The South Carolina Republican primary is more than 10 weeks away. After Mitt Romney sweeps the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, his likely victory in the January 21st South Carolina will be the first opportunity we can say he has wrapped up the nomination. Until then, apparently, we will have to endure more nights like last night. Nights where everybody pretends the other challengers have any real chance of beating Romney.
Gallup released a poll yesterday showing that 45% of Republican voters believe Romney will eventually be the nominee. That number may seem low, but it is far above any other candidates total. Thirteen percent of Republicans tell Gallup Herman Cain will be the nominee, even though his few national staffers have displayed an unusual lack of competence. Four percent believe Newt Gingrich will be the nominee even though he spent his day before the debate selling his new novel instead of campaigning for votes. Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Santorum all came in at 3% or below.
And then there is Rick Perry, whom, before last night, 9% of Republicans thought would be the nominee. That number must now be zero after Perry’s epic failure to name which three federal agencies he would eliminate. The Washington Examiner‘s Michael Barone said, “I have been watching presidential debates since the first Kennedy-Nixon debate in 1960, and it was the worst moment in a debate I have ever seen, too.”
Combining the challengers totals, only 35% of Republicans can name someone other than Romney that they believe will be the nominee. And almost 10 points of the total is Perry. A full 20% tell Gallup that “no one” will be the nominee. Can we get that guy on stage for the next debate? Unless there is some last-second entrant, or Romney is revealed to be Rev, Jeremiah Wright’s spiritual mentor, this race is over.
GOP Debate
The Washington Examiner‘s Phil Klein: “It goes without saying that the most-talked about moment in tonight’s CNBC debate in Michigan came when Texas Gov. Rick Perry had a cringe-worthy meltdown struggling to remember the three government agencies he wanted to eliminate.”
The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin: “Nothing else in the debate will matter. It will always be known as the debate when it happened. Everyone who has ever been at a loss for words or stumbled in a public setting could relate. The “it” was a nightmarish stumble, a sort of epic brain freeze by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.”
National Review‘s Rich Lowry: “No one touched Romney. He was unflappable and knowledgeable. He again showed the right political instinct to want to address the struggles of the middle class, although his tax plan doesn’t do it. His China-bashing will probably play well in the Midwest, although it’s foolhardy on the merits.”
Townhall‘s Guy Benson: “The problem with Perry’s brain deep-freeze moment was that it represented a catastrophic microcosm of every unflattering narrative about him — all in one, painful, awful, prolonged rhetorical car-wreck. As soon as it happened, I thought, ‘he’s done.’”
Around the Bigs
ABC News, Obama Administration to Delay New 15-Cent Christmas Tree Tax: After just one blog post from The Heritage Foundation, and a Drudge link, the Obama administration scrapped a Department of Agriculture program to charge a 15 cent tax on all fresh-cut Christmas trees. The revenues would have gone to fund a government-sponsored board to promote Christmas trees.
The Wall Street Journal, Italy Fears Rattle World’s Investors: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s decision to step down did not calm world markets, which all dropped sharply as investors dumped Italian bonds.
The Wall Street Journal, Largest Municipal Bankruptcy Filed: Jefferson County, Ala., which owes more than $3 billion on a failed sewer deal, filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history yesterday.
The Wall Street Journal, Home Prices Keep Dropping: U.S. home prices fell in nearly three-quarters of metropolitan areas over the last three months and the national median home price fell 4.7%.
The Los Angeles Times, Spain paying the price of regional overspending: As Italy and Greece drown in a debt spiral, Spain’s regional governments have been spending their way to large debts on infrastructure and other social welfare spending.
The Washington Post, Activists say Obama aide Cecilia Munoz has ‘turned her back’ on fellow Hispanics: Cecilia Munoz, the highest-ranking Hispanic official in the Obama White House, is being targeted as a traitor by fellow Latinos in a highly personal, ethnic-based campaign against the president’s deportation policies.
The Los Angeles Times, Banks’ foreclosure activity picks up in October: Foreclosure actions were up 7% in September compared to the month before, and the number of homes entering the foreclosure process by receiving a notice of default rose by 10% compared to the previous month.
Gallup, Obama Back to Even With “Generic” Republican Candidate: Thanks to a surge of support from independent voters, Obama beats a generic Republican by one point, 43 to 42, in a hypothetical 2012 ballot. Last month, the generic Republican was up eight points 46 to 38.
The Oregonian, Police arrest man at Occupy Portland camp for throwing Molotov cocktail into stairwell at World Trade Center: A 29-year-old protester was arrested for first-degree arson, manufacturing a destructive device, possession of a destructive device and second-degree criminal mischief after he allegedly tossed a Molotov cocktail onto a staircase at the World Trade Center.
The San Francisco Examiner, Occupy Oakland makes $20K deposit at Wells Fargo: Less than a week after they vandalized their local Wells Fargo bank branch, Occupy Oakland protesters voted to deposit $20,000 of the group’s money there. According to meeting minutes posted on a Facebook page for the “Oakland General Assembly,” the group’s lawyer, Tim Fong, will temporarily keep a $20,000 donation from Occupy Wall Street in a Wells Fargo account, until he can finalize paperwork needed to open a credit union account for the group. The move is necessary to expedite the money’s availability for bailing out jailed protesters, the minutes said.
Righty Playbook
Tax Prof Blog posts a chart showing that 70% of those subject to a millionaire’s surtax would be small business owners.
ZeroHedge posts a screen shot from Intrade showing Perry’s contract to win the nomination collapsing after his debate stumble.
The Enterprise Blog‘s James Pethokoukis posts a chart that closes the case on the inequality myth.
Left Playbook
The Huffington Post‘s Sam Stein confirms that Obama Chief of Staff Bill Daley was pushed out to please congressional Democrats.
Mike Konczal pushes back against Ezra Klein’s claims that Obama was powerless to boost the economy in 2010: “It’s clear from the speech: President Obama announced the freeze and veto threat, and didn’t sound alarm bells, because he believed that the potential risks associated with not signaling to the bond market that deficit reduction was coming outweighed the reality of high unemployment and trying to expand the deficit immediately. … This was exactly the wrong call to make in early 2010.”
The Washington Monthly‘s Steve Benen defends the Christmas Tree tax.
