December 21, 2006

12/21: Battle Fatigue?

Since 11/7, there has been a marked divergence in right and left blog focus when it comes to '08. While plenty of pro and con Dem WH '08 posts can be found on lefty blogs, there has also been a noticeable and public effort to refrain from attacking the candidates. Instead, '08 concern has been concentrated on identifying which down ballot races the netroots want to be a factor in. The right side of the sphere is completely different. One can't glance at RedState with out reading some hit piece on a GOP WH '08 candidate. Meanwhile, there is nary a mention of which down ballot races the righties want to target. We speculate that having been around the block once, the netroots grey tooths don't want to relive the nasty fights they had in '04, while for the righty 'sphere this is their maiden contested primary.

IRAQ: It's Not ... Good

Pres. Bush did not get rave reviews from conservatives watching his 12/20 WH presser. The Corner's John Podhoretz wrote: "If You're At Work...be glad you're not at home watching the president's press conference. It's...not good." Kathryn Jean Lopez added: "It has the feel of Rocky V (Why did you bother?)."

In other Iraq news, TPMmuckraker, nailed down Dem leadership positions on Bush's "surge" for Iraq: "The Democrats' top leadership in the House and Senate are united against." Also at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall notes Brookings Institute's "key role in building support for the Iraq War" and blegs readers for info on inner Brookings "controversy" over Fred Kagan's inclusion in an upcoming Brookings policy briefing.

GOP FIELD: What About Rudy?

Pollster.com's Charles Franklin has his first post on WH '08 up, with data on every person in the GOP field. Franklin identifies one notable result: "Former New York City Mayor Rudolf Giuliani continues to hold a small but reliable lead over Arizona Senator John McCain. Of 39 polls with both names in the list of candidates, Giuliani leads McCain in 30 with four more ties. McCain leads in only 5 polls. ... That doesn't seem to me to be the message I've been getting from the media."

RedState's Dan McLaughlin isn't happy with MSM coverage of the race either, and is particularly displeased with National Review's cover story narrowed the field "to two men: John McCain and Mitt Romney." McLaughlin argues that Romney wants the race to be framed as a two man contest and offers three more specific complaints:

• First, the article gives only short shrift to Rudy Giuliani, despite polling that consistently shows the former NY mayor leading the field or running about even with Senator McCain.
• Second, NR seems to be abandoning the possibility - which you would think a conservative magazine would at least entertain - that a conservative champion could yet emerge from the field.
• More disturbing is the idea that NR has accepted Romney's effort to portray himself as the authentic conservative in the race. ... But any realistic assessment of Romney has to begin in the same place as McCain and Giuliani - that is, with the fact that his past public statements make him out to be something other than a consistent conservative.

BROWNBACK: Tancredo, Go Home

An admitted "ardent Brownback supporter" RedState's Leon Wolf defends Sam Brownback's immigration record writing: "Sam Brownback is not a Tancredoite (or even nearly a Tancredoite) when it comes to immigration, and I'm not trying to claim that he is. However, the characterization of Brownback as someone who is "bad on immigration" is simply unfair, at least insofar as "bad on immigration" is not defined as any deviation from Tom Tancredo's platform."

GILMORE: Not A Pretend Conservative

While IA's Caucus Cooler may have been leading the Jim Gilmore-may-run coverage, eyeon08's Gilmore quote from the New York Times is the most widely included item on rigthy blogs: "I didn't run some place and pretend I was a liberal and run someplace else as a conservative. I just didn't do that." Other reax include:

• Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham: "Gilmore was before my time in Virginia, but from all I hear of him, he's a real conservative."
• Outside the Beltway's James Joyner: "While John McCain and Mitt Romney are both trying to position themselves as the main conservative candidate in the race, both face obstacles. ... He may not be well known to the public but he's well known to the party apparatus from which he must put together a team and do his initial fundraising. He's definitely a longshot, though, and isn't the most charismatic guy in the world.
• IA's Caucus Cooler: "For crying out loud somebody's got to get the Gary Bauer vote."

GIULIANI: You've Gotta Make It Here, Before You Can Make It Anywhere

RedState's California Yankee reports Rudy Giuliani's 12/18 $2,100-a-ticket Manhattan cocktail party "disappoint[ed]" since it fell short of the 500 tickets needed to raise $1 mil. according to attendees. CY adds: "Fellow presidential wannabe, John McCain, upstaged Giuliani's fundraising event by announcing a 57-member New York finance committee that includes Jets owner Woody Johnson; billionaire financier Henry Kravis; and Henry Kissinger."

The Corner's Jonathan Martin posts backstory to ex-Rep. Rick Lazio's non-endorsement of Giuliani: "People need to remember that Rick wanted to run for the Senate in 2000, but Rudy was toying with the idea and was effectively freezing everyone else out. ... While it was understandable that he would, at that point, not run for the Senate, a lot of people were upset that Rudy had strung the GOP along and left the party in a bad spot. ... Given all of the hurdles he faced and given that Bush lost NY to Gore by about 2.5 million votes and Rick lost by about half that many votes to HRC, I think people should recognize that Lazio ran a commendable race under tough circumstances. That being said, I think Lazio might still be angry with Rudy's behavior in early 2000.

Subbing for Andrew Sullivan, Alex Massie uses urges primary voters to evaluate the GOP field using a college football like "resume approach" as opposed to "power ranking" system. Massie thinks Giuliani has the best GOP resume: "The Mayor of New York must grapple - nay, fight! - a bewilderingly complex and byzantine bureaucracy plagued by turf wars, vested interests and a bloody-minded determination to thwart change or reform. Hmmm, isn't there a similar, but even larger and more powerful Hydra in Washington?"

ROMNEY: What The Right Angle Wants, The Right Angle Gets

A little over a week after The Right Angle's Matt Lewis advised Team Romney to hire a blogger, The Right Angle announced Romney hired Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) aide Stephen Smith "to lead his online communications team."

Instapundit applauds the move: "I've dealt with Smith a fair amount in conjunction with Frist's appearances on The Glenn & Helen Show, etc., and found him smart and easy to work with. It's a good hire for the Romney campaign."

Smith will have his work cut out for him as plenty of anti-Romney posts are still floating around the righty 'sphere including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) aide Patrick Hynes noting Romney's 1994 refusal to endorse ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich's Contract with America at Ankle Biting Pundits and RedState's Leon Wolf's impatience for a Romney explanation of his "absolute about face on abortion."

OBAMA: An Opportunity For Courage

Kausfiles cops to being "an old-fashioned Joe Kleinish Clintonian self-hating Dem" that is not going to swoon over Barack Obama until he hears "Obama tell Democrats something they maybe don't want to hear." So far all Kaus has heard from Obama is an "idiosyncratic veneer of reasonableness over a policy that is utterly party line and conventional, defended with arguments that are party line and conventional."

TPM Cafe's M.J. Rosenberg has a similar wish and a specific policy in mind: Israel. Rosenberg writes: "In his latest column in New York Observer, the fine author and columnist, Phil Weiss, raises the possibility that Obama is no different than the other mainstream Democrats in not questioning whether our current policies are good for America or Israel. ... Obama is just too smart and too honest to embrace the deadly status quo. Weiss also points out that the latest stirrings in the American Jewish community make it possible for candidates not to adopt the failed policies of the past. Staking out some new territory here will make Obama look like the leader I think he is. Eleanor Roosevelt mocked JFK in 1960 for showing too much profile and not enough courage. I want Obama to show us both."

LANDSCAPE: Just The Beginning

MyDD's ManfromMiddletown was concerned Charlie Cook's Partisan Voting Index was underestimating Dem voting strength so he designed his measure for OH using '06 results from "the Auditor, Secretary of State, and Treasurer's races." The result: "Overall, this measure shows Ohio to be far more Democratic than Presidential vote and the Cook PVI ,as a result, indicates."

Charlie Cook repsonds in the comments: "We invented the Partisan Voting Index in order to have a single-objective measurement of how a district votes in presidential elections compared to the rest of the country. One single number to look at, based on the average two-party vote in the last two presidential elections. It is the start of our analytical process, not the middle and certainly not the end.

CA 10: A Real Problem For Dems

Although Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) is not affiliated with Third Way, MyDD 's Matt Stoller, says "people like Tauscher" "empower[] Third Way style policy people." Stoller calls Tauscher "a real problem for Democrats" and says she "should face a serious challenge."

DEM CONVO: A Springboard For Labor?

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas is troubled the state of negotiations between the DNC and Denver, CO: "Negotiations are ongoing with Labor, which doesn't like Denver because of its lack of unionized facilities. Instead of sabotaging Democratic chances in 2008, perhaps Labor could use the convention as a springboard effort to kickstart unionization efforts in Denver?"

CO SEN: If Only The Buffaloes Could Get Into The Top Three

Kos notes Coloradoan reports that Rep. Mark Udall (D) may challenge Sen. Wayne Allard (R) and writes: "Rumor? It's no rumor. Udall is in, and whether Allard stays in or not, this will be a top-three race in 2008."

ME SEN: Shootin' The Moon

Daily Kos diarist RandyMI picks up on Hotline On Call reports that Rep. Tom Allen (D-01) has retained Rep. Mike Michaud (D-02) manager Heather Quinn "should Allen decide to run for SEN." RandyMI adds: "Collins has to be spooked at this point. She knows that she is not nearly as popular as Olympia Snowe and, if she runs, she has to explain away her pledge to serve only two terms." Kos adds: "You just know Schumer is promising Allen the sun and the moon if the runs."

QUESTION OF THE DAY: The Enemy Of My Enemy ...

The Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum asks: "True or false: Persistent exposure to zealous lefty ideologues causes centrists to sympathize more strongly with conservatism than they normally would. Conversely, persistent exposure to zealous righty ideologues causes centrists to sympathize more with liberalism. Follow-up question: If this is true, what lesson should we draw from it?"

LEST WE FORGET: Only Four Shopping Days Left

Extreme Mortman is "not making this up" when he links to the Drug Enforcement Administration Gift Shop's description of lovable plush DEA German Shepards: "This little, 6 inch length, "Beanie" plush German Shepherd, is the ideal "Best Friend", for all ages. Choose either a gold collar w/ DEA in black, or black w/ DEA in white letters." Mortman quips: "No word whether this stuffed animal is trained to sniff other stuffed animals."

Posted by Conn Carroll at December 21, 2006 12:03 PM