His reasoning: “Regardless of how well [Gingrich] does on television, he will come off badly compared to Obama and look like nothing more than what he is: a fat, old, white man.” We’re betting Gingrich won’t take this bet. We’re also slightly surprised that Michael Savage has $1 million to spare.
» Bipartisan support: For twelve years, Pelosi and Gingrich served together in the House of Representatives, and supported a total of 418 bills together. That’s an average of 34.83 pieces of legislation per year that enjoyed Pelosi/Gingrich support (at least, that’s what our team of math experts tells us; we didn’t have time to check their work). One such bill was the Global Warming Prevention act of 1989, the memory of which probably won’t do Gingrich any favors in the Republican primary (relatedly, neither will this). It should be noted, however, that much of this was non-contentious legislation, such as one honoring the 50th anniversary of the National Heart, Lung and Blood instituted.
» The point here isn’t that Gingrich won’t win. It’s that that attempting to predict election results based on polls is tricky, and remains tricky even when you factor in historical precedent. To drive the point home even further: Ronald Reagan led in Iowa polls by about 9 points a month prior to the caucuses. He ended up losing (to his future VP, George H.W. Bush), but then ultimately came back to win the nomination, making his Iowa loss more or less irrelevant. Every election has its own quirks and nuances; Gingrich is looking good in Iowa right now, no doubt, but so was Herman Cain before him, and Rick Perry before him, and Michele Bachmann before him.
No word on how long this “suspension” will be. Remember, John McCain “suspended” his campaign briefly in 2008. But we’re guessing this is the end of Herman Cain’s presidential ambitions.
This is, in fact, the official name of Gingrich’s New Hampshire effort. Hopefully, “Mitt Hampshire” will follow, maybe with a banner image that’s a little less self-parodical. source
It’s always important to look at who you’re quoting before you quote them. It could happen to anybody, though. One writer here at ShortFormBlog, who shall remain nameless, once mistook this Onion article for the real thing up until about halfway through.
A very, very energetic Rick Perry: In this case, “energetic” is a euphemism for “dangerously over-caffeinated, perhaps to the point of requiring medical attention.” We’re not quite sure what to make of this bizarre speech Perry gave to New Hampshire Republicans a couple of days ago. He’s not just unusually expressive; he looks like he’s about to burst (fast-forward to 2:30 or so if you’re feeling impatient). His frantic performance might make slightly more sense if he were speaking to an ultra-conservative crowd in South Carolina or something, but was a room full of New Hampshire moderates. Color us baffled, but at least he didn’t come off as over-prepared. source
This is his first rodeo, so people make mistakes. But I wish he would have called and said ‘Bill, I’m going in another direction.’ But he never did.Tea Party supporter Bill Hemrick • Discussing how Herman Cain blew him off during a fundraising event a few months back … and in the process cost Hemrick a position in his campaign. The way it happened is super tone-deaf: First, Cain spoke at an event, and was supposed to show up a private club dinner for businessmen, where roughly 200 rich guys were planning to donate the maximum $2,500 each to Cain’s campaign. (Do the math.) When Hemrick called and said “I’ll see you upstairs,” Cain responded, “Well, I’m at the airport.” That’s right, he didn’t show up. “I thought, wow, good communication there,” Hemrick noted. Not long after Hemrick, learned he wouldn’t be the financial chair of Cain’s campaign in Tennessee, a position promised to him by Cain. That’s just one example of Cain’s apparent poor campaigning style, according to The New York Times. source (via • follow)
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
» All aboard the Cain Train! Republicans in North Carolina, Nebraska, and West Virginia want Herman Cain as their nominee—he leads all of his opponents in a new PPP poll. A Washington Post/ABC poll released today showed Cain tied with Perry for second nationally, and two polls last week also showed evidence of Cain Fever sweeping the nation. This seems to be at the expense of Rick Perry, who’s collapsing just as fast as Cain is rising (in North Carolina alone, more than half of his supporters have abandoned him, and a Fox News poll last week showed him losing ten points in a month). Romney is still the (perpetually-endangered) frontrunner, but there’s a plausible argument to be made that Cain is now in the top-tier of candidates. Of course, the same thing was once said of both Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann, so take that as you will.
Hey everyone, let’s play “no expectations!” This game is common in presidential campaigns, and usually commences just before quarterly fundraising totals are announced. Here’s how it works: Each campaign works diligently to convince the press that they’re not going to bring in very much money; this is accomplished by saying things like, “We are going to raise considerably less than what we did in our first reporting period.” Then, once the numbers come in, it’s a win-win. If the totals are robust, the campaign looks surprisingly potent; if the numbers fall short, the campaign can just say, “I told you so!” It’s also acceptable to play this game prior to debates and straw polls. source
In all seriousness, even if Christie suddenly did a complete 180 and decided to run, we’re pretty sure this video would kill his campaign before it got started. It’s difficult to run for president when there’s footage of you saying, “I’m not ready to be president.” Republican donors should either accept the field they’ve got, or move on to lobbying someone else (like Bob McDonnell, for example, who looks as close to the stereotype of “president” as you can get).
Treasurer of Steven Colbert’s SuperPAC resigns, now serves as Rick Perry’s campaign treasurer
Not the Onion.
We had to click twice to be absolutely convinced that this wasn’t The Onion. It’s not.
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