7:59 PM: South Carolina politics is a richly interesting combination of fierce injunctions to biblical fundamentalism and coverage of which elected official is copulating with what other big wig or potentate in the back seat of what car. And then there’s which politician is gay. There’s also the episodic embrace of treason and efforts to break up the union. Together, it’s a lot.
8:05 PM: Feel like the pressures of multiple simultaneous sex scandals has gotten Herman Cain to expand his policy agenda beyond 999. Also, he seems to have ruled out military action.
8:07 PM: Meta-win. Mitt stands down Scott Pelley as a meta-signal that he can stand down Iran.
8:10 PM: Newt is insisting that Obama should be doing all the things he’s already doing against Iran — covert disruption, offing scientists, working in concert with Israel, etc.
8:12 PM: He did it! Perry gets through a completely coherent, non-stuttering answer. I can hear his consultants cheering up here in New York … Actually Eric Kleefeld points out that Perry only really crashes in the second half.
8:18 PM: Quite apart from his policy prescription, Jon Huntsman just sounds so much more rational and forward-looking, serious about thinking about the country’s real challenges in the coming decades than anyone else up there.
We’re gearing up for tonight’s GOP foreign policy debate, sponsored by CBSNews and National Journal. This will be a particular interesting encounter since foreign policy has played a surprisingly smal role in this year’s GOP primary fight. Unlike on domestic policy where they all have slightly different flavors of the same policies, on foreign policy they have some genuinely differing positions. And in some cases candidates have no foreign policy at all.
Join us in 10.
Meet Newt Gingrich, the only presidential candidate who really, really, really wants more debates. And tonight he gets his wish.
We’re gearing up for the final switchover to the redesigned TPM front page. A lot of you are already using it and even more have seen it. But before we do the final switch, we really want to get everyone’s input and, in particular, we want to root out any glitches with particular browsers, operating systems or configurations people may be viewing the site with.
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Don’t forget. Tonight there’s yet another GOP debate. And we’ll be covering it live.
Here it is … the ultimate Rick Perry mash up reel, a thing of staggering and stammering beauty. Watch.
Utah mayor admits he posed as a reporter, using a fake name, to write positive stories about himself. All in an effort to “try to restore some balance.”
A good reminder from Kevin Drum on why government regulations are often so dense and complex.
TPM’s Evan McMorris-Santoro sends in his latest dispatch from the campaign trail, with Mitt Romney in South Carolina.