Okay, I know I’m sort of a fanatic about these political prediction/betting sites. But I thought I’d draw everyone’s attention to the fact that we seem to be seeing the beginning of the long-predicted (okay, only by me, but whatever) run on the Rudy contract at the two big sites.
Dingbat Factoid: The Intrade markets now give Obama a marginally better chance of getting the Democratic nomination than Rudy has of getting the Republican nomination.
William Hartung, on Kissinger and Schlesinger’s lame attacks on the Iran NIE.
Seems a GOP insider has finally spilled the beans on how the coded race signals (mainly caricatured African-American lingo or voice styles) are used in GOP robocalls. More soon.
In his upcoming book, NH phone-jammer and former GOP operative Allen Raymond recounts one story of how racial and ethnic divisions in New Jersey were pinpointed then exploited by the GOP with robocalls.
The nomination of TPM fave Hans von Spakovsky to the FEC appears to be dead.
We’re right on the edge of the Christmas holiday. And it’s jarring to think how rapidly we’ll hit the first two contests — Iowa on Jan. 3rd and New Hampshire Jan. 8th. Depending on how things play out one or possibly both nomination battles could be effectivly over on January 9th. With all that in mind, in today’s episode of TPMtv, we’re taking an overview of both races today to give you our best read on who the likely winners are, the key developments to look for and just basically what the hell’s going to happen …
Flat-lining in key states and losing the lead in the national polls? No problem, says Rudy’s pollster.
Earlier this afternoon, I pointed out the beginning of the run on the Rudy contract at the key political betting/prediction sites.
That was a bit after noon. He’s fallen like another five points since that post. Current price is 27.3.
To give a little perspective, at the Intrade site, Rudy’s seldom traded under 35 since June. He’s almost never gone below 40 since September. And he peaked at around 49 on the last day before the Shag Fund story broke. And then in the last three weeks or so his contract has lost almost half its value. And in just the last day his contract has lost almost ten points.
In a statement just put out by his office, House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) says that a committee subpoena has been issued for the CIA’s Jose Rodriguez, the official reportedly responsible for the destruction of the torture tapes:
âIn addition, the committee is working to secure testimony for January 16 from John Rizzo and Jose Rodriguez. We are in discussions with CIA officials regarding Mr. Rizzoâs testimony. We have been told that Mr. Rodriguez would like to tell his story but his counsel has advised us that a subpoena would be necessary. We therefore have issued the subpoena for Mr. Rodriguez. We look forward to his testimony as well as the testimony of others who have information about this matter.â
The issuing of a subpoena is different than the serving of a subpoena. The statement suggests to me that with subpoena in hand the committee can now begin negotiating with Rodriguez’s lawyer, Bob Bennett, for his client’s testimony.
In other developments, staff lawyers for the committee have been at CIA headquarters today reviewing documents, and at the Justice Department investigators have been going through CIA emails and other documents.