Rudy McRomney

So it begins, the pot begins to stir in the early stages, that early boil that brings some scum to the surface, only to be skimmed off by ghosts of yellow journalism, the spectre of common sense or the poltergeist of the almighty dollar. Last week, we lose one candidate, my GOP favorite is decimated by a lack of fundraising and staff changes and another just baffles the imagination.

JIM GILMORE

Jimmy Gilmore has left the race before I even got to use some clever reference to conservative women as "Gilmore Girls", but I think as the darling of the anti-Rudy McRomney movement, "real" conservatives have a loss. This small loss slightly increase the odds of Mike Huckabee gaining some Iowa and New Hampshire votes, as Huckabee's spent an entire commercial break calling everyone on Gilmore's fundraising list. Apparently this run was to get a little attention and run as the "Ronnie Reagan" candidate on another ticket. I'm surprised I don't have a nightmare of the cloning of Ronald Reagan. So farewell, Jimmy, we hardly knew ye and welcome you as a Vilsack footnote to the class of 2008.

John McCain's Week From Hell

I imagine Senator McCain likely feels that after all he went through in Vietnam, he would never have another bad day. So weeks like this are likely frustrating but will do little to move this man's conviction. That's why I still think he hangs in there. That's not to say there's some trouble ahead. The Senators support for an Immigration Bill that rapidly spun out of control and in some circles his continuing support for a surge in Iraq are positions that have not been very popular. What some may have labelled as maverick positions are now seen as doddering. And so he has lost support from the anti-immigration right wing of the party and the coherent part of the party that recognizes that the Iraq War strategy has been, well, non-coherent. Despite these transgressions, I still think he wins the nomination. For a couple of reasons, one in 2004, I remember laughing at a huge Kerry supporter as the campaign went into early winter, standing at somewhere around 5% in the polls, the laughable, Brahmin cartoon character looked to go the way of many northeast liberals, quietly into the night. Months later, with Wes Clark's sweater neatly folded in his sweater drawer, I reluctantly cast my vote, for the undisputed winner of the Democratic primary process. The other reason being, in the event of an attack on American soil, it is unlikely that the American people will turn to a Giuliani or Romney or any of the other clowns to help to bring America back. McCain rightly or wrongly has national security panache that the corporate titan and slimy ex-big city mayor simply do not have. So if John can keep up a six month rope a dope, he might be the only one standing.

Thank You Govona Rumnoy

You know sometimes writing about how silly politics is just too easy. I imagine Lincoln often stood during the Civil War and would holler over, "Wait Mathew (Brady), for the next portrait there is a lovely woman aside me making allusion to Jefferson Davis' petticoat". It is hard to imagine that a candidate as well planned and orchestrated as Governor Romney would stand next to signs that have misspellings, and are just rude, stupid and ignorant. First, don't compare any American to Osama Bin Laden unless you expect to get the backside of a bottle of Jim Beam upside your head, second don't talk about people's mamas and third, who the hell spells mama wrong? My daughter is seven months old and can almost spit the word out. Romney poses for this ridiculous photograph the day after comparing Senator Clinton's economic policies to Karl Marx', kicking off red baiting most likely not seen since the days of Barry Goldwater in 1964. The Governor is taking the run to the hard right early thing a little too seriously, remember you were elected by the nice Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as a social liberal, fiscally conservative person that you really are, in the long run, no one like another flip flopper from Kennedyland.

I missed the YouTube debate, boy is this campaign degenerating but quick.