GOP Decision Could Strip Romney of Maine Win

[xchrom]

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/02/13/maine_caucus_did_mitt_romney_steal_maine_from_ron_paul_.html

UPDATE: Mitt Romney is at risk of having a second win move into his loss column.

The New York Times reports that Romney's narrow victory in Maine's presidential straw poll is in doubt now that the state has decided to include the results from Washington County, which delayed its caucuses by a week because of bad weather and will now vote Saturday.

Romney managed to pull out a win over Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36, last week. The difference between the two men, however, was a scant 200 votes or so, meaning that Washington County voters could still push Paul over the top to his first victory. Given the stakes, observers are expecting a chaotic scene this weekend as both campaigns attempt to turn out their supporters.

While the straw poll is non-binding, it nonetheless has already played its part in the 2012 narrative, providing Romney with a chance to stop the bleeding after Rick Santorum captured the media spotlight with a surprising sweep in a trio of contests the previous week. A reversal in Maine could cause more headaches for Romney, especially as he and Santorum continue to duke it out ahead of Super Tuesday.

The nominating season began in Iowa with an apparent caucus win for Romney, although after a recount, Rick Santorum was declared the winner. The NYT explains that in Maine, party rules allowed for Romney to be declared the outright winner, even though several towns had not yet voted. But under increasing pressure, state Republican leaders reversed that decision on Thursday.

[book_worm]

1. Hilarious!!

but funny how the GOP didn't want to count all the votes in 2000.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Wow.

Just wow.

[kenfrequed]

4. prologue

I have repub friends that wonder why democrats care. I have to ell them that we could care less about Ron Paul but hat we do care about the sanctity of the process. After all if repubs are willing to cheat each other thban how well can we expect to be treated?

Well we already know this actually...

[onehandle]

5. But he already paid for the headline, so it won't make a difference.

A loss in Michigan? That would hurt him, but he's still going to be the nominee.