McCain won only 72 points in the Republican primary in Kentucky today = his WORST performance since becoming the presumptive nominee. Ron Paul, the only remaining viable candidate took just 7 percent of the vote while Huckabee and some unnamed candidate held a whopping 21 percent combined. Huckabee had only 8 percent, while uncommitted had 5. Three points vanished to write-ins and local candidates.
McCain hasn't broken 80 percent in ANY primary since becoming the presumptive nominee. Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee have sucked 25 percent or more of the Republican vote CONSSTENTLY even after Huck dropped out. McCain's pulled just 76/77/74/73 in the last four contests (WV/IN/NC/PA respectively). ONLY in PA was Paul, the only viable contender, in the number two slot. The first primary after Huckabee ended his bid and endorsed McCain, McCain drew only 55 percent of Republican votes and Huckabee STILL got 29 percent of them.
This information is glossed over by pundits gnashing their teeth over the still very active Democratic party primary, but this is a huge weakness for the Republicans. If you look at the numbers, he is actually moving down in actual votes against no one.
While polls show McCain in virtual ties with the Democratic contenders, no one has asked Republicans specifically whether their protest votes will go to Democrats.
Update 1: Ron Paul supporters plan to upend the Republican convention after catapulting his book "The Revolution: A Manifesto," to the bestseller list. They plan to take over the Republican platform to conform to their candidate's agenda.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/...