I have a little distance from Michelle Malkin at this moment thanks to you guys.

Also don't forget to vote for Slublog and Nice Deb!

(Oh: Hey now, I'm not asking anyone to stop voting. The contest continues.)

Posted by: Ace at 11:16 AM | Comments (15)
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I suppose the Robertson endorsement is the biggest, though it comes with a lot of baggage and I doubt he has the clout he once did.

Yesterday Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich endorsed Romney.

The biggest effect may not be any competitive advantage for these guys, so much as simply making them acceptable second or third choices for social cons. Though the effect will be limited; while the Washington Post thinks the religious right are "poor, uneducated, and easily led," I tend to think they make their own decisions. Still, people seek endorsements for a reason.

Posted by: Ace at 10:42 AM | Comments (29)
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Did he credit our troops? Only to the extent he credited them for apparently depopulating all of Iraq.

On the other hand, Steney Hoyer admits the surge is working and credits the troops:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told CNSNews.com yesterday that the troop surge is working – and claimed that had always said the Bush administration was deploying an insufficient number of troops in previous years. On Tuesday, the Defense Department announced that five more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, bringing the total to 853 troops this year, the most troops killed during any one year of the war so far.

"Stability and a decrease in violence, they've done that - God bless them. I'm not surprised that they did," Hoyer told CNSNews.com (Hear audio in story) in response to a question about steadily declining U.S. casualty rates in Iraq. "I am not surprised, therefore, that when we send 20,000 additional troops and put them in an area of consequence that those 20,000 troops from the best army in the world, the best trained, best equipped army in the world brings a very heightened security," he said.

On the other other Beeblebroxian third hand, there's Pat Leahy:

Despite the steady decline of combat deaths over the last five months in Iraq, only one number mattered to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). "I heard that we had the highest number of casualties this year of any year," Leahy told CNSNews.com.

Posted by: Ace at 10:34 AM | Comments (14)
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Jim Geraghty sees room for hope, starting with the Democrats' standard-bearer Hillary!, the woman who can''t even break 49% against Ron Paul.

Thanks to Ogre Gunner.

Damn, Let's Not Let This Get Out of Hand: Hillary! loses 10 points of her 33 point lead over Obama.

Posted by: Ace at 10:09 AM | Comments (33)
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John McCain is having a little resurgence (dammit). Though he still lags far behind in the early primary states, he's moved up to second place in three recent national polls.

"We normally don't place a lot of emphasis on these polls, but it is impossible to ignore the documentation of trends that we are seeing in other areas of the campaign, as well - and that is the simple fact that John McCain is back and surging ahead of the competition," Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager, wrote Tuesday in a fundraising e-mail to supporters.

"The evidence is clear from the polls - we just need to make sure the funds are there to keep the bus on the road and the straight talk flowing."

There are a few things to note about this. First, his "second place" spot is within the margin in all three polls. In other words, he's in a statistical tie with Fred Thompson. Second, Rudy Giuliani still has anywhere from a 13 to 16 point lead, making McCain's "resurgence" interesting, but not all that impressive. Third, as mentioned above, McCain is bombing in the early primary states.

And finally, though the campaign would never think of it, McCain's been out of the news for a few weeks, as everyone focuses on frontrunners Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Is it a coincidence that when he gets no coverage, people like him more?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:38 AM | Comments (16)
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I donÂ’t know how representative John Matel is of his colleagues but I sure hope thereÂ’s a lot more like him in the State Department than the ones we tend to hear about. Currently serving on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Anbar Provience, Matel has a few choice words for the folks who spoke up about forced deployments to Iraq. In short, shut up and let the grownups do the important work.

Calling Iraq a death sentence is just way over the top. I volunteered to come here aware of the risks but confident that I will come safely home, as do the vast majority of soldiers and Marines, who have a lot riskier jobs than we FSOs do.

I wrote a post a couple days ago where I said that perhaps everyone's talents are not best employed in Iraq . That is still true. But I find the sentiments expressed by some at the town hall meeting deeply offensive. What are they implying about me and my choice? And what do they say to our colleagues in the military, who left friends and family to come here and do their jobs? As diplomats, part of our work is to foster peace and understanding. We cannot always be assured that we will serve only in places where peace and understanding are already safely established.

If these guys at the town hall meeting do not want to come to Iraq , that is okay with. I would not want that sort out here with me anyway. We have enough trouble w/o having to baby sit. BUT they are not worldwide available and they might consider the type of job that does not require worldwide availability.

Matel is scheduled to be in Iraq through next September. I havenÂ’t had a chance to read a lot of his stuff yet but it looks like his blog bears watching for a different perspective on whatÂ’s going on over there.

Posted by: DrewM. at 08:05 AM | Comments (10)
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Last month, Radiohead released their newest album, In Rainbows, on their website and invited fans to decide for themselves how much they want to pay to download. An "internet monitoring" company has a sample of the results:

Some 62 percent of the people who downloaded "In Rainbows" in a four- week period last month opted not to pay the British alt-rockers a cent. But the remaining 38 percent voluntarily paid an average of $6, according to the study by comScore Inc.

American fans were most generous (those who paid at all), paying on average $8.05 for the album. Fans outside the U.S. who paid spent an average of $4.64.

The success of this experiment depends on whether Radiohead had to earn back an advance from their label. I suspect that Radiohead is big enough that they didn't have to take an advance from the label and could afford the recording and distribution costs themselves.

Which means that even if only 40% of downloading fans paid an average of $6, they may still have come out well ahead of their usual take for a new album.

Radiohead plans to release the album on CD at some point. I'd be interested to know how how much the online distribution cuts into those sales.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:21 AM | Comments (40)
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The Weblog Awards are winding down and Ace is in a neck and neck battle with Michele Malkin in the Best Conservative Blog category. You can vote once a day, so hit the link and vote.

ItÂ’s time for the Morons to take a stand and push Ace over the top.

If you donÂ’t this could be youÂ….

It wasnÂ’t what he did that got him tazed, itÂ’s what he didnÂ’t do. He didnÂ’t vote for Ace of Spades as Best Conservative Blog. Do the right thing and donÂ’t make me taze you, bro.

UPDATE:
Per Gabriel's great idea, the poll itself is below the fold so you don't even have to go over to vote. It's pretty much idiot proof but that's not quite moron proof so vote however works best for you. Just vote.

Posted by: DrewM. at 07:12 AM | Comments (10)
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Rasmussen has its first poll out since last week’s debate featuring Hillary’s, “Yes-No-Yes-Stop picking on me because I am a girl” Festival and it turns out voters weren’t impressed.

It’s not a total meltdown by any stretch and she’s still leading but the margin continues to narrow. She led Obama by 16% prior to the debate, now it's down to 10%

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone poll of the state’s Likely Primary Voters shows Clinton leading Senator Barack Obama by ten percentage points, 34% to 24%. Former Senator John Edwards attracts 15% of the vote while New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson earns 8%. No other candidate tops the 3% level of support.

At 34%, Clinton’s current level of support is the lowest measured in any Rasmussen Reports poll this year. Four previous polls in New Hampshire found her consistently in the 37% to 40% range.

This is the first poll of the race conducted since Senator Hillary Clinton’s debate gaffe concerning drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. In the last poll before that debate, Clinton held a sixteen-point advantage over Obama. A month earlier, Clinton was ahead by twenty-three percentage points.

66% of NH Democrats oppose giving licenses to illegals (which is about the number nationally as well), while only 19% report they support the idea.

The question is, do either Obama or Edwards have the firepower to exploit this opening?

Posted by: DrewM. at 06:43 AM | Comments (11)
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Rasmussen has its first poll out since last week’s debate featuring Hillary’s, “Yes-No-Yes-Stop picking on me because I am a girl” Festival and it turns out voters weren’t impressed.

ItÂ’s not a total meltdown by any stretch and sheÂ’s still leading but the margin continues to narrow. She led Obama by 16% prior to the debate, now it's down to 10%

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone poll of the stateÂ’s Likely Primary Voters shows Clinton leading Senator Barack Obama by ten percentage points, 34% to 24%. Former Senator John Edwards attracts 15% of the vote while New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson earns 8%. No other candidate tops the 3% level of support.

At 34%, ClintonÂ’s current level of support is the lowest measured in any Rasmussen Reports poll this year. Four previous polls in New Hampshire found her consistently in the 37% to 40% range.

This is the first poll of the race conducted since Senator Hillary ClintonÂ’s debate gaffe concerning drivers licenses for illegal immigrants. In the last poll before that debate, Clinton held a sixteen-point advantage over Obama. A month earlier, Clinton was ahead by twenty-three percentage points.

66% of NH Democrats oppose giving licenses to illegals (which is about the number nationally as well), while only 19% report they support the idea.

The question is, do either Obama or Edwards have the firepower to exploit this opening?

Posted by: DrewM at 06:43 AM | Comments (11)
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