Live Blogging Super Tuesday

Morning, everyone. Nothing much changed overnight, not even, notably, in New Mexico. CNN reports 92 percent of precincts reporting in, giving Obama a razor-thin lead of less than 1,000 votes. Quite interesting, regardless.

Also, the AP continues to update its delegate count, as the proportionally-distributed California wraps up counting its votes. Clinton beat Obama by a handy margin in the overall popular vote in Calif., but she also did well county-by-county, so it should be good news for her delegate pool. It's also good because we're going into a series of midwest caucuses next week, which Obama has dominated in the past.

We blogged about the Tompkins County results earlier, but I think it bears repeating again. Take a look at all the results:

DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY:

Obama: 6,593

Clinton: 4,647

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY:

Ron Paul: 337

Mitt Romney: 1,093

Mike Huckabee: 540

McCain: 1,927

What's really remarkable here, especially on the Democratic side, is that Obama beat Clinton by a very healthy margin. In fact, Tompkins was the only county in the state in which Obama beat Clinton. Hillary was definitely the favorite to win her adopted home state coming in to Super Tuesday, but I don't think anyone could have predicted such total domination.

Another update from the AP. No news from New Mexico yet; I think the vote counters may have gone to bed.

Latest delegate counts from the AP are up. The only thing we're waiting for at this point is the Democratic results from New Mexico, which has 38 delegates up for grabs. With 52 percent of precincts reporting in, Clinton appears to be leading by two percent.

A few late updates: CNN is calling Alaska's GOP primary for Romney, wrapping up the day's Republican contests. On the Democratic side, New Mexico is still too close to call, with about 40 percent of precincts reporting.

CNN has finally projected Missouri for Obama. All that's left is Alaska for the GOP and New Mexico for the Dems.

An overview of Super Tuesday for both sides:

Republicans: With victories in New York, California, and Missouri, McCain likely is headed to nomination, but today also proved that he still has to mend some wounds with conservatives. Huckabee made a surprisingly strong showing, especially in the South. Romney, although he likely could end up with more delegates than Huckabee, definitely came out with less than he expected.

Democrats: By managing to capture both California and Massachusetts, Clinton has achieved some huge victories today. She probably will come out with more delegates as well. Obama definitely still poses a huge threat, and could grow stronger as the race goes on, but Clinton can start to build up her campaign again.

-Mike Wacker

Alaska projected for Obama

CNN projects Romney for Montana on their website. It's also interesting to note that Ron Paul will likely take 2nd there.

CNN projects California for McCain and Clinton. McCain clearly comes out as the frontrunner now, and Clinton now is starting to build her lead against Obama. What a huge projection!

Another projection as I was writing the last paragraph. Just as I predicted, McCain wins Missouri now that the vote comes in from St. Louis. He pretty much has the nomination now.

-Mike Wacker

Colorado called for Romney on CNN's website

CNN projects Arizona for Clinton.

You may see Obama's name appearing a lot as the winner tonight, but the delegate count says a different story. Latest results from the AP say that Clinton has gained 168 delegates on Super Tuesday while Obama has gained 153.

-Mike Wacker

CNN projects Tennessee for Huckabee now that Obama has finished speaking.

McCain was pretty friendly towards Romney in his speech even though the two have really been going at it, but the tone is much different for Obama. He's really going after Clinton although they were much friendlier in the most recent debate.

-Mike Wacker

CNN just showed not only Colorado, but also Idaho and Utah for Obama on TV. Luckily, Obama was speaking, so we have been just saved from at most three CNN projection jingles.

-Mike Wacker

I haven't seen this projection watching CNN, but their website projects Obama for Colorado. Presumably they'll show the projection on TV as soon as Obama finishes speaking. There is no projection for the Republicans, but Romney looks likely to win there.

-Mike Wacker

So, CNN has zoomed out of McCain's speech to show Obama and his wife getting up on stage. It seems they're pretty eager to get over there as soon as possible; I can imagine the producers whispering "Wrap it up, John..." — CRB

We just got updated delegate counts from the AP; they are now showing on the top of the election edition page. The Sun exit polling graphs are in the right column, now that they are finished. Check The Sun tomorrow for more in-depth analysis of local election results. — CRB

Obama is also making a strong showing in Missouri as the votes come in from around St. Louis and Kansas City. Huckabee is leading Georgia with 89% of the vote in, but McCain can still make a comeback. Tennessee may also go to Huckabee. But just as I'm writing this, CNN projects that Huckabee will win Georgia.

-Mike Wacker

CNN showed a graph saying that those who approve Gov. Schwarzenegger in California voted heavily for McCain. This sounds eerily similar to Florida, where McCain and Romney were locked in a tight race, but McCain got endorsed by Gov. Crist a few days before the election and ultimately won.

-Mike Wacker

Romney wins in Minnesota. He's starting to rack up the delegates in the West, but once again, the delegates are awarded proportionally in the states he has been winning.

-Mike Wacker

McCain has just taken the lead in Missouri. There's still a lot of votes uncounted around St. Louis, where McCain is strong. This reminds me of the Senate race in 2006, where Talent lead McCaskill for most of the time but ultimately lost once the votes started pouring in from the St. Louis area in the latter hours. My bets are on McCain winning in Missouri.

-Mike Wacker

CNN can't make any projections for California now that the polls have closed there, but they do now project Romney for North Dakota. C'mon, they have to project something at 11.

-Mike Wacker

Clinton is speaking to her supporters now, so I've taken a minute to go through the returns from New York. According to the AP, with 92 percent of precincts now reporting, Hillary is enjoying a 57 percent lead over Obama's 40 percent. This strong majority will ensure that she gets a good-sized cut of New York's large pool of delegates. — CRB

Arizona has now been called for McCain. CNN's poll guy is explaining how it was actually a lot closer than everyone thought it was going to be, given that it is McCain's home state.

Going off of what Chris just said, here's a YouTube video of CNN's projection jingle.

-Mike Wacker

I'm going to take a minute here to address the lovely coverage that CNN has been providing. Maybe it's just because I'm a newspaper man, but that jingle that CNN plays every time they make a projection is starting to annoy me. Wolf Blitzer is a really great reporter and all, but does he really need a theme song?

(If so, I want one too. I'm waiting, CNN.) — CRB

And Minnesota goes to Obama. Why does CNN have to do two separate projections mere seconds apart?

-Mike Wacker

Alabama goes to Huckabee. Is he on to something in the South? He might also win Missouri, my home state.

-Mike Wacker

CNN projects Connecticut and Kansas for Obama

Here are the results from Tompkins County:

Republicans: McCain - 1859, Romney - 1022, Huckabee - 527, Paul - 326

Democrats: Obama - 6585, Clinton - 4631

Huckabee could have a surprisingly strong showing, and Romney has the potential to pick up a sizable number of delegates out West. Is it possible that we could come into the convention with McCain a strong first but without a majority? It's been a long, long time since we have had a brokered convention, and anything could happen behind closed doors. Who knows, maybe even those delegates from Ron Paul could make the difference...

-Mike Wacker

And North Dakota goes to Obama

Oklahoma projected for McCain by CNN

Another projection: Utah for Romney. No surprise there.

It's almost 10 p.m., and more polls are about to close. I swear, CNN must salivate as the clock counts down to zero each time.

-Mike Wacker

Local exit polls from Cornell have been updated. These results include all exit polls we have taken. Polls were taken at Robert Purcell Community Center, Alice Cook House, Hasbrouck Apartments, and St. Luke's in Collegetown. Tompkins County as a whole should release unofficial results around 10 p.m.

Here are the numbers:

Democrats: Obama - 188, Clinton - 68, Other - 4

Republicans: McCain - 27, Paul - 10, Romney - 9, Huckabee - 2, Other - 1

Latest projection from CNN: Obama-Alabama

CNN is now calling New York for McCain.

AP has called Massachusetts for Clinton. Very interesting, as Obama was endorsed by both Kennedy and Kerry.

-Mike Wacker

We've just put up a table on the right column of our elections page [1] that lists who has won which state. That table will be updated as results come in.

Delaware has now been called for Obama.

Polls are closed here, and CNN has now called New York for Clinton. — CRB

A block or so from The Sun office, Shortstop, my dinner stop, is open 24/7. One of the few places that will be open after all the votes have been counted across the nation.

-Mike Wacker

McCain will take Delaware, CNN reports. He will take all of the states delegates.

-Ben Eisen

CNN reports that Clinton's win in Arkansas could play a pivotal role helping her win the southern vote. Tennessee and Oklahoma are to the east and west of Arkansas, both states which she has won. In addition, she is currently doing well in Missouri. Unsurprisingly, the Clinton name is popular in this region.

-Ben Eisen

This is Ben Eisen, senior news writer, reporting from the Sun office. The AP has called Tennessee in favor of Hillary Clinton. CNN has confirmed these numbers.

Huckabee is projected to win in his home state of Arkansas, and Clinton will win there as well.

Also, the audio CNN plays coming back from commercial break is the same audio they use to make projections. Am I the only one annoyed by that?

-Mike Wacker

Good news for McCain: the states he does well in tend to be winner-takes-all

Bad news for McCain: he still has a lot of trouble winning conservatives and has to rely on moderates

-Mike Wacker

Additionally, the AP is calling New Jersey for McCain.

Nine states have now closed, and CNN has made the following projections:

Conn. - McCain

Mass. - Romney

Ill. - Obama and McCain

Okla. - Clinton

We're about one hour from the close of polls in New York, and we now have one of our last rounds of exit poll data uploaded. CNN's anchors seem to be salivating over the 8 p.m. close of a whole bunch of states, so we'll bring you that when it breaks. — CRB

A lot of focus has been on how Obama has done among blacks and whites in Georgia. But does the breakdown by race really matter? CNN's exit poll says that 78% don't consider it important, and only 4% consider it very important.

-Mike Wacker

Our latest exit poll data is up. Obama's massive lead continues to grow, while things are pretty constant on the Republican side. Also good to note: Mike Huckabee finally got on the board! -CRB

It will be a half-hour before more polls close, so here's an interesting fact about West Virginia: Romney originally was leading there, but then McCain's supporters threw their vote to Huckabee, giving him the victory. As for Georgia, numbers show Obama not just winning, but winning big.

-Mike Wacker

This is Mike Wacker, Assistant Web Editor for The Cornell Daily Sun and also author of The Politics Factory blog. CNN has projected an Obama win in Georgia, but how much does the win matter? Delegates are awarded proportionally in all states, so the margin of victory matters just as much as victory itself. Clarification: I'm just talking about Democratic delegates. Republicans award delegates differently in each state.

CNN is reporting [2] on what is probably an obvious point that has not yet registered in our minds here. Polls in California, which is in the Pacific time zone, don't close until 11 p.m. Eastern. Couple that with what is apparently record turnout, and you quickly come to the conclusion that we're going to be up a long time tonight...

We just uploaded another round of exit polling. Nothing much new to report, except that Romney has slightly closed the gap with an increased vote count.

As we vote here at home, other Americans overseas have been going to the polls as well [3]. The DNC is allocating 11 delegates to overseas voters, while Republicans are mailing absentee ballots to their home districts in the States. Another interesting thing from the article is that the Democrats Abroad organization is actually allowing online voting for the first time. Perhaps a sign of things to come?

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, we have another round of exit polling online! On the blue side, the Obama-Clinton split hasn't changed much, percentage-wise.

For the Republicans, in another moment that makes me want to remind you that our polls are not scientific, it seems that Ron Paul has increased his vote count and is now in second place. It's worth pointing out that we have received very few Republican responses to our exit polling. Whether this will translate to a low turnout or not will only be answered after the polls close this evening, but it does raise a red flag on the results.

Oh, and apparantly there are still a few folks out there who either haven't gotten the message or haven't accepted that John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Fred Thompson have dropped out of the race, so those would be the "Other" votes that you see on the charts.

In a sign that the Democratic contest is perhaps more balanced off the hill, the AP is describing the battle as "a grueling campaign with no end in sight." This would be consistent with national poll results that have shown Obama and Clinton in a dead heat in recent days. Obama seems to have some momentum, having closed a large gap, but if he doesn't have a good showing today, that won't matter very much.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the AP and other big media outlets seem to back the idea that John McCain could lock up the nomination this evening. CNN's Wolf Blitzer did the math on the air a few hours ago, and pointed out that there are in fact enough committed GOP delegates on the table tonight to put this theory within the realm of possibility.

One thing's for certain now: only time will tell, so stay tuned.

According to reports from the Alice Cook House polling site, turnout has been fairly light so far. Hopefully we'll see bigger numbers after classes finish up. Another thing to consider is that many Cornellians, such as me, may already have voted in their home states and counties via absentee ballots. Considering reports of record voter involvement from around the country, it will be interesting to see how Ithaca stacks up in the end.

We're now passing the 3 p.m. mark, so we should have another batch of exit polling data coming in soon. The results we've been seeing so far have shown a three-to-one majority in favor of Obama, which, given Obama's strong showing with young voters, shouldn't be surprising considering that we're polling on or near Cornell. Things could change quickly, though, so let's wait and see before jumping to any conclusions.

So it looks like Huckabee is going to get 18 delegates out of the winner-takes-all contest in W. Va. By our count, that puts him at 58 delegates total, still behind Romney and McCain.

The AP is reporting that Mike Huckabee has won the Republican caucuses in West Virginia. We're going to determine what that means in terms of delegates and get the numbers updated now.

The first batch of The Sun's exit polling results has come in. Keep in mind that these are unscientific surveys intended only to give you an idea of how things are progressing throughout the day. We have reporters on the ground at several of the city's polling sites asking voters to participate as they depart. We'll continue to keep you updated on this throughout the day.

CNN is reporting now that Mitt Romney is leading after a first round of voting at the Republican convention in W.Va., with about 40 percent of the votes. No candidate had a majority, so they will have another round before delegates are assigned.

Voters across the state are hitting the polls in a "rare New York primary that matters [4]," according to the AP. As a New Yorker myself, I can definitely attest to the elevated electoral excitement. Strong turnout will hopefully be able to put a dent in the perception that Americans are politically apathetic. Get out and vote if you can!

And they're off! Polls have opened across the United States, although the AP is reporting that the weather may not be making it easy [5] for people to vote. In Ithaca right now, it's about 43 degrees, and although it appears to be dry at the moment, according to forecasts there is a 90 percent chance of rain. I feel pretty safe in saying that inclement weather is not going to hold up any Ithacans!

In other news, the Times has a good analysis of the "arcane" system used to decide who actually wins this contest [6]. We'll be providing state-by-state results, as well as an overall delegate count in the right column of the election edition [1] page, so you'll be able to pick your poison in that department. — CRB

Hey everyone, this is Chris Barnes, your friendly neighborhood Sun Web Editor. Right now it's 4 a.m. here in Ithaca, and Super Tuesday's paper has just gone out. In a first for CornellSun.com, we're going to be live blogging the election throughout the whole day. Our team of reporters will also be conducting exit polling at the various voting sites throughout the city, so we'll be able to bring you results from that starting this afternoon. Be sure to stay with us throughout this exciting day in American politics!