Fox News Calls Michigan for Romney

As expected, Mitt Romney has won the Michigan primary, though it looks like it will be close. I'm sure the usual suspects are already screaming "HUGE WIN FOR ROMNEY", but it's not that big of a deal. Romney was born in Michigan, his dad was governor of that state, and before that ran a car company. He should have won in a rout.

My guess is McCain will see his numbers fall in South Carolina, Romney won't get much if any of a bump out of this, and Fred Thompson will get a harder look from a lot of voters.

That's not a bad outcome.

Interesting side note: Just as John McCain strode to the podium to make his election night speech, which I'm sure he had designed to help him in South Carolina, Mitt Romney took the podium in Michigan. As a result both Fox and CNN immediately left McCain even before he had finished saying "thank you" and covered all of Romney's remarks. McCain was completely shut out of the coverage.

Normally the candidates wait for the other guy to finish (the losers always go first), but I can't help but believe Romney planned his move specifically to steal McCain's thunder. It worked.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one who noticed Mitt's curious timing. See here, here, here, and here.
Interesting side note 2: During his victory speech Mitt Romney blasted "Washington" for all its problems, and identified himself as walking in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush.

George Herbert Walker Bush? W's father was not exactly successful in his presidency. He was bullied by Congress into raising taxes and then was unceremoniously tossed out after one term. I don't think I'd be aligning myself with him.

There was no mention whatsoever of George W. Bush, though he's been running "Washington" for seven years, not to mention the Republican Congress which had been in control of "Washington" from 1995-2006. It was a bit of an odd speech.

LINE OF THE DAY - from an email from Jim Treacher to Glenn Reynolds:

"These primaries are like the Special Olympics: Everybody gets a ribbon! "

Too funny.