Super Tuesday
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AP STREAM: WELCOME TO SUPER TUESDAYSuper Tuesday: Four presidential candidates, 10 states, dozens of developments coming all at once across the nation and Washington.How to keep up as it unfolds? Today, for the first time, The Associated Press goes live with "The Stream," a moment-to-moment online feed built around one major news event.Today's Super Tuesday Stream provides real-time coverage in words, photos, sound and video, featuring AP's top political reporters and editors all over the country, to put you in the middle of the story as it breaks. -
The stakes couldn’t be higher on Super Tuesday, says AP national political editor Liz Sidoti. Will Romney run the table? Will Gingrich
surprise? Will Santorum falter? Will Paul finally get a win?Here's her list of things to watch
• Ohio: The mother of all states where Romney and Santorum
are locked in a close race.• Georgia: Do or die for Gingrich.
• Tennessee: Romney’s best chance to prove he can win in the
South, despite being a Mormon.• Oklahoma: Santorum’s best shot at an outright Super Tuesday
win.• Massachusetts and Vermont: Romney, the former Massachusetts
governor, all but assured victory.• Virginia: Only Romney and Paul on the ballot _ and the
latter is unlikely to win it.• North Dakota: All have campaigned there, but who will win
this state’s small cache of delegates.• Idaho: Mormons=Romney likely winner.
• Alaska: Paul’s best chance to win his first state.
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TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT?
For the four Republican candidates still standing, Super Tuesday is full of promise and peril. More than a third of the delegates needed to win the nomination are up for grabs today.
By tonight, Mitt Romney may silence his doubters. Or maybe Rick Santorum will prove he’s the real deal.
The stakes are high, too, for the candidates struggling to prove their relevancy: Newt Gingrich, who’s bagged only a single state so far, and Ron Paul, who hasn’t won anywhere yet.
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THE PRESIDENT AND THE PRESS
Amid all the Super Tuesday activity among people running for president, look for the guy who already has the job to speak to the press. President Barack Obama has a news conference scheduled in a few minutes -- just after 1:15 p.m. We'll keep you posted. -
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STRONG WORDS ON IRAN
Speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Santorum criticized the offer by the U.S. and other countries to resume talks with Iran. He called it "another appeasement, another delay, another opportunity for them to go forward while we talk."
Santorum arrives to speak at AIPAC. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) -
BY THE NUMBERSSuper Tuesday delegates: 419
Delegates won before today: 353
Romney: 203
Santorum: 92
Gingrich: 33
Paul: 25Delegates needed for the nomination: 1,144
A voter casts his ballot for the Republican presidential primary in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot) -
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VOICE OF EXPERIENCEHere's an assessment from someone who's seen a lot. Lena Sisselman, 96, voting today in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, is backing Mitt Romney -- "he's the only one who can beat Obama." Of Newt Gingrich, who has spent much time in Georgia, she said this: "I think Gingrich is a smart man, but he's out of place. And I think he hadn't known how to zip up his pants. Is that OK?" -- Peter Prengaman
(This version corrects an earlier quote that erroneously quoted Sisselman as saying "he doesn't know how to keep his pants zipped.") -
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SHE DOESN’T MINCE WORDS
Former first lady Barbara Bush says this year’s presidential race is "the worst campaign I've ever seen."
"I hate the fact that people think compromise is a dirty word. It is not a dirty word," Mrs. Bush told a conference on first ladies in Dallas on Monday.
Former first ladies Laura Bush, left, and Barbara Bush, right, speak during a conference on first ladies in Dallas on Monday. (AP Photo/LM Otero) -
INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE OF SUPER TUESDAY
Super Tuesday is major news outside the U.S. too: it is leading some of the main international news organizations’ websites like the BBC and Al Jazeera English, but Deutsche Welle has it second, below the latest from Syria. On Iran’s state-run Press TV, it’s far down in the United Sates section; the top as you would expect is all US/Israel/Iran and Syria.
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Rick Santorum needs to keep it a two-man race so he can focus on pulling ahead of Mitt Romney.SUPER TUESDAY: STATE OF PLAY
But Super Tuesday could do it for Romney, finally give him a one-man show. Will Ohio be the big prize that gives him the momentum he needs to pull ahead of the pack?
Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul have smaller goals. Paul just wants his first win, maybe in Alaska, Idaho or North Dakota. Or maybe all three. Gingrich hopes to take his home state of Georgia and pick up more delegates in other states.
With 10 states voting, today's action could reshape the race
for the presidency.
- Connie Cass -
OBAMA STRIKES BACK AT HIS GOP CRITICS
"Those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities," he said at his news conference today about GOP critics of his Iran policy. "They are not commander in chief."
Obama speaking at his first news conference of the year, at the White House Press Briefing Room. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) -
"I'm a Republican, but I think a woman ought to have the right to choose for her own body. I don't give a dern what the government says. I think a woman ought to have the right."THE VOTERS SPEAK
"I've got two daughters, two granddaughters, and I don't think that the government ought to have any say whatsoever in anything that they do with their body."
- Larry Chalklev, 71, in Chesterfield, Va. He voted for Romney, but said he would have liked to have seen all the candidates on the state's ballot. Santorum and Gingrich didn't qualify.
- Dena Potter -
OBAMA: DEMOCRATS HAVE MESSAGE FOR WOMEN VOTERS
Obama acknowledges the importance of women in the general election, saying Democrats have a “better story” than Republicans to tell female voters.
--AP National Political Editor Liz Sidoti
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President Barack Obama put the power of incumbency on display by holding a White House news conference as voters in 10 states weighed in on the biggest day of voting in the GOP presidential race.
Obama speaks at the White House on Super Tuesday. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
MIDDAY ANALYSIS: Obama is confident while his rivals fight
He was clearly feeling confident - though didn’t come across as cocky - as he stood behind the White House briefing room podium at a time when economic indicators show growth and his Republican rivals are engaged in a bitter, protracted fight for the chance to challenge him this fall. Obama’s experience as president and comfort at the country’s helm both were clear, as were the unmistakable arrows he launched against his GOP rivals.
Although the White House argued it was not a political event, there was nothing non-political about it.
He used a domestic argument when he explained why he didn’t want to go to war with Iran and accused Republicans of casually talking about the possibility of another conflict. He suggested that his rivals were absurd for saying that he wants the price of gas to increase. He also argued that Democrats had a “better story” than Republicans to tell female voters in November.
And, when given the chance to weigh in on Romney, a wry Obama quipped: “Good luck tonight. Really.”
- National Political Editor Liz Sidoti -
WHERE’S GINGRICH?
Newt Gingrich is spending much of the day outside the Super Tuesday zone. He’s campaigning for next week’s primary in Alabama, one of the Southern states that Gingrich hopes can reboot his campaign.
He heads back to Atlanta, however, to hear tonight’s results from his home state of Georgia and nine other states.
- Connie Cass
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WHEELS UP
The campaigns are moving in different directions as the end of voting nears: Rick Santorum's senior staff tells us they'll arrive in Steubenville, Ohio this afternoon, while Mitt Romney and his staff just went wheels up from the Columbus airport en route to Boston.
- Steve Peoples
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A LOOK BACK: Images from Super Tuesday 2008
Hillary Rodham Clintonby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:32 PM
Barack Obamaby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:33 PM
Obama supportersby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:36 PM
John McCainby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:34 PM
Mitt Romneyby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:35 PM
Voter stickerby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:34 PM
Votersby ccarlson on Mar 6, 2012 at 3:37 PMPreviousNext1 of 7
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As some of Mitt Romney's team privately expressed confidence about their prospects in Ohio, Rick Santorum aide Hogan Gidley downplayed expectations Tuesday afternoon and began pushing a narrative that took into account a potential Ohio loss.LOWER EXPECTATIONS?
SANTORUM TEAM TALKS ABOUT POSSIBLE OHIO LOSS
He said that even if Romney wins, he will do so without the support of a significant portion of the GOP.
"You have to scratch your head," Gidley said. "He's got all the money and the endorsements and he can't energize the base."
He continued: "Whoever comes out of here with a win, that'll be the story."
-By Steve Peoples -
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“I know he has a past, but who amongst us doesn’t? Let he who is without a past cast the first stone."THE VOTERS SPEAK
- Tammara Butler, a 49-year-old homemaker in Macon, Ga. She says she voted for Newt Gingrich despite his past marital infidelities, which she said were old news and a distraction from the real issues.
-By Errin Haines -
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SO WHY IS THERE A SUPER TUESDAY, ANYWAY?
It was invented by moderate Southern Democrats seeking a bigger say in their party’s nominating contest.
That first Southern Super Tuesday in 1988 gave Tennessean Al Gore’s campaign a boost in a crowded field. But more liberal Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis ended up winning the nomination and losing the presidential race.
Super Tuesday worked out better for Bill Clinton of Arkansas in 1992. Since then, the event’s lost much of its regional flare and its numbers have gone up and down, as states joined in or dropped out.
- Connie Cass
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Super Tuesday is leading most newspaper websites: The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Republican enthusiasm is in short supply, while the Toledo Blade says bomb threats have caused two voting locations to shut down. The Columbus Dispatch reports that some voters are leaving confused, without voting, because of a ballot mix-up. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is focusing on Romney robocalls that accidentally went to Democrats.AS SEEN IN OHIO NEWSPAPERS -
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WHAT DO SUPER TUESDAY VOTERS WANT?
Voters the AP talked to as they left churches, schools and rec centers across the Super Tuesday states drew a composite sketch of the sort of candidate they’d most like. He'd possess Mitt Romney's economic cred, Rick Santorum's heartfelt conservatism and Newt Gingrich's intellect.
Or, he would just be Ronald Reagan instead. Here's more.
-Ann Sanner and Calvin Woodward
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RON PAUL PINS HOPES ON IDAHO, NORTH DAKOTA
Ron Paul is urging Idaho voters to caucus for him in the name of smaller government, bigger spending cuts, and liberty for all.
Paul rallied supporters in Nampa, Idaho, before flying off to North Dakota, another caucus site he hopes will make this a good night for his yet-to-win-a-state campaign.
- Rebecca Boone
Paul waves to a crowd after speaking in Nampa, Idaho. (AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune, Charlie Litchfield.) -
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10 STATES, 1 TOP PRIZE: OHIO
Their marathon race at a crossroads, Mitt Romney and rivals are battling across 10 states for more than 400 delegates - the busiest day of the GOP nomination campaign.
Ohio is the day's biggest prize in political significance, a heavily populated industrial state that tests Rick Santorum's ability to challenge Romney in a traditional fall battleground. But Georgia, Newt Gingrich's home political field, boasts the most delegates at stake: 76.
The other primaries: Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vermont, Massachusetts and Virginia. Caucuses in North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska round out the night. Read more.
-AP Special Correspondent David Espo
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