This stuck out like a sore thumb.
South Carolina President
NBC News / Marist
Obama.....45
Romney....42

South Carolina President
NBC News / Marist
Obama......46
Gingrich....42
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/elections/

McCain won South Carolina 53% to 43% in 2008. Bush won South Carolina by 17+% in 2004 and by 15+% in 2000.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls ... vs_mccain/

I also recently read that Obama has a higher approval rating than Nikki Haley.

The Klown Show that has been the Republican debates is not going unnoticed. People may not be happy with the economy, but more of them are learning what the Republican agenda is, and who the Republicans really represent protect.

I think some people are starting to think about how it would affect them and their family if the GOP does away with as much of the government as they can and compete to see who can promise to slash and burn more of the services that the voter or someone in their family depend on. Maybe they are thinking about what they will do if their aging parents or grandparents have their SS and Medicare reduced. Who will pick up the slack? Who will have to fill in the deficit? Maybe they are thinking that there are a lot of things that they would miss if government were small enough to drown in a bathtub. Plus that old Reagan rule about Republicans not speaking ill of other Republicans has not been observed lately. They are slowly doing each other in.

It's a long, long, long time until November and we have seen big changes in that amount of time. The Democrats have the benefit of an incumbent who is unlikely to be challenged. The attacks on Obama by the GOP politicians are sounding monotonous hollow as well as a bit desperate. No one really likes Romney and even if they find Gingrich entertaining, they know he is a slimy, selfish character with a bad record. The operative were has been and will be 'flawed.' Each of the candidates are deeply flawed. Huntsman and Gary Johnson are the least flawed. Huntsman may actually come up to high single digits as others fall away. They will not even let Johnson in the Klown Kar.

What the Democrats cannot do is pull a Martha Coakley and assume it's in the bag because the opposition is so flawed. Every vote in the swing states is going to matter.

The Dems will not pull a Martha Croakley again. They are looking to Elizabeth Warren (my pretend GF) from now on.

I think the President knows it. It seems to me he's found his voice the last week or so and gaining some momentum. My favorite part of the speech at Osawatomie was when he said:

and

None of the Republicans in the clown show even comes close to being a match for his intellectual horsepower. If employment falls below 8%, he wins in a landslide of Goldwater proportions. Not that we don't need every vote, mind you, but put any one of those clowns head to head with him in debates with an unemployment number < 9% and I think he wins more than half the independents. The ones left supporting the clown are the ones who wouldn't vote for Pres Obama even if he walked on Lake Erie and turned water into Yeungling.

Edit for std English.

Who will make a fine nominee to succeed President Obama in 2016. We can beat the RWNJ to a pulp if we try hard enough, and perhaps a sane Republican Party will be found underneath all that mess.

I know it's just a dream, but I'd like to see Hillary run again.

I'll take Hillary Clinton or Elizabeth Warren, but I think Clinton understands her time has passed.

South Carolina Democratic Party:

So no Taitzy goodness next week. (In South Carolina, that is.)

Hillary Clinton is immortal. She will be running in 2016. She'll be 68, sure, but by then she'll have far more experience, she'll have whitehouse connections, she would have built up more support, and she will be the only viable candidate by then for the Democrats to put up.

Mark my words. Hillary ain't going anywhere.

Hillary is going to the Supreme Court, if I have my way. It's just a question of when.

wha.... you mean she'll join the supreme court, or she'll be on trial at the supreme court wolfy confused...

If POTUS at some point (should he get the opportunity) does not nominate Hillary to the Supreme Court then he is not the man I think him to be. Hillary would be an exceptional Supreme Court Justice and I cannot imagine anyone who has earned the position more. Her loyalty as SecState has been stellar, she has kicked all of her PUMAs in the face and busted her ass to support her POTUS. The primary was brutal, and it made many of us take sides that we did not like to take, but POTUS and SecState have proved to the world that rivals can be allies once the dust has settled. I for one would be all for Hillary for SCOTUS.

Well my views differ from ya'll. I want her to run 2016.

I think she's had her fill of politics. She's also tired of running around the world. She has a good twenty years of good health, at least, I hope, and to top off her career with a Supreme Court nomination would be perfect. We need her there more than in the White House, imo.

IIRC, Hillary has said she didn't want to go to SCOTUS.

(With caveat that in Washington one must always deny interest in position she or he wants.)

I don't think it would be a good strategy to nominate HRC for a seat on SCOTUS. I like the idea of having someone younger who would be able to serve longer and has a solid background in writing opinions.

I would rather HRC be the person making the nominations for those who would be serving much longer that she would be (actuarially speaking of course).

Can we make a prediction here?

Romney 26%
Santorum 23%
Paul 16%
Gingrich 15%
Perry 10%
Huntsman 5%
Other 5%

So far as I know, she has no history of legal scholarship or experience as an appellate judge. Frankly, I think she would make a terrible liberal Supreme Court Justice. I think she would make an excellent President, though.

I remember a politician who had no judicial experience, and no prior legal scholarship who made a pretty fair Chief Justice. Before that he was the Republican Party and Democratic Party's nominee for Governor of California.

Hillary did get her JD at Yale, does that count as legal scholarship?

No. That's legal education.