1. Herman Cain and the Big Picture

2. Fact Check: Ron Paul is Wrong About Defense Spending

3. Retirements: An Early Reading On The 2012 House Race

4. Absentee ballots and campaign shakedowns in Miami

5. Things to Cut?

1. Herman Cain and the Big Picture

I would much rather talk about how Barack Obama is screwing the country with disastrous policies, but instead we are yet again forced to talk about who Herman Cain might have had sexual relations with.Yet again his staff (pun alert!!!!) has let him down. His attorney’s statement reads like a non-denial denial, which would be fine for a Democrat, but after Bill Clinton the GOP tends to get held to a higher standard on these things, rightly or wrongly.A woman claims that she and Herman Cain had a thirteen year affair — I’ve only been married eleven years. If the woman is to be believed, even while Herman Cain was battling Stage V colon cancer, he was carrying on with her behind his wife’s back.The woman — not a lady — claims it “wasn’t complicated.” She knew he was married and did it anyway.As a personal aside, I know Dale Russell the reporter who broke the story. We don’t always see eye to eye or agree, but he is a sharp reporter who wouldn’t do a story like this if he did not believe Ms. White.The phone number shown in the news story on Fox 5 Atlanta is Herman’s personal cell phone number. So this woman clearly did know Herman and have his personal number. Herman likes the Four Seasons restaurant on 14th Street in Atlanta. This lady clearly dined with him.Whether Herman had an affair with this lady or not is largely besides the point at this point. For months I said Herman had no path to victory because of two things (1) money and (2) staff. When he found the money he got on a path to victory. But his staff knocked him off it.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Fact Check: Ron Paul is Wrong About Defense Spending

During last week’s foreign policy debate, Ron Paul won accolades from the crowd when he professed that there are no real pending cuts to the military, just reductions in baseline spending. Here is the full quote:“Believe me. They’re cutting — they’re nibbling away at baseline budgeting, and its automatic increases. There’s nothing cut against the military. And the people on the Hill are nearly hysterical because they’re not going — the budget isn’t going up as rapidly as they want it to. It’s a road to disaster. We had better wake up.”This statement is absolutely false. Sequestration will indeed reduce military spending from ‘actual dollar amounts’ of FY 2011 spending levels over the next seven years.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Retirements: An Early Reading On The 2012 House Race

I assume that polling for Congressional races one year before they occur has little predicative power in races for perennially competitive seats. Thus, the Generic Congressional Vote numbers will probably offer little perspicacity between now and next Summer. Like an investor who tracks what corporate insiders do prior to investing or divesting in a stock, I find the recent trend of retirements in the House to be a potentially useful indicator.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Absentee ballots and campaign shakedowns in Miami

So, I confess, I had to look up who Luther Campbell was, aside from a guy who came in fourth in a race for county mayor in Miami-Dade County. He was a somewhat high-profile music promoter, fronting for groups like 2 Live Crew. But it is his electoral experience, as described in his column in the Miami New Times, that draws our attention today. He describes some of the more ugly experiences that someone like him has when trying to put together a campaign in Miami and the strange offers he gets.Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Things to Cut?

Paul Krugman wants to tax all sorts of things and in his zeal to tax (coupled with his partisan hackery) he chooses to ignore the GOP was willing to raise taxes on the Super Committee.Krugman wants to tax the rich, tax financial transactions, tax pretty much everything. It has become the Democrats’ mantra: tax, tax, tax.But they still can’t deal with this question: if we raise taxes on everybody earning $200,000.00 a year or more to the Democrats’ preferred level, whatever that level might be, we still won’t have enough to close this year’s budget deficit, let alone actually start whittling away at the national debt. So what do we cut?Please click here for the rest of the post.