James Pethokoukis at Capital Commerce asks an important question. Where is the economics in the GOP primary? Talk about weird. It was as if Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News was beamed in from an alternate reality— Earth 2 or something—where the economy is still booming and Read more
Excuse the disorder of my notes. This should have somewhat more organized thoughts. In some real sense this was my first exposure to Huckabee as a candidate. I had interacted with him previously through the Young Republicans, and I knew that he was doing what he was doing to move Read more
I am really surprised that the tax fight hasn’t been engaged really. There was some, but not too much, noise when the tax-raising budget was passed by a Democratic Congress. But this is going to come back. In theory, the Bush administration helped the 2008 GOP nominee because imminent, steep Read more
Here are some facts and a hypothesis: FairTax had 20-30 buses. (how can a 501(c)(4) give to a state party??) Mike Huckabee had no buses. The FairTax had enormous presence and good location. Mike Huckabee had a bad location and little on-site staff. But, Huckabee was the only candidate to Read more
For the critical week of recruiting before the Ames straw poll, The Club for Growth is attacking Mike Huckabee. They have details here. I think that this is going to hurt a lot. People who are still undecided and just show up are going to see this. And, like all Read more
Normally, I don’t go so policy-oriented on people, but I think that there is an important point to be made here. Today Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell wrote: A carbon tax or fee has been endorsed by President Bush‘s former chief economic adviser, Greg Mankiw; Nobel Prize-winning conservative Read more
Now, I normally don’t get excited about tax policy. Mostly because it is obscure. But this got me annoyed, so here goes. Senators Baucus and Grassley have introduced a bill to shut down a "loophole" in the tax code as it relates to private equity. The basic idea is that Read more
So says Dan Hoover: Romney told reporters and editors of The Des Moines Register last month that he wants to lower marginal tax rates for Americans, not overhaul the code. "I’m probably not going to be recommending throwing out the code and starting over," he said. That’s exactly where the Read more
The Club for Growth‘s Pat Toomey was interviewed on Fox and Friends and had some explosive things to say about Presidential candidates: Quotes: Nobody walked away with it either. But there’s an opening…. What disappointed me a little bit is that no one came out with a really bold platform Read more
Well, people are certainly throwing trash out. Why? You better make your opponents stink before the Club for Growth meeting… The problem for the Club for Growthers is that they are going to have to choose between Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Both of these have gotten smeared with economic Read more