I’ve already noted on this blog the inherent contradiction of rural state caucuses, where very small numbers of voters get a huge amount of press and are assumed to be representative of a far larger, more diverse electorate.
But there’s no mistaking the really bad news in Tuesday’s caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota for Mitt Romney.
My screen captures are from the New York Times’ election coverage.
Check out the Colorado vote from 2008:
And check out the Colorado voter from 2012:
Romney’s vote total simply collapsed — almost by half.
And the Romney results were even worse in Minnesota. First, from 2008:
And for Minnesota yesterday:
Did Romney’s campaign get over-confident? Did they decide not to scramble for caucus votes on the theory of momentum and running a national campaign aimed more at Obama than the Republican rivals?
Whatever the cause, these are terrible numbers for the presumptive frontrunner.