Former NY Governor George Pataki May Seek GOP Nomination

Former Governor George Pataki, who served as governor of New York State from 1995-2006, appears to be considering a presidential bid in 2012 after deciding against a run in the 2008 election. Pataki’s organization, No American Debt, has been running a commercial in New Hampshire attacking both President Obama and Republicans for failing to address the deficit, hinting at possible presidential aspirations.

According to the most recent PPP poll, Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney currently lead the GOP field.

[NBC New York.]

8 Republicans Running for President…. Maybe….

The Republicans are providing an intensely diverse field of candidates looking ahead to the 2012 Presidential elections. Incumbents are generally tough to dethrone, and the G.O.P. knows that, unless he majorly screws up over the next year, President Barack Obama will be particularly difficult to remove.

Extensive coverage has been given to business magnate Donald Trump. Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has also been a media favorite for coverage. However, as has been noted by many news organizations, political pundits and involved citizens, the Republican Party is rather short on declared candidates.

Click through for the full story by future Opinion Editor Jen Novotny.

The Joke’s On Trump

I’m not going to pretend that the release of long-form birth certificate will end the birther controversy, but at least it seems to have silenced the movement’s adopted leader. Well… maybe on that issue.

Now that Trump is sure of Obama’s citizenship, he wants to know what his grades were like. Presumably as far back as high school.

It seems as though Obama’s presidency of the Harvard Law Review and tenure as a constitutional law professor isn’t enough to prove his intelligence to Trump. I guess he needs to see Obama’s long-form report card.

Click through for the full column by Opinion Editor (and soon-to-be Managing Editor) Trevor Christian.

President Obama Rallies the Grassroots at New York City Event

Photo by Adam

President Obama concluded a busy Wednesday in New York City with an energetic fundraising speech at The Town Hall in Times Square.

The president spoke for about a half hour following a performance by The Roots and pleas from Campaign Director Jim Messina and a number of grassroots organizers to donate time and money to the reelection campaign in 2012.

Click through for the full story by Editor in Chief Adam Peck.

The Trump Candidacy: How it Happened

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Donald Trump of “The Apprentice” fame is considering a run for president. Well, now that his face has replaced Scott Walker’s on Newsmax pop-up ads, it’s pretty much official.

Although not many people think he can actually win, there is a lot of interest in his campaign. Okay, it’s not so much interest as it …is curiosity, but people are still paying attention. For those of you who are curious about why Trump is running, I came up with a few possible explanations for why Trump thinks this is a good idea.

Click through for the full column by Columns Editor Trevor Christian.

As Corporations Rise and Political Discourse Falls, Nader Battles On

Like always, Ralph Nader is mad as hell and doesn’t want you to take it anymore.

Nader, 77, did not mince words at a lecture last night at Stony Brook University, proving that he is as passionate, outspoken, and pugnacious as ever.

“We do not grow up civic,” the four-time presidential candidate told a rapt audience of college students and community members. “We grow up corporate.”

Nader’s speech, despite the buzz in the crowd, was not a warm-up for a 2012 run at the Oval Office, though he had no problem calling the campus crowd’s darling President Barack Obama a “Wall Street concessionaire.”

Launching his powerful voice from an animated, stoop-shouldered body, Nader decried the state of American affairs on all political, social, and economic fronts.

“This is a decaying society,” he said. “Nobody dies in Europe because they don’t have health insurance. Corporate serfdom exists because your expectation levels are so low.”

Click through for the full story by Managing Editor Ross Barkan, and check out the #Nader hashtag on Twitter for our live-tweeting from earlier this evening.

Newt Gingrich Blames History of Adultery on "How Passionately [He] Felt About This Country"

There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. [TPM]

By “things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” of course, he means cheating on his former wife (who had recently been diagnosed with MS, according to TPM).

Because, you know, that’s a completely normal and acceptable way to deal with stress. Especially when you’re trying to force the President of the United States from office because he had an affair of his own.

Mike Huckabee Needs to Shut Up

Mike Huckabee has found an interesting issue to kick off his 2012 campaign on: Natalie Portman’s pregnancy. In a rant about Portman, Huckabee claimed that the Oscar-winning actress was “glamorizing” life as a single mother.

He went on to explain that “Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and never have health care. And that’s the story that we’re not seeing.”

Portman’s story doesn’t read anything like that. She’s an Oscar-winning actress who can probably afford food and health care. In fact, the ‘single mother’ is engaged to Benjamin Millepied, the child’s father.

Leave it to a Republican to think that those women are in that situation because they want to be. Or that single mothers are somehow more of a strain on the system than deadbeat fathers.

Click through for the full story.

stfuconservatives: Calling the White House tax deal with Republicans the “last straw,” Ralph Nader predicted that President Obama will face a primary challenger in 2012. Nader, a third-party presidential candidate in the four most recent elections, told The Hill a Democrat will step up in two years to represent the progressive wing of the party. It’s “just a question of how prominent a person.” The 76-year-old consumer advocate did not commit to running again himself, but said he hoped someone new would come along to stand for liberals. Ralph Nader Predicts Obama Will Face Democratic Primary Challenger in 2012 This does seem like it’s becoming more and more plausible. Thoughts?
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stfuconservatives:

Calling the White House tax deal with Republicans the “last straw,” Ralph Nader predicted that President Obama will face a primary challenger in 2012.

Nader, a third-party presidential candidate in the four most recent elections, told The Hill a Democrat will step up in two years to represent the progressive wing of the party. It’s “just a question of how prominent a person.”

The 76-year-old consumer advocate did not commit to running again himself, but said he hoped someone new would come along to stand for liberals.

Ralph Nader Predicts Obama Will Face Democratic Primary Challenger in 2012

This does seem like it’s becoming more and more plausible. Thoughts?

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