So, to review the bidding: when Romney picked Ryan, Establishment Democrats (and their liberal lackeys) cackled in response that the GOP would now have to hide from the entire state of Florida, thanks to Mediscare. No way that they were going to go all-in, there. Yeah, about that?
The New York Times reported this morning that the combined raised total for Romney and the RNC was $40.1 million in April, with Romney having $61.4 million in the bank: in comparison, Obama/the DNC raised $43.6 million. Barack Obama’s own cash on hand for April – it was $104.1 million at the end of March – and we probably won’t be told it until the | Read More »
It’s funny, really. Somebody like Mark Halperin sees this: Barack Obama’s decision to base his re-election campaign outside of Washington seems to be working pretty darn well. The campaign’s massive, high-rise headquarters in Chicago’s Loop achieves a fine balance between 2008’s hip-casual dorm room (there’s a Ping-Pong table and cheeky homemade signage) and 2012’s systematized Death Star (there are more employees than I have ever | Read More »
As somebody commented privately, Obama’s just trying to mess with our heads now. Oh, sure, the man’s going to pretend that starting his campaign on May 5th is to honor Cinco de Mayo, but nope: it’s all about the Commies. But that’s OK: we here at the People’s Glorious RedState Revolutionary Collective can mess with heads, too.
Cook Political Report has more or less formalized their 2012 redistricting scorecard; their final score is a gain of one Republican seat, based solely on redistricting. Cook notes that this total actually represents about 10 to 15 seats being fortified for the GOP, given that the majority of legislators who benefited from redistricting were Republicans. This will no doubt infuriate Democrats, but then: elections matter. | Read More »
They crunched some numbers, put together an equation or two, sacrificed three white cockerels to Moloch and came up with… the Democrats picking up three seats in the House, and losing seven in the Senate. Which will lead people all over the spectrum to write posts and articles all using a variant of the concept Yes, probably. (pause) But…
In 2008, the Democratic party had one of the longest, one of the most expensive, and one of the most bitter primaries in American political history. It was a drawn-out, unpleasant affair where Hillary Clinton, the expected front-runner, was eventually beaten – despite the fact that she won almost all of the top Democratic-leaning states, arguably won the popular vote, and nobody actually won enough | Read More »
This screenshot from the front page of Real Clear Politics pretty much sums up the GOP nomination process as we enter December: To wit: every pundit and commentator in America is pretty much making it up as they go along at this point. Personally, I think that it’s good: electing a President is a serious business, so we should take seriously. Besides, look on the | Read More »
Such a quiet death rattle, all things considered: As a practical matter, the Obama campaign and, for the present, the Democratic Party, have laid to rest all consideration of reviving the coalition nurtured and cultivated by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The New Deal Coalition — which included unions, city machines, blue-collar workers, farmers, blacks, people on relief, and generally non-affluent progressive intellectuals — had the advantage | Read More »
Hot Air and Ace of Spades HQ are both contemplating the issue of Herman Cain, whether he can win, and whether he is truly likely to win. Fortunately or unfortunately – depending on your point of view – I take a utilitarian point of view on the matter: what does the Herman Cain Iowa plan look like? Does it look like this? Campaign organizer: We’re | Read More »
If so, the luxury of taking one’s time with picking a favorite GOP candidate is about to go away: In a bombshell this afternoon, New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner raised the strong possibility of a December first-in-the-nation presidential primary. In a statement entitled “Why New Hampshire’s Primary Tradition is Important,” Gardner, who has full authority under state law to set the date of | Read More »
Jonathan Chait really, really, really wants liberals to not notice that President Obama is no George W Bush. How much does he want it? He wants it badly enough to jettison the entire idea of the Imperial Presidency (don’t worry: Chait and the rest will start grousing about it again on, say, January 20, 2013). Nope, it’s not Barry Obama’s fault that he couldn’t spin | Read More »
I know, I know: that wasn’t the intent. The intent was to flog the concept that a debt ceiling is itself unconstitutional as per the 14th Amendment, thus obviating forever the need for Democratic politicians to stop spending money that we don’t actually have. Here’s the text from the 14th: Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, | Read More »
Consider this map (via Politico) showing what the DSCC calls a “Limited Resource Plan” for the 2012 elections: …which is, of course, being waved around by the DSCC for the purpose of convincing wary Democratic donors that donating money in 2012 to the group that lost seven* Senate seats and struck out on four prime pickups** in 2010 is a good idea. This did | Read More »
[UPDATE]: Nice take on this by one of our diarists. It’s strong; I thought that it might have been a bit long before watching, but there’s nothing in there that doesn’t need to be. Mitt Romney‘s campaign came up with a good one, here. One with a theme that should be repeated by the eventual candidate, at every opportunity. Via Jim Geraghty. Transcript (via email; | Read More »
Five terms is apparently enough *. Frankly, it’s more than enough for a lot of Senators out there, but that’s just my opinion. Contra Chris Cizzilla , though, Obama’s 15 point victory in 2008 is not the only thing to consider about New Mexico: it’s that in 2010 the GOP took the governorship and lieutenant governorship, flipped a House seat, and came pretty close to | Read More »
If you do political blogging or reporting for a while, you end up hearing this question a lot: Why should I bother to come out and vote for the [insert epithet here meaning 'not as ideologically sound as I am']? This would be normally responded to with a polite “That’s a good question” and a variable-length stream of blather before the question is actually answered, | Read More »
To evoke Terry Pratchett, what I’m going to be looking for is a candidate who I think will actively try to ensure that tomorrow is going to be pretty much like today. Liz Cheney (via Gateway Pundit) has some thoughts about whatever person we stick with the 2012 cleanup job is in for: I’m personally not all that interested in talking 2012 until we’re done | Read More »
Hey, I’m honest enough to admit when I’m wrong about something – and although I could weasel out of this, I won’t: it is clear from context here that my expectations were that the Democratic party would redesign their Presidential primary system (to prevent someone doing unto the President as he did unto Clinton) at some point in 2010. Well, that was flat-out wrong of | Read More »
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