Huck lift us up where we belong

I was only able to catch bits and pieces of Super Tuesday coverage, but it was a fun and interesting night. The best moment was when I was driving home at around midnight (I went to see a band) and heard Mike Huckabee call his supporters the “WalMart Voters,” and then said they were the wind beneath his wings.

Aw shucks, Huck!

(He really did say that.)

Huck was one of the surprise stories of the night, winning five states; not bad for a bass player. Mitt Romney won seven states but failed to win any big ones save Massachusetts (I believe he was endorsed by “Binky” Kennedy, a disowned cousin of the Kennedy clan.) But most of the real prizes went to Sen. John McCain, who must be thanking his lucky stars that Huckabee is around to split the conservative vote with Romney.

On the Democratic side, Obama made me look silly by winning about twice as many states as I predicted, including Minnesota, which I did not think would go to him because, well, I really don’t know what I was thinking. He just had an electrifying rally here a few days ago that the whole town was talking about but I still could not put two and two together.

Of course, he did not pick up California, which means he remains slightly behind Hillary in the delegate count (I think. If you understand this delegate business, maybe you can design a transporter beam for me. I could really save on gas that way.)

Here’s how a top Democrat in Minnesota described the turnout. “We not only broke all prior records, we shattered them. The all-time caucus-turnout record, in 1968, was under 80,000. Turnout topped 75,000 only one other time, in 1972. Last night we topped 200,000; Secretary of State Mark Ritchie estimates that, when all the precincts report, more than 230,000 DFLers attended a precinct caucus — triple the old record.”

230,000 people turning out for the Democratic caucuses. And there were reports of people giving up because of the long lines and lack of parking. The Republican Party estimated a turnout of 58,000 voters in their caucuses.

Those are very interesting numbers. And they’re not unique to Minnesota.