This is a republican disaster of epic proportions

[Renew Deal]

Santorum gets a 5% win in Colorado? That's unbelievable. Factor in the suprise factor and you've got a big story tomorrow morning. A 3 state sweep is amazing. 2 of those states were Romney states in 2008. I can't believe it.

What does this mean for Romney's campaign? I know he's leading with delegates for now, but is it effectively over?

[Bicoastal]

1. Not even CLO$E

Romney's deep pockets means he's not going to leave the race any time soon.

[Renew Deal]

3. I agree that he's not leaving

But damn this is negative for Romney.

[SomethingFishy]

14. Agreed, he will be the nominee..

This is tiresome. Everyone did the same thing when Gingrich won S.C. It's all bullshit Romney will be the nominee, he's the only one with a prayer against Obama.

[4_TN_TITANS]

32. Actually, they dropped the only rational candidate who could have beaten Obama...

Even I was starting look at Huntsman. Someone with his ties to China would have been valuable.

[Motown_Johnny]

2. Rmoney will keep on keeping on, what will Newt do?

He is suddenly the guy with just one win.


This is more entertaining than any reality TV show I have ever seen.

[Renew Deal]

5. Who wins those southern states?

[XemaSab]

21. Evangelicals dig the froth

n/t

[Aerows]

37. Won't be Romney

He's despised among Conservatives in MS. They love Gingrich. Whackjobs love Santorum. I'm just sitting here loving it because the Republican party is so pissed off at their candidates down here, that I get to laugh in their faces.

[tulsakatz]

4. I'm sure he'll figure out some way to spin it.....

...so that it doesn't seem as bad as it is.

Still, it's pretty bad when the supposed inevitable nominee loses 3 states in one night!!

[Renew Deal]

7. Especially one you're supposed to win!

He shouldn't have lost Colorado under any circumstances. He won it big in 2008 when he lost. He has a number of mormons in Colorado.

[tulsakatz]

15. wow!

that is bad.....especially since there are mormons there!

It kind of makes you wonder if they did any polling. Didn't he know he was likely to lose this one? And if he did, why didn't he try to do anything to improve the results?

[roguevalley]

34. he didn't go places and he didn't spend on commercials. he bit his own butt

[tulsakatz]

36. yeah, every time he wins a state he gets too over confident!

...a good example of that was after he won florida & then said he wasn''t focused on the very poor! I have no doubt that, when he said that, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but everyone else did! So he wins Nevada & because he believes he is the inevitable nominee, he obviously didn't see a need to campaign in the other states!

true, he did it to himself.....

[Aerows]

42. People instinctively don't like him

Once they find out he's a Mormon, it gets even worse.

He's got a slimy persona. Republicans dislike him, and Democrats are more than willing to vote for President Obama again to prevent him from getting close to the presidency.

There has been a lot of backlash lately against the right wing. They keep getting more and more aggressively right wing, and don't seem to realize that most people are fed up with their horse manure.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

6. The GOP is thoroughly screwed. It's going to be great watching the panic level of the Establishment

go off the charts. Looks like a meltdown is brewing.

[tulsakatz]

19. I love it!!

....not only is there no enthusiasm for their primaries & caucuses but every state seems to vote for different candidates! Which is probably another indication that they aren't excited about the race...

[rufus dog]

8. I'm with you

Missouri I understand, but getting your ass handed to you in Colorado is a huge fail, that is a must win state for the Repubs and the presumptive leader fell flat.

[pinto]

12. Agree. Colorado is a big fail for the Romney crew. And a clear splinter in the national Repub brand.

[XemaSab]

22. All three states bode ill for Romney

Minnesota's going to stay blue (inshallah) but Colorado and Missouri are swing states.

I'm not the most expert pundit on the internets, but problems in Colorado seem to me to point to problems in Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, while problems in Minnesota seem to point to Wisconsin and Michigan. Missouri and Iowa were both in the Santorum column. (I know Romney won Nevada with 50% of the vote, but something turned off the voters of Colorado, and I'm not sure he could win Nevada again, especially since public lands have become a big issue in the last week.)

Romney did win Florida and New Hampshire, but how much of that was "inevitability" is unknown.

A candidate who already has problems in 8 swing states before super Tuesday would not be a candidate I would want representing me going into the general election.

This is the best primary ever.

[Aerows]

38. The South isn't going Romney

I can tell you that much for certain. Republicans need the South, but he won't get it under any circumstance, and Republicans will sit home before voting for him in southern states.

[XemaSab]

43. As always, they need someone who can get the swing states

I don't think Romney's that guy either.

[Aerows]

44. LOL Agreed

Nobody likes him except maybe Ann Coulter and that's hardly a ringing endorsement.

[Arugula Latte]

9. The GOP's monster base is turning against Dr. Frankenstein

They created the monster, with 30 years of extremism decimated through Fox News, hate radio, and church talking points. Now they're trying to restrain their monster by forcing Romney on them but it is breaking through its shackles.

[Renew Deal]

10. I agree with all of that.

Romney is being forced on the voters at this point and at least some of the voters aren't playing along.

Romney and the press can say whatever they want about "caucuses" but they are part of the process. If Romney really was organized this wouldn't happen.

[aaaaaa5a]

11. The race so far...

Santorum- IA, MN, MO, CO

Romney-NH, FL, NV

Gingrich-SC

[The Genealogist]

46. It should be noted that Santorum's win in Missouri is meaningless right now

That was a "beauty pageant" yesterday, not a binding election. A caucus in March will decide where the delegates go. And by March, who knows who will remain in the clown car, much less who is driving it.

[aaaaaa5a]

47. Agreed. But it was important for momentum. It was important to change the storyline.

Plus, it can't hurt him when the caucus takes place in March.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. Romney went into General Election mode a tad prematurely, methinks.

I realize he briefly turned his cannons on Newt, but then has tried to go right back to G.E. mode, thinking tonight was going to be some kind of victory lap.

It will be interesting to see how he handles Santorum after tonight.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. preferably through some very thick latex.

[JNelson6563]

45. I lol every time that pic gets posted. :)

[tulsakatz]

20. he will stop attacking Obama...

...& begin attacking Santorum

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. All 3 should fight all the way to the convention.

More entertainment.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. Santorum's Got The Flavor Conservatives CRAVE!

Once they've had a taste, they keep coming back for more!

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. Behold the end result of 30+ years of pandering to reactionary social conservatives.

Any Republican who could actually win nationally can't win among the GOP base, and the Republican field is relatively weak on top of it; not only that, they don't have what you could call a deep bench, either; there are very few if any relatively moderate Republicans with a national profile. Romney is going to win the nomination; delegates are, hypothetically, allocated proportionally, but the reality is that as long as he performs well enough in the Super Tuesday primaries to stay ahead he's in on the first ballot. There's a lot of talk about a brokered convention and the possibility of some dark horse nominee like Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush; that's probably not going to happen, honestly (if it does expect even more disaffected Republicans and depressed GE turnout on the R side; Obama's re-election looks as close to certain as you can predict, but the GOP doing something that fantastically stupid would remove all doubt).

[JHB]

31. Exactly. Add to that the way they've trained their base...

...to only listen to their own hot air and dismiss everything else as "liberal media" propaganda, and they end up with their motivated primary/caucus voters convinced they'll ride to victory if only their own team doesn't stab them in the back by "compromising" (the way they did in 2008, which let that Nigerian muslim communist and the swarthy hordes of his ACORN/Alinsky Axis steal their country).

I used to counter claims that Bush betrayed Reaganism by pointing out that actually he was its logical end result. Here, slightly different venue, same answer.

[renie408]

33. Exactly. If you lie down with the Moral Majority in the 80's, you wake up with Rick Santorum in 2012

[Aerows]

39. Romney can't win in the South

Santorum can't win among women and sane people, and well, Newt Gingrich is Newt Gingrich and he can't win because he's Newt Gingrich.

[Ron Green]

24. The Clown Car rolls on.

I love it.

[lovemydog]

25. I'm loving it

and find it riveting because I dislike republican policies and think they are bad for our country, bad for my community and bad for the world.

I was emotionally invested in Obama four years ago and found the primaries exciting but stressful. I felt Hillary was the second best democratic candidate for president I'd ever seen. I didn't enjoy seeing either slip up.

With this republican primary, there's no stress for me because I dislike all of their candidates. More specifically, their policies. And I'm laughing at their mistakes.

Now I'm hoping for democratic sweeps in the house and senate. And thorough national repudiation of 'trickle down' economics and 'austerity' measures. Both of which are bogus theories concocted by - and only serving to benefit - the meanest part of the one percent.

[joshcryer]

29. So true! We can enjoy this for once!

[Aerows]

40. I'm delighted

I can't wait for debate season so I can laugh in the faces of every right winger I know. Hell, I already am. They know they are doomed.

[joshcryer]

26. I was completely flabergasted by Rmoney's win!

WTF is going on!?

[malaise]

27. Willard has delegates problems as well because

Florida was not winner take all. Rachel has been discussing this.

[joshcryer]

28. But he does have a ton of superdelegates, which, yes, aren't set in stone...

...but Hillary used them to her advantage throughout the 2008 primaries, I don't see why he wouldn't at least try that tactic here.

Unfortunately for him as long as Newt or Santorum are in the race that strategy isn't going to work.

(It might've worked for Hillary had she focused on the caucus states.)

[Surya Gayatri]

30. Yes, an epic tragicomedy shaping up here...

worthy of the Shakespearean stage.

And we'll be here at DU laughing, crying and cheering them on like "groundling" rabble from the pit.
"On, on ye ignoble Repugs...!"

SG

[TwilightGardener]

35. It's quite the spectacle. Usually the base falls in line pretty quickly--they hated

McCrazy, but did as they were told (grumbling, of course). Now they aren't doing what they're told anymore--it's Mittens' turn, and yet they don't care. I don't honestly believe they are going to rally around Newt or Little Ricky with any real passion (who could?), but the toddlers are throwing their peas and carrots around instead of eating them this time.

[bigwillq]

41. Not falling in line?

Who do they think they are? Democrats?

LOL