Here’s our thread to comment on the latest episode of the GOP’s three-ring circus, making its debut tonight in Illinois where Mitt Romney is expected to administer a severe drubbing to the other clowns. (Early reports say this is going to be the lowest primary turnout in Illinois history. These clowns seem to have lost their funny.)

Polls are closing at 8pm ET, about 10 minutes from now…

Mitt Romney is the big winner — well, maybe not so big: Record Low Turnout for Presidential Primary in Chicago.

Chicago election officials predicted the lowest turnout in a presidential primary in city history.

It was 15 percent at 2 p.m. and the previous low was 32 percent in 1996, said Langdon Neal, chairman of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

“It’s going to be the lowest,” Neal said. “The real issue is” how low.

He said he was crossing his fingers that the turnout might reach 20 percent.

Here’s an open thread to chew the fat about Super Tuesday. Eleven states’ worth of delegates are up for grabs tonight; polls start closing at 7pm ET. (And I’ll be surprised if Mitt Romney doesn’t come out the winner.)

Here’s a second live-snarking thread for the CNN Republican Party debate, as they approach the last few minutes with a deluge of xenophobia and atavism, but not a single question about science education, evolution, or climate change…

Howard Fineman says Republican insiders are suddenly seeing the hot air leaking out of Newt’s balloon.

The primary reason: the Palin Factor.

Some D.C.-based establishment types were preparing to reconcile themselves to former House Speaker Gingrich, if not outright endorse him, before or after the South Carolina primary last week. But according to one such insider, who asked not to be identified because of her prominent corporate lobbying role, Gingrich fatally said on Jan. 18 — three days before the primary — that he would offer former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin a “major role in the next administration if I’m president.” That one statement scared the accept-Newt, Republican-establishment types. “That sure did it for me, and I think for a lot of other people in town,” the lobbyist said.

Public Policy Polling says Romney now has a 10-point lead over Gingrich:

Mitt up by around 10 points on the first round of calls for our Florida poll…this one may end up being a snooze

— PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) January 28, 2012

CNN has a live video feed here, for tonight’s encore performance of the GOP’s Florida Clown Car.

The big difference tonight: hooting and jeering and applauding for reprehensible things will be encouraged by CNN and Wolf Blitzer, so Newt should be able to do some great rabble-rousing.

Watch out, here comes the GOP Clown Car again, disgorging its endless cargo of makeup-laden performers for another fantabulous debate about nothing of consequence.

In the Big Top, the Romney harlequin has no choice but to attack the Gingrich jester like a mad (but hilarious!) dog tonight; you can look forward to squirting boutonnieres, joy buzzers, and whoopee cushions galore as Ron “Zany” Paul and Rick “Madcap” Santorum mug wildly for the crowd on the sidelines. Come one, come all.

Issues you won’t hear any questions about: science, climate change, evolution, education, and Newt Gingrich’s sleazy personal life (the media learned their lesson in that last debate).

As we noted last week, four of the GOP candidates for President of the US failed to get on the ballot in Virginia, because of irregularities in their petitions.

And now, the same thing is happening in Illinois, where Rick Perry and Rick Santorum may be booted off the primary ballot.

#E0E0E0;border-radius:0;">#E0E0E0;border-radius:0;”>Ballot box via ShutterstockRepublican presidential hopefuls Rick Perry and Rick Santorum may be kicked off the Illinois primary ballot.

Texas Gov. Perry and former Sen. Santorum (R-Pa.) face official challenges to their candidacy petitions for the March 20 primary due to mistakes in their filings that were discovered last week.

Perry may not have followed state laws when he listed a post office box in Austin, Texas, as his address. Illinois law requires candidates to list their home address and not a post office box on the official filing, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Santorum failed to file any signatures in four Illinois districts. Additionally, he submitted “far fewer” than the 600 required signatures in 10 other districts, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The GOP clown car arrives tonight in Myrtle Beach; I’m sure everyone is filled with a delirious sense of anticipation. The wingnut herd has been ruthlessly thinned lately, and five candidates remain, four of whom have no real purpose except to prop up the pretense that someone other than Mitt Romney stands a chance at the nomination.

Fox News will be promoting the Republican Party tonight, as is their wont.

Here’s a live audio feed.

South Carolina’s The State newspaper is now endorsing Jon Huntsman in the Republican race.

It’s as if conservatives are playing “Wheel of Fortune;” every week they spin the wheel to see which of these interchangeable candidates is going to be the new kid on the block for a few days.

And please note — calling Huntsman a “moderate” is simply not accurate, except by comparison to frothing radicals like Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

OK now, this is just getting hilarious: Breaking: Michele Bachmann Iowa campaign co-chair endorses Ron Paul.

News is breaking this evening that presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s Iowa campaign co-chairman Kent Sorenson has endorsed Ron Paul, one of her rivals in the Iowa caucus race.

Sorenson, a state senator from Indianola, apparently announced the surprise endorsement from the stage of a Paul event at the the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

The turnabout is a major surprise with just six days remaining before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses. Sorenson, in fact, appeared at a Bachmann event just this afternoon — a stop at the Pizza Ranch in his hometown of Indianola.

[…]

Fellow Bachmann campaign co-chairman Brad Zaun told reporters Sorenson had just returned from the dentist, and Sorenson himself said he was saying little because he was still numb and afraid he would drool on himself.