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Tonight is the first multi-state night in the clown race we call the GOP nomination contest, with caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota, and a non-binding beauty contest in Missouri.
Results: CNN (CO, MO, MN) | Google (CO, MO, MN)
7:12 PM PT: Arizona is the next state on the calendar, on February 28. So we have several weeks were the candidates can camp out there and try to get some momentum heading into Super Tuesday a week later.
The GOP establishment will blast Santorum to high hell. The big anti-Santorum attack is that he supported earmarks. Is it enough? Who knows, but Arizona's GOP is amongst the craziest in the country. Remember, this is the state that gave us Barry Goldwater, the last state to honor MLK's birthday, the state that gave us SB 1070, etc. Santorum has a natural base.
Then again, Arizona has a significant Mormon population, which should help Romney. So it's potentially quite the battle.
7:15 PM PT: Too bad Santorum doesn't have a sugardaddy to fund his campaign.
7:18 PM PT: Romney's really bad night continues.
To the growing list of troubling signs for Mr. Romney in Minnesota, add this: he's currently in third place in Hennepin County. It's still early, but this is a county Mr. Romney where should have expected to do well based on history and demographics.
[...] Mr. Romney won 46 percent of the vote there in 2008.
With about a fifth of precincts reporting, Mr. Santorum leads in Hennepin County with 35 percent of the vote, followed by Mr. Paul with 29 percent. Although things could shift, Mr. Romney is on track to receive about half of his 2008 vote share there.
7:19 PM PT: NBC projects Santorum wins Minnesota, which he WILL do easily. So the tally is now Romney three victories, four loses.
In fact, this now means Santorum has won as many states as Romney.
7:24 PM PT (Steve Singiser): From Missouri, a sign of how breathtakingly bad Mitt's night has been: with two thirds of the vote in, he and Barack Obama are neck and neck. If you think a "beauty contest" will have weak turnout, how do you think an uncontested "beauty contest" should look. Despite that, at 63 percent reporting, less than a thousand votes separated the two men.
7:29 PM PT:
FEAR AND LOATHING: Romney won Minnesota in 2008 with 41% of the vote; tonight he's in third with 16.9%
— @jamiedupree via TweetDeck
7:38 PM PT (Barbara Morrill): The liveblogging continues in the next thread.