I have been thinking of my semi-serious prediction here that Newt Gingrich, called out of retirement to salvage Republican hopes, will be the nominee for the Presidency and lose 49 states. I have decided to change that prediction to 48 states - he wins his home state of Georgia and North Carolina.
Having read Roger Ailes' fantasies of media types sitting around a bar in Iowa complaining about the weather and the lack of seriousness of the Democratic candidates, I thought I would offer a scenario in which these same media types offer the suggestion that my now-preferred candidate, John Edwards, is a loser, hobbled even in victory. In this scenario, major media types, brains hemorrhaging from a huge Democratic election victory, will latch on to Edwards' loss of his home state as a sign that, regardless of his electoral victory, he is still a weakened President, unable to carry his home state even as he basically swept the rest of the country. They will begin to discuss how unpopular he is in Asheville, Duck, and Charlotte. They will interview a former staff member of Jesse Helms' who says that Edwards is a danger to all that is truly American, thus proving that no one likes him. From November 5, 2008 until January 20, 2009, media narratives will be dominated by the question of the basic weakness of Edwards' mandate in the face of his loss of his home state.
More suffering, dead ahead.
Virtual Tin Cup
