Nebraskans are continuing to stay busy on the Presidential politics scene. As Don Walton reports in the LJS, Jon Bruning was trucking along on the Huckabee bandwagon in South Carolina. He's apparently going to do a few more ride-alongs in Florida as well.
Our angry comrades at Nebraska Blue also found this MSNBC story that shows Bruning up on stage with Huck in SC (above). We're not real sure what value the Huck camp found in having JB up on stage, but ya know, rock on.
Of course, Bruning's timing couldn't be worse as Huck is fading in the polls, and has now cut staff and travel expenses. Bruning may have looked more clairvoyant had he jumped on before Huck's rise in neighboring Iowa.
So why did JB jump on the Huck-mobile? Well, for one, they share the same consultant, Dresner Wickers. Conventional wisdom would have JB supporting McCain, who endorsed Bruning-backer Tom Osborne for Governor. But we assume McCain's amnesty (AMNESTY!) bill means JB had to take another path. Heineman takes Romney, so that leaves Thompson, Rudy or Huckabee. And that's where the consultant connection comes in. JB - have fun in Florida, and ask him to let you speak a bit!
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The Kleeb camp said the Hot Ranch-hand will be traveling to Washington, DC to find out what the party-elders think about his election chances, and will finally announce something within the next two weeks. Or something. It's getting to be "drop the kids off at the pool" or get off the pot time for Kleeb.
We're sure Tony Raimondo is enjoying twiddling his thumbs in his Behlen lair, waiting for Kleeb to make up his mind.
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And what do we here at Leavenworth Street think of the Presidential race these days? Well, here's our take (after much internal debating, mind you):
First, Thompson and Huckabee are done. Thompson got in too late and never showed enough fire for the average folks to jump onto his bandwagon. The CW was that he wasn't really interested in running, and he has reinforced that notion with his lackluster effort on the trail. Right on the issues, but no fire in the belly. (Update at 1:45pm: Note that this was posted BEFORE Thompson dropped out today...)
Huckabee came out of the gates as an interesting populist and was a funny and logical sounding guy. However, once he gained a little traction people expected him to start expanding on serious policy positions, and he never delivered. His foreign policy gaffs didn't help either. Then in Iowa he became the fundamentalist Christian candidate, and he's turned into something of a one trick pony. Now every time you hear him it's only about abortion, gay-marriage and God. Being the Christian Coalition candidate isn't going to give him the nom without having serious policy positions on matters of national security and the economy.
Giuliani has rapidly faded and may have to finally reap what he planted in Florida, which may have been too many resources. Some of us here on L St still think Rudy's the guy, but coming in last in all of the other primaries has hurt him. Can he take a win or strong showing and make the jump in Uber Tuesday? We're not so sure.
Romney still has the backing of many of the party conservatives (such as Rush), but the other GOP candidates generally hate him. Huckabee in particular sees it as his mission to take him down. Many think he's too much of a slick opportunist. An then there's the Mormon thing, which we're still not sure he's done with answering.
Finally there's McCain. He came in with the Bob Dole-esque backing of "he's next in line." As the fall-back candidate, he's become somewhat of a "I guess I could vote for him" kind of guy. This is mainly because he has emerged (arguably) as the candidate who can beat Hillary in November. Watch how strong his conservative speech becomes this week as Florida approaches.
After Florida, it'll be a two-man (maybe 2 and half-man) race, with McCain and Romney, or possibly Giuliani, going into Feb 5th National Primary.
As for the Dems? Barrack Obama will become the Hart, Tsongas, Bradley, Dean of 2008. A political footnote in the Hillary nomination annals.
But if 45% of the electorate will NOT vote for Hillary, and McCain is seen as too old or too mainstream, will that encourage a Bloomberg run? Only if he thinks he could actually win. It could be a weird year...
OK, let's hear it partisans!
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13 comments:
"Some of us here on L St ..."
So how many of you are there exactly? Or is that just like a "we are borg" kind of statement?
I am still holding out for a contested Republican Convention. I don't understand the doom and gloom being preached by party leadership whenever asked about the possibility. For the past few election cycles, we have been bemoaning the fact that the conventions are receiving decreasing TV coverage and TV ratings. This would eliminate that. First, it would give us a huge platform to espouse conservative ideas and principles. Second, it would give us a chance to handpick someone we might all like. I would personally like to see a Kasich/Watts or Watts/Kasich ticket in 2008. Younger, energetic, strong conservative values and ideas, AND they would be unblemished by bitter primaries. It would also serve to give pause to the black community when the GOP is the first party to have a black on the ticket. While most blacks probably don't agree with Republicans, there is a significant population who strictly desire to see a black achieve such high office.
This is the type of groundswell needed by our party.
The way things are going, I may just have to fall back on the old standby . . . Alfred E. Neuman.
YOU FORGOT RON PAUL.
Well, if it helps you, I'll address the Ron Paul chance for the GOP nomination or the WH here: Zero.
"Anybody but Hillary" seems highly probably in November...greatly disappointing. IMHO, confirms we are living in the Age of Stupidity.
I am bewildered why the 3rd cannot find someone to run with either business or political experience or both. The Hottie Ranch hand has never had a full time job or even been elected to dog catcher.
Maybe the Dems need to look past the ROOKIE and find a Republican to change just like Raimondo or Witek.
The good news is if the "the polling math expert" Kleeb can con the DC group into believeing his race was close at 10% spread and get the powers that be to support him in a certain loss it takes money away from other Dem candidates, in turn helping other Republicans
News flash...The HOTTIE RANCH HAND is Dead....No not Scott Kleeb, Heath Ledger. It must be rough being popular and good looking. If there is a sequel for one of Heath's movies as a Cowboy..maybe Scott Kleeb can fill in.
I wondered why the Hucksters campaign is floundering....Jon Brunning is on the road with him and Jordan McGrain must be giving advice.
Go Mitt Go!
In my book...and I used to be a fan...Bruning is fading into oblivion at warp speed just like the Huckster.
I concur with the snowblwr.
John Kasich was on Hannity & Colmes tonight. Looked good, sounded great.
Bruning and Heineman made bad choices for the same reason GOP voters are searching frantically for someone they can vote for without puking. The entire GOP field are bad choices. And the Democrat's two leadership-zero candidates are worse.
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