Madison Project

So says Politico.

If I am currently one of the Republicans maneuvering for the Presidential nomination, I have to start thinking, “Why is everyone talking about those who are not in the race yet?”

It’s because, as I referenced the other day, none of the current candidates inspires anyone. Anytime the energy and excitement is focused on folks not in a political race, and you are already in, you probably need to start thinking of getting out.

Look at a compilation of articles from yesterday. They’re not talking about Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, etc.

Rick Perry: Thinking about running.

Chris Christie: Iowa Republicans urging him to run.

Rudy Giuliani: New Poll Shows Giuliani Leading.

Sarah Palin: Palin’s One Nation Tour Shrouded in Mystery (will she or won’t she?).

I could go on and on, but you get the point. My money is on a late comer jumping in and totally dominating this race this is currently made up of second tier candidates.

Gut feeling? Yes. And here is why. A friend, who is a consultant, called the other day. “With Mitch out, I am going with X. Yes, I know he’s a second tier candidate-” at which point I stopped him and asked, “Aren’t they all?”

You see, that’s the problem with the current crop of Republican Presidential candidates-they’re all second tier. Sit for a minute and ask yourself: which one of them will you go door to door for in the rain? For those of you thinking, “Heck, yeah, I’d do that for Ron Paul or Herman Cain!” the elephant in the room for Ron Paul is most of his supporters are not Republican primary voters and Herman Cain can’t raise money. It’s the weird nexus of politics, finding the sweet spot of the candidate with the least warts who is actually viable.

Which leads me to Rick Perry. Some will say it’s too early for a Texan to run for President, that America has had enough of the boot wearing, straight shooting type of candidate that Rick Perry would be.

I beg to differ. It is exactly what Americans are pleading for and in stark contrast with Barack Obama. In fact, I just watched Rick Perry on the stump two weeks ago. He was sharing the story of CA legislators coming to Texas to ask, “What are you doing right that we can do in California?”

Perry’s reply was, “It’s simple-don’t spend all the money.”

So take some time. Look at the economic health of Texas as well as its thriving business community. Consider for a minute that fact that Texas is picking up 4 more Congressional seats (people want to move here!).

And then ask yourself: do I want that kind of leadership?

How great is this?! Because of Scott Walker’s budget bill, most of the 424 public school districts in Wisconsin will be forced to lower the property taxes. Though I don’t know what the ratio of administrators to teachers is, my hope is that the cuts in budgets will force that ratio into something better for teachers. Here in Texas, a Right to Work state, the ratio of administrators to teachers is 1:1 and guess who is getting cut when the Texas legislature cuts education funding? Not the administrators, unfortunately.

Yes, you read that correctly. In fact, Reuters is reporting it was “fairly extensive.” Two things to note about the officials speaking to the press: they do not know if it was really bin Laden’s (really?!) and “three other U.S. officials familiar with evidence gathered during investigations of other Islamic militants said the discovery of pornography is not uncommon in such cases.”

I don’t know what others will say, but anytime porn is rampant in a culture, one has to question the health of that culture and the inherent value it places on certain members of it. In this case, women.

There is an inconvenient truth for Barack Obama and the Left when it comes to the hunting down and killing of Osama bin Laden. Actually, make that truths.

The first is that the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are there for a reason (shocker!). They are not innocent bystanders, spectators of acts of terrorism. They are terrorists. Remember all the rhetoric from the Left and Barack Obama about the need to close Gitmo? No? How about here. And here. And just for good measure, here.

And enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding? Where did we get the name of the courier that eventually led SEAL Team 6 to Osama bin Laden’s compound on Sunday? From waterboarding terrorists being held at Gitmo. Yet it was Barack Obama and his administration that ended the practice. Is Obama still saying that waterboarding was a mistake? And with a hat tip to Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit, Barack Obama believes (not past tense as I have not seen a statement saying he’s changed his mind) that waterboarding gives us bad information, not intel. And even today the Daily Kos is working hard to deny the facts about where the information about the courier came from.

But facts are facts. Were it not for the Bush Administration’s policies regarding Gitmo and waterboarding, guess what? Osama bin Laden would still be alive.

So for folks running around saying that the 2012 election is already over, please. Barack Obama does not deserve credit for the killing of the world’s #1 terrorist. Sure, he gave the orders to go and I give him full credit for that, especially to use special forces versus bombs. But he is the benefactor of policies put in place by a Republican President and that is not going to be easy to forget in the months ahead.

In what can only be described as awkward, watch White House spokesman, Jay Carney, try to answer a very simple question: why did President Obama not put out an Easter statement?

I mean, it’s a great question. There was a statement on Kwanzaa, one for every Muslim holiday, even Earth Day. But nothing on Easter?

Why?

In what is one of the most amazing turnarounds I have ever seen in an election of this import, an entire city (Brookfield, WI) was missed on election night. An entire city. 14,000 votes. When the votes were tallied on Thursday, David Prosser lead the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court by 7500. After canvassing, Prosser now leads by just over 7200 votes, or somewhere just under half a percent of all the votes cast which means automatic recount.

To add insult to injury, Kloppenburg only netted 54 more votes in Dane County where she had just crushed Prosser on election night. However, with same day registration and Dane being the most liberal county in Wisconsin (and home of the University of Wisconsin-Madison), I am betting on voter fraud there.

The recount will begin the week of April 18th. While I do not think the Left can manufacture over 7,000 votes to get Kloppenburg over the top, we are taking this very seriously. Too much is riding on this election. We’ll keep you posted.

Folks, there is a difference between what the AP reports and the actual canvassing numbers. Canvassing numbers are the numbers that get certified-they are the only ones that count. Because of that, David Prosser’s lead is growing and I think will continue to grow.

Especially if the Brookfield rumors are true (ie, 14,000 uncounted votes in an area Prosser won big on Tuesday).

For those of you following WI (and if you’re a political junkie, how could you not be?), all the precincts are in and the margin between JoAnne Kloppenburg and David Prosser is 204 votes. Out of 1,479,000+ votes cast. That is amazing. What is even more amazing is that the Prosser team, and those around them, thought they were going to get crushed under the tidal wave of the trial lawyers and the public sector unions. Suffice it to say, I am pretty sure Wisconsin has never seen a Supreme Court election with this much riding on it. At stake are Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill and Tort Reform, both already signed into law, both likely to end up in front of the court.

So what can we take away from last night?

1.) The union bosses are stunned and so is Team Prosser. The paid union thugs got their folks out (dead ones included, I am sure) and were met, toe to toe, by the tea party. The result? A draw in what was supposed to be a rout.

2.) The recall elections of the WI state Senators are not going to be as easy as the union bosses thought.

3.) The unions have to reckon with the new kid in town, the tea party.

This thing is far from over, but I think it’s going to be a wild ride from here.