Beasley endorsement, take two

The Chaser gets it mostly wrong on the Beasley endorsement timing. I left a comment there, but essentially to paraphrase:

The Beasley endorsement actually became news the morning of the convention, in The State, and thus the Huckabee team did have its own story. Given that Gov. Beasley hasn't held elective office in more than eight years, and that he lost his last political campaign, it's hard for me to see how this would have made more news than it did. The Romney-McCain (with Sen. Graham as the surrogate) fight was going to be the subject regardless.

Huckabee had a good week last week, and he capped it off with an endorsement from a former governor. It's not enough -- not even close -- to get him the nomination. But of the dark horses, he's clearly the one doing the best.

It is, however, a long way from that to being in the top tier. Huckabee will have to raise more money and do well in the Iowa straw poll to be more competitive.

As I said earlier, I serve in NO capacity for any campaign.

UPDATE: I note that The Politico says the aforementioned website has ties to the Romney campaign. That doesn't mean that those ties motivated the comment, but I'll leave it to readers to judge themselves. I obviously have ties to Beasley, as disclosed.

Wes Parker

I'm old enough to not only remember Wes Parker as the Dodger first baseman, but also remember his appearance on "The Brady Bunch" Those are the list interesting facts in today's L.A. Times story about Parker's heart. He volunteers at the Braille Institute now, just a new manifestation of the spirit he had while with the Dodgers, when he used to hit flyballs to youngsters in the Dodger Stadium parking lot after Sunday home games.

Beasley for Huckabee

In case you hadn't seen, my ex-boss former Gov. David Beasley will endorse Mike Huckabee today in South Carolina.

Huckabee is a good fit for Beasley, and it finishes a solid week for the former Arkansas governor. Of the "non-Big Three" candidates, Huckabee has clearly been the most impressive and the best prepared in the debates. And of those candidates, he is clearly the one candidate with a track record and a long-held set of beliefs that places him in the mainstream of the GOP primary base.

And in case you wondered, I'm not even a volunteer for Huckabee, though I've known a couple of his staff members for a long time. And as for Beasley, well, I don't think I'm allowed to leave the "staff" status.

Does 100 matter?

OK, yay for the Bruins, 100 National Championships, more than anyone ... only, here's what the Orange County Register says:

• Impressive, 100 championships certainly are. That's a nice round number. Then again, so is zero — the roundest of them all, in fact — and also the total number of football championships won by the Bruins since 1955.

Ha! Well, as the writer notes, they do have a one-game winning streak against the Trojans. Oh, and the number of football championships USC has won since 1955? Seven. UCLA does have a Heisman...uh, let's see, how many does USC have? Seven again! What a lucky number. Even better than 100, mostly in sports you care about it only if your kid is playing.

Moving from the coast

Michael Barone has yet another fascinating piece in The Wall Street Journal today on demographic/political trends. Bottom line: the coastal areas are growing economically stratified. Housing costs and other demographic trends may be driving away the middle class, while immigrants are moving into the coastal big cities. Meanwhile, plenty of other lower-cost cities are growing fast -- to twist Barone's story a bit, it may now be 'hip' to be 'un-hip.'

The new 90210

Is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And going there gains one 15 pounds. She Who Sighs should note this.