CNN reporting that Bush will endorse McCain as early as tomorrow if he secures enough delegates for the nomination tonight.
Late Update: Huckabee may bow out after tonight.
A number of readers have asked about something seemingly screwy about the Texas numbers. There are roughly 1% of precincts reporting. And yet there are about 800,000 votes cast. Now, we know Texas is an awfully big state. But did 80 million Texans really show up today? Well, no. Here’s the answer. These are the early votes, the ones that weren’t cast today. And the percentage of returns are precincts reporting, not votes. And my understanding is that in each county all the early votes count as one precinct. I’m not 100% sure I’ve got the precise details right here. But I’m pretty sure the issue here is early votes.
CNN projecting that John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination with today’s results.
Late Update: TPM Reader KB ponders the impact of McCain’s win on Dems:
Does John McCain clinching of nomination tonight have an impact on the psychology of the Dem supers? Do they see him cross that threshold and begin to feel that they need to step in now to close down their contest too? Does it make the coalescing around a winner more urgent in their minds after they see this?
Undoubtedly true to an extent. But tonight’s results will have a big impact on whether that coalescing begins now or later. The Clinton camp is pleading for those undecided supers to hold off for now.
These details are sketchy. But a local station in Ohio is reporting that in addition to the Secretary of State’s decision to keep open the precincts in Sandusky county until 9:00 PM, the Obama campaign has reportedly filed a suit to keep them open in Franklin and Cuyahoga counties. According to this local NBC affiliate the judge acceded to his request for Cuyahoga but declined to do so in Franklin county saying that it was out of his jurisdiction.
Huckabee just strode to the podium, and contrary to earlier reports he is dropping out tonight.
Hillary campaign holds “emergency” conference call with reporters, asserting that Obama backers are “locking out” Hillary supporters in the Texas caucus.
Can someone get Huckabee off the stage and end the most painfully embarrassing concession I think I’ve ever heard? I mean, put him out of my misery. Huckabee seems to have forgotten that this isn’t the end of a grand, hard-fought race. It was a farce that everyone indulged because Huckabee’s sort of a feel-good wingnut and had a good sense of humor. When he started on to ‘Victory or Death’ riff at the end I thought he might be about to end with a stunning crescendo of a ritual suicide. But apparently it was Victory or Death (or windy concession speech), the lesser known original version of the line.
There’s too much confusion and disinformation in the air to know what to believe and which side’s doing what, but the reports we’re getting from on the ground in Texas sound pretty wild: doors getting shut early with various folks locked out, various kinds of gaming of the process.
If earlier caucuses in this cycle are any guide, a lot of this is the product of so many new caucusers who aren’t familiar with the rules, haven’t been through earlier cycles. But it looks like a contact sport on the ground tonight.
Don’t have a clear sense of where the remaining votes are from, and the percentage of precincts reporting are deceptive because of this, but Hillary Clinton is making steady progress against Barack Obama. It’s down to a two point margin.
Late Update: Now down to 19,000 votes votes, with 15% reporting. But again, remember, that’s 15% of precincts. So it’s a misleading number.
Later Update: Now down to 1% — 15,000 votes.
Yep, Even Later Update: Down to a mere 8,000 votes.