RexTalionis: I just want to note that in 2008, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 62,828 state delegates coming out to vote.

In 2012, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 47836 state delegates come out to vote.

That's about 24% lower turnout in 2012 than in 2008.

....62k thats it?....47k thats it? We decide our runners based upon that small of a sample size? God damn the nomination system blows, we're subject to the lowest common demoninator who can get work off during the week

Santorum lacks the mainstream appeal of a big money candidate like Romney. He cannot not attract serious donations.

No, Republicans are taking the primaries seriously. GOP primary voters are just spectacularly stupid.

TofuTheAlmighty: No, Republicans are taking the primaries seriously. GOP primary voters are just spectacularly stupid.

Yeah, after seeing my home state go wholeheartedly with Santorum, I just don't have faith in humanity anymore.

I mean, GOP voters are dumb, but if the reason they don't vote for Santorum is because Dan Savage's website pops up first in a google search for Santorum's name, then they're really dumb.

I mean shiat, the 5th hit or so, the first YouTube hit on Obama is this:

The Obama Deception is a hard-hitting film that completely destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people.

The Obama phenomenon is a hoax carefully crafted by the captains of the New World Order. He is being pushed as savior in an attempt to con the American people into accepting global slavery.

We have reached a critical juncture in the New World Order's plans. It's not about Left or Right: it's about a One World Government. The international banks plan to loot the people of the United States and turn them into slaves on a Global Plantation.

Covered in this film: who Obama works for, what lies he has told, and his real agenda. If you want to know the facts and cut through all the hype, this is the film for you.

2wolves: make me some tea: "Abortion-fueled media"

LMAO

I'm getting 24 city, 32 highway per blastocyst.

You should try the straight, white, Christian fetuses. Not only do you get better mileage, but it keeps your headers clean and you don't have the guilt of burning unclean fuel.

Mentat: Damnit Missouri. Seriously.

I'm in Missouri. My county, a college town, went 50% Santorum. I have no idea why.

/would've voted RON PAUL but lazy college student who didn't know the primary was yesterday
//Hail President Frothy!

Oysterman: Mentat: Damnit Missouri. Seriously.

I'm in Missouri. My county, a college town, went 50% Santorum. I have no idea why.

/would've voted RON PAUL but lazy college student who didn't know the primary was yesterday
//Hail President Frothy!



You never go 50% Santorum

make me some tea: "Abortion-fueled media"

LMAO

The mainstream media isn't run by Marxists, Commies or Nazis. It's run by Chaos Marines.

/Blood for the Blood God!

People know that he brought his dead baby home from the hospital to show his kids and sing to it, right?

RexTalionis: I just want to note that in 2008, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 62,828 state delegates coming out to vote.

In 2012, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 47836 state delegates come out to vote.

That's about 24% lower turnout in 2012 than in 2008.

That's what I was figuring. The RNC and the media declared Romney the candidate post Florida (really they'd been pushing him before that). It appears Romney was caught in that everyone said "Why bother".

The only two groups that showed up were the evangelicals for Santorum and the Paulites. What Romney needs to do is put some effort into the next few primaries, win them, and show "Hey when people show up to vote, I win."

The RNC has to be smart enough to know that Santorum as your lead means every single moderate voting Obama solely out of fear of what happens if Santorum wins. Gringrich has too many skeletons in his closest. It also appears Paul has some skeletons. Basically this win will just remind the RNC they need to keep smoothing the road for Romney and avoid more bitter infighting.

/although if I was a Dem I'd switch over to Rep registration and vote for Santorum in the primary just to fark with the Reps
//Santorum has the money and the insanity to go until the bitter end

I'm usually pretty independent, but Santorum just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Oysterman: Mentat: Damnit Missouri. Seriously.

I'm in Missouri. My county, a college town, went 50% Santorum. I have no idea why.

/would've voted RON PAUL but lazy college student who didn't know the primary was yesterday
//Hail President Frothy!

Maybe they were all Democrats doing a little "Operation Chaos".

FTFA: "It is difficult to see what Gov. Romney's opponents can do to change the dynamics of the race in February," wrote Romney political director Rich Beeson. "No delegates will be awarded on February 7 -- Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses with nonbinding preference polls, and the Missouri primary is purely a beauty contest."

/hot like the Santorum tsunami

What a Santorum sweep might look like

Republicans are falling for Santorum!

Headline by Rick Perry.

WhoIsWillo: And Ron Paul would be invisible.

But smugly invisible.

I think the pattern of frequently shifting front-runners in this race is quite instructive. I that each time the front-runner shifts, it is not indicative of wide-spread approval of the new front-runner, but of widespread disapproval of the previous front-runner(s). Each time there is a new front-runner, the public starts to actually pay attention to who he is and what he says, and shortly thereafter decide that this new front-runner is a scumbag/idiot/lunatic/all-three and pick a new front-runner. Lather, rinse, repeat. Not a single one of the GOP candidates are respectable enough to maintain voter approval when the spotlight of scrutiny is upon them.

Soup4Bonnie: People know that he brought his dead baby home from the hospital to show his kids and sing to it, right?

They really don't. My wife is about plugged in to politics as your average person. She commented on the news that Santorum won the 3 whatevers yesterday. I said "Oh this just gets better and better, he's the super crazy one."

She said "Really? I thought he was the most normal one of the three."

Then I told her about singing to the "not" aborted fetus and the turtle marrying thing. Her response was "Oh God."

You'd be surprised about how many ver average people don't know about a lot of this stuff.

We now know the power of Santorum's CUM. His Conservatives Unite Moneybomb tactic exploded last night, covering everyone in sticky enthusiasm. All conservatives need to get a taste of his CUM, voters are very enthusiastic about Santorum and CUM.

mrshowrules: RexTalionis: I just want to note that in 2008, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 62,828 state delegates coming out to vote.

In 2012, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 47836 state delegates come out to vote.

That's about 24% lower turnout in 2012 than in 2008.

Interesting because the Republicans were not particularly motivated in 2008 either. Dubya created a pretty depressed Republican electorate. Does that mean that they are even less motivated today? I guess hate/fear does have limited power to engage people politically.


How long can you be angry, or afraid before it just leaves you exhausted and uncaring.

The republicans have finally hit that limit.

RobsterCraw: I think the pattern of frequently shifting front-runners in this race is quite instructive. I that each time the front-runner shifts, it is not indicative of wide-spread approval of the new front-runner, but of widespread disapproval of the previous front-runner(s). Each time there is a new front-runner, the public starts to actually pay attention to who he is and what he says, and shortly thereafter decide that this new front-runner is a scumbag/idiot/lunatic/all-three and pick a new front-runner. Lather, rinse, repeat. Not a single one of the GOP candidates are respectable enough to maintain voter approval when the spotlight of scrutiny is upon them.

I agree with some of what you're saying and the underlying point. But I think you're mixing up individual state primaries with national front runner status. Romney is still the front runner, he has the most delegates. And we're both ignoring how much time each candidate spent in each state and their strategies for winning.

Your point was much stronger when we saw varying front runners in national polls leading up to the primaries, where we saw Cain rise and drop off, where we saw Bachmann rise and drop off, where we saw Trump rise and drop off and so on.

milhouse?: I'm usually pretty independent, but Santorum just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

This election is going to shiat.

Mugato: I do know that but I'm trying to mentally block it because it's too farked up.

No kidding. I mean, what do you do? Strap it into the child seat anyway? Just put it on the back seat on the floor like you do the groceries? Just the transporting seems difficult. And how long did they keep the thing anyway? There's got to be a limit on how long you're allowed to play with your dead kid since it's already past its expiration date.

Backwards Cornfield Races: RexTalionis: I just want to note that in 2008, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 62,828 state delegates coming out to vote.

In 2012, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 47836 state delegates come out to vote.

That's about 24% lower turnout in 2012 than in 2008.

....62k thats it?....47k thats it? We decide our runners based upon that small of a sample size? God damn the nomination system blows, we're subject to the lowest common demoninator who can get work off during the week

MN's caucuses were held at 7 PM local time, and they were an open caucus, so in theory many more people could have attended.

It is surprising that Republicans don't want to get involved during such a heated race, though. Part of it is that yesterday's caucuses were just a straw poll so the candidates wouldn't have been committing extensive resources to GOTV. What will be really interesting is the nuts and bolts of delegate selection at the state level. This is how it works (quoting from Frontloading HQ)


- 13 at-large delegates: At-large delegates are selected at the Minnesota Republican Party state convention and according to the rules governing the delegate selection process in the party constitution may be bound for up to one ballot at the national convention.2 The decision on whether to bind at-large delegates is made at the state convention on May 18-19.
- 24 congressional district delegates: Like Colorado and Iowa, the Minnesota congressional district delegates -- 3 in each of the 8 Minnesota congressional districts -- will be allocated at the congressional district conventions. None of these delegates are bound, but are selected from among the pool of delegates who are selected at the precinct, then county, then legislative district caucuses. Again, there is no direct transference of presidential preference from one step to the next, and there are no rules governing which delegates get chosen and how. Also, there is no requirement that there be either winner-take-all or proportional allocation at the precinct level and onward. It may ultimately end up that way, but it may be that those who are committed to staying long enough and/or are committed to being delegates get chosen to move to the next step in the process. [This is why any premature projection of delegates from these non-binding contests is so ridiculous, but I digress...] The bottom line is that there may some underlying presidential preference that emerges through the process -- the precinct caucus straw polls serve as a baseline -- but these congressional district delegates, and more than likely the at-large delegates will go to the Tampa convention unbound.
- 3 automatic delegates: The three automatic delegates are also technically unbound, but are free to endorse whomever they choose. To this point only one Minnesota automatic delegate, Jeff Johnson, has weighed in on the race. The Minnesota Republican National Committeeman has endorsed Newt Gingrich.

Rent is too damn high: We now know the power of Santorum's CUM. His Conservatives Unite Moneybomb tactic exploded last night, covering everyone in sticky enthusiasm. All conservatives need to get a taste of his CUM, voters are very enthusiastic about Santorum and CUM.

Man that was a funny Daily Show. Reminded me of Jon Stewart talking about the CLITORIS in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

RexTalionis: I just want to note that in 2008, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 62,828 state delegates coming out to vote.

In 2012, Minnesota's Republican caucus had 47836 state delegates come out to vote.

That's about 24% lower turnout in 2012 than in 2008.

In 2008, Romney was a moderate conservative. For the current election cycle, Romney is trying to paint himself as at least and gung-ho and crazed as the rest of the pack. This led to two things in Minnesota:

1) The moderate Republicans who supported him in 2008 are staying home because they have no dogs in the race
2) The crazed Minnesota Republicans (henceforth called the Bachmannalians) had a way crazier dog to vote for, and that dog was a lot more believably insane

well AOL still has over 3 million dial up users, what is the total vote count so far in the primaries?

dumbobruni: well AOL still has over 3 million dial up users, what is the total vote count so far in the primaries?

Is that true? Damn, I wanna work their technical support line for a day, just to see what kind of crazy bullshiat calls in there.

What is that long, straight protrusion above the 'O' in Santorum on his campaign poster?

I'm pretty sure Rick Santorum is A) faking it and B) Dan Savage's lover.

/his wife is like, Rick why is this gay guy flaming you on facebook
// "uh my conservative views baby not because i forgot to wear a condom last night"