Hey, via Instapundit, it's the Saturday drunkblogger, Vodkapundit--says it's a two man race--McCain-Romney. And who would want to argue with that?

Seriously, that's what it looks like.

The Huckster is done for. We have to knock Rudy off in Florida, then it's on to Super Tuesday.

But for tonight, we can congratulate Gov. Mitt Romney on his great win in Nevada, and his holding his own in South Carolina in such a tough field.

Check out this . . .

Dems Exit polling shows that 3% of those participating in the Democratic were Mormons.

I'm guessing NONE of them voted for Romney (sarcasm intended).

With voting totals around 115,000 in the Dem race (I saw that number on Fox News) that would come out to approximately 3500 LDS voters NOT voting for ROmney.

By contrast, 25% of the GOP caucus in NV that were Mormon with nearly 45,000 total GOP voters --- therefore around 11250 LDS voters and 94% of them were for Romney . . . but that means nearly 500 were not.

So, 4000 LDS in Nevada voted "Not for Romney" and 10,750 voted for Romney. That breaks down to 73% LDS for Romney and 27% LDS that were not for Romney. Not quite the absolutely robotic block-voting groups that many media outlets are trying to play up.

Interesting, eh?

Update: With 1% reporting (long way to go, obviously), McCain is way out in front and Mitt has a secure 3rd-place position (leads by 6%--18% to 12% ) over Fred.

What does this do to guaranteed-a-win Huckabee and 4th-place Fred?

Update II: With 39% reporting, Mitt is trailing Fred by 1400 votes. Our man may get 4th. It'll be close.

http://floridaformitt.blogspot.com/

Governor Mitt Romney and Florida

Can someone help me keep this Florida page updated?

Romney in the Florida News

• Feb 06, 2007; Romney Heeds Call Of Florida
• Apr 24, 2007; Romney Stresses Conservative Values In Speech To Florida GOP Lawmakers

Press Releases

• Mar 28, 2007; Governor Mitt Romney Names Former Secretary of State Glenda
• Mar 28, 2007; Jacksonville Leaders Endorse Governor Mitt Romney
• Feb 22, 2007; Governor Mitt Romney Names Florida Statewide Finance Committee
• Feb 01, 2007; Governor Mitt Romney Announces Expanding Florida Field Team

Some anecdotes about the Huckster in reference to Fred's campaign at the Campaign Spot:

Talked to my Dad in Greenville this morning. He said that if local talk radio is any measure of voter sentiment, Fred is “surging.” There is great hostility on the Greenville/Spartanburg airwaves to both McCain and Huckabee. A number of talk radio callers are unhappy with Huckabee’s fried squirrel shtick, many of them complaining that it “makes us look like country bumpkins.”

Huckabee also may have committed a gaffe in a recent appearance at Clemson University. My Dad said it’s been reported that during his remarks there, Huckabee brought up the topic of the Confederate flag flying over the State House, which caused so much heartburn during the 2000 Campaign. Huckabee said something to the effect that, “if people came into our state and told us what to do with the flag, we’d tell ’em where to stick that poll.” If that’s accurate, he just succeeded in bringing up an issue most South Carolinians simply want to leave behind. My Dad added that some talk radio callers wanted to know why a Baptist minister was making such a crude suggestion.

Now that's a decisive win. Conservativism is making a comeback. Romney leads the medal count. I will welcome all the Fred supporters with open arms after tonight in SC.

Labels: mitt romney, primaries

Cool graphic with results from the Nevada GOP caucus site. They also have a link to county results if you're interested.

UPDATE: Mitt's victory message, via the Corner:

Today, the people of Nevada voted for change in Washington. For far too long, our leaders have promised to take the action necessary to build a stronger America, and still the people of Nevada and all across this country are waiting. Whether it is reforming health care, making America energy independent or securing the border, the American people have been promised much and are now ready for change.

The need for change is even more apparent today as our economy faces challenges both here at home and abroad. For decades, we have talked about the long-term economic challenges confronting our country but still the tax burden is too high, business is stifled by regulations and more money goes to defending against junk lawsuits than promoting research and innovation. Now, Washington must act and take the steps necessary to strengthen our economy. With a career spent turning around businesses, creating jobs and imposing fiscal discipline, I am ready to get my hands on Washington and turn it inside out.

I wonder how this news might affect the vote in South Carolina. Any thoughts?

By the way, come on over to NY for Mitt and view a few new YouTube videos. One's entitled "Vietnam Veterans Against McCain."

At Hot Air. Entire transcript at LA Times. Two clips.

Mike Huckabee is autographing bibles now. Comments from Ann Marie at ElectRomney in 2008 on the pix and story in the NY Times.

Andru Blonquist, who runs SCforRomney.com, gives us the latest in South Carolina:

Here's what I see and hear from Greenville, SC.

First of all the "reality check" is that Romney is playing for third place, but anything could happen since some polling shows a 6% spread with up to 40% who say they could change their mind. Also, he got a good bump out of Michigan that might just sink Fred's campaign altogether if he beats Fred by more than a few percent (polling shows them neck and neck for third).

A majority of those not listing Mitt as their first choice, still have a positive perception of him, and could actually vote for him--especially if they saw him on Leno. In my opinion, going on Leno tonight was genius! Much more effective than if he had stayed in SC through Election Day.

As Jeff [Fuller of Iowans for Romney] pointed out earlier, most people here realize that the rules have changed this year and South Carolina probably won't pick the nominee as it has in the past. The most passionate folks here are the Fred Heads who are dying to keep him in the race. Very little passion towards Huckabee since the well-informed tend to be more passionate and the well-informed here know he's a fraud. Unfortunately, there's still a chance that the less-informed will still vote for him.

I helped set up for a Georgia group last night so the room would be ready for them and then I actually got a call from them today asking if I was still committed. They were planning on 2000 calls from the Greenville headquarters today--not a large number, but many have already been made this week. Most of the calls over the past week have been just to Romney supporters, or those leaning towards him to urge them to get-out and vote.

We got our first snow here on Thursday--canceling some of the campaign schedule and that was disappointing, but that might work to our favor on Saturday when the second snow of the season is expected.

In my opinion, low turnout favors Romney because his support numbers have been consistent over the past 2 - 3 months here while McCain and Huckabee have had a much more fickle support base and many of them are casual or less-passionate voters.

The fact of the matter here is that Romney's polling in SC shows similar numbers to what he had just prior to New Hampshire, but his subtle pulling out near the end has greatly reduced expectations and no one is even suggesting that he needs a win here. If he finishes second, it will be a victory for him.

Tagg Romney and Senator Jim DeMint also did a live studio interview on local talk radio today and came across very well. There was no sense of urgency or attacking other candidates, they simply presented a message about Governor Romney's qualifications and character and they made a pitch specifically to the undecided voter out there. It showed a lot of class and a sense of composure about where the campaign stands saying, "We realize that many of you are passionate about your candidate, but if you haven't made up your mind yet, we'd urge you to consider Governor Romney because he brings more to the table than anyone else when it comes to the most pressing issues facing us today--the economy".

Because South Carolina is a split winner-take-all state (meaning district delegates are WTA and then the at-large delegates are state-wide WTA), you could easily see Romney leaving here with no delegates, but he may pick up one or two here in the upstate.

One final note, the polls are open here until 7PM local time which is 4PM Nevada time and it sounds like we could have Nevada results as early as 1 or 2 PM local. Who knows, but maybe news of that here will have an added impact!

Labels: south carolina