Week Overview In "Dysfunction 2012"

The 2012 election cycle took a turn for the strange this past week as the settled order of the Republican lineup fell apart. It’s fairly typical, as we get closer to early primaries, that there should be some final shakeups within the established order; dropping the pseudo-candidates finally and pulling up two (plus on with Ron Paul) firm candidates for the picking. However, the stragglers refuse to fall off and the leaders continue to get shredded and Paul seems to be the only one clamoring for some sanity (in a lineup where Ron Paul is the sane one, there’s bound to be some nuttiness.)

Even as Ron Paul petitioned his fellow hopefuls for more substance to their arguments (he has been the academic, this run) they refused and instead went after Mitt Romney’s lawn care providers. Romney’s enjoying a good-for-now rally in almost all of the early polling states, and is also getting a profile bump from a number of big news outlets: The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Both characterize him as flexible, which is a euphemism for his trademark flip-flopping on everything from healthcare to union-busting.

For a taste of more dysfunctionality, Sarah Bachmann continues to flag in both polls and media attention, not to mention staff. Last week her entire office quit New Hampshire citing communication and vision concerns while she continues to throw feeble attacks toward front-runners like she’s still got a chance. Rick Perry, who’s torpedoed in the last several weeks due to pathetic showing in debates, has decided that his new campaign strategy will be to just not go to them. He’s also jumped on Donald Trump’s birther campaign wagon just as he got a little attention for his new 20% optional flat tax. Bachmann, by the way, accused Perry of stealing her taxplan, having not yet released on of her own…a good stragey employed on playgrounds the country over. Finally, Hermann Cain’s 9-9-9 plan seems to have hit a wall, one called reality, and it’s recently been disclosed that his entire campaign exists a realm of unprofessional in-fighting and unrest. He runs campaign as you might expect the landed gentry of some 19^th century British fiefdom, no eye-contact, no talking to the lord unless specifically instructed by the man himself.

Buddy Roemer has seen an up-tick in his media attention as Occupy Wall Street and his anti-crony capitalism schtick have blended nicely. Newt’s still blustery and Huntsman’s still bland, and there’s very little to say about anyone else. There are sure to be some more twists and turns as we continue, but we’re sure to end up with a trifecta for Republican voters to “settle” on come primary season. Barring a realignment of the red state astrology, it will be Romney for the middling conservatives and either Cain or Perry for everybody else.