Super Tuesday Results

Romney Wins Montana, Obama Leading in Idaho & Colorado

By Courtney Lowery, 2-05-08

	Obama in Boise last weekend. Photo by Andrew Kuraitis.

Barack Obama is making a very strong showing in early results from the Mountain West, with a huge lead in Idaho and a smaller but still sizeable edge in Colorado. Hillary Clinton is ahead in Arizona, and very early returns show the candidates neck-and-neck in Utah.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney, though struggling around the country, is running very strongly in Montana, Colorado and Utah.

In Idaho, frenzied Democrats packed the 6,500 hundred seat Qwest Arena in Boise and, for the first time in recent memory, there were enough interested Democrats to hold caucuses in all 44 Idaho counties. Obama, who made a dramatic visit to Boise on Saturday, has opened up a huge lead with 74% of the vote to 24% for Clinton with 47% of the votes in. For details on what long-in-the-wilderness Idaho Democrats are calling an historic day, check in with Jill Kuraitis and the group blog she is coordinating here.

In Colorado, the biggest prize in the Mountain West and a possible bellweather for whether Obama can make inroads with Latino votes, Obama is ahead with 65% to 34% for Clinton, with 29% of the caucus votes reported. On the Republican side, Romney leads, but only 8% of the vote has been counted.

In Montana’s Republican caucus, a closed, winner takes all contest, all 25 delegates have gone to Mitt Romney, who won in somewhat of a suprise race with 38%. Ron Paul, who had gained big momentum in the state in the last few months, came in second with 25% of the vote and McCain was third with 22%. The caucuses were crowded in Missoula (normally a Democratic stronghold), but strangely quiet in more Republican Gallatin county, despite a visit from Sam Brownback. Check in with Matthew Frank on the updates from Montana here.

Obama also won handily in the North Dakota caucuses, continuing his show of strength in states of the interior West where Clinton (and her husband) have long had little support.

In Utah, meanwhile, very early returns show a big win for Romney, which is no a surprise given his Mormon backround and hero status from the 2002 Olympics. On the Democratic side Clinton leads 64% to 40% with 8% of the vote in.

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