We saw something a few days ago at the Capitol that I don’t think we’ve ever seen—generally bipartisan reaction to a governor’s State of the State message. Applause from both sides of the aisle and complimentary assessments from the minority party that exceeded such positive comments we’ve seen in the past regardless of who the governor has been.
We’ll watch in the next four months to see if the good feelings last.
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Our State Representative has filed a sports wagering bill that gives the legislature a choice for the first time in the five years the gambling industry has tried to push the legislature into passing what the industry is demanding. The new bill also allows sports wagering, but says it will be done on the state’s terms, not the indutry’s terms. Our lawmakers now have a choice of whether the people are at home are more important than the people in the hallways of the Capitol.
We’ll probably revisit that topic later.
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Both political parties are looking for viable national candidates or tickets for 2024. We have one for the GOP that will be hard to beat.
Kinsinger and Cheney.
Or
Cheney and Kinsinger
The party is unlikely to nominate either one, let alone both. But it would seem that both would be attractive to non-Trumpist GOPers and to independents alike and likely would even draw some interest from Democrats, especially if the Democrats nominate a ticket that has weaknesses—and as we write this, there are plenty of questions within the Democratic Party about whether a renomination of Joseph Biden would be the most solid choice, particularly if somebody not named Trump runs on the other side.
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The Hill recently published a list of eight Republicans who could challenge Donald Trump in 2024. You know Yogi’s old saying about deju vu. One of the ways The Donald got the nomination in 2016 was because several candidates split the 65% of the primary vote he didn’t get primary after primary, enabling him to get all of the delegates at one-third the price.
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Some think he won’t be a factor by then—that his concern about a new four-year term should be replaced by concern about a 10-15 year term.
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Joe Biden will turn 82 a few weeks after the 2024 election. Donald Trump will be that old when he finishes a second term, if——
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We are only about 17 or 18 months away from national conventions, a year away from the first primaries. That’s a long time in politics. Plenty of time for something good to happen.
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And Lord knows we need something good to happen in our politics.
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We are grateful it is February. We have weathered the worst month of the year. Cold and snow do not seem so permanent after we have left January. February is a short month and by the end of it men are playing baseball again and racing engines are running hot. And it stays daylight longer. And soon there will be a little green haze in the trees.
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Update: As of this writing, the Mediacom cable that the company laid across our street instead of re-burying it at the end of last September has been ripped out only twice by the snowplow. It quit working a third time, perhaps because regular traffic dislodged it from its attachment post in our neighbor’s yard. But a technician hustled right out and got it hooked back up.
But it’s only February. Plenty of time for snowplows to roam the streets again.
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Super Bowl is next weekend. That will end the NFL Season and set the stage for the new XFL season that will carry us until the Canadian Football League starts, filling the gap until the next NFL season.
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And speaking of the NFL—It has found a way to make an irrelevant football game even more irrelevant. The All-Star game was flag football. Made-for-TV entertainment.
Watch next year for one-hand below the waist games.
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An article in the local paper about this year’s efforts to get sports wagering approved mentioned Rep. Dave Griffith’s bill but missed an important point. It’s the first time the legislature has been given a clear altenrative to the casino industry’s demands. This is the first time the lawmakers will have a chance to decide if sports wagering should be done on the casino industry’s terms….or in the best interests of the people who sent those lawmakers here.
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