ROMNEY’S STILL THE FRONTRUNNER: On Tuesday, Rick Santorum pulled off two surprise victories over Gingrich and Romney, “winning” Mississippi and Alabama’s primaries. I use the scare quotes because Santorum’s beat his two rivals only by a few points in what were essentially three-way races. What’s more, Romney still came out ahead in the delegate race on Tuesday, because of his big wins in Hawaii and American Somoa (which, according to the New York Times, gave 100% of its vote to Romney), emerging with 43 delegates total, 7 more than Santorum and 18 more than Gingrich. In fact, because of the way delegates were apportioned in Mississippi (along district lines), Romney ended up with one more delegate from Mississippi than Santorum, even though he lost the state by 2 points. The point of all this number-speak is to show that, while Romney may be a weak and fairly pathetic frontrunner, he is still the frontrunner, and it will take a miracle for anyone to snag the nomination from his clutches. One such miracle that appears highly unlikely to happen is Gingrich dropping out. As long as he and Santorum split the uber-conservative vote, Romney will continue to rack up delegates on his steady march to the nomination. Although Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond had suggested only a week ago that Gingrich would drop out if he lost Alabama and Mississippi, on Tuesday night he changed his tune: “Whoever said that should be flogged,” he declared, as he insisted Gingrich still had a path to the nomination. But Gingrich’s continuation in the race is the surest thing Romney has to victory. As Chait put it: “Gingrich was the only reason the two southern states were even remotely close. Their sheer bloody-minded determination to nominate a genuine maniac as opposed to a fake one overwhelmed Romney’s Establishment support and massive financial advantage. These people have been told that Romney is all but certain to win and that an extended race will be hurtful, but they do not care.” The next big race is Illinois, which heads to the polls next week. Hilariously enough, the only reason the race there is competitive is because Romney’s campaign, back in January, allowed what appeared to be joke-candidate Santorum to remain on the ballot in 10 districts where Santorum’s amateur campaign failed to qualify. As a ghost of GOP candidates past might say, “Oops!”
STAGGERING FACTOID OF THE DAY: Via the Washington Post: “For each delegate he has earned, his campaign and a pro-Santorum super PAC have spent about $17,500 on TV ads, according to data from the Campaign Media Analysis Group. For Romney, the equivalent figure is about $67,700.”
DOJ SLAPS DOWN TEXAS VOTER ID: On Monday, the DOJ blocked Texas’s voter ID law, under power authorized by the Voting Rights Act. The DOJ found that the law would disproportionately harm Hispanic voters; data suggested that between 7 and 11 percent of Hispanic voters lack government-issued ID. The DOJ noted that Texas had failed to explain why it could not meet its goals regarding voter integrity without such a punishing law. Just days before the DOJ blocked the law, Virginia’s legislature passed its own measure, though it may face less scrutiny from the DOJ because it allows a broader set of identification forms, including utility bills. GOP legislatures in seven states moved to pass these bills immediately after taking power in the 2010 elections. (I guess the electorates that elected them can be trusted...) Pennsylvania is the latest, with the Governor signing the bill just hours after it passed the state House yesterday (with every single Democrat voting against, and every Republican save 3 voting in favor). And in Wisconsin, a second judge in a week blocked that state’s voter ID bill, holding the law violated the state constitution. At its most charitable interpretation, this is a solution in search of a problem; more realistically, it is a craven power-grab by GOP legislators who have made it perfectly clear that certain sorts of people simply shouldn’t be voting.
Romney-Really-Said-That-Moment of the Week: Remember how Romney said he had a lot of friends who are Nascar team owners, so that’s how he related to Nascar fans? Turns out his friends aren’t limited to race-car enthusiasts. When discussing the NFL this week, Romney once again failed wildly at appearing normal while explaining his connection to the sport: “But I’ve got a lot of good friends, the owner Miami Dolphins, and the New York Jets — both owners are friends of mine.”
Definitive Fact-Check of the Week: You know the impetus for the Tea Party was supposedly Obama’s unprecedented, out-of-control spending? Guess what? Really not true.
Absolutely MUST Read of the Week: This week, Doonesbury tackled the war on women’s right in a series of cartoons that were promptly censored in about 40 papers, including the LA Times. The 4 strips that have been released so far are a must (I think the whole series will have six strips, ending on Saturday). Start here, and then keep clicking “next” on the bottom of the strip to read the rest. (And here’s an interview with Gary Trudeau about the controversy caused by his comics.)
Must-Read of the Week: Romney’s Health Care Evasions: A History, by Jonathan Chait
Fun Video of the Week: Obama takes the fight right to...Rutherford B. Hayes.
No comments:
Post a Comment