Oh, it's another of those days where I'm just glad that I'm planning to keep this feature because there's just so many excellent choices...I'm going to wish a Happy Birthday to P.J. Soles, 62. I realize others care about other things she's been in, which is sort of the thing about her, but for me it's all about Riff Randell.
The good stuff:
1. Steve Kornacki reports that Democrats are starting to realize what many analysts and pundits knew all along: the fiscal cliff may give them some leverage. Of course, whether it does or not depends on the election outcomes.
2. David Frum on Romney's bad week. Interesting.
3. But also remember what Jamelle Bouie says: winning the day or the week doesn't actually mean much.
4. Sophie Quinton reports: "Who Are Those People Standing Behind the President?"
5. And I'm going to link to Matt Yglesias on Jeremy Lin because I have a question. Yglesias asserts that a win in NYC should be worth more than a win in smaller, less competitive markets. I know virtually nothing about the NBA, and actually care even less about the NBA, but I'm slightly interested in whether that's true -- and very interested if marginal wins in different size baseball markets are still roughly equal. I know that's what research found in, I don't know, the 1980s or so, but I have no idea whether anyone has updated that.
I'd say, yes, winning the week doesn't count for much. But we've got, what, 14 weeks left before the election, and and some point you've got to get in a good week or two.
ReplyDeleteVP nomination -- 3 good days? And SP last cycle really hurt McCain.
Convention, again two-three good days.
What this reminds me of is Kerry before the convention, with a really week campaign staff that can't handle the national scope of a campaign.
I think a lot of people assume that Kerry "should have" won, that Romney "should" win, and that any other outcome is just due to incompetence or a bad personality. Maybe they're just underestimating the advantages of incumbency?
ReplyDeletePatty Murray made some pretty ill-planned statements yesterday about the Dem strategy regarding the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the fiscal cliff. It's not good campaign rhetoric to say you don't mind everyone's paychecks going down.
ReplyDeleteFor baseball and numbers, isn't Nate Silver the go-to guy?
ReplyDelete