ILLINOIS PRIMARY RESULTS HQ
Posted on | March 20, 2012 | 45 Comments
by Smitty
10:07 ET 65.1% reporting in IL, and Romney is at 47%? Really? Let’s hear it for people voting their conscience!
8:53 ET Media door was closed after McCain was done with his cigarette, and he entered to discover the Secret Service agent, who told Stacy, nervously holding up his media badge, that “He almost caught one.”
8:43 ET Stacy McCain reports that the Santorum event has a major overflow crowd, with Rick expected to speak at 9:00 PM. Monitors are being deployed to the hallway to support the surplus.
8:34 ET With 7.1% reporting, Fox has called Illinois for Willard the Javelin.
8:24 ET 0.6% reporting, Romney 54%, Santorum 26.6%, and Perry has 88 votes, so there.
8:24 ET 0.3% reporting (28/10448) Romney draws first blood in Chicago, but it’s a tiny amount of votes.
P R E V I O U S L Y . . .
The Illinois outcome isn’t much in doubt. The question is how much margin Willard the Javelin bought for his ad money. Early news from CBS on voter mood:
As in other states, Illinois GOP voters overwhelmingly cited the economy as their top issue. Fifty-six percent pointed to the economy. That was followed by the federal budget deficit at 26 percent, abortion at 12 percent and illegal immigration at four percent.
One in five Illinois GOP voters say the economy is starting to recover, while one in three say it is stagnant. Nearly half – 46 percent – say the economy is getting worse.
The ability to defeat President Obama was the most cited candidate quality by Illinois GOP voters, chosen by 37 percent of respondents. One in four said the top concern was that the candidate have strong character, 20 percent sought a true conservative, and 18 percent wanted a candidate with the right experience.
Also, voters, unexpectedly, care more about the economy than some of the kulturkampf issues in circulation:
An Edison Research exit poll conducted at 35 randomly selected polling places around the state Tuesday afternoon found a majority of voters citing the economy as their top concern, with nearly half believing the nation’s economic conditions are getting worse. The preliminary results are from 1,078 Illinois Republican voters, with a margin error of +/-4 percentage points.
Many areas reported light turnout, despite record temperatures in the 80s across the state and a rare voice for the state’s GOP voters in the duel between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul did not campaign in the state.
Meanwhile, 1,000 or so miles east, in Gettysburg, where Stacy is on the scene to cover Rick Santorum’s event tonight, there are protesters in front of the hotel:
Stacy asked them if they were from the Gingrich campaign, but they didn’t get the joke. Humor is wasted on feminists. Meanwhile . . .
Juana Summers of Politico does a does a TV appearance. Is she biased? Probably. But then again, so is Stacy.
UPDATE (RSM) II: More protesters here outside the Santorum event in Gettysburg. This was probably inevitable:
Nothing says “tolerance” quite like a liberal comparing Republicans to Islamic terrorists.
Update, 8:10 ET: Stacy in Gettysburg grabs a brief interview with Santorum spokesman John Brabender:
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