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.