LIVEBLOG: Super Tuesday presidential primary results

Michigan Messenger will be providing live coverage through the rest of Super Tuesday primary evening. Be sure to check regularly for new content as results are posted across the country.

UPDATE — 12:50 pm EST –
74% of precincts now reporting in Texas:

Clinton — 1,190,848  51% of votes

Obama — 1,120,145  48% of votes

MSNBC now projects Clinton as the winner of the Texas primary.  Caucuses are still underway across the state, though; delegate numbers allocated to each candidate may not be disclosed until tomorrow morning.

Republican turn-out in Texas was estimated at half  the volume of Democratic voters.  Here’s the results with 82% of precincts reported:

McCain — 643,952  52% of votes

Huckabee — 464,880  37% of votes

Paul — 63,641  5% of votes

Uncommitted — 16,079  1% of votes

Talking heads across the cable news outlets are pounding away on the numbers; it still looks at this point in time as if Obama has a lead in delegate count.  The MSNBC crew thinks that Michigan and Florida may yet be in play, having mentioned twice in the last 15 minutes the chance that a “do-over” vote is possible if the Clinton and Obama campaigns continue to run a very tight race against each other until the bitter end of primary season in June.

With that, we’re going to hit the hay and hope that we have final numbers in a handful of hours to report, along with some sexy Google Maps reflecting results.  Good night, all.
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 12:11 pm EST –

I think we can safely call Vermont for Obama, Rhode Island for Clinton, and states for McCain at this point. 99% of precincts are reporting in RI, 85% in Vermont.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 12:06 pm EST –
The Providence Journal in Providence, Rhode Island reports that today’s Democratic primary turn out was “record breaking.” Reporter Michael P. McKinney also said in his report that Clinton’s win in the Ocean State shows that “Obama’s national momentum and get-out-the-vote youth brigade here could not trump the power of the Clintons, who have been frequent visitors to the Ocean State.”
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 11:54 pm EST –
I think it is fair to say the Ron Paul Revolution is the Ron Paul Fizzle. Evidently there are not enough white supremacists and strippers to make a president — at least not yet.
– Todd Heywood

Obama has given a more subdued speech than Clinton, delicately conceding Ohio while gently reminding his supporters that his campaign is still leading in delegate count. Clearly the most eloquent speaker of the candidates tonight, his speech was more substantive, more inspiring, and targeted not at Clinton but at McCain.
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

Continued –UPDATE — 11:34 pm EST –
Hillary Clinton has taken a small lead in Texas, 50% to 48%, but CNN is reporting that this is with most of the urban areas where Obama is dominating not yet reporting. 48% of the precincts are reporting, but a much smaller percentage of the precincts in Houston, Austin and Dallas, where Obama is winning by a wide margin, have reported.
– Ed Brayton

UPDATE — 11:30 pm EST –
With Huck outta there, what will newly approved National Republican Committeeman and failed Republican senatorial candidate Keith Butler do? And how is State Rep. John Stahl doing with going down with the ship he almost jumped off of in early January. At the time he threatened to back Romney because Gary Glenn, the head of the American Family Association of Michigan, was “out for himself.”

Anyone have a life preserver for Stahl and Butler?

83% of precincts reported in Vermont– at least according to CNN since our friends in Vermont don’t believe in sharing real time results on the web — John McCain reportedly has 72% of the vote to Mike Huckabee’s 14%. In that same race the Ron Paul revolution is holding 7%. In the Democratic race, Barak Obama is holding 60% of the race to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 38%.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 11:25 pm EST –
I’m reminded of the woman I talked to in Cleveland. She’d lost all of her limbs in a tragic vacuum cleaner accident, she was the victim of an abusive husband, she had no insurance, she’d gone bald from chemotherapy due to her breast cancer and she had a goiter the size of a volleyball. But that brave woman told me that she didn’t care about hope, she only cared who was ready on day one when that phone was ringing at 3 am.
– Ed Brayton

UPDATE — 11:19 pm EST –
Hillary Clinton is speaking to her supporters, emphasizing that Ohio is a battleground state that must be won by presidential candidates. She rolls off the names of states whose primaries and caucuses she’s won, eerily reminiscent of Howard Dean’s listing of states as he rallied his supporters in Iowa in 2004.

Union support is evident in the crowd, with many black and yellow IUPAT (International Union of Painters and Allied Trades) and green and white AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) signs mixed in with the blue and red Hillary signs. (No UAW or AFL?)

Yet another overlong, uninspired speech although delivered with more energy to a much more energetic crowd than we’ve seen earlier this evening.  And BAM! She slips in the 3:00 am reference towards the end of her speech, inferring that she’s the one who’s ready to lead the War on Terror.
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 11:18 pm EST –
With 96% of Rhode Island reporting, the Rhode Island Secretary of state is reporting John McCain 16546 votes to Mike Huckabee’s 5,607 and Ron Paul’s 1703 votes in the Republican primary. In the Democratic Primary the Secretary of State is reporting Hillary Rodham Clinton has 102,242 votes to Barak Obama’s 71,141 votes.

Only 6 precincts remain to be counted out of 179 precincts in Rhode Island.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 11:09 pm EST –
As I comb for news across the internet, I’m watching MSNBC’s coverage. Andrea Mitchell is with the Clinton campaign in Ohio, where they are about to celebrate her presumptive win of the Ohio primary. The crowd is pumped up, far more emotionally charged than the crowd at the McCain rally earlier in the evening. I could almost feel the emotion myself, until Andrea Mitchell told Chris Matthews he had the finest political sense she knew of. That killed any empathy I felt for the crowd in Ohio; that stuff belongs off camera and off audio.
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 11:05 pm EST –
[Ed. note: huh-oh, the crew is restless here at Michigan Messenger...]

Huckabee said he believed in miracles, and that was his reason for staying in the race. Now that he has withdrawn, two questions remain: does the former Baptist Minster still believe in miracles, or has he come to the conclusion God is nonpartisan?
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 10:55 pm EST –
Mike Huckabee has withdrawn from the race for the Republican nomination. In related news, Mike Huckabee was still in the race for the Republican nomination. Kind of.
– Ed Brayton

UPDATE — 10:53 pm EST –
CNN is reporting Obama is beating Clinton 60% to 32% in Vermont. In Vermont’s Republican race, the news organization is reporting McCain has 71% to Huckabee’s 14% to Paul’s 7%. CNN is reporting those numbers based on 70% of precincts reporting.

Rhode Island’s secretary of state is reporting Clinton has 90,358 votes to Obama’s 61,583 votes. In the Republican race, the Secretary of State is reporting McCain has 15,223 votes to Huckabee’s 5,064 and Ron Paul’s 1,029. The numbers represent 87% of the precincts counted.

Rhode Island is also reporting there have been 818 and 483 votes for uncommitted in the democratic and republican party primaries respectively.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 10:50 pm EST –
A side note to the Vermont primary: Two Vermont towns have voted to indict President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Brattleboro, a town in southeast Vermont’s Windham County, voted on the move Tuesday. Brattleboro organizer Kurt Diams doesn’t want the two leaders arrested, Vermont Public Radio reported; he wants them impeached. A similar proposal was passed by the southern Vermont city of Marlboro. Marlboro City Clerk Annette Cappy told public radio that the town’s city attorney does not have authority to draw up arrest papers, but steps have been taken to allow the town to vote on the proposal.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 10:17 pm EST –
The AP/Boston Globe reports John McCain leads in the Vermont primary 16,765 to Huckabee’s 3,277 and Paul’s 1,580. In the Democratic race, the two agencies are reporting 55,202 votes for Obama and 36,208 for Clinton with 179 of 260 precincts reporting.

Vermont’s Secretary of State will not report election results on its website until March 11th. Vermont has a population of 623,908 people to Rhode Island’s 1,607,610 people according to the Census bureau.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 10:14 pm EST –
Not a lot to report in Texas so far. The primary vote counts for 2/3 of the delegates while the caucus vote counts for 1/3. There are no caucus results yet, but the primary results are so far very close. With 14% reporting, Obama has a slight lead of 50% to 48%, but most of the major metropolitan areas have yet to report so it’s far too early to tell which way it’s going to go.
– Ed Brayton

UPDATE — 10:11 pm EST –
With 87 of 179 precincts reporting on Rhode Island’s Secretary of State Office, Clinton has 48,682 to Obama’s 30,177. McCain has 7522 votes to Huckabee’s 2,664 and Paul’s 777 votes.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 10:06 pm EST –
With about half precincts reporting, Lake County is leaning for Clinton (62 percent to 35 percent). Ohio’s littlest county calls itself,  “Lake Erie East’s Coastal Oasis” with lots of tourist attractions — vineyards, charter fishing and golf. Can there be a Lake Erie West Coastal Oasis? Toledo? Sandusky?
– Celeste Whiting

UPDATE — 9:54 pm EST –
McCain is still going at it, delivering what sounds like a pitch for a platform. This is not a particularly stimulating speech; the audience is restrained. Oh, here comes the predictable lower taxes and less regulation schtick for the benefit of the Norquistian Libertarian faction. (Yawn.)
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 9:51 pm EST –
With 50 of 179 precincts counted, the Secretary of State of Rhode Island is reporting Clinton has 29 582 votes to Obama’s 17,179.

The Secretary of State is also reporting John McCain leading Huckabee 4,626 votes to 1,664. Ron Paul has 506 votes.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 9:51 pm EST –
In hilly southern Ohio counties bordering Kentucky and West Virginia Clinton is cleaning up with tallies above 70 percent. In Brown, Adams, Lawrence and Meigs counties Obama has not broken beyond 25 percent.
– Celeste Whiting

UPDATE — 9:48 pm EST –
“Tonight, my friends,” begins John McCain as he thanks Mike Huckabee and supporters and accepts the presumptive nomination as Republican Party presidential candidate.

“Of course, I want to thank my family, my wife, my children, and our dear friends,” he says; what, no love for the 59 lobbyists working for his campaign?
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 9:46 pm EST –
Fourteen percent of Ohio precincts have reported, giving Clinton a two-to-one lead. But it’s too soon to say if her lead will stick: the outstanding precincts are concentrated in urban areas where Obama is expected to draw most of his votes.

CNN’s Bill Schneider reports that Clinton’s song is music to white folks’ ears in Ohio – she’s leading Obama among white Buckeyes 61 percent to 38 percent.  Schneider points to the economy, an issue that has Ohio voters worried, as the reason for her lead.
– Alexa Stanard

UPDATE — 9:42 pm EST –
We are seeing anecdotal evidence that Democratic caucusing has already begun in Texas for the third of delegates not allocated by the primary results.  A commenter at a popular Democratic blog claims that Obama “dominated” the East Austin caucus.  Let’s watch to see if the primary numbers from the same locale support this observation.
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 9:40 pm EST –
With ballot shortages reported in Cleveland, Sandusky, and Clermont County, it is shaping up to be a long night. Still according to the Clermont County website, at 9:17, with 91 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was leading Obama 61 percent to 37 percent.
– Celeste Whiting

UPDATE — 9:27 pm EST –
With 2 of 179 precincts counted, the AP/Boston Globe is reporting a narrow gap between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama in Rhode Island’s Democratic primary. Obama has a slight lead with 875 votes to Clinton’s 819 votes. The same source is reporting with 1 precinct counted, John McCain is leading rival Mike Huckabee 149-82 votes, with Ron Paul catching 27 votes in the precinct.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 9:25 pm EST –
In Hardin County, Ohio, with 2 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton leads Obama by a hefty 67 percent to 29 percent. Home to Ohio Northern University, the county is largely agricultural with some industry. The population is 97 percent white with a median household income of $34,000.
– Celeste Whiting

UPDATE — 9:20 pm EST –
Republican candidate Mike Huckabee is now speaking to supporters, telling them that he has already congratulated John McCain as presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. Mrs. Huckabee is at his side, looking alternatingly sad and relieved — perhaps because he opened with a baseball analogy?
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 9:15 pm EST –
A judge has ordered 15 polling stations in metro Cleveland, an area deemed critical to Obama due in part to its strong African American population, will remain open due to ballot shortages.

It’s the wired kids v. the walker-dependent: Early exit polls indicate that two-thirds of Ohio voters age 29 and younger have voted for Obama.  The same portion of those 60 and older say they voted for Hillary.

2004 anyone? Voting irregularities are being reported in Ohio.  More to come.
– Alexa Stanard

UPDATE — 8:54 pm EST –
Greene County, in southwest Ohio, home of Antioch College is favoring Obama early on. With 2 percent of precincts reporting, Obama leads Clinton 51 percent to 48 percent.

The Toledo Blade reports that the Obama campaign “has filed a federal lawsuit to get a voting extension in Franklin and Cuyahoga counties, alleging a shortage of ballots.”
– Celeste Whiting

UPDATE — 8:47 pm EST –
Michelle Bernard, talking head now being interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC, claims that Hillary Clinton won back her base in Ohio (women, white men) by using fear, having deployed the “3:00 am phone call” television advertisement late last week. Bernard tritely says that “everything changed after 9/11″ and that women who voted to put Bush back in office in 2004 out of fear of terrorist threats and nebulous threats to their children’s safety will now vote for Clinton.

As a mother with school-aged kids, I can’t relate to this rationale; it rings so hollowly when people can’t afford to keep the roof over their children’s heads.
– LoRayne Apo-Joynt

UPDATE — 8:40 pm EST –
Numerous media are calling Ohio for McCain. According to CNN exit polls, McCain took nearly 59 percent to Huckabee’s 33 percent. Even though Huckabee polled strongly among evangelicals, it was not enough to carry diverse Ohio.
– Celeste Whiting

UPDATE — 8:25 pm EST –
From Vermont, AP/Boston Globe reported that with 34 of 260 precincts counted, Obama is beating Clinton 5706 votes to 3922.
With 39 of 260 precincts counted, McCain is trumping Huckabee 2063 to 468. Ron Paul has 188 votes.
No results in Rhode Island yet reported.
– Todd Heywood

UPDATE — 8:22 pm EST –
Ohio’s wintry weather apparently hasn’t kept the state from seeing the kind of voter turnout that overwhelms the poll volunteers: the secretary of state has asked a judge to extend polling hours in Sandusky to 9:00 pm.
– Alexa Stanard

UPDATE — 7:54 pm EST –
As polls close in Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island, and Democrats gather to caucus in Texas, the question is, what is at stake in today’s primary elections? The key issue are delegates to the Democratic National Committee’s Convention later this year, with Texas’ 228 delegates, Ohio’s 161 delegates, Rhode Island’s 32 delegates and Vermont closing up the contests today with 23 delegates at stake. To become the Democratic nominee, candidates Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton would have to get 2025 delegates.

In the Republican primary, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive nominee for the party, faces off with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul. At stake in this primary are delegates to the Republican National Committee’s Convention later this year. Those delegate break downs look like this: Texas 160 delegates, Ohio 88 delegates, Rhode Island 20 delegates and Vermont 17 delegates. To get the Republican nomination, one of the candidates has to reach 1,081 delegates.
– Todd Heywood