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.

Edwards solidifies future cabinet appointment: Secretary of Great Hair and My Dad Worked in a Textile Mill Department.

Go ahead, Barack. You can run your fingers through it.

North Carolina's favorite populist (sorry, Jesse Helms) finally made his endorsement clear. No, he didn't pick Mike Gravel.

In the meantime, Hillary scores another meaningless victory, but it's enough to keep her in the news for another five weeks. The news cycle continues as follows: she's holding on for dear life, voters second guess Obama's commitment to working class values, Hillary wins another primary, superdelegates undecided, Obama looks to wrap up nomination, blah, blah, blah. Tell WVPC those won't be the stories until July. Go ahead, tell Angus.

If Barack does get the nod, he'll need to get angry quickly. Not sure I would heed that advice, but I guess you play dirty when you fight the GOP in the general.

While the W takes potshots at a certain unnamed future Democratic nominee, others have advice for JMac: avoid Bush like the plague.

Edwards endorsement makes WVPC nostalgic for the 08 candidates of yore. Which of the former '08 candidates will we see again? Here's some presumptive percentages based on nothing even remotely scientific (Angus helped with these forecasts).

GOP
Romney: 90%. Varmint hunting can really take you far in politics. Yes, with just one hastily purchased NRA membership, you too can go from a moderate governor of the most liberal state in the U.S. to a Barry Goldwater-loving, no new taxes, big military budget con in a matter of days. In an off year when they can't find a new Reagan in the flock, the GOP has a sudden infatuation with Romney. Can you say Secretary of Commerce?

Huckabee: 75%. The real compassionate conservative won the hearts of some caucus voters in that now ancient month of January. JMac seems warm to Huck, so I don't know why he wouldn't give him a phone call for the Office of Faith Based Initiatives. Well, unless he calls John Hagee first.

Paul: 0%. JMac scorned Paul's isolationism and Dr. No faces some challenges from within the GOP attack machine.

Democrats
Edwards: 99%. Yesterday's endorsement was an unofficial invitation, or plea, to join a future cabinet. Put your money on Secretary of Health and Human Services or Labor.

Biden: 75%. Hey, he already said that Obama was clean and articulate. Compliments like that can land you a Secretary of State position if you're lucky.

Richardson: 70%. Prediction: Barack Obama will have more clout than James Carville come November. Just to piss off the Dem establishment, Richardson could accept a cabinet position. He's another secretary of state candidate.

Dodd: 50%. The venerable senator may be looking for a new gig to augment his already nice resume. A cabinet position would be a good way to go out.

Come back this weekend when WVPC looks at the best lookers in politics. You won't want to miss this!

Romney says Suckabee

Hi everybody! Hi, Dr. Nick. Wevoteprocat had to take last week off, and we're glad to be back. Iowa is just around the corner, and Wevoteprocat will announce its inaugural Iowa endorsements before year's end. Stay tuned!

In other and, let's face it, far less important endorsement news, The Des Moines Register has announced its endorsements: Hillary and McCain. The Hillary endorsement isn't much of surprise, but the McCain superscription puts him back in this thing. Good luck, John. Please transport your 2000 self to the podium.

On the Democratic side, the Iowa marquee says it's about change versus experience. Quite frankly, I'm a little sick of these vague, nondescript buzz words. Anyone will present a change over Bush. The Democratic candidates are Democrats, which makes them members of a different party. The GOP candidates speak in complete sentences.

Edwards performed decently on This Week with George Stephanopolus. Even if he didn't land the Register nod, he'll get some good exposure on the cover of this week's Newsweek. They call him "The Sleeper." In that case, we're peacefully dozing here at Wevoteprocat and Edwards is in our dreams.

On Meet the Press, Tim Russert took up Romney on that "Ask Mitt Anything" offer. It was Russert at his best. Tim is seldom biased, but he sure knows absurdity when he sees it. If Romney wins the nomination, no one is paying attention.

PBS profiled the Ron Paul Internet phenomenon. Paul supporters like the government out of their lives, and good taste out of their wardrobes.

Iran, Iran So Far Away...

The NPR Democratic Debate, broadcast live from Iowa, was center stage today. Iran was the hot topic. Apparently, the Administration's assessment threat wasn't so accurate. Sound familiar?

Mike Gravel kinda took Richardson's place in this debate. Richardson was busy:


They let Gravel speak first, so they could get him out of the way early. Malcolm is polling higher than Gravel.

Winner: Hillary sounded strong, and she doesn't let the criticism stick to her. I'm not really sure if she won, but her comments on Iran were well aritculated. Dodd sounded good, too. Biden can really kick some ass in debates. Unfortunately, he comes off like the cranky old guy who's pissed that he's not ahead in the polls because, let's face it, he's the most qualified.

Loser: I'm in denial but it's probably Edwards. He just rehashed his usual sound bites. Actually, everyone outside of Iowa loses. Here's why...

As much as I love Iowa (it's like Illinois without Chicago, and Battle's BBQ in Ames is boss!), I'm little jealous of all the special attention they receive every four years. Couldn't we stage a national primary? Or at least have the states share the primary on a rotating basis (Wyoming!)? It's a huge amount of campaign money with an extremely narrow concentration. Yes, the caucus has broad implications, but how accurately does Iowa reflect the rest of the nation? Iowa has five black people in the whole state.

In between all that really important stuff they usually discuss, The View squeezed in Ron Paul.


The New York Times explores the vulnerability some Dems could experience if Hillary gains the nod. She doesn't play well in Kansas. The same state that brought you intelligent design.

Romney discusses his faith. And shows it's finally sweater weather.

(Psst. He's wearing magic underwear beneath that sweater.)

Beware: Huckabee looks to churches for support:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/03/AR2007120301856.html

Prediction: Will win Kentucky.

McCain speaks to the MTV crowd: "Hey kids, don't you just love that Dave Clark Five!"

Edwards gets the profile treatment.

Finally, unity in the cat community.


We out.

Black Wednesday

It's the day before Thanksgiving, and who knew the Beltway would be so hot!

- Clinton and Barack take issue with the others experience.

- Oprah will make an Iowa pilgrimage soon. She's stumping for the tall cool one.

- Speaking of Iowa, Huckabee is on the rise. Walker Texas Ranger speaks and Iowans listen.

- Ron Paul is a GQ Man of the Year? Ron, please tell your supporters to bathe, find jobs and get out of their parents' basement. For those of you who haven't followed Paul, he's probably the best story of the campaign. Although he's a recent media darling, he isn't without a checkered past. It's a somewhat murky story that Paul denies, but it hasn't slowed down his campaign. He's drawing the "leave my guns, stash and porn alone" crowd.

- Let's look back to 2004. Brittney and Kfed were still going strong. I didn't have four cats. And a guy with a long face, which the White House and White House Communications director Rush Limbaugh described as French, tried to tell America he was one of them. Well, according to his running mate, it was more of like a Bogus Journey than an Excellent Adventure.

- Will cats decide the next election? Don't take their vote for granted, America.