I’m hoping Barack Obama is a one-term President for a variety of reasons that I won’t regurgitate in this post. Defeating him is important, but I’m hoping the Republican nominee won’t use pie-in-the-sky predictions to gain favor with voters. Eventually, such tall tales will catch-up to him and undermine his credibility. The first potential pitfall to come to mind are promises to lower gas prices.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has often said that gas prices would fall below $2.49 per gallon if he were elected. He points out that such a fall would put money into the pockets of consumers, which would be pumped into the economy, corporate profits would be increased, fueling growth, and tax receipts would climb. These positive events would likely follow lower gas prices. The problem is that Gingrich thinks he can single-handedly bring down prices in the span of a single administration. This isn’t likely.

Gasoline prices depend on a myriad of factors, such as OPEC’s decisions, refining capacity, demand, and a host of geopolitical factors. A President is important, but when it comes to these disparate factors, their hands will be tied.

Decreasing prices is simple in theory: Increase supply and decrease demand. Of course, the devil is in the details. Some solutions are unpalatable, and would create other problems. For example, you could institute a tax on all cars that average less than 40 miles per gallon. I’d personally be opposed to this solution, but in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t be meaningful. Even though American cars consume a great deal of fossil fuel, it’s a small percentage of the overall global output.

On the supply side, we could ramp up drilling, which would probably take a decade to bring more oil to market. Of course, if we did attempt to increase the global oil supply, wouldn’t OPEC just cut production to maintain a higher price? Let’s not forget that OPEC is a cartel.

Some would argue that domestic oil production would increase U.S. Security by assuring that portion of our energy is produce in the U.S. This is a noble goal, but will all of this new oil be sold in the United States? Will we forbid the sake of crude to foreign countries? These are questions that need to be asked.

The next time you hear a politician talk about lowering energy prices, please keep in mind that their mouths are bigger than their influence.

Everyone in Washington will be seeing dollar signs this fall.

It looks like we might will be heading toward another fight over the debt limit. According to Senator Rob Portman, the current limit will likely be reached before Election Day, making it a big topic of debates and news coverage.

Here’s a preview of what we have to expect, courtesy of Senator Portman:

“Following the contentious debt ceiling last August, President Obama promised that he would take action to address the country’s fiscal crisis. He has failed to do that,” Portman said. “In fact, his new budget increases spending and projects that Washington will be hitting the debt ceiling again in mid-October – burning through a $2.1 trillion debt limit increase in just over 14 months.”

For those on the fence, pointing out how the Obama Administration blew through a $2.1 trillion debt limit increase should be damaging. My guess is that as Election Day draws near, Barack Obama will again blame George W. Bush for everything, talk about how another increase is necessary, and vow to become more fiscally conservative, which for him, will involve raising taxes. You read it here first!

When it comes to abortion, I’m pro-choice, but I can see where those that are pro-life are coming from. For some issues, it’s hard to understand the other side’s viewpoint, and quite frankly, I think they’re a bit confused. Those who oppose birth control fit this description.

In the video, Republican nominee Rick Santorum discusses the dangers of contraception, and how these methods have harmed the country. If you’re one of the people who believe sex is inherently wrong, and whose only purpose is for procreation, then you must think Rick Santorum is onto something. Those who share this belief probably also tend to be pro-life. If that’s the case, it raises an interesting question: If more people used birth control, wouldn’t there be fewer abortions? Of course there would.

Regular use of birth control would result in fewer abortions, but the deputized members of the morality police don’t want to acknowledge this fact. If Rick Santorum is the nominee, he’ll be the darling of the evangelical wing of the Republican party, but his social conservatism will alienate many independent voters.

After winning the North Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich implored fellow candidate Rick Santorum to drop out of the race and throw his support behind him. The thinking was that their supporters are both anti-Romney, and would form a coalition to defeat the former Massachusetts Governor, who reminds this blogger of an exceptionally smarmy used car salesman.

The idea made sense then, and still does. The only problem, for Gingrich at least, is that Rick Santorum has pulled ahead in the polls, and is now ahead of Mitt Romney.

Newt Gingrich’s logic made perfect sense a few weeks ago, and it still does. Now, the question is: Will Newt take his own advice? Considering the trepidation many in the G.O.P. have toward a Romney nomination, many Republicans hope he will.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich Debate

Mitt Romney has won the Florida Primary by a wide margin over Newt Gingrich, but the race for the Republican nomination is far from over.

The media has been portraying each win or loss as a make or break moment, but the truth is that four states have voted, and 46 remain. Florida Senator Marco Rubio seems to think that the winner of Florida will win the nomination, but I’m not so sure. If Newt Gingrich can pick up some wins, along with some strong second place finishes in states which assign delegates proportionally, we might be looking at a nominating convention that is very much up in the air. Is it likely that Republicans are heading toward a brokered convention? No. Is it possible? You bet!

Ron Paul and Rick Santorum also appear to be in it for the long-haul. I don’t see either reaching the necessary 1,144 delegates to clinch the nomination, but I do see them winning some delegates in future primaries and caucuses. The more delegates they win, the smaller the chance of the front-runner (whoever that will be) getting a majority.

The only thing that is certain is that we’re in for an interesting election season.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen more and more candidates invoke the memory of President Ronald Reagan. I don’t blame them for admiring Reagan’s accomplishments, but I do often question their sincerity. Are these candidates simply sharing thoughts about their fondness for Reagan, or is it solely a transparent method of trying to ride the coattails of a man they may not really identify with?

This has been going on a while, but it has been Newt Gingrich’s frequent mentions of Reagan during debates that have annoyed me. To hear Gingrich tell it, he and Reagan were rather close, and shared credit for some of the accomplishments of the Reagan Presidency.

Upon hearing Gingrich’s boasts for the first time, I was taken by surprise. How would a fairly young Congressman with little seniority actually gain so much power in the Reagan Administration? Well, it turns out he didn’t.

Since Newt Gingrich’s win in South Carolina, members of the Reagan Administration have come forward to refute Gingrich’s wild claims. Others have pointed to times where Gingrich criticized Reagan on several occassions.

When it comes to flip-flopping and getting creative with the truth, Newt’s only competitor might be Mitt Romney.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid would support Jon Huntsman over Mitt Romney.

Former Ambassador Jon Huntsman has made it official: He’s running for President. I know some people are excited by his candidacy, but I think I’ll pass. After all, I don’t want to be on the same side as Harry Reid. In case you missed it, Huntsman received Reid’s stamp of approval. “If I had a choice in that race, I’d choose Huntsman over Romney,” said Reid. On top of that, Huntsman’s family members are big Reid supporters.

In addition to the Reid endorsement, Huntsman doesn’t have much room to criticize Barack Obama, since he accepted an appointment as ambassador to China. Of course, you could argue that his appointment could cause a problem for Obama during a campaign against Huntsman, but I doubt it will get that far anyway. Think about it: If someone is absolutely terrible at what they do (like the GOP will argue), do you really have credibility if you agree to work for them? I don’t think so.

Jon Huntsman’s campaign can’t be taken seriously, and his chances are about as good as Rick Santorum’s. Actually, they might not even be that good.

Will Texas Governor Rick Perry run for President in 2012?

Several members of Newt Gingrich’s Presidential campaign have quit…at the same time. A few of these individuals have links to Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry was mentioned as a possible candidate, but said he wouldn’t run…then said he might be considering it.

Who knows what Rick Perry will do, but it seems really coincidental that while he is thinking about a run (again), some former staffers suddenly quit the Gingrich campaign en masse. My guess? Rick Perry will announce his candidacy by the 4th of July, and many of those former Gingrich campaign employees will find their way onto his team.

On a more general note, can’t these people make decisions? Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, Mitch Daniels, and several others seemed to waffle on the question. Make a decision, stick to it, and call it quits. For man of these people, you would think that they would have made a decision over the past 31 months since the last election. If they’re that indecisive, would we really want them running the country?

What are the chances Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will run for President? Zero

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels will not be running for President, and I don’t particularly care. It’s nothing against Mitch Daniels. After all, he would be much better than declared candidates such as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, or potential candidates such as Sarah Palin.

The problem is that Mitch Daniels seemed to be the darling of GOP insiders. That’s not what the country needs. The United States needs someone who isn’t afraid to step in and make bold decisions. We need someone who has little regard for the way things have always been done, and will try to do the right think, regardless of how many people it upsets, or how unusual the solution may seem.

To this point, I’ve only seen two candidates who seem to possess these traits: Ron Paul and Herman Cain. As far as I’m concerned, they are America’s best hope.

Herman Cain will be running for President.

Herman Cain has announced that he will be running for President. The former businessman, talk show host, and chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City made it official at a rally today in Atlanta, GA.

Unlike other definite and possible candidates such as Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, and Tim Pawlenty, Herman Cain has displayed intelligence, straight-forward answers, and a genuine belief in what he says. I don’t get that feeling from the other candidates. Ron Paul is my first choice, but Cain has quickly jumped up to number two.