Drips and Drabs Before the Holiday

++The Donald just changed his voter registration to Independent from Republican. I guess he was tired of being dissed by the RNC, Karl Rove and all the others for his failed Newsmax debate.

++Steve Benen at www.Washingtonmonthly.com has an excellent piece trying to explain the three suicidal episodes of the Republicans in the House this year. The first was the vote for Paul Ryan's budget, which really would have eliminated Medicare, despite Polifact. The second was the debt ceiling debacle. And the third was the recent payroll-tax cut. He has alot of possible explanations for this, but I agree with the last one: They are just nuts.

++Paul Krugman had an op-ed yesterday about the Post-Truth Campaign, which skewers Mitt Romney's awesome capacity to lie and the fact he has been able to get away with it without the media hammering him about it.

++ For an anti-war candidate, Ron Paul's top three donor groups are Army veterans, Air Force veterans and Navy veterans. Of all the Republican candidates, Ron Paul has vastly more veteran donations than all the other candidates combined. What does that say about the mood of America's former military about our constant war making?

++Mitt Romney this week said he would not release his tax returns even if he won the Republican nomination. He didn't last go-around. When was the last presidential candidate who did not voluntarily release his tax returns? The last flap of this I can remember was the negotiations over Nelson Rockefeller becoming Vice President. Then it was the issue how to evaluate his mind-boogling wealth. It took a Senate committee to reach a compromise on his wealth. I can't understand Romney's campaign not understanding that this is a real political problem for their candidate. It's not like people think Romney is not very wealthy. After all that's his whole campaign.

++All you need to know about the health of a campaign's organization is to know that Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman did not get on the ballot in Virginia for the March 6th Super Tuesday primary. Newt blamed it on the new voter registration laws in Virginia.

++Eric Holder also is someone who believes America is exceptional. In a speech in Texas, Holder invoked our exceptionalism on our ability to vote. Holder opined that when you reach the voting age, you should automatically be able to vote. In a year, when Republican-run state governments are scrambling to restrict the right to vote, it seems the Attorney General is gearing up for battle. This week he blocked the new voter ID law in South Carolina because it was discriminatory against racial minorities. Expect to see more of this throughout the coming year.

++Newt is claiming he had a miracle 4th Quarter fund-raising. We don't know the figures but we did hear from the Romney campaign that they raised $20 million this quarter, which would be their best quarter yet. But remember Obama raised $55 million last quarter.

++The next Congressional fight will be revisiting the millionaire's tax, which Harry Reid offered to pay for the unemployment insurance and payroll tax exemption this time. Before departing Washington, Reid said he was putting it back on the table in the next Congress.

++For the holiday season what a nicer story than the news that Rick Santorum, the original Family Guy, bought the endorsement from Iowa's religious right champion Mr. Van derPlaats. Van der Plaats urged other candidates like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry to drop out of the race when the religious Right could not unite around a single candidate. Apparently, you were asked to pony up $1 million for this endorsement. He even hit up the Romney campaign. The Focus on Your Family (Not Mine) decided not to endorse anyone. Now progressive groups in Iowa are demanding the FEC investigate the matter. It hasn't helped Santorum because the latest poll shows he is at the bottom of the food chain in Iowa.

++The Southern Baptists are having a tough time trying to reconcile the evangelical support for Newt Gingrich with their disdain for family man Mitt Romney. Apparently, Mormonism is still the issue and Republicans in South Carolina now proclaim it will be the issue in that state's primary.

++Remember the big clash on next year will be over the automatic defense cuts and the Medicare cuts mandated when the Super Committee failed.

++Ross Douhut was in despair over the House Republicans screw-up this week. Ross thought the GOP had the Democrats where they need them. He claimed that the big score in this debate was that the payroll tax cut showed that Social Security was not a self-funding program and that the GOP should have made this issue central. Boy, why not pick another Third Rail. This would have made issue 4 in suicidal episodes.