Did the state GOP step in to prevent a Huckabee sweep yesterday?

I noticed last night that percentage returns received stopped incrementing - and I'm pointed at news this morning by kathrynt that it turns out the state GOP stopped counting ballots at 87.2% and just went ahead and declared McCain the winner. The Huckabee campaign is having no part of it and wants an explanation. Here's the Washington State Republican Party press release declaring for McCain.

Y'know what'd be better than stopping the count while the party insiders' preferred candidate is ahead and declaring him the winner? Counting all the votes, and then announcing a winner. The lead was going back-and-forth much of the night; this can't be considered definitive. If McCain doesn't win Washington State, then Huckabee had a sweep of all three GOP state events this weekend, and I'm sure there is a lot of pressure to prevent that.

ETA: Huckabee really doesn't like what's going on, and says "we're looking at some legal issues" in the count.

Godt dammit, it just keeps getting funnier

ETA: I got paged the result below and did look at the website referenced to verify the results, and should have also verified the date but didn't. The GOP result in Maine was from the 2^nd, not from today. Damn! In my defense, the supposedly current result on CNN shows 68% returns counted, so you can see how I was confused. Anyway, please ignore the below.

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Mitt Romney, who suspended his campaign (withdrawing from the race) to give Senator McCain a clear shot at the Republican nomination before the convention, has won the Republican Caucuses in Maine today. Convincingly. I'd call that a statement. As I would Huckabee's possible-sweep of Saturday caucuses.

Man. The base hates McCain so much. This is a laff fuckin' riot. I wonder if Romney will un-suspend his campaign just to keep Huckabee from gaining more traction?

Can I have the room for a minute?

Okay, right, everyone back in...

I guess if you go after reporters, even the Times might get cranky

Probably too late for it to matter in the Senate, the New York Times editorialises against the PAA/FISA revision bill, stating in plain terms some of the actual realities involving what's been going on:

The Senate debated a bill that would make needed updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — while needlessly expanding the president’s ability to spy on Americans without a warrant and covering up the unlawful spying that President Bush ordered after 9/11.

The Democrat who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, led the way in killing amendments that would have strengthened requirements for warrants and raised the possibility of at least some accountability for past wrongdoing. Republicans declaimed about protecting America from terrorists — as if anyone was arguing the opposite — and had little to say about protecting Americans’ rights.

We saw a ray of hope when the head of the Central Intelligence Agency conceded — finally — that waterboarding was probably illegal. But his boss, the director of national intelligence, insisted it was legal when done to real bad guys. And Vice President Dick Cheney — surprise! — made it clear that President Bush would authorize waterboarding whenever he wanted.

The Catch-22 metaphor is seriously overused, but consider this: Attorney General Michael Mukasey told Congress there would be no criminal investigation into waterboarding. He said the Justice Department decided waterboarding was legal (remember the torture memo?) and told the C.I.A. that.

So, according to Mukaseyan logic, the Justice Department cannot investigate those who may have committed torture, because the Justice Department said it was O.K. and Justice cannot be expected to investigate itself.

As it was with torture, so it was with wiretaps.

Lawlessness, torture-stateism, domestic spying, Democratic enabling - it's all there. So, well, there you are. Too bad they were silent - continually and repeatedly - when it mattered, and didn't support Senator Dodd's filibuster when that could have mattered, and didn't press the presidential candidates - mostly members of the Senate - on this at any time.

It's a damn shame, that. But at least they've, well, talking about it now. Maybe that'll help in the conference fight with the House version.