++The Newt is in a tie with Willard in New Hampshire. The teabaggers like Newt and New Hampshire voters enjoy Newt beating up on the media. If Romney should lose New Hampshire, where he once had a commanding lead with a large percentage, his campaign is toast.
++Ron Paul is climbing in Iowa as is Newt. But observers note that the Love Revolution tends to attract committed followers, who can brave snow and sleet to vote for their man. A Ron Paul victory in Iowa would cap off his quixotic career.
++Rick Perry has been grasping for new hooks to get back in the race. First, he challenged Nancy Pelosi to a debate on his plans to change Washington. When that failed, he tried to go all birther and start bad-mouthing President Obama for not having worked for anything. Maybe, it's all because Perry's fund-raising has dried up. This quarter he is barely breaking $5 million, one-third the amount of the previous quarter.
++Michelle Bachmann said she met a 7ft tall doctor who told her that Medicare would be rationed under Obamacare. She told Fox News that so far she hasn't made any gaffes.
++The House is going to vote for the first time since 1995 on a Balanced Budget Amendment. A veteran economist from the Reagan and Bush administrations, Bruce Barlett called this the worst of worst ideas. David Dreier, California Republican, spoke out against the amendment on the House floor. Economists say that if this were ever adopted you would have an immediately doubling of unemployment and that's the good thing.
++Yesterday the House voted to make Pizza a vegetable. Let's just leave it right there.
++Speaker Boehner said that none of the savings from ending the Iraq war could be turned into any job-creating programs.
++But the Speaker thinks a bill for more drilling of oil would create jobs. I spoke with some Texas oil people today and they report that the whole oil and gas industry is having a problem now with a shortage of rigs because domestic exploration and production is booming. So I'm not sure whether the Tan Man understands this.
++We will probably end the year without any serious job bill being introduced in the House.
++Oh, wait, they did pass a tax credit for businesses who will hire Iraqi veterans.
++Right now Republican pollsters are reporting a 15 pt difference between Republicans and Democrats on enthusiasm for the 2012 elections. A 5pt difference is usually considered a wash. But such a difference if it continues would be bad news for the Democrats, who are looking to take back the House and retain the Presidency.
++Republicans expected to reverse the current Senate margin to 53-47 in their favor but party in-fighting at the state level has jeopardized many of what looked like certain gains. Democrats are talking like they will eeck out the Senate. But with Republican filibusters ,who could tell?
++The Special Committee has until Monday night to reach a deal on the debt. At that time, they have to submit it to the CBO for their scoring. But E.J. Dionne and others have argued that a failure would probably the best thing for debt reduction. The Bush tax cuts would expire and that alone would save $7 trillion over 10 years. Basically all that would be left on the table would be entitlement reform and that is an excellent topic for a political campaign. The Don't Do Anything school is picking up momentum. Even the defense hawks who are concerned about the $500 billion in defense cuts know that these will never happen. So people here are saying let it fail.
++Occupy Wall Street celebrated its two month anniversary last month with a protest at the New YorkStock exchange and a march up 5th Avenue. It's clear that Mayor Bloomberg is losing his cool as he said that the unions have now coopted the movement.
No comments:
Post a Comment