elvintlim

The Republican establishment is stepping up its attacks against Gingrich. It was coordinated today from a variety of quarters : Bob Dole, Peter Wehner, Tom Delay, William Buckley Jr., and Anne Coulter. The very reason why Gingrich appeals to primary voters is the reason why he will not do well with independents voters in the fall. (And that's an assessment coming from Anne Coulter.) Gingrich has fire, but placed alongside No Drama Obama, he's going to look like a very unlikeable candidate... Read Full Story

Newt Gingrich has won the biggest primary prize up for grabs so far. Romney's win in New Hampshire has been discounted because he's from neighboring Massachusetts, while poor Rick Santorum's newly recently declared victory in Iowa was quickly eclipsed by the news about Rick Perry dropping put of the race, ABC's interview with Gingrich's ex-wife, and the scuffle over Romney's tax returns. This is a huge victory for Gingrich because every winner in South Carolina since 1980 has gone on to win... Read Full Story

The first votes for the 2012 elections have been cast. Clearly the headline from last night is the Santorum surge in the last couple of days, better timed than any of the other candidates who had had their day in the sun. Oh and Mitt Romney eked out about an 8-votes win matching his own performance by percentage points in 2008. So let's get down to the real results before the morning spin begins. Santorum has the most room for growth among the top three finishers in Iowa. Most important... Read Full Story

The Republican game of musical chairs continues. One thing remains: Mitt Romney has held on to his seat as a leading contender for the nomination in the last four years. Newt Gingrich's rise and fall in the past month has several lessons to tell. First, no self-serving candidate would ever dare commit himself to a positive campaign again. Gingrich tried, and by refusing to counter fire with fire until recently, his poll numbers have dipped under a relentless barrage of negative ads coming... Read Full Story

With so many candidates moving in and out of frontrunner status in the Republican nomination race in the past months, it would appear that the winner of the game of musical chairs could simply be determined by when the music stops. And it stops on January 3, when the Iowa caucuses meet. Whether or not there has been a method to the madness, with less than a month to go, it would appear that Newt Gingrich has a commanding advantage to take the seat. New polls show Gingrich overtaking... Read Full Story

It should now be clear to all that the highly polarized environment that is Washington is dysfunctional, and the disillusionment it is causing portends yet more headlocks and cynicism to come. Here is the all-too-familiar cycle of American electoral politics in the last few decades. Campaign gurus draw sharp distinctions to get out the vote. The impassioned vote wins the day. Impatient voters watch their newly elected president or representative fail to pass in undiluted form the the reforms... Read Full Story

Mitt Romney must be the happiest Republican in the world. His political rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, Herman Cain and Rick Perry, seem to be trying to out-do the other in terms of whose campaign can implode faster. Let's start with Rick Perry's campaign. Now we know why his campaign advisors were telling him to skip upcoming debates. Perry's oops moment in last night's debate will enter into the political hall of infamy, because that was the moment when his sponsors will... Read Full Story

When the dust settles on the history of the Obama presidency, a major theme historians will have to consider and explain, is the startling contrast in his record in domestic policy versus his successes in foreign policy, which now include the assassination of Bin Laden and the toppling of Qaddafi. To put the matter in another way: if 2012 were 2004, and Obama would be judged purely on his foreign policy alone, he wouldn't have to be doing any bus tours in the battleground states now. I'm... Read Full Story

To understand the Occupy Wall Street movement, it is helpful to understand that it is the antithesis of the Tea Party movement, though for now, much smaller in scale. Occupy Wall Street protesters are, like the Tea Party protesters, disenchanted at the state of the economy, and impatient for solutions. But unlike their compatriots on the Right, their animus is directed at corporate America (Wall Street), not at government (Washington, DC). Why is Occupy Wall Street more disorganized and rowdy... Read Full Story

Republicans waited and they waited for Sarah Palin, but all she is is a tease. They tried Michelle Bachmann, and she had the day in the sun (or on Newsweek's cover). They tried Rick Perry, and he had his day in the polls until his debate performances revealed certain holes (he would say "heart") in his conservative armor. And now people are asking if Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey might be the last (" portly ") standing man between Romney and the Republican presidential nomination. All... Read Full Story