you don’t need a military career to be a good leader -c ites Lincoln. I don’t think this can compare with McCain, who gets in a good line about how “we can’t afford on-the-job-training”.

Ron Paul gets in a GREAT line – the constitution doesn’t say that the president is the “commander-in-chief of the economy or of the people” then launches into a great explanation of the government’s proper economic role. They showed a shot of McCain and Romney smiling ridiculously as he was talking – it makes me so mad. Why can’t people at least take him seriously and give him a response. He didn’t cite his own military service, though which he should have at least mentioned.

Huck keeps complaining about not getting any time. It makes him look whiny and he should use the time he is lucky enough to get, as he is no longer relevant (except for possibly siphoning off Romney votes).