'Mass hysteria' in Mo. as Republicans caucus on presidential race Reporting from Hazelwood, Mo. - Call it a "bloodbath," call it "mass hysteria," or just call it a presidential caucus. Call it what you want, but a day of electoral uncertainty in Missouri has proven what many already knew: The Show-Me state won't be showing its cards in the Republican president-making game any time soon. Vote your conscience! Rick Santorum told a crowd in St. Louis Saturday morning before hustling off to several other bite-sized campaign stops, all to snipe at Romney and shore up support in a state he'd already swept in a nonbinding February primary. But conscience-voting wouldn't quite cut it in Missouri on Saturday. The state's Republicans first had to wade through a widely-expected political pile-up in order to complete the next stage of Missouri's convoluted nomination process. "It's gonna be a bloodbath," Jay Zvirgzdins, 32, a fuzzy, blond-bearded, bespectacled Ron Paul fan said before his caucus Saturday morning in a little city called (really) Town and Country, Mo. He was waving his thermos at the crowd that had assembled to caucus at the Westminster Christian Academy, where Santorum had stopped by to speak to a few dozen fans and a handful of placard-wielding Mitt Romney supporters in this St. Louis suburb. The caucusing - in which Missourians picked the delegates who will elect the delegates who will cast their votes for a Republican nominee, the layers of it all a bit like the state's making a giant political nesting doll - went smoothly in some places, and more, um, bloodbath-like in others. The Kansas City Star reported that in Clay County, "arguments between Paul supporters and others became so intense the caucus chairman threatened to have voters removed by force." In St. Charles, Missouri political blogger John Combest tweeted that order broke down in the first 10 seconds of the caucus, with Santorum, Romney and Paul groups butting heads in a "mass hysteria" over how to proceed. Across the state, some argued that delegates should honor the February vote; others said that the delegates should be proportional. State representative Matt Ehlen tried to take order, announcing that, as Combest tweeted, "The police are ready to shut us down." As of last word, the caucus gave up and there had been no vote on delegates. "All we need is Ernie Hays on the organ to play "Three Blind Mice" or the Jeopardy theme," Combest tweeted.