This Week in the GOP

Mitt Romney spent the week in familiar territory: trying to weasel out of his latest lie - claiming that he watched his dad marching with Doctor Martin Luther King. This from the same guy who lied on the campaign trail about receiving endorsements that were never given and lied about being a frequent hunter (to appeal to the NRA folks) when he barely knew from which end of the gun the bullet came. He also took a hit earlier in the week from Huckabee who claimed that the former governor from Massachusetts was a (L)iberal in disguise. Personally, as a liberal, I'm offended by the suggestion that Romney stands for anything I hold dear, but Huckabee's comments show just how low Huckabee is prepared to go.

Huckabee, who's found and awakened evangelicals who see his attitudes regarding the marriage of fundamentalist Christianity and government to be just the message they're seeking, is moving up in the Iowa polls. If you have ever had a moment where you believed that President Bush crossed the line separating Church and State, consider the fact that Huckabee doesn't believe that line should even exist. It that doesn't scare you, nothing will. It's hard to understand why a guy who helped spring killers and rapists from prison would still be in the race, but I guess that rule only applies to Democratic candidates. You'll have to pardon my forgetting how two-faced evangelical voters can be. Just ask Fred Thompson (see below)

McCain received several major newspaper endorsements this week in Iowa, but given the way evangelicals and many of my right-wing brethren loathe the media (even right-wing Iowa newspapers), those endorsements probably won't sway a lot of Iowa voters towards McCain. McCain, the most sensible of the GOP lot, has gained some ground in the polls - mostly by syphoning votes from 3rd tier candidates - but his overall campaign has yet to pick up the kind of momentum necessary to propel him to victory. They say "wisdom comes with age"...which probably explains why McCain has a lot of wisdom. Unfortunately, wisdom doesn't appear to be high on the minds of GOP voters. Let's hope that changes.

Guiliana got the flu and had to spend time in the hospital. In a week where negativity...not the nativity...among the GOP wannabees remained the norm, Guiliani was sick enough to remain above the fray and hopefully garnered some sympathy votes...not that many are out there in the ranks of GOP voters. The pundits say that Guiliani is still neck and neck with Romney for # 1 status in the national polls; I just keep wondering when the national poll participants will vote.

Not much happened with the Fred Thompson campaign. It has to be disillusioning for Fred to see all those evangelicals, who heretofore frothed at the mouth over the prospects of him running for president, now flocking to Huckabee in droves, especially given Huckabee's cavalier attitude towards crime and punishment and his naive foreign policy views. Fred made the mistake of assuming that evangelicals are loyal - they're not. In the evangelical world in American, show me the money and show me the power mean a whole lot more than show me the path to carry out the Will of God. I think Fred's campaign will stick around though...there's a writer's strike going on, so what else can the guy do?

Ron Paul continued to bask in the afterglow of an amazing influx of cash into his campaign. Now, if the guy could only convince GOP voters to be just as generous when it comes to paying down the National debt! Oh yeah, that would be too fiscally responsible, wouldn't it. We wouldn't want the Republicans to suddenly become fiscally responsible, would we?

Tom Tancredo of Colorado dropped out of the presidential sweepstakes this week. Once again, white powder is covering Colorado ski slopes and the Colorado Congressman recognized that there's more fun to be had on the slopes than on the campaign trail in the muddy fields of Iowa. Finally, a GOP candidate with sorely-need common sense...and to think the guy is now gone! Our loss.