Campaign Notes.

There is something terribly fucked up with our campaign system when somebody believes he or she must raise $100 million to compete.
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Robert Parry trashes Hillary Clinton with regard to Bush. The funny thing is, Obama would be a hundred times worse and is dangerously close to not being a Democrat at all, judging from his rhetoric and his record.
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Would this prick be happy if Edwards were killed in a plane crash?
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If this poll is accurate, it is good news for JRE.
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The GOP base is in tatters.
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So Why Is It,

despite a rotten president whose policies have been held up to ridicule, and a political party whose basic philosophy has been debunked again and again by history, do the current crop of candidates continue to pursue such a foolhardy course?

Campaign Notes.

The media are now working to take Hillary Clinton down in favor of Barack Obama, the one surefire loser in the GE.

Not that Hillary would have a chance, but she certainly would fare better than Barack.
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Edwards is going to come fighting down the homestretch in the Iowa Iowa caucuses.
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Here is is Wednesday, yet the NYT Magazine already has its Matt Bai article on Hillary Clinton up.
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Anybody who thinks they can pick the Republican nominee for president is probably full of shit.

It's impossible at this point.

I will, however, predict Tom Tancredo will not win the nomination.

I am surprised more Republican candidates haven't come to Nevada since they, too, moved up the caucus.
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The Edwards surge is, in fact, real.
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If I can remember and if the event doesn't take too long, I will attend the appearance by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is campaigning on behalf of Hillary Clinton.
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After months of the political buzzards circling around his political carcass, is it possible John McCain's campaign is coming back to life?
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Campaign Notes.

Competence is next to godliness or some goddamned thing for the GOP, which is certainly more important than ever after the faith-based presidency of that godawful Bush.
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Bill Shaheen of the Clinton campaign got sacked over remarks about Obama's long ago drug use.
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Ron Paul made another trip to northern Nevada.

Campaign Notes.

Nobody can say with any certainty who the Republican nominee will be.

It could get very, very interesting. The race could go right down to the wire.
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Campaign Notes.

About the only place in the country where Republicans are outraising Democrats in the fundraising race is in Nevada.

I like these reasons:

# Established relationships the candidates have nurtured with Nevada's monied elite.

# Desire from the state's leading industries -- most importantly the gaming industry -- to curry favor with and gain access to government leaders.

# A desire among some to prevent U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton from being elected.

Mitt Romney, though, is the only Republican candidate who has made a serious effort to campaign in Nevada so far.

The Democrats

better not fuck it up and nominate somebody who can't win. The GOP's candidates aren't as weak as we'd like to think they are.

This sure as hell is true, but Republicans won't nominate him to the top spot:

The other stunner of the weekend, both in Washington and Florida at Sunday's debate, was the sterling performance of Mike Huckabee. One of the great mysteries of this campaign has been the reluctance of Christian-right leaders to support the Arkansas governor. While they have pointed to his lack of "viability"--read: money--as the reason, the real source of religious-right discomfort with the whip-smart, witty Baptist preacher unquestionably lies with Huckabee's economic populism. He is a down-the-line social conservative, to the extremity of advocating for the repeal of "no-fault" divorce. But Huckabee's governance in Arkansas has borne scant resemblance to the corporate flackery of his fellow Christian-right heavyweights--the man raised taxes, for goodness' sake, and just won't stop talking about uplifting the working class and bringing minorities into the party. At times, he even sounds--heaven forbid!--pro-labor. All of which matches him up, almost to a T, with the clear majority of not only Republican but also independent and conservative Democratic voters in the South and Midwest. These folks, black and white, tend to be social conservatives and economic populists. Huckabee is the first candidate in a long time who embodies that particular alchemy. He is also, far and away, the freshest and most appealing talent in the race--on either side. He is the one Republican who would be an absolute cinch to win the general election against any of the three leading Democrats. But he remains a long shot--unless Iowa Republicans give him a slingshot.

He clearly studied Bill Clinton, for his style is almost identical to the former president's. He's by far the most talented politician the GOP has. I look for him to be the running mate to whoever wins the nomination.

Does

Dick Armey really believe Hillary Clinton will be president, or is he just HOPING Democrats will be silly enough to pick her so the GOP can knock her off in the general election?

I'll report, and you decide:

The political horizon for conservatives is bleak and will get worse before it gets better, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey said today.
In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Armey predicted U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton will win the presidency next year, saying no Republican candidate is strong enough to beat her.
“The Democrats will win,” Armey said. “I don’t see any way that Hillary Clinton won’t be president. She is more well-organized, she is more intelligent.
“I don’t admire her. But I don’t discount her ability. She is ruthless and she is tough.”
Armey, who presided with Speaker Newt Gingrich during the 1994 Republican Revolution, is scheduled to speak Friday at the Conservative Leadership Convention in Sparks.

Campaign Notes.

Iowans are taking their sweet time in deciding who they will back in the caucuses.
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Republican candidates are having to do a contortion act to try and distance themselves away from our dictator.
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It's a tad presumptuous at this point to think Bill Clinton is going to get another term in the White House.
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Republican candidate Mike Huckabee said Obama's baring his soul is the reason he doesn't wear a flag pin.
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Still More Campaign Notes.

The Republicans have candidates this election cycle who are not worth writing home about.

But then again our dictator wasn't any great shakes to tell Ma about, either, yet he still managed to get two presidential elections stolen for him.

Never count the Republicans out. Democrats would be making a huge mistake by doing so.
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If Hillary Clinton becomes the nominee, she might not be so unelectable after all.

She could pull off what her husband did twice and win a plurality of the vote.

I suspect in the end there will be no radical right third party effort except on the fringe.
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John Edwards suggests voters ignore the polls and the punditocracy writing Edwards off because he took public financing.

It's so stupid, the argument against candidates taking public financing, it isn't funny.

Even funnier is the fact Edwards to date has spent only around $20,000 on television ads in Iowa compared with literally millions being spent by the so-called frontrunners. And yet the three are in a statistical dead heat.
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Campaign Notes.

Could the Republican convention turn out to be a brokered one?

I think the race will be far more interesting than the Democratic one, and I hate to say I ain't terribly overwhelmed by the candidates on either side.
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Rudy's poll numbers aren't as strong as they once were.
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Presidential Notes II.

Will the Iowa poll be the straw that breaks some Republican candidates' political backs?
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Presidential Notes.

People have more reason to do a death watch on Senator McCain's presidential campaign.

He has just $2 million on hand.