*Delegate numbers incomplete

12:18 PM EST Update: FOX has called California for Romney. This and the lose in Missouri are disappointments for Romney, though he’ll get a lot of delegates from California. The exact numbers won’t be known until tomorrow.

12:00 PM EST Update:Will this clown never shut up?

11:52 PM EST Update: Colorado now goes to Romney.

Also, does Obama ever say anything of substance? No wonder his supporters always come off so vapid when interviewed.

11:15 PM EST Update: Romney picks up Montana caucus. He’ll probably add Colorado to that list shortly.

10:41 PM EST Update: Huckabee picks up Tennessee and Georgia. McCain finally wins his home turf in Arizona.

10:33 PM EST Update: Romney picks up the North Dakota caucus.

10:11 PM EST Update: Huckabee speaks and takes a shot at Romney. “People have been saying it’s a two-man race. It is, and we’re in it.” That will sound rather empty if Romney ends the day with more delegates, as is likely if he shows strong in California.

10:02 PM EST Update: FOX called Oklahoma for McCain. Utah polls just closed and immediately called for Romney, obviously.

9:21 PM EST Update: FOX calls New York for McCain. No surprise there. Still no call in Arizona.

9:03 PM EST Update: Echoing what we saw earlier, FOX is saying they cannot yet call Arizona, John McCain’s home state. He’ll probably end up winning, but even the fact that it’s remotely in play is a blow to McCain, and shows just how much his immigration position has alienated Republicans.

8:28 PM EST Update: Polls in Arkansas will close momentarily. Huckabee will be called the winner immediately.

8:05 PM EST Update: Right off the bat we see McCain taking Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey. No surprises there. Huckabee will Take Alabama and Romney has his home state of Massachusetts.

7:58 PM EST Update: Georgia is still trickling in. It looks like a battle between McCain and Huckabee, with Romney 10% behind in a distant third.

Nine states are about to close their polls.

7PM EST Update: NRO has some exit poll numbers from key states.

Romney had been surging in California leading up to the vote, but so far these very early numbers (which won’t include California’s large percentage of absentee voting) show McCain up on Romney 40-36%. In MO, which is an important bell-weather and winner-take-all state, the race is even with Romney barely up 34-32 over McCain.

Possible bad news for McCain in his home state of Arizona, where he has only a 44-39 lead over Romney.

Polls have just closed in another important and competitive state of Georgia, which is way too close to call and the exit polls have a three way dead heat.

It’s a big day for the Republican nomination. McCain comes in the heavy favorite following a flurry of endorsements and media pronouncements that he has the race wrapped up. With a strong national lead in the polls, McCain is sitting pretty. Huckabee still has no shot at the nomination but is staying in to help McCain. Romney’s objective is to stay within 250 or so delegates of McCain. If he can do that he can stick it out for the long haul. With a recent poll showing him up by 7 in California (note: California is not state-wide winner-take-all, but awarded county by county), that’s certainly a possibility.

Our first news of the night comes from West Virginia. In what will no doubt further fuel rumors of a McCain-Huckabee alliance, Huckabee has won the closed convention after being behind Romney 41% to 33% after one round. In this caucus style convention, voting is conducted until a candidate receives a majority, with the lowest supported candidate being removed after each round. After the first round, it was Ron Paul that was dropped, and yet all of McCain’s support mysteriously went over to Huckabee, giving him the majority and a 52-47% win over Romney.

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