You're welcome!

Posted by: Ace at 10:57 AM | Comments (20)
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Rumor Alert: Michelle Malkin has it that Hunter will be making a "major announcement" in 10 minutes (2:00pm Eastern).

Is he dropping out?
Will he endorse a particular candidate?

Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Hunter is still running. He wanted to grab some free airtime to complain about being excluded from the debates. It was only partially successful in that only CNN carried it live. I'm sure the others will discuss it in the course of the news cycle.

As moron-Openblogger someone writes: "Cheap stunt." I agree and I don't think it's going to improve his numbers tomorrow.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:50 AM | Comments (83)
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I doubt she's considering it strongly, but surely the notion has occurred to people in Camp InEVITAble.

Hot Air notes a new Marist poll showing Edwards gaining, so that another third-place finish for Hillary is not out of the question. Note that Hillary still is in second, though, at 28 to Edwards' 22.

The idea that Hillary would drop out to avoid damaging "the Clinton brand name" seems absurd to me. The brand name still exists, puffed up by the media and the liberals (but I repeat myself), to get Hillary elected president. What does she care if the brand name is damaged? Is she trying to keep it viable for Chelsea?

This sounds more like a concern of Bill Clinton's than Hillary's. And if it is, man, the chewing out he'll get when he comes home tonight answers his phone after sex and chicken fried steak at a paramour's.

Posted by: Ace at 10:48 AM | Comments (14)
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Story and link to video is here.

"My question is very personal, how do you do it?" asked Marianne Pernold Young, a freelance photographer from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. "How do you, how do you keep upbeat and so wonderful?"

Clinton began responding, jokingly: You know, I think, well luckily, on special days I do have help. If you see me every day and if you look on some of the websites and listen to some of the commentators they always find me on the day I didn't have help. It's not easy."

Then Clinton began getting emotional: "It's not easy, and I couldn't do it if I didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do. You know I have so many opportunities from this country just don't want to see us fall backwards," she said.

Then, her voice breaking and tears in her eyes, she said, "You know, this is very personal for me. It's not just political it's not just public. I see what's happening, and we have to reverse it."

An Ed Muskie moment? A humanizing moment? A fake moment?

Posted by: DrewM. at 10:14 AM | Comments (56)
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The Nintendo Wii, a shockingly amusing game console even for an Xbox 360 and PC geek like me, outsold the Sony Playstation 3 three-times over in both Japan and the U.S. last year. It's not hard to believe. I don't own one, but I've played it plenty.

For example, for Thanksgiving this year I didn't have time to fly home and be with my family. Instead, a friend from school out here invited me to dinner at her parents' house, which turned out to be a Chinese-Japanese themed feast attended by thirty people. After we finished off the rice stuffing and fried wontons, I was confused when they started pushing back the furniture. Then, out came the Wii and the four little wireless controllers. From the children to the grandparents, everyone played the sports game.

That wasn't my first time with the Wii. I was equally surprised last year when at a party of young lawyers and MBAs, the Wii karaoke game made an appearance. Even my parents have asked what I think about buying one. Which is why this statement from Sony's U.S. chief, bless his heart, is so sad:

"The PlayStation brand ended the year in a very strong position and clearly indicates more positive momentum going into 2008," Jack Tretton, head of Sony Computer Entertainment in the US, said in a statement.

When you're in last place, the only direction you can go is up. Tretton should take heart, however. I suspect that PS3 will benefit from WB's recent decision to switch exclusively to the Bluray format.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:33 AM | Comments (33)
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A proposed California building code regulation would require new homes or homes that have changes made to their heating and cooling systems to be fitted with something called a "programmable communicating thermostat". While that may sound innocuous enough, itÂ’s not.

Each PCT will be fitted with a "non-removable " FM receiver that will allow the power authorities to increase your air conditioning temperature setpoint or decrease your heater temperature setpoint to any value they chose. During "price events" those changes are limited to +/- four degrees F and you would be able to manually override the changes. During "emergency events" the new setpoints can be whatever the power authority desires and you would not be able to alter them.

In other words, the temperature of your home will no longer be yours to control. Your desires and needs can and will be overridden by the state of California through its public and private utility organizations. All this is for the common good, of course.

While this doohickey is supposed to be “non-removable” I am sure the judicious application of say, a hammer, will do the trick.

You donÂ’t have to be a nutty Ron Paul supporter to realize that a lot of Global Warming and other environmental scare tactics are simply ways for the left to exert greater control over peoples lives.

Remember the reason environmentalists are called 'watermelons', they are green on the outside, red on the inside.

h/t The Corner

Posted by: DrewM. at 08:15 AM | Comments (55)
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"Harass" meaning zip up to the "nyah-nyah" line in your Chris Craft with a machine gun, then turn around and beat feet when the 6-inch turret turns your way.

"Five small boats were acting in a very aggressive way, charging the ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and causing our ships to take evasive maneuvers," the Pentagon official said.

"There were no injuries but there very well could have been," he said, adding that the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire" in self defense.

He said he didn't have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but the Iranians radioed something to the effect that "we're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes."

See, the question you have to ask yourself when confronting a USN cruiser, a destroyer and a frigate in a speed boat is "Do I feel lucky"?

Well do ya, punk?

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:50 AM | Comments (31)
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Well it's no wonder Hillary Clinton has been busing supporters from out of state to her New Hampshire rallies. Poor Bill can't draw a crowd anymore.

Former President Bill Clinton has been drawing sleepy and sometimes smallish crowds at big venues in the state that revived his presidential campaign in 1992. He entered to polite applause and rows of empty seats at the University of New Hampshire on Friday. Several people filed out midspeech, and the room was largely quiet as he spoke, with few interruptions for laughter or applause.

The Clinton campaign has been trying to find a new strategy for New Hampshire ever since her third-place finish in Iowa. Days spent in conference calls reassuring big-name supporters have apparently not helped bring in average-joe voters. "Operation Bill to the Rescue" has flopped as well. And her numbers continue to drop.

A few days before the Iowa caucus, Clinton started pre-spinning her defeat. She knew it was coming and Clintonites started mentioning in every interview that she didn't need to come in first to win Iowa. I don't think she can credibly make the same argument with New Hampshire. At some point, she's going to have to actually win somewhere that matters.

On the other hand, she has more money than her opponents, which means that she can fight on regardless of her low numbers.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:48 AM | Comments (18)
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Like many of you during the past month and especially after the Iowa caucus, I've been asking myself, "Who are these people that support Mike Huckabee and what are they thinking?" Well, thanks to Himself-himself, I've discovered Joe Carter of The Evangelical Outpost, who worked for Huckabee's campaign as research director for a short time. If you were wondering how to spin a foreign-policy and economic liberal as "the most consistently conservative" candidate, he's your man. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:08 AM | Comments (66)
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I didn't see it, but Frank Luntz' focus groups liked Romney.

The dial readings:

Near the end he notes the focus group hated John McCain's amnesty waffle. (And liked Romney's answer, which was that whether what McCain was proposing was or was not technically amnesty, it still sucks.)

Here many of the focus group indicate they've shifted to Romney:

...and they hated Huckabee. They didn't thin much of Teh Fred, either. One guy says his thinking is clear and true, but his communication of that thinking not so much. I guess that's fair enough.

But then, Fred should have scored big with this answer:

Hot Air suggests New Hampshirites are a bit pissy at Fred for blowing the state off, more or less. The liveblog at Fred '08 suggested a novel way for Thompson to show his "different kind of campaign:"

Fred should take off his Mic, and tell them he is heading for South Carolina, let this dog and poney show continue with out him.

Posted by: Ace at 07:30 PM | Comments (91)
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