Is Wisconsin Putting the Coronation on Hold?

Posted on February 17, 2004

Oh, man…

2% of precincts are reporting in the pivotal Wisconsin primary, and — wait for it — John Edwards is actually leading John Kerry, 40% to 37%. (Howard Dean is pulling up third place with 18%.)

Is it possible that Wisconsin is going to throw the Kerry bandwagon off the road after all? This should be good!

UPDATE: Well, it’s 10:20 PM EST and CNN has called it for Kerry, but by a narrow margin — with 48% of precincts reporting, Kerry has 39%, Edwards has 37%, Dean has 18%. Edwards couldn’t pull out a win, but it’s a strong showing nonetheless, and it gives him a rationale for hanging in at least until Super Tuesday. Kerry gets the win, but looks weaker than expected considering that just a few days ago he was expected to pull in more than 50%. And Dean does about as well as anyone expected — now we’ll see whether he intends to stay in the race or not. No matter what, Edwards’ showing means that it certainly looks as if this contest isn’t over yet.