On the Maine Caucus results at The Daily Beast

On those occasions when my home state of Maine wanders in front of the national headlights, I provide coverage for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Tonight was one of those occasions, owing to the fact that the state Republican presidential caucus might actually matter this time around. Here's my piece on Mitt Romney's narrow victory over Ron Paul here, which posted an hour ago.

The results matter mostly in terms of media narrative, both because there won't be another contest for 17 days and because, due to the state party's rules, they have no binding effect on the delegate count. Delegates are free to ignore the vote altogether and pledge their support to whomever they wish.

While the Maine caucus was good news for Romney, a national poll released today showed Rick Santorum leading the field. Romney will almost certainly be the GOP nominee, but he's going to be sweating it for some time to come.