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21 May 2011 14:19

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Politics: Herman Cain: Nobody knows him, but those who do like him

  • “I once Ate a pizza, and it was this big. That’s why they called me the Godfather.” (OK, he didn’t say that; we just love the photo.) Herman Cain, who we’ve covered before on numerous occasions, is the latest guy to drop his hat into the presidential ring. “Let me tell you some of the reasons why I’m running for president of the United States.We have become a nation of crises,” he said when making his announcement today. He’s a bit of a wildcard — he doesn’t have strong name recognition, but he does have the kind of business acumen which makes him pretty desirable. His polling shows a pretty interesting trend — not many people know him, but those who do freaking love him. More:
  • 29% of self-described GOP voters know who Herman Cain even is, according to a May 17 Gallup poll
  • <0.5% of voters in that poll picked the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO as their first choice for president in 2012
  • 71% of people who did know anything about the Herminator, however, had positive feelings about him source
  • » Can he make a run? As we noted in a Webdoc we made a couple weeks back, he kinda killed it at the Fox News presidential debate — which didn’t feature any major candidates, to Cain’s benefit. With big-name establishment Republicans failing to wow the field and loaded with reasons to nick their reputation (looking at you Newt), folks like Cain and Ron Paul have a good chance of doing well this time around. We expect his name recognition to go way up. (photo from Gage Skidmore‘s Flickr page)

11 Apr 2011 13:49

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Politics: Trump thinks he’s Obama’s worst nightmare

  • Plouffe On ABC’s This Week, Obama aide David Plouffe referred to Donald Trump’s burgeoning political career as a “sideshow,” adding that Trump has “zero chance” of beating President Obama in 2012.
  • Trump The bombastic Republican businessman and reality TV star responded on Fox and Friends: “I can tell you I’m their worst nightmare. I am not the person they want to run against. They know it, and I know it.”  source

28 Mar 2011 14:15

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Politics: President Herman Cain will not appoint Muslims

  • 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

27 Feb 2011 11:47

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Politics: Government shutdown: Will 2011’s GOP ploy be like 1995?

  • If Gingrich couldn’t control his hard-line freshman class of 73 members in 1995 — he jokingly referred to them then as ‘a third party’ — it’s hard to imagine how the kinder, gentler Boehner will control his 87 freshmen, many of them lacking government or legislative experience, let alone the gene for compromise.
  • New York Times columnist Frank Rich • Offering the assessment of why the GOP should avoid playing the government shutdown game. It’s something that Rich says a number of GOPers are trying to argue doesn’t match the political playing field of 1995, where a defiant Newt Gingrich overplayed his hand too much and caused much embarrassment for the Republican party in the process. However, Gingrich doesn’t remember it that way, strangely enough. In a Washington Post column, he claims that he, on the other hand, plowed the way for much larger cuts in the ensuing years. Nice revisionist history, Newt. source

27 Feb 2011 10:46

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Politics: It gets worse: Scott Walker, GOP in position to turn Wisconsin red

  • This is a multi-front assault aimed at putting Republicans in a commanding position, and it will come as close as you can come to turning Wisconsin into a Republican state. And this is not a red state or a blue state; it’s a purple state.
  • Wisconsin Democracy Campaign executive director Mike McCabe • Suggesting that Wisconsin’s GOP is attempting to use its position to reorganize the state’s political structure to make it a red state. (In case you’re wondering, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is a nonpartisan group not affiliated with another party.) And beyond the collective bargaining thing, Walker’s law is designed to cut union funding from the source – blocking unions from grabbing the money directly from paychecks, and then forcing people to vote on the union’s very existence each year. (People would also not be required to join a union, which is probably a good part of the bill.) Oh, and it gets worse – the GOP is in a position to redraw Congressional district lines as they see fit, and to force people to show IDs at the voting booth – both techniques used to hurt Democrats. Look, the union mess is one thing, but do you guys see what voters dragged into Wisconsin? That tinge you feel? Regret. source

17 Feb 2011 13:42

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Politics: A quick look at what some right-wing folks think of the WI protests

  • beck “You are about to see this president start embracing the uprisings … the teachers unions and all of the unions that are marching on the streets.”
  • paul ryan “[Gov. Walker] wants public workers to pay half of what our private sector counterparts and he’s getting riots. It’s like Cairo has moved to Madison these days.”
  • malkin “If this brave Republican governor can stand up to the immense amount of power and thuggery, essentially, by these unions, it bodes very well for other states.” source

10 Feb 2011 11:07

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U.S.: Report: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl announcing retirement

This will probably get lost in the Mubarak resignation shuffle, but the Senate Minority Whip will likely announce he’s not running in 2012. Whew! Lots of news today! source
 

16 Jan 2011 14:03

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Politics: Tom Coburn has date for the State of the Union: Chuck Schumer

They’ll be paired, “Odd Couple”-style, in an attempt to be more civil. “We don’t sweep differences under the rug,” Chuck said. “Tom and I have real differences, but we can do it civilly.” source

04 Jan 2011 11:20

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Politics: Obama’s optimistic that GOP will be less obstructionist in 2011

  • And so my expectation, my hope is that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will realize that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012, and that our job this year is to make sure that we build on the recovery.
  • Barack Obama • Offering up a pretty solid statement of intent for 2011. Obama, whose vacation to Hawaii just ended, says that he expects some playing of politics in 2011 (McConnell has already promised it). “But I’m pretty confident,” he continued, “that they’re going to recognize that our job is to govern and make sure that we are delivering jobs for the American people and that we’re creating a competitive economy for the 21st century, not just for this generation but for the next one.” Wishful thinking? source

29 Dec 2010 20:48

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Politics: Sarah Palin’s gubernatorial e-mails still haven’t been released

  • 14 separate delays on the release of Palin’s official e-mails as Alaska governor
  • 10/08the initial date of the first request for e-mails (made during her vice presidential campaign)
  • 05/11the expected date of the e-mails’ final release – why did this take so long, anyway? source