The State of the Presidential Race – July 24, 2011

A lot can change in three weeks... but not much actually has. Despite the fact that I have been neglecting my duties in blogging about the 2012 GOP primaries, the candidates are all pretty close to where I left them last time. Still, though, there have been a few interesting developments: a new candidate is moving closer to entering the race, voters supposedly wish that two more would do the same, Speaker Newt Gingrich shows that he really is incredibly unaware of how people view him, and Governor Tim Pawlenty is still being... well... Tim Pawlenty.

Rick Perry claims God wants him to run. No comment from God.

Eleven Minutes to Midnight

The clock in Washington is ticking, and we still don't have an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. After weeks of on-again-off-again negotiations that have run into every possible roadblock (Eric Cantor, the Tea Party, Eric Cantor, Democratic mutiny and Eric Cantor, to name a few), it still looked like President Obama and Speaker Boehner would have a deal soon—at least, it did until this afternoon, when the Speaker told President Obama that he was withdrawing from negotiations. Two very angry press conferences ensued and here we are: 11 days away from a default on the full faith and credit of the United States and no deal in sight. To be perfectly honest, you can start to panic now.

Yes, you can call this Angry Obama.

Washington: Where Doing Your Job Might Get You Impeached

In less than a month, the United States of America—the most powerful nation in the history of the world and a leader in global affairs for over a century—will default on its debt, a catastrophe that will likely send the domestic (and possibly global) economy into a full-scale meltdown. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that the country has until August 2nd to strike a deal to raise the debt ceiling and avoid this fiscal nightmare, and President Obama has gone on record saying that he wants a deal to be cut by July 22nd so that the legislation can safely make its way through Congress. With less than 3 weeks to go until crossing that red line, Congress still seems incapable of solving this problem, even if it wanted to. To make matters worse, if President Obama tries to take the situation into his own hands, he may just get impeached for his troubles.

Any chance TurboTax messed up his calculations with this number, too?

The State of the Presidential Race – July 5, 2011

For about a week now, I've been struggling to write a blog post on recent developments in the 2012 GOP primary contests for several reasons. First of all, there's just too damn much to talk about (for a nerd like me, anyway): Tim Pawlenty's ongoing campaign implosion, Michele Bachmann's stunning rise to the top, Herman Cain's equally surprising struggles after his previously positive headlines, the fact that Jon Huntsman played in a band called Wizard and the entrance into the race of that what's-his-face congressman from Michigan—with choices like these, how could I possibly decide? Seriously, though, it was a struggle. Additionally, while all of these topics are great, none of them really has enough substance to dedicate a whole blog post to. Clearly, this was a problem for all involved.

Solution: today, I'm starting my “State of the Race” series of posts, where I'll provide an update on the most interesting developments of the presidential race. Of course, some things will merit a full post and will still get that attention; the purpose of this post, and others that will follow, however, is to give a brief, cursory explanation of interesting phenomena from the GOP primary campaign (and, if I deem them entertaining enough, other races as well). Hopefully, you will find my synopses just as fun as my in-depth political posts. OK, stop laughing now...seriously, stop it. It's rude.

Tim Pawlenty's campaign is in need of money, so the candidate is cutting back on the finer things.