Donald Trump is winning the Google Search Race

Donald Trump is winning the "Search Race" among GOP contenders for President. Above: Debate 2: Top Searched Republican Candidate By County - Top Searched Republican Candidate on Google by Count since first GOP debate. Highlight individual areas to see details. Scroll right to see second most searched candidate by county, change since the first debate and battleground states

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GOP needs to call out Obama on his government shutdown idiocy

Not only may GOP strategy be flawed, they sure don't know how to point out the obvious idiocy at work in the Obama administration --

Feds Try to Close the OCEAN Because of Shutdown: "Just before the weekend, the National Park Service informed charter boat captains in Florida that the Florida Bay was "closed" due to the shutdown. Until government funding is restored, the fishing boats are prohibited from taking anglers into 1,100 square-miles of open ocean. Fishing is also prohibited at Biscayne National Park during the shutdown. The Park Service will also have rangers on duty to police the ban. Of access to an ocean. The government will probably use more personnel and spend more resources to attempt to close the ocean, than it would in its normal course of business. This is governing by temper-tantrum. It is on par with the government's ham-fisted attempts to close the DC WWII Memorial, an open-air public monument that is normally accessible 24 hours a day. . . . Florida Bay is the ocean. How, pray tell, do you "close" 1,100 square miles of ocean? Why would one even need to do so? Apparently, according to an anonymous Park Service ranger, “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”. . . " (read more at links above)

Disgusting, idiotic, Obama.

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McCain "bitchslaps" Cheney for saying picking Palin for VP was a ‘mistake’

Urban Dictionary: bitchslap: "Bitchslap" -- "The literal and/or metaphoric slapping or whacking someone in order to knock some sense into them."

This is funny--and of course both Cheney (about Palin) and McCain (about torture) are right (and stating the obvious)--

McCain slaps back at Cheney for saying picking Palin for vice president was a ‘mistake’ - NY Daily News: "Sen. John McCain slapped back at Dick Cheney for criticizing his pick of Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate by making a barbed remark about the former vice president's torture policies. Cheney told ABC News in an interview that aired Sunday that Palin's nomination was "a mistake" and wasn't "well handled" by the McCain campaign. While saying Palin was an "attractive candidate," Cheney argued that she didn't have enough experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. When played those remarks during an interview on "Fox & Friends," Monday morning, McCain chuckled before shooting back with a caustic quip. "I'm always glad to get comments four years later," the Arizona Republican said. "Look, I respect the vice president. He and I had strong disagreements as to whether we should torture people or not. I don't think we should have.""

You know the GOP is in trouble when all we have is old geezers arguing over history!

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GOP Race: Land of Lincoln delivers for Romney

Last night the Land of Lincoln delivered in a big way for Mitt Romney:

Illinois Primary Results (99% reporting):
Romney 46.7%

Santorum 35.0%
Paul 9.3%
Gingrich 8.0%

As I've written before, the Republican race for the nomination is all about the delegates--nothing less, nothing more, and last night's results increased Romney's lead, and all but inevitable nomination--

TOTAL DELEGATES (thru March 20th per CNN):
Mitt Romney--Total: 562
Rick Santorum--Total: 249
Newt Gingrich--Total: 137
Ron Paul--Total: 69

The other thing worth noting about the Illinois primary is that Romney's victory was particularly striking in Chicago and its suburbs where Mitt garnered in excess of 50% of the votes cast. Oh, I know it's Obama's hometown, but after last night, Romney can also sing it's "my kind of town!"




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Santorum endorses Romney! [VIDEO]

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) Endorses Governor Mitt Romney -- re> BOSTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --: ". . . . "In a few short days, Republicans from across this country will decide more than their party's nominee. They will decide the very future of our party and the conservative coalition that Ronald Reagan built. Conservatives can no longer afford to stand on the sidelines in this election, and Governor Romney is the candidate who will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear," said Senator Santorum. "Governor Romney has a deep understanding of the important issues confronting our country today, and he is the clear conservative candidate that can go into the general election with a united Republican party." . . . . "

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Puerto Rico: Señor Romney Sí! Señor Santorum No!

Puerto Rico primary results: Romney wins in a landslide--takes all 20 delegates. Illinois next (March 20th; 69 delegates). TOTAL DELEGATES thru March 18th--
Mitt Romney: 518
Rick Santorum:  239
Newt Gingrich: 139
Ron Paul:  69

Puerto Rico's Luis Fortuño: Rick Santorum fumbled English question - MJ Lee - POLITICO.com: "Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño said Friday that Rick Santorum went the wrong way in suggesting that the territory needed to make English “main language” as a pre-condition for statehood. “I would have handled the question differently — quite differently — from Sen. Santorum, because I would have been clear that there are two official languages here,” Fortuño told POLITICO. “I don’t know why he said what he said, but at the end of the day, I think it’s a state’s rights issue as well.” . . . "

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Wingnuts, yahoos, and the GOP: Missouri Chaos

The "spectacle" of the Republican primary and caucus season continues:

Raucous GOP caucus in St. Peters is shut down: "Crowds and chaos rattled Missouri’s GOP caucuses on Saturday, threatening to put further scrutiny on a process that was already a national anomaly. In St. Charles County, which was to have been the biggest single prize of the day, the caucus was shut down before delegates were chosen after a boisterous crowd objected to how the meeting was being run, including an attempted ban on videotaping. Two supporters of presidential hopeful Ron Paul were arrested. At other caucuses, participants gathered outdoors as the appointed locations turned out to be too small to accommodate crowds or waited for hours as organizers worked through procedural questions. . . ."

Honestly, why would anyone vote Republican this year for President after seeing how the Republicans run their primaries and caucuses, e.g., Missouri, and Iowa--8 precincts still missing! The issues facing the country are too important to leave it to a party that has regressed into a bunch of wingnuts and yahoos.

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Who's in charge of the Republican primary process?

Whoever is "in charge" of the Republican primary process had better "re-think" the whole process if they ever want to win the White House again:

2012 Presidential Election: Campaign News, Polls, Results & Candidates - POLITICO.com: "Burns & Haberman Blog - WSJ/NBC poll: Romney battered for the general - By ALEXANDER BURNS | 3/5/12
President Obama now leads Mitt Romney in a general election match-up by 6 points, 50 percent to 44 percent, as the Wall Street Journal and NBC News find the Republican field is severely damaged for the fall campaign."

WSJ/NBC poll: - POLITICO.com: "The primary process has taken a toll on the whole GOP, the poll finds: Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion. Additionally, when asked to describe the GOP nominating battle in a word or phrase, nearly 70 percent of respondents – including six in 10 independents and even more than half of Republicans – answered with a negative comment. Some examples of these negative comments from Republicans: "Unenthusiastic," "discouraged," "lesser of two evils," "painful," "disappointed," "poor choices," "concerned," "underwhelmed,” “uninspiring” and “depressed.”"

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Some words of advice for Mitt Romney

Delegates to Date:

Romney: 419

Santorum: 178

Gingrich: 107

Paul: 47

I'm tired of listening to the "mainstream media" and other "pundits"--last night I turned off CNN after tiring of their inane "political analysis" and just followed the results on the internet, including Google Election Hub. The mainstream media is discounting the results of Super Tuesday because: 1) they want Obama to be re-elected; 2) they want a divisive, destructive primary process in the Republican party to continue as long as possible; and 3) as long as there is an illusion that there is still a real contest for the GOP nomination, they can attract viewers, etc.

Here's the reality--
There are only 2 people running for President of the United States who are, at this point, able to gather the necessary delegates between now and each party's respective convention:

1) the incumbent, Barack Obama (Democrat);
2) former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney (Republican).

It also happens that these are also the only 2 people, of those running, who are qualified, capable, fit, and competent for the job.

President Obama has his party's nomination and is currently favored to be re-elected. Mitt Romney has been up and down in the polls, and pulled down into a Republican quagmire of a primary process.  So, in the best of interests of the USA having the best candidate from each party contesting the election in November, I have a few words of advice for Mitt Romney:

1. Stop worrying about the "very conservative" element of the Republican party--they don't like you because you're: a) intelligent and educated (dual degrees from Harvard); b) wealthy (from Bain); c) experienced (Olympics, Bain CEO, Governor of Massachusetts); d) ethical and devout (yes, thank your Mormon upbringing); e) married (and have had only one wife), with a great family (16 grand kids).  Most of the "very conservatives" don't like you because they are "losers"--they're mad at everybody because they blame everybody but themselves for the sorry state they are in. It is now time to move forward--most of the "very conservatives" will eventually come around--once you stop pandering to them. More importantly, most of the electorate (>80%) are NOT "very conservative," and your general standing will improve once you are perceived as no longer being captive to the "wingnuts" of the Republican party.

2. The GOP nomination is now out of reach for all of your opponents.  Look at the delegate count.  On Super Tuesday you won 6 states. Your closest competitor won only 3 states. Your opponents' only hope is to deny you the nomination by your falling short of the number of necessary delegates.  This is an almost impossible task for Santorum and Gingrich unless they are bound and determined to defame you and destroy the Republican party. If they are that crazy (and they might be), the only way they can successfully do that is if you allow them by continuing to play the game by their rules--DON'T! Be honest about the truth of their proposals--e.g., their "tax reform" proposals are pure fantasy and wouldn't work-- and JUST BE YOURSELF!

3. You have a large advantage among women--what self-respecting woman would vote for Santorum or Gingrich? For a woman to vote for either Santorum or Gingrich, she must either have extremely low self-esteem, be an ideologue, or be just plain "crazy."

4. You have an ace card up your sleeve that neither Gingrich nor Santorum have--Utah (40 delegates)-- the last primary on June 26th.

5. You will "crush" Santorum and Gingrich in delegate-rich New York and California, and get your "share" of Texas delegates.

6. You've got the "smarts" and staff to figure out where to get the necessary delegates and how to allocate your resources for the rest of the primary season. In the meantime, as a friend of mine once told me: "let the dogs bark, just make sure the wagon keeps rolling!"

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Rick Santorum: Candidate of, and for, the Ignorant

While the Republican field is admittedly "weak" this year, I can never remember a candidate who so obviously  tried to appeal to ignorant voters as Rick Santorum--and I'm not only talking about his most recent bashing of "education."   According to Politico, Santorum screwed up and failed to file delegate names in all Ohio congressional districts, and therefore even if he wins the Ohio primary next Tuesday, he is ineligible for 18 of Ohio's 66 delegates:

Report: - POLITICO.com: " . . . Rick Santorum was already known as starting from a deficit, delegate-wise, in Ohio. He failed to qualify for any district delegates in three Ohio congressional districts because he didn't turn in delegate names there. But his delegate troubles go deeper. According to the Ohio Republican Party tonight, the former Pennsylvania U.S. senator filed incomplete delegate slates in six additional Ohio districts. Altogether, this means Santorum, who until this week had a fair lead in polls in the Republican nominating race, could be ineligible for 18 Ohio district delegates. Ohio has 66 delegates total, 63 at stake next Tuesday. The candidate with the most delegates wins. Santorum therefore goes into the Ohio primary election with a 29 percent deficit. . . "

But rather than admitting his own mistakes, Santorum tries to blame "others"--the so-called "establishment."   

" . . . Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley emails Summers: "The attempt by the establishment to deceive the voters of Ohio and further their hand picked candidate will be met with resistance on Tuesday. I want to be clear, Rick Santorum's name will appear on every ballot in the state of Ohio and every vote cast will go towards his at-large delegate allocation. As it relates to individual congressional districts, its clear we aren't the establishment hand picked candidate and back in December we were a small effort focused on Iowa. Now that we've won several states obviously much has changed and we feel confident that we will do well in both the delegate and popular vote count on Tuesday."

In other words, Santorum ignores the fact that his own campaign failed to abide by the rules and file for the necessary delegates, and as a consequence, he (not the "establishment") has disenfranchised the votes of his own supporters.  Instead, Santorum again attempts to appeal to his ignorant supporters by claiming it's all the fault of some "conspiracy" of the "establishment"--PATHETIC--but true to form for the "Candidate of, and for, the Ignorant." And this guy wants to be President?

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Romney Rolls - "Super Tuesday" Next Week

Despite the efforts of the Obama Democrats' organized campaign to turn out and vote for Santorum in Michigan, Romney rolled to victory last night in Michigan and overwhelmingly won in Arizona.  According to the exit polls of CNN, Santorum would have received less than 33% the Michigan vote without the "help" of the Obama Democrats voting for him. Romney received 41% of the Michigan vote. It's now obvious that Romney is determined to "slug it out" and has the money and organization to run a 50-states campaign--something that neither Santorum, Gingrich, nor Paul can do.  This is not good news for the crazy wingnuts, Rush Limbaughs, etc., in the GOP.  But it is good news for the educated, thinking, moderate, rational, and reasonable voters, AND good news for the USA as a Romney nomination will give Obama a "competitive" campaign instead of the landslide Obama would enjoy with Santorum, Gingrich, or Paul as the GOP nominee.

Finally, last night again showed that Romney's key strength is among women voters.  Women are giving Romney the decisive edge in every state he wins.  Michigan vote by gender according to CNN exit polls:

Men:      Romney 39%   Santorum 38%
Women: Romney 43%   Santorum 38%

Next week, "Super Tuesday"--GOP primaries in Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia; plus GOP caucuses in Alaska, Idaho, and North Dakota.

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GOP: a Cup of Crazy

Ghastly Outdated Party - NYTimes.com: ". . . After a speech in Dallas on Thursday, Jeb Bush also recoiled: “I used to be a conservative, and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective.” Alan Simpson, the former Republican senator from Wyoming, recently called Santorum “rigid and homophobic.” Arlen Specter, who quit the Republicans to become a Democrat three years ago before Pennsylvania voters sent him home from the Senate, told MSNBC: “Where you have Senator Santorum’s views, so far to the right, with his attitude on women in the workplace and gays and the bestiality comments and birth control, I do not think it is realistic for Rick Santorum to represent America.” That from the man who accused Anita Hill of perjury. Republicans have a growing panic at the thought of going down the drain with a loser, missing their chance at capturing the Senate and giving back all those House seats won in 2010. . . . "

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Ann Coulter takes Republicans to the woodshed

I may not agree with her often--but she is smart and on this subject definitely "on point," and obviously has "had it" with the "delusional" people who now (apparently) comprise the Republican party:

Ann Coulter - February 22, 2012 - WHAT'S THEIR PROBLEM WITH ROMNEY?: " . . . . The obsession with sticking it to the Establishment (which includes Christine O'Donnell, but excludes Bill Kristol) by voting for a loose cannon demagogue or a crusading Catholic who can't seem to move the conversation past contraception is as pie-in-the-sky delusional as anything dished by Democrats . . .  if reducing contraception use, lobbying for Freddie Mac and promoting huge government programs such as moon colonies and No Child Left Behind are the best ways to create jobs, then it could be true that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are our strongest candidates in a general election. Of course, it might also be true that dousing yourself in fairy dust does not guarantee that you will find the perfect mate and get the perfect job. We're being asked to hand Obama another four years in the White House in order to "send a message." To whom? And what message? That we're morons? Message received! . . . "

On this one, I'm with you Ann!

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Romney's right: Spending cuts, without pro-growth tax policies, will slow down the economy

Some so-called "conservative" pundits think Romney misspoke--

First Read - Romney: Spending cuts slow economic growth: ". . . Speaking in Shelby Township, MI, the former Massachusetts governor took a question about the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission empaneled by President Obama to address the nation's deficit and debt issues. In his response, he said that addressing taxes and spending issues are essential. "If you just cut, if all you're thinking about doing is cutting spending, as you cut spending you'll slow down the economy," he said in part of his response. "So you have to, at the same time, create pro-growth tax policies.""

Mitt's right, and just about any economist worth his or her salt would agree--even Nobel economist Paul Krugman agrees (at least with the first part): "slashing spending in a depressed economy depresses the economy even more,"--just look at what "austerity" has done to Europe. 

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For Republicans, it's "self-destruct" time

Poor old GOP, apparently determined to "crash and burn"--Santorum's lead growing even while a majority of Republicans know he has no chance of beating Barack Obama!--

Poll: Rick Santorum opens 10-point lead - Tim Mak - POLITICO.com:
"Rick Santorum’s national lead over Mitt Romney has ballooned 10 percentage points, even as Romney maintained his reputation as the most likely Republican candidate to beat President Barack Obama, two new surveys show. . . . in a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Feb. 16-19, Romney remained ahead among both Democrats and Republicans as the one seen as most electable in November. Asked who was more likely to beat President Barack Obama, Romney was chosen over Santorum, 54 percent to 29 percent, among all national adults. Republicans and Republican leaners gave Romney slightly higher results, 58 percent to Santorum’s 32 percent. . . ." Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73102.html#ixzz1n1eVQCJz

At this rate, not only will President Obama cruise easily into a second term, but it looks like the Democrats will re-take both houses of Congress!

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2012: The election is over - Obama won!

A few weeks ago, I thought the Republicans stood a good chance to win the White House with Mitt Romney. Today, it's obvious it's over. Obama has won.  Oh, I know the election is months away, and the formalities have yet to really begin, but for all intents and purposes, it's over. Congrats to the President and Axelrod and Company!

How have I come to this conclusion? Well first of all, let's look at the GOP field:
Gingrich: unfit for the Presidency--even the majority of Republicans now realize this;
Paul: principled, authentic, but never had a chance of being nominated, much less elected;
Santorum: current "flavor of the month" actually believes some of the crazy stuff he espouses--which is kind of scary; he's also a Beltway insider who has made his money off "special interests;" this guy would be Mr."Crony Capitalist" if he ever got the chance to be President (which he won't). If you want a clue about Santorum just ask Pennsylvanians who voted against him in a landslide the last time he ran for public office--"in the November 7, 2006 election, Santorum lost by over 700,000 votes, receiving 41% of the vote to Casey's 59%, the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent senator since 1980 and the largest losing margin for an incumbent Republican senator ever" (source: Wikipedia).
Romney: I don't have a clue whether Mitt is a "Massachusetts moderate" or "severely conservative" (as he claims to be). I think he is probably a decent guy with good leadership skills, has a great wife and family, made a ton of money (to his credit) at Bain Capital, and did a good job with the Olympics and as Governor of Massachusetts. I said before that Romney stood a good chance of becoming President if he ran a "smart campaign." He hasn't and isn't running a "smart campaign." He's running a "lame campaign" and there's no indication that will ever change.

And then there's the coup de grâce which I will refer to as "crategate." This story has gone viral. Americans tolerate a lot of things they shouldn't--like an over-intrusive TSA, an incarceration rate and prisons that most civilized countries find shameful, and legislation with serious constitutional infringements--but most Americans have about as much tolerance for any kind of perceived animal cruelty as they do for any politician who claims to have been "brainwashed." And, if you haven't noticed, dogs and cats dominate American life.

So while most Americans personally like President Obama and his family, and yet may have some reservations about his first term (and to his credit he has admitted some shortcomings himself),
come election day, the voters will ensure that Bo resides in the White House and rides inside the Presidential limo for another four years:

President Obama and Bo in the Limo

(photo source)


and somewhere in heaven above, Ted Kennedy (who gave Bo to the Obamas) must be having a really good laugh about all of this!

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Iowa’s joke on all of us

Glad to see the following as there is no justification for having the Iowa Caucus before the Primary States have voted. Iowa should justifiably lose its place in the voting order. Too much is riding on the results of early states, and Iowa is not "up to it" as far as running a reliable election via caucus. In fact, while they are reforming the system--why have any non-binding primary or non-binding caucus elections at all?

Caucus system under fire - Emily Schultheis - POLITICO.com: "The presidential caucus system is under attack after embarrassing contests in Iowa and Nevada put on national display missing ballots, endless counting delays and lots of confusion. The result is Republican activists calling for big change to the antiquated system, particularly to the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses. “All the candidates are out there slogging around at Christmastime and New Year’s, and then they produce a non-result result and they can’t even get the count right,” said David Norcross, a former Republican National Committee general counsel and New Jersey GOP committeeman. Norcross told POLITICO that Iowa’s Jan. 3 caucuses were “numbingly stupid.” “How foolish is it for everyone to go to Iowa the first week in January when there are no delegates selected and they can’t even get the vote right? It’s just a joke, it’s Iowa’s joke on you and all of us.”"

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Romney needs to get serious and credible

Yes the 3 primaries last night may have been almost meaningless in terms of delegates awarded, but I think Rick Santorum may have done Newt Gingrich in and shown Ron Paul, despite his loyal following, can not win even one primary or caucus: (source http://www.google.com/elections/ed/us/results)

Colorado Caucus Results

Minnesota Caucus Results

Missouri Primary Results

All delegates awarded through today:

Romney: 107
Santorum: 45
Gingrich: 32
Paul: 9
(Total needed to nominate: 1,144)

Yes, even after last night, Romney has more delegates than the next 3 candidates combined!  Nonetheless, last night showed its time for Romney to get serious and credible, and make his best case why people should vote for him.  I've summarized this with the following 3 excerpts (note: the 3rd excerpt below dates from the McCain--Obama campaign):

What the Republican "Establishment" wants-- WSJ.com by Peggy Noonan: "They want to reform the tax system and begin reining in the entitlement spending that is bankrupting us. They don't read him (Romney) as the guy who can perform those two Herculean jobs, each of which will demand first-rate political talent. And shrewdness. And guts. Mr. Romney doesn't have the establishment in his pocket. He needs to win it. All the more reason for him to get serious now. If he is serious."

The Crisis Facing Mitt Romney - Forbes: "Romney needs to do what he has yet to do so far: outline a clear, unambiguous program on why he should be President, what he would do differently, and how he would get America going again. This means he needs to outline four things. He needs to explain how he would create jobs, how he would revitalize the economy, how he would balance the budget, and how he would restore America’s leadership in the world. Romney cannot simply attack President Obama, and in increasingly strident language, talk about how our country has fallen back. The American people, while certainly very unhappy with how the country has been governed, give the President at least some credit, and give President George W. Bush some blame to this day. Rather, the American people are looking for Romney to offer something he hasn’t yet: an alternative vision of how he would govern America and a clear sense of what leadership would and should look like under current circumstances. The likely Republican standard bearer needs to articulate a clear sense of ideas, directions and policies about what America needs to get moving again."

"What is your vision for America? Calling Obama a Socialist proves nothing germane to most voters while allowing the Obama camp to claim they're the victims of a smear campaign or are being targeted by ignorant racists. The truth is that voters don't care about political labels. They want to know two things about a candidate: 1. Can I trust this person to make good decisions that protect my interests? 2. How will the vote I cast on election day directly impact my life?"

It's clear Obama does not intend to exercise leadership and try to fix the long-term fiscal problems of the U.S. which can only be done by comprehensive entitlements reform and comprehensive tax reform (see my reform proposal). I've yet to hear or read how Romney (or for that matter any of the Republican candidates) propose specifically to do that.  I will say that Romney (and the rest of the Republicans, excepting Ron Paul) are wrong if they think we can continue to support a bloated Department of Defense and Obama deserves credit for his streamlining thus far of DOD.

So Romney (and Santorum et al), the clock is running--it's time to put up or shut up!

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Florida picks a winner: Mitt Romney

Last night it quickly became obvious Romney would have a big win in Florida.  The Florida voters focused on 2 main things: 1) who has the best chance of beating Barack Obama; and 2) who can do the best job to turn the economy around.  The unequivocal answer to both questions: Mitt Romney.

Romney Wins Big in Florida Primary - WSJ.com: ""Everyone is starting to believe Romney is the person who can beat the president and go on to turn the economy around," said state Rep. Will Weatherford, a Republican and Romney supporter who represents the bellwether of Pasco County, just north of Tampa. "They look at Mitt Romney and see someone who can win.""

Romney won the demographics across the board--young, seniors, Hispanics, all income levels and education levels, and even split the evangelical vote with Gingrich. Gingrich lost the female vote Tuesday night to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by a 22 percentage point margin!

Romney won every urban area of Florida, and the I-4 corridor, by substantial numbers.  Some of these results are astounding (source: http://www.google.com/elections/ed/us/results) :

How Mitt Romney won the Florida primary - Political Hotsheet - CBS News: " . . . The CBS News exit poll of Florida Republican primary voters showed that Romney forged a coalition of ideologically moderate voters, senior citizens and Latinos on the back of two impressive debate performances and an effective early voting campaign. Romney did particularly well among voters prioritizing the economy and defeating Barack Obama in November. . . ."

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Joe Scarborough on Newt Gingrich

The Newt I know - POLITICO.com: by Joe Scarborough
". . . Gingrich’s precipitous fall from power was the result of arrogance, self-satisfaction and a fatal tendency to flit from issue to issue — and even from core conviction to core conviction — in the seeming belief that if he spoke well enough (and used as many adverbs as possible), no one would notice that he was doing something he had equally eloquently (and equally adverbially) opposed before. . . . Regardless of what happens in Florida and beyond, he will be remembered as the man who brought the Reagan Revolution to Congress. Yet it will also be recorded that Newt compared the Great Reagan with Neville Chamberlain, dismissed Reaganomics as flawed and called Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union an utter failure a few years before the U.S.S.R. was relegated to the dustbin of history. These unpleasant facts do not stop Newt from trying to embrace the same policies he once denounced (one wonders if he even remembers the contradictions at this point), but that’s what makes my former colleague so fascinating. And so troubling. . . . But after his listless march through the Sunshine State, even I wonder how many more performances remain."

Joe Scarborough hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.