Is daddy sucking up to Mitt so his son can be V-P? Over the past 24 hours there’s been a big gamble going on for Rand Paul, son of Presidential contender Ron, for the Republican Vice Presidential nomination. Yesterday I got on with Ladbrokes at a tasty 50/1 – a price that was withdrawn almost immediatly. This morning 33/1 was available but soon shifted to 10/1 then 8/1 and now, at 1530 as I write, to 7/1. What’s driving this…
What’ll happen if CON MPs block the move? For the first time since the coalition was created in May 2010 I think that there’s a serious chance that it won’t survive the full five year term. The rumblings from both sides are getting louder and the issue of Lords reform is emerging as the most dangerous area. In the coalition agreement in May 2010 three main constitutional moves were agreed by the two parties. The first was the AV referendum….
Welcome again to PB’s overnight open thread I’m pretty tired after staying up late to watch last night’s GOP debate in Arizona so I’ll be going to bed early. Unlike most Thursdays I don’t think that there any council by-elections tonight – but we do have Question Time on BBC1. Have a good night. @MikeSmithsonOGH
Is she the most effective advocate of the NHS changes? Anybody who watched this morning’s Daily Politics will have been impressed by the hugely effective way 2010 newbie, Anna Soubry dealt with the NHS changes. If you didn’t see it check it out when it comes out on BBC IPlayer in the next hour or so. In terms of communication skills Soubry is the equal of or even better than anybody in the entire cabinet or shadow cabinet which, admittedly,…
In the end its about Romney. What happened tonight to get people over their concerns about him? Not much. This isn’t over by far — Joe Trippi (@JoeTrippi) February 23, 2012 Romney refuses to name a misconception about himself. How about, he’s a flip flopping, elitist liberal? #cnndebate #azdebate — Tim Stanley (@timothy_stanley) February 23, 2012 Santorum dropped quite a bit on Intrade during the debate. Now just 6.8% chance of winning GOP nomination, started at 11% — Nate Silver…
…the 20th and possibly final GOP TV debate Amazingly there have been nineteen separate TV debates in the fight for the GOP nomination. Tonight’s event, being staged near Phoenix in Arizona, is the twentieth and will almost certainly see Rick Santorum coming under close scrutiny. In all the previous events he’s never been centre stage and it will be interesting wathching how he performs and how the other contenders react to him. A lot of this is not about the…
Does Dave need better rhetoric on the Lansley plan? A sure sign that you are losing an argument is when, like Cameron did at PMQs today, you accuse your opponent of “being opportunistic”. After recent successes raising the NHS reforms it was clear that Ed Miliband was going to do the same today. The problem is that Cameron hasn’t found a way of dealing with it in a manner that resonates. He needs much more refined rhetoric. Whenever the issue…
Could this be a difficult CON-LD issue? There’s a report in the Telegraph this morning that could open up the divide on tax between the coalition partnets. Under the heading “50p tax rate ‘failing to boost revenues” the paper reports that there was a £509m drop in tax paid by those paying by self-assessment last month with the suggestion that high earners have simply adjusted their affairs to get round the rate – first imposed towards the end of the…