Who drops out of the GOP race next?

My money is on Santorum, as Cain is too crazy to realize he is beaten and Gingrich is just going for the payday anyway. What do you think?

Is Perry unpopular in Texas with Republicans?

These results seem to indicate so. But it makes no sense to me. Can anyone explain?

There was another Republican debate

Some thoughts:

Romneybot 9000 did a bang up job. My favorite bit was where he calmly explained that Sharia law was not going to take over any courtroom in America, because we have our own Constitution. This is a huge insult to the Tea Party crazies, but delivered in such a way that they are unlikely to understand it as an insult. Essentially, it was a signal to the rest of the Republican party that he could reign in the crazies.

Rick Santorum did a pretty good job. He is definitely trying to ride Paul Ryan's plan all the way to the moon.

Bachmann was way more polished than I thought she would be. She's a contender. Like Rick Perry, she's like a Sarah Palin who can tell you what magazines she reads.

Ron Paul and Newt were supposed to bring the fun, but they both seemed old and tired.

My boy H-Bomb didn't do so well. I was hoping he'd eke it out a bit longer, but it's plausible that this was his last debate.

Final thought: Republicans have lots of kids! Bachmann took first prize by having five kids and having fostered twenty-three. Ron Paul gets honorary mention for having delivered 4000 babies.

Added bits about Romney's true status as a robot:

Herman Cain explains it all. Sort of.

H-Bomb makes a quite sensible point:

Asked why more African Americans haven't joined him at tea party rallies and conservative conventions like the Faith And Family Conference in DC this weekend, the millionaire ex-CEO has a different explanation. African Americans, Cain told TPM, are too poor to tea party.

"They can't afford to," Cain said. "So I think the first reason is economics. If you just look at the sheer economics of it."

"If you look at the typical income of a black family of four it's going to be lower than a non-black or white family of four," he explained. "Generally speaking on average, white families are much more economically prosperous than black families. So, many black families don't have the economic flexibility to go to a CPAC conference."

Most tea partiers, Cain said, "own their own business, or they have the type of job where they have the flexibility where they can go to the rally."

"Or they're retired," he added.

That's just not the kind of job African Americans have, he said.

Very sensible. African Americans could never take the time off from work to gather for rallies like this. But the Tea Partiers can make a real party of it!

So there you have it, straight from Herman Cain: The Tea Party is a party of dilettantes! 

There goes the coveted vampire vote

via

In a failed attempt to seem more like regular folks, Mitt Romney says:

“I mean, I like the Twilight series. I thought it was fun,” Romney said. 

That would normally be a sufficient occasion to stop and ponder on the candidacy of our man Mitt. But he kept going:

“I don’t like vampires personally, I don’t know any, but you know my granddaughter was reading it and I thought, ‘Well this looks like fun,’ so I read that.”

Holeee crap. There are several possible explanations here, and Steve Benen delivers the conventional wisdom:

One can almost see the gears shifting in Romney’s mind, as if he’s thinking, “Wait, will social conservatitves throw a fit if I like tween vampire fiction? Maybe I should mention that I don’t like vampires. But will that make it sound as if I know vampires? Maybe I should mention I don’t know any.”

But if we take the statement at face value, Mitt Romney believes that vampires are real enough that he could know and/or like one. 

This is actually scary. If Mitt Romney believes in vampires, maybe we should too!

Huntsman!

The fact that videos such as this are circulating already makes me think there isn't much of a shot for old Jon in 2012:



The maker of this video thinks that Huntsman should get in the race, though, saying:

Like many others, I strongly believe that traditional conservative ideals can and should prevail in 2012. But the path will not be laid for us, and conservative policy ideas, around entitlements and budget reform especially, still need to be tested with the electorate. So consider the primary campaign a warm-up for the main event, and Huntsman a proxy for what we might face in the general election.

Reasonable. I also think this might all work out very well for Huntsman, in 2016. In fact, I think this is actually Huntsman's grand plan. He'll walk into 2016 as the "you should have picked me" candidate and be facing a non-Osama-catching-incumbent-President.

Who ya got?

"The GOP field is now officially so weak that Rick Santorum is going to announce he's entering the race."

Zing! But seriously, it seems like all the real candidates are keeping their powder dry for 2016, when they won't be facing the second coming of Bill Clinton. Which means it's time for the second string, and it looks like it's going to be a party!

Who will enter, who will win?

For my part, my money is on the money, and the money is with my man Mitt. But I think Rick Perry is just dumb enough to run. And except for the scary possibility of him actually becoming president, I think a Perry run would be totally awesome. A failed bid that drags on long enough for the national machines to totally tar him in ways that his regional foes (for example, me) just can't manage might be the only thing that derails him from being our Governor for Life. 

What do you think, dear reader? Gary Johnson? Herman Cain? With Huck out, will Palin actually come in?

* Edited to fix Cain's name. It ain't Herbert, stupid. -Jason

Newt Gingrich is…

img by DonkeyHotey

 "… probably one of the most dangerous people for the future of this country that you can possibly imagine. He's Richard Nixon, glib. It doesn't matter how much good I do the rest of my life, I can't ever outweigh the evil that I've caused by helping him be elected to Congress."


quote of the week via MoJo

Michelle Bachmann, speaking from the heart

… on why she's qualified to be President of these United States:

"I have a very broad, extensive background.

I'm a student of many years. I've studied a number of, a wide berth of topics. I sit currently on the Intelligence Committee. We deal with the classified secrets and with the unrest that's occurring around the world. I also sit on Financial Services Committee.

But again, I've lived life.

Tomorrow, I'll be celebrating my 55th birthday, and I've had a wide, extensive life. And again, my background is a very practical, solution-oriented vision."

See the video.  

Not scared... yet.

Mike Huckabee generated a little buzz on Sunday. He told Fox News that he’s the Republican who “clearly at this point does better against Obama than any other Republican.” Mitt Romney, meanwhile, continues to focus on endorsements. He’sannounced three more in Maine, bringing his total this cycle to 100. Newt Gingrich is also keeping up with the endorsement game, throwing his support to Bill McCollum’s gubernatorial campaign in Florida.  Tim Pawlenty, for his part, continues to jet about. In recent days, he’s rallied GOP activists in Tennessee and tomorrow he heads to South Carolina, where he’ll lend a hand to Nikki Haley. Sarah Palin, of course, is also busy. | corner |

It's very hard for me to take any of these folks seriously as credible candidates for president at this point. Jonathan Chait, however, thinks that economic conditions could lead to what would be unthinkable in better times:

If economic conditions remain terrible, it's likely that the Republican Party will regain power. 9% unemployment would give even a radioactive figure like Sarah Palin a decent chance to win the presidency, and a double-dip recession would give her a very strong chance of success. This means there's a significant chance that by 2013 the country will be governed by a Republican Party that makes the Bush-era version appear benign by comparison. | tnr |

I gotta think things aren't that bad? C'mon, readers, tell me not to be scared.

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