Michigan and Arizona Republican primary: live

February 29th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

There have been too many false starts for the former management consultant
in this race to make confident predictions, but Mr Romney will be hoping
that this four-point victory marks the point at which he finally puts his
challengers behind him.

At the same time, Rick Santorum, the ultra-conservative Catholic with
blue-collar appeal who was a marginal figure in the race just a month ago,
could be forgiven for congratulating himself for running Mr Romney so close,
however he will now have to work hard to ensure Michigan is not the zenith
of his campaign.

04.39 (23.39) Is it all over for Rick Santorum’s surge in the
polls? Tim Stanley says things
look bleak for the right-wing evangelical candidate.

For Rick Santorum, things look pretty bleak. As the results poured in, I
found myself feeling very depressed about his defeat. I don’t know if it’s
that I’ve come to love Saint Santorum or if it’s that I’ll have nothing to
write about when he’s gone. This guy has been manna from heaven for smartass
bloggers. In the last seven days, he has said that the very thought of
separating church and state makes him want to “throw up” and that Obama is a
“snob” for encouraging kids to go to college. His “concession” was a
spectacular misfire. The first five minutes of a Santorum speech are always
good; it’s the next five hours that are a nightmare. Michigan’s was a long,
rambling tour through an angry mind – culminating in a riff about liberals
being similar to the British red coats who once oppressed America. When he
called the Brits “good and stiff,” I almost gagged on my cocoa. Fox News, on
the other hand, cut away to announce that Romney was the winner. When Fox
News gets bored with a conservative, that conservative is dead in the water.

04.29 (23.29) Jon Swaine files this report of tonight’s results: Romney
eases candidacy jitters with double victory.

Mitt Romney won a double victory in the Republican presidential primary on
Tuesday night, surviving Rick Santorum’s challenge in his home state of
Michigan and comfortably triumphing in Arizona to ease jitters about his
candidacy.

Mr Romney ground out a hard-fought win the mid-western state where he was
raised, securing 41 per cent of the vote to beat Mr Santorum, a Right-wing
former Pennsylvania senator, by four percentage points.

“We didn’t win by a lot but we won by enough,” he told a victory rally in
Novi, Michigan, boasting that he had disproved “the pundits and pollsters”
who had been “ready to count us out” there. In Arizona Mr Romney beat Mr
Santorum by 17 percentage points, according to exit polls.

04.14 (23.14) Some of the body of Romney’s speech:

We’ve seen enough of this President over the last three years to know that
we don’t need another four. President Obama believes he is unchecked by our
Constitution. He is unresponsive to the will of our people. In a second
term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of re-election. If there is
one thing we cannot afford, it is four years of Barack Obama with nothing to
answer to.

His budget foreshadows what lies ahead. Runaway spending and record debt
were just the warm-up act. For an encore, he wants to raise taxes on job
creators and small businesses and families. We will not let him!

In this campaign, I am offering a real choice and a new direction. I have a
plan that will restore America’s promise through more jobs, less debt, and
smaller government.

04.10 (23.10) An enormous margin in Romney’s native Oakland County carried
the state for him.

04.00 (23.00) So there we are. Romney wins big in Arizona and
much more narrowly in Michigan. Romney’s camp will tell you this was a major
victory and in terms of delegates it was. But in the overall arc of the
campaign what happened tonight was Romney narrowly avoiding a crippling
embarassment in a state that he should have won by much more.

Santorum will be left weakened but will get another chance to come at
Romney on Tuesday in Ohio. He’s up by eight points there at the moment and
if he can beat Romney there then we’re straight back to questions about
Mitt’s viability as a candidate in November.

03.55 (22.55) Very strange moment during the Romney speech: a female
reporter from the Economist was handcuffed by police. She was apparently
released a little while later.

^{Picture by Toby

Harnden}

03.45 (22.45) Romey says Obama would be “unrestrained” in his
second term but aside from that the speech is his usual patter about “restoring
America’s promise”. He has an odd habit of not using the big ocassions
to say anything new.

03.34 (22.34) Ann Romney is onstage rattling through a long thank you
list of supporters. It goes from the governor to Kid Rock via Chris
Christie and Donald Trump.

Here comes Mitt, who declares: “We didn’t win by a lot but we won by
enough that’s all that counts,” before turning on Obama. He goes
through this call and response:

Did he fix it the economy? No! Did he tackle the housing crisis? No! Did
he get us back to work? No! Instead he put us on the path of deficit and
decline.

The biggest cheers come when he says he’ll get out of Obama “out
of office and back home where he belongs”.

–

03.30 (22.30) Santorum is offstage with a final flourish about the
British during the Revolutionary War. Romney just tweeted this and is due to
speak any moment:

03.20 (22.20) Santorum hasn’t congratulated Romney publicly but he did
apparently call the former Massachusetts governor to concede defeat. During
his speech he waves a small copy of the Constitution, calling it “the
operating manual of America”.

He’s using that husky, impassioned voice he often does when he’s losing.

03.16 (22.16) He returns to his populist riff asking the crowd whether
they want to be ruled by “the elite” and accuses the Obama
administration of “crushing the American people every single day”.

03.10 (22.10) Here comes Rick Santorum, who comes out swinging.

A month ago, they didn’t know who we were but they do now. What an
absolutely great night and I’m so thankful to the people of Michigan. They
looked into the hearts of the candidates and all I have to say is I love you
back.

He describes Michigan as “the backyard of one of my opponents” but
doesn’t congratulate Romney. As he talks…

03.05 (22.05) We may get Santorum speaking before Romney. Things are
pretty subdued at his Grand Rapids party. Here’s a pic taken a few minutes
ago, they’ve now turned off the big screen with the results coming in.

–

03.00 (22.00) The Democrats, who were praying for a Santorum win, are
now desperately talking down Romney’s victory. This from Bill Burton,
the head of Obama super PAC Priorities USA.

02.55 (21.55) Just taking a closer look at the exit poll numbers. Santorum
won 53 per cent of those who identify themselves as Democrats, a sign of
some liberal mischief at work. About 10 per cent of all his votes seem to
have come from crossover Dems.

Interestingly, Romney only got 20 per cent of the vote from those who
describe themselves as very religious, a sign that his Mormon faith may
continue to dog him.

02.50 (21.50) We’re expecting Romney onstage in Michigan pretty soon,
though he may wait til they formally call the state for him. Michigan
attorney general Bill Schuette is onstage now trying to get the crowd
warmed up.

02.45 (21.45) Tonight wasn’t just about Romney outspending and
outfighting Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator had a torrid week that
began with a bad debate and saw him talking constantly about unpopular
social issues.

02.40 (21.40) Amazingly, Santorum has lost among Catholics. Romney won
43 per cent to his 37. That could mean one of two things:

1) For Michigan’s Catholics the economy matters more than the social
issues like abortion and contraception.

2) It may not have been a good idea for Santorum
to get nasty about JFK, America’s first and only Catholic president.

02.35 (21.35) Tim Miller, a former Jon Huntsman spokesman, declares
that in an earlier election cycle Romney would have shut the election down
tonight – but in 2012 Santorum and Gingrich are being kept artifically alive
by their super PAC sugar daddies.

02.30 (21.30) We’re at nearly a third of the vote counted and and Romney
is up by 12,000 votes. It’s looking like he’s going to win his home state, a
place that he won in 2008 and where he outspent his nearest rival
two-to-one.

02.25 (21.25) Ron Paul is on CNN denying that he’s in cahoots with the
Romney campaign, an allegation that Rick Santorum has made repeatedly. Paul
says he’s sees little difference between the other three:

The only difference I’ve been able to observe is in their management style
and their personalities.

He flatly denies rumours that he’s trying to get his son Rand Paul
onto the ticket as Romney’s running mate, describing Santorum as an “addict.

02.20 (21.20) Who says Newt can’t win over the kids? Picture via erschult

–

02.15 (21.15) Part of Romney’s Arizona victory came from the
western state’s relatively large Mormon population.

02.11 (21.11) CNN has put out its exit
poll breakdown but not the headline figures. It looks good for
Romney and predicts him winning 40 per cent to Santorum’s 37.

• He’s won among both men and women, taking a five point lead
among females -a possible indication that Santorum’s contraception talk has
cost him.

• He took 48 per cent of the over-65s, the demographic
most likely to vote.

• Unsurprisingly, Romney won 44 per cent of university graduates
to Santorum’s 39. Remember Santorum described Obama as “a snob”
for saying he wanted all Americans to go to university.

02.09 (21.09) At Santorum HQ they’re beginning the loser’s spin dance.

02.00 (21.00) CNN calls Arizona for Romney with a convincing 44
per cent but Michigan is too close. With 20 per cent of the vote
counted, Romney has edged ahead and is leading by 4,000 votes. It’s very,
very early but it’s looking good for Romney.

01.56 (20.56) Romney called his 2008 victory “a comeback for
America”. A win tonight would more accurately be described as “an
enormous bloody relief”.

01.53 (20.53) We’re five minutes away from close of polls in Michigan
and the networks are teasing that they might be able to call it. The reality
is that it’s waaay too close and we’re probably not going to know for a long
time yet. They should be able to call Arizona fairly easily for Romney,
though.

01.50 (20.50) Newt is still going at it in Georgia, while CNN
have now cut away from Paul’s address. Here’s the Gingrich scene via Alexandra
Moe of NBC News:

–

01.45 (20.45) It is insanely close in Michigan. Santorum is
around 1,000 ahead on 34,146 votes. Around 10 per cent of precincts have
reported.

01.44 (20.44) Ron Paul is speaking in Virginia, another Super Tuesday
state where only he and Romney are on ballot (those were the only two
campaigns to get enough signatures). Paul is happily riffing through his
criticism of the Federal Reserve and of foreign aid.

01.40 (20.40) Despite how close it is at the moment Camp Romney is very
confident. Bob Ehrlich is a former Maryland governor.

01.36 (20.36) We’re 20 minutes from close of polls in Michigan
and now seems a good time to remind ourselves of the delegate race. Here are
the totals so far (remember it’s 1,144 to win)

At the end of the night, expect Romney to be up by about 45 (30 from
Arizona plus half of Michigan) while Santorum climbs by around 15.

01.27 (20.27) Michigan has a complicated delegate system which
is semi-proportional but also awards its 29 delegates by congressional
district. That means two things:

1) Both Santorum and Romney are going to leave with delegates tonight

2) It’s theoretically possible that one candidate could win the popular
vote but actually get fewer delegates

Also voting tonight is Arizona, a winner-takes-all state with 30
delegates where Romney is expected to clean up. So overall Romney should
take the lion’s share of delegates tonight but it won’t matter if he’s
beaten in the state he grew up in. Narrative and momentum is all that
matters right now.

01.25 (20.25) My favourite picture of the mutual loathing between
Santorum and Romney. Nothing says “I hate you” quite like a
crushing handshake and an insane person’s smile:

–

01.20 (20.20) The first votes are being counted in Michigan and at this
exact moment Santorum is leading.

Romney – 1,434

Santorum – 1,285

Paul – 437

Gingrich – 66

Bear in mind that less than 1 per cent of the vote has been counted but it’s
an interesting start.

01.15 (20.15) A sentence grandchildren across the world fear: “I
thought I would take a couple of minutes and tell a couple of stories.”
He’s telling some yarn about chopping down a tree back in Georgia before he
was Congressman.

The tree story ends with the tree snapping and damaging the house or
something. The people behind Newt look baffled and CNN cuts away in
disgust to bring some early voting numbers from Michigan.

01.07 (20.07) Newt Gingrich (remember him?) is speaking early tonight
because he doesn’t stand a chance in either Michigan or Arizona. He’s just
been given a robotic intro by his wife Callista. He’s speaking in Georgia,
the state he represented in Congress and which votes next week in Super
Tuesday.

He certainly looks cheerful, the word he used to describe himself in last
week’s debate in Arizona.

01.00 (20.00) Polls have just closed in the eastern part of Michigan
but are continuing in the west so we won’t get our full exit polls for
another hour or so. Here were the latest opinion polls from Real Clear
Politics:

00.55 (19.55) In an astounding, what-are-the-chances, one-in-a-million
coincidence, the President ended up giving a speech to the United Auto
Workers union on the same day that Michigan, home of the American auto
industry, went to the polls. Obama looked more fired up than he has
in months:

Amusingly, the White House today insisted it wasn’t a campaign event. Here’s
the exchange between a reporter and Press Secretary Jay Carney.

Q: Thank you. Was the President’s speech to the UAW convention this
morning a campaign speech?

Mr. Carney: Not at all. The President was speaking to American workers,
which he certainly enjoys doing. He was speaking to them about several
things, principally the resurrection of the American automobile industry,
which is a subject that has been a focus of his attention since he took
office when he made some very difficult decisions to ensure that General
Motors and Chrysler would restructure themselves, make themselves more
efficient; that unions and management would make very tough decisions, and
in return for taxpayer support.

00.50 (19.50) Our US editor, Peter Foster, has more on how ugly the
struggle between Romney and Santorum has become in recent days.

The fight for the Republican nomination for president has reached boiling
point after Mitt Romney accused his rival Rick Santorum of using “dirty
tricks” by enlisting Democrat voters to help him win the critical
Michigan primary.

Long time front-runner Mr Romney’s protest came as the former management
consultant faced the threat of a humiliating defeat in his home state of
Michigan that would throw open the Republican race to be the candidate to
take on Barack Obama in November.

“It’s a dirty trick,” Mr Romney said of Santorum-backed automated
phone calls calling on Democrats to punish the former Bain Capital boss for
refusing to support the multi-billion dollar bailouts of the US car industry
which is based in Detroit, Michigan.

“It’s outrageous to see Rick Santorum team up with the Obama people
and go out after union labour in Detroit and try and get them to vote
against me,” Mr Romney complained to Fox News. “Look, we don’t
want Democrats deciding who our nominee is going to be.”

00.45 (19.45) Our video team were in Michigan earlier this year
looking at the woes of Detroit. This is what they found:

00.35 (19.35) There’s some intriguing evidence tonight that Democrats
have been turning out for Santorum in the belief that a victory him would be
a crippling blow to Romney, who poses a much greater threat to Obama in
November. Here’s one apparent Democrat saboteur:

00.30 (19.30 EST) Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the
Republican primary race where Mitt Romney is once again fighting to
hold off an upstart conservative challenger. Tonight he’s battling with Rick
Santorum in his home state of Michigan. If he loses here is it curtains
for Mittens?

• Florida
Republican primary: January 30
• Florida
Republican primary debate: January 26
• Barack Obama’s State of the Union address:
January 24
• Florida Republican debate: January 23

• South Carolina Republican primary: January 21

• South Carolina Republican primary: January 20

• South Carolina Republican debate: January 19

• South Carolina primary buildup: January 19
• South
Carolina Republican debate: January 16
• New Hampshire Republican primary: January 11

• New
Hampshire Republican primary: January 10
• New
Hampshire Republican primary: January 9
• New Hampshire primary debate: January 8

• New Hampshire primary debate: January 7
• Iowa Republican primary: January 4
• Iowa
Republican primary: January 3
• Iowa
Republican primary: January 2