The 2012 Iowa Caucuses

[Venom'sDad]

Santorum is going to fade....

 

[hippie_hunter]

CNN is reporting that Mitt Romney is only 20 votes behind Ron Paul.

 

[redfirebird2008]

CNN is reporting that Mitt Romney is only 20 votes behind Ron Paul.

Just updated it and Paul is 115 ahead.

 

[Marx]

...looks to be a very, very close race so far.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Tea Partiers are such hypocrites. Voting for a big spending d-bag like Santorum?

 

[Marx]

Tea Partiers are such hypocrites. Voting for a big spending d-bag like Santorum?

You caught that on CNN too, huh?

 

[Excel]

romney will win, santorum and paul will split the die hards

 

[redfirebird2008]

You caught that on CNN too, huh?

Yep, what a joke. Ron Paul is the ONLY man in this field that has stood up for low taxes and cutting big government. Everyone else including Santorum has a record of saying one thing and then doing the opposite, typically to the detriment of American taxpayers.

 

[Marx]

It's also important to note that people can change their "party affliliation" today and caucus.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The GOP will never embrace Ron Paul.

If he wins this they'll be in complete denial.

 

[redfirebird2008]

The GOP will never embrace Ron Paul.

If he wins this they'll be in complete denial.

Will be funny as hell to watch Limbaugh, Hannity, and some of these other twerps in the neo-con media have to endorse Mitt Romney of all people over Paul.

 

[Marx]

Yep, what a joke. Ron Paul is the ONLY man in this field that has stood up for low taxes and cutting big government. Everyone else including Santorum has a record of saying one thing and then doing the opposite, typically to the detriment of American taxpayers.

I've said it for quite some time now...the nuTea Party (aka the Sarah Palin-esque Tea Partiers) do not put priority on what the original Tea Party (aka the Ron Paul Tea Partiers) do. The nuTea Party seems to put more focus on social issues and extreme right-wing agendas...which is why you're seeing the turnout for Santorum.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I've said it for quite some time now...the nuTea Party (aka the Sarah Palin-esque Tea Partiers) do not put priority on what the original Tea Party (aka the Ron Paul Tea Partiers) do. The nuTea Party seems to put more focus on social issues and extreme right-wing agendas...which is why you're seeing the turnout for Santorum.

Yep, the Tea Party was hijacked by neoconservative hypocrites. They care about big government spending until you point out that we spend $700 billion per year on the military. Ignore the man behind the curtain.

 

[Marx]

The GOP will never embrace Ron Paul.

If he wins this they'll be in complete denial.

If Ron Paul manages to win this, the GOP establishment and the media will spin it as a "completely irrelevent win". If Mitt Romney wins, the GOP establishment and the media will spin it as "the officially crowning of the GOP nominee for president".

 

[SentinelMind]

what will happen if Mitt comes in third? He'll still go on...but hmmm...

 

[Marx]

This will be very interesting if, in fact, Romney places second or third after Romney arrogantly came out saying he will win tonight.

 

[hippie_hunter]

18% Reporting:

Ron Paul - 24%
Rick Santorum - 24%
Mitt Romney - 22%
Newt Gingrich - 13%
Rick Perry - 11%
Michelle Bachmann - 6%
Jon Huntsman - 1%

 

[Slushy]

Let's go, Romney!

The GOP will never embrace Ron Paul.

If he wins this they'll be in complete denial.

Agreed. They'll find a way to get rid of him like they did with Herman Cain.

 

[DACrowe]

Well the two main lessons from this, to me, have just been reinforcements of what many of us have been saying for months in the short-term (or years in the long-term).

1) In the short-term, it really cements the "inevitability factor" for Mitt Romney. If a contender with enough money and organization and--really important--mainstream appeal had won the "anti-Romney" vote in Iowa, then there could be a real race. But even if Romney doesn't win in Iowa, he's coming in a close second behind either Ron Paul or Rick Santorum. Neither are going to be the GOP nominee.

2) In the long-term, it shows a shift among those who either considers themselves to be traditional conservatives (consistent Republican voters) or at least consider leaning that way (independents) towards libertarianism. The party isn't there yet and neither is the mainstream. Ron Paul is 10-20 years too early. But as many of us have said, the younger voters who associate themselves with conservative ideas, lean more towards libertarianism than the evangelical and culture warrior voters of the baby boomer generation. It may be too late for Ron Paul....but what about his son or one of his ilk in 4-12 years?

Anyway, I feel like the air is being sucked out of the punditocracy because they're realizing this is not going to be Obama vs. Hillary. It won't even be McCain vs. Romney. There's a clear winner shaping up right out of the starting gate. Paul won't run as a third party as it will hurt his son's political career within the party and would just help Obama in November. Still, I can hope.

 

[Marx]

21 percent reporting...

Santorum - 23 percent
Paul - 23 percent
Romeny - 23 percent

 

[hippie_hunter]

Mitt Romney is so far in the lead

 

[Marx]

CNN's graph breakdowns and "screen flipping" is cracking me up...

 

[hippie_hunter]

CNN's graph breakdowns and "screen flipping" is cracking me up...

At least they don't have the holograms again.

 

[Marx]

At least they don't have the holograms again.

...but they did briefly have some sort of "Nintendo Wii" CGI people on the main anchor table. Why? I don't know. These things were on the tv when I turned CNN on.

 

[SentinelMind]

Will Michelle Bachmann drop out?