Vegas, Baby: Republican Armies March Toward Political Battle of the Century

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From: NVDebate ([email protected])
To: [email protected];
Date: Wed, October 12, 2011 2:53:06 PM

Subject: RE: CREDENTIALS REQUEST – NEVADA DEBATE

Hi Robert,
You have been issued credentials. Please note:
The credential will grant journalists access to the press filing center and media spin room, which will be located in Hall G of the Sands Expo and Convention Center.
###
Jennifer A. Scoggins
CNN Washington

My flight is already booked, departing Monday from Dulles International via LAX to Vegas. After last night’s debate in New Hampshire, this CNN debate in Las Vegas is sure to be a pivotal event in the 2012 presidential campaign. Via Memeorandum, a few headlines:

After another bad debate, is Rick Perry finished?
— Byron York, Washington Examiner

Mitt Romney builds case for inevitability
— Jonathan Martin, Politico

Cain leads nationally
— Tom Jensen, Public Policy Polling

Ashton Kutcher’s Alleged Mistress
Reveals Details of One-Night Stand
— Tim Nudd, People magazine

Maybe that last headline isn’t quite so obviously relevant, from a strictly political perspective. But you see the basic point: The fate of a nation hangs in the balance as this critical Las Vegas debate looms ahead.

This is the crucial moment — indeed, possibly a turning point in American history — and we’ll be reporting live from the scene, war correspondents at the GOP’s Political Armageddon.

There may be updates to this post, but no Urgent Breaking News today could possibly be more urgent than The Five Most Important Words in the English Language: “Hit the freaking tip jar!”





UPDATE: Just got this press release from CNN:

Western States, Issues Take Center
Stage for CNN, WRLC Debate
Anderson Cooper to Moderate the Oct. 18 Face-off
among Eight Presidential Contenders in Las Vegas
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will moderate the Tuesday, Oct. 18 debate presented by CNN and the Western Republican Leadership Conference (WRLC). The debate, which will air live from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (ET), will be broadcast from The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas , Nevada . Voters from the 16 states and territories that make up the Western region of the United States will be in the audience and will have an opportunity to pose questions directly to the candidates. Nevada will be one of the first states to vote in the Republican presidential primary process in 2012, as chosen by the Republican National Committee.
The following eight presidential contenders will participate in the debate: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
CNN’s live and on-location coverage surrounding the debate will begin with CNN Newsroom on Saturday, Oct. 15 and continue through American Morning on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Programming from Las Vegas will include anchors Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, John King, T.J. Holmes, and Carol Costello. CNN political contributors and analysts also on hand in Las Vegas will include Gloria Borger, Ron Brownstein, Alex Castellanos, Ari Fleischer, David Gergen and Mary Matalin. . . .

Great Balls of Fire: Gloria Freaking Borger!

You know this debate is going to be a world-historical event, if CNN is dispatching the internationally esteemed Gloria Borger to lead their legions of “political contributors and analysts” to Las Vegas.

We must have Total Coverage! Final Wisdom! Hit the freaking tip jar!




UPDATE II: Erick Erickson:

The reality is Perry has $15 million, few people saw the Bloomberg debate and he’ll get another shot next week at a more credible debate with a larger audience. I wouldn’t write him off just yet.

Y’know, if you gave me $15 million, I think I could probably manage third place in the national Gallup poll, and I pretty much guarantee I’d be better than fifth place — behind Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman — in New Hampshire.

The real point about the Perry campaign is the vast gap between the resources at his disposal and what he has been able to accomplish with those resources. Whether or not Erick’s ready to “write him off just yet,” doesn’t it appear that further contributions to the once-formidable Rick Perry Bandwagon are pretty likely to be a useless waste of money?

And who warned y’all about that? Hit the freaking tip jar!


32 comments

  2. The following eight presidential contenders will participate in the debate: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, businessman Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich,  former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman*, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

    *Why?

  3. CNN’s live and on-location coverage surrounding the debate will begin with CNN Newsroom on Saturday, Oct. 15 and continue through American Morning on Wednesday, Oct. 19. Programming from Las Vegas will include anchors Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, John King, T.J. Holmes, and Carol Costello. CNN political contributors and analysts also on hand in Las Vegas will include Gloria Borger, Ron Brownstein, Alex Castellanos, Ari Fleischer, David Gergen and Mary Matalin. . . .

    Why?  There are no conservatives questioning the GOP candidates?  And they have two token conservative analysts (if you consider Matalin and Fleischer conservatives).  I do not want to mess up your trip, but why does the GOP put up with this crap.  Tell CNN, MSNBC, ABC, etc. to pound sand and do primary debates with the Heritage Foundation (and broadcasted on Fox). 

  6. From that PDF of the NH SOS:
    OPTIONS FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE’S PRIMARY DATE. With Florida moving its primary earlier than originally planned to January 31st, and South Carolina making a move to set its primary ten days earlier to January 21st, that began to limit options for setting our date in January. When officials in Nevada set their caucus for Saturday, January 14th, that left Tuesday, January 3rd as a possibility for us, but Iowa officials tentatively decided that their caucus would be on that day.

    My job as NH Secretary of State is to follow our law, which mandates that I set our election 7 days or more before any event that would threaten our traditional lead-off status. So if Nevada does not adjust its caucus date to a later time, I cannot rule out the possibility of a December primary.

    We cannot allow the political process to squeeze us into a date that wedges us by just a few days between two major caucus states. Our primary will have little meaning if states crowd into holding their events just hours after our polls have closed.

    The date of our primary is decided by state law, not by the rules or desires of political parties. Since Nevada’s caucus is similar in the eyes of our statute, it means the New Hampshire primary can be set no later than Saturday, January 7th.

    IT’S REALLY UP TO NEVADA. If Nevada does not accept a date of Tuesday, January 17th or later for its caucus, it leaves New Hampshire no choice but to consider December of this year. The dates of Tuesday, December 13th, ,and Tuesday, December 6th are realistic options, and we have logistics in place to make either date happen if needed. Candidates have been campaigning here, and elsewhere, for months, and it is about time we begin the next stage of the presidential nominating process.

    The political parties did not give New Hampshire its presidential primary. Traditionally, it has been the first in the nation for almost a hundred years, and our state law protects our tradition. We have the largest turnout in the country, and our citizens take their roles and obligations seriously.

    But the parties do have an important role in that they can discourage other states from trying to leapfrog onto our tradition. Right now, the problem is the date of Nevada. We will respond as we need to in order to honor New Hampshire’s tradition, and to keep our primary relevant. Not to do so would allow us to lose an important element of American democracy forever. New Hampshire will not let that happen.

  17. Nomination Excitations: They Sold Their Souls To The Company Store [Updated Below]…

    -DaTechGuy was able to live-blog the GOP Debate in New Hampshire last night even though he was not credentialed. As Stacy McCain relays: …He’d told me that the credentialing process seemed to require jumping through too many hoops. So he got ther…

  19. I like Cain, but I’m worried because he’s never held elected office before. I’d prefer it if he had been governor somewhere before this. What does Stacy, the No. 1 Cain fan, say to that? (I’d vote for a rabid squirrel over Obama.)

  20. “No one likes him.”

    The media likes him. He dances to their tune, and when he inevitably crashes and burns, he’ll be useful. They can portray him as moderation, intelligence and reason incarnate, and beat their breasts at how those nasty wingnuts are so radical. As shown by the fact that they rejected Huntsman.

    And I strongly suspect he’s in on it. If Obama wins in 2012 – *fights urge to vomit* – I see Huntsman as Sec. of State. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.

  22. Too many Cain naysayers put too much importance on government experience. By now I’d rather have a constitutional amendment declaring government experience a disqualifier for President.

    Presidents with government experience got us here in the first place.

  24. I first heard of Herman Cain when he was a candidate in the Georgia GOP primary for Senate. My brother called me from Douglas County, Ga., to tell me how awesome Cain was. Alas, the Republican Establishment lined up behind Johnny Isakson, who has been a reasonably conservative Senator in DC, but had kind of a squishy reputation among Georgia conservatives. Cain finished second in that primary, and it’s interesting to imagine how things might look today if we were looking at the campaign of Senator Herman Cain.

    But it is what it is. We must fight the battle we’re in, and not waste time wishing we were in some other battle. Obviously, Cain has weaknesses, but if we want a Tea Party outsider, what is the viable alternative?

    I note that Cain has actually gained momentum since Sarah Palin said “no,” which is to say, it seems as if the baton has been passed and — for better or worse — Cain is evidently the anchor man of this relay. If I had a one-word suggestion for you, it would be “PRAY.”

  27. It was a blessing that he didn’t become ‘Senator Cain’ because Senators tend to make mediocre or just plain awful Presidents.  The culture of the Senate, while it may work for it’s members, is the opposite of what is needed in a Chief Executive.

    I see the fact that Herman Cain is not coming from the Congress as a plus.  While I think being the Governor of a state is a good training ground for POTUS, the next best thing is having been a top executive in a successful company.

    My main concern with Mr. Cain is his health.  He had Stage IV Colon Cancer.  I had Stage III Colo-Rectal Cancer [at the same time, BTW].  And I can tell you that I would not be up for the job from a physical standpoint.  Also, the chances of reoccurrence for Stage IV patients is rather high, especially when it has invaded the liver the first time.  It must be noted, however, that Mr. Cain has a very good attitude in his favor, and that means a lot.

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