What is going on in Nevada? As of this morning, I cannot find any source reporting more than 71% of the results? Did they count the votes and decide to go home for the night before releasing them? Apparently Clark County (Las Vegas) is the cause of the delay.
Anyway, by the time I went to bed last night only about 15% had reported, and Romney was declared the victor and gave a decent victory speech. The accolades were flowing in from all the commentators on TV and the headlines, but with 71% reporting, Romney stood at 47.6% (Newt 22.7, Paul 18.6, Santorum 11.1) below the 51.1% share Romney took in 2008. If these numbers hold up, it means that Romney, despite being the best organized and well-funded, despite Newt’s Nevada operation having been described as in dissaray, did not increase his vote share.
Nate Silver last night estimated that Romney would come in at 53% once Clark County was counted, which would be a slight improvement from 2008, but not by much.
It also appears the turnout was down, another sign that Romney as standard bearer does not motivate the electorate.
I’ll have more when the results are final final, or closer to it.
Updates:
Las Vegas Sun, Economic woes, anti-Obama sentiment fail to draw large turnout:
Mitt Romney’s easy victory in Nevada’s Republican presidential caucuses might, in the long run, be less important than the fact that a surprising number of Republicans who could have participated Saturday chose to stay home.
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