Roadkill: OffTheBus's Ongoing RoundUp of the Awkward, the Ugly, and the Just Plain Weird

The following piece was produced through OffTheBus, a citizen journalism project hosted at the Huffington Post and launched in partnership with NewAssignment.Net. Edited by Richard Riehl and Denise Wheeler. Reported by Kirsten Anderson, River Curtis-Stanley, Jodi Lampert, Julie Pierce, and Debbi Plummer.

"Newt goes Vertical with Huck": Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who says he may be forced to run for president if he can drum up enough money, was given a blogging platform on Huckabee's "Vertical Day." Gingrich used Huck's campaign initiative to promote his American Solutions workshop among Huckabee supporters. Huckabee says Newt's participation was an example of Vertical Day's success. You can't argue with that. His "VD" brought together the two strange political bedfellows for the good of the country.

"Why did Mitt stiff the candy store?": Inquiring minds want to know why Romney canceled his scheduled appearance last Tuesday at Dewar's Candy Shop in Bakersfield. According to the Bakersfield Californian, Mitt's press office referred questions about why he dropped the city from his California tour to other campaign workers "who couldn't be immediately reached." Maybe the blogging Romney Five Bros. Inc. will shed some light on the slight. Was it the ice cream or the nuts that scared him off? Until the candidate comes clean about his Candygate coverup, we can only speculate.

"Grilling for Dollars": Grab your aprons! Here's your chance to join your fellow Democrats in supporting Iowa's largest fundraiser of the year, the Annual Fall Bar-b-que on Saturday, October 6 at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. The swine will be provided by the Johnson County Pork Producers, so don't miss out. Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson will all be there at the trough with you, eager to take whatever cash you have left. Or any post-dated checks, so be sure to bring a pen. Barack Obama is sitting this one out. Guess he didn't want to make a pig of himself.

"You say NAFTA, I say TAFTA, let's call the whole thing off": In a speech to Congress Tuesday, Ron Paul introduced his Tax Free Tips Act (let's call it TAFTA), designed to win the votes of service employees--bartenders, wait staff, casino dealers--by exempting them from paying taxes on tips. According to the GOP's only anti-war candidate, "Since the amount of taxes one pays increases along with the size of tip, taxing tips punishes workers for doing a superior job!" The timing of his speech is curious, coming as it does just before the deadline for third quarter campaign donations. Is this just his way of trolling for tips from the hairdressers of America?

"Have a carrot, Freddie?": Just when you thought money was the only thing flowing on the campaign trail, here comes Fred Thompson with another reminder that words speak louder than cash. At least to those who listen, which may be only the woodchucks after this philosophical gem: "Every foreign policy of every major nation involves reason, common sense, carrots and sticks. You can't have all carrots and no sticks." And there you have it. Looks like the makings of an inaugural speech: the Thompson Carrots and Sticks Doctrine.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you've got tips for OffTheBus's Roadkill team, please send an email to [e-mail] with "Roadkill" in the subject line. If you're interested in joining our team and helping put together this feature, send an email to [e-mail] with "Roadkill volunteer" in the subject line.

Technorati Profile