11 am 10/29 update: LATEST Hurricane Sandy maps, evacuation, other details

Track the Hurricane Sandy storm live with maps.

BREAKING - HURRICANE SANDY IS AT 86 MILES PER HOUR (MPH), 9 DEGREES SHORT OF SAFFIR CATEGORY 2 - IS MOVING AT 20 MPH, 205 MILES SE OF ATLANTIC CITY, NJ

The projected path of Hurricane Sandy, as projected at 11:00 am EDT, Monday, October 29, 2012.

Storm tracking details at Reuters, Tracking Storm Sandy, as of 11:00 am Monday, October 29, 2012: Latest information on Hurricane Sandy (as of 11 am EDT):
• LOCATION: 37.5N 71.5W (205 miles southeast of Atlantic City, NJ and 260 miles South/Southeast of NYC)
• WIND: Max sustained winds at 90 miles per hour (150 km/h)
• MOVING: North/Northwest at 18 MPH (30km/h)
• BULLETIN: Click to read the full National Hurricane Center bulletin

[Source: National Hurricane Center, as of 11:00 A.M. ET Monnday]
Resources: Track Hurricane Sandy with our targeted Twitter List
NYC evacuation zones, ordered per mayor Michael Bloomberg
by matthew.keys edited by anthony.derosa 11:51 AM, 10/28/12

Thanks to WNYC for map of the Zone A, zone B, zone C New York City evacuation map. It includes evacuation centers.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg declares mandatory emergency evacuation zones; orders New York City schools to close, in 11:30 am Sunday news conference.
Zone A areas mandatory to be evacuated to include City Island, the coast of the Lower East Side, the Battery, South Street section, parts of Long Island City and Greenpoint surrounding Newtown Creek, Red Hook, the western, southern and eastern shores of Staten Island, all of Coney Island, all of the Rockaway Peninisula of Queens. Click on the map to get a closer view of zones.

*NATIONAL: VISIT READY.GOV for making a plan and packing a go kit.

*DELAWARE: Governor Markell declares a 'Level 2 Driving Restriction' provides that no person shall operate a motor vehicle on Delaware roadways other than essential personnel. 'Essential personnel' includes those employees necessary to maintain the core functions of government and maintain health and safety by providing utility services, healthcare services, and food and fuel deliveries.

*LONG ISLAND (NASSAU COUNTY, SUFFOLK COUNTY) EVACUATIONS, EMERGENCY MEASURES
Click to this site at North Fork Patch site.

*MARYLAND EVACUATION INFORMATION

Baltimore Sun: Ocean City mandatory evacuation of city's southernmost blockas, but some choose to remain.

*NEW JERSEY EVACUATION INFORMATION

*PENNSYLVANIA: SEPTA suspends services. Flights in, out of Philadelphia Int'l Airport cancelled for Monday. Pres. Obama approves governor's state of emergency.

AFL-CIO Community Services blog with FEMA and American Red Cross links

AlterNet: Combining weather conditions make Hurricane Sandy a Frankenstorm.

From Democracy Now: Hurricane Sandy kills 21 in the Caribbean

AFTER THE MAPS, Cultural impacts of Hurricane Sandy

As of 9:20 AM, Saturday, October 27, 2012, Hurricane Sandy remains a Category 1 storm. The northern tip of the storm is off Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and the southern end is off the coast of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It is currently making landfall from Kitty Hawk, down to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Much of the eastern interior of the Carolinas is affected by the rain.

Weather Underground's (wunderground.com) Wundermap

The Weather Channel's Weather.com's classic map

The Weather Channel's Weather.com's interactive map

Wunderground Maps using NOAA'S SLOSH (Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes) storm surge projection models

Weather Underground Georgia, Carolinas Storm Surge Model Maps, for the four Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scales

Weather Underground Middle Atlantic (VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY) Storm Surge Model Maps

Weather Underground New England (CT, RI, MA, NH, ME) Storm Surge Model Maps

First major property casualties:

Downtown Atlantic City, New Jersey flooded: (Twitter.com/hoeboma)
Eastern pier, off Ocean City, MD boardwalk is lost. (WGMD radio, Rehoboth Beach, DE)
Cultural impacts of Hurricane Sandy
It is projected to hit New England and New York State on Halloween or the day before. The storm will have resolved prior to the final weekend before the 2012 presidential and general election.

In this writer's eyes, the Huffington Post is being unnecessarily alarmist with its Reuters story headlined, "Hurricane Sandy Threatens U.S. Presidential Campaign." Voters in the swing states of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida will have had their fill of campaign attention by this weekend. Additionally, the storm has skipped the Florida coast, so the Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns can safely campaign there without fear of paltry crowds.

The storm could benefit Democrats as the storm moves the global warming discussion from theory to actual illustration. Additionally, all the cleanup and emergency assistance would be illustrations of positive government in action. However, there are the significant numbers of voters that cognitively fail to connect these actions to discussions of the worth of the role of government investment and spending.

More acutely, observers in Maryland are considering whether the storm will affect early voting in that state, Pikesville Patch reports.

2012 U.S. Presidential and Vice-Presidential Debates Schedule

2012 U.S. Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates schedule.
(And no, don't expect to find the Constitution, Green, Justice, Libertarian or Socialist or other minor party presidential candidates on the debate stage)

Debate date, day	Time (EDT)	Debate theme	Br'dcast networks	City	Site	Ticket
Oct. 3, Wed.	9:00 - 10:30 p.m.	Domestic policy	ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS	Denver, CO	Univ. of Denver	Ticket
Oct. 11, Thu.	9:00 - 10:30 p.m.	VP: foreign and domestic policy	ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS	Dan-ville, KY	Centre College	Ticket
Oct. 16, Tue.	9:00 - 10:30 p.m.	Town meeting: including foreign & domestic policy	ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS	Hemp-stead, NY	Hofstra Univ.	Ticket
Oct. 22, Thu.	9:00 - 10:30 p.m.	Foreign policy	ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS	Boca Raton, FL	Lynn Univ.	Ticket

Veep Pick Ryan Makes Plutocratic Ticket; Ryan's Wealth Sources

Paul Begala: With Ryan, Romney Has the Plutocrat Ticket [scroll down: Ryan and his wife's wealth, includes a trust fund] by Paul Begala Aug 11, 2012 8:47 AM EDT By choosing Paul Ryan—the guy who wants to slash taxes on the rich and gut the government—Romney shows he’s decided to go nuclear in the class war.

In selecting Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has doubled-down on the one thing he has never flip-flopped on: economic elitism. Romney, born to wealth, has selected Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who was also born to wealth. As the former University of Oklahoma football coach, Barry Switzer, once said of someone else: both these guys were born on third and thought they hit a triple. There's nothing wrong with inherited wealth. Lord knows great presidents from FDR to JFK came into their fortunes through the luck of birth. But there is something wrong with winners of the lineage lottery who want to hammer those who did not have the foresight to select wealthy sperm and egg. Finally, we have peered into Mitt Romney's core. It is neither pro-choice nor pro-life; neither pro-NRA nor pro-gun control; neither pro-equality nor antigay. But it is pro-wealth and very anti–middle class. Mitt Romney has decided to go nuclear in the class war. Paul Ryan, the darling of the New York–Washington media elite, is almost certainly not the most qualified person Romney could have picked. Unlike governors like Chris Christie or Tim Pawlenty, or a former high-ranking White House official like Rob Portman, Ryan has never run anything larger than his congressional office or the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile. The elite love Ryan because he speaks for more cowardly members of their class; his stridently anti–middle class policies are music to their ears. You will often hear people who ought to know better dress up Ryan's savage economic priorities with euphemisms. Ryan wants to "fix" Medicare. No, he doesn't. He wants to kill it. Saying Paul Ryan wants to "fix" Medicare is like saying the vet wanted to "fix" my dog Major; that which used to work very well no longer works at all—and Major is none too happy with the procedure. Think about that. As my buddy James Carville has said, what would all the Best People say if Nancy Pelosi made her staffers read, say, Margaret Sanger? Or if Barack Obama made interns study Das Kapital? Sure, a few months ago, facing Catholic protestors at Georgetown University, Ryan said he renounced Rand. But as the national Catholic weekly, America, wrote, he did not change the substance of a single policy. Some renunciation. It seems to me Ryan has renounced Rand's politically incorrect atheism, not her morally bankrupt philosophy of Screw Thy Neighbor. Politically, the choice does the one thing Romney needed least of all: it shifts the focus of the 2012 presidential election away from the soft economy and onto the Ryan—now, Romney-Ryan—budget. The most radical governing document in a generation, the Romney-Ryan budget would dramatically alter America's basic social compact. No less an expert than Newt Gingrich called it "right-wing social engineering". Don't be fooled. Ryan is no deficit hawk. He voted for all the policies that created the current ocean of red ink: the Bush tax cuts for the rich; the war in Iraq; the Bush Medicare prescription-drug plan, the first entitlement without a dedicated revenue source. Ryan cloaks his brutal budget in the urgent rhetoric of fiscal responsibility, but that's a Trojan Horse. As the Center for American Progress has noted, under the Romney-Ryan budget, "the national debt, measured as a share of GDP, would never decline, surpassing 80 percent by 2014, and 90 percent by 2022." Ryan's real goal is to destroy the ladder of opportunity for the poor and the middle class. Look at his budget: Medicare would be shattered and replaced with a voucher system wherein seniors would be given a stipend and told to negotiate with the health insurance goliaths. According to the Congressional Budget Office, ten years after the Ryan plan was enacted, seniors would pay $6,400 per year more for the same health care, as the stipend would fail to keep up with projected cost increases. And that's just for starters. One out of every four dollars spent on transportation—which is already underfunded—would be cut. Veterans' benefits would be cut 13 percent from what President Obama says is needed. Young men Paul Ryan voted to send into combat would suffer once more on the home front. Education would be cut, food safety, air traffic control, environmental protection—almost everything that makes us safer, smarter or stronger—would get hammered. How can a budget so brutal not make a dent in the debt? If you have to ask you have not been paying attention. What is the holy grail for princelings like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan? Of course: tax cuts for the rich. The Tax Policy Center crunched the numbers and found that under Romney's proposal, 95 percent of Americans would see their taxes go up by an average of $500, but millionaires would receive an extra $87,000 tax cut. The net result: an $86 billion annual shift in the tax burden away from those making over $200,000 a year and onto those making less. And so Romney Hood has his Friar Tuck. And somewhere in hell, Ayn Rand is cackling with glee. Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long. Paul Begala is a Newsweek/Daily Beast columnist, a CNN contributor, an affiliated professor of public policy at Georgetown, and a senior adviser to Priorities USA Action, a progressive PAC. For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com. Ryan's budget is the fiscal embodiment of the deeply evil, wholeheartedly selfish so-called philosophy of Ayn Rand. In fact, Ryan has described Rand as "the reason I got involved in public service," and reportedly makes staffers read her works.

Ryan has family business connection to earth moving industry. A mini-Dick Cheney II in some senses: In recent years, he has significant investments in Oklahoma mineral industries. Read on in Politico.

Unlike Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan’s personal wealth is no mystery Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79611.html#ixzz23KjyOcVT By DAVE LEVINTHAL | 8/11/12 11:46 AM EDT The details of Paul Ryan’s personal wealth are no mystery — unlike those of Mitt Romney. And while Ryan is nowhere close to the nine-figure wealth Romney boasts, he isn’t exactly hurting, either. Latest on POLITICO Hirono, Lingle prevail in Hawaii Meet Janna Ryan Ryan is liked by friends and foes Is Ryan just Mitt squared? 8 Dem slams against the Ryan budget Mitt hugs Ryan, not budget Ryan’s overall net worth falls between $927,100 and $3.20 million, making him the 124th wealthiest member of the House, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of the new Republican vice presidential candidate’s 2010 personal financial filings. (PHOTOS: Scenes from Romney's running-mate announcement) Additional personal financial disclosures by Ryan, who by law has each year filed such reports since entering Congress in 1999, indicate that the Wisconsin congressman has maintained well-above-average wealth for the duration of his congressional tenure. Ultra-wealthy Romney, in contrast, has largely occluded his recent personal financial history. He’s refused to release his recent tax returns before 2010, and unlike Ryan, is under no obligation to release annual personal financial disclosure reports. While running for president in 2007, Romney did file a federal public financial disclosure report that listed hundreds of assets across numerous financial categories. Ryan, meanwhile, has to date been under no significant pressure or obligation to release his personal Internal Revenue Service filings, although calls to do so will likely begin immediately. “It’ll be very, very interesting to see if Ryan releases his tax returns,” said Kathy Kiely, managing editor for the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which tracks political money. Ryan’s latest personal financial disclosure report, which covers calendar year 2011, lists several dozen stocks and mutual funds he or his wife, Janna, own. Ryan’s individual investments are generally modest, ranging in value from $1,001 to $15,000. (Federal law only requires lawmakers to report their assets and liabilities in broad ranges.) These include stock in well-known companies that run the gamut from tobacco and oil interests to fast food and athletic wear. Among them: Amazon.com, Air Products Chemicals, Accenture, Berkshire Hathaway, Estée Lauder, McDonald’s, Kraft Foods, Nike, Praixair, Ralph Lauren, Starbucks, Priceline.com, Mastercard, Google, Wells Fargo, Procter & Gamble, IBM, United Technologies, Visa, General Electric, ExxonMobil, Apple, Bristol Myers Squibb, Citrix Systems and tobacco companies Altria and Phillip Morris. Ryan also reported a holding in the Ryan Limited Partnership worth up to $250,000. He reported no financial liabilities. (PHOTOS: Paul Ryan through the years) Janna Ryan also individually reported a living trust fund worth $1 million to $5 million, that ranks as the largest asset they collectively reported for last year. She also individually reported up to $250,000 in assets tied to gravel rights with Blondie & Brownie LLC, $100,000 in mineral rights holdings, as well as up to $100,000 worth of holdings in the Little Land Co. All are located in Oklahoma. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79611.html#ixzz23Kk7jtXC

Sen. Sanders (VT) Outs 26 Billionaires Buying 2012 Election

Jason Easley reported in Politicususa, in "Bernie Sanders Exposes the 26 Billionaires who are Buying the 2012 Election" that Senator Bernie Sanders (VT, Ind.) exposed the 26 billionaires in a report before a Senate panel yesterday, July 24, 2012.

In his new report, America For Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, Sen. Bernie Sanders named names and called out the billionaires who using Citizens United to buy our democracy.

In front of a Senate panel today, Sen. Bernie Sanders outed the 26 billionaires who are members of 23 billionaire families that are using Citizens United to buy elections. Sen. Sanders estimated that these 26 billionaires are the tip of the iceberg. “My guess is that number is really much greater because many of these contributions are made in secret. In other words, not content to own our economy, the 1 percent want to own our government as well.”

Sanders explained how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision put the government up for sale, “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.’”

Sen. Sanders also did the last thing the billionaires wanted. He called them out by name.

According to the report, America for Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, here are the 26 billionaires who are trying to buy your government:

1). Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino, is worth nearly $25 billion, making him the 14th wealthiest person in the world and the 7th richest person in America. While median family income plummeted by nearly 40% from 2007-2010, Mr. Adelson has experienced a nearly eightfold increase in his wealth over the past three years (from $3.4 billion to $24.9 billion). Forbes recently reported that Adelson is willing to spend a “limitless” amount of money or more than $100 million to help defeat President Obama in November.

2. The Kochs (David, Charles, and William) are worth a combined $103 billion, according to Forbes. They have pledged to spend about $400 million during the 2012 election season. The Kochs own more wealth than the bottom 41.7 percent of American households or more than 49 million Americans.

3. Jim Walton is worth $23.7 billion. He has donated $300,000 to super PACs in 2012.

4. Harold Simmons is worth $9 billion. He has donated $15.2 million to super PACs this year.

5. Peter Thiel is worth $1.5 billion. He has donated $6.7 million to Super PACs this year.

6. Jerrold Perenchio is worth $2.3 billion. He has donated $2.6 million to super PACs this year.

7. Kenneth Griffin is worth $3 billion and he has given $2.08 million to super PACs in 2012.

8. James Simons is worth $10.7 billion and he has given $1.5 million to super Pacs this year.

9. Julian Robertson is worth $2.5 billion and he has given $1.25 million to super PACs this year.

10. Robert Rowling is worth $4.8 billion and he has given $1.1 million to super PACs.

11. John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made his fortune betting that the sub-prime mortgage market would collapse, is worth $12.5 billion. He has donated $1 million to super PACs.

12. Richard and J.W. Marriott are worth a combined $3.1 billion and they have donated $2 million to super PACs this year.

13. James Davis is worth $1.9 billion and he has given $1 million to super PACs this year.

14. Harold Hamm is worth $11 billion and he has given $985,000 to super PACs this year.

15. Kenny Trout is worth more than $1.2 billion and he has given $900,000 to super PACs this year.

16. Louis Bacon is worth $1.4 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

17. Bruce Kovner is worth $4.5 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

18. Warren Stephens is worth $2.7 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year.

19. David Tepper is worth $5.1 billion and he has given $375,000 to super PACs this year.

20. Samuel Zell is worth $4.9 billion and he has given $270,000 to super PACs this year.

21. Leslie Wexner is worth $4.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

22. Charles Schwab is worth $3.5 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

23. Kelcy Warren is worth $2.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year.

The thing that these billionaires love most about Citizens United it is that it allows them to operate in total darkness. The American people couldn’t fight back because the billionaires were giving their money anonymously. This same cloak of invisibility is what made ALEC so effective for years. The conservative billionaire cabal works best in private, behind closed doors, far away from curious eyes.

With his report today, Sen. Sanders has made it more difficult for thieves of liberty to keep operating in the night. We now have a list of names and we know what they are trying to do to our government. Sen. Sanders is one of the few federally elected officials who has the courage to talk about these people in public.

Most of the members of the House and Senate are too afraid to speak of, much less take on, the billionaires. Even those decent members of Congress who might speak out against them have been terrified into silence by threats of multimillion dollar negative ad buys that will run against the incumbent back home.

Bernie Sanders is displaying a brand of political courage that is sorely lacking in American politics today, and he needs you to stand with him to protect our liberties, our freedoms, and to battle to return the government back to the American people.

Will Growing Wildfires Tip Opinion on Global Warming?

You see the wildfires in record acreage, burning for days and days, covering more and more territory in California, New Mexico, Colorado. You wonder: will this break people's being stone-deaf to the reality of global warming.
Will people get burned out of their home or hosting others that have been burned out of their home saying, "gee, the fires are getting worse. I wonder if human activity has anything to do with this?"

(The above picture is of a Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs, Colorado.)
One Colorado-based writer and Democratic strategist has written a great rejoinder to George Will's arrogant "Get over it" on ABC's Sunday political talk television show, "The Week." (See this video link on George's wisdom.) Here are her terrific "How Can George Will Still Deny Global Warming?" on U.S. News and World Reports' site:

LAKEWOOD, COLO.—On ABC News's This Week this past Sunday morning, climate change denier George Will had an interesting take on the wildfires in the west and the powerful thunderstorms in the east:
How do we explain the heat? One word: summer. I grew up in Central Illinois in a house that had no air conditioning. What is so unusual about this? ... We're having some hot weather. Get over it.

In the words of Saturday Night Live: "Really?"
Memo from Colorado and the west: These pictures look like a little bit more than "summer".
[See Photos of Erratic Western Wildfires.]
I challenge Mr. Will to say "get over it" to the faces of the families that lost more than 700 homes in my state. I challenge Mr. Will to say "get over it" to the thousands of firefighters—many of whom lack insurance—who worked backbreaking shifts battling the Waldo Canyon Fire, the High Park Fire, the Flagstaff Fire, and any of the dozens of wildfires that have burned in Colorado and the West in the past couple of months.
As the AP put it, this summer is what global warming looks like. According to the New York Times on June 28, "There was agreement that this week's events fit into a pattern of extreme weather events and catastrophic fires that climate scientists predict will only worsen in decades to come."
This picture also looks like a bit more than "hot". That would be the United States Air Force Falcons football stadium in the foreground. Part of the Air Force Academy base housing had to evacuate because of the Waldo Canyon Fires.
[See Photos as Summer Heat Arrives in Full Force.]
Colorado is home to a few other things, including The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. The center's scientists won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for their work on climate change. This year they were evacuated due to the Flagstaff fire. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute for Science and Technology also have offices in Boulder and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is in Golden. They were, fortunately, not evacuated, although they were on alert just in case.
All of these agencies and their scientists are engaged, in some way or another, with coping with climate change. They are analyzing it, measuring it, and figuring out ways to mitigate it. They don't pooh-pooh it from the seat of an air-conditioned TV studio, maybe because they can see it from their window.
Once upon a time, George Will was a mildly amusing mainstream conservative. But his descent into flat-earther madness on climate change is emblematic of a larger problem: the right's refusal to address, or even acknowledge, the environmental catastrophe right in front of us.
As Molly Ivins once put it about George Bush, "Real Texans do not use 'summer' as a verb." And decent human beings do not use it as a noun to belittle the real suffering of people coping with a natural disaster.

(See this Mike Papantonio video link, "Papantonio: Republicans Bury Their Heads In The Sand on Climate Change.") The New York Times' 2012 electoral projection map for the presidential race is calling the presidential race in Nevada and Colorado. Those states are super hot, and now wildfire season in Colorado is worse than usual. Could the fires and the record temperatures tilt the vote to the Democratic column there this year?
Will 2012's western fires and record temperatures tilt votes so that appointed incumbent Republican Nevada senator Dean Heller (to fill the seat of scandal-plagued John Ensign) gets turned out by Shelley Berkley, Democratic congresswoman from suburban Las Vegas?
* * *
PRESIDENT OBAMA DIRECTS THAT WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS BE OFFERED INSURANCE Readers abroad would read that headline aghast that firefighters have no insurance.
Cheers for President Obama for offering federal health insurance to uninsured firefighters, the Denver Post reported yesterday, July 10, 2012. Some background:

The 15,000 or so temporary seasonal workers who descend into fire zones are usually young people who work sundry outdoor jobs, depending on the time of year. Some pick up contract work removing trees in the fall or they work at ski areas in the winter. Many are college students.
But because they are not full-time U.S. Forest Service employees, before Tuesday's announcement they did not have the option of purchasing federal health insurance.

Read more at the Denver Post: Obama directive offers wildland firefighters health insurance -http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21045438#ixzz20L8hWR1W
-Thanks to democraticunderground.com for the reference. Better than Scranton, Pennsylvania, whose mayor is reducing firefighters' pay to minimum wage.

Update: Best page for 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries dates, # of delegates, winner-take-all or proportional through Super Tuesday

My developing table on 2012 Primaries and Caucuses for the Republican Presidential Nomination: (parentheses = probably)
The Republican National Convention will be held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, August 27 (Monday) to 30 (Thursday), 2012.

State	Date (Sat. elections in italics)	Caucus or primary	Open or closed	Winner-Take-All or proportional	Number of delegates
Iowa evangelical	January 3	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	28
New Hampshire libertarian but New England	January 10	Primary	Open to Republi- cans and Indepen- dents	Proportional	12
South Carolina evangelical	January 21	Primary	Open	Winner-take-all	25
Florida evangelical, Old South north; cosmopolitan southern section	January 31	Primary	Closed	Winner-take-all	50
Nevada libertarian West; besieged with foreclosures	February 4	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	28
Maine (municipal level)	February 4 to 11	Caucus	Closed	Determined at precinct level (Likely WTA)	24
Colorado social conserv., but libertarian	February 7	Caucus	Closed	Unbound	36
Minnesota	February 7	Caucus	Open	Unbound	40
Missouri (non-binding, see 3/17 cauc.)	February 7	Primary	Modified	Alloct. at convention	52
Arizona	February 28	Primary	Closed	WTA	29
Michigan	February 28	Primary	Open*	Proportional (15% threshold)	30
Washington	March 3	Caucus	Open	Mixed WTA/Proportional	43
Alaska	March 6	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	27
Georgia	March 6	Primary	Open	Mixed WTA/Proportional	76
Idaho	March 6	Caucus	Open	Mixed WTA/Proportional	32
Massachusetts	March 6	Primary	Semi-Open	Proportional (15% threshold)	41
North Dakota	March 6	Caucus	Open	(per state party's county convention rules)	28
Ohio	March 6	Primary	Closed	Mixed WTA/Proportional	66
Oklahoma	March 6	Primary	Closed	Modified WTA	43
Tennessee	March 6	Primary	Open	Mixed WTA/Proportional	58
Vermont	March 6	Primary	Open	Modified WTA	17
Virginia	March 6	Primary	Open	Modified WTA	49
Wyoming	March 6 to March 10	Caucus (County Convention)	Closed	(per state party's county convention rules)	29

Table in progress.

Source for winner-take-all or proportional allocation of delegates:
http://www.fairvote.org/delegate-allocation-rules-in-2012-gop
*In Michigan, voter may chose which party primary in which to vote, but once they have chosen that party, they must vote for all one party once they have entered the voting booth.
Source:
http://www.fairvote.org/congressional-and-presidential-primaries-open-closed-semi-closed-and-top-two#.T0nx_Ixj5ac

Projected winners in latest opinion polls; highlights are links to polls:
Arizona: Mitt Romney
Michigan: toss-up, leaning Romney
Big considerations, states with over 50 delegates, March 6, Super Tuesday:
Georgia: Newt Gingrich, but with only a three point lead on Romney
Ohio: Rick Santorum
Tennessee: despite being next-door to Gingrich's home state: Santorun

Update: Best page for 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries dates, # of delegates, winner-take-all or proportional

PLEASE SEE MY FEBRUARY 25 POST FOR LATEST UPDATE.
My developing table on 2012 Primaries and Caucuses for the Republican Presidential Nomination: (parentheses = probably)
The Republican National Convention will be held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, August 27 (Monday) to 30 (Thursday), 2012.

State	Date (Sat. elections in italics)	Caucus or primary	Open or closed	Winner-Take-All or proportional	Number of delegates
Iowa evangelical	January 3	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	28
New Hampshire libertarian but New England	January 10	Primary	Open to Republi- cans and Indepen- dents	Proportional	12
South Carolina evangelical	January 21	Primary	Open	Winner-take-all	25
Florida evangelical, Old South north; cosmopolitan southern section	January 31	Primary	Closed	Winner-take-all	50
Nevada libertarian West; besieged with foreclosures	February 4	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	28
Maine (municipal level)	February 4 to 11	Caucus	Closed	Determined at precinct level (Likely WTA)	24
Colorado social conserv., but libertarian	February 7	Caucus	Closed	Unbound	36
Minnesota	February 7	Caucus	Open	Unbound	40
Missouri (non-binding, see 3/17 cauc.)	February 7	Primary	Modified	Alloct. at convention	52
Arizona	February 28	Primary	Closed	WTA	29
Michigan	February 28	Primary	Closed	Proportional (15% threshold)	30
Washington	March 3	Caucus	Closed	Mixed WTA/Proportional	43
Alaska	March 6	Caucus			27
Georgia	March 6	Primary			76
Idaho	March 6	Caucus			32
Massachusetts	March 6	Primary			41
North Dakota	March 6	Caucus			28
Ohio	March 6	Primary			66
Oklahoma	March 6	Primary			43
Tennessee	March 6	Primary			58
Vermont	March 6	Primary			17
Virginia	March 6	Primary			49
Wyoming	March 6 to March 10	Caucus (County Convention)			29

Table in progress. Corrections, comments are welcome.
Aside from the above table,
the following is the link for THE best site for the races for the 2012 Republican presidential nominating convention: http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/R-DSVE.phtml
The Florida and Virginia primaries (January 31 and March 6, and 50 delegates and 46 delegates, respectively) will be pivotal. Florida will be a winner-take-all state.
Florida polls hours: they are open 7 AM to 7 PM (yet, the West Florida Panhandle votes has a later deadline, as the 7 PM Central Time closing time is 8 PM Eastern Time.
(Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2017380004_campaignslog31.html)
Virginia winner-take-all at the district level; WTA at state level if a candidate gets a majority. These Virginia rules will be moot, since Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were the only ones that qualified for the ballot, one of the two will get a majority, of course.
So, in essence, Virginia is throwing the nomination to Romney, with its ballot qualification rules.

The following states had their allotted delegate counts reduced by 50 percent for moving their primary election dates earlier: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Michigan.
1,128 delegates are needed for the Republican nomination; 2,255 delegates are available.

The site, "The Green Papers: Presidential Primaries 2012: Republican Delegate Selection and Voter Eligibility", gives a wide range of important details: not just election date, but also indications for primary or caucus, winner take all or proportional, number of delegates:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/R-DSVE.phtml

Other authoritative reference:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2011/1102/Election-101-What-s-the-Republican-primary-calendar-for-2012/The-Fab-Five --but only for first five elections

Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

Best page for 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries dates, # of delegates, winner-take-all or proportional

My developing table on 2012 Primaries and Caucuses for the Republican Presidential Nomination: (parentheses = probably)
The Republican National Convention will be held at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa, Florida, August 27 (Monday) to 30 (Thursday), 2012.

State	Date	Caucus or primary	Open or closed	Winner-Take-All or proportional	Number of delegates
Iowa evangelical	January 3	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	28
New Hampshire libertarian but New England	January 10	Primary	Open to Republi- cans and Indepen- dents	Proportional	12
South Carolina evangelical	January 21	Primary	Open	Winner-take-all	25
Florida evangelical, Old South north; cosmopolitan southern section	January 31	Primary	Closed	Winner-take-all	50
Nevada libertarian West; besieged with foreclosures	February 4	Caucus	Closed	Proportional	28
Maine	February 4 to 11	Caucus	Closed	Determined at precinct level (Likely WTA)	24

Table under construction. Corrections, comments are welcome.
Aside from the above table,
the following is the link for THE best site for the races for the 2012 Republican presidential nominating convention: http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/R-DSVE.phtml
The Florida and Virginia primaries (January 31 and March 6, and 50 delegates and 46 delegates, respectively) will be pivotal. Florida will be a winner-take-all state. Virginia winner-take-all at the district level; WTA at state level if a candidate gets a majority. These Virginia rules will be moot, since Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were the only ones that qualified for the ballot, one of the two will get a majority, of course.
So, in essence, Virginia is throwing the nomination to Romney, with its ballot qualification rules.

The following states had their allotted delegate counts reduced by 50 percent for moving their primary election dates earlier: New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Michigan.
1,128 delegates are needed for the Republican nomination; 2,255 delegates are available.

The site, "The Green Papers: Presidential Primaries 2012: Republican Delegate Selection and Voter Eligibility", gives a wide range of important details: not just election date, but also indications for primary or caucus, winner take all or proportional, number of delegates:

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/R-DSVE.phtml

Other authoritative reference:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2011/1102/Election-101-What-s-the-Republican-primary-calendar-for-2012/The-Fab-Five --but only for first five elections

Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum