February comes in with a bullet

Maybe even more than one. Ready, aim….

• We have reached the point of the permanent election campaign. We are still 22 long months away from the 2008 election, but we’re already hearing about candidates galore, for president, senator and down the line. There are already an astonishingly large number of candidates for president who have declared, with everyone from Hillary to Barack on the D side (c’mon, they are big stars, no surnames needed) and a motley group of candidates for the R side, including some dude who goes by the name “Mitt.” I have no favorites at this point, nor would I want to – it’s too damned soon to decide. The upcoming election is the most wide open contest since probably 1928. And it will be hugely consequential. I could sure use a respite, though.
• Molly Ivins died yesterday, succumbing to breast cancer at the age of 62. Ivins was a lively leftist, an unapologetic liberal who delighted in the stylish cheap shot. She was a regular scourge of Texas politicians and wrote frequently, and with great disdain, about President Bush. While I found her views to be completely ridiculous, she was a tremendous stylist. You have to appreciate talent, even if it is in the employ of wrongheaded thinking. It’s the rare talent that can combine a sneer and a smirk. Ivins could do it. RIP.
• Happy birthday to my kid sister, the attorney. I’m not sure what is more disconcerting – having a kid sister who has passed the Wisconsin Bar, or having a kid sister who goes by the name of “Marge,” who is coincidentally is married to guy who answers to “Butcher.” I mean, how the hell old does that make me? No, don’t answer that. Anyway, happy birthday, Marge – I’m proud of you!
• The Badgers had their 17 game winning streak snapped last night at Indiana. It was probably too much to ask them to go undefeated in the Big Ten, but it’s been a heck of a run so far. And a 21-2 record is pretty darned good.