In Other Super Tuesday News: Joe The Plumber Wins; Kucinich Loses

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Wednesday, 03/07/12 7:26am

Eyder Peralta

Republican congressional candidate Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, talks with supporters in February.

Our friends at It's All Politics have started to digest the results of Super Tuesday. In a nutshell, it pretty much left us where we were before the 10 big contests: All four candidates are still in the race and the campaign will go on and on.
There were two non-presidential pieces of news from last night, too:
-- Rep. Dennis Kucinich lost his primary against fellow Ohio Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who was forced to run against him when Ohio lost two congressional districts based on the latest Census.
CBS News reports on the campaign:

"Kucinich told Hotsheet in December that he would approach the race 'in the spirit of friendship,' but ultimately, the race became heated. In his concession speech, the AP reports, Kucinich charged his opponent 'ran a campaign lacking in integrity, filled with false truths.'
"During the campaign, Kucinich — an outspoken anti-war liberal — attacked Kaptur for voting to fund 'Bush's wars,' voting for the Patriot Act, backing the Keystone XL pipeline and opposing gay marriage, among other things. Kaptur, meanwhile, slammed Kucinich for voting against bills that would have brought in funds for new manufacturing jobs and veterans' care."

Kucinich had served in the House since 1997. The Wall Street Journal reports the congressman could run as an independent, but the Journal says that's unlikely.
-- The other related non-presidential piece of news from last night is that Samuel Wurzelbacher — otherwise known as "Joe the Plumber" — won his primary fight in Ohio's 9th District.
If you need your memory jogged: Wurzelbacher became nationally known during the 2008 campaign after he questioned the then-candidate President Obama about small business taxes during a campaign stop in Ohio.
Politico reports:

"Wurzelbacher hasn't exactly been embraced by the Republican establishment, largely because GOP officials regard the northeastern Ohio-based 9th District as tilting heavily Democratic and an unlikely November pickup. The National Republican Congressional Committee hasn't bothered to add Wurzelbacher to its 'Young Guns' program for top recruits. After Kaptur beat Kucinich, 'Joe the Plumber' will now face the veteran Democrat in the fall.
"Still, Wurzelbacher's candidacy has been greeted with enthusiasm by some conservatives. Late last month, Herman Cain came to Ohio to campaign for him.

We'll leave you with some early headlines summing up last night:
-- Politico takes a hard look at Romney, whose "flaws were on full display Tuesday."
-- The New York Times thinks pretty much the same thing. It writes that Romney ended the night with dashed hopes "of using the day to assert himself as the inevitable nominee."
-- Jay Cost and others at the National Review seem to agree that while it may be messy, Romney will come out of this primary a victor:

"It looks increasingly likely that Romney will have won at least a comfortable plurality in both delegates and votes by the time we get to Tampa, giving him a very strong moral claim on the nomination."

-- The Los Angeles Times goes with the headline: "Battle in Ohio reinforces GOP divide".