Over at True North, the theme is amazement.
Reading the results from caucus after caucus, the point is clear; Republicans turned out in droves. In record numbers. Numbers like nobody’s ever seen. And it wasn’t just the hordes of Ronulans that some had predicted (although they were very much in evidence).
And while people turned out for the Tic caucuses as well, there’s a difference; at DFL caucuses, people can “vote ‘n dash”, causing one DFL stalwart to note on a Saint Paul discussion group:
> On another note, what I found in our precinct, when the dust settled is that [the lopsided Obama blowout] would be reversed when you looked at who stayed to actually caucus and agree to the heavy lifting through to November.
> Listen, if we want to switch to a primary state, then that is fine. But if we’re going to be a caucus state, we should caucus and the straw polls and binding ballots should be the last order of business, not the first.
I’m afraid a large number of our National delegation will have to plug their nose* to cast their binding ballots, since there won’t be any committed supporters of the candidate that are actually delegates.
In the meantime, every single GOP vote in that crushing onslaught of turnout was from someone who stayed the distance, voted on party business and resolutions and all the stuff that normally bores those with short enough attention spans to actually need to be Tics.
Hey, reason #396 why I think the Star-Tribune is written by 15 year olds…..there was one on the seat on the Hiawatha line last night (I will not pay 50 cents for that paper)…..they are going after Nader on the editiorial page. Just a nasty little thing. The paper wants you to go to a you tube posting that mocks Nader.
The Mpsl paper is so in the bed for either Hillary or Obie, that they have resorted to trying to get people to laugh at Nader so they won’t vote for him.
Dems can ‘vote and dash’, yes, and Republicans can vote ‘and be ignored’, since your delegates aren’t binding.
In state after state last night, it was very clear the turnouts were HUGE. At my precinct, which had a previous high of 26 (in the past four caucuses), there were 165 people. One thing I noticed, in a great number of states, the number of Democrats who voted, was considerably higher than the number of Republicans.
And Chuck, maybe it’s that the editorial board, which is ALLOWED TO EXPRESS OPINION, saw the damage Nader did to the country by splitting Florida in 2000 – I’m sure the WSJ board, or the National Review board don’t express opinion on their editorial page. Give me a break. Nader has become a bad-smelling fish since 2000, and if the Strib wants to mock hiim, ya know what, it’s their right. I guess the WSJ is in bed with Romney, the National Review with Guiliani – given that they both mocked Huckabee.
” . . . guess the WSJ is in bed with Romney, the National Review with Guiliani – given that they both mocked Huckabee.”
Peev is wrong again. NR endorsed Romney.
Peev, you are long on opinion and short on knowledge. Not a winning combination.
I just thought the Mpls paper thing was incredibly childish.
“Look look, don’t vote for Nader. Go to YouTube. See.”
So you don’t think the far left should vote for someone who is in solidarity with them? What about Perot in 1992? He cost Bush 41 the election. If Nader wants to run against Wal-Mart Hillary, he should be able to without the Democratic machinery trying to stop him.
We had two different precincts meet in the same room. Convener said that the turnout was about 20x what it had been two years ago.
Fascinating, the differences between one precinct and the other. One voted 5-1 for Romney vs. McCain, the other they were split even. One had a bunch of Ron Paul supporters, the folks across the street had none.
I did notice, though, that while the Paul supporters voted for Paul, none of them volunteered to be delegates, so it’s unlikely that he’ll see the same level of support at the endorsing conventions as he saw in the straw poll.
My precicnt quadroupled turnout from 2006, mostly with first timers like me. It was intersting but I think a lot of Republican voters have been somewhat, brainwashed, by talk radio, blogs, etc. There are plenty of reasons to vote for Romney/against McCain, but some of the things being cited are not entirely accurate. These inaccuracies were being repeated last night during the candidate discussion.
It’s interesting that MN had such a huge swing to Romney, largely (I think) based on talk radio endorsements, but the South stuck with Huckabee.
Terry,
The point of the comment was lost on you, obviously. Gee, I’m sure you made your point that WSJ was completely impartial on their editorial page.
There’s a saying, much sound and fury amounting to nothing, or more aptly, a difference of no distinction, and of less worth. Let’s stay on point, you’re living in a glass house. You readily condemn conduct that with the other hand you applaud.
Yet again, when conservatives get caught with their pants down, they focus on any little bit of trivia they can to deflect the discussion. They BOTH certainly mocked Huckabee. and Terry, when I make comments, mostly, I do it casually, from what I recall – I neither care nor worry about whether every little dreg of minutae is to your liking. The point is that the WSJ and/or National Review, are NO MORE and NO LESS in bed with the GOP, than the Strib is with the DFL/Democratic Party. If you choose to make a meaningless issue out of whether they endorsed Romney or Giuliani, you go with your bad self, but it is, pointless, irrelevant difference of no distinction.
As far as facts go, and being long on opinion and short on knowledge, let’s see, who was it that makes a claim of bias, without acknowledging the bias of his own position.. ah, yes, that would be our own Trojan Man.
I commend both Republicans and Democrats for the record turnout. I, personally, attribute it to the mass disaffection with the state of things. Considering Bush ran things for the past 7 years, with a Republican congress for 6 of those 7, boil it all away, and either Bush was incompetent, or your policies don’t work, or both, and your own rank and file are ready to revolt. Right now it’s against somewhat directed against Bush (and of course the Democrats since you guys ALWAYS have to blame someone other than yourselves (personal accountability *cough*cough), but soon it will be against the ideology. McCain is a social conservative (mostly) Romney not so much, and niether is anything like a fiscal conservative, and it is from THAT list that your choice for a nominee will come.
BTW Terry,
Here are a couple of facts for you:
Minnesota – total ballots cast for President
Democratic Candidates : 202k (approx)
Republican Candidates : 61k (approx)
Mitch, I heard turn-out was heavy, but is it normal to have the Democrats out vote Republicans 3:1? I honestly don’t know.
California:
Dems : 2.9 Million
Repubs: 2.1 Million
Why do you think there was such a disparity here? And before all the paternalistic clap-trap starts about people being too stupid to vote, let’s remember who caterwalls about how Dems talk down to poor people, and tell them how to live (on welfare according to the utterly wrong accusation).
California actually was 3.9 Million (fat fingered , sorry).
Hey Mitch, really, it would be nice if you’d get something that allowed us to edit our comments like you can edit yours.
Turn out in SD43 was extremely heavy. My precinct had about 95 where last caucus was around 15 people. Ron Paul people were in small numbers but there obnoxiousness made up for it.
I got elected delegate to the SD43 convention in March.
Thanks for the encouragement Mitch.
Peev: The disparity is (IMHO) due to the GOP asking people to vote on other issues first. The Democrats had the “vote and dash” effect going for them. Plus, the location for the GOP meeting was packed—it wouldn’t be surprising to me if people ended up getting turned away because there just wasn’t enough room.
Both Minnesota and especially California are heavily Democratic states. The fact that turnout was very high in both bodes rather well for the GOP as a whole.
pee b
There’s a saying, much sound and fury amounting to nothing,
the saying you were trying to reproduce was from Act 5 Scene 5 of Shakespear’s “Scottish Play”
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Mitch
Hey Mitch, really, it would be nice if you’d get something that allowed us to edit our comments like you can edit yours.
looks like pee b doesn’t like the way you’re running his blog for him
“Hey Mitch, really, it would be nice if you’d get something that allowed us to edit our comments like you can edit yours.”
Hey Peev, really, it would be nice if you’d just start your own damned blog, so we could more easily ignore your endless blatherating.
Honest to God, man, how preening and self-important can you possibly be to ask Mitch to make his own personal blog more Peev friendly? Get over yourself already, jeez.
Peev-
It’s hard to know if the DFL’s turnout relative to the GOP was unusual or not. I tried to dig up some historical data on this, but the SOS’s website doesn’t have the caucus results from 2000 (or earlier), which would really be the last comparable year. I thought that 2002 might also be an interesting indicator, but the DFL didn’t conduct a straw poll for governor that year.
It’s a good question that someone should be able to answer.
The relative numbers are interesting, but the key from what I saw at 50B was the intensity. They estimated 750-800 there; we had 112 votes in my precinct (NB-1) alone. And the people were into it, the process and everything else. Bethel U. is in 50B and we had a lot of young people, but people from all over the district were there in abundance. Tony Bennett (the only Republican on the Ramsey County Commission) was almost slack-jawed staring at the crowd. Our precinct went for Romney big time; in fact, McCain finished 4th, behind Huckabee and Paul. While it looks increasingly likely that Blue State America is going to deliver McCain as our nominee, I sense that Republicans are hardly the dispirited, fractured group that our friends at the Strib and elsewhere are portraying.
Mitch, do you think that instant run-off might have helped the GOP sort out the mess caused by having three viable candidates still in the running?
We had a larger turnout than usual. The convener was happily caught off guard. My husband and I were our “precinct”, but some of the other townships were well represented. Unfortunately, Huckabee won. I thought it was a case of Indentity Politics at it’s worst. Those voting Huckabee voted “mostly” because he’s an Evangelical Christian. Most of those who voted for him are homeschoolers, so I can’t figure out how they could vot for a guy who has the endorsement of the NEA. Anyway, 11 of us (out of 103) voted for Romney and one of those is a person who’s company I was proud to be in. He votes for the candidate who exemplifies what his idea of the role of government should be….Not whether or not he’s a Christian or pro-life, etc. Those things are great if they accompany a limited-government candidate. He lives and breathes politics, takes the times to study the candidates in depth. His (and our) original choice had been Hunter, but Romney became my choice 2 weeks ago when I saw that I had to either **** or get off the pot with what was left.
The breakdown for Warroad, Roseau Co MN was:
Huckabee 81
Romney 11
Paul 6
McCain 4
Hunter 1 write-in
The resolutions were good and the conversation was invigorating, so although it was a long, messy (cold…-15) night, it was a good experience.
“Let’s stay on point, you’re living in a glass house. You readily condemn conduct that with the other hand you applaud.”
let’s all take a moment to contemplate the sound of one hand clapping.
We had 20 people at our precinct caucus (it was 2 in 2006) and the building was packed because the high school was not only hosting the Republican AND the DFL caucus but there was also a basketball going on.
I was elected as vice-chair of my precinct and will be a delegate at the next level on March 8. We had a lot of new people I’m glad to say and most of them stayed until the end and we passed three resolutions including mine which I’ll post on my site later tonight which proposes a tenth plank be added to the GOP platform that deals exclusively with the issue of health care reform.
The results of our straw vote were 5 for Romney, 5 for McCain, 5 for Paul, 1 for Fred Thompson, and 2 for Huckabee. Four of the five Paul supporters left after the straw poll (one of the complained to me when we were voting on delegates that things were taking too long and he had to leave as soon as he voted for Paul) but one of them did stay on and was elected as a delegate.
My township/precinct caucused with the rest of the townships and towns in the northern half of Kandiyohi County. We had a heavy turnout. My township shocked me by going for McCain with 8 votes, Romney with 2 and Huckabee with 1. But we were an anomaly. I was rather pleased when the tally for the whole assembly was read. Romney 73, Huckabee 28 and McCain 20.
41 vs 12 last time around. Voted 2:1 for Romney. It was interesting to hear that quite a few people were Thompson suporters who were now left with Romney as the only “conservative” choice.
SD 45 (New Hope, Crystal, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and a small chunk of Plymouth) Had at least 900 attend the GOP caucus. The BPOU was simply overwhelmed. Young couple pushing kids in strollers, older people, it was impressive. The auditorium at Cooper High was so full we had to have a separate convening in the atrium for the Pledge.
I convened my precinct with about 25 people. Romney won every single precinct (there is hope), and everyone was very interested in the delegate/convention process.
I’d say it’s time for change.
Mitch, check your SiTD email. I don’t endorse McCain, but I can connect you with a significant insider on his national campaign staff if you want him for a NARN interview.
Angryclown loves that Scary Colleen lives in “Warroad.” You up there for the bellicose name or just attracted by the 95% white neighbors?
Warroad is only 95% white? Okay, now we really need to seal the borders. Damn Canadians are slipping in for some free-market health care and lower sales tax.
Actually it breaks down like this:
White 80%
Native American 10%
Asian immigrants 10% (hardest working people there are)
out of 1600+
What race are you AC? And blame the Indians for the name of the town. Ass.
Very little surprised by the fact you keep stats, Colleen. So your Asians are the hardest working, in your opinion. Guess that makes some of those other folks kinda *less* hard-working, eh? Not to put too fine a point on it.
Oh, and the good folks at the Census Bureau say Angryclown is right:
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/27/27135.html
Doing the math it looks like you have 32 black people, give or take, in your whole county.
Angryclown is never wrong.
So? Is it the white folks fault that the blacks don’t seem to like the weather at -30? Are we supposed to bus them in so you’re happy with our demographic make-up?
And yes, some of the other folks are less hard-working. To put a finer point on it, they don’t work at all.
Facts is facts and unless you live up here, I don’t know why you think you know how things are and why you’d care is even more of a mystery.