2012 Speculation

This week, the 2012 election season finally got to pig out on an empty-calorie feeding frenzy, in which everyone in the media pretended to have some sort of lofty conversation about the role of private equity in society while actually reminding everyone else that political elites are completely removed from the real-life stakes of the lives of normal Americans. It made for a great show, though! Pundits screwed on their super-serious faces and reporters faked thoughtfulness and everyone who was pretending to know something about the subject did a fine job of acting like they were doing something interesting. But let's face it: The only reason anyone was talking about private equity was because somewhere, some surrogate had gone "off message," and suddenly there was catnip everywhere!

We have apparently entered the part of the 2012 mid season where the rapid accumulation of polling data is met by a burgeoning field of experts who th...

For a long while now, the hotly contested Senate race between Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and his Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren has centered a...

The presidential escapade continues to draw most of the media's attention these days, but there are actually some interesting downticket primaries to ...

Jeff Greenfield has heard all of your wild-eyed ideas about the possibility that President Barack Obama might pursue some election year gambit and swi...

If President Barack Obama is going to lose one of these Democratic primaries, it obviously won't be to some convict in West Virginia or to anti-aborti...

What began in Indiana continued in Nebraska this week, as long-shot state Sen. Deb Fischer scored an underdog victory in Nebraska's GOP primary for th...

This coming Tuesday, in Indiana, voters will go the polls in the GOP Senate primary to decide if they are going to stick with six-term Sen. Dick Lugar...

Everyone knows that the curtain came down on the 2012 GOP Primary a few weeks ago, but it wasn't until this week -- after Rick Santorum had taken his ...

Tonight, Newt Gingrich had his hopes pinned on a Delaware win. Newt lost Delaware early, and handily. Ergo, Newt is now more or less hopeless. But he ...

Tonight, voters in Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, New York and Pennsylvania will cast their votes in their state's GOP primaries. Hey, remember the GOP primaries? Those were fun. And, for all intents and purposes, I sort of figured that the primary season was a done deal, and now that Rick Santorum isn't standing astride the Keystone State, shouting "No!" at Mitt Romney, there wasn't much to be excited about. But it looks like I missed a memo or something, because I should apparently treat Newt Gingrich as if he's up to something game-changing in "the tiny but dangerous state of Delaware."

When Americans Elect was founded back in April of 2010 by a collection of semi-obscure political elites and hedge fund managers, their intention was t...

Are the words "Obama isn't working," hung on a grey banner behind Mitt Romney's head at a campaign appearance in Ohio some sort of secret, racist dog-...

For as long a time as your Speculatroners have been dutifully cataloguing the damage that the primary process has been doing to Mitt Romney's brand, w...

This week, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum decided that the time to quit his upset bid had finally come. He shuttered a campaign that had risen...

Newt Gingrich, who is still in the race at this late date, partially because he doesn't think Mitt Romney is conservative enough and partially out of ...

From early on in the campaign, one of the key advantages that Mitt Romney claimed in his march to the nomination was the portfolio of endorsements he ...

Now that Mitt Romney has all but sewn up the GOP nomination, the political press can turn its attention to Romney's policy positions choice for the person who will be "one heartbeat away from the presidency" and cutting ribbons at the dedication of historic monuments and shopping malls. It's "Veepstakes" time -- that time in the campaign where journalists fill the hole left in their hearts by the conclusion of the competitive primary season with a metric ton of panicky speculation about who might be the nominee's running mate. At any rate, the one thing that everyone agrees on is that if history is any guide, Mitt Romney's vice-presidential pick will not be Tim Pawlenty. (Or will he?) (No.)

With Rick Santorum's exit, New Gingrich is now saying that his supporters are asking him to keep fighting. This raises a series of questions, like, "Wait, Newt Gingrich still has supporters?"

Way back in January, after he'd quit the race, Herman Cain appeared before the Palm Beach County Republican Party at its Lincoln Day Dinner and announ...

If for some reason you don't recall, over the weekend, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich seemed to be close to conceding the race for the 2012 GOP no...

So, did you hear? This week, the GOP nomination pretty much became a settled issue. Barring some accident or emergency (or some freaktastic alchemical...

OK, so earlier today, I noted that Rick Santorum is meeting with some group of conservatives in Virginia about how they will "Stop Romney." How will t...

Hey, everyone! So the news burning up your Internet today involves some behind-closed-doors meeting in Virginia with Rick Santorum and "conservative l...

This week the attention that's mainly been lavished on covering the 2012 campaign got reoriented, slightly, in the direction of the steps of the Supre...