Webloggin » Sorry Media - “No McCain in Maine” - Romney Smashes Juan McCain in Caucus

To cries of “No McCain in Maine” voters came out fighting to give Mitt Romney a commanding edge in today’s Maine caucus with a bigger percentage than John McCain, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee combined. With 68% of the precincts reporting Romney commanded 52% of the vote, McCain is in second with a far far distant 21% while Ron Paul nips at his heels with 19%. Mike Huckabee, former media darling, received a minuscule 6% of the vote!! Ouch. (OK, so I made up that No McCaine in Maine thingy, I’ll give myself a pass because I spent the morning coaching hockey and my back is killing me so I took some medicine that makes me a bit loopy - think Brett Favre)

But I’m not loopy enough to know that this will be great momentum going into Super Tuesday. Rasmussen has both McCain and Romney tied at 30% in the national average. This is in stark contrast to Fox and Gallup who must be a bit dated because they show John McCain at +28 and +20 respectively. Even the NBC and LA Times polls average out to a minute +5 for John McCain. Michelle Malkin notes that Romney leads McCain national by 16% among conservatives in the Rasmussen poll.

With polls tightening despite the media’s utter dislike of Mitt Romney I think (hope) we can get him over the top. I realize that John McCain has a good conservative rating based on his voting record. Either man would be preferred to the anyone the left has to offer. But I find it hard to reconcile myself with the items that pull down John McCain’s ratings. I need not iterate them again here, the title of this post alone tells you one of them.

The AP is predicting 18 delegates for Romney.

The Associated Press uses presidential preferences expressed in those caucuses to project the number of national convention delegates each candidate will have when they are chosen at Maine’s state convention, calculating that Romney will wind up with all 18 delegates when all is said and done.

Campaigning in Minnesota, Romney noted that his victory in Maine came despite McCain’s endorsement by the state’s two U.S. senators.

“The people of Maine joined those from across the nation in casting their vote for conservative change in Washington … Like many Americans, the people of Maine are tired of Washington promises made but broken,” Romney said in a statement.

The fight for delegate support in Maine came just ahead of Super Tuesday, giving candidates a chance to build momentum for the upcoming contests in more than 20 states.

Most of Maine’s caucuses were held Saturday but a scattering of towns will hold theirs Sunday and later in the month. Party leaders were delighted with the heavy turnout, which they said was driven by the most hotly contested race in two decades.

Hotly contested, record turnout, advantage Romney. This is why I believe a nod to John McCain would spell trouble. The record turnouts are an indication that people want change. Regardless of John McCain’s record he isn’t a symbol of change. In fact John McCain represents the old guard, one that was soundly rejected in 2006 by conservatives and liberals alike.

There doesn’t appear to be any exit polling data in yet so I can’t give an analysis based on the voters thoughts just yet. However in every exit poll I have researched John McCain wins left of center or center voters, those who dislike President Bush and favor a path to amnesty. These aren’t people the Republican party can count on in November.