While Mitt Romney was originally declared the victor in the Maine Republican caucus, that ruling has now been reversed after state party officials decided to count precincts whose vote was delayed due to bad weather.
The New York Times reports that Romney's narrow victory in Maine's presidential straw poll is in doubt now that the state has decided to include the results from Washington County, which delayed its caucuses by a week because of bad weather and will now vote Saturday.
Romney managed to pull out a win over Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36, last week. The difference between the two men, however, was a scant 200 votes or so, meaning that Washington County voters could still push Paul over the top to his first victory. Given the stakes, observers are expecting a chaotic scene this weekend as both campaigns attempt to turnout their supporters. [...]
The nominating season began in Iowa with an apparent caucus win for Romney, although after a recount, Rick Santorum was declared the winner. The NYT explains that in Maine, party rules allowed for Romney to be declared the outright winner, even though several towns had not yet voted. But under increasing pressure, state Republican leaders reversed that decision on Thursday.
Romney may be declared the winner a second time after all is said and done, but this demonstrates how shaky his frontrunner status really is. He's been stripped of a win and is being challenged by Ron "Survival Report" Paul over less than 200 votes.
If only Maine had a voter suppression ID law in place, this never would have happened. Obviously.