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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)
5:51 PM PT:
Waiting for these results to come in is like waiting for ketchup to pour, if ketchup didn't count.
— @jesseltaylor via web
5:53 PM PT: Poor Mittens. He may be headed for the nomination, but no one is motivated to turn out and vote, and the less Republicans like him.
5:53 PM PT (Steve Singiser): Numbers coming in a little quicker now, but with the emphasis on the word "little". With an additional thousand-plus votes tallied (up to 3 percent reporting), Romney has cut ever so slightly into the Santorum edge. It is 46-30 out front, with Ron Paul still back at 13 percent.
5:54 PM PT: Ahh yes, Rove's outfit Crossroads GPS running ads on CNN bashing Obama based on Solyandra. Really, do they think they can move his numbers? There is no one better defined than the President of the United States. People either love/tolerate him, or hate him. No one is undecided, not three years into his presidency.
5:58 PM PT (Steve Singiser): Slightly amusing factoid out of Missouri's primary: currently, the GOP rejects that have already dropped out (Cain, Perry, Huntsman, Bachmann, and Johnson) are getting 4.2% of the vote.
6:04 PM PT:
the CNN correspondent who declares "it's getting really exciting here, Wolf" outside a Colorado caucus couldn't look less excited
— @samsteinhp via TweetDeck
6:05 PM PT: CNN has footage from a caucus in Minnesotta, which tells me all I need to know -- hell is being stuck in a Republican caucus for eternity.
6:07 PM PT: So asking these caucus goers if they were undecided when caucusing. Obviously, most are not. So why waste everyone's time with caucusing? Just let them go in, cast their vote, and go home.
6:09 PM PT:
Sad when the only non-white guy in the caucus is the reporter from CNN.
— @KailiJoy via web
6:09 PM PT (David Nir): We're up to 7% reporting in Missouri, with Santorum leading 49-29. However, almost none of the vote has been counted in St. Louis, which looks like it'll be Romney territory.
6:11 PM PT:
CNN could make money by hiring out its reporters to stand in a room with you and your friends and tell Wolf Blitzer what you're doing.
— @jesseltaylor via web
6:11 PM PT (Barbara Morrill): Guess Romney camp knew they were going to get smoked in MN:
In the hours before the caucuses convened, the front-runner sought to lower expectations.
"Mitt Romney is not going to win every contest," Rich Beeson, the campaign's political director, wrote in a memo for public consumption.
"John McCain lost 19 states in 2008, and we expect our opponents will notch a few wins, too," Beeson wrote. McCain, the Arizona senator, won the Republican nomination four years ago.
6:12 PM PT (David Nir): By the way, Operation Rescue nutcase Randall Terry is running in the Democratic primary in Missouri, and he has 3% of the vote.
6:16 PM PT: How bad is coverage of the painfully boring caucuses?
CNN pointing out folks are putting their chairs away at the caucuses.
— @aterkel via TweetDeck
Yeah, that bad. And CNN has a "EXCLUSIVE" tag on their chyron.
6:20 PM PT (David Nir): First votes showing up in Colorado as well....
6:23 PM PT (David Nir): Up to 17% now in MO, and Santorum still with a huge lead, 52-27. But still almost bupkes from the St. Louis environs.
6:24 PM PT (Kaili Joy Gray): The liveblogging continues in the next thread.