Great Debate or Grating Debate?

The debate last night was awful. Not the candidates, the moderators, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. Silly and meaningless questions, no pertinent questions for the first hour (and few thereafter), on and on, it was just unrelentingly awful. If you don't believe me, ask Tom Shales.

Richardson Endorses Obama

Per CNN this afternoon....

Oh Yeah

Guiliani is out too. Whee. Was he ever really in it?

Oh Well

Edwards bailed out of the race today. I've been sort of depressed all day about it (not Sylvia Plath level, just sort of blah....) and am not quite sure how to respond to it. I'll probably go ahead and vote for him on Tuesday, since I don't have any real preference between Barack and Hillary. I have pros and cons for both of them, but can live with either of them, as candidate and as President. My only real hope is that he can get some mileage out of them in exchange for his endorsement. We'll see.

Jesus Nothing, Politics As Usual One

The SC primary seems to be over, and John McCain (R-POW) has won. Huckabee finished second, with Thompson and Romney more or less tied for third (Giuliani finished sixth behind Paul). In Nevada, Hillary edged Obama on the Dem side, while Romney cleaned the field (truth be told, he was the only R to campaign in NV, besides Paul, who finished a DISTANT second.)

I think it's way too early to determine who the candidates will be, but it's becoming clear who they WON'T be.... barring the direct intervention of Jesus (which still probably wouldn't sway some of the evangelical crowd....), Rudy Giuliani will permanently remain the ex-mayor of NYC and nothing more (well, possibly a number on a prison uniform if some serious investigating is done....) Fred Thompson gave what sounded like the first three halves of a 'dropping out' speech this evening, but never got to a point, so he's out even if he's not officially out yet. Duncan Hunter is out, officially. It was never, ever, except in his own wildest dreams, ever going to be Ron Paul. The wild card here is Huckabee. If he can do WELL in Florida, he's got a shot; if not, stack him up next to Rudy.

So, it's pretty much down to McCain and Romney. That will be entertaining, watching the pander fest as two basic centrists try to convince the Repug base that yeah, man! I'm as bat-shit crazy as you peeps! The Repug establishment is more behind Romney, and he does have all the money in the world, but McCain plays better with most of the base (the bat-shit crazies....) so it'll be a slugfest for the ages. I'm betting on a brokered convention with no one getting a majority.

The caucuses in Nevada today really didn't tell us much, and if they told us anything, it's bad news. Edwards' reported numbers are terrible (altho not as bad as they look, due to the rules arcana of caucuses.) But even without the draining off of his numbers, his raw numbers weren't good at all (10ish percent!) So, it pretty much all comes down to SC; if he can't do well (25-30%) there, he's done. If he does, then he's still got a shot. I don't want to come off as racist here, but the best bet is that HRC and Obama split the black vote, and their pandering to get there, sends the white vote to Edwards. It's not a pretty way to win, but at this point, I'll settle.

ROTFL

Vote MITT in MICH!

Brief Rant About the Press

Argh! The MSM having blown the 'call' in NH is now blaming NH voters for being racist. It couldnt have anything to do with crappy polling or analysis. Nope, had to be those racist abolitionists in funny rural clothes. Or maybe it had to with the fact that almost every poll showed a HUGE count (I forget the numbers, but it was in the 20 percent range) of undecideds. Or the wall to wall Hillary bashing in the media (personally, I blame the arch-asshole Chris Matthews for putting her over the top... take the red pill, Chris!) that may have pushed female voters to vote for Hillary just to see CM cry on MSNBC.

Richardson Out

NM Gov Bill Richardson announced today he was dropping out of the primary race. He had no real chance, which is a shame, because he was a good candidate and would have made an excellent President.

Obama and Huckabee

The results are in (and ubiquitous) and the survey says.... Obama, by about 7 percent over Edwards, who nudged HRC out for second by a very few votes, for the Dems, and Huckabee who swamped Romney (what DID that $53 million buy, Willard?) with Sleepin' Fred Thompson and John "Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran" McCain fighting for third (Giuliani finished 6th, if the reports re correct). This is great for Obama, okay for Edwards, and mildly troubling for HRC, so we'll how it all seques in NH.

Iowa Results

The Repug straw poll was today, and Milt won almost exactly as predicted (30ish percent of the votes cast). The big surprise to me is how HORRIBLY St John finished. McCain finished in 10th place with 101 votes (out of 14+ thousand!)

Post Dated Primaries

SC announced today it's moving its primary up to January 19. NH is expected to follow suit, and Iowa won't be far behind if both move. At what do we wake up, and discover that the primary dates have been moved to some point in the past?

Sound of 10 Dogs Yapping

For your viewing pleasure, the Republican Preznit Primary Debate from NH is on the tube tonight. If you're strong of stomach, or weak of mind, feel free to watch and weep.