A few readers have asked why we chose to include the Democratic results on our scoreboard to the right since the DNC says that these delegates will not be seated and each of the candidates have pledged not to participate in the election. For these reasons, originally, we were not going to include it, just as we did not include the Dem results in Michigan. However, unlike in Michigan, each of the candidates names is on the ballot. And there clearly is an election taking place, with hundreds of thousands of registered Democrats voting. So for each of these reasons, we are reporting the results.
The early rumble out of Florida doesn’t look too promising for Mittmentum. But assuming McCain does pull this off tonight and establishes himself as the official GOP frontrunner (TM) there are some small saving graces.
First is the mini-GOP civil war as the right-wing establishment elites go after McCain with attack ads like this one being rolled out now by David Bossie’s Citizens United. Then there’s the spate of seizures from folks like Rush Limbaugh as they either go insane or try to eat their words and cozy up to McCain. Then we’ll have McCain trying to suck up to the Rush types. So it’s not all a loss.
One thing though, that has sort of congealed in my mind as I’ve watched the race moving over the last couple weeks. John McCain has picked up a number of endorsements recently from Republican officeholders. And I think that’s kind of the key. McCain doesn’t do badly at all with Republican officeholders, and that means, significantly, people who look forward to the prospect of running with him at the top of their ticket. Where McCain is extremely unpopular is among what you’d probably call professional conservatives — talk radio hounds, full-time activists, heads of the major organizations, conservative opinion journalists, etc. I really think that’s the division here.
I think TPM Reader AF has it right. At this point, even with 35% of the precincts reporting, we can declare this one for Rudy. Rudy now has 16% of the vote. And Ron Paul has only 3%. So it’s basically impossible for Ron Paul to come back and keep up his winning streak over Rudy Giuliani.
This is sort of background editorial info. But as much as some of you might enjoy Rudy Giuliani’s abject and utter humiliation in Florida tonight, it’s not fun and games for everyone.
Take Ben Craw, Editor/Producer of TPMtv. Rudy’s 
been a goldmine for his efforts. First you’ve got the famous Rudy 9/11-off, the Giggliani reel, Rudy explaining how he was a 9/11 recovery worker, and today’s Rudenfreude reel.
As you can see, Rudy’s titanic campaign has made Ben’s job significantly easier. And the apparently soon-to-come departure of Rudy from the race seems certain to mean a run of hard times, with Ben scanning the cable shows for material as choice as Rudy provided for many months.
So, drop Ben a line. Tell him to buck up. Tell him there’s still hope.
I still believe in Mitt’s dream. But man, that was one really dejected group of people standing behind him. They couldn’t even manage to seem excited as Mitt talked aimlessly about all the conservative claptrap he doesn’t really believe in.
There was actually a guy up there in the upper right hand corner that looked like he might have been sedated.
Tom Brokaw just had a little riff when he answered Chris Matthews’ question about what happened to the campaign of “America’s Mayor”. Brokaw proceeded to explain that basically Rudy had too much baggage, no one likes him and the more he campaigned the worse it got for him.
ABC says they’ve got it confirmed that Rudy drops out tomorrow and endorses McCain.
Late Update: New York Times has up their Rudy post-mortem, “For Giuliani, a Dizzying Free-Fall.”
Later Update: Ed Koch craps on the wreckage of Rudy’s campaign.