Adjusting for Name Recognition Quadruples Huntsman Support, Chris Christie Likes Mr. Pawlenty’s Wife,

And Other News Worth Commenting On

Republican Presidential John Huntsman is not known at all by a majority of Republican voters.  So Nate Silver, the acknowledged Dean of Numbers in political reporting adjusts his poll support for lack of name recognition.  The good news, the support increases by a factor of four.  The bad news, after the adjustment Mr. Huntsman is at 4% support.  The worst news, this ties him with Rudy Giuliani, whose 2008 campaign he is emulating (how did that turn out?) and who is not now and not likely to be a candidate.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey heaped a lot of praise on Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty.

"I think anybody who knows Tim Pawlenty [knows] he’s a very serious guy and I think he’s got real life experience, both as a politician and as a person," Christie said. "He's got a great wife.

Well Mr. Christie, you got to be half right.  And if “having a great wife” were a major factor in choosing a President Mr. Obama would be a near certainty for re-election.

Newt Gingrich made the following comment on the subject of allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

”Iowa was a very different case from New York. I mean, Iowa was seven judges deciding that they would arbitrarily overturn the laws and the culture of the state of Iowa which is fundamentally different. I mean New York at least, whether you agree or disagree with the outcome, it is in the elected process and it is in the legislature and it is with the govenror and that’s the right venue.

“I helped sponsor the Defense of Marriage Act which basically doesn’t transfer automatically to all 50 states. I think the president should be, frankly, enforcing that act and I think we are drifting towards a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of."

Afterwards two more Gingrich staffers quit, saying they could take the candidate’s unorthodox campaign style and many campaign gaffes, but having to listen to pure, incomprehensible gibberish like this was asking too much.

Justice David Prosser of the Wisconsin Supreme Court made headlines earlier when he encountered a strong challenge for re-election to the Court because of his Conservative politics.  Justice Prosser won re-election, and helped create a 4 to 3 decision upholding Wisconsin’s anti-union legislation.  Now it is reported that Justice Prosser

had grabbed another justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, around the neck during an argument in her chambers this month. According to the report, Justice Prosser declined to comment on the accusation.

The Dismal Political Economist does not know if this is true or not, but he does know that

Justice Prosser, a former Republican leader of the State Assembly

surely rendered an impartial vote on the anti-union law sponsored and supported by Republicans.  Like, what in his background would lead anyone to conclude otherwise?