Nevada Embraces Romney in 08 Primary

“Today, the people of Nevada voted for change in Washington. For far too long, our leaders have promised to take the action necessary to build a stronger America, and still the people of Nevada and all across this country are waiting,” Romney said in a statement. “Whether it is reforming health care, making America energy independent or securing the border, the American people have been promised much and are now ready for change.”

Following up on his win in Michigan and backed by a sizeable Mormon population, former Gov. Mitt Romney was projected to notch another victory in the Nevada caucuses Saturday, adding to his growing pile of delegates in the changing Republican race for the party’s presidential nomination.

The victory was widely expected and the Associated Press moved quickly to declare Romney the victor even before the first precincts reported. Long-shot Libertarian candidate Rep Ron Paul of Texas was the only other GOP candidate to mount a serious effort in the state.

As the Republican campaigns continue with different candidates scoring victories in different state contests, some analysts have started to say the campaigns should start focusing on the math of the delegate count — a fact Romney was quick to point out even ahead of Saturday’s vote.

“There are 24 delegates in South Carolina, and there are 34 delegates in Nevada,” Romney told reporters Thursday. “I want delegates, and I’m pleased that I’ve been able to get delegates. The fact that I came in second in a couple of primaries — I know some people think that’s a devastating thing — actually, I got delegates. And I’m looking to rack up the delegates I need to win the nomination.”

As he crisscrossed the state on Friday, Romney stressed his campaign theme of traditional politics failing to help ordinary voters.

“As you think about the promises made and compare them with the promises delivered, you realize that Washington is broken. And I’m going to Washington to finally bring change and get the job done,” Romney told about 200 people in snow-covered Elko, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Turnout, which had been doubted during the chaotic days ahead of the vote, appeared to be heavy and forced a 45-minute delay at some sites, according to the GOP officials.

“I can’t believe how many showed up,” Marilyn Brainard told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

One of the cornerstones of Romney’s Nevada victory appeared to be Mormons, who went nearly 90 percent for the former Massachusetts governor.

“They are very powerful here,” David F. Damore, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told The New York Times. “Normally you see this antagonism between the Christian right and Mormons. You don’t see that here.”

Mormons, according to projections, made up nearly 20 percent of the voters in Saturday’s contests.

But beyond their faith, Nevada voters cited the economy and illegal immigration as the overwhelming issues behind their voting. The issues largely paralleled what NewsHour reporters found during a week-long series of reports from Las Vegas in November.

McCain Takes S. Carolina

With the ghost of 2000 behind him, McCain told the Associated Press, "It just took us a while. That's all. Eight years is not a long time."

Arizona Sen. John McCain won the South Carolina GOP primary on Saturday, edging out former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in a tight race in a state that effectively ended his presidential bid eight years ago. With nearly all precincts reporting, McCain had a lead of about three percentage points over Huckabee.

Since 1980, the winner of this primary has also been the party's nominee. McCain also collected a victory in the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8, but lost the contest in Michigan on Jan. 15 to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who also won Saturday's caucuses in Nevada.

But in South Carolina, widely respected for its kingmaker role in recent GOP nomination fights, Romney finished a distant third — not far ahead of former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, whose campaign seemed to be on the ropes. Thompson had said he needed a strong showing in South Carolina to revitalize his prospects.

Huckabee told supporters that he wished that he had won and then complimented his rival McCain.

"I want to thank him for running a civil, good campaign. That's one of the things that I'm proud of," Huckabee said.

The race was closely watched not only because of South Carolina's predictive role in the past, but because polls had shown several candidates in a close contest here this month, with many voters remaining undecided.

South Carolina Republicans went to the polls in drab, cold weather, with snow in the state's upper regions, where many of the state's more conservative, evangelical Christian voters live.

Voters in the capital city of Columbia told NPR they were most concerned about national security, immigration and the economy. Unemployment in the state has reached 6.6 percent, the third-highest rate in the country.

Early exit polls conducted by the Associated Press and TV Networks showed that moderate voters and older voters supported McCain, while those attending church most often (more than once a week) more often voted for Huckabee. Military veterans made up one fourth of the Republican voters, and McCain had a 10-point lead over his rival with this group.

Former Baptist minister Huckabee had the advantage of campaigning in a state where at least 40 percent of the voters consider themselves evangelicals. More than half of those voting Saturday identified themselves in this camp.

Some of the vote count was delayed on primary day as voters in Myrtle Beach reported malfunctioning electronic voting machines, and some were forced to use paper ballots.

In the days leading up to the primary, there were reports of campaign smear tactics, including fake Christmas cards and phony telephone surveys intended to slander candidates. One leaflet that circulated even tried to cast aspersions on McCain's five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. The calls and leafleting were paid for by independent groups, which may not coordinate with the candidate under federal election law.

The tactics harkened back to McCain's defeat here in 2000, when rumors circulated that McCain's wife was a drug addict and that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was a mixed race child he had fathered out of wedlock. McCain lost the South Carolina primary that year to George W. Bush.

Romney in 08: Running on Family

Maybe Mitt, like GW. Bush, is just a big Daddy's Boy. He's run his campaign, much as Bush has run his presidency, as though the only thing he had to learn from his father were negative lessons. GW. thought his father hadn't pushed hard enough on Iraq and didn't get mean enough to win re-election and a little off base to raise taxes. He was determined to not make those mistakes. Mitt saw his father labeled as a weirdo when he sought the '68 nomination and, at a time when he was a favorite for the nomination, told a Television station, "When I came back from Vietnam, I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get," and that he no longer supported the war.

In his surpassingly disingenuous campaign for president, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has borne only the most superficial resemblance to his father, the late and former governor of Michigan, but starkly different political trajectories. Although he didn't actually march with Martin Luther King, George Romney was the kind of old-style Republican who strongly backed civil rights, became an opponent of Vietnam, and got axed as Nixon's HUD Secretary.

Mitt's campaign has run in the opposite direction: hard right. But until Michigan, his archconservative makeover -- from the fellow who promised to out-gay Teddy Kennedy to the terror-warrior growling about doubling the size of Guantánamo -- hadn't been convincing enough to help him carry a primary. But Romney managed to convert his familiar name into a victory tonight that (at least temporarily) saved his candidacy -- and plunged the already muddled GOP race into a kind of beautiful chaos.

Beautiful, that is, for Democrats.

The oddest thing about Romney's win is that it came in a state in economic crisis -- a place that you'd have expected to overwhelmingly reject a man who made millions as a downsizing consultant. You'd also have expected former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who pushed his economic populism here harder than his Christian Dominionism, to fare better. But there is no explaining Republican voters this year. Not even to themselves.

Huckabee's "Christian Leader" campaign in Iowa, while it worked for the unusually conservative evangelical Republicans there, undoubtedly made most of the independents and evangelical Democrats who might have listened to his economic message in Michigan tune him out for good. And when he starts talking out of the other side of his mouth -- like John Edwards holding forth on "the Two Americas" -- as he did in Michigan, Huckabee clearly confuses a lot of evangelical Republicans as well. He's echoing what many of them have told pollsters for years -- that they're a lot less conservative on economic issues than on the moral wedges -- but it's still a drastically new message, and thus a bit suspicious-sounding. Huckabee's more pragmatic problem in Michigan, of course, was that he couldn't match Romney's months of organizing and advertising, or John McCain's familiarity with the folk he wooed successfully in 2000.

Hillary in 08: Does Michigan Like Clinton in 08?

Clinton's two main rivals -- Barack Obama and John Edwards -- removed their names from the ballot, and the national party stripped Michigan of its delegates because it held the primary before Feb. 5, a violation of party rules.
Hillary Clinton scored a largely empty victory in Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary, taking slightly more than half the votes, while her main ballot opponent -- Uncommitted -- received about 40%.
Clinton led Uncommitted 55%-40% with 97% of the vote counted Tuesday night. About 600,000 people voted in the Democratic primary.
The National Election Pool poll, conducted by Edison/Mitofsky of New Jersey, surveyed 997 Democratic voters at 40 polling places in Michigan. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
"Anything over 50%, we're ecstatic," Blanchard said. "A win is a win is a win, given what happened in Iowa and New Hampshire."
Christina Montague, state coordinator of Michiganders for Obama, was happy with the result, and said it proved Obama's strength in Michigan.
"We didn't want to be totally disenfranchised," she said. "I think we've done a fabulous job. We really worked hard."
Relatively few independent and Republican voters chose to vote in the Democratic primary, the poll found.

Huckabee in 08: Immigration Standards

"There's a couple of things we're going to do differently," Huckabee told about 300 supporters in Rock Hill, shortly after arriving in the state from Michigan. "I say we ought to put a hiatus on people who come in here ... if they come from countries that sponsor and harbor terrorists."
said Huckabee.
"Every one of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 came here legally. Our government welcomed them in," Huckabee said.
"Let's say, until you get your act in order, and we get our act in order, we're not going to just let you keep coming and threaten the future and safety of America."
Huckabee didn't mention the proposal at his second stop, a rally of about 250 in Sumter. Afterward, his new senior adviser, Jim Pinkerton, backed away from the proposal, saying that Huckabee really meant that wants a "thorough review" of immigration policies.
"It was crazy that of the 9/11 hijackers, they had 63 pieces of fake identification between them, and we're not going to let that happen," Pinkerton said. "Whatever it takes to cease and desist that, he'll do it. "
Last month, Huckabee proposed to seal the Mexican border, hire more agents to patrol it and make illegal immigrants go home before they could apply to return to this country.