Taking a look at the Wisconsin county returns, it looks like Mitt Romney will do better than the 42%-38% margin he has in the precincts so far counted. Rick Santorum is leading in Madison’s Dane County with 76% of precincts reporting—a clear instance of Democratic crossover voting for Santorum. But Romney is leading with between 48% and 61% in the five-county Milwaukee metropolitan area where the percentage of precincts reporting in each county are still low: Milwaukee County (33% reporting), Racine County (20%), Ozaukee County (60%), Washington (61%) and Waukesha (5%). Waukesha County is key. It is the third largest county in the state, and very heavily Republican (62% for McCain in 2008). Waukesha County was the last reporting county in last year’s recall election against a Republican state Supreme Court justice, and when it did report—via the Republican county clerk, a hopeless incompetent—it omitted the returns from the city of Brookfield, which ended up providing the winning margin for the Republican. The 5% of Waukesha precincts so far reporting show Romney leading Santorum 61%-28%. When the final returns are in, they will surely increase Romney’s statewide margin.
