Midday open thread

• Tim Pawlenty, a milquetoast former governor of Minnesota, is a guy running for president. That isn't anything worth caring about right now since he's never gotten above 10% in the polls. But just in case he manages to become the nominee, just remember that he said that if the Republican bill to end Medicare came to his desk as president, he would sign it. Put that in your pocket.
• Newt Gingrich, a guy you know even though you don't want to, says an administrative regulatory dispute between Boeing and the National Labor Relations Board should destroy the credit of the United States if it isn't resolved in Boeing's favor.
• Herman Cain, unlike Pawlenty, has broken into the double-digits in the latest CNN poll.
• Rick Santorum promises to spread santorum all over America by announcing his campaign for president this week.
• Jon Huntsmann has been splashing around the country, looking like a candidate. He says its "wide open." His leaving China to come back and run for president appears to be as big a political error as taking the job as ambassador in the first place. Had he stayed in place, he'd be a sitting two-term governor with a perch in the West and could come into this race with his conservative bona-fides intact. But even still, he says now 'my president called on me' so your answer is to quit and run against him? He would have been much better off coming back next year and writing a book on foreign policy so as to get a V.P. nod.

  This guy doesn't have the instincts for the big time. He reminds me of John Edwards. Obama's savvy move sending Huntsman overseas right away was simply brilliant.

• Michelle Bachmann is announcing her run for president. God help us.
• Mitt Romney is announcing this week. I suspect nobody really cares. At all.
• Except for Sarah Palin, who decided to step all over Mitt Romney's announcement in New Hampshire by showing up there in person with her bus. LOL! The in-your-face moxie of that move.... I find it absolutely endearing. But more importantly, her tour, movie, its timing and the route seems to indicate a staff that can keep secrets, plan, and execute.
• The latest Gallup pollof the GOP nomination race:

  Mitt Romney 17%
  Sarah Palin 15%
  Ron Paul 10%
  Newt Gingrich 9%
  Herman Cain 8%
  Tim Pawlenty 6%
  

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/6QI-RaRyX-A/-Midday-open-thread

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