Partisan voters in Clallam and Jefferson counties showed Tuesday that they’re not much different than their fellow voters elsewhere.
Republican voters favored front-runner John McCain, who had an easy 35 percent margin over Mitt Romney in Jefferson County and a 23 percent lead over Romney in Clallam.
Although Jefferson County Democrats also posted a wide margin, with Barack Obama leading Hillary Rodham Clinton by 20 percent, Obama held only a 7 percent lead in Clallam County in a primary which has no effect on delegate counts to local, state and national conventions.
And Tuesday’s Election Night results showed a big Republican reversal in Clallam County: Voters heavily favored McCain over Ron Paul, a Texas congressman who won the most Clallam caucus delegates Feb. 9.
McCain had 46.38 percent, or 3,415 votes, in Clallam GOP primary returns.
Romney received 23.55 percent, or 1,734 votes, Mike Huckabee had 20.15 percent, or 1,484, and Paul had 6.97 percent, or 513.
The percentage margin between McCain and Paul in Clallam County: 39 percent.
During the caucuses, Clallam County Republicans gave Paul 47 delegates out of a possible 184, with 45 going to McCain, 37 to Huckabee, 27 to Romney and 28 delegates uncommitted.
“To me, this tells me that if you have the caucuses, it is possible to stack them with a certain number for one person and not for another candidate — and you could end up with a skewed result,” said David Cummins, vice chairman of the Clallam County Republican Party.
Clallam County Republicans will hold their county convention March 8 at Carrie Blake Park in Sequim.
