If Mitt keeps going, the terrorists could win…and he just can’t do that to this country.

See you in 2012 Mitt. By the way, we’ll still be “at war” then too. And in 2016, and 2020 and on and on until we figure out a way to rid the world of terrorism. But I’m sure we [...]

I guess this is the new trend these days. You suspend your campaign, but you don’t drop out because maybe you have enough delegates to throw your weight around come convention time. Because Edwards didn’t technically quit, he just suspended his campaign too.
So Mark Halperin is saying it’s going to come at his CPAC speech [...]

Because he lost Missouri and California, his campaign is going to have serious discussions about the future of the campaign. And this is coming DIRECTLY from the Romney campaign.
Wow. Romney is dropping out and Huckabee is sticking around?

Again, this is really, really early. I wouldn’t necessarily trust this right now because it’s late and I think they want to call it early for these candidates so they can go to bed.
If I were Romney, I wouldn’t concede this quite yet.

Finally some good news for Mitt, but the night isn’t shaping up good for him so far.
There’s still California, though, so we’ll have to wait before we speculate if he’s truly over or not.

ABC just projected…
Barack takes…
Illinois
Hillary takes…
Oklahoma
McCain takes…
New Jersey (winner take all)
Connecticut (winner take all)
Illinois (not winner take all)
Romney takes…
Massachusetts (winner take all)
Huckabee takes…
West Virginia (winner take all)

Remember, most of these are winner-take-all, so even if you get close it doesn’t mean anything. But these numbers are VERY early.
From National Review…

California: McCain 40, Romney 36, Huckabee 10.
Missouri: Romney 34, McCain 32, Huckabee 25.
Georgia: Huckabee 34, Romney 31, McCain 30.
New York: McCain 46, Romney 35, Huckabee 10.
New Jersey: McCain 48, Romney 35, Huckabee [...]

Because of their “unique” caucus rules, West Virginians had to vote twice. After the first vote, Romney had the top spot, Huckabee was second and McCain was third. But a candidate has to get over 50% in order to get the winner-take-all delegates, and Romney only had 40.9%.
Then McCain called his people and told [...]

In the latest Zogby poll, Obama has widened his lead in California, tied it up in New Jersey, taken a lead in Missouri and holds a 17 point lead in Georgia.
One note…if Hillary loses California, that’s a big story. The other big states like New York and Illinois can both be seen as home field [...]

Is this a sign he knows he’s done?
From TPM:
With five days to go until Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney’s spokesperson is confirming that the Romney campaign has bought exactly zero TV ad time in any of the states that vote on Feb. 5.
“We currently haven’t purchased any ad time yet,” Romney spokesperson Kevin Madden confirmed to [...]

[Re-published from 2008Central.net. This liveblog on Donklephant will be updated periodically. For the latest please visit the active liveblog at 2008Central.net]
Tonight is the CNN/Los Angeles/Politico Republican Debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California. It will begin at 8pm est and will air on CNN and will stream live at [...]

With 39% reporting, McCain has a very slight edge.

John McCain: 34%
Mitt Romney: 32%
Rudy Giuliani: 16%
Mike Huckabee: 14%
Ron Paul: 3%

As I said earlier, Florida ain’t deciding squat. This race is going for the long haul, to Super Tuesday and beyond.

First, American Research Group has this poll showing Romney pulling ahead…
Gov. Romney is statistically tied for the lead with 34%. That’s virtually unchanged from 33% in the previous roll.
32% support McCain, unchanged from the last roll, while 12% support Huckabee, a decrease of 2 points from 14% over the same time period. 11% [...]

Looks like the Crist endorsement helped John, but the numbers are identical
From Rasmussen:
For most of the past week, John McCain was slightly behind Mitt Romney in Florida’s Republican Presidential Primary. Then, on Saturday, the Arizona Senator switched the subject of the campaign to his comfort zone–national security issues. Saturday night, the Arizona Senator got another [...]

And if you’re a conservative Republican, well, they’re both right.
From AP:
One day before the crucial Florida primary, Romney lambasted the Arizona senator for a host of “liberal answers” to the country’s problems. Among them: McCain’s legislation curbing money in politics, his more forgiving view of illegal immigrants and his backing of an energy bill that [...]

I’ve stayed out of this story until recently because of the focus on the Dems race in South Carolina, but now Florida is upon us and so it’s time to turn attention back to the GOP.
Basically, McCain said that Romney wanted a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. But did he?
First, here’s what Romney said…
ROBIN [...]

This podcast looks at (1) results of the South Carolina Democratic Primary; (2) a brief discussion about the media coverage of identity politics and (3) a look ahead to the Florida and February 5th primaries…
[Listen Online]
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Feel free to email us questions/suggestions for next week’s podcast (you can also email an [...]

Looks like they’re incredibly scared of what a McCain nomination would look like, so they’re rallying around Mitt. It’s puzzling to me, especially when they railed Kerry for being such a flip flopper in 2004, but these are the times we live in and what was wrong then is now, ahem, right.
Personally, I think it’s [...]

In this video, I discuss the content and tone of 2008 election coverage. In my opinion, yellow journalism has returned and voters must be cautious, wary and skeptical. Most importantly, they must demand more…

Part 1 and Part 2

[Re-published from 2008Central.net. This liveblog on Donklephant will be updated periodically. For the latest please visit the active liveblog at 2008Central.net]
7:30: Time Russert and Brian Williams (henceforth, Bri-Wi) are moderating this debate, and participating are John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul. I’m looking for Huckabee and Giuliani to [...]