IOWA: winner, losers

LEAD (Revised)

This is MJB’s call of the winner, there only can be one, and losers, the also rans, in the Iowa Primary for Tuesday, January 3, 2012:

1. Newt Gingrich

2. Rick Santorum

3. Herman Cain

4. Rick Perry

5. John Huntsman

6. Mitt Romney

7. Michelle Bachmann

8. Ron Paul

Comment

What do you think?

Do you think it’s between Romney and Paul as the polls and commentators have suggested?

Hint: the polls and the commentators could be wrong!

Will the outcomes in Iowa set the stage for the wins and losses in upcoming primaries?

 

NEWT: Virginia-no votes for Gingrich

NEWT: Image via Wikipedia

Lead

Newt Gingrich did not qualify to get on Virginia’s primary ballot. To make matters worse, state law does not allow write-in votes. Without Virginia primary votes, can Newt capture the GOP nomination?

CNN Article (Quote)

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to collect enough signatures to appear on the Virginia primary ballot, the Republican Party of Virginia announced Saturday morning, leaving the longtime Virginia resident without a place on the state’s ballot and raising questions about his campaign’s organization.

“Voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates,” campaign director Michael Krull said in the statement.” * * *

* * *Virginia state law specifically prohibits voters from writing in candidates not on the ballot in primary elections.

Source: Steve Brusk,“Gingrich, Perry fail to qualify for GOP primary ballot in Virginia,” CNN POLITICS

Our Take

Virginia’s primary election could be pivotal. It’s an early primary which usually signals how the South will vote.

So, if Newt is out in Virginia, who’s in, and will the Virginia win propel another GOP candidate forward on the road to winning the GOP Presidential nomination?

Around the Web

• Gingrich attacks Virginia for keeping him off ballot (goerie.com)
• Virginia state law prohibits writing in candidates who are not on the ballot in primary elections – @PoliticalTicker (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)
• Newt Gingrich Fails To Qualify For Virginia GOP Primary (huffingtonpost.com)
• Gingrich Write-In Campaign Hopes Dashed (politicalwire.com)
• Gingrich Campaign Plans Pointless, Illegal Write-In Campaign In Virginia (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry fail to qualify for Virginia primary ballot (100gf.wordpress.com)
• Gingrich camp assails Virginia’s “failed system” (cbsnews.com)
• Gingrich Will Run An ‘Agressive Write-In Campaign’ In Virginia Primaries, Where Write-Ins Are Illegal (thinkprogress.org)
• Gingrich, Perry, Fail to Qualify for Virginia Primary Ballot (inquisitr.com)
• Virginia poll ‘failed’ – Gingrich (bbc.co.uk)
• Newt Gingrich & Rick Perry lose spot in crucial Virginia Primary (bazaardaily.com)

 

OPINION: mr. president, are you listening to America?: it’s bad, really bad out here!

President Barack Obama, you need to walk down the aisle yourself in the supermarket in cognito, and listen to what people who are hurting under your watch are saying. It’s not about you, the debt crisis, the gridlock in Congress-it’s about the fact that it’s bad out here, fault notwithstanding.

They are saying that they are hurting; that cash is tight; that they are barely making it; and, that if you don’t do something about it; you’re done.

I happened to visit a friend the other day at his luxury condo. He’s got some money, but he’s not making any money. Sooner or later he’ll be in the bread line. He had a lucrative career, made a lot of money, spent a lot of money, saved a lot of money, but nearly lost it all in the recession and cannot get back on his feet. At some point, he might just end it all.

He was depressed. Just a few minutes before I arrived, he watched the repo man hook up and tow away the Rolls Royce of his neighbor who just before the recession was himself a self-made millionaire, but like him recently became a member of Occupy XXX because he was broke. He lost his money, his wife, his lifestyle, his belongings and now his car. It seems likely that he will lose his life unless something remarkable happens, which is not likely either.

So Mr. President, you won’t lose because you’re a bad person, or a bad politician, or for that matter a bad President. You’re gonna lose because it’s bad out here in the real world, and unfortunately for you, little to nothing has been done under your watch to turn things around.

That’s my opinion; what’s yours?

 Around the Web

• Why Should We Reelect Barack Obama? (fidlerten.com)
• Bad Economic News Spelling Bad News For POTUS (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Lorne Gunter: Obama’s pushback on Keystone is pure posturing (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
• AP-GfK Poll: Obama Re-Election Odds Roughly 50-50 (time.com)
• The Fate of our Nation: An Open email (davidcalves.com)
• Terry Newell: The Presidency: Character, Competence, Charisma and Cash (huffingtonpost.com)