Delaware Political Weekly-Feb. 11-17, 2012

Richard D. Krett. President of AFSCME Local 3109; the Assistant Chief with the Emergency Medical Services Division of County Department of Public Safety; and former President of the Good-Will Fire Company in the New Castle area. Krett frequently serves as a spokesperson for the county paramedics, and is quoted in the paper, usually following some accident or incident. There, of course, is a history of animus between Clark and many county employees over proposed cuts, hiring freezes, and the like. On the face of it, Krett seems like a credible challenger. Seeing as how I, and no doubt thousands of others, have no intention of voting for Clark in a primary, Krett at least has the opportunity to convince voters that he is a viable alternative. Hmmm, now that I think about, I’m pretty sure I met Mr. Krett while working on issues surrounding a proposed baseball complex near Shipley Road. Krett was essential in providing assistance on the issue of ambulance/fire ingress/egress to the complex. I recall him as being professional, prompt and helpful. Hey, we just might have something here…

Delaware Liberal Tracking Poll Results: Congressman John Carney

I did not know what to expect with the results on John Carney's job performance. Will he be seen as Carper Junior and suffer accordingly? On the other hand, while it is not his or his staff's fault, you get the feeling that John Carney has been invisible because he, as a Democrat, is in the minority in the House. And thus he gets little opportunity to make news. To his and his staff's credit, they make their news anyway, as I receive a press release from his congressional office at least three times a week. Well, it looks like that work paid off.

Romney Won’t Participate In Pre-Super Tuesday Debate

Mitt Romney will not participate in the Republican presidential primary debate on March 1 in Georgia. ”Governor Romney will be spending a lot of time campaigning in Georgia and Ohio ahead of Super Tuesday,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul emails. “With eight other states voting on March 6th, we will be campaigning in other parts of the country and unable to schedule the CNN Georgia debate. We have participated in 20 debates, including 8 from CNN.”

Occam’s Razor

To quote Captain Spock in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: "An ancestor of mine maintained that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." This is basically the theory of Occam's Razor, the principle that generally recommends that, from among competing hypotheses, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions usually provides the correct one, and that the simplest explanation will be the most plausible until evidence is presented to prove it false. With that in mind (click through for a bigger version):

Wednesday Open Thread [2.15.12]

"If Romney were to lose Michigan, it is very difficult to see how he can accumulate a majority of delegates ... And if Santorum does well in [poorer Michigan] districts, he could transfer that support to the other rust belt states that look a lot like them. The most important of these rust belt states is Ohio, which votes on 7 March. Michigan has somewhat fewer born-again Christians and evangelicals than Ohio (46%) did in the 2008 Republican primary. It had a nearly equal percentage of those making greater than $200,000 to Ohio's (5%). If Rick Santorum can win in both Michigan and Ohio, I can begin to see how he could conceivably put together enough delegates to reach a majority. He seems to be polling well enough in the south (leading in Tennessee, for example) to win the nomination – even if he loses in states like New York, New Jersey and California (though a recent poll there put him in a close second)."