link [blogs.abcnews.com]

April 23, 2008 11:42 AM

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf Reports: It was John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, who won Pennsylvania's Republican presidential primary. But he was not the only Republican on the ballot and he didn't get 100 percent of the vote.

In second place -- even though he announced earlier this year that his campaign was winding down and that he would focus on the next chapter of the revolution to take the Republican party back to its libertarian roots -- was Texas congressman Ron Paul.

In fact, with nearly 126,000 votes (16 percent of those cast), Paul recorded his best showing of the presidential campaign in a closed primary. He has gotten higher percentages in some caucus states, but never in a state with voters in a closed primary.

Paul, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, attended four rallies in the state, including one at his alma mater, Gettysburg College.

"Dr. Paul's grassroots supporters in Pennsylvania and across the country are doing a tremendous job spreading our message, winning votes and laying a strong foundation for the future," said Paul's spokesman, Jesse Benton, who hopes the campaign will take up to 50 delegates to the Republican convention in Minneapolis in September. Currently, they have somewhere in the neighborhood of 21.

Granted, McCain has more than the 1,191 delegates needed to win and with the Republican nomination sewn up, turnout was down in Pennsylvania. While Democrats saw record-breaking turnout and more than 2.2 million votes cast, with 99.4 percent of the precincts reporting, fewer than 800,000 Republicans voted in the primary -- that's slightly worse turnout than when President Bush ran unopposed in 2004.

This year, McCain got just under 73 percent in Pennsylvania.

Coming in third in the race -- there were three names on the ballot -- was former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who suspended his campaign back in March, but got 11 percent in Pennsylvania.

Too bad Washington wasn't an early voting state... he got around 20+ percent there...


link [detenteur.myminicity.com]
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