Feb 06 2008
Super Tuesday Super Summary: McCain Wins Big, Romney Loses Big, Obama-Hillary Tie, Dems Win Massive Turn Out
Here is my summary of Super Tuesday (live blogging post below): McCain is the big winner. He took the big states (still waiting on CA) and he took primaries with real voters with big margins. The Big Loser was Romney. He fell to 3rd across the south which tells me he is not carrying the heart land of conservatism. Huckabee was the second biggest winner by taking 5 states in the South and helping put Romney’s campaign on life support.
The interesting battle was on the left. As predicted Hillary and Obama fought to a tie – which means Obama is still rising and Hillary is barely hanging on. Delegate counts do count and Obama is coming out of this basically tied with Hillary. The other thing that happened to the Dems is they came out to the far left, making their efforts in the general very problematic.
This big win for the dems was in turnout. Just look at the races in each state and notice the overwhelming numbers on the democrat side. Combine the votes for the dems and they swamp the GOP. This means every frustrated conservative who sits home in a pique with McCain AND his supporters are just giving their vote away to the dems. Update – Dems out voted the GOP 64-36% per Karl Rove. People, take notice!
McCain was not my pick by far, but I cannot see letting Hillary or Obama win by sitting home pouting. Not after all the blood and lives we lost in the desert of Iraq. Sitting home and letting the Surrendercrats win IS an act of treason – against those who we sent to war with a promise to support them no matter what.
That is the reality folks – we have it all on the line and to win requires supporting McCain. Final notes – McCain and Hillary won CA. So we have the GOP nominee and a huge battle on the democrat side. Get over it folks, the immigration issue was not what the hyper-partisans thought it would be. And the “true conservative” (Mitt Romney) has failed miserably. Now the only question is do we let the Dems destroy all we accomplished in Iraq in a fit of frustration or do we do the ugly and hard job of fighting to make their sacrifices mean something?
Here is the bottom line – who would Bin Laden prefer in the WH: McCain or one of the Dems?
I am logged in watching a live chat on another blog and someone said “The Liberals and Moderates have Won”. I think they have the wrong perspective. The Liberals and Moderates never started a war. It was the “conservatives” who decided to shoot down the immigration compromise, for example. The others involved had made peace, the conservatives are the ones who went to war.
And they won the battle … they beat down first one immigration compromise and then another. They won two battles … and now is where they get their collective butts handed to them and lose the war. Now they become irrelevant. After the 2008 Congressional elections they won’t’ have enough people in office to matter.
America is tired of the political pissing contest and both sides keeping the other from getting anything done. The age of the “do nothing congress” is going to spawn the “do anything, just do SOMETHING” congress.
Good work, Conservatives, it took a lot of work I am sure to hoist you onto your own petard like that. It isn’t an attractive view. It would be much better to be working together but I have to keep remembering that you can’t work with inflexible hardheads.
AJ:
Romney was not rejected because he was a conservative; it was because he was a Mormon. I agree that McCain only has one idea in his head: to capture Osama Bin Laden at all cost. But did you ask yourself who Russia wants? They want McCain, so they can re-expand. And they will. They will be an emerging challenge along with an China.
I will vote for McCain — and I believe he will prudently choose Romney as his V.P. or someone conservative. But the country is turning inward and I don’t think that favors McCain. If Obama is the nominee McCain will never make it.
Well said Crosspatch.
And now… to bed.
I have a different take on things.
One way to stand up to China and Russia is to form an economic union with Canada and Mexico. Not a political union, but an economic union. Treat all commerce between the three as domestic and count one large “domestic” product that includes all three. The reason is simple. If you do that we become the worlds largest oil producer, bar none. We also wipe out most of our oil imports. Our two largest “import” suppliers become “domestic”.
We get Canada and Mexico’s huge oil production onto our books wiping out our oil imports and boosting our economy, they get our service and manufacturing output on their books boosting theirs. We build a much shorter fence way down at the bottom of Mexico at Guatemala and make crossing into Mexico like crossing a state line.
Allow workers to go back and forth BOTH WAYS across the borders. US law enforcement wipes out the drug cartels as we have another 25 years of massive economic expansion and rival China for years to come in economic might.
I think McCain will choose Fred, Bill Kristol says Mitt is dropping out on Thursday.
Kathie:
Two old men, who may both be in wheel chairs by the time 2009 comes, sounds horrible! I like Fred, but the two of them together we might as well turn the Whitehouse into a nursing home…
OK Klimt…you could be right!
“The real story of the night, when you look at their rallies and their turn-out numbers, is that the Dems have two strong candidates either of whom could lead a united party to victory. Forget the gaseous platitudes: in Dem terms, their choice on Super Duper Tuesday was deciding which candidate was Super Duper and which was merely Super. Over on the GOP side, it was a choice between Weak & Divisive or Weaker & Unacceptable. Doesn’t bode well for November.” – Mark Steyn-
CrossP – you’re wrong on the illegal immigration issue. Vast majority of country supports tough measures to stop the onrush of illegals, and to stop the benefits and economic drain caused by illegals. Local districts and state reps are enacting new anti-illegal immigration measures over large swaths of the country. Congressman & Senators who continue to be tone deaf or to enact something in the opposite direction will pay at the polls in 2010 & 2012.
McCain is from the West. Traditionally you balance that with someone from the East. It could be Fred but you would generally go with someone from the Northeast. McCain could even go Mitt or Rudy. You want someone from more conservative wing of the party AND given McCain’s age, someone who could run the country in case something bad happens. You want someone who would unite the ticket. It could be Fred, but I would expect to see someone more “big eastern city”.
“Vast majority of country supports tough measures to stop the onrush of illegals”
True. And the vast majority of the country supported the Senate compromise bill as far as I knew. It addressed that crush of illegals. What people REALLY want is it to be settled in a way that doesn’t result in 12 to 15 million workers being pulled out of the economy.
Here are your two choices: Some kind of “amnesty” or nothing. Because you are NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER going to EVER EVER EVER see 12 million people deported. It is just impossible.
Frogg,
It’s looking like the best outlook is clearly for Hillary to win the dem side. We would then have a chance to beat her, but if we didn’t, there is probably good chance that hers would be a 1-term presidency. Clinton fatigue and a real likelihood of long-term sour economy (or worse) will have the country hungry for real change in 2012. And I think she understand better than Obama the damage a quick retreat from Iraq would cause.
Wiley,
Look at it another way …
Who is winning. What is his position on immigration. The people doing the voting are saying something.
No, people didn’t support the bill because they didn’t know what was in it. If done right, attrition will take care of most of those currently here illegally. Most conservatives could have & would have lived with a guest worker program and even some sort of path to citizneship, IF real border security was enacted first. It wasn’t in the bill.
Yeah, and what is he saying about it now???
Wiley is exactly right on the immigration issue.
In fact, look at the hard stance Huckabee had to come around to on immigration in his campaign. His plan was even tougher than Romney’s . The Immigration bill didn’t pass because Congress heard the voices from thier own voters. And, there isn’t a day that goes by that some town, city, or state hasn’t cracked down on the illegal immigration issue themselves (with the support of the people) since then.
If national security is not the issue in November; however, I don’t think McCain has a chance.
Bush was so successful with GWOT that Americans no longer think we have an enemy.
Bad days are coming.
But, if Americans are asleep, then I am afraid that McCain won’t be given the opportunity to follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell. Instead, Hillary is going to tax us until it feels like hell; or, Obama will lead us all to Utopia.
And, I’ll get to blame all you guys who forced McCain on us. 🙂
Polls were terrible AGAIN – for all the talk about Romney leading in California, it looks like McCain crushed him. Of course, not surprising – the westerner crushed the northeasterner in a big western state. Utah, of course, is an anomoly since it is dominated by the mormon vote. This affects the Arizona vote as well – people who aren’t familiar with the state will say that McCain should have done better in his own state, but Arizona has the highest percentage of Mormons of any state outside of Utah, and most of them vote in the republican party. Those were Romney’s arizona voters.
The idea that anyone out of Massachusetts on either side of the political divide could carry the nation is just not reality.
MCCAIN: AZ, CA, CT, DE, IL, MO, NJ, NY, OK – 9 states
ROMNEY: AK, CO, MA, MN, MT, ND, UT – 7 states
HUCKABEE: AL, AR, GA, TN, WV – 5 states
Romney has won 11 states so far.
Huckabee has won 6 states so far
McCain has won 12 states so far.
So, no way AJ should be calling Romney a “big loser”. But, it is all about delegates at the end of the day. The NE states were set up originally as WTA to help Giuliani win the nomination. McCain was lucky to benefit from it.
Huckabee carried the Bible belt; McCain carried the typical blue liberal dem states that aren’t going to vote for him in November anyway; and Romney carried a hodge podge from everywhere but the south.
We’re screwed in November.
Klimt:
No, Romney was not rejected because he was a Mormon. That is just a handy excuse. And besides all that if conservatives really think that of their own party what are they saying? That conservatives are religious bigots?
And immigration did hurt the conservatives, because they damaged their own party in their little tantrum. So, Huckabee talks big, the people that voted for him were values voters, immigration was not their big issue…and besides hardliners had done a good job of painting him soft on immigration no matter what he said.
No, hardliners just do not want to face the fact that they damaged their party and their own standing in it by pursuing a policy that made compromise a dirty word. Attacking their own President and high ranking members of their own party. With friends like Malkin, Coulter and Limbaugh the Republicans do not need enemies.
Meanwhile Barack Obama, a man who supports giving drivers licenses to illegals, got more votes than any Republican up there. Think about that.
Frogg:
Oh please, you can not compare the Dakota caucas or Alaska to Ca. Look where McCain won and look where Romney won.