Maybe the rain rusted the calculators

Washington state Republican Party chair Luke Esser got himself a lecture via CNN a little while ago from Mike Huckabee, with the former Arkansas governor fuming over Esser's decision late Saturday to stop counting results in that state's very tight GOP caucuses.

With John McCain ahead by a couple of percentage points, the party stopped the tally at 87% counted. The Huckabees hollered -- including top strategist Ed Rollins -- and the Washington Republicans started counting again. The count apparently is continuing, and Huckabee obviously is hoping to catch up and land a clean sweep of the weekend Rpublican races.

The caucuses also gave continued life to Ron Paul, who, with 20.6%, was 5 points behind McCain in the incomplete tally. (Maybe the conspiracy theorists in that camp will argue Esser stopped the count to deny Paul a much-needed victory.) The folks at Talking Point Memo have more of the details, including other allegations of voter disenfranchisement -- gasp! Elbows were thrown!

You might say Huckabee was seeing red, but in this case it was a "red" flag.

-- Scott Martelle

Comments

[Jack W. Orf]

Huckabee is basically waiting for McCain to die. He actually had said as much, earlier. Remember his remark about the horserace where the horse in the lead could fall or break a leg?

Maybe McCain's face will explode. WTF does he have going on his JAW? I find it difficult to believe that that isn't serious. And if it is, people should know.

I actually LIKE McCain. But if I'm going to vote for him, I need to know that he's going to live a few more years.

[Tammy]

You know, one day, in the not so distant future, your hubris will get the best of you. Approximately 10% of the nation's voters support Dr. Paul. Continually calling us names will not make us run to your chosen candidates.

[Thomas]

But, isn't this a competition for Congressional district delegates? And only 18 of them? The state-wide statistics don't earn delegates. My guess is that Saturday gave 10 to McCain, 4 to Huckabee and 4 to Paul. (Plus or minus 4) The other 22 are up for grabs in a week.

[Tannim]

Guess all you want. Word on the street up there is that Dr. Paul got about 35% of the delegates, which is a different selection from the straw poll that Huckabee is complaining about.

As for Huckabee and the count, he has a legit beef, and every vote should be counted properly, period. Even if all it is is junk food for the MSM and lacks any real meaning in terms of delegates.

[AAAAANDRE]

Every vote MUST be counted!
We are all told "your vote is important".
How can we believe that if all the votes aren't counted.
If not, what's the point???