Put Angus First.

Tuesday night brought all of the heavy hitters, except that one commander-in-chief guy, to St. Paul. That's not to say he wasn't featured (he spoke via satellite), but when Joe Leibermann and Fred Thompson upstage the president, it's safe to say he's reached irrelevancy.

Strangest talking point of the night: "doesn't care what the polls say." Laura Bush, in reference to her husband, and Fred Thompson, in reference to JMac, uttered this sentiment. That logic seems a bit flawed when your sitting president has a 28% approval rating, and you have a foreign policy that, more or less, could follow in his footsteps. I'd have tossed that line if I were the elephants in the speech writing room.

That Huskie independent and thorn in the side of the Dems, Joe Leibermann, took headliner status. With a voice that could put a meth binge to sleep, the same guy that debated Dick Cheney just eight years ago strode to the podium. His calls for unity and general eloquence didn't quite receive the same applause as Fred's drawl. Joe walked a tightrope with comments like "we're living our worst nightmare." The applause was tepid.

Fred "Red Truck" Thompson delivered an impassioned homage to JMac and Reagan. For a party platform that isn't hip to two dudes getting hitched, Republican males have a creepy infatuation with Ronald Reagan. Nevertheless, the speech indicates that Thompson shines when he isn't running for president.

Note, speakers didn't mention Biden. This bodes well for the Dems. The GOP has a hard time attacking someone so experienced.

Ed Kilgore takes us behind the scenes and tells us what, through his lens, really transpired.

JMac canceled an interview with Larry King. It was part of a busy day of retaliation for supposed misspeaks and insensitiveness made against Gov. Palin.

Megan McArdle offers some nice perspective on the Palin pregnancy. If stories like this keep emerging from the woodwork, Joshua Green wonders if they could yank her. Orr says that Dems patronize Palin to their own detriment. WVPC's angle: when did being mayor become more noble than being senator? If you listened tonight, you'd think a senator is the least noble profession in America. I'm just curious; what again is the GOP nominee's profession?

Question of the day: Do speakers like Giuliani and Leibermann indicate that the GOP has a bigger tent than often given credit for? In an interview on MSNBC, Newt Gingrich answered yes. WVPC: Not really. The party has always contained mods, cons, and a few in-betweens. Rudy and Leibermann are just foreign policy hawks. The party has some doves, or at least cautionary isolationists, too. On that note, congrats to Ron Paul, 2008's real maverick. Some of Paul's rhetoric would have been a welcome addition to the slate of speakers.

See you tomorrow.

Virginia is for Obama lovers.

Who's ready for a recap? Call Wevoteprocat fashionably late.


The jedi keeps rolling in the Potomac as Hillary can't regain that Hampshire magic.

Let the lofty comparisons roll in. JFK? We've already heard that one. The Whole Foods Gipper? Now that's a new one.

Barack gets closer and closer to the nomination with each passing day. If the showdown was held today, a victory Barack's would be. Is it time to get optimistic? Yes. Is it time to celebrate? Not quite.

And, Dems, don't get too cocky on a national scale either.

The new, but doesn't it already sound old, tired, and counterproductive analogy: breaking down votes by class. David Brooks provides more of the same.

Wait, Hillary has the working class white vote? Aren't the guys who punch time clocks and like ZZ Top the ones who are forwarding me emails about how evil she is? I don't see her capturing the demographic any time soon.

Now if Hill loses, could we the Dems get their dream ticket? The right's favorite movie critic says not likely. A Hill VP would only slow the Jedi down. To Obama: think Biden. Joey B. would lend some foreign policy credentials and more of that "reach across the aisle" strength that Barack likes so much.

We know he's got hope, but is it empty?

The key to victory against Hillary and McCain? Add some pepper to the salt of the earth. This is true. The average voter, white working class male, is still making up his mind. It's likely he'll go to McCain, but Obama may siphon some votes.


Red Sox nation and their Senate majority asks, will Joe finally sign with the Yankees this offseason? That's two, count 'em, New York Poop, I mean Post, links. Okay, that wasn't very funny.

Now, don't get mad when you read this. Promise? Your left wing anger only makes Rush sleep at night. Limbaugh grants interview to the enemy.



Cats want change. More turkey!

Jesus + Sweaters + Republicans = Christmas

Deck the halls with bells of Huckabee. My favorite part is the "I don't blame you."



I'm a little late on this one, but the NY Times Magazine included a weekend profile of Huckabee.

Over at Slate, Hitchens has other ideas about Huck.

In crossing party lines news, Liebermann endorsed McCain. From the looks of this picture, Joe didn't enjoy the handjob as much as John.


Salon's Walter Shapiro makes some good points; it's sadly not about the issues anymore.

E.J. Dionne proves why he's one of the best.

With all of those links out of the way, let's look at a Wevoteprocat exclusive: The Thermometer.
Here's how it goes: I take the temperature of the candidates and convey the levels of hotness and coldness to you, my readers. I mean, reader.

Dems:

Obama - Hot. But I wouldn't say he's on fire. The sleeper candidates get more attention than the frontrunners when we're this close to Iowa.

Edwards - Heating up. The Newsweek cover helped, but he's still the bronze medalist in Iowa's eyes. Go for the gold, John.

Hillary - Lukewarm. The Des Moines Register endorsement is important, and her criticisms of Obama (lack of experience, funny middle name, eats children for breakfast) are probably better than his or any other Dems' criticisms of her. However, we won't know if she's the comeback kid until the middle of next month after a few primaries are finished.

Everybody else - Cold. "I'll miss you Chris Dodd," cried Angus.

GOP:

Huckabee - Still hot. The rivals have turned up the criticism, but it only seems to have emboldened his campaign. He rules the print and webpages right now.

McCain - Getting warm. He'll place second in New Hampshire, and that will garner some media attention.

Romney - Heating up. This campaign's temperature has fluctuated more than any other on the GOP side. If you just started paying attention over the last three weeks, you'd think it's a two person race even though the guy doesn't even register in the double digits nationally. He'll finish strong, and I think he'll be around until late Feb or early March. You heard it here first at Wevoteprocat.

Rudy - Cold. He's still strong nationally, but finishing out of the top three in Iowa and New Hapmpshire will spell a slow death for the campaign.

Thompson - Arctic temperatures. When was the last time you read an article about this guy? Oh yeah, September.

Everyone else - Tancredo will still be a xenophobe when it's all over, and Duncan Hunter will still be named Duncan.