Daily News Roundup, 1/11/08: Mysteries and the IRS

Did you ever think all of the faith-based and evangelical voter mobilization stuff seemed weird, because of that whole church and state thing? The Texas Freedom Network agrees, and an investigation is the result.

At issue:

The group says that several of Perry's top contributors funneled money through the Niemoller Foundation to the Texas Restoration Project, a group of 2,000 socially conservative pastors.

The Restoration Project held six "pastors' policy briefings" in 2005 centered on voter turnout for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Perry spoke at those meetings.

You can guess what I think, but I will be interested to see what the IRS has to say.

If you watched the Republican debate last night and felt like you were actually watching a compilation of tiny debates (or a big tag-team wrestling match), you wouldn't be alone.

There's a whole new thing going on in the Republican presidential race, and it is the wide-open feeling that anything can happen to anybody. Thus, candidates are making use of the shotgun approach, saving a little something special for a lot of special someones.

Observe, from Fred Thompson, that Mike Huckabee is a liberal. McCain is attacked by Romney on economics. And Giuliani goes after McCain on security, which seems like an odd choice, but it seems Giuliani is running out of time and ideas, o as security is his thing, even McCain gets a talking-to about it in debate settings. The initial read on last night is that Thompson may have had a nap beforehand, and thus looked lively for the first time.

From one unlikely Republican shift to another: somehow and for some reason, the Bush White House is making the bold prediction that the President will finish up in office with an approval rating far higher than the one he has now. I guess it really illustrates the Bush administration's problems to say that it is a very bold for them to predict he'll get out at 45 percent or so. That, or it illustrates the American displeasure with Bush. Or possibly both.

People aren't happy with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, either, but that is a different story. After all the initial noise about his potential presidential run, nothing happened. Bloomberg still has press events and shows up at stuff that might lead you to believe an announcement of an independent candidacy is imminent, but nothing happens. Now he's getting a whipping from the New York press, which would like him to figure out what he's doing. I have seen a few mentions about how Obama's hold on the hope and change ideas might make it hard for Bloomberg to craft a good independent message, but it may be hard for him no matter what.

Oh, hey, Chuck Rosenthal is getting investigated. Some more. Again. This time by the AG's office. Things just keep getting worse for him.

Lastly today, here's another feeling you probably share with other people - the economy is tanking. Or at least it has started to seem that way. If you want to figure out the kinds of issues that will end up ruling the 2008 campaign, here they are: how much is my money worth, can I get a job, and how will I pay my bills?