After botching the initial rollout of his campaign, Newt has now failed to meet the standards for participating in the first debate in Greenville, SC, this Thursday night (May 5).  The bar was set fairly low–take some initial formal step towards candidacy.  Newt, however, has yet to disentangle himself from commitments that, he claims, prevent him from even establishing an exploratory committee.  At this point, almost 200 individuals have filed notice with the F.E.C. that they have established Exploratory Committees–most of whom you will never hear of.  South Carolina is clearly the early primary that Newt has to win, and Republicans in the state will remember that he was a no show at Greenville.  One has to wonder if Newt can get it together enough to mount an effective campaign for the nomination.  More and more, he’s beginning to look like Haley Barbour.  Maybe he also doesn’t have the fire in the belly needed to compete.

Toonces the Cat