House Democrats are not paying their dues to the party’s central committee.

Indicating the trends: House Democrats are not paying their dues to the party’s central committee.

As of June 30, 64 Democrats โ€” around one-third of the entire caucus โ€” hadnโ€™t paid anything to the DCCC, according to a party document provided to POLITICO. Another 109 members had paid only a portion of what they owe in dues, which are calculated based on seniority and committee assignments.

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A trend, not a fluke: Indiana Republicans dump Senator Richard Lugar for a tea party favorite.

A trend, not a fluke: Indiana Republicans have dumped incumbent Senator Richard Lugar for a tea party favorite.

In related news, a prison inmate has gotten the highest percentage of votes, 40 percent, of any candidate in any previous state primary against Barack Obama.

Washington politicians had better stop ignoring the fiscal concerns of the tea party. The federal budget has got to be brought under control.

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New Rasmussen poll shows Romney beating Obama 45%-39%

A new Rasmussen poll shows Romney beating Obama 45%-39%.

What is more significant about the poll is how poorly Obama stacks up against every other possible candidate. Though he leads all the others, in no case does he get more than 48% of the vote. Even against a non-entity like Gary Johnson Obama only leads 42% to 27%. These numbers suggest that no matter who runs against Obama, the man is toast.

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The Gingrich gamble

Another perspective: The Gingrich Gamble.

Yet for the all sloganeering and invective, the truth is that voting for Gingrich or Romney is not so much an ideological as a personal choice, and one that says as much about the psychological make-up of the individual conservative voter as it does about the choices before him. The risk-takers, romantics, and ideologically pure have concluded that Gingrich unleashed is worth the gamble, and that it is better to win big or lose big than to plan on just squeaking by. They welcome the unending contact sport that we could expect from a President Gingrich, who would not just beat Obama, but repudiate Obamism itself. These are the guys who like passing on third down on their own ten-yard line with a seven-point lead; to them, going on fourth-quarter defense is not only not smart, it is a sure way to lose. In contrast, the more calculating know that romance and rhetoric can often disguise reality, and that it is always wiser to down the ball and run the clock out when youโ€™re ahead.

And I must admit, I prefer the gamble. I’ve had enough of “safe” Republican candidates designed to please the moderates who only end up losing because they can’t express what they believe in with any clarity or force.

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Explaining Newt

Explaining Newt.

[W]e have a president who wants us to stay there, who is banal, irritating, humorless, reactionary, self-righteous, and narcissistic all at once. He hasnโ€™t said one interesting thing or proposed one creative idea since being in office.

Unfortunately, the Republican candidates arenโ€™t much better. Romney, Perry, Santorum, Bachmann, Huntsman, even Paul, are no more than critics of a system gone moribund. They do not inspire us. Their ideas, even when worth investigating (flat tax, etc.), are no more than rehashes of proposals we have heard for decades.

Only Newt dances. Only Newt, on occasion, is original. Only Newt โ€” and here is the important part โ€” has the capacity to wake us up. What attracts me about the man is the very thing that Romney criticized, the part that wants to explore the moon and stars, maybe even mine them.

Sure Gingrich has an idea a minute, many of which are bad, but at least he has ideas. At least he is thinking. And โ€” guess what โ€” he says what he thinks. Politicians arenโ€™t supposed to do that.

Read the whole thing.

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A thoughtful analysis as to why tea party supporters are breaking to Gingrich

A thoughtful analysis as to why tea party supporters are breaking to Gingrich.

Much of what Bill Quick writes parallels what I have said previously: Gingrich might have said or done some disagreeable things, but he was able to win Congress and force the spendthrifts from both parties to produce a balanced budget. And when it comes time for him to face Obama in the debates, Gingrich alone among these Republican candidates appears capable of handing the situation strongly, with skill. To me, that combination appears to be a winning combination, both for the election and the nation afterward.

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Why Washington is shocked, shocked by Newt Gingrich’s rise over Mitt Romney

Why Washington is shocked, shocked by Newt Gingrich’s rise over Mitt Romney.

Look, Gingrich is by far not a perfect candidate. He has clearly taken positions in the last few years that made my socks roll up and down in horror. And when he was Speaker there were times I thought he was too willing to agree to bad deals.

Yet, he did mastermind the first Republican takeover of Congress in forty years. Yet, when he was Speaker the federal budget was brought under control, producing surpluses for four years in a row.

Finally, unlike every other Republican candidate for President since Reagan, Gingrich can debate. He not only knows how to articulate conservative ideals, he has shown himself capable of effectively pointing out liberal foolishness. In the Presidential debates to come, the country needs that as it will give strength to the conservative candidates running for the House and Senate. And that is where we really need victories. If we get a Congress that is willing to seriously cut the federal budget, it won’t matter that much who is President.

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A new Rasmussen national poll: Gingrich 45% Obama 43%

A new Rasmussen national poll: Gingrich 45% Obama 43%.

Last week, Gingrich trailed the president by six. Two weeks ago, he was down by twelve. Earlier in the year, both Rick Perry and Herman Cain followed a similar path to take a slight lead over the president. However, in both cases, their time as frontrunners quickly came to an end. Neither man led the president more than a single time in a Rasmussen Reports poll. It remains to be seen whether Gingrich follows that path or is able to retain his status as the leading alternative to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

Note that every candidate has polled ahead of Obama at one time or another, suggesting to me that the public wants Obama out, and is fishing for the candidate to do it.

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Gingrich’s presidential campaign has gotten him no endorsements from Republican lawmakers

Gingrich’s presidential campaign has gotten him no endorsements from Republican lawmakers.

Considering how incompetent these Republicans have been in getting the federal budget under control, and considering that the last time the budget was balanced was during Gingrich’s reign as speaker in the 1990s, I would consider their lack of support as the best endorsement Gingrich could get. We need real change in DC. The status quo has left us on the verge of economic collapse and bankruptcy.

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New conservative website: Not Mitt Romney

On another campaign note, a new website, put together by some noted conservative Republicans, has just appeared called Not Mitt Romney. An explanation can be found here.

Remember how Nancy Pelosi said we need to pass Obamacare โ€œso you can find out whatโ€™s in it?โ€ Well, is it any different with Mitt Romney? Does anybody really have the slightest idea what heโ€™d do as President? Nobody can even reasonably predict where the guy will be on any issue six months from now, much less what heโ€™ll do if he becomes the leader of the free world.

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Finally some substance in the Presidential campaign

Up until tonight I had not watched any of the Republican Presidential debates. To me, the game show formats of each debate were such that I had no expectation of seeing any substance. Quick one-liners and gotcha attacks — the only thing that generally comes from these formats — can’t tell me anything about the deeper philosophical underpinnings of each candidate. And without that knowledge I can have no idea whether or not the candidates will follow through with what they say they’ll do.

Tonight however I did watch the Herman Cain-Newt Gingrich debate, which CSPAN has made available to watch in its entirety. The format was basically Cain and Gingrich for an hour and a half, answering a variety of questions about the three big entitlement programs, Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. Each man could essentially take as much time as he desired to say what he wanted.
» Read more

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Herman Cain speaks out about NASA and space

Herman Cain speaks out about NASA and space:

When President Obama decided to cut, it put the United States in a position that we don’t like. We don’t like to have to thumb-ride with the Russians when we were the first ones and the leaders in space technology. It’s not just about getting to the moon and outer space. The space program inspires other technological advances to business and the economy. In the Cain presidency, it will be reversed back to where it should be.

As much as I might like Cain for some things, I could not help cringing when I read these words. They suggest a great deal of ignorance about what the Obama administration has done, a willingness on Cain’s part to pander to his audience (speaking as he was at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville), and a desire by this self-declared fiscal conservative to spend lots more money for a big government space program at a time when the federal government is broke.

I’d rather have Cain take a more thoughtful approach. Alas, this is a campaign. Moreover, whoever ends up as president after this election will probably be less important than the make-up of the next Congress. It is that part of the 2012 election that really counts.

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