Should They Stay or Go?

CNN and the AP are reporting that New Mexico Govenor Bill Richardson is going to bow out of the 2008 Democrats race for the presidential nomination.

It's a sad ending to what I expected would be a game effort behind the support of the nation's largest minority group, Hispanics. Unfortunately Richardson could never energy or finance his base like he wanted. He will most likely offer an endorsement to Barack Obama.

Meanwhile who else shows up in the "stay or go" category.

Rudy Guiliani: Rudy is opting to focus on 29 states including Florida and the majority of the states voting on Super Duper Tuesday, so he's not really bothered by his low numbers in Iowa or New Hampshire or so he says. Secretly you've got to be thinking he wanted to perform better than internet sensation Ron Paul. Still, until the 9-11 mayor, drastically falls on his face on February 5, we want him to stay.

Ron Paul: The internet sensation continues to perform right around fourth, putting him as the top B-teamer (with McCain, Romney and Huckabee considered the A-team) and really giving him a shot to speak at the Convention. I'm not sure if Paul will ever perform better than fourth place as a third-place finish would do wonders for his efforts. However, with plenty of money left in his war chest and a group of supporters willing to fight for his every word. I want Paul to stay until the Florida primary.

John Edwards: This is a tough one because Edwards performed so well in Iowa and is a legitimate third wheel on the Democrats A-team. That being said his likability showed a lot of flaws in the last week. He came out of Iowa almost arrogantly and tried to really group himself with Obama as being the ambassadors of change against status quo. But in reality who looks more like the status quo than John Edwards? He's a 50-year-old rich, white, lawyer who has the money to look like he's 35. He has a perma-smile and played John Cougar Mellencamp as his intro music before his speech in New Hampshire. If that ain't status quo I don't know what is. Neither Obama nor Hillary will probably consider Edwards as a running mate so he'll stay, but his appeal continues to decline with every word spoken out of his mouth. This hurts us because we love John Edwards' message and believe his heart is in the right place...now if only someone other than John Edwards was speaking those words. For the sake of the country he wants to help, we beg John Edwards to leave the presidential race.

A New Candidate in the Works?

It's been long rumoured but know we finally have some substance
to go with the speculation. AP reports that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been conduction some pretty amped-up polling and CNN says he and his exploratory committee have placed a March deadline on whether or not the mayor will throw his independent hat into the race.

A quick update on Bloomberg and why you should care about his interest in the 2008 race.

-- Bloomberg is flithy rich: Forbes estimates his worth at over 11 billion due to the success of his financial services software company, Bloomberg L.P., thus making Mitt Romney and his pathetic $250 million dollar net worth look like welfare in comparison. However he makes none of his dollars as New York City mayor, instead only taking a $1 annual retention for his services.

-- Bloomberg is an opportunist: A lifelong Democrat, Bloomberg switched parties in 2001 to run for Mayor during a time when New York city dwellers didn't hate Republicans. In 2007 he left the party to become an independent presumably because New Yorks started hating Republicans (and most people in general) again.

-- Bloomberg is straight up NYC: He rides the subways to work and lives on the Upper East Side where his address and phone number are in the White Pages. When the city life is too much for him, he's got spots in Bermuda and Britian to let the time pass.

-- Bloomberg shares the wealth: The New York Times estimates that Bloomberg has given over $300 million to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, and averages over $140 million annually in donations to various charitable causes including the Carnegie Foundation, World Health Organization, Harlem Dance & Art Club and Tobacco-Free kids.

-- Bloomberg is socially liberal: He wants his NYC mayor legacies to be public education reform and a general end to poverty. He supports abortion rights and same-sex marriages and a legalization policy for illegal immigrants. He also supports stem-cell research, opposes the death penalty and supports strict gun control.

-- Bloomberg is economically centrist: He supports public welfare but he's pro business and free trade.

-- Bloomberg is conservative in foreign policy: He supports the Patriot Act and is not opposed to the War in Iraq.

Looking for a running mate? Look no further than Republican Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska. One of the ballsiest GOP members around and a known enemy of the Bush administration.

Game On!

AP calls it, that's good enough for us.

McCain wins the GOP primary in New Hampshire with little problem, but don't call it a comeback???

"I'm past the age when I can claim the noun 'kid,' no matter what adjective precedes it, but tonight, we sure showed them what a comeback looks like."

Don't do it John.

Dixville Notch Leads to Projection

Dixville Notch has spoken and so will I.

Republican N.H. Projection: John McCain will win New Hampshire and Mitt Romney will finish second. That appears to be obvious. What I see that will shake the foundation, however, is a strong third-place finish for Mike Huckabee and a near dead-heat for fourth place between Rudy Guiliani and internet sensation Ron Paul. Will this be the end of the line for Guiliani and the start of a Reform Party surge for Paul?

Democratic N.H. Projection: Barack Obama will win in New Hampshire but it will be closer than expected as Hillary Clinton looks to become the underdog and try to get a bounce going into South Carolina, where she trails miserably. John Edwards, however, looks weaker than he would have liked in New Hampshire and will begin to look into staff changes. He will not drop out, however, not before the Southern states decide.

Hillary Sheds Tears & Edwards Responds

...After going on the offensive for the last few days, Hillary Clinton took a new route and chose to get emotional during a Q&A period with her supporters.



The good news is for the Senator is that she has recovered about half her deficit going into today's New Hampshire vote, the bad news is her biggest supporter isn't the draw he used to be. Nor is he the magician he used to be as he can't make his wife younger, male or black either.

Meanwhile the bad news for John Edwards is that he sounded like a dick in responding to Hillary's emotional "outburst".

"I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business."

Stay classy John.

Going Around the Horn

Hillary On Wrong End of Threesome: Barack Obama and John Edwards look more like running mates than competitors. Both men went on the attack against Hillary Clinton with 2008's new buzz word..."status quo".

Survey Sez: Hillary is in trouble.

Wolf Doesn't Get The Fox: Ron Paul is left out in cold, but New Hampshire says otherwise.

Romney Gets Love in Wyoming: And eight delegates as well. Fred Thompson picks up three and even Duncan Hunter snags one. As for John McCain? No dice. Things weren't all roses for the Massachusetts govenor as he continues to fight one attack after another with his own.

Weird Factoid of the Night: From our friends at the Washington Post

The Clinton campaign came to this debate loaded for bear. No sooner had Clinton accused Obama of flip-flopping on funding for the Iraq war, health care, and the Patriot Act, her spokesman Phil Singer emailed reporters with factual backup for the New York senator's charges. Here is a sample from the press release on the the Iraq War:

"As a Senate candidate in November 2003, Obama said he would have 'unequivocally' voted against war funding because it was the only way to oppose Bush on Iraq:"

"Just this week, when I was asked, would I have voted for the $87 billion dollars, I said 'no.' I said no unequivocally because, at a certain point, we have to say no to George Bush. If we keep on getting steamrolled, we are not going to stand a chance." [Obama remarks, New Trier Democratic Organization forum, 11/16/03 .]

"But until he ran for president, Obama supported every funding bill for Iraq." [The campaign goes on to list a long series of Obama votes.]

Flat-Out Lie of the Night: From who else but Mitt Romney, also thanks to the WP

Barack Obama "wants the government to take over health care." --Mitt Romney.

Nonsense. Obama's health care plan is arguably less radical than the one that Mitt Romney introduced in Massachusetts while he was governor. Obama has got into trouble with his fellow Democrats for not including an individual mandate in his health care plan, similar to the one that Romney introduced in Massachusetts. Obama has focused on bringing the price of health care down--not introducing government-run health care.

Three days and counting! Let the fists fly before the New Hampshire primary.