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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Michigan could change the GOP’s future
Months ago, one of my clos
est and smartest friends,
Georgia House Speaker
Pro Tern Mark Burkhalter, told
me he was committing to Mitt
Romney for president. I told him I
didn’t think Romney had a chance.
Now I’m starting to think my for
mer colleague and good buddy is
graduating to political genius.
I know many “Reagan
Republicans” believe Romney has
flipped and flopped on too many
issues. Plenty more people think
he’s bought his way to a prominent
position in the polls by overspend
ing in lowa find New Hampshire.
"That row of electoral
ducks might be
unhappy hunting for
Rudy Giuliani, who
otherwise looked
ready to gather enough
steam to head Into the
"Super-Duper Tuesday"
sweepstakes with
don'Mook-back
momentum."
If all dogs go to Heaven - maybe Trouble can adjust
By GEORGEAYOUB
Morris News Service
If you think you ‘have
money trouble, I can assure
you that Trouble has money.
Twelve million simoleons
to be exact.
Trouble is a white Maltese
whose former owner, the
infamous Leona Helmsley,
left the miserable cur sl2
million. If you’re keeping
score at home, that’s a lot of
kibble.
OK, so maybe the pam
pered pooch is an upstanding
canine citizen. Her former
master, however, a con
victed felon and noted harpy
who treated any number of
us in the little people uni
verse like scum.
That’s why Helmsley went
to prison. She blew off pay
ing taxes, a right she had
earned according to her own
demented economic theory.
“Only the little people pay
taxes,” she once told an
ROBBINS
From page 4A
I looked at him like he was
nuts. What was that he was
smoking?
“See, kid, if you can cross
that without holding on, you
can go all the way across
there. It’s the same thing,
only longer,” he said, waving
his cigarette around as he
spoke.
I didn’t tell him what he
just said made no sense, for
LETTER
Front page 4A
judging students as profi
cient-between 60 and 80
points - when placed on
the NAEP 500-point scale.
Massachusetts had the high
est “NAEP score equivalent.”
City of Warner Robins
PUBLIC NOTICE
According to the Georgia Municipal
Election Code 21-2-379.8 notice is hereby
given that the Election Superintendent
shall place on public exhibition at City
Hall, 700 Watson Blvd, a demonstrator
(DRE) voting equipment unit that will be
used by voters on the November 6, 2007
General Election.
But in the complex recipe for
presidential politics, this year
there is a new ingredient - a sift
ing and shifting of the dates for
presidential primaries in various
states. Strategies predictions
- must change with them.
The Michigan Legislature has
voted to move its presidential
primary up to mid-January. The
likely national lineup of primaries
and caucuses now reads, in order:
lowa, New Hampshire, Nevada,
Michigan, South Carolina and then
Florida. Following that arrives an
avalanche of primaries on a sin
gle day, the so-called “Tsunami
Tuesday.”
That row of electoral ducks
might be unhappy hunting for
Rudy Giuliani, who otherwise
looked ready to gather enough
steam to head into the “Super-
Duper Tuesday” sweepstakes with
don’t-look-back momentum.
That goes for Fred Thompson,
too. He will be entering the race
officially next week.
It had been looking like Romney’s
gamble of betting the farm on lowa
and New Hampshire was backfir
ing. How many Americans care
about lowa - which Romney basi
cally is buying- or New Hampshire,
a neighbor to Romney’s home of
Massachusetts? And he’s been
barely registering in the polls in
South Carolina and Florida, and
most everywhere else.
employee.
For the record she left her
chauffeur 100 large, two
grandkids 10 million each on
the condition they visit the
grave of their father once
a year, and in true Joan
Crawford fashion right down
to the exact words from the
actress’ will two other grand
children nothing for “reasons
that are known to them.”
The rest (it’s in the bil
lions) she left to her and her
husband’s charitable trust.
To recap: A bunch for phi
lanthropy, a little for the
driver, two nice pieces of
change for a couple grandba
bies, nada for a couple others
and sl2 million for the dog.
Sometimes I think wealth
is wasted on the rich.
Trouble’s big day was not
the only troubling money
story I read Wednesday.
CNNMony.com reported
that in 2006 the average
CEO of a large U.S. company
fear that he would get mad
and kidnap me.
Instead, I told him I didn’t
think I could make it across.
He insisted I could. We went
back and forth, until finally,
I said, “okay, I’ll do it.” This
guy wasn’t going to be happy
until I tried it, or split open
my skull, which was proba
bly part of his plan to kidnap
me anyway.
So, with smoking Doobie
Brothers guy encouraging
me from the sideline, I stuck
my hands out and started to
In other words
Massachusetts proficiency
standard matched the NAEP
standard for fourth grade
reading, better than any
other state’s. Mississippi had
the worst score equivalents
in that subject and grade,
followed by Tennessee,
Georgia, Alaska, and
Vida Rawls
Municipal Election
Superintendent
fli
o ummst
But politics is fickle stuff. Right
now Michigan is making it so.
Consider this scenario: Romney
wins lowa, New Hampshire, and
does OK in the second-tier Nevada
caucus. Next comes Michigan,
where Romney has much in his
favor.
It’s considered a GOP “estab
lishment” state. It’s not some
where that “New York, New York”
is frequently whistled, as it is
in Giuliani’s home of New York
state. Nor is it a place where wonk
eggheads like Newt Gingrich are
considered mainstream; or where
molasses-mannered Southerners
like Fred Thompson strike a tonic
chord.
As it was when Romney’s father,
George, was governor decades ago,
Michigan remains a sort of Jerry
Ford-ish, don’t-rock-the-boat, plain
vanilla Republican state.
Mitt Romney will slide into
that atmosphere like a hand into
a silk glove. So will the old guard
Republican establishment that
made 364 tirfles what the
average American worker
made. In real numbers that
works out to about sll mil
lion vs. $30,000, give or take
a few digits. That includes
full and part time employees,
which lowers the workers’
numbers.
If 364 makes you wince,
it’s actually an improvement.
CEOs made 411 times what
we made in 2005. The dubi
ous record for the wage gap
is 525 set in 2000.
Obviously that was before
we really got a handle on
pouring obscene amounts of
cash into corner offices even
when its occupant did lit
tle to improve the company
or, in some cases, made it
worse.
Otherwise, it might appear
we are doing something
strange like leaving a for
tune to a flea magnet.
Of course, it’s all a mat
ter of perspective, I suppose.
inch my way out into the cen
ter of the rink, looking like a
miniature Frankenstein as
roller skating kids streaked
around me.
About the time I got to the
center of the rink, I heard the
guy scream, “You’re halfway
there, dude. Keep it up!”
I did. Gaining confidence,
the last 10 feet or so I was
rolling and actually had
some control over what I
was doing. When I reached
the rail on the other side,
I turned around, raised
Oklahoma.” My son was in
fourth grade last year.
Corner
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OPINION
Think of the poor average
CEOs who had to schlep
to work every day in 2006
knowing that* the average
private equity and hedge
fund manager was making
61 times more dinero than
they were. (That works out
to be about $658 million,
less, of course, what it costs
to feed and water the dog.)
Meanwhile, millions of
Americans punch in and
out every day, moving it on
down the line and keep
ing the home fires burning
afterward.
I would guess that even in
a capitalistic system, where
the theory of hard work
and reward is alive, most
workers would wonder why
someone would leave her
hound what nine of them
together would make in a
lifetime.
They may also wonder, as
they tote and lift, if the one
in charge of the whole hive
my hands in the air, and
screamed “Yeah! I did it!” I
looked across the rink, hop
ing to celebrate my roller
skating victory with my new
friend and coach. He was
gone. Over the next week
or so of roller skating camp,
I never saw the guy again.
But I became a fairly decent
skater because of his encour
agement, and much more
importantly, learned some
thing about fear. It doesn’t
take much to make a differ
ence, does it?
/RUSH AIR riJRiriHRS
backs him in many states. y
If Romney wins lowa, New
Hampshire and Michigan before
heading to Florida, he could by
then be edging up to the status of
front-runner, perhaps unstoppable
front-runner. Money usually chas
es wins in the Republican Party.
For better or worse, the GOP often
nominates the candidate who’s
winning, and not necessarily the
one who is best qualified or most
likely to win the general election.
My feeling that Romney would
be pummeled in the general elec
tion by Democrat Hillary Clinton
is a sentiment backed by public
opinion surveys.
It could be that such a dire tea
reading for the GOP is a bit pre
mature. I’ve come to measure the
presidential candidates primarily
on their intensity and their tal
ent for hanging tough through the
merciless marathon of a presiden
tial race. (Incidentally, marginal
candidate Ron Paul is certainly
the most unique of the Republican
field, and often the most dead-on.)
Giuliani clearly still has what
it takes. John McCain clearly Jias
deflated to a shadow of his 2000
self. The others have been mostly
ignored.
Romney keeps exceeding expec
tations for both fundraising and
for just plain appearing presiden
tial. Matched up against Hillary
Clinton, his never-at-a-loss-for
Kathy Brown, Warner
Robins
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
is worth 364 more times
than all the worker bees, if
just as much or more honey
could be made if the gap was
half of that.
Of course, if you have it,
why not spend it: On your
dog, your grandkids, what
ever. You can’t take it with
you.
Well maybe you can:
Helmsley, who was an
industrial strength shrew
with her employees when it
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words swagger might contrast viv
idly with President Bush’s stum
bie-and-mumble style of which
Americans of both parties have
grown weary. (Bush clearly rec
ognizes his weakness for commu
nicating, and often pokes fun at
himself, to his credit.) But the
Republicans don’t stand a chance
of staying in the White House if
their nominee doesn’t speak more
forcefully and articulately than
does the president.
Romney is not without his weak
nesses. Many on the right wing
of the Republican Party view him
skeptically as not bone-marrow
conservative - a warmed-over, if
spit-shined George Bush.
My friend Mark is a true Reagan
Republican. And if the presiden
tial primary schedule stays as it is
today, even those reluctant GOP
diehards may see a chance for new
life in* Mitt Roirvney.
Matt Towery served as the chair
man of former Speaker Newt
Gingrich’s political organiza
tion from 1992 until Gingrich left
Congress. He is a former Georgia
state representative, the author of
several books and currently heads
the polling and political informa
tion firm Insider Advantage. To find
out more about Matthew Towery
and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists,
visit the Creators Syndicate Web
site at www.creators.com. ,
came to keeping her hotels
clean, left $3 million to keep
her mausoleum spiffy, includ
ing a yearly once over of
washing or steam cleaning.
Trouble will join her there
when he goes to that big ken
nel in the sky.
I’m told all dogs go to heav- *
en. I only hope Trouble can
adjust.'
George Ayoub is senior
writer at T'he Grand Island
(Neb.) Independent.
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