This article gives you the "official" numbers.
Also see: Multiple Voting Machine Problems Reported In Florida
"McCain tops Romney in Fla.; Giuliani may quit the race and endorse Ariz. senator" by Michael Levenson and Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff | January 30, 2008
MIAMI - John McCain pulled out a pivotal win over Mitt Romney yesterday in Florida's Republican primary, claiming all the state's delegates and the lead as the two-man nomination race rolls toward Super Tuesday.
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who staked his presidential hopes on Florida, finished a distant, disheartening third. Several networks reported that he plans to drop out of the race and endorse McCain today in California. Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, was fourth, but plans to stay in the race.
In the biggest, most diverse state yet to vote, McCain edged Romney 36 percent to 31 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting last night.... With Florida's 57 delegates from the winner-take-all contest, McCain seized the overall lead in delegates with 93, compared with 59 for Romney and 40 for Huckabee.
No one even has 100 delegates yet, and the MSM is practically anointing McCain already?
WTF?!
Today, the Arizona senator and former Massachusetts governor embark on a breakneck, coast-to-coast race to lock down as many states as possible before next Tuesday, when 21 states hold Republican contests. Many of them, including delegate-rich states such as New York, are winner-take-all, meaning that a candidate could rapidly pile up delegates.
McCain will need to focus on raising enough money to compete with Romney's ability to dip into his personal wealth to finance his campaign.
The primary drew legions of voters. The turnout was more than double the 700,000 in the last contested GOP primary, in 2000. McCain fared better among self-described moderates and liberals, veterans, older voters, and Hispanics, while Romney beat him among conservatives, supporters of President Bush, younger voters, and white voters, according to exit polling conducted for the Associated Press and the TV networks....
Yup, good for every election except the 2004 presidential race and the 2008 New Hampshire primary!
What a stench!
Also see:
Stolen Elections (Part 1)
Stolen Elections (Part 2)
McCain, however, narrowly won among voters most concerned about the economy, according to the exit polling.
McCain also enjoyed support from Governor Charlie Crist and Senator Mel Martinez, prominent Florida Republicans who endorsed his candidacy in the final days and then campaigned by his side. McCain was also endorsed by other influential Cuban-American politicians....
Romney's campaign relied heavily on its ground operation, guided by many onetime aides to former governor Jeb Bush.
Couldn't come through for you this time, huh, Mitt?
Backed by 10,000 volunteers, the Romney campaign cranked out 100,000 phone calls over the weekend and 100,000 Monday, according to Mandy Fletcher, Romney's state director in Florida who is also a former Bush aide....
Today, the candidates fly to California for a televised debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library....
McCain advisers said the Arizona senator plans to barnstorm the country, stopping for brief events designed to generate television news coverage, a change from the leisurely bus tours and banter with voters that McCain relishes.
He needn't worry about that!
MSM put McCain where he is -- just ask Ron Paul.
They made clear they plan to use the momentum from Florida to consolidate their support among Republican loyalists who have sometimes bristled at McCain's stances on immigration, campaign finance reform, and tax cuts....
Which makes his win and nomination as the Republican candidate stink all the more!
Romney advisers said they would try to attract more support from social conservatives and evangelicals who had flocked to Huckabee and Fred Thompson, who dropped out of the race last week.
Jay Sekulow, a senior Romney adviser, said last night:
"Conservatives have got to take a real hard look and realize this is what you have left: You have Mitt Romney and John McCain. And with two left, I think that helps us a lot."
Sigh!
Romney aides said they were also encouraged that about 70 percent of the delegates up for grabs on Feb. 5 will be awarded in states like Florida with so-called closed primaries, in which independents cannot vote.
Benjamin L. Ginsberg, Romney's legal adviser, also said California - which awards the most delegates, 170 - will be a major battleground, although McCain is leading in recent state polls:
"Closed Republican states will be good for us."
Huckabee might also draw support on Feb. 5, despite his scaled-back campaign, depleted coffers, and poor showing in Florida. Last night, he vowed to win Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri - states that Romney is also targeting as part of what his advisers call their "Southern strategy."
But Ron Paul goes unmentioned by the shit MSM -- as usual!
Never have I seen such a blatant case of MSM omission and censorship, readers!
Ralph E. Reed Jr., the former head of the Christian Coalition, who is unaffiliated with the campaign:
"If Mitt could get that vote, he could win the nomination because McCain is overperforming with self-identified independents and moderates and underperforming among the more conservative voters. The challenge for Mitt, of course, is that he has not been able so far to get that all behind him. It's been kind of divided."
Hard for me to believe that Christian fundis will vote for a heretical Mormon, but you never know how the rigging will turn out.
Even though I do! I've been correctly predicting this shit all along!
Reed said Huckabee could continue to draw conservative voters who would otherwise back Romney:
"He's going to be a factor as long as he stays in the race because he's got a built-in base among social conservatives and self-identified evangelicals. The question will be, if it's a winner-take-all state, you do tend to see voters engage in strategic voting. They start to slide off of candidates that they don't think can compete."
Last night, Huckabee told his supporters in St. Louis that he was in the race for good:
"We're going all nine innings of this ballgame."
Politics ISN'T a GAME, asshole!
It affects REAL LIFE, jerk!
