In what must be a first, Fox gets dumped by Republicans

No one loves FOX these days. The New Hampshire Republican Party dumped its sponsorship of the FOX presidential debate:

In protest of Fox News’ excluding Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter from its GOP presidential candidates forum Sunday, the New Hampshire state Republican Party has withdrawn its sponsorship of the forum.

The forum is the last chance for voters to see the Republican candidates face-off before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday. And party Chairman Fergus Cullen said Fox’s decision to limit participation runs counter to the primary’s “national purpose.”

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Democratic Debate Open Thread

Okay, here we go. The key debate before the New Hampshire primary for the Democrats with Clinton, Edwards, Obama and Richardson on the stage.

As a backdrop, a slew of polls came out today. CNN/WMUR shows the race tied between Clinton and Obama. The Concord Monitor has Obama up a point. Rasmussen gives Obama a 10 point lead. Zogby's daily tracking, most of which was done before Iowa, shows a Clinton lead with movement towards Obama.

Mark Penn says there is no bounce. Given his abject failings as Clinton's pollster and his complete misreading of the Des Moines Register poll, anything Penn writes these days is pure spin and probably wrong.

I won't be doing a lot of blow-by-blow on the Democratic debate -- unless things get really ugly. I want one of these candidates to be president. And, like most Democrats, I don't want the Democrats to get too ugly, negative and vicious with each other. AJ did live blog -- and did an excellent job.

10:42 PM: So, it's over. There were some fireworks. Not too intense. And, the comparison between the Democrats and Republicans is amazing. The Democratic candidates just so far surpass the Republicans. AJ's liveblogging is after the break.


9:05 From AJ: I'll try to do some live stuff as long as I end up watching. Gotta say, this terrorism question should be T-ball for these guys. You know why we didn't get OBL? Bush and Iraq. Let's see it. . . . And hey! Nuclear proliferation. Somewhere, Matt Yglesias just woke up.

Richardson again says Musharraf should step aside -- and apparently that we have the leverage to make him do so. Richardson is like a walking advertisement *against* voting based on experience. Clinton should ask *him* to step aside so he doesn't diminish the "experience" brand any more.

P.S. Musharraf would roll out the red carpet for us to get OBL, so this line of questioning is totally ridiculous (as is the idea that Islamists will overthrow the entire armed forces and take over the nukes).

9:10 This nuclear question started out sounding like fear-mongering, but it actually turns out not to be a bad one. I'm gonna bet that Edwards does well on this, as he did a little-known project with Jack Kemp on Russia the involved a lot of nuclear safety stuff. (. . . I wish there were time-stamps on this -- actually, I'm adding them now -- but I assure you, I posted before Edwards made me look like a brilliant prognosticator!)

9:25 Hahahaha do I know my foreign policy bloggers or what? Yglesias just gushed over the Edwards (and others', now in an even more effusive update) response on nuclear non-proliferation.

9:30 It would be truly hilarious if Clinton just quoted AP quoting one of *her people* criticizing Obama. That said, her health care plan does appear to be better, but it's an interesting question that I'm glad to see raised. But, um, is Obama as a flip flopper gonna stick? I kinda doubt it.

9:35 Apparently drinking makes me smarter: Richardson drives another stake into the experience brand. Also, just on a tactical level, I'm thoroughly entertained by Edwards's attempt to make this a two-person race . . . without Clinton.

9:42 Good for Richardson (and the rest) calling the surge a massive failure, and explaining why. He's (they're) right. And the question is either foolish or disingenuous.

9:58 Great answer from Hillary on likability. A little risky to draw even a slight parallel to Bush, but she was pretty funny -- and likable! . . . of course Obama follows it up by being even *more* likable. Football is eminently likable, and so is being nice.

10:09 In general I think it'd be awesome if everybody could refrain from comparing Obama to politicians have been assassinated (as I furiously knock on wood). This has been a public service announcement.

10:13 Edwards is really unparalleled when it comes to connecting policies with people. I certainly find it very effective.

10:17 Can I just step back to say, for a second, how good these candidates are? I mean, I know only your candidate can win and everybody else is teh suck, but from my perspective, it's nice to see such smart and insightful people on this stage. What a difference from . . . past elections, let's say.

10:28 Shorter Gibson: Rich is the new middle class! Everyone laughs, as they should. Edwards is gonna love this (... aaaaaand there it is -- I say it here and it comes out there).

10:34 Richardson wants a line item veto. Which is a little weird, since it was ruled unconstitutional nearly a decade ago. On the other hand, he's been a governor!

10:38 All of these folks are *giddy* about the prospect of a general election. "What would you change about your debate performance?" "Nothing! I'm just happy to be a Democrat!" Indeed. And on that note, liveblogging is done for the evening. G'night. Read the rest of this post...

GOP Debate Open Thread

This is the ABC News/Facebook debate. Republicans are up first. I'll keep an eye on it for fireworks. Considering the timing, there should be some good theatrics.

8:42 PM: So, the GOP debate is over. No clear winner. Romney looked pathetic. McCain really likes taking shots at him -- and no one defends Mitt. It's actually pretty obvious they just don't like Mitt.

This having all the candidates on the stage is a little weird. How self-serving of ABC.

Anyway, I did live blog the whole painful debate. If you want to see how I saw it -- and it was painful -- the live blog is now after the break.

7:06 PM: ABC is doing quite a bit of self-promotion at the beginning. Enough already. Get to the debate already.

Apparently, the candidates are going to be talking among themselves quite a bit. They're finally starting -- and they get to discuss Bush. Specifically, Bush's foreign policy -- running on it or running from it?

Rudy wants to be THE tough guy on foreign policy. He wants a much bigger military. And, he loves to invoke that terror scare. McCain wants to give Bush credit, of course. But, McCain disagreed with Rumsfeld. Wait, didn't Rummy work for Bush and have Bush's full confidence?

Mitt understands radical jihad -- and we owe Bush a debt of gratitude. According to Mitt, if you attack America, people know now there is a response (Note to Mitt: The guy who led the attack is still on the loose. Bush never got him and that war in
Mitt takes a swipe at HillaryCare and socialized medicine (which some in his own party accuse him of with the new Massachusetts health care law). Mitt admits he likes mandates which seemed to awaken Fred Thompson from his slumber.

A break at 8:00 P.M...what a relief. I've said it before, I'll say it again: I can't imagine any of those guys being President. They just don't exude any kind of confidence in their leadership. And, what a bunch of panderers. No wonder none of them really answered the question posed by Bush about principles. They don't have any.

8:03 PM: The WMUR guy is on the stage now asking McCain about immigration. You know those GOPers love, love, love talking about immigration. Seems like the more McCain says on this issue, the worse it is for him. He's trying to be logical and rational -- the Republican base is not logical and not rational about immigrants. They are the party of immigrant bashers and Mitt is living up to that billing. He is invoking the ultimate immigrant bashing codeword: AMNESTY. Rudy is trying to be somewhat rational too. Doesn't work, Rudy. He said he wants to get rid of the illegal immigrants who commit crimes. But, the GOPers think all illegal immigrants are criminals.

Wow. McCain has to invoke Lieberman as his defense on immigration. Wow. That's a reach. Lieberman said anyone who claims McCain supports amnesty is a liar. So, I think that means McCain is using Lieberman to call Romney a liar. Romney and McCain are really getting into it on this one. McCain keeps going after Romney over his "attack ads." Told Mitt to spend his whole fortune on the attack ads but it still won't be true.

Woah. After Romney claimed he had been misquoted by AP, McCain just said to Romney: "When you change positions on issues from time to time, you will be misquoted" Mitt then basically whined about sticking to the issues.

Rudy said Reagan would be in one of Mitt's negative commercial because Reagan granted amnesty.

Mitt is pandering unbelievably on this issue.

These Republicans keep talking about securing the borders. George Bush has been president for almost eight years. How come Bush and his GOP controlled Congress never secured the border?

Asking the candidates about running against Obama. I'd take a race with Mitt v. Obama....or Fred Thompson v. Obama. Can you imagine that?

McCain just SLAMMED Mitt. SLAMMED him. He said to Mitt: we agree, you are the candidate of change.

Mitt doesn't like the continued personal barbs.

8:32 PM: Gas Prices. Can't the GOP candidates level with the American people? Hahaa...that's a joke question obviously.

Thompson is unmoved by the profits of the oil companies. That's a great position to take in New Hampshire where it's already been a rough winter and where a lot of people use home heating oil.

[Note from AJ: This is hilarious viewing. I only caught the last half hour or so, but a couple quick things: first of all, apparently Huckabee isn't aware that there are *already* 100 mpg cars. Either that, or he wants to give a billion dollars to a bunch of random people who added batteries to their hybrids. As for Thompson, he's observed when gas companies have lost money?? Um, when, exactly? Read the rest of this post...

Hillary: Be very afraid

Hillary has decided that national security and fear are the new message that will resonate for her campaign. On one hand, it's nice to see a Democrat finally embrace national security, and even fear, and turn it to our advantage. On the other hand, she's using it against fellow Democrats. Then again, isn't it a fair point to ask whether Hillary and/or her competitors are ready to handle the job on day one? I suspect all of them are, but am curious what you think? Fair game, or foul? Read the rest of this post...

Trees absorbing less CO2

Meanwhile, Bush and the GOP want to keep pushing this off indefinitely and the Democrats let them get away with it. Democrats are going to need to take a stand one of these days on something. More on what this means, after the jump.

The ability of forests to soak up man-made carbon dioxide is weakening, according to an analysis of two decades of data from more than 30 sites in the frozen north.

The finding published today is crucial, because it means that more of the CO2 we release will end up affecting the climate in the atmosphere rather than being safely locked away in trees or soil.

The results may partly explain recent studies suggesting that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected. If higher temperatures mean less carbon is soaked up by plants and microbes, global warming will accelerate.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the Nobel peace prize with Al Gore, has concluded that humanity has eight years left to prevent the worst effects of global warming.

Carbon uptake by land and sea is crucial to predictions about future warming. "We are currently getting a 50% discount on the climatic impact of our fossil fuel emissions," the climate scientist John Miller of the University of Colorado wrote in a commentary on the research in the journal Nature - meaning that half of what we put out is sucked up by the oceans and ecosystems on land.

"Unfortunately, we have no guarantee that the 50% discount will continue, and if it disappears we will feel the full climatic brunt of our unrelenting emission of CO2 from fossil fuels."

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Obama's young supporters

David Horsey at the Seattle PI. Read the rest of this post...

Democratic turnout in NH expected to be higher as Republicans falter there, too

One of the biggest stories from Iowa was the massive turnout for Democrats -- especially when compared to Republicans. John did some math and showed that even Clinton's third place numbers nearly doubled Huckabee's winning totals. Looks like we'll see a similar outcome in NH. New Hampshire's Secretary of State is predicting a higher Democratic turnout -- and that NH's independents will break by a wide margin to Democrats: 90,000 to 60,000.

That lack of enthusiasm among Repubs. seems to be contagious. NH Democrats held a pre-primary dinner last night. It sounded wild. Over 3,000 people attended including leading Democrats. The Caucus has a couple posts on the reactions to Clinton and Obama. But, James Pindell who writes the Boston Globe's Primary Source blog (a great primary resource for the next couple days, btw) reports that the GOP's efforts at a similar dinner were hapless, just like the GOP. More after the break.

While the major Democrats showed up for the NH Democratic Party, none of the major Republican candidates were on hand to help their struggling NH operation. It wasn't so long ago that New Hampshire was a rock-ribbed GOP bastion. Those days are so over:

The state Republican Party wanted to have a blow out fund-raiser themselves. They do need the money. Until its current chairman the party was in debt and hardly could hire more than a few staff.

At this blow-out fund-raiser John McCain is not scheduled to attend. Nor are Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee or Rudy Giuliani. Nope. Just Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter.

At a time when many in the national media are focusing on the difference in caucus turnout in the parties in Iowa, there are differences in New Hampshire as well.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread

That was a wild week...and another coming up.

For a respite, check out the poem of the week. It's "Hope is the thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson. A poem about hope seems appropriate right about now.

Then start threading the news. Read the rest of this post...

Federal Reserve injects even more cash into banks

While Bush says everything is fine with the economy, the Fed has increased its future cash injections by 50% so that banks can maintain proper liquidity. Ignore the high fuel prices, forget about the housing crash, don't even think about the employment numbers and for heavens sake, pretend as though we do not have a credit crisis in America. All done? Great. Now you too can be just like George Bush. Not a problem in the world. Heck, with this great strategy of ignoring the facts on the ground, it's no wonder he's once again talking about tax cuts.

Taking action to help the economy (which Bush says is solid) makes perfect sense. If ever there was a moment to take the keys away from Bush it's now. For him to stand up and say the "economy is on a solid foundation" should be all we need to hear from him. The Democrats - especially the presidential candidates - are going to have to step up and provide their own plan. Leaving these decisions up to the idiot who created them would be painfully foolish. Do the Democrats have it in them to take on this challenge? Read the rest of this post...

Toyota soon to become largest auto maker

The way people like Dingell and his fellow Detroit Big Auto enablers act, you would think it's still 1950 when GM and Ford hired people and stood at the top of the pile. In the real world, those companies have blown massive their leadership positions thanks to decades of incompetent management. The same people who ran their respective companies into the ground want to run our country into the ground by ruining the environment.

If GM and Ford were still sitting at the top, as much as I might not like it, I could see them as a force in Washington. The difference here is their track record is clear and it is not good. Why do we allow these clowns to control the destiny of our country like this? Big Auto ought to be spending more time on competing with the rest of the world instead of mucking about with our environment. The enablers all allow this to happen. Read the rest of this post...