Our panel of experts was feeling pretty chipper this week. We’ve got more Winners than Losers on the list. Read on to see who’s riding high and who fell out of the saddle this week.
WINNERS:
Tim Tebow
Sure, he and his Denver Broncos lost the AFC Divisional playoff game to a vastly superior New England Patriots team. And yes, he’s being mocked by the likes of Bill Maher and his bigoted, anti-Christian ilk. But Tim Tebow is obscenely popular across the Fruited Plain for a first year starting quarterback. His name has become a verb. Aspiring athletes everywhere are Tebowing to celebrate in all manner of sports. Although Tebow classily refuses to endorse any political candidates, his open faith and role-model behavior ensure that every candidate on the Republican platform will be claiming him as their own.
Stephen Colbert
Comedian Stephen Colbert is running for president again. He started his faux-campaign so late that he can’t even be a write-in candidate in South Carolina. But that won’t stop some of his fans from trying. Colbert is having a ton of fun and is getting a whole lot of extra publicity for his show while simultaneously messing with the Republican establishment. Of course, his mockery of a campaign is really just a pale imitation of my mockery of a campaign.
Mitt Romney
It’s all over but the shouting. Mitt Romney has played the slow and steady role to the Republican nomination. The attacks from Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry aren’t sticking with the Republican faithful. In fact, their sudden anti-capitalist viewpoint has only served to further alienate them and fuel Romney’s campaign. Jon Huntsman has already dropped out and endorsed Romney as of Monday the 16th, shifting all 12 of his supporters to the Mitt camp. It’s been a good week for Mitt and next week in South Carolina should be even brighter. Then it is on to Florida. If that works out well for Romney, there will be nothing left to talk about.
MLK
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr would be 83 this week. I’m sure wherever he is, he is singing a glorious “hallelujah” seeing his dream fulfilled with a black man in the White House.
Ron Paul
Ron Paul picked up a key endorsement in South Carolina this week from Senator Tom Davis. Paul’s future in this campaign is looking short, but for now he’s still putting up big numbers. He is influencing the debate and he isn’t going away gently.
Consumers
Nothing happened to actually disrupt the flow of oil to the United States. The whole Straights of Hormuz debacle potentially, possibly, maybe could. But they haven’t yet. But somehow we all end up paying more at the pump.
Europe
Nine European nations had their credit ratings downgraded last week. More bad news for a region that’s had their fair share of economic woes recently.
