Me, Back in Time on TV

So MY BOY Chris Ford in Austin texts me last night saying “I just saw you on TV!” I promptly respond with “Liar!” He casually replies with a pic that he takes of his TV. I was like holy shit!

It was the day after Kay Bailey Hutchison (currently U.S. Ambassador to NATO) had been elected U.S. Senator in a special election to replace Lloyd Bensten, who had become Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary. The year was 1993. Oy vey!

You can see the pic below. The link is to the story that ran last night on the ABC affiliate KVUE in Austin about the history of Senate elections in Texas.

https://www.kvue.com/mobile/article/news/politics/vote-texas/texas-elections-senate-republicans-democrats/269-c020b657-8b49-4af4-bb4f-d6f83c692c2e

The Root.com: Every Democratic Candidates’ ‘Black Agenda,’ Ranked

This amazingly candid and straight forward description of all eight remaining Democrats as the voters of South Carolina go to the polls. I will say I do sense a tad of bias, but I will let you figure it out. H/t to Monica Alexander and David Perruzza for first posting this on FB yesterday.

TheRoot.com says, “We asked policy experts, legal scholars and political pundits, all of whom were black, to help us devised a policy matrix. Then we graded each plan on a scale of 1 to 10.”

I’ll just say that you will surprised that Joe Biden is NOT ranked #1 and that Pete Buttigieg is NOT ranked near the bottom. I will let you peruse it yourself.

https://www.theroot.com/every-democratic-candidates-black-agenda-ranked-1841959166

Last Polling Out of SC…

Looks like Biden’s firewall will stand. What’s impressive, is Buttigieg sudden rise in the state. Klobuchar and Warren are in trouble — especially Warren. In a recent poll, she trails Sanders IN HER HOME STATE OF MASSACHUSSETS! More on that this weekend.

Bloomberg creeping up in Florida poll

A month ago, a St. Pete Poll had Mike Bloomberg surging into second place behind Uncle Joe 41% to 17%. The sample size of likely voters was 2,590, with a Margin of Error of 1.9%.

What a difference a month makes! The same pollster conducted a new poll over the last two days of 3, 047 likely Democratic voters. With an MOE of 1.8%

Florida votes two weeks after Super Tuesday (March 2nd), so there is still time for anything to happen. But one must admit that the trajectory for both are in opposite directions. I’m not writing off Uncle Joe…yet. Blacks in South Carolina are his firewall. And the Culinary Union in Vegas not endorsing anyone doesn’t help his campaign either. Let’s see how Klobuchar and Mayor Pete do in Nevada, which caucuses (minus the app!) next Saturday.

After NH, now what?!

So, now what?! Does Stella Biden get his groove back in time for South Carolina? There are no recent meaningful polling from either Nevada or SC, so any talk is just hot air. Do blacks stay with Biden in SC? Does labor push Bernie over the threshold in NV where he lost by 5 points to Hillary? Do Amy and/or Pete get any traction with minorities? And what’s all this crowing about Bernie getting 40% of the Hispanic vote last night? NH has a Hispanic population of 4%. So that’s what? 1,200 votes out of 290,000 that were cast last night?

If Biden under performs in SC, that will definitely create a lane for Bloomberg on Super Tuesday. But only if Mayor Mike can quickly make himself the principal alternative to Sanders. Keep that spending up.

RIP to the campaigns of Andrew Yang and Deval Patrick. Was Patrick really running? And why?! Oh, and I’m calling it now. Warren is done! Thankfully.

Congress… Off to a Bad Start

The new is still fresh in people’s mind. A new President awaits to be inaugurated in 17 days. The new 115th Congress is about to be sworn in. And what’s on the minds of some GOP lawmakers? Gutting the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Obviously, as soon as it hit the news wires, the outcry was deafening. But it wasn’t simply from the Left.  Judicial Watch has called the proposal “shameful.” But the biggest and most surprising rebuke came from President-elect Trump in a tweet.

Why JC Watts Won’t Be the Next RNC Chair

I read a Politico posting this afternoon suggesting that former Congressman J.C. Watts may jump in the race for RNC Chairman next month.  An interesting proposition.

But let’s look at a few basic facts.  Mr. Watts says he is being “encouraged” by supporters to run.  Who are these supporters?  They don’t seem to be current members of the RNC.  In fact, the article points out that Matt Pinnell, the Chairman of the Oklahoma Party and  one of the 168 who will vote for the next RNC Chairman is backing  Priebus for reelection.

While a cursory look at the RNC Rules does allow for a non-member to run for Chair or Vice-Chair, in order to be nominated, one must have the support of at least the majority vote of RNC members in each of three states in order to have his or her names placed in nomination.  So where does he go for those initial votes if his home state chairman is supporting Priebus?  And even if he were to get nominated, where does he get the votes?  Preibus already has 130 of the 168 votes locked up.

I am not saying the Mr. Watts wouldn’t be a good chairman.  But there is no groundswell within the voting membership of the RNC to replace Priebus with Watts, or anyone else, for that matter.

My belief is that in six weeks, down in Charlotte, Reince will be nominated and reelected by acclamation.   I just don’t see any other outcome.  But stranger things have happened.

Colin Powell to Replace David Petraeus?

That was my original thought when a little bird spotted the former Secretary of State dining this weekend in Georgetown with not only Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, but also retired United States Naval Commander Harlan Ullman, of “shock & awe” fame, and also one of the names released by the DC Madame some five years ago.

It most definitely could be time for payback since the General endorsed President Obama both in 2008 and 2012.  Only time will tell…

Best Photo This Week

My 2012 Electoral Map: Romney 295 Obama 243

Many of you have asked, so here it is.

Romney 295 (Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin)

Obama 243 (Iowa, Michigan, Pennsylvania)