Huck cries foul after Washington "loss"

Just what Washington state needed: another election controversy.

Comments

[Joe Loy]

On the face of it thus far, this is naught but Huckacrap :}.

The GOP Chairman was a dumbass to "declare" the winner prematurely but unless he is, like, blithely appointing Delegates based on his pop-off Declaration, it has nothing to do with Anything. / The linked news article refers to the chairman's "final" vote announcement and goes on to say that the chairman says the "final" result won't be known until Monday. The also-linked Ed Rollins bit, which is really quite nauseating, similarly refers to the chairman's "final" declaration which allegedly constitutes caucus voting "irregularities" that Disfranchise many Washington Republicans, presumably because their votes won't be folded into the Final Result until Monday.

Therefore the Huckabucks will demand a Full Investigation (of What?? :) and will explore 'all available legal options'. / Brendan, for the love of God tell me that I'm right in believing that the Courts have no Jurisdiction over Free Associational Political Party Procedures for selecting Delegates to Party Conventions ;|. (Tell Geraldo, too. Last night on Faux News :> he was already Blithering about SCOTUS intervening in the Dems' Florida/Michigan Kerfuffle. Fie. :)

[Joe Loy]

PS ~ perhaps we'll soon have SCOTUS Striking down the Superdelegates, too. // And while they're At it, I want my Electric bill declared Unconstitutional. Get me Huckabee & Geraldo on the phone. / Bah.

[David K.]

Meh, it just proves what I've said all along, there was no vast-left-wing conspiracy, the politicians in this state just don't understand math across party lines ;-)

[Shaun]

"Faux News?"

it's sad that people like you give that name to the only major tv news channel that has actually given any coverage what aught to be one of the top 2-3 stories every night... Iraq. the left-wing morons in the rest of the media don't want to report it because things have been going well, which liberals don't want to be happening. thanks for hoping our troops don't do well. turn to Fox News to get accurate reporting (except for the fact that they think the Republican nominee race is over, but everyone in the media is saying that, so u can't do any better than Fox on that issue either)

[Joe Loy]

David K, I believe that there are both Left & Right wing conspiracies but neither one approaches the magnitude of Vastitude :} even remotely, Dude, they're both merely Loud. / But as to the Politicians in your fair State, I'm not altogether certain that Any of them, and I say this on a Bipartisan basis, grasps the distinction between Sh*t and Shinola :}.

[Joe Loy]

"'Faux News?'

"it's sad that people like you give that name to the only major tv news channel that has actually given any coverage what aught to be one of the top 2-3 stories every night..."

Shaun, it's understandable (albeit scarcely joyful :) that relative-Newbies-to-this-here-Blog like you don't know that there Are no other People Like Me :}, especially not Keith Olbermann from whom I Stole his veryappropriate appellation "Faux News" for Rupert Murdoch's grandest creation ;>. It's somehwat Less comprehensible why you insist on misspelling the perfectly good Celtic givenname "Sean" as the anglo-phonetic "Shaun", though it Is marginally preferable to the horrid "Shawn"; nor why you'd choose to render "ought to be" as "aught to be" but I mention that only in Passing, for there's Aught more to be said about it, guv'nor :}.

"... Iraq. the left-wing morons in the rest of the media don't want to report it because things have been going well, which liberals don't want to be happening. "

This is, approximately, True. / Also essentially correct is the observation that the right-wing idiots of Fox Noise (again with the Hat-tip to Red Keith :) Do want to report that The Surge is bringing us Victory by killing more undifferentiated ragheaded Ayrabbs, which conservatives Do want to be happening.

"thanks for hoping our troops don't do well. "

You're most Welcome. But I can't take Too much credit because I already got plenty of Practice in the late 1960's, counterdemonstrating at the Pentagon against the Commie Freaks in their odiferous Tens of thousands who were demanding that we Change Sides in Viet Nam & Bring The War Home. :|

"turn to Fox News to get accurate reporting (except for the fact that they think the Republican nominee race is over, but everyone in the media is saying that, so u can't do any better than Fox on that issue either)"

Well, yeah, the whole Media does suck on That point; but then again, now that Pastor Huckster seems fixin' to Pull an Al Gore Litigation in Washington State, perhaps they'll be rendered right in Spite of themselves.

Anyways, Right on & Fight on, brother Shaun. Keep the Faith, & don't ever let Them immanetize the Eschaton. :)

"many thanks" for your response Joe! (hat tip to the obvious) i'm not all THAT new to this here blog (though i'm sure i'm new compared to you)... i'm just inconsistent, mostly just appearing when elections and march madness come around.

i did already know that there are no other people like you... i partly know this from our few brief encounters at random NHS events, but moreso from the fact that Brendan is a byproduct of you. he certainly couldn't have come from a "normal" paternal figure... just ask "Lou the Geometry Guru."

Keith Olbermann is in fact one of those left-wing morons i was referring to, and i think he's become a childlike name-calling left-wing moron as a result of his jealousy of the success over at Fox News and, more specifically, the "No Spin Zone." However, i am quite amused by the satisfaction the child takes in his poor attempts at humor... not sure who exactly thinks he's funny, but it's gotta be at least 1 or 2 of the 7 viewers he gets each evening.

as for Washington, i think we agree that the appearance of lawyers is a bit premature at this stage, but the demand for a "full investigation" was appropriate. if they said the counting would be finished on monday, why did the guy proclaim the liberal republican from AZ as the winner? having announced the result of the race, the country was liable to ignore any more news out of washington state... but if my guy Mike makes a big deal out of it, people continue paying attention.

one thing i am wondering at this stage is this... where are all the people who were on here a few days ago proclaiming that Huck is done? why have they suddenly disappeared? all Huck really needs to do from here on out is win about 60% of the remaining delegates. that would keep McCain from getting the majority, and then who knows what will happen with the unpledged, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, etc delegates.

and btw, Sean is a third pronunciation of "scene" and "seen." i may be Irish, but i am certainly proud that my parents knew how to spell back in the early 80s.

good night and (God Bless)! (this is when you're supposed to laugh at my paper-throwing...)

[Andrew]

Washington loss? But U-Dub kicked the 'ruins ass!

[Brendan]

Dad, read this article. I think it explains things better than the original link, and might cause you to re-think your Huck-a-scorn regarding this issue.

I'm not suggesting that Huckabee has a valid legal case, but if the statements in that link are true, he has every reason to be furious. The Washington GOP acted in a highly unprofessional and reprehensible manner. You don't just shut down the counting with 87% of the vote in and declare someone the winner -- keep in mind, this isn't a media call, this is an official pronouncement by someone responsible for administering the elcetion -- particularly when the candidates are separated by 2% of the vote and you don't even know what precincts aren't in yet!

It's absolutely freaking ridiculous, and it's perfectly clear what was going on: this guy is a McCain supporter, or at least a loyal "party man" who didn't want the presumptive nominee to suffer the embarrassment of a weekend sweep, and by "declaring" McCain the winner, he effectively made McCain the winner, and prevented the Huck-a-sweep, since, as we all know, these primaries are all about momentum, and the Hillary/Obama-obsessed media isn't going to give more than half a hoot if Washington's result magically "changes" today or tomorrow or next week. On the off chance Huck ends up winning, the media will treat it as a curiosity, an oddity, a "news of the weird" type story -- "What the heck is going on in Washington state?" -- but Huckabee will be effectively robbed of his "sweep."

It's an outrage. Really.

[Joe Loy]

"good night and (God Bless)! (this is when you're supposed to laugh at my paper-throwing...)"

and LOL indeed, Shaun! :} Thanks! Very nice riposte. / And good analysis of the Republican Numbers, too. Well done.

(With Virginia not lookin' too good tomorrow, it occurs to me Huckabee's Last Stand may be Texas. / Wherein, if Santa Anna gains the Day, we'll at least be able to Remember the Alamo. :)

[cdbavg400]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gwqEneBKUs

[Brendan]

On the other hand, contra my 8:14 AM comment, here are a couple of posts suggesting it's not such an outrage.

A key fact is that, according to the second link, the outstanding votes were from McCain-friendly King County. The earlier-linked piece said they didn't even know where the outstanding votes were from. That makes a big difference in my mind.

[Joe Loy]

Brendan: thanks for the further info. For further Still, see further Below :}.

"...might cause you to re-think your Huck-a-scorn regarding this issue.

"I'm not suggesting that Huckabee has a valid legal case, but if the statements in that link are true, he has every reason to be furious."

OK, granted, there's a sound political Foundation for his Furiosity :]. As I said, the Chairman is a Dumbass, or at least he Brayed like when he Called the Contest. / But My call of Huck-a-crap :> WAS with regard to Mister Justice Rollins's ;> implication that there's a Valid Legal Case, here. After all, that's what people are supposed to think When Lawyers Attack. :)

"...You don't just shut down the counting with 87% of the vote in and declare someone the winner..."

Declare the winner, No. Chairman = Dumbass. / Shut down the counting for the night, to be resumed & Completed later, Yes ~ unless the applicable rules ( = Party ones, here) specifically Require the horrid uninterrupted All-nighter & so on beyond the Dawn until it's All Done, All Done. In fact, if Not so prohibited, taking the break is a Good idea ~ especially when the contest is a Close one. Sleep = fresh Eyes on the Tallying.

"...it's perfectly clear what was going on: this guy is a McCain supporter, or at least a loyal 'party man' who didn't want the presumptive nominee to suffer the embarrassment of a weekend sweep,..."

Not to My tired old eyes it's not. (Well ~ not Necessarily. :) The dumbass chairman ;} states:

That's when they did an analysis, saying: "Let's take every county where Huckabee is beating McCain, and double the margin of victory," Esser said. "And then take every county where McCain is winning and cut in half that margin of victory. Even if you assume that, Sen. McCain still holds on."

"That's when we said we're confident that Sen. McCain's lead was going to hold up," Esser said. "I would have done the same for Gov. Huckabee if he had the same margin and the same underlying dynamics as Sen. McCain."

Given that yer man seems to be something of a Naif anyway, I'm inclined to Believe him. :]

Here are Other pertinent excerpts from today's article. Note that, as usual with these Caucuses, the Results compiled & published are Not Popular Votes. They are Allotted Slots for Delegates to the Next Level Up (presumably, the County conventions) ~

The results of the state Republican caucuses were called into question Sunday after presidential candidate Mike Huckabee challenged the party's declaration that Arizona Sen. John McCain had won the delegate count.

Huckabee's campaign took issue with Washington state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser's decision to call the race Saturday night with 87 percent of the precincts counted.

At that point, McCain was ahead of Huckabee by 242 delegates out of the 13,000 counted, Esser said. The Huckabee campaign contends there were another 1,500 or so delegates not counted.

In the face of the Huckabee protest, the state Republican Party quickly resumed its count Sunday, a bit sooner than it had planned.

...The state GOP posted new numbers Sunday, with 93 percent of the precincts reporting. The percentages didn't change much, with McCain winning about 25 percent of the delegates, Huckabee 24 percent, and Paul 21 percent.

Esser said Sunday that the Republican Party was going to try to get as "close as we can to 100 percent" in the vote count...

[Ah. The Asymptotic Approach to Perfection. Very Commendable. Maybe the guy's Not such a dumbass after all. / ~JL ;]

"This clearly requires a full excavation as to what happened," [Huckabee spokeman James P. ] Pinkerton said. "The political impact of calling an election before all the votes are counted is pretty seismic..."

[Well I can certainly Dig the imagery of Headline-hunting on ChesapeakeTuesday Eve as Archeology; but when we also throw in the old BigAsteroid Hit & the mighty MegaQuake aren't we mixing Metaphors a littlebit, here? / Nevertheless, who better to Guard the Integrity of the Process than a Pinkerton thug man? / ~JL :]

...[Ron] Paul's campaign is also not conceding the state.

Maureen Moore, Washington state coordinator for the Paul campaign, said her candidate "did wonderful — a lot more wonderful than what's being reported."

Wonderful. ;>

[CD]

Of course they know which districts are outstanding. Why would they not? The results are reported to them by district, and they know what all of the districts are. It's pretty basic.

This isn't Florida. No one wanted to stay up until each and every district had gotten their shit together and reported their numbers. You must recall that the results from our cacuses are not usually so closely watched, thus we do not necessarily have the kind of intensity that is focused on getting the complete number count as soon as is humanly possible.

I keep trying to tell you how ridiculously disorganized these things are. Each district caucus is 'run' by a more incompetant and slow person than the next. Democracy in action... hell, yes it is and it is ugly!

You sign in and you write your candidate next to your name. They then sit and hand tally (with little slashy marks on a piece of paper) the votes and give you the first round count. You then go a second round, and they sit there and recount every stinking vote by hand. Ultimately, head in the clouds art teacher who is 'running' the district caucus takes the final tally and, at her leisure, reports it to the county party, and they, at their leisure, report it to the regional party, and they report it to the state and so on. It works at about the pace of the continental congress.

The districts do the math regarding how their allotted delegates are assigned based on the vote tally at your caucus (this all occurs by the time your caucus is over). This 'counting' that you refer to consists of the state party adding up the delegate totals that the districts report to them. It is not actually a 'vote count'... there are no ballots, etc. Only the sign-in sheets have a record of your candidate preference (e.g. your 'vote') for physical record.