CAC put this list of closing times together (times are eastern, I think):

GA 7:00
VT 7:00
VA 7:00
OH 7:30
MA 8:00
OK 8:00
TN 8:00
ND 10:00
ID 11:00
WY 11:00
AK 12:30

The real big question is Ohio. Even if he does well in the popular vote, Santorum is going to have trouble with delegates since he failed to file a full slate of delegates in some of his more competitive districts.

Virgina will go to Romney easily since he's only up against Ron Paul.

Georgia is going to go for Newt and the rest? We'll see.

If Santorum wins Ohio we're in for a few more weeks of Mitt limping to his still likely nomination.

Either way, my prediction is: Pain. Lots and lots of pain.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:31 PM | Comments (213)
Post contains 138 words, total size 1 kb.

Wow. There are a lot of things you can say about Lindsey Graham but being wishey washy on Afghanistan or Iraq isn't one of them. If he's getting close to saying it's time to go, it's time to go..

At issue are Hamid Karzai's demands that the US hand over Afghan prisoners to his government and that the US end night raids.

"If the president of the country can't understand how irrational it is to expect us to turn over prisoners and if he doesn't understand that the night raids have been the biggest blow to the Taliban ... then there is no hope of winning. None," Graham said in the hallways of the Capitol Building just before entering the GOP caucus lunch.

"So if he insists that all the prisoners have to be turned over by March 9 and that we have to stop night raids, that means we will fail in Afghanistan and that means Lindsey Graham pulls the plug. It means that I no longer believe we can win and we might as well get out of there sooner rather than later."

Personally, I think that time is here regardless of how these negotiations turn out.

Posted by: DrewM at 12:11 PM | Comments (315)
Post contains 233 words, total size 1 kb.

Via Amanda Carpenter, I had this in the Obama presser thread but it should get some more attention.

Landlords can qualify for up to four federally-subsidized loan workouts starting around May, as long as they rent out each house or have plans to fill them, under the revamped Home Affordable Modification Program, also known as HAMP, according to Timothy Massad, the TreasuryÂ’s assistant secretary for financial stability. The program pays banks to reduce monthly payments by cutting interest rates, stretching terms, and forgiving principal.

...

By widening the program, the plan will inevitably offer aid to buy-and-flip investors who pushed prices higher during the boom by taking out mortgages with little or no down payment. Speculators accelerated the crash because they were quick to default when prices fell, according to a September report from Andrew Haughwout, Donghoon Lee, Joseph Tracy, and Wilbert van der Klaauw of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

...

John Burns, an Irvine, California-based real estate consultant, said it’s “ridiculous” for taxpayers to come to the aid of individuals who made bad bets.

“What kind of precedent are you going to set?,” Burns said. “Are you going to refund people who lost money on the stock market too?”

Only if you invested in a green tech firm that went belly up.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:53 AM | Comments (246)
Post contains 260 words, total size 2 kb.

An 81 year old woman from Rhode Island (or Road Island as Joe Biden's staff writes it) won the $336 million Powerball jackpot. I think she should have taken the 30 annual payments. It would have shown some optimism.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:05 AM | Comments (172)
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess "contraception" comes up once or twice.

Question 4: Why haven't you gone to Israel yet? Do you want higher gas prices?

Attacks question saying "would any President facing reelection want higher gas prices?"

I guess he hasn't spoken to Steven Chu.

Oh God, he wants to make sure the AG "pays attention" to speculators. What's he going to find? Supply and demand impact prices?

Says he went to Israel before and isn't the 1st President not to get there in his first term.

Question 5: Rush of course.

Won't comment on sponsors leaving show or liberals who have done the same thing.

Says he called Fluke because of his daughters and he wouldn't want them called those names just for speaking out.

Question 6: Do you think Debbie Wasserman-Shultz that there is a "war on women"?

Says women will make choices based on issues, runs through his stump speech bullet points.

Follow up: Would you like Wasserman-Shultz to change her language?

Obama- He won't comment on it. He'll "lead by example" on civility.

Question 7- Latinos love you but what about amnesty?

Obama Like George W. Bush, I love amnesty!

Question 8- So, what do you think about Mitt calling you "feckless"?

"Good luck tonight, really"

Question 9- Why move G8 summit from Chicago to Camp David?

I don't know what his answer is. I've reached my limit on listening to him. You're on your own from here on out.

Earlier questions below the fold. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 09:10 AM | Comments (254)
Post contains 480 words, total size 3 kb.

They take down a couple of webpages and steal some emails, you send a bunch of them to prison. That's the federal way.

Hector Monsegur, a 28-year-old American believed to use the name "Sabu" on the internet, was arrested by federal agents last year and has been cooperating with law enforcement ever since, officials said. He pleaded guilty last August, a plea unsealed in federal court in Lower Manhattan today.

Based on information provided by Monsegur, at least four other members of the group were arrested recently -- one in Chicago and three overseas, officials said. Each were charged with conspiracy and at least two will appear in federal court in Lower Manhattan later today.

Federal officials said they expect the arrests to seriously damage LulzSec, an underground group also known as Lulz Security, which is also an offset of the hacking group Anonymous.

You may be a great hacker but the FBI and probably some agencies we don't know much about have a lot more resources. If they want to get you, they will.

Oh...the best part of announcing this? Every hacker is wondering if the the other hackers he's working with on something today is really an FBI informant. That kind of fear is priceless in taking down loosely defined groups like this.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:38 AM | Comments (127)
Post contains 237 words, total size 2 kb.

Today is Super Tuesday and while there aren't enough delegates at stake today to end the race officially but if Romney does well (and he will simply based on Virginia) this thing will basically be over.

So while this campaign season is fresh on our minds, I just want to throw out a couple of thoughts on how we could improve the process for next time. Some are laws which are obviously beyond the party's control. Think of it as a, "If I were King for a day" type thing.

In no particular order:

1- Stop the caucus nonsense. Normally I'm all for things that make voting more of a commitment rather than less but this idea that you can only go at a certain time and have to spend an hour or so is silly.

Another problem with the caucus system is that the votes don't necessarily wind up being reflected in the delegates awarded. You can win a local caucus but if none of your supporters stick around long enough, a representative of another candidate may be "elected" to represent that caucus at the convention that actually selects the delegates.

It's just a stupid system all around and has to go.

2- Close the primaries. If you can't be bothered enough to register for a party you don't get to help shape its future. You know why I don't get to vote on matters at the Microsoft share holder meeting? I don't own stock in Microsoft. You want a say in how something is run, get some skin in the game. Registering as a member of the party is a pretty low threshold but an important one.

3- Ditch the debates until there are 2 or 3 candidates and don't let the MFM within a mile of them. When the filed is bigger at the start we should have candidate forums like the ones Jim DeMint and Mike Huckabee had. Give each candidate 15 minutes or whatever works out on their own to answer the same questions from a panel of GOP/conservative commentators and experts.

If cutting the MFM out means they won't air them, so be it. Set up some online streaming outlet, get the blogs and online media involved and you'll have plenty of interest with those who care.

Once the field is winnowed down you can go to the more traditional head to head but again...no Democratic operatives (aka "reporters" allowed).

4- Lower ballot access requirements. New Hampshire does it right ($1,000 and you're in), Virginia does it wrong (10,000 signatures with a minimum of 300 or 400 from each congressional district). These high barriers to entry place a premium on fundraising and organization when the focus should be on candidate ability and message. Yes the ability to raise money and organize is important but that places too much importance on the "invisible primary"...the ability to line up consultants, financial backers and endorsements. This leads to a system where people who want to run have to spend 4 or more years doing it. It also scares off latecomers.

What's the point of having early states like Iowa and New Hampshire give a shot to lesser known candidates to win if they can't then capitalize on that victory because they didn't have the resources soon enough to fight later on? If you keep the same kind of ballot access rules we might as well start the campaign in Florida, Texas and California and be done with it. You either have the money to run a million ads on day one or your out. Right now it's a sham to say smaller states can give a relative unknown a legitimate shot.

5- Get rid of campaign finance limits. There's no reason why the ability to raise money should be the end all and be all of a campaign. More importantly, there's no reason why people who have money shouldn't be able to promote their beliefs by supporting the candidate of their choice.

You can set a floor level of donation (I don't know, $25,000) that has to be reported on a daily basis. This way everyone will know who is giving how much to each candidate right away and make their decisions accordingly.

6- End early voting. The news moves fast and everyone should be working off the same information when they vote. We've seen wild swings this year and we probably will again in the future. There's no reason candidates should be able to get voters to decide before election day, everyone should have the same amount of time to persuade voters and maybe even change their minds.

You might say this is sour grapes because a lot of the current rules helped Romney and I'm not a fan of his. My response would be he's playing within the rules as they are set up now and good for him. I just think a lot of the rules and laws we have now don't reflect the media and technological world we live in and bringing them up to date will serve all of us better.

Some of these might not work out how I'd like them to but I think we should put some effort into how things have gone over the last few cycles and make improvements where we can.

You guys have any suggestions?

Addendum: I could add in "Don't let Iowa and New Hampshire go first" but I said this is what I'd do if I were King for a day and their place on the calendar is decreed by God Himself (or so people in Iowa and New Hampshire tell us).

Posted by: DrewM at 07:20 AM | Comments (211)
Post contains 955 words, total size 5 kb.

U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg distills the concept into 2 short sentences.

“A citizen may not be required to offer a `good and substantial reason’ why he should be permitted to exercise his rights.

The right’s existence is all the reason he needs.”

Forget the specifics of the case on which he was ruling. They comprise an egregious attack upon the rights of a crime victim and worthy of public contempt, though it be but a spit into the collective wind breathed by Leftists who arrange our news, our views, and our societal conscience.

Their mores have so insinuated themselves into the fabric of our society that instances of clarity are rare.

And much more rare are those instances when clarity is unveiled so simply, yet so universally applicable.

“A citizen may not be required to offer a `good and substantial reason’ why he should be permitted to exercise his rights.

The right’s existence is all the reason he needs.”

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:32 AM | Comments (96)
Post contains 173 words, total size 1 kb.

Yeah, we miss Monty and teh DOOM already.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:05 AM | Comments (67)
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

Yesterday there was some consternation over a citizen petition hosted on the White House website that seeks to have Rush Limbaugh dropped from Armed Forces Radio.

In response, Iowahawk created a petition there that needs your signature: Resign.

Posted by: andy at 02:29 AM | Comments (361)
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.