It’s been made official now. He has narrowly beat out Mitt Romney, but Florida is a winner takes all state so to the victor goes the spoils. Rudy Giuliani made a speech that sounded very much like the one Thompson made in regards to tone after South Carolina. I believe, as do the Fox News pundits, that he will be dropping out of the race within the next couple of days, possibly tomorrow. The conventional wisdom is that he’ll endorse John McCain.

9:00PM with 47% in:

Nothing has really changed. McCain at 35%, Romney 32%. The others are the same. Huckabee is already making his “concession” speech for this primary. It’s between McCain and Romney the rest of the night and if it stays this close we may not know until very late or even tomorrow.

8:20PM with 31% in:

1. McCain - 34%
2. Romney - 33%
3. Giuliani - 15%
4. Huckabee - 14%
5. Paul - 3%

7:50PM with 10% in:

1. McCain - 34%
2. Romney - 31%
3. Giuliani - 18%
4. Huckabee - 13%
5. Paul - 3%

7:34PM with 1% in:

1. Romney - 31%
2. McCain - 30%
3. Giuliani - 18%
4. Huckabee - 15%
5. Paul - 3%

In a good news, bad news situation, Rep. Kenny Hulshof has decided to run for Governorto replace Matt Blunt, who is retiring largely thanks to poor poll numbers.  Hulshof has a strong record of social conservatism but has not shown quite the same degree of reliability on fiscal matters.  Hulshof now offers Republicans our best opportunity to hold the Governor’s mansion in Missouri, which is extremely important with redistricting coming up in a few years.   There, the legislature draws the districts, which are then subject to the approval of the Governor.  With Missouri expeceted to lose a seat in Congress, who wins this race could determine which Party loses the seat.

The bad news, though, is that this is yet another district that Republicans must defend.  Although it is true that we now have the opportunity to replace Hulshof with a more fiscally restrained Republican, this is also yet another seat that must be defended in November.  With the increasing number of retirements, including many that were unexpected, it is increasingly difficult to see just how Republicans could conceivable take back the House this year.