Visual Source: Newseum
Chris Cillizza:
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty raised $4.2 million over the past three months, a total likely to raise questions about his perceived status as the primary alternative to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican presidential race.
This race looks like it's between Romney, Bachmann and maybe Perry. The pundits are just doing some CYA by saying otherwise (but don't worry—their track record won't be any better than usual. The ones that get it right still will, the ones that get it wrong... will get raises.) The so-called Very Serious Candidates are also-rans, especially Pawlenty who doesn't deserve the Very Serious label. At least Huntsman does, even though
he can't win:
There’s a reason he barely has a pulse in the polls. He speaks so softly that even his aides sometimes have trouble hearing him at events. He is making civility a cornerstone of his campaign, at a time when Republican voters are ravenous for red-meat conservative policies, and an epochal showdown with Obama.
The GOP base, sensing weakness in Obama, wants a brawler, the sort of Republican who prospered in dozens of races in the 2010 mid-terms. This is the main reason so many activists are clamoring for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in the race. Huntsman, by contrast, is running as a diplomat.
So many activists are still clamoring for Christie even though he's unpopular at home and can't carry his home state? You mean media types are clamoring for the very quotable Christie. Let's not get them confused.
Chron.com:
Longtime Democratic attack dog James Carville made a Tuesday appearance on CNN to explain why he (mockingly) supports a potential Rick Perry candidacy.
“I hope he runs because anybody that talked about secession needs to run for president,” he said.
“(Perry) talks a lot and he’s not very bright,” he added. “And that’s a combination I like in Republicans.”
The Caucus/NY Times:
“It would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can’t afford them,” he said, reprising a theme he struck in a news conference on Wednesday. “Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or for hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, or for oil and gas companies pulling in huge profits without our help – then we’ll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else.”
NY Times:
A federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan’s 2006 ban on the consideration of race and gender in public-university admissions and government hiring in the latest round of the decade-long fight over the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policies.
The 2-to-1 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said the voter-approved ban “unconstitutionally alters Michigan’s political structure by impermissibly burdening racial minorities.”
“This is a tremendous victory,” said George B. Washington, who represented the coalition challenging the ban. “We think we’ll win in the end, however many appeals there are.”
Dana Milbank:
The comedian Stephen Colbert flew down to Washington this week to parody the nation’s campaign finance laws. But there was a flaw in his plan: The campaign finance system already is a parody.
National Journal:
Stephen Colbert came to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday as a walking and talking funhouse mirror, utterly distorting and strangely clarifying American politics at the same time.
Comedy Central’s mock conservative pundit skewered the campaign finance system more effectively than any government watchdog or muckraking journalist by launching his own political “Super PAC’’ committee. The underlying backdrop: Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court case that allows unlimited corporate and special interest money to flow directly to campaign advertising.