Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail In Las Vegas

Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail In Las Vegas

Just in case I never have a chance to mash up two Hunter Thompson books in a headline again.

The GOP is praying down in South Carolina, as the Huckster takes it even further and compares gay marriage to bestiality, surpassing even Rick "Man On Dog" Santorum:

I think the radical view is to say that we’re going to change the definition of marriage so that it can mean two men, two women, a man and three women, a man and a child, a man and animal.

The scary thing is, that might actually WIN him votes in South Carolina. Mason Dixon says:

McCain 27%
Huckabee 25%
Romney 15%
Thompson 13%
Paul 6%
Giuliani 5% (another sixth place? Back in college forensics -- that's speech, not CSI -- we had this thing called Sixth Corps, for people who qualified for the final round of six speakers in an event but then finished dead last. Rudy seems to be bucking for membership.)

For the Dems, it's Vegas, baby. Back in July `06 when the calendar got set up, I really though the Dems and media were going to blow off icy Iowa and New Hampshire and spend the six months before the season in Vegas. Instead, Nevada got a compressed week and a half.

There's polls, sure. But unlike Iowa, Nevada has no track record of caucuses, so there's really no freakin' way of knowing who's gonna show up. Mason Dixon has Hillary by nine over Barack, but hasn't released the actual numbers.

As for John Edwards? Well, let's quote one Vegas expert:

I'm gonna keep on the run
I'm gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke well
Ill always remember that I had a swingin' time

Here's three takes on that analysis.

The original, 1961:



Dead Kennedys, 1979, with a nod to Hunter Thompson:



ZZ Top, at the very end of their MTV phase in `92. This was one of those "new song on the greatest hits album" things that used to drive completists crazy -- at least until the download era.



This song seems to come around every 15 years or so, so we're about due. Notice how ZZ Top's Elvis sounds almost like Bill Clinton?

Speaking of Vegas, the Vegas line on Sunday is Packers by 7 1/2, but down by 10 in a hypothetical Packer-Patriot Super Bowl.