Republican primary: Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri UPDATE: Trifecta! Santorum Sweeps all 3!

Even though all three contests tonight are “nonbinding”, Nate Silver at the NYTs writes that they are high stakes races, nonetheless.

A cynic might say that tonight’s Republican contests in Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri deserve an asterisk. In Minnesota and Colorado, which will hold caucuses, voters will pick their preferred presidential candidate in a nonbinding straw poll, while picking delegates to county and regional conventions in a separate vote. In Missouri, no delegates are on the line at all; the state will hold a separate caucus for that purpose on March 17.

The results, nevertheless, will provide an important test of how robust Mitt Romney’s coalition is on less favorable terrain than in states like New Hampshire or Nevada. And they could potentially revitalize the campaign of one of Mr. Romney’s opponents, Rick Santorum.

Nor should one go too far in dismissing the results. The process that Minnesota and Colorado use, holding separate votes for presidential preference and delegate selection at their caucuses, is essentially the same one that was used in Iowa. Missouri is a more debatable case, but as the first primary of any kind held in the Midwest — perhaps Mr. Romney’s weakest region — it may tell us something about how states like Michigan and Ohio are likely to vote when they hold key primaries on Feb. 28 and March 6, respectively.

Results for Missouri, HERE: With 167 out of 3,134 precincts reporting, Rick Santorum leads with 5,105 votes, 49% of the vote. Mitt Romney is in 2nd place with 2,984, 28.7% and Ron Paul is in 3rd place with 1,255 or 12% of the vote.

Results in MN, HERE:  Also looking good for Santorum: 46.73%, Paul 24.12%,  Romney: 16.44%.

Colorado results, HERE. No results as of 8:15 pm cst.

UPDATE: 8:24 – Santorum up to 52,9% in MO, 26.3% for Mitt Romney.

Interesting aside: In MO, Obama is only getting 84.8% of the vote in the Dem Primary.  8.7 are uncommitted.

UPDATE: 8:57: Santorum up to 55% in MO, Romney 24.*%. It’s going to be a blow-out.

Uncommitted Dems surging to 9% in MO: Obama down to 83.7%

UPDATE: 9:10: Santorum is garnering 50% of the vote thus far in CO! (7% of the vote reporting).

Gingrich is in 2nd with 21%, Romney in 3rd with 19%.

The Midwest is sending a message to Romney, tonight.

UPDATE: 9:20: The Google election map for MO  shows Santorum winning every single county in the state.

Race called for Santorum in MO.

(AP) — Rick Santorum has won the Missouri Republican primary, a nonbinding election that carries bragging rights but does not award any delegates in the race for the presidential nomination.

Missouri will pick its delegates at caucuses next month.

UPDATE: 10:00 pm cst:

Santorum wins MN with 45% of the vote.

UPDATE: 11:45: Santorum and Romney tied with 36% apiece with 55% of the precincts in.

11:48 –  Santorum ahead again 37% to 35%…63% in…

11:50: Santorum extends lead –38% to 35%… 64% in…

SEE ALSO:

Livestreaming on CSPAN: Rick Santorum Holds Primary Night Event in Missouri –

UPDATE:

Colorado called for Santorum.

It’s a trifecta!

Linked by Michelle Malkin, thanks!

The Blaze Jumps The Shark

Image via SGP

Following Glenn Beck’s recent shark-jumping.

Unless this post is retracted, and an apology offered forthwith, I see no reason to continue having The Blaze on my blogroll, or to ever visit the site, again. Glenn Beck and pals are deploying the left’s most despicable Alinsky tactics against fellow conservatives,  now, and it defies all rational explanation.

Big Journalism’s John Nolte wonders what the heck is going on over there?

Beck’s fall from grace started when his site, The Blaze, falsely attacked James O’Keefe — to the delight of the very people who used to attack Beck. Then Beck, of all things, betrayed the Tea Party in the worst way any conservative could. I thought he’d hit bottom with that. After all, how much lower can you go than selling out to the mainstream media?

Well, yesterday, what I thought had been a rhetorical question was answered when The Blaze went full Andrew Sullivan, full Politico, full Wonkette, and and attacked Sarah Palin over a situation involving her family.

The Governor’s sin? Composing what amounts to a touching article about her family’s life with Trig – Todd and Sarah Palin’s youngest son with Down Syndrome.

To understand how misleading the Blaze attack is, you first have to read what Beck’s writer, a piece of work named Eddie Scarry (more on him below), wrote:

What’s the first thing that came to mind when you heard that Rick Santorum‘s special needs child was in the hospital with pneumonia late last month? I bet all of Mitt Romney‘s money it wasn’t Sarah Palin unless you are Sarah Palin. …Of the roughly 900-word article, 123 of them relate to Santorum and his daughter Bella who was born with Trisomy 18, a disability similar to Down syndrome.

It’s all downhill from there. For more perspective, the names “Rick” and “Santorum” appear three times total and are all found in the first paragraph. The word “my,” in reference to Palin herself, appears 15 times throughout the rest.

What the Blaze is intentionally doing here, is misleading its readers into believing Governor Palin was supposed to write a piece about the Santorum family and their daughter Bella. Moreover, The Blaze obviously wants their readers to believe that Palin selfishly exploited what happened to the Santorums so that she could write something all about herself.

Read the rest at Big Journalism – You won’t want to miss the screenshot of a vile tweet from the writer, Eddie Scarry.

The truth is, in the wake of the Santorums’ close call with Bella’s illness, Newsweek had reached out to Sarah Palin, asking her to write a piece about her life raising a special needs child. She had already written a Facebook post dedicated to Beautiful Bella Santorum.

The comments  at The Blaze are in virtual 100% agreement that the post in question was in poor taste, and a poor excuse for journalism:

Here are some samples:

KyWriter

Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:59am

Geez, Glenn, this is one of the creepiest excuses for a blog article I have ever seen. Did you know this clown was writing it or did you assign it to him? If he wrote this without your knowledge, it’s time to tighten up your management style. If you assigned this hit piece, you need a prayer or two.

JackieJill128

Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:51am

What a complete moron and perfect example of Palin Derangement Syndrome! I sincerely hope he will be dismissed. Very disappointed that Glenn and his staff overlooked this creep! Glenn: Do the right thing and remove him from your staff and issue an apology.

bigspike

Posted on February 7, 2012 at 12:08pm

time to send him back to Kos or PuffHo or wherever they scraped him up.

Rightwinger22

Posted on February 7, 2012 at 11:31am

You are losing your base Glenn. Time to wake up.

All the comments are in a similar vein.

Shark-cleared.

UPDATE:

Scarry updated with a weak attempt at a correction.

UPDATE: Many Palin supporters have read this post and taken issue with the fact that it does not mention Palin was actually asked by “Newsweek” to write about her experience raising a special needs child. She did not approach the publication and that is a crucial piece of information that should have been included for BLAZE readers.

This post was a brief analysis of the perception I, among others, had of Palin contributing to a magazine she regularly criticizes. And though my thoughts on Palin’s column still stand, it‘s also important to acknowledge that Palin’s experience raising her son Trig is a fascinating story and is worth a read in her book “Going Rogue.” –Eddie Scarry

No, the  point of the post was clearly to insinuate that she was selfishly and brazenly inserting herself into someone else’s story. Why else would he have been mocking her for referring to herself more than Santorum? The bit about Palin writing in a magazine she “regularly criticizes” was a single line, and obviously not the point of the piece because who the hell cares?

Linked by Doug Ross in Larwyn’s Links, thanks!

A Video Message To Barack Obama From Netanyahu’s Former Chief of Staff

Naftali Bennett,  former Chief of Staff to Benjamin Netanyahu, posted this video message on Youtube  pleading with the Obama administration to either stop Iran, or let Israel do the job.

He is careful to note that ” this is not the Israeli government’s official position, but rather a plea for action that represents much of the Israeli public.”

In a letter to Dick Morris, he said:

It’s something I know Netanyahu would like to say, but he can’t for obvious reasons. I, however, am free to speak up.