Jon Huntsman:
Huntsman is staffing up in South Carolina and hitting the stump in New Hampshire. He's going after the endorsement of the Bush family. But Huntsman is far too reasonable. Conservative bloggers at Verum Serum produced a video that depicted Huntsman as a RINO. Huntsman is against the idea of a border fence, saying the notion "repulses" him. He's also pro-stimulus and the 2012 field's Afghanistan war critic. All of that will only bolster the critics on Huntsman's right flank.
He's four-square behind Paul Ryan's plan to gut Medicare. And Matt Yglesias notes that he's seemingly willing to embrace crackpot monetary theories as a way of closing the "wingnut gap."
Michele Bachmann:
Slow week. It seems she'll hold off until June. She plans to make her announcement in Waterloo, Iowa, where she was born.
Herman Cain:
Last weekend Cain announced his candidacy at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia. He takes command in a public appearance, dominating milquetoasts like Romney and Pawlenty. in a Gallup poll released this week, Cain led all comers in the category of "positive intensity," the difference between strongly favorable and strongly unfavorable ratings. Cain gets a score of 27. More importantly, he's suddenly polling at 8 percent in the GOP field. He's behind frontrunners Romney and Palin, and is in the thick of the next tier with Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. For a guy who was virtually unknown a month ago, this is great news.
He had an awkward moment on Fox News Sunday when he didn't seem to know what Chris Wallace meant by "right of return." Once Wallace helped him out, Cain said, "I don't think they have a big problem with people returning." Later, after someone told him what he was supposed to think about the matter, he said the opposite.
He is also maybe the only figure in the GOP that will just admit that Ryan's Medicare plan is a voucher system.
In his announcement speech, Cain also participated in the grand tradition of not knowing the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, while simultaneously participating in the grand tradition of sanctimoniously lecturing Americans about how important those documents are.
More insignificant Republican trivia after the jump.
Newt Gingrich:
Gingrich is laying low after his catastrophic first week.
Public Policy Polling reports that Newt has "completely tanked with Republican voters, providing real confirmation that his campaign rollout has been a total disaster." National Review is cheering this development.
"While Republicans of all stripes pilloried him in the press and Democrats gleefully cheered them on, Gingrich stood alone with few -- if any -- high-profile names stepping up to defend him." Gingrich's career has left behind a trail of intense rivalries, simmering grudges, and wafer-thin core support that has left him with few friends to carry out his campaign.
The Tiffany's thing (with Newt's $250,000 - $500.000 line of credit, essentially an interest-free loan) develops: Tiffany's lobbies big time with the mining industry -- gold, silver, diamonds -- may be connected with Callista's position as chief clerk at the House Agriculture Committee.
And Gingrich is seeking to portray himself as NOT a Washington insider: "I'm not a Washington figure, despite the years I've been here," Gingrich said. "I'm essentially an American whose ties are across the country and is interested in how you change Washington, not how you make Washington happy."
Sarah Palin:
There's a two-hour video on Palin coming out, "The Undefeated." Supporters see this as the first step in Palin's effort to rebuild her image in the eyes of voters who may have soured on her. She's beginning a bus tour of the eastern United States over Memorial Day weekend.
There's a new tell-all book about her coming out this week. An anonymous source said that Fox News' Roger Ailes thinks Palin is an "idiot" -- which Fox News is disputing. She hasn't been released from her Fox contract, as were Gingrich and Santorum. She hasn't filed papers, attended debates, or hired a campaign staff.
Ron Paul:
In a new Gallup poll, Paul is in third place behind Romney and Palin and the only candidate in the field besides the two frontrunners to crack the double-digits.
Tim Pawlenty:
His campaign video and announcement and USA Today op-ed were overshadowed by Palin's movie and bus tour. The new Gallup poll put him behind Herman Cain. (His hometown newspaper ran his presidential announcement on its obituary page.)
PAWLENTY: "For decades before I was elected, governors tried and failed to get Minnesota out of the top 10 highest-taxed states in the country. I actually did it." - Campaign announcement.
THE FACTS: Minnesota remains among the 10 worst states in its overall tax climate, according to the Tax Foundation. In its 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index, the anti-tax organization ranks Minnesota 43rd, making it the eighth worst state. The ranking slipped from 41st two years earlier. The index considers corporate, individual, sales, unemployment insurance and property taxes.
He's in favor of Paul Ryan's plan to phase out Medicare, which probably looked like a much better stance to take before it cost the GOP the special election in New York's 26th District.
Mitt Romney:
Mitt Romney will formally enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination next week in New Hampshire.
HuffPost's Jon Ward reports there is a mission mounting to take down the Romney 2012 campaign before it can get much further down the road: A top goal of the nation's most influential national Tea Party group, Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, is to stop Mitt Romney from winning the nomination.
Romney is trying to take credit for being first with the idea to bail out the auto industry -- although he trashed Obama's plan pretty thoroughly on a couple of occasions.
Rick Santorum:
Miley Cyrus has been posting anti-Santorum tweets condemning his anti-gay-equality stand. What does it say that the news about Santorum is tweets by Miley Cyrus?
Santorum typically pulls in about 2 or 3 percent in the polls and has no real appeal outside of religious nuts,
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