Pearson for Governor?
Grant Young dished out a little scoop last Friday. In his “world exclusive” he said that Mark Pearson is a potential kandidate for Governor. G$’s scoop reminds me of the early days when I was all over Bob Dopf when Bob Dopf wasn’t kool (seriously, it’s a shame he didn’t win that primary).
Back to Pearson, I welcome new names and faces to the political scene here in Iowa, especially on the Republican side of things. While I find G$’s scoop on Pearson interesting, it actually creates more questions about the rest of the potential field.
While I do think it’s interesting that Pearson was at RPI’s Lincoln dinner, his tablemates were two other potential gubernatorial kandidates with agricultural backgrounds, Bruce Rastetter, and Bill Northey. Now I’m not about to speculate on the seriousness of each of these three potential kandidates, but one has to think that only one of them will actually run for office.
If Rastetter and Northey back Pearson he could be a formable kandidate, but far from a sure bet in what is to be a kontested primary.
What about Newt?
So I spent a lot of time in the klown kar this weekend and one of the things I thought about was potential VPs for John McCain. I’ll be really honest; I’m scared to death that he’s going to tab a guy like Sen. Joe Lieberman or Sen. Lindsey Graham. Neither excites me, and both pretty much would make me not vote for McCain. Yeah, I’m that guy. I don’t think there is any way that McCain nabs a guy that excites me like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, so that leads me to Newt.
Newt would bring some much needed konservative kred with him, but more importantly he kould help deliver his home state of Georgia and other southern states. I also think newt would help McCain in Iowa. While McCain has pretty much bypassed the state in his two presidential kampaigns, Newt has been all over the place.
So would Newt take the shotgun seat on the Republican ticket? Absolutely.
During the primaries Newt was the golden boy on Fox News, he received a ton of exposure. Now as the presidential races focuses on the general election Newt’s insight isn’t as interesting as Dick Morris and Karl Rove.
The one thing the McCain kampaign needs is an attack dog. Look at how valuable Dick Cheney is/was to GWB, when someone needed to go out and lay some smack about Al Gore or John Kerry, Cheney was the hit man. This is a role that Newt would excel in, if the McCain kampaign would let him or whoever the VP nominee is going to be.
Finally, I don’t think Newt has nothing to lose in being on the ticket if McCain wins or not. No matter the outcome, Newt would be well positioned for 2012 or 2016, which is exactly what he is looking for.
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em
Today is the last day one can smoke at a restaurant or bar before Iowa’s smoking ban is instituted tomorrow. I’m sure we are going to hear a lot about this over the 4th of July holiday but then the chatter will quiet down. I do have a feeling that we will see some interesting “patios” spring up at your local tap.
The casino exemption is rediculously hipocritical, but a statewide ban on cancer causing second hand smoke in public places is LONG overdue.
ReplyDeleteBravo to the republicans who supported the ban!
Kudos Krusty about Newt. He would bring those struggling with the idea of voting for Johnny Mac, like myself, around.
ReplyDeleteI plan on smoking my last cigarette at 11:59 tonight at a downtown establishment well known for their smokey atmosphere and great british charm. Who's with me!!!
"Awww, come on guys, it's so simple. Maybe you need a refresher course. Hey! It's all ball bearings nowadays. Now you prepare that Fetzer valve with some 3-in-1 oil and some gauze pads. And I'm gonna need 'bout ten quarts of anti-freeze, preferably Prestone. No, no make that Quaker State."
Dopf should have won that primary. The people who stuck us with Allison should hold their manhood cheap...
ReplyDeleteYoda, you are correct. the casino exemption is extremely hipocritical. But so is the Veterans home exemption. No disrespect to Veterans but that is ridiculous. It is a State run facility. Name any other state run facility where smoking is permitted?? A snowplow driver can't even smoke in the state-owned snowplow while he clears the roads for our safety and convenience. I wonder if Mrs. Big Lugg actually goes outside of Terrace Hill in the middle of January when she has a craving? Oh well, so I can't enjoy a Camel Light at the bar anymore...it's worth it to see the Dems dig their own graves. A lot of their people were already upset with them for increasing the tobacco tax...and now they are telling them when and where they can light up. Beautiful. Simply Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI've known Mark for years. He's a hell of a nice guy, but does he have the "fire in the belly" to do a gubernatorial campaign? Especially as a Republican, where he's going to be called everything from "child molester" to "non-recycler" by the looney left? I get the impression that he's pretty happy where he's at. I agree that he'd do a good job, but if just being able to do the job was the main qualification for the office, government wouldn't be the giant Mongolian Goat Rodeo that it is today. It's not about being qualified, it's about being willing to swim through all the sewage on the campaign trail.
ReplyDelete