Tuesday Open Thread [1.31.12]

It is a slow news day and I am again slammed at work. Tonight, Mitt Romney will win the Florida primary and be the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. Newt Gingrich takes issue with those, including myself, that say that. "You mean those who said I was dead in June? Those who said I was dead in December? They are about as accurate as they were the last two times they were wrong." - Newt Gingrich, quoted by ABC News. He said the race would go on for "six or eight months" and then added: "unless Romney drops out earlier."

Impressions of the First Wilmington Mayoral Town Hall

Last night was the first Mayoral Town Hall or Debate sponsored by WDEL. This forum played to a standing room only crowd (they did indeed stop people from coming in after awhile). All of the known candidates were there except for Bovell and Bobby Marshall. I was there with some friends and here's what I think of the field so far.

Eugene Robinson Asks “Why Does Mitt Romney Want To Be President?”

Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have all laid out bold visions — more properly, hallucinations — of where they would take the country. But where is Romney’s shining city on a hill? What’s his “compassionate conservatism,” his “hope and change”? What is it that Mitt Romney, deep in his heart or down in his gut, really believes in?