“Food stamp President” is the “welfare mother” of the current campaign season. That phrase enters the lexicon via Newt Gingrich, who sparred with co-moderator Juan Williams as much as with his competitors for the White House. Worth a watch:
Gingrich connected with the crowd in ways that Rick Santorum didn’t. One irony of the present moment is that Santorum may actually turn out to be the winner of the Iowa Caucus, based on their verification system (essentially a recount). Even if a recount does show the former Senator from Pennsylvania winning the Caucuses, the delay in that information will have added to the sense that the Romney campaign is unbeatable. Well, let’s be real — it has always seemed unbeatable, but if Santorum truly was the Caucus winner, that information could have changed the way the race is playing out.
The players seem to have adjusted their game, given the shrinking candidate pool. At the latest debate, Ron Paul’s message on foreign wars and anti-terrorism didn’t suit the Red State audience who booed him down for saying, among other things, “I would say maybe we ought to consider a golden rule in foreign policy. We endlessly bomb these other countries and then we wonder why they get upset with us?” It was one of those moments where Paul, insulated by his cadre of supporters, completely misjudged his audience and the conversation. Rick Santorum, while giving an overall lackluster performance, gave wet-kisses to the gun lobby in an effort to reach the audience. Mitt Romney showed a lot of teflon when peppered about his history at Bain. The Republican voters don’t seem to love him but nor are the attacks gaining much traction with the core.
During the debate, Romney called for the end of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws… twisting the knife a bit in John McCain, who just endorsed him. In truth, it’s hard to make the case that citizens should be able to make fewer political donations than corporations. The solution is not to end McCain-Feingold but to legally undo some of the damage of the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, which has flooded this year’s campaign with even more unlabeled, non-transparent money than ever.
