Posts Tagged ‘Newt Gingrich’

Nielsen Media Research, which has for many years measured audience ratings for broadcast, will now turn to rating online advertisements.  The new online ad campaign ratings will be done for Nielsen’s new model with AOL. . .On Friday, Rick Santorum bought a lifetime membership in the NRA for his three year-old daughter, Bella.  Not to be outdone, Newt Gingrich said the United Nations should promote the second amendment “for all mankind”. . .Ankling the Gallop, Johnson & Neuman law firm are Rob Epstein and John Walsh for the offices of of Spencer Faine in Clayton. . .The Turner Report notes that even though House Speaker Steve Tilley isn’t running for any office this year, he still spent $3,000 worth of meals during the three months of this year, which will be covered by his campaign committee, according to a report filed today with the Missouri Ethics Commission. Included is $453 to reimburse meals from St. Louis lobbyist John Bardgett and $277 spent at Scottrade Center on “meals and entertainment”. . .Are you aware that when you call Urology Consultants and you’re asked to wait, the receptionist asks, “Can you hold?”

What is a finish in the Iowa Republican caucuses – an eight-vote margin separating first place finisher Mitt Romney and surging second-place combatant Rick Santorum!  Over at CNN, Wolf Blitzer is still taking oxygen from hyperventilating the results. Romney may have been the numerical winner, but Santorum caught the wave in a race that seemed more like “Wheel of Fortune” with the frontrunners du jour. Santorum is probably wishing he had stopped at a funeral on caucus day – he could have recruited six pallbearers, a widow and an undertaker to close the gap.  Presumably the preacher was already a fan of the new darling of evangelical voters.

Ron Paul, age 76, credited his third-place showing to the excitement of younger voters. Newt Gingrich finished fourth and used his caucus night speech to attack Ron Paul as dangerous on foreign policy.  Paul hit back, dubbing Newt a “chickenhawk.” Their rumble continues in New Hampshire. Rick Perry was in fifth place in Iowa and he caught a plane back to Texas.  Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, who tried to hit every county in the final stretch in Iowa, looked lovely with the sound turned down.  Meanwhile, Herman Cain, who is hopefully home mending fences with the missus, scored few votes than “No Preference” and “Other.”

Local GOP big shot Sam Fox, who heads Mitt Romney’s Missouri finance team, is expressing some trepidation about his candidate’s short term prospects. “I would feel much better about the outcome of this campaign if the primary were three months off rather than three weeks away,” Fox says in today’s N.Y.Times. Asked bout stoppingNewt Gringrich’s rising popularity in the days ahead, Fox admits, “I don’t think there is much that (Romney’s campaign) can do.”

Who’s getting trashed these days?  Let’s begin with Malcolm Forbes, whose publication is in decline.  The tell-all book is by former editor Stewart Pinkerton and titled, “The Fall of the House of Forbes.”  David Evanier has penned a tome with dirty dish about crooner Tony Bennett - “All the Things You Are: The Life of Tony Bennett.”  Steven Spielberg is getting flak over his taping a message seen at a Bar Mitzvah on the grounds of the Auschwitz concentration camp.  Doctors, who lay off to play golf and get a healthy day in the office. Lindsay Lohan, who’s come up with a hundred new ways to become a burden to her family. The woman in the elevator at Plaza-Frontenac, who told her friend, “I’ve got a new pill and it has nothing but side-effects.” Bernard Madoff, whom people love to hate in installments – they’ll last longer. The somewhat drunk reporter, who called the newspaper. “City desk,” voiced a receptionist to which the reporter asked, “Which drawer?” Criminal “Whitey” Bulger, who should go home now that his cage is cleaned. Newt Gingrich, who never exaggerates about his accomplishments but tries his best.  John Edwards, who learned from his mistakes, but he should’ve studied more for the test. Lady Gaga, who has Van Gogh’s ear for comedy.They won’t say that former president of Egypt Hosni Murbarak is rotten, but they get the sinking feeling that Hitler didn’t die in that bunker. Every time Joan Rivers wants to express herself, some people suggest UPS. Finally, there’s Tom Cruise and to him, bubble-gum cards are part of the Great Books series.

About Newt Gingrich’s aspiration to run for U.S. president, Bill Clay, Sr., said, “He was the worst speaker of the house and he closed down Congress twice. A lot of people suffered. The Tea Party is ruining the Republican Party.”  Seated at the historic Sunset C.C. in south county for the 25th annual William Clay Scholarship and Research Fund golf tourney and dinner, Clay, the first African-American congressman, who previously served as 26th ward alderman, ticked off some achievements including how he helped the late Robert Kennedy get blacks to register in an election.  “Jack Dwyer of the Democratic Central Committee didn’t want them to register,” he recalled. “Kennedy got 28 people to town to help with the registration and they fell in line.  After his brother, Jack became president and Bob became attorney general, he helped me in an attempt to revive the small arms plant. We didn’t get it, but we remained friends.”  Of today’s pols, Clay lauded Cong. Russ Carnahan as being “a great legislator” and of his sister, Mo. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan – “You’re not going to corner me on that,!” Clay exclaimed.
Then, the 80 year-old Clay turned to the barbs he got from the old, conservative Globe-Democrat. He recalled, “One night, I got a phone call, that the paper’s publisher was hauled into the police station for
soliciting sex from a prostitute in the area of Enright and Euclid.  I ran to the station and confronted him and said, ‘You don’t like black people, but you sure love black whores!” Clay heaped praise on his wife, Carol, with whom he’s been married for 51 years, and his son, U.S.Cong. William Lacy Clay, Jr., who arrived with his sister, Michelle and his nephew, Clay. Lacy opined, “Newt has a following and he’d be great competition to Palin and Romney. He’d be a front-runner. However, President Obama will make mincemeat out of him. No one can campaign like Obama.” As to his take on the 13th and final casino license in Missouri, Lacy said,”I’m supporting a casino in north county, because that region sorely needs an infusion of jobs. Cape Girardeau is ultra-conservative and its religious right will be up in arms against it.”

For a mere $100,400 a couple, you and your spouse/partner could have rubbed shoulders with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was tubthumping for his former Republican colleague U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt’s run for the U.S. Senate in 2010. The event was quietly held last week at Kimmy and Steve Brauer‘s Hunter Farms manse, included a private reception. And, then for a pithy $10,000 a couple, you could have attended a photo reception in the estate’s horse stables (phew!). Blunt’s rivals are Rep. Chuck Purgason, a Republican Blunt seems determined to ignore; and Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat Blunt seems to determine to engage. (For her part, the savvy Carnahan seems happy to ignore both of them.) . . . St. Louis County’s 5th Floor is poised to celebrate the return of staffer Tom Curran, as County Executive Charlie Dooley‘s director of intergovernmental relations. Curran will fill the slot vacated by Darin Cline, now a consultant to Dooley’s reelection committee. Curran, who once toiled for Buzz Westfall and the county Planning Department, currently works at Piper Jaffray, an investment firm . . . Pollsters were ringing phones in St. Louis County last week, asking a very long list of questions about Metro and an local public transportation (sample question: If voters approved a sales tax increase should it be spent on expanding MetroLink or on improving bus service?) . . . St. Louis City License Collector Michael McMillan will be back at City Hall next week after a month or so fellowship abroad. Rarely has a homecoming been so anticipated by all floors of City Hall.