Where are the fireworks?

At this point in the 2008 election we were already months into 527 ad's and Jeremiah Wright. I'm not saying that negative attacks are good for public discourse, but they do make things interesting. They can also prove that the other side has no facts to use and they only want to muddy the waters. Looking at the polls things appear to be close, so maybe playing it safe is the right thing to do until you need to go negative. Another thing to think about is that fireworks don't always have to be negative. Where's the beef? It's the economy stupid! Catch phrases like that define campaigns and go down in history. This is a message for the PR people in the Romney and Obama camps. Make this election interesting.

Chief Justice Roberts is just getting started

Those who were surprised, pleased or disagreed with Chief Justice Roberts ruling need to realize that he is still at the beginning of his career. In other words, this is not the last time you will be shocked or overjoyed. Taking a look back at his predecessor Chief Justice William Rehnquist you will see how many important decisions can be made over a career. With a career on the bench that spanned from Roe v. Wade to Bush v. Gore, Rehnquist was right in the middle of historic national debates? Does the healthcare ruling set the tone for the Roberts court? Will it be the lone time that he sides with liberal policy? These are all questions that remain to be answered over the next few decades. One thing that seems to be clear at this point is that his motives do not seem to be personal. Which in itself should comfort all Americans, even if you disagree with his ruling.

Rubio is right for Romney

After months of running a very cautious campaign Romney may be on the verge of making a bold decision. If he chooses Marco Rubio as his VP pick it will be a game changing event for this election. Rubio is already a national hero of the Tea Party and holds a national office as a senator. In other words, he is not Sarah Palin. Rubio would also make Florida a toss up state until election day. The democrats are probably coming up with talking points as we speak in anticipation of Rubio being added to the Romney ticket. You will probably even see things pop up during the vetting process to try and derail Rubio too. There are questions that remain though. Will Rubio accept a VP invite? Will Romney actually pull the trigger on this one? There is still time for Romney to pick a boring VP that he can overshadow, but if you wants to win this election he may have to share the stage.

Romney's Pre-existing Condition

Mitt Romney has once again given the democrats a line of attack. According to a New York Times/CBS poll 85 percent of Americans support the part of Obamacare that guarantee's health coverage for those with pre-existing conditions. To make things worse for Romney, the law that he is attacking is similar to the one he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts. Romney should spend most of his time hammering home his message on jobs and the economy. He's right, there is a jobs problem in the country and the economy is recovering at a slow rate. But will taking away health coverage from people help that problem? How productive is someone who can get medicine for their high blood pressure? How much work can you get done if you can't get insulin for your diabetes? With the number one concern being the economy, why would Romney even talk about anything else? Taking a look back at his political career you will see this same pattern. It's a pre-existing condition that he has never been treated for. Kind of ironic.

Beginning of the Romney Comeback?

It's June, there was a bad jobs report and the polls are starting to swing to the right. Is this the beginning of a Mitt Romney comeback or are recent events going to just make things interesting? Romney has rode the wrapping up of the primaries to a bit of a boost in the polls. It also has helped him that the economy seems to be stuck in a slow growth mode. Those two things would seem to help him, but there are 4 more jobs reports before the election and slow growth is growth. 8 percent seems to be the mental barrier here. If Obama can get the unemployment rate to around 7.7 percent I think it will be tougher for Romney to attack on jobs. Without jobs what else could Romney use to win? Change. Maybe this time around the country is ready for change again. To use that theme Romney needs to come up with an inspirational message though. I'm not saying he can't evangelize his all American story and captivate the country, but my money is on Romney wishing for delayed job growth.

Why negative ad's will never go away

How is it even news that there is a anti-Obama super pac that wants to use Rev. Wright "like McCain should have"? These pac's will go away when there are no more disagreements on policy, no more rich people and when there are no more politics. These types of groups will also keep forming because to a certain extent they work. Everyone knows the commercials; Willie Horton, Swift Vets and my favorite one from 2008 "3 A.M.". These ad's are only as good as the candidate though. They are intended to cast a shadow and muddy the waters. I don't think there is a problem with this group making attack ad's, I think the problem is that everyone already knows about Rev. Wright and they do seem to care. This may be due to the religious aspect of the argument. If Rev. Wright is fair game, what about the things that radical Mormons have said? In closing, "Wright" idea, wrong topic.

Gay marriage and defining a campaign

Are there many people surprised that president Obama's opinion has evolved on the gay marriage issue? Just when recent polls show an almost split nation on the issue, Obama picks his side. The real question is why? He is in good shape for re-election and this issue will surely rally the far right. Obama believes that he will be on the right side of history on this issue. I would have to agree with that. But, the real reason for this move is to define his stance before Mitt Romney does. In each election opponents comes up with terms or labels that end up being used to trounce candidates. This usually happens when a candidate does not clearly state his stance or stays on the fence over an issue. The real surprise here is that this move was done by a democrat. The GOP is usually better at defining campaigns and people. The work they did on Al Gore and John Kerry had liberals even believing the spin. This move by Obama should set off an alarm in the Romney camp. He needs to stand for something fast. My guess is it will be the keystone pipeline or some sort of jobs deal. Who knows, maybe Newt Gingrich will show up at the next Romney rally and endorse Romney's moon colony plan.