Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Three reasons Trump and the GOP might carry the 2026 midterm elections.

- Jim Beam plans to close Kentucky distillery for at least a year. No layoffs are currently planned/

- From the archives: Regrets of the Dying.

- Conquer Your Trauma Like Ebenezer Scrooge.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I didn't believe them at first either.

- The Daily Coach on Teddy Roosevelt and the power of vulnerability.

- Glenn Reynolds on how the wheels are coming off the Biden Administration and the Democrats in general.

- Free Press on Asian-Americans running and voting as Republicans. It's not going unnoticed. 

Mitt Romney

With his victory in Michigan last night - Mitt Romney has become the front-runner for the Republican nomination for President. I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I'm on record of predicting a Romney victory - back in June of 2004 when almost nobody was talking Mitt Romney - I predicted that he'd be the Republican nominee.

Keep this in the back of your mind: Mitt Romney will be the Republican Candidate for President in 2008. He has excellent name recognition from his work on the Salt Lake Olympics and he has bases of support in the Rust belt (his dad was Governor of Michigan), the East (he is Governor of Massachusetts) and the West (he owns Utah after saving Salt Lake from humiliation). He also will not have any trouble raising money.

If I were working for the Republicans - I would suggest they spin the "three states to three different people" as a sign of strength. Some talking heads are trying to spin this as a sign of fracture within the Republican Party but I would compare it to the SEC in football. I'd say that the Republican Party is just like the SEC having a number of football teams capable of winning the National Championship. This comparison should resonate in South Carolina home to the Gamecocks whose victory over Georgia may have cost Georgia a shot at the National Championship.

The Red Sox Player Endorsement Most Wanted

At the end of this article comes the news that Curt Schilling is in John McCain's corner. No big surprise there as Schilling is a Republican who spent many years in Arizona. The author jokingly suggests that Mitt Romney seek Manny Ramirez's endorsement to even things off. I know it was a joke but I couldn't help but think that if Romney really did want to get a current player's endorsement then the three players he should approach are Tim Wakefield (the elder statesman of the team and perhaps the most respected man on the team), Jason Varitek (the Captain) or Big Papi David Ortiz (the most popular player by far).

Getting the endorsement of a current player however would be missing the real point and the real opportunity. I've said this before but if I were running for President - the VERY FIRST endorsement I press for is that of Carlton Fisk. The first primary is in New Hampshire and even after all these years Carlton Fisk remains New Hampshire's favorite son (even though technically he was born in Vermont). The candidate who could get Fisk to do a promotional commercial for them would immediately become the front runner in New Hampshire and with a victory in the Live Free or Die state would come the "big mo" that every candidate seeks to harness.

I don't even know if Fisk is a Democrat or Republican - so his endorsement could work for a candidate of either party. Why no candidate has pressed for his endorsement in elections past is a mystery to me.