McCain:
First: 11 of 28 states (39.3%)
Second: 11 of 28 states (39.3%)
Third: 4 of 28 states (14.3%)
Fourth: 1 of 28 states (3.6%)
Zero: 1 of 28 states (3.6%)*
Romney:
First: 12 of 28 states (42.9%)
Second: 10 of 28 states (35.7%)
Third: 6 of 28 states (21.4%)
Fourth: 0 of 28 states (0%)
Huckabee:
First place: 6 of 28 states (21.4%)
Second place: 4 of 28 states (14.3%)
Third place: 13 of 28 states (46.2%)
Fourth place: 5 of 28 states (17.6%)
Zero place: 1 of 28 states (3.6%)*
California is essentially a microcosm of the United States. Republicans of all types and ages from all over the nation have settled there. Others have lived there for decades. They could not possibly be in perfect lockstep with one another from the Mexican border on the south to the Oregon border on the north, a distance of 800 miles. As such, and taking the law of averages into account, one could not too unreasonably assume that the results of the California republican primary should have very roughly mirrored those of the other 28 states as a whole (give or take a few counties).
The following list shows the number of California's 53 counties that each candidate should have won (SHW) based on the law of averages (when compared to the other 28 states combined) versus the actual tally:
McCain:
"Should have won" VERSUS the "actual tally"
SHW: First: 21 of 53 (39.6%) vs. 50 of 53 (94.3%)
SHW: Second: 21 of 53 (39.6%) vs. 3 of 53 (5.6%)
SHW: Third: 8 of 53 (15.1%) vs. 0 of 53 (0%)
SHW: Fourth: 2 of 53 (3.8%) vs. 0 of 53 (0%)
Romney:
"Should have won" VERSUS the "actual tally"
SHW: First: 23 of 53 (43.4%) vs. 3 of 53 (5.6%)
SHW: Second: 19 of 53 (35.8%) vs. 50 of 53 (94.3%)
SHW: Third: 11 of 53 (20.7%) vs. 0 of 53 (0%)
SHW: Fourth: 0 of 53 (0%) vs. 0 of 53 (0%)
Huckabee:
"Should have won" VERSUS the "actual tally"
SHW: First: 11 of 53 (20.7%) vs. 0 of 53 (0%)
SHW: Second: 8 of 53 (15.1%) vs. 0 of 53 (0%)
SHW: Third: 25 of 53 (47.2%) vs. 52 of 53 (98.1%)
SHW: Fourth: 9 of 53 (17%) vs. 1 of 53 (1.9%)
Trivia Note 1: For the heck of it, if you combine all of Huckabee's first and second place finishes in the 28 states aside from California, they total 10; therefore, theoretically, he could have had a combined total of 19 of 53 firsts and seconds in California, yet he got still 0 of 53 combined.]
Trivia Note 2: Nevada, where Romney won 51 percent of the vote, shares several hundred miles of border with California (Ron Paul, the next closest competitor in Nevada, had 14 percent, even though Nevada borders McCain's home state of Arizona), yet Romney won only one California county that borders Nevada. Romney also easily won in the western states of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. He would probably have won (may still win?) without difficulty in Idaho and Oregon, too. Oregon borders California and Nevada on the north, and Idaho, which borders Nevada on the north, is also not too far from California's northern border. Therefore, it is somewhat difficult to believe that Romney didn't win handily in more northern and northeastern California border counties.
Missing the Forest for the Trees
The percentages themselves in the California counties may vary at times (that is to be expected if someone is manipulating the voting machines), but they aren't wildly out of sync with one another. The manipulators would be sure to make the percentages of each county look slightly different from one another. The problem seems to be that they were so involved with carefully manipulating the percentages -- the trees -- that they forgot to look at their overall handiwork -- the forest -- from afar. As a result, it looks more like a manmade apple orchard than a natural forest. Maybe the rows -- the percentages -- aren't perfectly straight, but they are still clearly definable if one stands back and takes a serious look (while also keeping demographics, geography and religion in mind, not just mathematical statistics).
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*All of Wyoming's delegates went to Romney.
