MT: Romney Easily Beats McCain

By David Brown
Mitt Romney claimed all 25 of Montana's Republican delegates last night, easily beating John McCain 38 percent to 22 percent. Ron Paul was second in the polling, with 25 percent of votes cast in the state's first-ever Republican caucuses. Only party officials were eligible to vote in them, and 1,817 were credentialed.

In some of the caucus sites, the event was both political bazaar and spectator sport. Non-voting members of the public attended to jawbone voting officials on behalf of their candidates. The candidates themselves each spoke for about 15 minutes via a telephone link patched through to caucus sites early in the evening. In Missoula, 250 people came out to see a much smaller number decide whom to support. Among the watchers was a high-school government class.

The Democrats will vote in a primary in June.