Romney Wins Washington State Straw Poll Caucus

Continuing his winning streak, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is predicted to win the Washington State caucuses by a comfortable margin. At the time of this posting he leads with 38% of straw poll votes.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul remain in a statistical tie for second with 24% apiece, Santorum trailing by a mere 12 votes with 62% of precincts reporting. Newt Gingrich sits last with just 11% of the votes. 

The Columbian is reporting Romney has won the Clark County caucus, receiving 37% of the votes, with Ron Paul at 28.5%, Rick Santorum at 22.5% and Newt Gingrich at 10.1%.

The Daily News in Longview reports Romney carrying Cowlitz County with 33.7%, Ron Paul 28.2%, Rick Santorum 26% and Newt Gingrich 8.4%

The Olympian reports Mitt Romney carrying Thurston County with 40.4%, Ron Paul 26.4%, Rick Santorum 20.5% and Newt Gingrich a distant 7.6%.

The caucuses saw a record turnout this year with several caucus sites reporting having to turn away hundreds of caucus goers as sites were filled to capacity.

In King County, where attorney’s for Ron Paul’s campaign lodged a complaint just days ago, citing “Irregularities in King County’s PCO appointment and reporting,” Romney continued his winning streak with the only question being who will end up winning second, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul.

In Kennewick, there were reports of a “robo-call” falsely telling people the caucuses were being postponed for a week. It is unknown who at this time who is behind the prank.

Washington State has been considered a Ron Paul stronghold with support from his followers growing, or so we keep hearing. I seriously expected he would do better. But obviously, voters across the state see through the smokescreen raised on his behalf.

While today’s caucus results are non-binding and actually select delegates for county GOP conventions where delegates will be selected for the State Convention to select how 40 delegates will be divided proportionately amongst the candidates, the results do give candidates momentum heading into “Super Tuesday” where 10 states will hold their primaries just 3 days from now.

UPDATE: 75% reporting and Rick Santorum has pulled ahead of Ron Paul by 280 votes.

83% reporting and Ron Paul has pulled back ahead of Santorum by 253.