The 7-10The 7-10Political analysis, insight, and commentary. Articles
The Ron Paul Appeal
2007-11-06 19:15:00 In what may be shocking to establishment politicos everywhere, Ron Paul raised about $4 million online yesterday. That's $4 million raised in a single day. I can only imagine how John McCain and Mike Huckabee feel about this. Even though their polling is much better, their fundraising can't compete with this.I really don't know how to classify Ron Paul, nor do I know how to accurately gauge his true support. But it seems to me like Paul's support is coming from the following:1. Libertarians. The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United States. Libertarians are often torn between voting for their party's nominee and voting Republican in general elections. Republicans' positions on limited government, fiscal conservatism, and gun rights please Libertarians even though their results might not always match their rhetoric. The religious part of the Republican platform, however, discourages Libertarians who believe no religion (including Christia... More About: Appeal
Edwards: The Clinton-Obama Pivot
2007-11-04 18:27:00 Much has been written about last week's Democratic debate in Philadelphia. Judging from most of the accounts I've read, the thing everyone seems to be talking about is Hillary Clinton 's equivocations regarding the driver's license issue for illegal aliens. To Clinton's credit, the illegal immigration issue is extraordinarily complex--one that is difficult to reduce to bimodal yes-or-no thinking. However, the political consequences of such caution can be quite harmful, as one's thoughtfulness can easily be spun as pandering, hedging one's bets, dodging the issue, trying to have it both ways, or political expediency.John Edwards picked up on this immediately and attacked Clinton hard for it during the debate. Since then, he has worked hard to drive "Hillary's double-talk" home, as is evidenced by this tough video his campaign crafted shortly after the debate. However, for the Edwards campaign, his attacks on Clinton have had more than just the benefits of getting Democrat... More About: Obama , Linton
Pennsylvania Debate Analysis (D)
2007-11-01 05:10:00 The Democratic presidential candidates mixed it up last night in Philadelphia at what was their most contentious debate thus far. One of the many storylines going into the debate was whether anybody could stop the Clinton steamroller. Coming out of the debate, the storyline is that Clinton finally took one on the chin and now looks vulnerable. She committed an unforced error that provided the weapon all the candidates can use to take her down.About Mike Gravel:The debate lasted two hours and involved all the candidates except for Mike Gravel. Gravel was not missed, as the flow of the debate seemed a bit less disjointed. In the previous debates, whenever Gravel spoke, I got the sense that listeners would roll their eyes and attempt to tune him out. Because he often said something awkward or outlandish (such as his assertion that he didn't need to repay his credit card debt), the audience would laugh or shake their heads in disbelief. That would detract from the tone of the di... More About: Analysis , Debate , Pennsylvania , Sylva , Anal
Pennsylvania Debate Initial Thoughts (D)
2007-10-31 11:57:00 Having just watched the Democratic debate in Philadelphia, I can confidently say that the Democratic horserace just became considerably more competitive. The major news story of the night is that Hillary Clinton proved what John Edwards has been attacking her on all along: her obfuscations, evasiveness, and "doubletalk."In short...Hillary Clinton's poll numbers should come crashing back down to earth. Expect her to spend a lot of time doing damage control in the near future because a huge hole was exposed in her armor and the other candidates and the media are going to drive a bus through it. She had better hope the word "doubletalk" doesn't stick. In the meantime, she better find a better answer to the illegal immigration question, and quick.Barack Obama did not score any knockout punches tonight, but he did well enough to stave off being written off by the media. He started off weak, but gained steam as the debate progressed. He was better able to find an effective balanc... More About: Thoughts , Debate , Pennsylvania , Sylva
Before the Pennsylvania Debate (D)
2007-10-30 02:19:00 All the Democratic candidates (sans Mike Gravel) will participate in their next debate tomorrow evening at 9:00 in Philadelphia. The debate will be broadcast on MSNBC and will be co-moderated by Brian Williams and Tim Russert. Brian Williams moderated the very first debate held in Orangeburg, South Carolina, so this debate serves as a bit of a homecoming of sorts.The link I just provided was to the debate preview I had written in April in which I assessed each candidate's positioning, rivals, weaknesses, and ways they could make their path to the nomination a bit less bumpy. That was six months ago, and it is now the end of October. We are no longer in the preseason, as the Iowa caucuses are set for January 3, which is in just a little over two months. The race has taken on numerous storylines since this spring and several facts have been learned. Here's where things stand now:1. Iraq's importance to Democratic voters is not as important as the media and pundits are making... More About: Debate , Pennsylvania , Sylva
Another Black Eye for the Bush Administration
2007-10-28 02:04:00 While California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has generally been lauded for his leadership during the California fire disaster, the federal government is making headlines again for all the wrong reasons. According to CNN, the Federal Emergency Management Agency staged a phony news conference in which FEMA staffers posed as journalists and asked softball questions that lent themselves to gratuitous and self-aggrandizing responses:Q: "Are you happy with FEMA's response, so far?"A: "I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far. This is a FEMA and a federal government that's leaning forward, not waiting to react. And you have to be pretty pleased to see that."Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, who apparently had no knowledge of this staged event, was outraged:"I think it was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government. I have made unambiguously clear, in Anglo-Saxon prose, that it is not to ever happen again and there... More About: Bush , Bush administration , Black , Administration , The Bush
California, Fires, Race, and Partisanship
2007-10-26 20:22:00 The Calif ornia fires have been the big story in the news this week. As tragic as they may be, the media love such stories because of the wealth of story ideas they generate. Human interest stories about rebuilding, the criminality angle stemming from arson investigations, health stories about breathing in soot, political stories comparing Bush's response now with Bush's response during Hurricane Katrina, and stories of heroism on behalf of firefighters and emergency rescue personnel ensure that there won't be any slow news days for awhile. Unfortunately, some of what's being reported also illustrates what's wrong with America these days. I've been watching this media coverage over the past few days and have made a few observations.Partisanship: Black vs. WhiteBlacks, especially those in Louisiana displaced by Hurricane Katrina, are listening to the media coverage of this disaster carefully. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there was a chorus of politicians and pundits w... More About: Race , Fires , Artis
Republicans and the Clinton Calculus
2007-10-23 22:00:00 While the race for the Republican presidential nomination is wide open, as there are five plausible winners (Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Romney, and Thompson), the Democratic contest is a bit less competitive. Hillary Clinton has combined strong fundraising with strong national and state polling to become the "inevitable" nominee. Of course, Clinton is doing her best to downplay such talk, but most people aren't buying it, especially if her main rival, Barack Obama, is referring to himself as an underdog. (So if Obama is an underdog and Clinton is not a frontrunner, then who in the world is leading the Democratic pack? Chris Dodd?)Anyway, Republicans , who are acutely aware of Clinton's strength, have all but annointed her as their general election opponent. Several of the candidates have used Clinton as a punchline in their stump speeches and as easy applause lines in the debates, as was evidenced by the recent Republican debate in Florida. Former Bush adviser Karl Rove also... More About: Linton
Mike Huckabee's First Mistake
2007-10-21 01:15:00 I have written quite favorably about former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in the past, as I have long viewed him as potentially the strongest Republican presidential nominee because of his unimpeachable conservative credentials, executive experience, superior debating skills, and affable demeanor. Huckabee comes across like a Christian conservative with a smile. As a result, he seems much more palatable to moderates and even liberals because even though his political views are undoubtedly in line with the religious right, he does not come across as threatening as a Jerry Falwell or a James Dobson. After flying under the radar for months and long being ignored, the media are finally beginning to pay attention to him, as David Brooks of the New York Times has done.However, now that more of the media spotlight is on him, his statements and positions will receive greater scrutiny than in the past. This is not to say that Huckabee should be cautious and scripted. However, it does ... More About: Kabe , Mista
Broken Brownback and Blue
2007-10-19 14:15:00 Republican candidate Sam Brownback is expected to drop out of the presidential race today. Given the way things have been going for his campaign since August, it is easy to understand why.When his campaign was over:I remember writing about the battle between Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee shortly before the Ames straw poll back in August. I argued that there just wasn't enough room for both of them and that whoever won this battle would advance while the loser would be running on borrowed time. Huckabee ended up placing second while Brownback placed third despite his perceived superior campaign organization and all the time he had invested campaigning in the state. Immediately after the straw poll, I speculated that Brownback would drop out soon.But he decided to stick it out. And the longer he remained in the race, the more obvious it became that he should leave. And to top it off, his prolonged departure ironically only further elevated his chief rival Huckabee because it ... More About: Blue , Broken
T.E.R.R.O.R. (The Enmity Regarding Romney and Obama's Religion)
2007-10-16 22:09:00 Although I am a news and political junkie, I am not an avid reader of traditional news magazines, such as Time or Newsweek. I do, however, subscribe to National Journal and am quite pleased. One of my favorite features of National Journal is their "Political Insiders Poll" which checks the pulse of Washington's top power players, such as consultants, campaign staffers, party officials, and even politicians themselves. This poll provides an excellent opportunity to contrast the mentality of the "Washington in-crowd" with the mentality of regular people.This week's poll asked if Mitt Romney needed to address the issue of his religious faith the way that JFK did back in 1960. Here are the findings:Among Republicans (83 respondents)59% said do it soon16% said do it only if he becomes the Republican nominee23% said it's not necessaryAmong Democrats (79 respondents)44% said do it soon42% said do it only if he becomes the Republican nominee11% said it's not necessaryYou have to sub... More About: Religion
Obama: Why the Dark Horses Need Him
2007-10-15 04:55:00 Much has been written about the perceived inevitability of Hillary Clinton based on her superior fundraising and strength in national and state polls. Clinton raised the most money during the third quarter and sits atop all national polls and almost all state polls, although her lead in Iowa is a bit more tenuous. Given this enviable positioning, Clinton could conceivably score a knockout punch by winning the first contest in Iowa and then running the table after that. The political calculus for all the other candidates is simple: Any other Democratic candidate who wants to be the nominee must stop Clinton in Iowa. It doesn't matter if Clinton places second or third; she just can't win Iowa if they want to have a chance of slowing her down.Here's how things stand in Iowa right now:Mike Gravel is registering no support at all in most Iowa polls. Chris Dodd is not beating the margin of error. Dennis Kucinich is performing a bit more strongly than Chris Dodd, but he doesn't ... More About: Obama , Dark , Horses , The Dark
Gored by Gore: Part 4
2007-10-12 23:07:00 Throughout the 2008 campaign, there has been a lot of speculation about presidential bids by people who have expressed limited interest in joining the race. Such figures include Condoleeza Rice and Newt Gingrich on the right and Wesley Clark and John Kerry on the left. However, nobody has been more heavily scrutinized than former vice president Al Gore . Since coming out on the losing end of what was essentially a perfect tie in the 2000 election, much has been written about a potential Gore rematch with Bush in 2004 and/or avenging his controversial defeat in 2008. People have been looking for clues about his intentions everywhere, including watching his weight and travel schedule.One of the biggest "ifs" of this speculation centered around the Nobel Peace Prize. Gore has long been considered a potential winner of this award because of his work on climate change. Pundits have speculated that winning this prestigious award would provide a perfect opportunity to for him to sprin... More About: Part
Michigan Debate Analysis (R)
2007-10-10 05:38:00 The Republican presidential candidates participated in a debate that focused primarily on economic issues this afternoon in Dearborn, Michigan . The debate was co-moderated by MSNBC's Chris Matthews and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. Matthews has found himself at the center of a controversy because of remarks he recently made at the Hardball 10th anniversary celebration. (You can read more about the remarks here.) In short, Matthews made some comments about the Bush Administration that suggested he was biased against Republicans and conservatives. Although attacking Matthews over this provided low hanging fruit for the Republican candidates, none of them took the bait and Matthews emerged unscathed.This debate was long anticipated and scrutinized closely because it was the first time Fred Thompson was on the same stage as all the other candidates. One of the chief criticisms of his campaign is the sense that he has been evasive because of his long "testing the waters" period and his... More About: Analysis , Debate , Anal
Barack Obama's Flag Flap
2007-10-07 08:27:00 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama now finds himself at the center of a new controversy dubbed Pingate. For those who haven't heard the story, Obama, like many other politicians, started wearing a pin of the American flag on his lapel shortly after September 11. But he later stopped wearing it and was asked why by a television station in Iowa. He responded that he did not need to wear that flag pin to show his true patriotism and that he could show his patriotism by expressing his ideas on how to make America better.Unfortunately for Obama, although he may be absolutely right on the rhetoric, he is dead wrong on the politics. And as a result, he is getting bashed again, even by one of his hometown newspapers.I have already written about our sorry state of political discourse before. Superficiality from politicians and their operatives is quite dangerous when it is mixed with an unengaged electorate that focuses more on symbolism and emotion than on logic and result... More About: Flag
A Lack of Democratic Leadership
2007-10-04 05:07:00 I found this interesting piece in the Politico by David Paul Kuhn about the fears of nervous Democrats who wonder how they'll manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the 2008 presidential race. Kuhn's piece includes a lot of damning quotes and examples of recent Democratic flops (see Dukakis, Michael, for example), but doesn't really address the issue of why Democrats even end up in these situations to begin with. However, looking at the current "top tier" of the Democratic field, it's easy for me to understand why.Exhibit A: Consider this piece by the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson. In his commentary, Robinson assails the (three leading) Democrats for not showing straight talk or leadership on the Iraq issue. Perhaps the most important quote in his piece is this:"The Republican candidates' view of Iraq, Iran and the Middle East is dangerously apocalyptic, but at least it's a vision. What's yours?"That just about covers it. I can only imagine how frustr... More About: Leadership , Lack
Thoughts on the Republican Black Forum
2007-10-02 05:15:00 Last week most of the Republican presidential candidates attended a forum moderated by Tavis Smiley at Morgan State University in Baltimore. The Democrats had attended a similar forum earlier this year. This debate was unique in that none of the four leading Republicans attended, with each citing "scheduling conflicts." Four empty podiums stood on stage in their (dis)honor. Much has been written about the absences of Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and John McCain, so this post won't go into that. Instead, I'd like to focus a bit more on what I observed from the candidates who actually did participate.Before going any further, I want to commend Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, and newcomer Alan Keyes for at least giving the forum a chance and attempting to deliver their message to a potentially hostile crowd. It is no secret that Black s tend to vote Democratic by about an 8 to 1 ratio. Defenders of the absent candidates often c... More About: Thoughts , Forum
Roadmaps to the Nomination (D)
2007-10-01 02:15:00 Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg wrote an excellent analysis about how national polling obscures the true state of the presidential race. By looking at the national polls, one would think that Hillary Clinton was light years ahead of the rest of the field and that Rudy Giuliani was favored to win the GOP nomination.However, the polls in the early voting states suggest a far more competitive race. In Iowa, for example, Hillary Clinton is in a real dogfight with John Edwards and Barack Obama while Mitt Romney dominates the Republican field.As Rothenberg suggested, these Iowa polls are far more meaningful than the national polls because voters in Oregon, Georgia, Nebraska, and Connecticut (whose opinions are reflected in national polling data) really haven't been exposed to the presidential race nearly as much as the voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have. People in Des Moines, Concord, Dubuque, and Nashua have had multiple chances to meet the presidential candid... More About: Nomination , Mina
Lame Political Discourse
2007-09-30 06:25:00 I found this recent CNN news item about Hillary Clinton claiming Blacks are "invisible" to the Bush Administration and the GOP's response to it, courtesy of Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. Here is the main part of Dawson's response:"[I]f you're a hardworking parent, you're invisible to Hillary Clinton because she voted for the largest tax increase in history. If you're a member of our armed forces, you're invisible to Hillary Clinton because she wants America to surrender to the terrorists in Iraq. If you believe all life is sacred and that marriage is between one man and one woman, you're invisible to Hillary Clinton because she joins with radical groups that support federal funding for abortion and forcing us to recognize same-sex marriages."Remarks like this make it easy to understand why regular people have such a distaste for politics and such a high level of disapproval of Congress.There's a difference between hardball politics, scare-m... More About: Political , Lame , Politic
New Hampshire Debate Analysis (D)
2007-09-28 20:50:00 Wednesday night the eight declared Democratic presidential candidates met in New Hampshire for a debate moderated by Tim Russert. Of all the Democratic debates so far, this debate was the most substantive in that the moderator tried and succeeded in forcing the candidates to move beyond their traditional talking points and actually explain their policies in meaningful detail. Several of the questions also put the candidates in awkward positions as they had to explain away apparent contradictions in their rhetoric.Regarding the focus of the debate, there was a heavy emphasis on Iraq and Iran. Surprisingly little attention was paid to economic issues. Only one question was asked about Chinese product safety and that was in the lightning round towards the end of the debate. And there were also no questions addressing the recent United Auto Workers strike. This surprised me, as labor and consumer safety are traditional Democratic issues.As for the balance of time, most of the ques... More About: Analysis , Debate , Anal
New Hampshire Debate Preview (D)
2007-09-26 01:56:00 All eight declared Democratic presidential candidates will meet for yet another debate at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire tomorrow evening. The debate will be moderated by Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press." This will be the first major Democratic presidential debate of the fall. It also may be the final best chance some of the candidates have to make a move in the race, as the Iowa caucuses are only about three months away, more voters are paying more attention, and voters who hadn't paid much attention to the race before may get their first exposure to these candidates tomorrow evening. So this may be the candidates' last best chance to make a good first impression.Here are my expectations for the debate:The last Republican debate on Fox was the most contentious of all the debates by far. The exchange between Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul over Iraq likely hasn't been forgotten even by Democrats who are unlikely to vote Republican. It made for great television, p... More About: Preview , Debate
The Fred Thompson Disconnect: Part III
2007-09-24 03:07:00 Shortly after writing this post about how unprepared Fred Thompson seemed to run from the presidency, I found an article by The Politico's Mike Allen addressing this exact same point. While Allen's article included a few trivial gripes, such as criticizing him for his choice of which football team he claimed to support, the overall point of the article cannot be ignored. I'm not sure if it's a lack of campaign discipline or a genuine unfamiliarity with some of the major news issues of the day. But whatever it is, Fred Thompson had better right his ship before these types of media stories submarine his campaign. Once voters make a connection between Thompson and Bush in terms of competence and awareness of what's going on in the world, I strongly doubt he could ever recover from that.However, as damning as this type of coverage may be, it does offer Thompson a potential advantage. The very same media that once helped him become the mysterious larger-than-life figure he came... More About: Part , Disconnect
The Fred Thompson Disconnect: Part II
2007-09-21 04:43:00 I recently wrote about Fred Thompson 's unpreparedness to answer various questions about issues that a credible presidential candidate should reasonably be expected to have a grasp of. Drilling in Florida and Terri Schiavo were two of the issues of which Thompson expressed a surprising degree of ignorance.The day after I wrote that post, I found a damning critique of Thompson written by Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson. Dobson wrote this critique in a private e-mail that eventually got leaked to the media. In the e-mail, Dobson blasted Thompson for not talking about what he really believes and "not being able to speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail."Ouch.Dobson then goes on to question Thompson's conservative credentials and express bewilderment about why such a disappointing candidate is considered the "Great Hope for conservative Christians" before concluding that he will not support his candidacy.This is terrible news for Thompson. James Dobson ... More About: Part , Disconnect
Iran: Knee-Jerk Psychology
2007-09-20 15:38:00 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently sought to visit Ground Zero during his visit to New York for a United Nations summit. He wanted to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site in honor of the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The New York City Police Department reviewed his request, but ultimately denied it citing security concerns. Various presidential candidates weighed in and blasted the Iranian president's "outrageous" request and called him a "state sponsor of terrorism." I watched MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning and they expressed similar sentiments.Seeing that Ahmadinejad has made no secret about his desire to seek nuclear power and that he has made several controversial and incendiary remarks, such as "wiping Israel off the map" and denying the Holo caust, it is no surprise that politicians and the public reacted so vehemently to his request to visit the site of the World Trade Center. However, while this knee-jerk reaction of anger toward... More About: Iran , Psychology , Jerk
The Fred Thompson Disconnect
2007-09-19 20:30:00 Fred Thompson has been in the news a lot lately.I consider Fred Thompson to be the Barack Obama of the GOP because it seems that voters are setting high expectations for him and are flocking to his campaign even though they don't really know much about his positions on the issues. Consider this news item that hasn't gotten much play in the media, courtesy of Taegan Goodard's Political Wire. In short, a significant number of Republican voters in the early states (29% of Republican voters in Nevada and 24% of Republican voters in South Carolina) claim to be familiar with Thompson's healthcare plan. This seems like a valid statistic, but there's a problem. Fred Thompson has not even discussed his healthcare plan yet.So are voters buying into something they don't know anything about? Are they basing their support on what they perceive the candidate to represent? Although things have changed, that was certainly the case with Barack Obama earlier this year. After his rousing ... More About: Fred Thompson , Fred , Disconnect
Giuliani's Precarious Campaign
2007-09-17 16:59:00 Rudy Giuliani is generally considered the frontrunner among GOP presidential hopefuls based on his standing in most national polls. His standing in the polls has defied conventional wisdom in that a pro-choice, thrice married, New Yorker who is sympathetic to gay rights would never be nominated by a party that has a base that is very much pro-life and anti-gay rights. But it turned out that something else trumped his positions on social issues which explains his polling strength: electability.Rudy Giuliani has a unique ability to make the electability argument. As a moderate from a blue state, he could put a lot of states into play that most of the other Republican candidates could not do. Giuliani could seriously contest states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and even California. And even if he doesn't win those states, he would force the Democratic nominee to invest time and financial resources in defending his (or her) turf. How well Giuliani could keep red state... More About: Campaign
Beware of Biden?
2007-09-14 04:02:00 Joe Biden has picked up an endorsement from Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader of the Iowa House of Representatives. This brings the total number of presidential endorsements Biden has received from Iowa legislators to eight. When asked why he decided to support Biden, Rep. McCarthy said :"Iraq is by far the single most important issue facing America today and Joe Biden has the most credible plan to get us out without causing further chaos."He also said in response to speculation that Biden is really running for Secretary of State (presumably under Hillary Clinton):"Given that Iraq is the number one issue facing this country, and it will be for the next few years, wouldn't it be nice to have a president of the United States who's smarter than his Secretary of State?"This endorsement and its rationale will probably be ignored by the chattering classes and most politicos, but I think McCarthy strikes at something that I've been thinking about for quite some time.Could Joe Biden... More About: Beware
Posturing
2007-09-12 06:32:00 In my previous post I mentioned how Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Mike Huckabee were jockeying to improve their positioning in the race for the Republican nomination. Huckabee challenged Thompson to a debate and Romney tried to discourage Huckabee and Thompson by citing how much money they'd need to raise if they wanted to compete in the top tier.Well, it now appears that at least two of these candidates are running scared.First, Thompson refused to Huckabee's debate invitation by saying they "will have many opportunities to exchange their views before [the primary season] is over." They just won't exchange these views one on one. Presumably, debates consisting of the entire field are okay, even though such a format is less conducive to a meaningful exchange of ideas--something Thompson supposedly supports.It appears that Huckabee looked Thompson right in the eye and Thompson blinked. Is Thompson afraid of Huckabee and his superior debating skills? Does he fear that Huckab... More About: Turin
The Conservative Sweepstakes
More articles from this author:2007-09-09 04:33:00 Hillary Clinton continues to outpoll her rivals by significant margins. As a result, media storylines have tended to be of the "can anybody catch Hillary" or the "Hillary vs. Obama" variety.The race for the Republican nomination, however, is much more competitive. Because there is no true heir to Bush-Cheney and no clear figure standing at the head of the line "whose time has come," primary voters and pundits are truly confused. I do know this much, however. The GOP nomination will come down to Rudy Giuliani and his conservative alternative. This alternative will not be Duncan Hunter, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, or Ron Paul. It will be Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, or Fred Thompson. (Newt Gingrich has said he would not run if Fred Thompson's campaign is successful, but regardless, I think Gingrich is running out of time. And I'll talk about John McCain a bit later in this post.)Now that Thompson is officially in and a few debates have taken place, it's a little easier to a... More About: Conservative , Sweepstakes , The Con , Stakes , Sweep 1, 2, 3 |
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