It’s hardly news in the world of politics that one-time rivals often become best friends forever once one of them beats the other one. Case in point: Rudy Giuliani’s fervet embrace of John McCain once Rudy’s Florida firewall strategy imploded and McCain was on his way to becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Giuliani even hopped on the Straight Talk Express for some face-to-face schmoozing with the

traveling press. At one point, according to a story in the current issue of The New Yorker, Giuliani made the following case for McCain:

“When I endorsed John, I pointed out that, as far as I can see, he’s the only candidate we have that can put virtually fifty states in play,” Giuliani said, pouring out some carefully worded frustrations about how his party has shrivelled in the Northeast. “That doesn’t mean he can win fifty states. Nobody ever wins fifty states. It means he can compete in fifty states. When he’s nominated, there’ll be an active campaign in New York, there’ll be an active campaign in New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Minnesota, California, Washington, Oregon. If somebody else is nominated, they’ll go back to the thirty-five-state strategy. This is very frustrating for Republicans in this part of the world. They haven’t had a Presidential campaign since probably ’84, maybe ’88 in some places. It’s also helped to deteriorate the Party.”

So? Well, it wasn’t that many weeks ago that Giuliani was repeatedly claiming that he was the only guy in the GOP who could credibly mount a 50-state campaign. But, hey times change.

Organizers of the Republican National Convention announced today that the Internet behemoth Google will be the “official innovation provider” of the big show that hits the Xcel Center in St. Paul on Sept. 1-4.

In a video posted both on YouTube (a Google subsidiary) and the convention’s official website, President and CEO Maria Cino said enlisting Google’s various tools will ensure that the four-day nominee coronation will be “the most high-tech savvy in history.” It wilk, she said, bring the convention a “wow factor.”

Details of the partnership with Google are available at the convention’s websute. It’s also been cross-posted over at YouTube.

Mike Huckabee has been projected the winner of Saturday’s Kansas caucuses, according to Fox News and CNN.

Huckabee holds a commanding lead over Sen. John McCain — 62 percent to 22 percent, with 76 percent of precincts reporting. Ron Paul is third with 11 percent.

Today’s caucuses will award 36 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

Earlier this morning, Huckabee announced in a speech to a conservative organization that he planned to remain in the race.

“Am I quitting? Let’s get this settled right now. No, I am not,” he said.

Kansas was holding only Republican caucuses today. Democrats held their caucuses earlier this week, on Super Tuesday. Sen. Barack Obama won with 74 percent of the vote.

Three other states are voting today. Louisiana has a Democratic and Republican primary, Washington state has caucuses for both parties and Nebraska is holding Democratic caucuses.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney owes much of his Minnesota victory to the peculiarities of the state’s caucus system, which rewards candidates who have a passionate, partisan following and punishes those who don’t.

Racking up a nearly 2-1 margin over Arizona Sen. John McCain, Romney ran well where it counted — in the Twin Cities and other populous areas. But he also benefited heavily from the kind of activist party voter who participates in the relatively arcane process of caucusing. And McCain, in turn, was hurt by the absence of more independent voters who would show up for a primary.

Unlike the Democratic caucus, the GOP contest is a kind of straw poll that is influential but not binding on party activists who later choose delegates. But it was a satisfying moment for Romney backers who needed good news.

When Romney’s victory became apparent tonight, his Minnesota organization sent out emails pointing out that he had defied pollsters who gave McCain a commanding lead in the state only a few days ago. But the recent Minnesota Public Radio poll surveyed people who identified themselves as Republicans, not likely caucus participants. The caucus crowd is a much smaller group, and its views are probably not representative of Republicans as a whole.

How small a group? Consider Scott County. Shortly before midnight, Romney was overpowering McCain 51 percent to 17 percent there with 80 percent of precincts reporting. It’s impressive until you learn that the percentage represents 779 and 257 people — about 2 percent of eligible voters in the county.

State GOP activist Annette Meeks and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, both hailed above-average caucus turnout as a fine show of democracy. But above-average for a caucus may not count for much in the bigger scheme of things.

Not only did McCain lose big to Romney, but he was holding only a slim lead over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Minnesota last night. Caucus goers tend to be more passionate than voters in general, and Huckabee draws some of his most passionate support from evangelical Christians. He was beating Romney and McCain in northwestern Minnesota.

But while the caucus system provided a cozy forum for Romney’s party activists, it deprived McCain of more independent-minded Republicans — as well as actual independents — who would be more likely to vote for him in a primary, and apparently did vote for him in other states.

Minnesota isn’t alone in this phenomena. While McCain was the big winner of Super Tuesday in the nation, Romney won every contest tilted in favor of party loyalists, except West Virginia. Huckabee won that one.

While Romney racked up big numbers in the Twin Cities, the range of support for him in the state was broader. In central Minnesota, he was winning by more than a 2-1 margin over McCain in Sherburne County with two-thirds of the precincts reporting. He had a nearly 3-1 margin over McCain in Isanti County.�

Thousands of Minnesota caucus goers, many of them first-timers, endured long lines to get into caucus sites to cast their presidential preference votes. And that was after many of them faced frustrating delays simply finding a place to park.

William Jackson and Jackie Breher spent most of their evening sitting in traffic trying to get into his Democratic caucus in Inver Grove Heights. He voted for Barack Obama, but by the time the retired couple from Mendota Heights made it across town to the Republican caucus here, it was too late for Breher to vote for her candidate, Mitt Romney.

“I think it was a disaster,” Breher said. “We left the house at 6 tonight.”

“We both become independents,” Jackson joked.

The DFL and Republican parties both said they would extend the time allowed for voting beyond the 8 p.m. cutoff so anyone in line could vote, and that was true for Breher. After she pleaded her case to caucus convener Larry Sachi, he accepted her ballot.

Sachi said turnout at Friendly Hills Middle School was twice as heavy as in previous caucus years.

Officials in both parties said records would or could fall. DFL Chairman Brian Melendez said turnout in his party may have topped six figures, well above the 75,000-80,000 turnout of 1968 and 1972.

“We’re not just going to break the prior record, we’re going to smash the prior record,” Melendez said.

Republican Party chairman Ron Carey said the party’s turnout would be close to the record 58,000 Republicans in 1988.

“It bodes well for our ability to wage an effective ground war against the Democrats” in the fall, Carey said.

–Associated Press

With more than 400 votes counted, Mitt Romney was the big winner at the GOP caucus in Maplewood. Romney received 180 votes, compared to 92 for McCain, 78 for Huckabee, 61 for Ron Paul, 3 for Alan Keyes and 2 undecided.

Jeff Williams, House District 55A Chairman, thinks it was a “McCain backlash” that lead to the wide margin.

“This was quite a surprise,” said Williams. “I think he won because you had a lot of people upset over McCain being a front runner. And with Huckabee, a lot of people considered it a vote for McCain.”

Romney made a big push in the Maplewood region, said Williams, and it paid off. “The Romney people just outperformed on the ground.”
–Jean Hopfensperger

No more than one-third of the precincts have reported in the metro counties, but so far they look a lot like Romney Country. He’s leading with 43 percent of GOP caucus goers, compared to 24 percent for McCain and 15 percent for Huckabee.

The numbers are still small — only hundreds of votes — but may hint at the level of support for Mike Huckabee among social conservatives.

In southern Minnesota, he led a few minutes ago with 33 percent of the vote to 30 percent for Romney and 22 for McCain. Those returns included apparently motivated voters in traditionally conservative Rock County, where gambling has long been more unpopular than anywhere else in Minnesota. Huckabee led with 40 percent in Rock, and McCain, often criticized by GOP conservatives, got only 12 percent.

Annie Knutson, junior at St. Olaf’s College, said that 200 St. Olaf students came back from break to attend the Democratic and Republican caucuses in Northfield.

Afterward, she drove to St. Paul to participate in the McCain election party at O’Gara’s.
–Maria Elena Baca