Out in Right Field

by Julius Ponds

Some nights ago, I took time to watch the results from the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary roll in.

It was especially entertaining watching Ed Rollins get really punchy with Chris Wallace on Fox News. Many of us will remember Ed Rollins for his high-level involvement with K.T. McFarland’s senatorial campaign in 2006. Now Rollins is serving as national campaign chairman for Mike Huckabee. He was a very sore winner, as noted later by Brit Hume. I would strongly suggest that, instead, they role out more Chuck Norris and less Ed Rollins for these high-profile television appearances. Otherwise, the campaign of the former Arkansas governor could quickly become a Hucka-been.

Over on CNN, as I was munching on my McRib, Anderson Cooper was presiding over so many guest panelists and talking heads as if he were now hosting Hollywood Squares. “Donna Brazile is correct, so circle gets the square.” “OK, Anderson, I’ll take Bill Bennett in center square for the block.” And how did David Gergen feel about being relegated to the “kiddie” table? When you have so many analysts that you need a “kiddie” table for the overflow, it’s time to rethink your format.

Speaking of rethinking one’s format, one has to wonder how the Giuliani campaign is feeling. True, Rudy has a sizable war chest, and has still been polling well in the bigger states with February primaries. But how long will his polling remain high when other candidates are racking up victories in early primaries states and Rudy’s campaign is only giving marginal efforts? It’s going to get harder and harder to motivate volunteers for phone banks and door-to-door efforts for a candidate who is only pulling single-digit leads in high profile contests.

The following Tuesday, I watched the results come in from the New Hampshire primary. I tried to broaden my perspective by watching a little of the coverage on MSNBC. I found it extremely problematic. First off, they featured that shrew, Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation. I find her so annoying. Among other things, she never uses the word liberal, but instead chooses to call her favored left-of-center positions progressive. Secondly, I found it disappointing that so much of the MSNBC coverage centered on making jokes at the expense of John McCain’s victory speech. It was as if, they slipped into a broadcast of one of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts.

Earlier that Tuesday, I had an e-mail exchange with fellow Young Republicans, and discussed Hillary Clinton’s choking up episode. One of these was convinced that this was a calculated effort to win her some sympathy and show her in a more human and less calculating light. I disagreed. I could not think of a way in which showing weakness on television… crying or choking up or loosing one’s cool…could be spun into something positive. I felt that was especially true for a female candidate who would probably be fighting against latent misogynist biases in the electorate. I was expecting this to be an Ed Muskie moment, not a pivot for Hillary’s campaign to rebound.

In any event, a Republicans, we have an exciting winter head of us. With each of Huckabee (Iowa), Romney (Wyoming) and McCain (New Hampshire) having each won a state contest thus far, the field is wide open.