Mitt Romney wins narrow victory over Ron Paul in Maine’s Republican caucuses

[onehandle]

Mitt Romney scored a narrow victory over Ron Paul in Maine's Republican presidential caucuses Saturday, avoiding an embarrassing setback in his bid for the GOP nomination. Romney received 39 percent of the vote to Paul's 36 percent.

Rick Santorum finished third, with 18 percent, and Newt Gingrich finished fourth, with 6 percent.

Maine's 24 delegates are not allocated by the results of the caucuses, but Romney and Paul stepped up their efforts to win the state in recent days, trying to score an important symbolic victory. For Romney, who won the state easily--with 52 percent of the vote--in 2008, a win in Maine could help him rebound from Tuesday's three-state loss to Rick Santorum.

Turnout was low: Only 2,290 people voted for Romney, 1,996 voted for Paul, 989 voted for Santorum, and 349 voted for Gingrich.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mitt-romney-wins-maine-republican-caucuses-232219238.html

Weak, weak, weak.

[banned from Kos]

1. Damn, I hope that is wrong. Romney will win eventually - the later the better.

And fuck Romney and his lies.

[tfrey1225]

2. And there goes

Ron Paul's best chance to win anything.

[angrychair]

3. Seems a little close

to "call it" at this point to me. Less that 50 votes between them....I guess the GOP elite are trying to keep the Rmoney train moving off the CPAC straw poll results....little Ricky isn't the shiny new apple he thought he was I guess.

[Redstate Bluegirl]

5. Rmoney? Was that a typo?

If not LOL!

[angrychair]

7. no typo

but I can't take credit for it...I've seen it used here on DU and liked it

[provis99]

35. EarlG I believe, gets the credit for coming up with that one.

it's apparently going viral out there in the Internet tubes.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002280663

[stockholmer]

6. keep it as 'Rmoney' ... far more accurate

[DallasNE]

27. "Turnout Was Low"

While the actual difference was just 50 votes it was enough for a 3% victory. "Turnout was low" is a common theme in closed primaries and caucus States so Maine was no exception. Maine also represents still another State where Romney's vote totals were below his vote total in 2008 and that has to be a troubling sign for Romney just as this constant low turnout result has to be a concern to the Republican party because it impacts not only the Presidential race but all of the down ticket races as well.

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Good...

I'm tired of hearing about Ron Paul. His supporters might be the most annoying fucks on this planet and I'm sure this'll shut 'em up. Okay, it probably won't, but it'll wound 'em!

[bluestateguy]

8. Not until every last vote is counted

I don't believe the lies of the corporate media.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

9. Why the fuck is it taking so long to count the REST of the votes?

The last time this happened in IA, turns out R-Money didn't win!

What's going on here?

[NWHarkness]

10. Washington County postponed their caucuses

due to bad weather.

And that is prime Ron Paul territory.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

11. Uh-huh. Thought so. So, did that mean that Washington County doesn't have that

many votes? Why call it before the rest of the votes are in?

Still sounds fishy.

[NWHarkness]

12. You won't believe this...

Charlie Webster, the GOP state chair, has announced that the Washington County caucuses won't count.

[UCmeNdc]

14. Make Sure Ron Paul is out!

GOP establishment hard at work. Made sure Ron Paul doesn't win a state.

[Skip Intro]

31. Exactly. They have stated as much, going all the way back to Iowa. I don't know why Paul doesn't

bolt the party that changes its rules to keep him from winning and run third party. Why does he stay?

[Scootaloo]

32. Because he's a far-right fuck-knuckle; he's at home

The GOP gives him money, and lets him yell at clouds all day on the taxpayer dole. If he ran as independent, he might actually have to, you know, do shit.

[Mopar151]

36. Face time in the debates.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

15. No, I'm not surprised at all. I believe Ron Paul's team is right!! They are not counting all of the

caucus votes. Randi Rhodes has been talking about this for the last few weeks. Rachel Maddow discussed this last night and had the Ron Paul election chairman on the show, and he explained it beautifully!

I still don't why Ron Paul won't go after Romney. I think they are cutting a deal for something!

[Art_from_Ark]

28. MY guess is that Ron Paul is aiming for a position at Treasury

That's where his heart really is

[MaineDem]

22. WHAT???

The Ron Paul camp could do a wicked good GOTV effort and have quite a crowd at those caucuses and make a big difference in the final count.

[quakerboy]

23. None of the "votes" count

its a nonbinding caucus.

Or in other words just about as relevant as the CPAC straw poll. Or any other straw poll. And seeing how often Ron Paul wins straw polls in comparison to how often he wins states, that says something.

I don't get why they even bother to have a caucus when the later actual primary vote is what allocates the delegates.

[MaineDem]

25. There is no primary in Maine

This is the only vote for President. The delegates to the State Convention will be allocated based on this vote. The delegates to the State Convention will then elect the national delegates. They aren't pledged to any candidate until that day.

[quakerboy]

26. Really?

Huh. I read "non-binding" to mean that this didn't have any direct effect on the national delegates, and assumed there would be a primary later. Guess I should have read up rather than assuming.

Wikipedia says the delegates remain un pledged to any specific candidate even after the state convention. Seems like a safe guess they would likely to defect to the winner, in the case there was a clear winner, for the appearance of unity.

[AtheistCrusader]

34. Hahaha I see a note that the Girl Scouts showed up for their regional meeting, as the caucus was can

cled for the Republicans.

'Light dusting of snow'.


AHAHAHAHAHAAA

[villager]

13. You mean, the way he was the apparent winner in Iowa?

[NWHarkness]

16. Romney's total was less than it takes to win a state house race

And this was a record turnout!

[jpak]

17. The Maine GOP is as corrupt and totalitarian as they come

I suspect that this "preliminary" "non-binding" result was engineered by the Mittens Mafia.

and Ron Paul actually won.

That said - Rmoney has yet to get more than 50% of the vote in any GOP circus.

They suck

yup

[rocktivity]

18. No, Mitt, your Maine and CPAC national poll victories are not wins -- they're washes.

Paul and Santorum got almost as many votes, and if Gingrich throws his support behind Satnroum, you're REALLY done. You've still got a LOT of work to do.


rocktivity

[DCBob]

19. So Rmoney has two wins tonight.. Maine and CPAC.. does that mean he is back on track?

It will be interesting to see the next round of polling from Michigan.

[Robbins]

20. Well

Romney just barely beat Paul here.Back In 2008 Romney got 51 percent against Mccain.This may be record turnout but I suspect
a lot of that Is for paul not Romney.Again to barely win against Paul Is not good.

Imagne back in 2008 Obama barely beating kucinach In a caucus.

The MSM will try to spin It for Romney.

[MarkCharles]

21. Let's see, Portland, Maine, less than 70 miles from Romney's

home in NH.

Who could have predicted this?

But so close to Ron Paul?

Let's remember, Republicans who vote in any state are crazy anyway.


And IF you THINK Maine has rational Republicans... look at their Governor, arguably the most stupid man in politics today. LePage Google it!

[Mopar151]

43. Maine's close enough

To remember the Mass. State Police goon squad at the Romnney cottage on the big lake when he was Gov. And the % of time that he spent "building the brand" of Rommney while Governor of Mass.

[unkachuck]

24. Congratulations, slick-willard, you rich old wall-street Morman! Good job!....n/t

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

29. Maine also has a crazy ass Teabagging fuck face, LaPage. It wouldn't surprise me at all

if there were shenanigans going on!!

[Douglas Carpenter]

30. well that's disappointing

It's time for people in both parties to put aside their petty differences and unite behind Rick Santorum - for the Republican nomination - not for President, of course - that would be insane.

[crim son]

33. I expected Paul to win but

am not surprised by the close race. All I can say is, thank the Deity Gingrich or Sanctorum didn't win here else I'd be even more unhappy living in Maine than I am already!

[JI7]

37. Doesn't look good Considering this should be one of Romney's Strongest States

Santorum came in a lot stronger earlier in the week. Romney not even getting majority and only 3 points ahead of RON PAUL ???

[CAPHAVOC]

38. Paul won. GOP voter fraud.

Amazing. I just read the GOP rigged the results. And they have the gall to accuse anyone of voter fraud. They are disgusting. They only counted part of the votes.

[UCmeNdc]

39. This is actually election fraud

Election Fraud is when someone fixes the election results.

Voter fraud is when someone votes illegally.

[think]

42. Legally there was no election fraud. However,

the Maine GOP allowed Washington county to opt out due to a snow storm in that area which is perfectly legal although ethically lacking. The predicted snow fall accumulation was between 3-5 inches of snow so legally Washington county opted to postpone their caucus due to the "snow storm". Some reports have said that the actual accumulation of snow in the area was less than one inch in depth.

So everything was perfectly "legal" but at the same time completely unethical. The GOP & the main stream media will all play along and most Americans will never even know that they were SNOWED.

.... Maine state GOP Chairman Charlie Webster vowed that later caucuses would not be counted in the vote totals. "Some caucuses decided not to participate in this poll and will caucus after this announcement," Webster told the Associated Press February 11. "Their results will not be factored in. The absent votes will not be factored into this announcement after the fact."

The Washington County super-caucus was the only one to have been postponed because of an anticipated snowstorm. But while some media forecast six or more inches of snow, the Washington County forecast from the National Weather Service for February 11 was for a total of 3-5 inches of accumulation during the day, hardly out-of-the-ordinary for the Maine climate in February. Moreover, the Portland area was forecast to have almost as much snow, 1-3 inches, while nearby Hancock County had an identical forecast as Washington County. Yet caucuses were not cancelled in those areas....

Full article:

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/10837-was-maine-stolen-from-ron-paul

[MaineDem]

41. Not so much that they haven't counted all the votes yet but...

Not everyone has voted. An entire county and half of another hasn't even voted yet. The GOP Chair is saying they won't count. That isn't going over too well.

[mainer]

40. In a few weeks, it will be revealed that Ron Paul actually won

but in the meantime, Romney can use this "victory" as proof of his momentum. It will serve its purpose for the next few state primaries.

[MarkCharles]

44. When a state Republican Caucus denies 4000 potential participants...

from participation, (even though I would not agree with their votes for Ron Paul),.... college towns..places where Ron Paul s upporters are likely to hold out...

Well, those 3900 or so votes for Romney are sort of less than important now.


Maine, population 1.3 million... Romney "won" by less than 200 votes in an unofficial Caucus where thousands were kept from casting their vote.

Sounds like Romney. By the way, Romney's "home" in NH is less than 20 miles from the Maine state line, less than 70 miles from Maine's biggest city, Portland.