Santorum, Romney and Paul run one, two, three locally, as well as statewide

February 8, 2012 by jimmycsays

Perhaps those of you who are interested in politics would like to know how the top candidates for the Republican nomination for President fared Tuesday in Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties.

As far as I can tell — and I’ve looked and looked — The Star didn’t run the local results of Tuesday’s presidential primary election, either in print or online.

I hope I’m wrong. If not, it’s very disappointing.

I worked the election yesterday as a “deputy commissioner’ ‘in Kansas City, making the rounds of seven polling places in the Northeast part of Kansas City. (I’ve done that for several years now, and it’s always interesting and informative.)

When I got home at about 8:45 last night, I was interested, of course, in the statewide outcome. CNN was already projecting Rick Santorum as the winner, which was a bit surprising to me, but I knew he had been the only candidate to visit the state before the nonbinding, preferential primary.

I wanted to see local results, too, but thought I’d wait until this morning.

Instead of getting the local results in today’s Star, however, I had to go to the website of three jurisdictions (KC, Jackson and Clay) and call one (Platte) to get the results.

Here they are, then:

Kansas City, Mo.

Santorum — 2,502
Romney — 1,709
Paul — 824

Jackson County (not including Kansas City)

Santorum — 7,372
Romney — 4,695
Paul — 1,922

Clay County (including the Kansas City part of the county)

Santorum — 3,567
Romney — 1,538
Paul — 770

Platte County (including the Kansas City part of the county)

Santorum — 1,551
Romney — 832
Paul — 292

The main thing that surprised me about those results — although it probably shouldn’t have — was the large Republican vote in Jackson County, where, again, the vote totals do not include Kansas City.

That shows dramatically the extent to which Republicans have cut into what traditionally has been a Democratic county (when you include Kansas City).

The political C.O.G. (center of gravity) seems to have swung to the GOP in Jackson County.

Jackson

President Andrew Jackson is probably sitting up in his grave today, preparing to mount a campaign in his namesake county.

It was his followers, after all, who created the modern Democratic Party in the 1830s, after “Old Hickory” was elected President.

Wikipedia says that Jackson “fought politically against what he denounced as a closed, undemocratic aristocracy.”

And isn’t that just about a perfect description of today’s Republican Party?

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

12 Responses

on February 8, 2012 at 12:09 pm Leigh Elmore

Thanks for caring. Where are Kraske and Helling? Good insight on Eastern Jack Republicans. Harry Who?
- on February 8, 2012 at 3:39 pm jimmycsays
  
  So far, Leigh, K&H are “nowhere to be found,” as the narrator likes to say of missing suspects on “The First 48.”
  
  I sent them an e-mail this morning but haven’t heard back. They — and all other editorial staff members — could be under a “Don’t talk to JimmyC” order…I am a very dangerous blogger, you know.
on February 8, 2012 at 12:55 pm NickNick

All this means is that Romney – should it be Romney – will carry the state this fall, probably with a more significant margin than McCain had back in 2008.

We keep this up and we’ll start looking as backward as Kansas…
on February 8, 2012 at 3:34 pm jimmycsays

That’s what I’m afraid of — Missouri jumping on the Kansas political bandwagon to nowhere.
on February 8, 2012 at 8:55 pm John Rubisch

Why is it never reported that Santorum lost his last election in Pennsylvania 59-41?
on February 9, 2012 at 9:43 am Rick Nichols

It is quite clear that The Star viewed the primary as a meaningless election that was going to cost Missouri taxpayers something like $7 million. That said, I think it still had at least some obligation to print and/or post the results of the election if for no other reason than that of creating an “official” public record of the event. We get the winning lottery numbers every day (not that I need them) – why not the occasional election results? According to the History Channel, the last and perhaps only time the United States was debt free was during the Jackson administration. Sure could use a man like Ol’ Hickory today.
on February 10, 2012 at 3:07 pm Rick Nichols

Jim – did you ever hear back from Mr. Kraske or Mr. Helling, or do you think you’ve made “the list,” you dangerous blogger, you? Just curious. At any rate, The Star needs to question the wisdom of these “beauty contest” elections conducted at taxpayers’ expense, but once even an ill-advised election has been scheduled, it needs to do everything it can to promote voter participation at the polls and, of course, it needs to publish and/or post the results (actual vote totals and percentages). Some rewriting could have freed up enough room to include the county and state figures, but there’s always the issue of time to consider. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
on February 10, 2012 at 9:55 pm jimmycsays

Never heard back, Rick…I must be on the D.B.L. — Dangerous Bloggers List.

On the editorial page, The Star was highly critical of the state Republican Party for not sacrificing half its national delegates, which would have made the primary binding. The Star also was critical of state legislators and Gov. Jay Nixon for failing to cancel the elective “beauty contest,” which cost government jurisdictions about $7 million. (Unbelievable waste of money.) And, finally, The Star did, in fact, urge people to get out and express their preferences.

The Star, in short, acquitted itself just fine…until it came to reporting the results. Then it abdicated its responsibility to its customers, who are all local.
on February 11, 2012 at 9:57 am Say No to the Star

Why would we expect the star to report the news?
Obviously, ultra conservatives prefer Santorum over Gingrich. If either of the two drops out, Romney will have his hands full. Otherwise he sails to the nomination.
If Romney gets the nomination, it will be interesting to see how the ultra conservatives react come November. They might be unwilling to hold their noses and might choose to stay home instead.
I predict that Missouri will once go republican this year. I’ve always voted democrat but this year I can honestly say that my vote is up for grabs. One thing is for sure. I’m not staying home and will run down to 2nd pres. to cast my vote as I have every year since I’ve moved here.
on February 11, 2012 at 11:35 am Rick Nichols

Well, at least some of us out here in “Star country” still expect the newspaper to report the news and to do so in an admirable manner, which is to say accurately, fairly, clearly, and thoroughly. I’m disappointed that the world’s most dangerous blogger didn’t get a return phone call or e-mail from the Star’s reporters offering an explanation as to why the vote totals weren’t included in the story. Because I know the world’s most dangerous blogger isn’t out the make the paper look bad. Quite the contrary.
on February 11, 2012 at 3:02 pm Rick Nichols

I’m delighted to know that Say No to the Star plans to vote again this year. But I’m curious to know what he/she thinks about the push to require Show Me State voters to show photo IDs before they’re allowed to pull the lever. Over here in Kansas the “prince of right” has already come to our rescue, assuring us that the soon-to-be-required voter ID cards will rid the Sunflower State of all manner of voter fraud. Of course, he’s now 13 months into his new gig and has yet to produce a shred of evidence that would lead anyone to believe that we had a serious problem to begin with.
on February 12, 2012 at 11:36 am Say No to the Star

I show my id every time I go to the polls. What is so difficult about getting an id and bringing it to the polling place?
Let’s not kid our selves. The issue is not protecting people’s right to vote nor is the issue voter fraud. The only thing either side cares about is getting a leg up at the polls.