The political corner of the Internet shared a nice laugh yesterday about Herman Cain's latest campaign ad. Cain's chief of smoking chief of staff Mark Block went on Fox News to explain the video. Megan Kelly asked if it was directed at farmers or workers in Detroit, rather than the West- and East-coast liberals in the media (contra the newsrooms staffed by chain smokers where I've worked). "I tell you, you walk into a veterans' bar in Iowa and they're sitting around smoking, and we are resonating with them," Block said. As National Journal notes , in 2008 Iowa banned indoor smoking for most venues, even bars frequented by veterans. I lived in Iowa at that time and my memories are full of disgruntled friends leaving their drinks to go shiver outside the bar doorway as they railed against the new law. It's a silly, immaterial flub for Block, though it is yet another sign that Cain is not running a real presidential campaign. Walk through most Iowa small towns and you'd spot the crowd of...

Speaking of people who were supposed to be Republican stars, David Frum made a good point about former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford earlier today: This whole GOP race would have been radically different if Mark Sanford had been happier in his marriage. As far as ambitious conservative governors go, Sanford was the more intelligent alternative to Rick Perry. He married the Perry’s right-wing conservativism with competence and a more serious concern for policy. His career was centered on social conservatism and rock-ribbed opposition to government spending – to wit, he was one of the handful of GOP governors who loudly opposed the stimulus bill. Yes, he was untested on the national stage, but something tells me that he would have been a little more disciplined – and a lot more serious – than the Texas governor. And in a world where Sanford was the conservative choice, I’m not sure than Mitt Romney would be doing as well as he is now.

It wasn’t that long ago that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was touted as the Republican answer to Barack Obama. Intelligent and charismatic, he had a compelling biography (as the child of Indian immigrants), and an abundance of raw political skill – no one becomes the country’s youngest serving governor by accident. With his string of conservative victories in the Louisiana statehouse and a large national fan base, he was poised to become a Republican superstar. But then this happened: Jindal’s attempt to offer the Republican response to President Obama fell flat on its face, with Jindal presenting himself as something akin to the real-life version of Kenneth the Page . Jindal’s post-speech career has been low-key. Despite his continued popularity within the GOP, he’s kept away from the national stage, and focused on his job as governor of Louisiana. If yesterday’s Louisiana Republican primary was any indication, it has paid dividends. As The Washington Post reports , Jindal won 66...

By and large, Texas Governor Rick Perry’s “new” tax plan – outlined on the Wall Street Journal editorial page – is a retread of the “Cut, Cap, and Balance” plan favored by House Republicans in the summer’s negotations over the debt ceiling. The difference is that instead of a massive round of tax cuts for the wealthy, Perry goes with a hugely regressive reform of the income tax system. Perry explains, “The plan starts with giving Americans a choice between a new, flat tax rate of 20% or their current income tax rate.” The new tax preserves exemptions for mortgage interest and charitable donations, and increases the standard deduction for individuals and dependents. In addition, Perry’s plan contains a whole host of tax cuts for corporations: under Perry’s plan, the corporate income tax rate is lowered to 20 percent, and corporate income can be repatriated at a rate of 5.25 percent. Finally, Perry takes a page from the House Republican Study Committe with a budget plan that would slash...

In the last few days, both the New York Times and the Washington Post have done long articles profiling Mitt Romney. What do they teach us? Well, let me give you what ink-stained wretches call the "nut graf" from each piece. Here's the Times : This time, he has shed much of the operational and psychological baggage that weighed down, and ultimately doomed, his maiden campaign. Gone are the extensive debate rehearsals, the bickering consultants, the corporate dress code and the urge to explain everything. That may explain why, for all his ups and downs, Mr. Romney’s public presentation and debate appearances have been far more consistent this time. And here's the Post : Ever since he stepped onto the national stage, Romney has been criticized as being unable to connect with voters — partly because of past positions out of step with many in his party and partly because of what some say is a wooden, detached personality. Although he has sharpened his campaign operation and mostly aced a...

He dropped precipitously in recent polls after conservatives began to question his stance on illegal immigration, but most political pundits still think Rick Perry has a strong chance at winning the GOP presidential nomination. Perry's still in the running in part because of the relative weakness of the rest of the field. Mitt Romney, who looks like the consensus candidate, has made a career of straying from conservative dogma, including passing universal health care as governor of Massachusetts. And the candidates who have stuck close to the Tea Party line, Michele Bachmann specifically, are mostly unserious contenders, whose campaigns appear predicated on book sales rather than governance. With Perry, conservative Republicans were supposed to have a serious candidate who, most importantly of all, brought a fundraising infrastructure to the game. He tallied over $17 million during his first month and a half as a candidate. Super PACs sprung up to tout his campaign before Perry had...