Just trying to get a feel for the results thus far. It's early, but it appears that Romney may have a better night than I would like to see. He has a small lead in Ohio, and if this holds up it will be a big deal for him.
He has already won Virginia, although I am pretty unimpressed that in a two man race he is only beating Ron Paul 59-41. Santorum and Gingrich have to be kicking themselves for not even getting on the ballot. He is going to take Vermont -- although by what so far looks like a relatively unimpressive margin -- and, of course, Massachusetts. He is expected to carry Idaho as well, which has the second largest Mormon population by percentage in the United States.
Santorum has a lead in Tennessee and Oklahoma in the early going. Gingrich has taken Georgia. If this holds true then Ohio really will be the story. (Santorum can't win the delegate race in Ohio because of his failure to field a full slate of delegates there.)
Time to take Stanley out for a walk -- back in a little bit.
Share your thoughts.
Update: Okay, it looks like Romney may be having his worst case scenario evening. He has lost Oklahoma (he is currently in third behind Gingrich) and Tennessee to Santorum, he lost Georgia big time to Gingrich, he is behind in North Dakota, and most importantly of all, he continues to be behind in Ohio. He won the state in which he used to be governor, took an unimpressive win in Virginia with no competition (only 5.5% of eligible voters turned out), and a pretty weak win in Vermont, which, like Massachusetts, is a state that no Republican is ever going to carry. These results will give Santorum every incentive to keep on going -- and Gingrich's win in his home state is going to keep that megalomaniac in the race. Romney will win the lion's share of the delegates tonight and will move a step closer to the nomination, but he will not have impressed anyone with this showing.
Okay, so with 70% of the vote in in Ohio, Santorum is holding on to a 15,000 vote lead. If Santorum hangs on, he will have won Ohio, Tennesseee, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, versus Romney wins in Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia, and Idaho -- which is more impressive from a Republican perspective?
Further Update: Damn, Romney is now up by about 1,500 votes with 85% of the vote counted. I think he is going to squeak this thing out.