Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

This fight is for everything.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

T R E 4 5 O N

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Second rate reporter says what?

This blog will pay for itself.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

We still have time to mess this up!

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Rick Sanctorum Death Watch

Rick Sanctorum Death Watch

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For cultural-anthropological purposes only. Tom Junod at Esquire does a sign-holding session and “103 Calls“:

Hello, my name is Tom, and I’m a volunteer at Santorum for President. I’m calling to see if we can count on your vote in today’s critical Republican primary, here in the state of Georgia.
__
Don’t I have a job? Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I’m a reporter. Then how did the Santorum people let me in? Well, it was easy. They’re desperate. They need bodies. Yesterday, I drove over to Santorum headquarters, in Lilburn, Georgia, and got there a little before noon. Here it was, the day before Super Tuesday, and the place — the spare office of a State Farm insurance agent — was empty… There was a bespectacled white-haired woman making phone calls, and then standing in the middle of the room was the Santorum campaign’s chief organizer in Georgia, Kathy Hildebrand, and her full-time volunteer, Don Towers…
__
… By the time Don Towers started waving his sign, we’d been joined by a few other Santorum volunteers. I keep hearing that Santorum’s campaign has a “problem with female voters,” because of what Santorum has said about contraception and the fulfillment waiting for women who stay home and raise children. Well, I’ve been to a few of his events, and most of the people who show up are women — they’re just women of a certain kind, often plain and almost extravagantly modest, and they find justification in his comments about their place in the natural order of things instead of offense. They do not only bring their children; they put them on display, for they are women who put their children at the service of their politics in an effort to put their politics at the service of their children. It was no different yesterday. A dozen people showed up at the intersection to wave signs; all but one was a woman or a conscripted child. The children were mostly of middle-school age, and this was their introduction to politics. They were Santorum kids, which means they are presumably the product of home-schooling or Christian academies, but they were kids nevertheless, which means that after awhile they started dancing, with their signs. Everybody did. It was cold, and you had to keep moving, and besides, there’s something disinhibiting about holding up a sign on a street corner — it’s a silly thing to do, so even Don Towers, who in repose can be a fierce-looking man, with eyes sharpened and shadowed by bony sockets, started acting silly, doing a kind of softshoe in the muddy grass…

And Paul Constant reports for Seattle’s Stranger as “a Republican Precinct Committee Officer for Rick Santorum“:

… Because nobody else in my precinct bothered to show up for the caucuses, I automatically became my precinct’s Committee Officer, which the paperwork describes as “the Permanent Chairman of the caucus and an Automatic Delegate to their Legislative Caucus and the KCGOP Convention 4/28/2012.” Once inside the gym, looking around at the bleachers, you had your clusters of older folks—most of whom, it seemed, were Romney fans—surrounded at about three-to-one by Ron Paul supporters…
__
Since I was a precinct of one—with three delegates to our name—I caucused myself, long and hard. As a Republican, I had a very hard choice to make. Mitt Romney was automatically out. I believed that he would say or do anything he could to get into office, and he would not at all adhere to my Republican values. Ron Paul was automatically out, too, because I’m not a gold-hoarding sociopath or an idiot who has no idea how government actually works. But that left two very viable choices. On the one hand, you had Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich won my heart with his smug and irascible nature, his long history of sexual conquests, and—most importantly—Herman Cain’s endorsement. If I could not ensure that Herman Cain became president, a Newt Gingrich presidency would be the next best thing. Perhaps he would make Herman Cain vice president, or secretary of commerce, or (dare I hope?) a Supreme Court Justice? (That last option was the most tantalizing for me—after all, I love supreme pizza!) But on the other hand, you had Rick Santorum.
__
Rick Santorum is a complicated man. On the one hand, he stands against all of my values as a Republican—I’m a pro-gay-marriage and pro-government-funded contraception Republican, he’s a bigoted Opus Dei freak. My Republican values, such as a strong separation of church and state, are vitally important to me. But on the other hand, I believe that Mitt Romney is on the verge of capturing the Republican nomination, and I can’t stand Mitt Romney. I believe that Rick Santorum is the candidate with the best chance to steal the nomination from Mitt Romney. He is, if you will, the most electable. As a Republican, I want to make sure my party doesn’t embarrass itself with a Romney candidacy, and the best way to do that is by caucusing for Rick Santorum… So my choice became obvious. I had to hope that Herman Cain would find it in his heart to forgive me. As the Republican Precinct Committee Officer and sole caucusgoer for my precinct, I picked Rick, and declared Rick Santorum as my presidential preference….

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  1. 1.

    Brian R.

    Santorum Death Watch?

    You do realize that Santorum is currently leading Romney in the crucial Super Tuesday state of Ohio, right? He’s not dead yet.

  3. 3.

    IP

    they’re just women of a certain kind, often plain and almost extravagantly modest

    Hookers?

  4. 4.

    pseudonymous in nc

    So, which county in Ohio has been told to hold its vote count until 2am, and for what reason? Is it going to swing to Mittens around 11pm, then swing back to Frothy with the final spewing of votes? Or vice versa?

  7. 7.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Romney just pulled about even in Ohio with 60-ish percent of the vote in, so there’s that.

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Smart money says Clermont. Maybe they’re using all that sweet FEMA money to pay for “updated” voting machines.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    March 06, 2012
    The Scarborough-Schmidt smackdown

    Joe Scarborough and Steve Schmidt just appeared on “Hardball” and together they delivered a eulogy for Mitt Romney. It was brutal. In effect, they said Romney’s got nothin’ — nothin’ at all to work with.

    Scarborough called him “an incredibly flawed candidate” for whom it is “going to be hard to put this party back together.” By that he meant, what GOP faction does Romney rule? He hasn’t the libertarians (see RomneyCare) or the social conservatives (see Mormonism, although Scarborough didn’t say that, since he didn’t need to); then Schmidt graced the show by declaring that candidates like Romney need “more circumspection” when it comes to foreign policy — in other words, neoconservatism (Romney’s latest personification) should shut the hell up. Ouch.

    …………………………

    The Scarborough-Schmidt duo gave quite a performance. Here were two lifetime, professionally partisan Republicans essentially saying what I wrote this morning: that “There are no absolutes, therefore anything is possible, even a President Mitt Romney. But, seriously …”

    http://pmcarpenter.blogs.com/p_m_carpenters_commentary/2012/03/the-scarborough-schmidt-smackdown.html

    Here’s the video for you:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#46646624

  11. 11.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Is it possible that Doctah Paul wins Alaska or Idaho? Because that would just amuse me to no end.

  12. 12.

    JGabriel

    I really can’t see the name Rick Santorum anymore without it immediately eliding itself into Rectum.

    Does anyone else have that problem, or is just me?

    .

  16. 16.

    PeakVT

    @rikyrah: He did win VA, though that was essentially uncontested. Apart from that, he’s basically winning the Obama states (minus CO, so far), which isn’t surprising seeing how he is considered the least conservative.

  20. 20.

    freelancer

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Romney just pulled about even in Ohio with 60-ish percent of the vote in, so there’s that.

    This is fried bullshit-on-a-stick:

    64% in right now:

    Santorum: 276,526
    Romney: 264,062

    Santorum up 12,464 votes. It hasn’t been less than a 10,000 vote margin for the last hour or so.

    That was msnbc.

    Here’s WAPO.

  21. 21.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @lamh35:

    I think Kaptur’s winning at the moment. I think it’s more of her old district than his, isn’t it? So that wouldn’t be surprising.

  22. 22.

    Linda Featheringill

    most of the people who show up are women — they’re just women of a certain kind, often plain and almost extravagantly modest, and they find justification in his comments about their place in the natural order of things instead of offense

    I’ve known a few women like that. Those I have met have been proud of their humility. Yes, that’s a contradiction but true nevertheless.

  24. 24.

    mike in dc

    If Santorum wins OH, TN, OK, ND and either AK or ID, it’s a complete catastrophe for Mittens. He only won in a home state, a Northeastern neighbor state, and a state where Ron Paul was the only other guy on the ballot. Dead “frontrunner” walking.

  26. 26.

    Soonergrunt

    Just now from Charlie Pierce’s Twitter:

    *Update 10:06 p.m. — With 34% of precincts reporting: Dennis Kucinich 52%, Marcy Kaptur 44%, Graham Veysey 4%. MW

    The previous one may have been in error.

  28. 28.

    KG

    Sullivan had a link showing Santorum leading in ND with a little more than half the votes counted, Mitt in third

  29. 29.

    Kiril

    @Spaghetti Lee: They are behind MSNBC, but I’m sure JMM is getting his numbers from the same places.

    Incidentally, and I know this means nothing but it makes me smile, with 4% in, Romney is ahead of Santorum in Wyoming by only 2…

  30. 30.

    Soonergrunt

    @lamh35: I’ve never cared about Dennis Kucinich enough to even know he was married. I thought he was gay, to be honest.

  31. 31.

    freelancer

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    They certainly haven’t been updated. MSNBC just went to commercial break saying 67% in with the lead growing to 14k votes.

    ETA: They came back in saying 70% and Santorum’s lead is 15k.

  32. 32.

    Persia

    @Brian R.: How much must they hate Romney, that Santorum’s machine looks like this and he’s winning in this many states?

    @Soonergrunt: Apparently during the Democratic debate breaks in 08 he kept making out with his (hot) wife.

  33. 33.

    muddy

    @IP:

    extravagantly modest

    It’s like a uniform. Also I think making such a big deal about it pretty well defeats the purpose. Just another internal contradiction for the list.

  34. 34.

    bondirotta

    All that talk about sluts helped Santorum a lot. He knows how to discipline those dirty, dirty girls. Mitt looks too weak to deal with wayward women properly.

    The gap is back to 15’000!!!

    Mitt is so dead in Mississippi and Kansas after this debacle.

  35. 35.

    David Koch

    Looks like God has intervened on behalf of brother Rick against the cultist Mittens.

  38. 38.

    Anoniminous

    NYT reporting 65% of precincts are in and it’s Santorum over Romney 38.3% to 36.4% with ~15,000 vote lead for Frothy.

    A lot of the hinterland is at 100% so it may come down to the suburbs.

  40. 40.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @lamh35:

    I’d honestly be happy with either. I think Kucinich might be better on the issues, but Kaptur’s more of a team player. Of course, I’d be even happier if they could both stay and the OH redistricters wiped out Bob Gibbs or Stivers or Tiberi instead.

  41. 41.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Soonergrunt:

    Oh, no. Dennis has a lovely, tall, very graceful lady as a wife.

    ETA:
    http://www.google.com/imgres?q=mrs.+dennis+kucinich&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1272&bih=550&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&tbnid=hoeId-rSLXXIVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.battleswarmblog.com/%3Fp%3D2720&docid=vp6rcYzvrcw1zM&imgurl=http://www.cleveland.com/images/hp/332/kucinich1212b.jpg&w=332&h=231&ei=ztVWT_DOGcG2twe_os2MCQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=746&vpy=146&dur=4868&hovh=184&hovw=265&tx=139&ty=97&sig=105735581122400590061&page=1&tbnh=118&tbnw=173&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0

    picture of Mrs. Kucinich

  42. 42.

    Martin

    On the one hand, you had Newt Gingrich. Newt Gingrich won my heart with his smug and irascible nature, his long history of sexual conquests, and—most importantly—Herman Cain’s endorsement.

    You forgot to put the ‘unspoofable’ tag on there.

  43. 43.

    dmsilev

    @rikyrah: Where are you getting your feed from? Google (which is pulling an AP feed) only has 66 percent reporting so far.

  44. 44.

    freelancer

    Michael Moore just said “If Romney loses OH, this is gonna go pretty quick from Dog-on-Car to Man-on-Dog!”.

    :)

  46. 46.

    JGabriel

    @Soonergrunt:

    I’ve never cared about Dennis Kucinich enough to even know he was married. I thought he was gay, to be honest.

    If he’s gay, he’s got one hell of a beard. Elizabeth Kucinich could pass for Julianne Moore’s blue-eyed daughter (if Moore had a daughter, don’t want to start any rumors here).

    .

  49. 49.

    lamh35

    So Nate Silver saying on twitter that Operation Hilarity may be the reason that Santorum is performing better in OH than they thought.

  51. 51.

    Soonergrunt

    Charlie Pierce just now, via Twitter:

    *Update 10:23 p.m. — Results with 39% of precincts reporting: Dennis Kucinich 46%, Marcy Kaptur 51%, Graham Veysey 3%.

  53. 53.

    Martin

    @Soonergrunt: Nothing against either Kucinich or Kaptur, but what a shitpile that turned into. I have a hard time seeing Kucinich hold that district, so for the sake of the larger goal, I hope Marcy wins that race.

  54. 54.

    freelancer

    @Baud:

    Moore is actually speechless about what’s going on with the GOP. It’s amazing.

    Moore always stumbles in his speech when he’s live. Lots of ums and he gets a thought going, and you know how Juicers would finish it, but he realizes he’s on national TV, censors, re-writes and spews just all kinds of awkward and jumbled speech when he’s on live.

  55. 55.

    Soonergrunt

    @Martin: Teabagger-controlled legislature merged the two neighboring D districts when they lost two seats in Congress.

  56. 56.

    Cacti

    Nate says that so far, Romney is underperforming all of his polls.

    Schadenfreude-alicious I say.

  57. 57.

    bondirotta

    So it may be five states for Santorum. He buried Mitt in North Dakota – Mitt forgot to buy it.

    Voters refused to admit they voted Santorum at the exit polls. Too funny.

  58. 58.

    Mark S.

    Wow, what a horrible night for Mitt!

    ETA: Finally that went thru. I kept getting a message saying I was being stopped by Bad Behavior. I ain’t misbehavin’.

    John’s middle name is Griffin?

  60. 60.

    JGabriel

    @freelancer:

    Michael Moore just said “If Romney loses OH, this is gonna go pretty quick from Dog-on-Car to Man-on-Dog!”.

    My meme is all growed up and living out in world on its own. (*sniff*) It brings a tear to the eye.

    .

  61. 61.

    geg6

    This is fucking hilarious. I’m laughing so hard and so much that Otis is looking at me like I’m nuts. Crazy human, his look says.

  62. 62.

    Cacti

    I wonder if Lady Romney’s “not feeling wealthy” tipped any undecideds against Willard?

  63. 63.

    bondirotta

    Mississippi, Kansas, Alabama – Mitt will lose the next three states. That’s why he needed to close the deal tonight.

    He may lose Mississippi and Alabama by 20 points.

    Media will gorge on his grief.

  64. 64.

    Anoniminous

    At the moment (60% in) Romney is running third (25%) 2 points behind Paul in ND!

    (he-he-he)

  65. 65.

    dmsilev

    Mittens may be making a move. Google reports 72% in, and Frothy’s lead is down to about 7,000 votes.

  66. 66.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Soonergrunt:

    To be honest, with the population loss, wouldn’t it be difficult to keep 9, 10, and 13 all intact and still mostly Democratic? Not that the teabag lege didn’t want to cause trouble in the first place. If it was up to me I’d have gotten rid of OH-18 and fixed the Columbus-area districts so that the actual city wasn’t cut into the three pieces.

  67. 67.

    Mike in NC

    My Republican values, such as a strong separation of church and state, are vitally important to me.

    WTF, seriously?

  68. 68.

    Soonergrunt

    @geg6: My conservative friends are all freaking the fuck out right now. I’m like “what, you didn’t see this coming? Cause we libs sure as hell did!”

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev: Ed Schultz said the Cincinatti area hasn’t reported, and those are hard-right Republicans. No idea if he’s right.

  71. 71.

    Kiril

    It looks like less than 800 people voted in the Wyoming primary. Why does it take so long to count?

  72. 72.

    The Dangerman

    @freelancer:

    This is fried bullshit-on-a-stick…

    Damn, I thought they reached the craziest ever with fried butter on a stick….

  74. 74.

    bondirotta

    Drudge is fascinating… he simply stopped listing the states Santorum won after North Dakota came in… he is now listing only Romney and Gingrich states.

    His heart is being broken.

  76. 76.

    Anoniminous

    @dmsilev:

    Frothy’s counties are mostly counted, Romney’s still have some precincts left. Looks like Mitt may pull it off.

  77. 77.

    Soonergrunt

    Charlie Pierce, just now, via Twitter:

    *Update at 10:35 p.m. — With 39% of precincts reporting: Dennis Kucinich 46%, Marcy Kaptur 51%, Graham Veysey 3%. MW

  80. 80.

    pseudonymous in nc

    I’m going to assume that Cinci and environs is big for Mittens — lots of self-entitled asshole GOPers, and while Cinci is pretty Catholic, I don’t think they’re Frotholics — and that those counties are going to wait until the very end and push him over the finish line.

    (For fuck’s sake, county-based vote reporting is stupid.)

  81. 81.

    urlhix

    Looks like the Rombot is going to pull this one out. Votes from the big counties coming in late will seal the deal. I hope I’m wrong.

  84. 84.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Martin Bashir on msnbc equating Romney with Prince Charles is cracking me up.

  86. 86.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Cacti:

    Alabama and Mississippi are coming up. That’s Newt Country if there ever was any. He’s been the guy in the deep south so far.

  87. 87.

    Kiril

    @Cacti: Maybe Alabama or Mississippi? Nothing else, but he won’t quit as long as the money is there and they keep inviting him to debates.

  88. 88.

    JGabriel

    @Mike in NC:

    My Republican values, such as a strong separation of church and state, are vitally important to me.

    WTF, seriously?

    No. The guy who wrote that, Paul Constant, is an editor/blogger, presumably liberal, for Seattle’s alt/arts newspaper, The Stranger.

    .

  91. 91.

    lamh35

    ok wow, Martin Bashir was hilarious just now on MSNBC. Ya’ll should get the video.

    He called Mitt Romney the “Prince Charles” of the Republican party.

    He’s next in line to sit on the throne, but people in UK would rather his sone Prince William take the throne than Prince Charles.

    It seems weird, but the way Bashir analyzed it was awesome!

  92. 92.

    MosesZD

    About 2.700 votes seperating the two dirt bags. 77% reporting. High drama and low comedy all at once.

  93. 93.

    Anne Laurie

    @Martin: My gracious! And here I’d always been told that “prairie muffin” was a cognate for “cowpat” or “buffalo chip” — i.e., a cud-chewing herbivore’s turd.

    (I’d like to believe that manifesto is a parody, but I fear it’s a heartfelt explanation of the writer’s philosophy.)

  95. 95.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Anoniminous:

    What the heck is going on in Medina County, Ohio?

    And we have the answer to the question I posed in comment #4. Medina County is 98% white, median household income around $55k, bunch of country clubs. That’s your Romney banker.

  96. 96.

    Cacti

    @lamh35:

    He called Mitt Romney the “Prince Charles” of the Republican party

    I enjoyed James Carville’s observation back during Iowa, that getting voters to like Mitt was like trying to give a dog a pill.

  97. 97.

    Anoniminous

    @PeakVT:

    Mormons are around 30% of the population of Idaho but mostly in the hinterland which will report first. Without polling data they’ll wait for Boise and the suburbs to start coming in before anybody will call it.

  98. 98.

    dmsilev

    @Cacti: So you’re saying that the Romney campaign will try coating their candidate in cream cheese?

    An unorthodox move, but it might just work.

  99. 99.

    Anne Laurie

    @Kilkee:

    Lots of urban OH votes yet to be counted.

    … or not counted, or re-counted, depending on the needs of those in charge of the counting. C’mon, this is Ohio, they have a hundred-year reputation for voting fraud to protect!

  100. 100.

    Cacti

    The upcoming slate is not looking so good for Willard…

    Kansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Missouri over the next week and a half.

  102. 102.

    lamh35

    I’m beginning to think that the last OH vote numbers are taking so long because they are trying to “find” enough votes to put Romney over the top.

    How can they give vote totals to reporters, but not the state elections dept?

    Oh and I like Steve Schmidt he seems to be genuine, but I think he was being a loyal GOP when he said that even if it really close in OH but Romney “wins” then Romney still goes ahead to the next contest with the wind at his back.

    It’s amazing what you can rationalize when you want your team to win.

  105. 105.

    Suffern ACE

    Unless those rural heartland districts have Mormons, Romney isn’t winning them. But his next best chance is Kansas. So another few million for a small delegate state and a 2 point victory over Santorum in that state. Probably $125 per voter.

  107. 107.

    Soonergrunt

    Charlie Pierce just now via Twitter:

    *Update at 10:55 p.m. — With 52% of precincts reporting: Dennis Kucinich 41%, Marcy Kaptur 55%, Graham Veysey 4%. MW

  108. 108.

    bondirotta

    Well- Romney was 2’200 behind at 82% and is now 3’100 behind at 86% reporting.

    So Santorum’s lead has technically grown by more than 40%… there is some dark pool of wingnuts sustaining him in Northern Ohio.

  109. 109.

    nellcote

    I wish one of the stealth Santorum cacus voters could hold it together enough to be elected to the Tampa gooper convention so he could call out a delegate vote for Prez Obama.

  112. 112.

    Cacti

    @eemom:

    Veritass has been conspicuously absent since the death of Dimbart.

    Guess he’s moved on to his new career in professional roadside sign twirling.

  113. 113.

    RossInDetroit

    I’m watching the Ohio numbers from the edge of my seat as well. But I don’t trust them. Wouldn’t surprise me to see significant revisions after the counting, as missed votes are ‘found’ and errors are ‘corrected’.

  117. 117.

    The Dangerman

    Damn, I think Mitt will pull it out; I haz a sad. Losing Ohio would be a Titanic level disaster.

  118. 118.

    CaseyL

    Peter Hamby of CNN has tweeted there would be an automatic recount in OH if the margin of victory is 0.25% or less.
    If it’s automatic, I think that means the campaign doesn’t have to pay for it.

    This long drawn out fight is not likely to strengthen the combatants like the Obama-Clinton contest did. The more Obama and Clinton went after each other, the more they had to explain and clarify their ideas. That’s because they actually cared about the office they were seeking and the country they hoped to lead.

    Romney and Santorum, OTOH, just get nuttier and more dishonest. Neither of them actually care about governing, or the country, or its citizens. I can’t even imagine what kind of lunacy they’ll be uttering by convention time.

  119. 119.

    MikeJ

    @dmsilev:

    So you’re saying that the Romney campaign will try coating their candidate in cream cheese?

    I think those middle of the state people in PA already identify him a little too closely with the Main Line for him to risk bringing Philadelphia into it.

  121. 121.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Actually Cincinnati has both – the very pro Mittens crowd in the eastern part, and the really serious frothers in the north central (Butler County)suburbs. Many serious Catholic types on the west side also, so I think Schultz is oversimplifying the question. But what do I know? I just live here. I’d call the Cincinnati region for Mitt, if asked at gunpoint.

  124. 124.

    Triassic Sands

    @Brian R.:

    Unfortunately for Santorum’s prospects, he is running behind Romney in all the big metro areas of the state and they still have many votes to be counted.

    If I had to bet, I wouldn’t bet on Santorum. Still, I hope he wins Ohio, damages Romney’s inevitability train, and causes the spectacle of a robot versus a religious zealot-bigot to continue.

  125. 125.

    scav

    @The Dangerman: well, there’s completely hulled GlubGlubGlub and there’s losing water with photogenic gashes in the hull and the latter seems pretty much in the bag.

  126. 126.

    Kiril

    Wow, is that Fineman saying the GOP is not a conservative party anymore, but a religious party?

  128. 128.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I’d just like to remind you all that even if he scrapes by in Ohio, this was still a bad night for Romney, as he proved once again that he can’t win in the South. If you discount states like MA and VT where the result was never in question, he’ll end up winning something like 2 or 3 out of 8 competitive primaries.

  129. 129.

    Soonergrunt

    Remember, Romney wins Ohio by delegate count no matter what happens because Santorum didn’t get on the ballot in some districts in Ohio, so Romney effectively ran unopposed in those places.
    Having said that, Santorum winning on votes would just be delicious.

  130. 130.

    RossInDetroit

    DAMMIT! I need Mitt to LOSE tonight in Ohio! Don’t those people remember “Let Detroit go bankrupt”?

  133. 133.

    Soonergrunt

    NBC talking about how the pressure on Gingrich to drop out and pledge his delegates to Santorum is about to seriously increase from the teabagger faction. Santorum is the evangelicals’ chosen NotMitt.

  134. 134.

    MikeJ

    @Spaghetti Lee: You also have to ignore Virginia since most of the people in the party that thinks they know how to better run the country aren’t capable of filling out the proper forms to run for office.

  137. 137.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Anoniminous: Seriously, what is it with one county waiting until 70% of the votes are in before starting to tabulate its own results? If this were a foreign country with election observers, that would be a big fucking red flag.

  140. 140.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @RossInDetroit:

    Well, it’s not like it was a blowout for Mitt (I seriously love his guys trying to spin him as Mr. Inevitable when even in the states he wins he rarely seems to break 50% of the vote), and there’s plenty of wealthy suburbs of Cincy and Columbus that have nothing to do with Detroit.

  141. 141.

    RossInDetroit

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    You’re counting on people from OHIO?!? What kind of Michigander are you?

    Well, I did note above that they’d screw up the count and have to revise after the fact.

    Actually I’m counting on Toledo, which might be more dependent on the auto industry than any city besides Detroit.

  143. 143.

    Soonergrunt

    CNN’s Dana Bash on Twitter, just now:

    Congressional news from Hamilton county now – looks like jean Schmitt may have lost her primary to brad Wenstrup

  144. 144.

    Anoniminous

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    It’s like that fucking bitch of a sleaze ball County Clerk in Wisconsin whose returns always seems to give the Republican enough votes to win state-wide elections.

    A coinkydinky, I’m sure.

    The GOP isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. It’s out in the open where anyone with a brain can see it.

  146. 146.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Soonergrunt: Got a robocall for Wentstrup. Weird, for the neighborhood. Dukes of Hazzard dialect guy asking “And she calls herself conservative? Hell she voted with Obama more times than against him.” It might have been a very inside baseball nod to Vitoria Wulsin’s use of the actor who played Cooter in her (unsuccessful) campaign against Schmidt; his calls ran in rural SE Ohio: “Aw boys, Vicky’s not gonna take yer guns away.”

  147. 147.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Well, if they are, they’re not exactly giving Romney the goods. He’s winning 38-36 or something in that county. And there’s another county going heavily for Santorum that has something like 4% of the vote in.

    Honestly, I don’t think screaming ‘fraud!’ whenever the results don’t go your way is a bad habit to get into. If there’s something suspicious to actually go on, then by all means go ahead, but I personally don’t think this is enough.

  148. 148.

    RossInDetroit

    Is Walden O’Dell, the chief executive of Diebold Romney’s OH campaign manager? I’m digging for a conspiracy here.

  150. 150.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Anoniminous: It shouldn’t even be a partisan issue. Fuck county autonomy for statewide elections: they should send their results blind to the state board of elections, with a big fucking embargo, and the totals get declared without reference to locality until all the votes are counted. Basic fairness.

    From the OSCE observer guidelines:

    Experience demonstrates that electoral fraud is more likely to take place during the vote count or the tabulation of results than during the actual balloting.

  151. 151.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Honestly, I don’t think screaming ‘fraud!’ whenever the results don’t go your way is a bad habit to get into.

    I’m not screaming “fraud”, for what it’s worth. I’m saying that: a) the county-based system sucks; b) if this kind of tardiness were to happen in Foreign, it would be flagged as a concern by independent observers. The preliminary OSCE report on the Russian presidential election just came in, and its findings were that while the voting itself was relatively fair, Putin controlled access the media during the campaign, and the count was a shambles.

  153. 153.

    Suffern ACE

    @bella hip hop Idaho- well I would have voted against her too. Why wasn’t she raising holy hell about Obama’s power grab when he came to cast his votes in congress?

  155. 155.

    Anne Laurie

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    You’re counting on people from OHIO?!? What kind of Michigander are you?

    Every Michigander I’ve ever known — and I lived there for 16 years — would agree you can count on Ohio… for dishonest dealing, dirty politics, and the kind of prideful stupidity that Not-Joe the Not-Plumber espoused so publicly.

  156. 156.

    Suffern ACE

    @Anne Laurie: Wasn’t this the state that lost tens of millions in their public pension assets because someone invested money in rare coins that were then “lost?”

  158. 158.

    danielx

    Watching the talking heads is too much punishment for an honest man to bear. Comment from Matthew Dowd: “Mitt Romney ran against Mitt Romney today, and Mitt lost.” Almost verbatim, anyway. These dipshits get paid six figure incomes?

  160. 160.

    danielx

    Also, too – Snowbilly Snooki is still teasing her um, supporters: “Anything is possible”, in reference to both her willingness to serve (ahem) in the event of a brokered convention and regarding a run in 2016. I suspect that at this point even having GRIFTER tattooed on her forehead would not dissuade the true believers, who will go on sending her their hard earned coin, just like people send money to TV preachers. Not that there’s much difference, except La Palin wears red suits instead of powder blue suits.

  161. 161.

    Sloegin

    Wow, the talibangelicals are really lining up behind Slick Rick. Wonder if Mitt’s gonna have to pay off Nootie and Paulie to stay in the race to marginalize Santorum’s numbers.

    Wonder if he already has been.

  164. 164.

    gregor

    Romney Santorum 2012.

    Hate to say it, but Romney’s money and Santorum’s appeal to the wingnuttia/evangelicals will make it a formidable ticket.

    Watch out Obama.

  165. 165.

    Triassic Sands

    Qs: Why doesn’t God love Rick Santorum? How could he allow cultist Mitt Romney to win Ohio? Has Ricky’s faith been shaken (not stirred)?

  168. 168.

    Triassic Sands

    Headline: GINGRICH CRUSHES OPPOSITION WITH FIVE FOURTH PLACE FINISHES!!!

    The unstoppable Gingrich Express rolls on toward his certain nomination. Losing in nine of the ten states up for grabs on Super Tuesday is not even a minor setback for the inevitable nominee. (Source: Newt Gingrich’s brain.)

    In what may be the strangest sure thing in political history, Newt Gingrich solidified his hold on the frontrunner’s spot with 1 first, 1 no show, 0 seconds, 3 thirds, and 5 fourths. Clearly, those fourth place finishes are all part of clever scheme to win the nomination using tactics never before seen in American politics. At some point, the other candidates will be laughing their butts off at the spectacle of Gingrich and at that precise moment Newt will strike.

  169. 169.

    Collin

    Don Towers, who in repose can be a fierce-looking man

    Ummm… Does he know what “repose” means?

  170. 170.

    Another Halocene Human

    @rikyrah: I’m confused by “see Mormons”. The Mormons are defending Romney. He isn’t playing well with social conservatives because he was severely pro-choice, or whatever term he used at the time, when he was governor of Mass.

    Sure, he’s not “one of them” like GW Bush, but neither are the Catholics, yet that doesn’t seem to be stopping Santorum.

    Romney was either lying when he claimed to be pro-choice or lying when he claimed to be pro-life, but his record in Mass doesn’t indicate any s00per-s3Kr1t attempts to undermine women’s reproductive freedom, so if you were an authoritarian follower, would YOU trust Rmoney? I wouldn’t.

    And polls have finally shown that there is a slight Mormon-shy effect among the most conservative voters. I don’t think it adds up to enough to really be a big deal. It’s Romney the man and his record which is most off-putting to the Religious Reich. (Remember, a cabal of their leaders anointed Teh Cat-o-lick. You can’t say Santorum doesn’t believe the nutty stuff he’s spewing.)

  171. 171.

    Another Halocene Human

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Seriously, what is it with one county waiting until 70% of the votes are in before starting to tabulate its own results? If this were a foreign country with election observers, that would be a big fucking red flag.

    I’m having 2000 and Diebold flashbacks, personally.

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