Having now won the Florida primary and Nevada caucuses, and been honored with the coveted endorsement of Donald Trump, Mitt Romney appears to be sitting firmly in the driver's seat.
That being said, however, he's not exactly running away with this thing.
Before Romney can even begin to map out a path to the White House, he must first overcome a few bumps in the road.
Chief among them are the improving economy, and his tendency to choose his words poorly.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R); Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D); NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I); Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R); Roundtable: Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), David Brooks (New York Times), GOP Strategist Alex Castellanos and Rachel Maddow (MSNBC).
Face the Nation: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R); Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (9/11); Roundtable: Michael Kranish (Boston Globe), Norah O'Donnell (CBS News) and John Dickerson (CBS News).
This Week: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX); Former Obama Economic Adviser Lawrence Summers; Romney Economic Adviser Glenn Hubbard; Diane Swonk (Mesirow Financial); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), GOP Strategist Matthew Dowd, Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) and Dana Loesch (BigJournalism.com).
Fox News Sunday: Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA); Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R); Former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-AZ); Roundtable: Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Liz Marlantes (Christian Science Monitor), Sociopath Liz Cheney and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R); Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D); Tony Perkins (Family Research Council); Dick Armey (FreedomWorks); Former CBO Director Alice Rivlin; Former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin; Ron Brownstein (CNN); Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Reliable Sources: Jonathan Martin (Politico); Christina Bellantoni (Roll Call); Michael Shear (New York Times); Michelle Cottle (Daily Beast); Matt Lewis (Daily Caller).
The Chris Matthews Show: Andrea Mitchell (NBC News); Howard Fineman (Huffington Post); Nia-Malika Henderson (Washington Post); Richard Stengel (TIME).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: David Brooks (New York Times); David Remnick (The New Yorker); Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal); Chrystia Freeland (Reurters); Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong.
Up with Chris Hayes: Amy Goodman (Democracy Now); Melissa Harris-Perry (MSNBC); Dave Weigel (Slate.com); Michael Brendan Dougherty (Business Insider); Eli Lake (Daily Beast); Princeton University Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter; Michelle Goldberg (Daily Beast).
Afternoon lineup:
NBC's Matt Lauer will be interviewing President Obama live at the White House prior to the start of the Super Bowl.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will present a special hour dedicated to "three remarkable women"—country music star Dolly Parton, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and Oscar-nominated actress Meryl Streep (preview).
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart weighed in on the value of Donald Trump's endorsement of Mitt Romney.
And Stephen Colbert looked at the illustrious group of people supporting Newt Gingrich.
Note: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be airing reruns this week. New episodes will return on Monday, February 13.
Elsewhere...
In her latest legal challenge to President Obama's eligiblity, Orly Taitz, DDS, Esq. managed to extract defeat from the jaws of victory.
In the judge's ruling against her, he wrote:
"[N]either Defendant nor his counsel, Michael Jablonski, appeared or answered. Ordinarily, the Court would enter a default order against a party that fails to participate in any stage of a proceeding. Nonetheless, despite the Defendant's failure to appear, Plaintiffs asked this Court to decide the case on the merits of their arguments and evidence. The Court granted Plaintiffs' request."
Meanwhile...
Alabama State Sen. Shadrack McGill (R) made the case that it's against God's will to pay teachers well.
"To go in and raise someone’s child for eight hours a day, or many people’s children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn’t want to do it, OK?
And these teachers that are called to teach, regardless of the pay scale, they would teach. It's just in them to do. It's the ability that God give 'em. And there are also some teachers, it wouldn’t matter how much you would pay them, they would still perform to the same capacity.
If you don’t keep that in balance, you're going to attract people who are not called, who don't need to be teaching our children. So, everything has a balance."
And in tangentially-related news...
Rick Santorum cited the Book of Jobs (Steve Jobs) in refusing to do anything about the high cost of life-saving prescription drugs.
GOP contender Rick Santorum had a heated exchange with a mother and her sick young son Wednesday, arguing that drug companies were entitled to charge whatever the market demanded for life-saving therapies.[...]
"People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad," Santorum said, "but paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it."
The mother said the boy was on the drug Abilify, used to treat schizophrenia, and that, on paper, its costs would exceed $1 million each year.
Santorum said drugs take years to develop and cost millions of dollars to produce, and manufacturers need to turn a profit or they would stop developing new drugs.
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.
- Trix