Pete Spiliakos

Reihan Salam describes Christieism as being a politics that “connects the burden of a bloated and inefficient government with the everyday struggles of working Americans. “  Fair enough, but we are going to need more than this Christieism.  As Salam mentions in his essay these . . . . Continue Reading »

Didya miss me?  Don’t answer, 1.  I think Perry is undervalued at this point.  The salience of Texas’ job creation should come back over the next several months.  Perry could hardly become more incompetent at attacking Romney.  If he has the chops, he’ll . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m gonna be away from home much of the week and pretty busy the rest.  I doubt I’ll be able to post much or at all, though I might be around in the comments.  Hope to be back by Friday. . . . . Continue Reading »

Perry - Perry is having a tough time, but he is still in the driver’s seat.  We just don’t know if he can drive a national cammpaign yet.  Perry has taken an ungodly amount of criticism from the other candidates.  He has stumbled in the early debates.  He is still . . . . Continue Reading »

There was this point where it became obvious just how little Rick Perry thought of the electoral chances of Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain.  During the last debate, Perry was asked which one of the other candidates on the stage he would prefer to be his running mate.  Surrounded by several . . . . Continue Reading »

Chris Christie’s Reagan Library speech reads awesome .  I especially like how he uses the rhetoric of American exceptionalism not for purposes of back patting, but as a call to truth, humility for what we have been given, humility about our unpleasant current circumstances, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Well it looks like Chris Christie might be thinking about getting into the presidential race.   Well, I hope he jumps in, but it occurs to that might be because I’m selfish.  If I cared a lot about Christie personally, I’d say that his chances of getting nominated and elected . . . . Continue Reading »

So Herman Cain thumped Rick Perry in the Florida straw poll where they both competed.  This has been such a weird early period in the Republican nomination contest.  You’ve had a handful of Republican candidates surging an then falling back.  Cain surged after the first . . . . Continue Reading »

1.  Romney is getting away with murder on his answers distinguishing Obamacare from Romneycare.  Romney’s biggest advantage is that the other candidates don’t really make arguments about Obamacare.  They just strike poses about how much they hate it, how fast . . . . Continue Reading »

1.  I’m not staying up until 11:00 PM.  I’ll watch a recording tomorrow and get back to you. 2.  Comparisons of Rick Perry to Ronald Reagan along the dimension of electability are problematic.  The electoral prudence case against Rick Perry (which doesn’t . . . . Continue Reading »