"McCain't Fight This Feeling Anymore..."

I've still got some reservations about the guy, but at least while watching this I can breathe clear and easy; I've yet to see another campaign ad that captures patriotism like this one. I felt like one of those women who faint at Obama rallies. Just before I lost consciousness, I could hear and feel the words, "Yes, we can!" escape my lips...

McCain 2008--Can you feel it, my friends?

Super Ultra Mega Gargantuan Monstrous Behemoth Tuesday!

You know what day it is! It's Mitt's last chance to turn things around, and a major test for the Democrats to see if Sen. Obama's message of change is more "changey" than Sen. Clinton's message of change.

I've got class for a few hours today, but I'll keep updating the results as they come in and I get a chance.

My hopes: Mitt stops the bleeding and an enraged McCain says something stupid, while Hillary stomps Obama

My predictions: McCain "straight-talks" his way to the nomination, and Hillary stomps Obama.

We'll see....

UPDATE (9:40 am):
Lizards for Mitt!
Robotic Jack Nicholsons for Hillary!

UPDATE (3:45 pm):
NRO has early exit poll results. Some numbers and general trends:

California- McCain 40%, Romney 36%, Huck 10%
This state is critical for Romney. Whether he wins or not, he at least needs a significant chunk of delegates to even think about continuing after today. Jim Geraghty reminds that these are preliminary results, without a district-by-district breakdown, and likely without 3 million absentee ballots. This might get a lot closer.

Missouri- Romney 36%, McCain 32%, Huck 25%
This was also a big state for Romney. It will be a major surprise if he holds on for the win here.

Georgia- Huck 34%, Romney 31%, McCain 30%
While I don't know the strategic importance of Georgia, I think it will be exciting to see how it turns out with all three candidates so close.

New England- McCain wins pretty handily. No surprise there. Liberal is as liberal does.
**Massachusetts, Romney's home state, is an obvious exception, but Delaware apparently is also going Mitt's way.

The South- Not counting the ones mentioned above, Huck is leading in most Southern states, followed by McCain and Romney, respectively. McCain has a slight lead over Huck in Oklahoma, though Romney is close enough that he might be able to stage a comeback...

McCain's winning his home state of Arizona, but only by five points...

UPDATE (4:10 pm):
Georgia is currently too close to call for the Republicans, but Obama smoked Clinton by about 3 to 1. Come on, Hillary! Can't you cry again, or something? Don't let Obama beat you. You know what must be done...

Also, from the Drudge Report, more early exit poll numbers:

WARNING: EXIT NUMBERS EARLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT ACTUAL VOTES:

OBAMA: Alabama: Obama 60, Clinton 37... Arizona: Obama 51, Clinton 45... Connecticut: Obama 53, Clinton 45... Delaware: Obama 56, Clinton 42... Illinois: Obama 70, Clinton 30... Massachusetts: Obama 50, Clinton 48... Missouri: Obama 50, Clinton 46... New Jersey: Obama 53, Clinton 47...

CLINTON: Arkansas: Clinton 72, Obama 26... California: Clinton 50, Obama 47... New York: Clinton 56, Obama 43... Oklahoma: Clinton 61, Obama 31... Tennessee: Clinton 52, Obama 41...

There are a couple close states there, but it looks like most Democrats have decided one way or the other. I also notice that Obama seems to have a lot more states behind his name. What else could explain it but....the audacity of hope.

Well, my hopes were apparently too audacious because neither Mitt nor Hillary are winning out and out, but where there's a clever marketing strategy, there's a way:













UPDATE (6:30 pm):
Jim Geraghty has a list of called states:

Republicans:

McCain: NJ, IL, DE, CT

Romney: MA

Huckabee: WV, AR, AL

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton: AR, OK, TN

Barack Obama: IL, GA

Guess I was wrong about Delaware being for Mitt.

UPDATE (11:15 pm):
Well, my predictions were kind of right. McCain "straight-talked" his way through the day, and Hillary leads Obama, but she certainly didn't stomp him. She may be stomping her feet right now, as Obama did fairly well today. Things are much closer for the Democrats because (as far as I can tell) each state gave out delegates proportionately rather than 'winner-take-all' like many of the Republican primaries did.

As of now, here are the delegate counts:
Clinton: 668
Obama: 557

McCain: 514
Romney: 177
Huckabee: 122

The winner-take-all states explain the much bigger difference in the GOP numbers. To borrow a nearly worn-out phrase, I Hate Huckabee. Clearly, he fancies himself a vice president. It would be tempting to vote against a McCain-Huck ticket simply out of spite. Must...resist...cultural suicide...

Alas, it seems this spells the end for our hero Mitt Romney. We hardly knew ye.
There are only three words that can express my disappointment and shame:

Game over, man!

McCain't Get No Satisfaction

What to do about John McCain's surprisingly meteoric rise to GOP front-runner status? Is he really who he says he is?

McCain has cast himself as the stoic "straight-talker" who can help our troops win in the Middle East, stop pork-barrel spending in Congress, and stand up for America on the world stage. Unfortunately, he's also the Democrat-enabling Senator who help construct monstrosities like McCain-Feingold (curbing free speech via "campaign-finance reform"), McCain-Kennedy (the lovely amnesty bill Congress tried to ram down our throats last summer), and most recently, McCain-Lieberman-Obama (his newest effort to wring money from taxpayers to stop global warming). He's the guy who voted against the Bush tax cuts twice. He's the candidate who proudly touted his New York Times endorsement in the face of the conservative base. It seems as though he's thrown his "straight-talk" gimmick out the window, especially after Florida and last night's debate, when he insisted Mitt Romney wanted to withdraw troops from Iraq (despite nearly every single media outlet that investigated the issue calling him on the smear).

There's also this little chart, showing that McCain's lifetime conservatism ranking in Congress is lower than Chuck Hagel's. Granted, he wasn't always so liberal, but the longer McCain stayed in Washington, the less conservative he became. Inconceivable!

The newest charge McCain has to face, obviously, is whether or not he is a flip-flopping RINO--the same charge that has been leveled at Mitt Romney since he announced his candidacy. The difference, it seems, is that while Romney held liberal positions in the past, he now claims he has different views, and is asking America to let him prove his conservative bona fides; McCain, on the other hand, used to be more conservative, but claims to be one now despite his recent liberal voting and legislative record and dodging questions about his principles.

In the end, the question is not about who is or is not a flip-flopper (they are, after all, politicians). The question is this: do Republicans want to nominate a conservative? If the answer is yes, then I can't see how McCain is an acceptable candidate. Military valor and surge-support aside, he not only sponsors liberal legislation, he seems to have no problem spitting on the base whenever they dare question his principles. In my opinion, it's much more important to nominate a candidate you actually would want as president, rather than one you think might stand a better chance against the Democratic nominee. As the saying goes, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.

UPDATE: Whatever happened to this guy?