The number three has special meaning going into this weekend for American politics. In some cases that’s good for Democrats, while in some cases it’s good for Republicans.
Three’s Company
The biggest three will come into form this weekend after the Ames, Iowa straw poll for the Republican presidential candidates. The press has already started weeding out the winners from the losers when it comes to this upcoming election, and Michelle Bachmann and Mitt Romney are seen as the only two viable candidates (meaning they could win the nomination) even if they may not be electable (meaning they may not actually win against Obama).
Romney has already announced that while he’ll be in tonight’s debate he won’t participate in the straw poll, even though he’ll likely pick up some votes. The big story however, is that Rick “Texas Miracle” Perry is all but guaranteed to join the fray for the 2012 election sometime this weekend or early next week, which gives the GOP a three-person race for the nomination. Can someone pull a Dallas Mavericks against the GOP Big Three by doing well in the straw poll? Tonight’s debate (which we will be Tweeting the whole night from @DrJasonJohnson) may be the last chance of Jon Huntsman, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum or Herman Cain to impact this election.
And Pelosi Makes Three
The Super-Duper committee that is finally supposed to solve all of America’s fiscal problems in the coming months has been formed by all top dogs in Washington with Nancy Pelosi finally making her selections this afternoon. Like a very serious pick-up basketball game that has consequences for all of our social security, national security and financial security the head of the respective parties are each supposed to pick three members from each house of Congress to make the tough decisions that couldn’t be made a week ago or massive cuts in social programs and national defense will be made by a legislative ‘trigger’. Nancy’s three are crucial to the process since it is believed that in particular stalwarts like James Clyburn (D-SC) will actually insist on some tax increases in the final budget negotiations. Finding someone to stick to thier guns on the Democratic side will be crucial since EVERY SINGLE member of the GOP 6 SuperCongressmen has signed Grover Norquist’s “No New Taxes” pledge, refusing to raise taxes for any reason while in congress. Sounds like negotiations are going to go great.
Three The Hard Way
When your goal is to win three races to overtake the state senate and you only win two, can you claim a victory? That’s what’s happening in the case of Democrat and labor union activists after the results of the special election in Wisconsin on Tuesday. In the seemingly never ending battle to stop Gov. Scott Walker from destroying unions and turning the Badger State into a low-tax, low-salary corporate haven, last night’s recall leaves the state at a draw.
Democrats sought to recall six Republicans in Republican districts and managed to knock out two of the six. It was not enough to take over the senate, which now stands in favor of the GOP, but it was certainly enough to make Walker nervous about his own pending recall in January. On the other hand GOP officials in the state have had enough recalls. They point out the fact that Democratic attempts to knock out a Supreme court justice failed earlier this year, they only won two of the six seats needed in this recent recall and that the Donkey Party could lose any of this week’s gains if they don’t survive recalls of two Democratic senators next week.
The Republican Party in the state does seem to have a case that these recall attempts and special elections are costing millions of dollars but aren’t really changing the political landscape of the state. At the same time I have trouble believing these elections are an indicator of Walker’s popularity. Will the third time be the charm? We’ll see in January.
This article originally appeared at Loop21.com under the headline “Political Quagmires Come in Threes.”
