This vote count is going slowly tonight because the top three guys are so close. I won't be able to check my predictions of last week for a while, but I'll be pretty close. I even fell asleep for a minute, and my son changed the channel to the Michigan--Virginia Tech game, which was pretty exciting when I woke up at the end of the second quarter.
Earlier, I had this exchange with my fourteen-year-old trying to convince him to watch CNN with me (and before I dozed off for him to switch the channel). We were watching the projections based on those entering the caucuses:
Son: "So, who do you want to win?"
Me: "Huntsman."
Son (thoughtfully watching the screen): "Dad, he's not going to win."
Now with 88% of the vote in, Santorum has more than a surge with an actual lead over No. 2 Romney with Paul close behind. Gingrich is confirmed soggy toast and will come out swinging for Romney tomorrow resenting the PAC money attacks that killed his surge. (That's called "Citizens United Instant Karma.")
The big news is that Romney is still inevitable even if his party doesn't love him. Santorum and Paul will distract the media attention for a little while. It's impossible for either of those two to win the nomination. And if they somehow do, it will be the biggest electoral landslide for the Dems since they rolled over Goldwater in '64. And if it holds that Paul comes in third, even if a close third, it sort of deflates his momentum bubble. Sorry Libertarians. And the weaker Romney looks, the more he'll end up like a Mondale.
More to follow.
(Anon/M) Man, this is going to get ugly. I watched Santorum's (almost) acceptance speech last night. From a conservative perspective, he acquitted himself very well. He sounded sincere, heartfelt, playing the grandfather's story well (who came to Appalachia in 1925 ahead of his family and worked in the mines all his life). The commentator said that, in contrast, Romney's grandfather had taken his polygamist family to Mexico to escape the law. This isn't going to play well. I don't care for Mitt but I'd hate to see him (and the Church) get bloodied in the next fee weeks before losing to Obama.
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