The Iowa nonsense is over. New Hampshire will be a cakewalk. Erick Erickson hates Romney. Newt is gonna scorch the Earth. Does any of it matter? No.

Mitt Romney is running as the acceptable anti-Obama. He may not be the favored candidate of extreme Republicans (chew on that phrase for a moment), but they aren't voting for Obama. The attacks on him will drive down his favorables, but he's not running to win, he is running to have Obama lose.

Whatever flaws Romney has as a political candidate, it is hard to see how he will not be considered as an acceptable alternative by those inclined to vote against Obama.

Like Jeralyn, I find the GOP primary to be boring. And once Perry imploded, it turned out to be irrelevant - Romney was and is going to be the nominee. And now nothing that happens will matter to November. That is a race that will be decided by the economy and Obama. Obama can lose the election. But Romney can't win it. In other words, the most important factors for the November election have almost nothing to do with Mitt Romney. Other than being the acceptable "Obama alternative" vessel, Romney is irrelevant to this election.

Speaking for me only

Update 10:30 pm: Rick Perry suspends campaign due to poor Iowa results. Newt is in 4th place, Romney and Santorum are tied for the lead. McCain will endorse Romney tomorrow in New Hampshire.

The overhyped Iowa caucuses are underway. Will Romney, Ron Paul or Santorum win?

I cared enough about the Iowa caucuses in 2008 to get credentialed, travel to Iowa and attend. Here's my live-blog of what it was like. Here's a photo of the people at the caucus I attended.

This year I find the attention on Iowa baffling and absurd. Maybe it's because it's only about Republicans. Or maybe it's because they really don't matter.

In any event, CBS is predicting a three-way race between Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

For those who enjoyed my sweating over my sports investment last night, you won't get another chance tonight, as I am traveling. But, you can laugh at me without the pointing as I invested in the Wolverines (-3) over Va Tech (10 units.) I know, I know, the BIG in a bowl game? But I like this Michigan team and don't think much of Va Tech.

Open Thread.

It's the final night the long holiday weekend. Aside from the Iowa caucuses which I have no interest in, there's not much to write about.

There's also little on TV, other than the premiere of The Bachelor, starring Ben from last year's totally boring season with Ashley. I think this season will be another dud, but I'll watch anyway. After 16 seasons, the formula has become dated and predictable. I wish they'd try something new.

Colorado is getting $400 million from the NDAA, with a big chunk for electronic surveillance. $70 million will go for construction of a new NSA building at Buckley Air Force Base:

The NSA building at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora will cost a total of $141 million to complete. It will provide space for 850 people whose offices are now in temporary buildings.

Buckley is home to a large contingent of secretive agencies, including the NSA and the National Reconnaissance Office​; the Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado; Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine intelligence and information units; and Marine and Coast Guard cryptologic units.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The picks:

Houston -7½ over Penn State (3 units), Georgia -3 over Michigan St. (3 units), South Carolina -3 over Nebraska (5 units), Oregon -6 over Wisconsin (3 units).

My best bet of many years was discussed weeks ago - Oklahoma State (-3) over Stanford (50 units.) Today the line is -5.

Go Gators!

Open Thread.

Most New Year's Days, we'd be preparing to watch a day of college football. But Sundays are ruled by the NFL. The bowl games have been moved to tomorrow.

Tim Tebow faces a make or break game for the Broncos, and I suspect, for his career. While it seems likely Tebow will get the starting nod for the Broncos next year, if he wins today, advancing the Broncos into the playoffs, he probably gets the whole season.

That's a lot of pressure and the Broncos also have to deal with the fact that they unnecessarily handed the Chiefs their QB for today, Kyle Orton. That was a pretty inexcusable move by Elway and I am a bit surprised that more is not being made of it in Denver. While Orton is a terrible QB in pressure situations, when nothing is on the line, he can be good. The Chiefs and Orton have nothing to lose so I expect they will play well. And win.

Which means that whether the Raiders give up ANOTHER 1st round pick for Carson Palmer depends on the Chargers and Phillip Rivers saving the Raiders from themselves. Cuz if the Raiders make the payoffs, they get bounced in the 1st round and lose another 1st round pick. Since it is the Raiders, that is what is going to happen. Raiders beat the Chargers.

The big game to night is Giants-Cowboys. I think the Cowboys win.

Open Thread.

It's already 2012 in Auckland, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Dubai and celebrations are underway. From Sydney:

Sydney's harbour erupted in a blaze of colour and light on the stroke of midnight on Saturday with a 12-minute pyrotechnic display drawing more than 1.5 million people to crowded foreshores and city landmarks.

Times Square is expecting a million people -- many of whom have already arrived.

What's on your agenda for this evening? I'm cooking lasagne. Whether you are out celebrating or avoiding the noise and crowds, we wish you all a happy, healthy, prosperous, freedom-filled New Year.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

President Obama today signed into the National Defense Authorization Act, which contains the controversial and objectionable provisions on indefinite detention and restrictions on transfers of detainees from Guantanamo. He issued a signing statement with it that doesn't ameliorate the damage.

The ACLU says:

While President Obama issued a signing statement saying he had “serious reservations” about the provisions, the statement only applies to how his administration would use the authorities granted by the NDAA, and would not affect how the law is interpreted by subsequent administrations.

[More...]

Happy New Year's Eve morning!

We are now in college bowl season in earnest. I was saved from complete disaster yesterday by a garbage time back door cover by Oklahoma.

Today will be better. The picks: UCLA +3 over Illinois (2 units), Texas A&M -10 over Northwestern (12 units), Vanderbilt -1½ over Cincinnati (2 units), Utah +3 over Ga Tech (2 units), Auburn -3 over Virginia (2 units.)

Have a great day.

Open Thread.

The Big Lebowski: Are you surprised at my tears, sir?
The Dude: [Smoking a joint] Dude, f--in' A!
The Big Lebowski: Strong men also cry... strong men also cry.

It's that time of year when everyone is doing best of and worst of lists for 2011. Since I haven't found any on the year's most interesting criminal cases and issues that match what I found most interesting, I've prepared my own lists for TalkLeft. (Heads-up: "Most Interesting" is not the same as "Most Important". I will leave "Most Important" lists to others.)

First the court cases, then the cases that didn't make it to court, and then the top issues of the year. (With a few more categories thrown.)

The number one most interesting case of the year is easy: Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Full lists below: [More...]

End of year swampage plus deadlines.

Here are some bowl picks: Tulsa -1½ over BYU (5 units), Iowa State -1 over Rutgers (5 units), Mississippi State -7 over Wake Forest (3 units), Oklahoma -14 over Iowa (4 units.)

BTW, the Okla State line has moved from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2. It'll be 6 by game time. Make your investment early if you like Okla State, as I do (best bet in a long time imo.)

Open thread.