The Ticket's weekend web wanderings

Some weekend web findings:

Dana Perino, Ed Gillespie and Stephen Hadley of the White House are blogging on behind-the-scenes of the President's current Middle East trip, though they call it "Trip Notes."

Does the Politico's Mike Allen ever sleep? He's online at 2 a.m. He's filing on President Clinton's whinings about Barack Obama's special treatment at 5:21 p.m. And at 10:30 p.m. Saturday night he's got Sunday's new Michigan poll results showing Mitt Romney's opened an 8-point lead over Sen. John McCain in what is an almost-must-win for the former governor of Massachusetts.

Michelle Malkin captures Mike Huckabee's priceless on-air response to Fred Thompson's attacks on him in the Myrtle Beach GOP debate.

The Swamp describes a little-noticed incident at Chicago's venerable Midway ....

Airport Saturday. Enroute home from some Las Vegas appearances, Obama's Gulfstream II brushed wings with a parked Cessna. Appropriately enough, it was the left wing.

It's never too premature to talk about vice presidential possibilities. For the Democrats, their three top contenders for the top job are all from east of the Mississippi. Colorado's Rebecca Boyle suggests they look to the West for a No. 2 for a change instead of the South and she nominates her governor, Bill Ritter. As it happens, he will be hanging around the Democratic National Convention a lot this summer because it's in Denver in August, which is a whole lot better than, say, St. Louis in August.

For the Republicans, if the nominee is McCain, he'll have to look toward the East. If it's Romney or Giuliani, they'll have to look to the West. Notice Arkansas is right about in the middle. Not that religion would ever matter in American politics, but a Baptist would make a good balance for an Episcopalian (McCain), a sort-of Catholic (Giuliani) or a Mormon (you know that one already).

Feel the need to track the travels of the presidential candidates? It looks more complicated than it is, but try this.

If you don't care about Ron Paul, the Republican candidate with the libertarian ideas, then don't go to the new blog here called the Daily Dose and written by the newly-hired Dan McCarthy on the Texan's campaign website. It reports, by the way, that he's raised another $763,000 so far this month in addition to last quarter's nearly $20 million. We suspect Paul's campaign will be around a while.

Interesting contrast here, Romney cuts off ad spending in South Carolina and Florida. Giuliani stops paying his top staff. And Ron Paul is opening new offices. May be a larger message there, despite Paul's meager 10% and 8% showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively.

Marc Ambinder's got an interesting examination of the Democratic Party's racial politics currently being roiled up by, of all people, America's alleged first black president, Bill Clinton. Or was that the "fairy tale"?

If we picked presidents according to their name, Cap Fendig would have to be my choice.

Speaking of presidential names, here's why Giuliani, Thompson, Kucinich and Huckabee have little chance of winning come November. Brownback, Tancredo and Richardson already figured it out.

Wanna get your mind off politics for a few minutes? Try this.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Theresa]

I appreciate your balanced reporting. This is so rare these days.

-Sound Beach NY

[Theresa]

I appreciate your balanced reporting. This is so rare these days.

-Sound Beach NY

[Micah]

"We suspect Paul's campaign will be around a while."

Andy -

Even when I don't agree with every word you've written on the subject of my favored candidate, you have an air about you of being a straight shooter. That should be a given in the field, but alas, it is in fact quite a rarity. Thanks for that.

I think your suspicion is well founded. Paul's campaign certainly isn't traditional, and I still think he could surprise. An upset showing in Nevada and Michigan, and anything could happen. About the only given in this race is that it's going to be wild, and odds are that Paul will be in till the end.

(Thank you for your nice words. This is my job and I enjoy doing it and having a dialogue with people who read the items. We're trying to create a little different kind of place here for those interested in politics. Hope you return often. P.S. I recall many years ago a candidate named Geo. Wallace, who was running on a very diff. platform, but he surprised the world by winning the Mich. primary. So we'll see.)

[Tess]

Mr. Malcolm,

I am becoming more of a devoted fan. Thank you for being fair and reporting news and information as accurately as possible. I know this is a blog, but you have been more than fair to Ron Paul for the most part. Keep up the good work, and I will continue to add my two cents in when possible.

(Welcome back, Tess. Glad you're finding items of interest and hope to see your comments again soon.)

[Vargos]

Fair and balanced news reporting from a person who is employed by a national newspaper?

A rarity indeed. Thanks for the update Mr. Malcolm.

[Brad]

Wow, this is the least spin article I have read in many months.

Truly Valiant Journalism In A Mire Of Media.

I hope Ron Paul stays around. He is the only one talking reason and rational to questions of position.

I vote for virtue; I vote for Ron Paul.

[Jon]

I think you are correct that Ron Paul will be around for a while. I think it has to do with people not related to his campaign that hear his message and can't help but spread what they hear and ask others to research him and make there own opinions.

I also think it has to do with that his supporters are generating fund raising to let them know that this "long shot" candidate just might have the people to carry him longer than any other. A good example is the January 21st Free At Last Money Bomb. It is a way to show everyone just how many people truly support Ron Paul's philosophy for the government. Donate $10.00 and be shown you are not alone, and WE The People have a chance to win an election.

[Rhys]

Cap Fendig's the only hope for America. Why won't the media report on him? And how come I have to read in a blog that Ron Paul is the shortest name front runner? How much does the CFR pay you, anyway?

[Scott Harmon]

Good article. I like your misdirection about Ron Paul ("don't look here"). I have tried to be a good Republican, but just can't do it. The vote-splitting crowd (McCain/Huckabee/Thompson/Romney) are just more of the same, as are many of the Democrats.

You're right. The Paul campaign, and his supporters, will be around for some time. That will not make the mainstream happy, because they want to do away with argument and debate and get on with what's most important: maintaining the status quo. Too bad. Change is happening. We can all go along with it, or try to shape it in the best possible way. It is better to prepare for the future than to live in the present or dwell in the past.