Not even close

This result speaks volumes, and is why Nikki Haley is going to bow out of the GOP primary race later this morning:

Former President Trump absolutely DOMINATED the Super Tuesday contests. As of this writing, he has won Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. In the night's only surprise, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley won Vermont with 50.5% to Trump's 45.7% with 99% reporting.

The states where Trump won were blowouts—he garnered anywhere from 60.5% (Massachusetts) to 83.7% (Alabama).

We're still waiting on Utah and Alaska to report and will update when we have those results.

Update 2:56 a.m.: Trump has won Alaska. At publishing time he had a whopping 87.6% of the vote with 48% reporting. We are still waiting on Utah.

Super Tuesday was not even close (exactly as we all expected). 

So it's Biden now. Now what?

This guy? Really?

Joe Biden apparently is the guy.  I had expected after Super Tuesday that the race would tighten and Biden would be close to Sanders.  After California finishes counting that should be the case - except it is Biden who will have a small lead on Sanders rather than the other way around.

But Joe Biden people?  Democrats, this guy is your champion???  Alright.  I think he is truly beatable. Yes, more electable than Sanders but I don't think he's electable.

The real concern here is that after two weeks of Democrat establishment freaking out over Sanders potentially winning this thing and warning voters not to nominate a socialist because of the down-ballot impacts, it looks like Democrat voters continue to be the sheep we conservatives believe Democrats are.  Bernie Sanders is a potential train-wreck for the country but at least Democrat voters were not beholden to the Establishment status quo.  It looks like they did not learn anything from Republican voters about trying to reshape the structure of their party.  They seem to be content to remain the party of managed American decline.

So now what?

Bloomberg may now finally see the writing on the wall and bow out.  If he does, the nomination probably becomes a lock for Biden.  If he continues on then it seems a brokered convention still remains possible, in which case Bloomberg might manage to have enough delegates to demand a VP slot.  Although Biden would be smarter to save that position for Sanders or Warren in order to heal the divides within the party. That said, Sanders supporters might not vote for the candidate that Sanders ends up supporting just because Sanders says so.  They didn't buy into his backing of Clinton in 2016.  Even Sanders on the ticket may not be enough to swing their votes.  Then again, I would not expect Biden to pick Sanders for his VP.  Clearly the Democrat Establishment freaking out over Sanders would not support the choice of Sanders being a step away from running the country.

Elizabeth Warren has proven she's just an also ran, but I would not preclude her from staying in the race just to attempt to be in a position to get the VP slot.  That serves the Democrat Establishment and it servers her.  It would certainly slow Sanders support but not by much to be honest.

There's something else to consider.  Sanders is not out of it.  Despite the Biden upset win in Texas, he won in a group of states that were mostly his to lose.  And there are a lot of states coming up where Sanders clearly has an advantage.  Sanders will need a string of wins in the next set of races in order to not fade away.  Should he do so we may be back to a brokered convention situation.  Should he fail to win convincingly, he's going to have to drop out.  March 10th, just a week away are primaries in Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, and Washington as well as a caucus in North Dakota.  

Sanders should do well in 3 of the 5 primaries, while Biden looks well positioned in the southern states of Mississippi and Missouri.  The North Dakota caucus could go either way but Sanders needs a big win on the 10th or he will have truly lost all momentum to Biden.

Chris Matthew's succumbs to cancel culture.

There's a lot going on today, not the least of which is primaries Super Tuesday.  But it's hard to not comment on Chris Matthew's departure from MSNBC amid #MeToo charges of sexism, his comparison of Bernie Sanders to Nazi Germany and other recent gaffes.

"Should conservatives cheer or be worried about the cancel culture", Bill whittle et al, ask.? I say we cheer. The Left is eating itself - either because they think they've cowed conservatives into submission or because they are losing and have lost any tenuous connection they had to sensibility. It doesn't matter. Cancel culture has started to cancel itself out and if that means the Left eating it's own, that's helpful. Cancel culture will only make itself weaker as time passes, Chris Matthew's is evidence.

Annnnnnd.....Klobuchar Out!

President Trump was right - pre-Super-Tuesday both Buttigieg and now Klobuchar drop out (in addition to Tom (who now?) Steyer) drop out to clear a path for either Bloomberg or Biden to go mono-a-mono with Sanders and take him out.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is suspending her presidential campaign after failing to break into the top tier of Democratic candidates.

She plans to drop out of the race and endorse former Vice President Joe Biden in Dallas on Monday night, according to her campaign.

It's just hours before polls open in her home state of Minnesota on Super Tuesday.

Don't be surprised if Warren is encouraged to stay in. That hurts Sanders too.

Pete Buttigieg is OUT. All of his SuperTuesday votes will go to Sleepy Joe Biden. Great timing. This is the REAL beginning of the Dems taking Bernie out of play - NO NOMINATION, AGAIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2020

This is all happening pre-Super-Tuesday.  That matters because the votes do not get split as much.  Clearly Establishment  Democrats are enthusiastic given Biden's win in South Carolina.  This could really backfire on them.

Super Tuesday tomorrow

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday. Donald Trump is going to win the majority of the delegates on the GOP side. At least 2 candidates must drop out if Republican voters want 'anyone but Trump' as the nominee.  If Ted Cruz doesn't win by enough of a margin in Texas, he has to drop out.  If Rubio performs poorly in Florida, he has to drop out.  Kasich and Carson should be out already but they aren't.  The longer this drags on, the harder it is going to be to beat Trump.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is going to win most every state tomorrow. Sanders will do well in some of the upcoming states if his losses aren't too terrible tomorrow but at this point, it's looking more and more like a miracle would be needed to see Sanders as the Democratic nominee.

After tomorrow barring any upset results, it's about 80% likely that the presidential election will feature Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Just, wow. 

Trump apparently is leading Hillary in New York.  Maybe with Chris Christie he can also win in New Jersey. That's probably going to be necessary since he could conceivably lose a few Republican stronghold states.  Then again if Bloomberg jumps into the race as an independent it could topple that logic as well, as far as New York goes.

The results of this election are looking more and more bizarre as well as potentially disastrous for conservatives. One thing for sure, it's the most interesting election cycle on the GOP side since 1980. But it isn't a TV show, it's the future of the country that hangs in the balance.

Post Super Tuesday - What's Next? Newt.

To the bitter end.

Newt Gingrich won one state yesterday.  His home state.  True, it's a lot of delegates and a big prize.  But it really does very little to help his case that he's a viable candidate.  Had he won Tennessee or Oklahoma it would have helped but he still could be seen as a regional candidate.  He needed to win Georgia  but that was the lowest possible place to set the bar.  He needed more to energize his campaign properly.  It really would have helped if he'd won a non-regional state - Alaska or Vermont perhaps.  But whether he could have or not, he didn't.  So what's next in the race becomes entirely dependent on Newt.

Super Tuesday Results - Was I Right?

Yes, I'm watching the David Hasselhoff made for TV movie, and it's just as uninspiring as I'd imagined.  So far I'm 5 for 5 6 for 6 7 for 7 9 for 10.

UPDATED - 9 pm EST Oklahoma declared. 10 pm EST North Dakota declared.

UPDATED - Mar 7

State: Winner (my prediction)

Declared

Georgia: Gingrich (Gingrich)

Virginia: Romney (Romney)

Vermont: Romney (Romney)

Tennessee: Santorum (Santorum)

Massachusetts: Romney (Romney)

Oklahoma: Santorum (Santorum) 

North Dakota: Santorum (Santorum)

Ohio:  Romney (Romney)

Idaho: Romney (Romney)

Alaska: Romney (Gingrich)

Pending:

none

Super Tuesday Winners Ahead of Time

Not exciting.

I'm not all that excited about Super Tuesday because it could turn out to be the Romney show and guarantee his nomination.  I still believe he is the antithetical candidate for a Republican win against Obama in November.  Rich, out of touch and stiff, he'll be easy fodder for the Democrats to portray as a cardboard candidate without real values and without empathy.  He'll be demonized in the ceter, the same place Obama is trying to shore up his own credibility.  He's very, very vulnerable in November, and a Super Tuesday win for Romney is more likely than Santorum or Gingrich to seal the fate of the GOP chances of losing the presidency in 2012.

That is not an exciting prospect.  Super Tuesday has me as uninspired as a David Hasselhoff made for TV movie. It's not something I want to see, but because of all the hype, it's going to be on a bunch of channels.  Who knows, maybe the Germans will be excited about it.

All that said, here's how I see tomorrow playing out.

Post Debate Thoughts

Next debate: Bean bag chairs.

Unorganized, here's a stream-of-consciousness series of thoughts on the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday.

The audience in every Romney - Santorum exchange early on seemed to be members of Mitt Romney's immediate family.  Those tense exchanges made Santorum look underwhelming and made Romney look arrogant and unfriendly.  Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul probably benefited by staying out of the way and letting that train wreck happen on its own.  But when they spoke later on both Gingrich and Paul came across well.  Gingrich was the most statesmanlike.  He also had some clear and well-spoken points.  He won the debate, but he did not dominate.  He just did well, while Santorum and Romney came across poorly.

Romney fever is not back, it was never here.

The Republican vote split - is it simply geographic?

With a win in a week-long process that finished up yesterday, Mitt Romney is back in the win column. It was predictable, as was the whole Romney-is-back-in-the-game meme in the mainstream media and the mainstream conservative media.  Romney is back, and the Santorum roll is over. But just as it was too soon to say that Romney had lost all momentum, it's too soon to say he's regained it.  No one has really had a ton of it and it is still early in the race. Maine changes nothing.