• Gimme extra cheese, anchovies, and bigotry on that: Not many political observers have given Godfather’s Pizza founder Herman Cain a shot at taking the GOP nomination for President (though it’s a credit to his initiative that he’s actually, you know, officially running). As it turns out, anybody who has a problem with religious litmus tests for federal appointments should be pleased about that. Cain’s silly justification, that he’s worried about the spread of Sharia in America, is a sad example of either earnest prejudice, or the lowest breed of political pandering. source

• The solution isn’t just to paralyze government. Vote for us because you couldn’t possibly vote for them? That’s not enough. It may win some seats, but it won’t take you where you want to be.
• Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio • Appearing to make a break from the Modern Tea Party script. Why’s that? Well, uh, Charlie Crist went independent and turned Rubio’s plan to be a hard-line conservative candidate upside down. So now he has to say things like this to appease the moderates that Crist is going to win over in the election because he didn’t give in. Remember, guys, the Marco Rubio you’re voting for isn’t the one who says things like this. It’s the one who gave this speech at CPAC. He only moderated himself out of necessity. source

• It’s his first public appearance in a bizarrely successful campaign. South Carolina’s Democratic nominee for the Senate will address the Manning chapter of the NAACP on Sunday. And he even has some support from the people who initially didn’t know who he was. “The word in the barbershop, the word on the street, the word in the church parking lots is that everyone is pulling for him,” said Manning NAACP President Robert Fleming. Great he has some support, but if he beats Jim DeMint, color us shocked. source

• I can’t remember a time that we’ve ever had trouble with interviews. Especially with people running for office — they usually beat our door down.
• KRNV news director Mary Beth Farrell • Explaining how flabbergasted she is that Nevada bizarro hippie candidate Sharron Angle has seemingly gone out of her way to avoid talking to the local mainstream media. In choosing to talk only to conservative news outlets, she’s created an atmosphere where local news outlets have become increasingly desperate to talk to the lady taking on Sen. Harry Reid. Some of those conservative outlets suggest that Reid is the evasive one, something TV news outlets scoff at. “He may still dodge questions, but at least you can see him do it,” said Jason Pasco, the news director at Reno’s KTVN. source

• 82% of people were unsure of Alvin Greene’s rival source

• Could Rand Paul saying that businesses shouldn’t have to serve black people be misconstrued as racism? One could argue, in fact, that you could take the “mis” off the front of that. Remember – this guy is probably going to be a Senator. There’s a lot to take from this clip, but our favorite bit is Maddow asking this pointed question: “But isn’t being in favor of civil rights but against the Civil Rights Act a little like saying you’re against high cholesterol but you’re in favor of fried cheese?” Paul is just being honest, but man, it makes Paul look BAD. source

• Lots of potential, but many Americans aren’t convinced. The new ABC News/Washington Post poll on bizarro hippies (not to be confused with the similar New York Times/CBS News poll a few weeks ago) suggests that the party has a lot of opportunity to grow their base, but could find themselves ticking off moderates in the process.

• 2% of Americans are directly a part of the bizarro hippie movement

Would you vote for these guys?

• 15% of registered voters are more apt to
  support a bizarro hippie candidate
  running for Congress (9 percent
  “much more likely”)
• 24% are more apt to oppose
  that candidate because they’re
  a bizarro hippie (17 percent “much more likely”)

Do you like what you hear?

• 34% like bizarro hippies the more
  they hear about them
• 43% hate bizarro hippies the more
  they hear about them

• » The neutral problem: There’s a large sub-section of the population that’s fairly neutral to the bizarro hippies – around 44 percent – and 45 percent of them really REALLY grow to dislike them the more they hear about them.

Understanding their constituients

• Bizarro hippies may be a movement built out of republican weakness. While progressives largely stand behind the Democratic party, Republicans on the other hand have trouble getting their political equals under the same tent, according to the study:

• 86% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning indie kids say the party represents their values
• 56% of Republicans and Republican-leaning indie kids say the same thing about their party
• 29% of Republicans would much rather wear a funny hat and tape tea bags to the rim of it

Who doesn’t like Obama? Bizarro hippies

• 84% of bizarro hippies think Obama is lamesauce

• 87% of bizarro hippies say race is not a reason that the support the movement
• 57% of evil socialists think race is a huge reason why bizarro hippies hang out and party together

• » Other notes: Bizarro hippies think that race is less of a problem in this country than the country at large, but they also tend to be more likely to be white. 81 percent of bizarro hippies are white, versus 74 percent of all adults and 65 percent of people who think bizarro hippies are lamesauce. Just as many bizarro hippies think Obama is doing too much for black people as he is not doing quite enough, which matches the population at large. source

• 4,200 comments on Brown’s Facebook page source

• You know what? If you were actually watching Brown closely, you would’ve known that he might do something like this. Study your candidates.

• Just you watch now, too, because somebody will be here with their little Twittering thing, and it’s going to be on the Internet any minute now.
• Sarah Palin • Speaking at a Republican Party function yesterday. The former presidential candidate, who regularly takes to Facebook to complain about some stupid crap, is now a Twitter trending topic as a result of this. Will this be enough to ruin her career and presidential hopes? God, we hope so. source

• This is war. They don’t shoot at you until you are over the target. We are over the target.
• Far-right Texas gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina • Regarding the race and the fact that she said something incredibly stupid to Glenn Beck. Medina has been trying to do damage control ever since that fateful Thursday radio show. But if she can get beyond it, she has a lot going for her. She’s actually to the right of Rick Perry, which is impressive, and her poll numbers are high enough to make a dent. We’ll see if she holds up – her quote exposing her as a 9/11 truther is a massive doozy. source