Mitt Romney Wins Alaska Caucuses [Romney 32%; Santorum 29%; Ron Paul 24%; Gingrich 14%]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/03/07/Mitt-Romney-wins-Alaska-caucuses/UPI-22611331104137/?spt=hs&or=tn ^ | March 07, 2012

[Steelfish]

Mitt Romney Wins Alaska Caucuses

March. 7, 2012

JUNEAU, Alaska, March 7 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney claimed victory in the Alaska caucuses, picking up the majority of states in Super Tuesday contests.

Alaska's 27 delegates will be awarded proportionately later in March.

With 4,285 votes, Romney claimed 32 percent of the statewide vote, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania claimed 29 percent, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas captured 24 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich got 14 percent.

[Steelfish]

If it goes to convention (August) Obama wins because there is simply not enough lead time for the candidate after a fractured debate to pull together a national campaign in 60 days.

[JediJones]

Romney won all of the 6 top 10 Mormon states that have voted so far. Look below to see the percentages each state has of Mormons and 4 more states he will win. Even if they’re 5% of the people that means they’re probably 10% of the Republicans, and if they’re twice as likely to turn out as other voters, that gives Romney a solid 20% block of votes to build off of in each primary.

State
Percent LDS

Utah (Jun 26 - Winner Take All Primary)
72%

Idaho (ROMNEY WON)
27%

Wyoming (ROMNEY WON)
11%

Nevada (ROMNEY WON)
7.1%

Arizona (ROMNEY WON)
6.0%

Hawaii (Mar 13 - Proportional Caucus)
5.1%

Montana (Jun 5 - Non-Binding Primary)
4.6%

Alaska (ROMNEY WON)
4.2%

Oregon (May 15 - Proportional Primary)
4.0%

Washington (ROMNEY WON)
3.9%

[JediJones]

Why are you repeating yourself? I already explained why the scenario is far less simplistic than that. We have SuperPACs now which could be running an anti-Obama campaign long before the convention. And since Obama can’t start targetting the Republican until he knows who it is, he doesn’t have the lead time for negative attacks either. If we nominate Romney, we lose anyway, so let’s let Rick and Newt TAKE IT TO THE CONVENTION.

[JediJones]

Also, if you recall, the convention is the first time when most people start paying attention to the election anyway. And the exposure the candidates get in a prolonged primary is valuable face time to build comfort and recognizability. The primary offers far better media coverage than being on the campaign trail before the convention. And I believe Obama used his time on the primary campaign trail to build his state volunteers and organizations, which we should be doing as well. A long primary is wonderful for our election chances in every way (including vetting out negatives early) and more than offsets a delay at finalizing the nominee until the convention.

[Catsrus]

Newt supporters can forget about him ever getting the nomination if it goes to a brokered convention. Geesh, as smart as Newt is, I would think he would see the handwriting on the wall, and how he is handing this nomination to Mitt by staying in. I prefer him over Mitt, but, he doesn’t have a prayer of a resurgence. He just doesn’t - his baggage is too heavy and he is the least liked among the women voters.

His danged ego is in the way, or maybe he is just book smart and lacking in common sense.

[Steelfish]

You are assuming a lot. A convention with floor fights, fractured positions on candidate platforms etc doesn’t go smoothly. The media will portray the Republican Party has being chaotic and unable to govern. Even the super-pacs can’t be going negative all the time. Whereas Obama will be trumpeting the end of the Afghan war, Iraq withdrawal, Osama bin Ladin’s capture; Auto Rescue Plan (they don’t call it a bail-out in Detroit); mortgage relief to 3m individuals, historical low interest rates etc etc., we would lack a defined candidate to speak for all and build his stature as what the public can view as a capable and competent WH occupant and speak to issues that show our candidate’s grasp of the major domestic and international issues of the day. Perception is everything politics. August is just too late for any of this.

[Varsity Flight]

“his baggage is too heavy and he is the least liked among the women voters”

That’s right. Massachusetts-Mitt, has the Hillary Gang behind him.

[Varsity Flight]

No way the 2008 Hillary gang will back The Undocumented-Un, this time.

[Varsity Flight]

....and notice how absent the constant “womens right to choose” has been for Massachusetts-Mitt, their plant has been.

[Diogenesis]

Romney is a cheat, and NO DOUBT cheated in Alaska, too.

Ineligible RINO Backstabber:
"Thank Me!!!!! I cheat, I win."

---

FLASHBACK:

The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts
in some polls, days prior to Election 2008.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney and
TeamROMNEY and the RNME (Republican National Media Establishment)
decided …to attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008.

Romney, and the Van der Sloot RNME RINOs for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

---

The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

---

"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

---

"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

---

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

---

[thackney]

Much of rural Alaska, the Repub Party never organized to allow participation.

With 40% of the population in Anchorage Muni alone, it becomes hard to justify the expensive travel to remote Villages with less than 1% of the state population.

Include Juneau and Fairbanks and you have half the state. The Palmer-Wasilla Valley probably got covered for their couple percent since it is so close to Anchorage.

Why didn't local step up to organize their participation?

[JediJones]

You’re overlooking a lot of what I wrote. Media attention for our convention would be an enormous plus. Remember how popular Palin became after her convention speech, even though she came out of the blue? With this much drama at our convention, the ratings would only go up and if we gave good speeches we’d get more benefit from that.

The media will always portray us badly. I don’t base my strategy on how to make the media portray me better, because that’s a pipe dream. But the convention is where we define ourselves without a filter, and a bigger audience for it counts for a lot.

Our candidates are already defining themselves and speaking to the issues. A long primary only helps us do more of that. It helps us in every way imaginable. It makes it much easier for our candidates to give speeches, travel the country and give interviews. All the candidates should simply keep doing that between June and August. Mitt is the only guy who might not do it since he cowardly runs from the media whenever he can, but he’s a bad candidate. Prolonging the process to try and get rid of him is a good thing no matter how we do it.

All this exposure may also give us a better idea of which candidate we should run by the time the convention rolls around. If we pick him now, by August the media could have destroyed him and we would have nowhere to go. All the candidates will be well known by August. Newt is already succeeding at attacking Obama on energy and has him on the ropes. The final nominee doesn’t need to be picked to do all the things you’re saying.

[Eska]

The locals in our community got in touch with Repub Party about this issue and the State leadership said no way, local Repubs wanted to organize it; everybody was somewhat surprised the Repubs didn't want the support or votes. So was I as the Repubs call my house every month or so begging money. In the last year I've given them 50 bucks 3 times, they send me a thank you letter wanting even more,ha. I know not much but I know I won't give anymore unless it's for Palin.

Point I'm making is that most Republicans in rural communities, are more socially conservative than Repubs in Anchorage, ect. Santorum might have gotten a thousand more votes.

We all know Romney will probably be the candidate and beating Big "O" the goal. With the history of corruption in Repub Party here in Alaska; many people have that in the back of their minds. The Repubs need to project better values or people will leave the party, something the Repubs need less of. Look how hard it's going to be to beat Obama with all his ethnic & minority, all the people on the govt disability, and various special interest group support that he has. We need more Republicans, not less.

In the end I ain't moving to an urban area to vote, ha ha; that would be nutty.

[Steelfish]

Again, you are making the big assumption that a brokered convention will go smoothly. The dog fights and backstabbing and insider dealing will be all excellent fodder for the media, tabloids and all.The emerging candidate will be bruised and the bruises will show. This thing needs to end and as Gingrich himself and others have said we’d in the end all unite with the one who has the magic number of delegates. As what happens, third candidates release their delegates. Someone needs to get to the 1440 mark soon. The Palin example you cite simply doesn’t apply here. That was an open seat to the WH. Now we have to deal with the power of incumbency and a fawning media that supports Obama. Despite all the debates and media focus, our prime candidates -Romney and Santorum still trail Obama by 7-9 points and Gingrich falls out of the rear view mirror. Things have changed for 2012.

[JediJones]

There is probably no way Santorum can hit the 1440 mark even if Newt drops out as long as Romney is in the race pulling the liberal and Mormon states. It’s debatable whether Newt dropping out results in more delegates for Mitt than if Newt stayed in. He may help our cause in proportional states but perhaps not in WTA states. The only option is Romney or a contested convention. I have no interest in accelerating a Romney nomination. It’s debatable whether a Romney presidency does more damage to our party and our cause than 4 more years of Obama, so I’m willing to risk Romney losing for a better outcome at the convention.

We had the fawning media last time so again that isn’t a new factor. Incumbency is not going to be an advantage. Vague hope and change is replaced by a whole lot of failed policies, debt, unemployment, Solyndra, Keystone pipeline, doubled gas prices, Obamacare, foreclosures, etc.

The polls change every week or day almost. They don’t mean anything now. Kerry was ahead of Bush even in some July, 2004 polls I looked at. Decisions are made late. The voters we really need probably won’t even decide until the last day. There’s no reason to worry about a contested convention. It would be better if our guys criticized Obama more than each other, but we all know that’s Romney and Paul’s fault, and I’m not going to hand them the nomination as a reward for being bastards and attacking fellow Republicans brutally and dishonestly.

[thackney]

everybody was somewhat surprised the Repubs didn't want the support or votes

Damn shame.

I'm making is that most Republicans in rural communities, are more socially conservative than Repubs in Anchorage

I would sure hope it was that way. We had a higher military ratio in Eagle River and I enjoyed that impact.

The Repubs need to project better values or people will leave the party,

Agreed. I just cannot see myself voting for Romney in the General Election. If he wins the primary, it is time to put full focus on the congressional races.