Presumptive nominees

First of all, remember the Wisconsin Democratic and Republican primaries are Tuesday, February 19th. We don't have to be registered with a party to vote. This Tuesday, another 22 states will have primaries. The election won't necessarily be over after that, because about half of the country still won't have voted.

I find it somewhat funny now that the major news media is trying to say it is a two person race (McCain and Romney) for the nomination, especially since the media has relentlessly criticized these two candidates over the past year. Romney used the government to mandate health care insurance, raised taxes and publicly declared being pro-choice as governor of Massachusetts, now he is saying the opposite. McCain opposed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, supports amnesty for illegal immigrants, opposed the appointments of conservative Supreme Court justices, and has supported the annual budget deficits of the last 8 years.

Just because someone says they are Republican doesn't mean they are fiscally conservative. Under Bush, the federal government added $3 trillion to the federal debt, which is more than Bill Clinton did. And it wasn't all due to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, because $2 trillion was from domestic program increases (farm subsidies, prescription drug programs, education programs like No Child Left Behind). Bush is the biggest spender since Democrat Lyndon Johnson, see here:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/20767.html

Lyndon Johnson was president in the 60s, and the over-spending on warfare and welfare of that decade led to economic problems in the 70s. Many economists are predicting the same thing now.

I will leave you with a fact that you won't find on the television news networks. Ron Paul is the only candidate who increased his fundraising in every quarter last year. Here is the amount each candidate raised from October to December last year:

$26.8 million - Hilary Clinton
$22.8 million - Barack Obama
$19.7 million - Ron Paul
$9 million - Mitt Romney (excluding his personal contributions)
$6.8 million - John McCain
$6.6 million - Mike Huckabee

source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8250.html

I think this says two things. One, Republicans will have a tough time winning the election in November, because Democrats have dominated fundraising and turnout at the primaries. Two, the future of politics lies with the internet. The internet is in its relative infancy. Over time, more people will use the internet to find information and the major news networks will have less and less influence.