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1.) From Santorum Surging to Santorum Stinking? — Rick got rolled during Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, reports TheDC’s Alexis Levinson:
“The former Pennsylvania senator needed a strong debate performance to hold onto his momentum heading into the next few contests — notably, the Michigan and Arizona primaries next Tuesday — but Santorum got bogged down under the attacks of his opponents. He was forced to defend his 2004 support for then Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, saying that he did so because Specter had promised to support conservative nominees to the Supreme Court from his position on the Senate Judicial Committee. Specter remains unpopular for having switched to the Democratic Party in 2008.”
Considering there are no more debates scheduled before Super Tuesday, this is probably not what the senator had hoped for.
2.) President Rick Santelli? — There’s a movement afoot to encourage another candidate to enter the GOP presidential primary. Some people would like to see Chris Christie jump in, some people would like to see Jeb Bush jump in. A small few (maybe a few minus two) are Santelli men — as in CNBC host Rick Santelli. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“A 67-year-old retired Nevada attorney, Jeff Kahn, has been spearheading an effort to encourage Santelli, often described as the Paul Revere of the tea party movement, to run for president at DraftSantelliForPresident2012.com. ‘I’m flattered by Jeff’s efforts but I really love what I do here at CNBC so I am not leaving anytime soon,’ Santelli told TheDC on Wednesday. But in a phone interview, Kahn said he still hopes Santelli can be convinced otherwise.”
Honestly … why not?
3.) Goodbye Mademoiselle — The French Prime Minister François Fillon declared that the word “mademoiselle” has been banned from use in French documents. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:
“Fillon’s memo followed a campaign by feminist groups who saw sexism in the linguistic need to explain their marital status in a title. ‘Everywhere we are asked to declare our marital status. This is not imposed on men, it’s not important whether they are married,’ Julie Muret of the feminist group Osez le Feminisme told the BBC.”
This happens occasionally in France. For instance, the country has also banned the words “military victory.” Or perhaps that’s just not a concept that comes up very often. One of the two.
4.) Some nuclear scientists are nicer than others — The Fars News Agency informs us that the life goal of the most recent slain Iranian nuclear scientist was — are you ready for this? — “the annihilation of Israel.” Who’d a thought? This only underscores why Israel is being forced to consider the dangerous decision to attempt to set back Iran’s nuclear program militarily, opines TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!):
“But if you’re the tiny, embattled State of Israel, it is hard to see how you can afford to take the chance that the Iranian leadership is merely joshing with their eliminationist rhetoric. Even if the odds are only 5 percent that the Iranian regime is apocalyptic and would act to bring back the hidden Imam through a nuclear holocaust, a five percent chance of a second holocaust is five percent too much for Israel to tolerate.”
5.)Poll of the day — RealClearPolitics averages of GOP candidates vs President Obama: Mitt Romney 43.4% vs Obama 49.1%; Rick Santorum 43.3% vs Obama 49.7%; Newt Gingrich 39.3% vs Obama 53%; Ron Paul 41% vs Obama 49.3%.
6.) BIRTHDAYS! — Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz turns 162; Dell computer founder Michael Dell turns 47; comedian Aziz Ansari turns 29 (h/t Raaaaaaaandy!).
