TOP STORY: This morning, the New Hampshire Union-Leader announced it was endorsing NEWT GINGRICH in the state’s first-in-the-nation Republican Presidential Primary on January 10th.
The endorsement is a significant development in the 2012 Republican Primary race and the Union-Leader’s endorsement is a coveted prize for any presidential candidate. At this moment in the race, the endorsement is likely to send shock waves through the prevailing conventional wisdom: that Mitt Romney is the inevitable Republican nominee. And with over 10 days until the next scheduled candidates debate, there is a lot of time for the idea of Gingrich as frontrunner to solidify.
FROM THE ENDORSEMENT: “An Editorial: For President, Newt Gingrich”-
“…we don’t back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job.
We don’t have to agree with them on every issue. We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear.
Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate. But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running. In this incredibly important election, that candidate is Newt Gingrich. He has the experience, the leadership qualities and the vision to lead this country in these trying times. He is worthy of your support on January 10.”
The language is a striking rebuke to Mitt Romney, the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts, who has made it a point to emphasize his ties to the Granite State and who is counting on New Hampshire for a first primary win.
FROM THE GINGRICH CAMPAIGN: “Newt-Mentum: Newt Now Consensus Conservative Choice”
“With today’s endorsement by one of the country’s most important conservative barometer, the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the paper that was among the first to champion Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich has solidified his hold as the conservative front runner in the 2012 presidential race.”
THREE THINGS TO WATCH NEXT:
1/ Will Romney attack Gingrich?
2/ Will stories about “Newt Inc”- the elaborate business, non-profit and consulting conglomerate that Gingrich has built since leaving elected office, resonate more as Gingrich assumes front-runner status, or be discredited by the public as more attacks from a liberal media?
3/ Will Gingrich make a mistake, as he has been prone to do in the past, that will make his front or near-front runner status short-lived?
REAL CLEAR POLITICS AVERAGES
- National Nomination: Gingrich + 2.5%
- Iowa: Gingrich + 5.0%
- New Hampshire: Romney + 18.3%
- South Carolina: Cain + 1.0%
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY tonight fired its mens associate head basketball coach, Bernie Fine, after a third accuser came forward alleging that Fine sexually molested him as a child. Fine had been on administrative leave since November 17th. It was his 36th season with Syracuse.
Message to the SU community from Chancellor Nancy Cantor, in part:
“Frankly, the events of the past week have shaken us all. The taped phone call that ESPN revealed today was not provided to the University by Mr. Davis during the 2005 investigation by our legal counsel. Like the media review of the case a few years earlier, no other witnesses came forward during the university investigation, and those who felt they knew Bernie best could not imagine what has unfolded.”
ESPN has been leading the reporting on the Syracuse sexual abuse scandal and broke the news about today’s third accuser, whose story has not yet been corroborated, and the presence of a recorded audiotape from a previous accuser, Bobby Davis.
“Bobby Davis, now 39, told ESPN that Fine molested him beginning in 1984 and that the sexual contact continued until he was around 27. A ball boy for six years, Davis told ESPN that the abuse occurred at Fine’s home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.
Davis’ stepbrother, Mike Lang, 45, who also was a ball boy, told ESPN that Fine began molesting him while he was in fifth or sixth grade.
On Sunday, ESPN played an audiotape, obtained and recorded by Davis, of an October 2002 telephone conversation between him and Laurie Fine.
Davis told ESPN he made the recording, which also has been given to Syracuse police, without her knowledge because he knew he needed proof for the police to believe his accusations. ESPN said it hired a voice recognition expert to verify the voice on the tape and the network said it was determined to be that of Laurie Fine.”
The ARAB LEAGUE today approved a new series of economic sanctions against Syria, as a divided Middle East applies continued pressure against the regime of Bashar Assad. As the Washington Post reports, “The decision is the first of its kind by a body that is often perceived as divided and indecisive.” However, it is not immediately clear to what extent these sanction, which are meant to isolate Syrian business dealings, will have.
BLACK FRIDAY sales were up 16.7% over last year, the National Retail Federation reported today, to $52.4 billion. Over the course of the four day (or in the case of stores that opened on Thanksgiving night, five day) holiday weekend, 226 million shoppers spent an average of $398.62.
PUTTING THAT NUMBER IN PERSPECTIVE: It’s 74% of the US population (estimated in July at 307 million people). 133 million Americans voted in the 2008 presidential election.
WHAT DID WE BUY? (note: doesn’t add up to 100 because people buy in multiple categories)
- 51%- clothing & clothing accessories
- 40%- electronic items
- 22%- home decor
- 23%- gift cards
- 33%- toys
- 22%- jewelry
TOMORROW IS CYBER MONDAY and the National Retail Federation estimates that 123 million Americans will shop online tomorrow. 106.9 million Americans shopped online during Cyber Monday last year.
FOLLOW @ShopCyberMonday on Twitter, and visit www.cybermonday.com, for hour-by-hour deals tomorrow.
WATCH OVERNIGHT: At 12:01am PT, the deadline set by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for the eviction of Occupy LA protestors from City Hall passes. A similar deadline passed tonight in Philadelphia without incident to this point, with police standing by and not yet cracking down on 50 or so protestors who remain in Philly. It is not clear how forceful police will be in LA enforcing the Mayor’s deadline.
AT THE BOX OFFICE over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend:
1/ Twilight: Breaking Dawn- $42 million
2/ The Muppets- $29.5 million
3/ Happy Feet Two- $13.4 million
4/ Arthur Christmas- $12.7 million
5/ Hugo- $11.4 million
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: At halftime, its Steelers 10, Chiefs 6.
FINALLY: Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor was spotted tonight at the Giant Supermarket by Van Ness/UDC, no doubt doing some shopping at the neighborhood market after a long holiday weekend.
