Mitt Romney won in a land slide in the Nevada Republican Caucus straw poll today, taking in 51% of the vote, with a total of 22,649 in Nevada voting for him today. In 2nd place, with 14% was Ron Paul. Since Nevada has closed caucuses, is it a surprise that Mitt Romney came in first? I don’t think so.
On the Democrat side (98% precincts reporting), Hillary won the Nevada Democrat Caucus straw poll, also taking in 51% of the vote, with a total of 5,355 people in Nevada voting for her. In 2nd place, with 45% was Barack Obama.
What I think is the most interesting (and, thus far non-reported) aspect of this primary is the huge difference in the terms of actual turn out between the parties. The media has been telling us for months that the Democrats are so excited and the Republicans are bored and not very enthusiast for their candidates. Yet, in Nevada, you had 44,324 Republicans caucus and only 10,520 Democrats, fewer than 25% of the GOP turnout! Mitt Romney had more people in Nevada caucus for him than all the Democrats did, combined!
To jump over to South Carolina and their open primary (95% precincts reporting):
John McCain came in first with 33% of the vote, Romney came in 4th with 15% of the vote.
In terms of delegates, Mitt Romney is still leading.
CNN’s latest estimated & awarded delegates:
Romney – 66 delegates
McCain – 38 delegates
Huckabee – 26 delegates
Thompson – 8 delegates
Paul – 6 delegates
Giuliani – 1 delegate
Hunter – 1 delegate
In terms of states won, Mitt Romney is also leading:
1st Place Wins/Gold Medals – 3 states for Romney; 2 states for McCain; 1 state for Huckabee
2nd Place Wins/Silver Medals – 2 states for both Romney and McCain; 1 state for Huckabee
