Romney no Reagan

My old friend Matt Bai at the New York Times (I've talked to him once to get him on our show) has a nice piece today about how lame Mitt Romney's campaign was - and how much lamer still his concession speech was.

The Bai piece has far fewer dangling participles and you can read it here.

Mitt out

Mitt "The Mormon" Romney has suspended his run for president, but not before he again invoked the name of Ronald Reagan by comparing his decision to stand down to Reagan's loss in 1976. Thus, he promises a comeback after the Democrats trounce John McCain and make a bungle of a hostage rescue attempt.

I won't hold my breath.

I'll miss Romney, though I'm surprised he lasted this long. In many ways, he was the most genuine of all the candidates, bending to the will of voters at every opportunity, pandering without shame.

Now old-man McCain must climb that steep conservative mountain all alone - unless, of course, his old friend Huck finds a way to tag along (or McCain has a myocardial infarction). But Huck forgot that he needed Romney to stick around just as badly as McCain needed Huck to split the conservative vote. Now Huck's superfluous.

Barack Obama, who continues to revolutionize politics dollar-by-fund-raising-dollar, should be glad at all of this. The wind is at his back and Hillary Clinton has little room to go negative right now, and not a lot of cash on hand. Her only hope is that the writers' strike ends soon and all of Obama's young supporters get locked into the next season of Grey's Anatomy.

The Results Are In

Very few surprises tonight in the presidential primary. The thing to watch now is how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spin their respective wins. Obama did better in the South and in more conservative states. He also won Missouri. I think this gives him an argument to build upon for the upcoming primaries, which are largely in conservative-leaning states such as Texas and Ohio.

Clinton, on the other hand, has big wins in big states, but her map looks something like John Kerry's in 2004. She's the traditional liberal, winning mostly states that a Democrat would be expected to win in a general election. Certainly her delegate count and high-profile victories make for a nice storyline but she lacks a forward-looking narrative.

Saying that, Obama has a long way to go to win the nomination. In other words, today he met his expectations but didn't exceed them. Nothing audacious about that.

And on the Republican side, John McCain beat the shit out of Mitt Romney just about everywhere. He'll drop out soon, I predict.

Today is the day they call Tsunami Tuesday

CNN has posted its first exit poll info, showing that people who are self-described conservatives supported Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Is that even news?

More interesting, Democrats who decided who they wanted to vote for in the last three days picked Obama 47% and Clinton 46%. That's not great news for Obama, who needed those late voters to break his way. That explains the lowered expectations coming out from his campaign.

It's over, Rudy (live blogging the end)*, **, ***, ****

Rudy Giuliani is in the process of exiting a race he never really entered. The question is whether he will endorse John McCain.

*Oh, wait, he's not leaving. Or is he? He "ran a campaign." That isn't present tense. Get to it! We've already had enough of waiting around for you.

**"Less lawsuits." Jesus. We have to suffer improper grammar along with this insufferable lecture? Make a decision already.

***"Finally..." Finally, indeed. Here it comes... ticktock, ticktock... Nope, not yet. Still telling us what America should be about. You had your chance, Mr. Giuliani, during the campaign you decided not to run.

****MSNBC has switched to someone relevant: Mitt Romney, who finished second in Florida. Freedom and opportunity were in the air when he was growing up, he tells us. This is the same man who told us his he saw his dad walk alongside MLK at a time when freedom and opportunity were a little more rare... We have new competition, he says, from "countries like Asia and India." He sounds like he's reading from a memo on how to sound conservative in 10 easy steps.

I declare this live blogging experiment a failure, as Giuliani seems intent on sticking around just long enough to negotiate a favorable exit and endorsement with the McCain camp.

Who, indeed?

Mitt Romney gets back to his black roots.

Old people still vote

McCain and Clinton rack up second wins today, providing both with real momentum at a time when voters are getting antsy for clarity.

I'd guess Edwards and Thompson will be shown the door. Romney will keep on fighting, having taken a win in Nevada. Giuliani looks like a long shot and Obama and Huckabee are on the ropes.

The AARP generation is asserting its will.

Romney on a roll

Mitt the Mormom outdoes his rivals in the great state of Nevada. He'd probably be doing a jig if he weren't barred from dancing.

Real hard times*

Forget stocks dropping on Wall Street and poor Citibank writing down billions in debt. Here's a story about a real American economy that a one-time stimulus packages will do nothing to help.

After reading the story, I have three initial questions.

First, how recent is this terrible transformation from working class to working poor in the Midwest?

Second, is our health care "crisis" really about rising medical costs or a result of our stagnant and often falling wages?

Third, how in the world can a Republican beat a Democrat in Ohio this year? Mitt Romney's Democratic-lite turn in Michigan notwithstanding, no one making $8 or $9 an hour at McDonald's is going to respond to calls for more tax cuts as a way to dig out of this hole.

*Also, I hope any print journalists wondering why they're still in the business will read this and be inspired.

Romney wins!!!

Any presidential contest that has Duncan Hunter coming in second should probably be ignored.

What the Huckabee?!

No surprises except for the surprises.

Looks like passion beat out "electability" in Iowa tonight. Mike Huckabee, the bass playing, slack-jawed yokel, beat out Mitt "the Mormon" Romney in what could be Romney's death knell.

And over on the Democratic side, Barack Obama figured out how to whip up the turnout machine to beat Hillary Clinton and John Edwards (no funny nicknames for the Dems, unfortunately).

An Obama win probably means Edwards will be looking to become VP again. He's the new Al Gore.

The much-maligned DMR poll has been vindicated.

Romney or bust

Mitt Romney makes a final push to take down surging Mike Huckabee before Thursday's Iowa caucuses.

I have to ask, are these really the issues the issues conservatives care about?: Romney's new Iowa ad accuses Huckabee of being at the helm of a big-spending government in Arkansas, providing college benefits to the children of illegal immigrants and issuing more than 1,000 pardons and commutations as governor. The ad also quotes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice saying Huckabee's criticisms of President Bush's foreign policy were "ludicrous."

Big spending in Arkansas?! The too-compassionate conservative?