Carnival of Divided Government LI Unus et Quînquâgintâ Special Leap Year/Day Edition

Welcome to the 51st edition of the Carnival of Divided Government LI - The Special Leap Year / Leap Day / Leaping Mitt Romney Edition.

February 29th - Leap Day. Like presidential elections, it only comes around every four years. On this Leap Day, Mitt Romney leaped over his primary Republican competitor for the GOP nomination with decisive victories in Arizona and Michigan. Or not. No matter. The importance of this day to this carnival should be obvious to all. The Dividist has one whole free extra day to keep the monthly carnival on track and post the second carnival of the year in the second month of the year. Whew. Just made it.

Year of Divided Government Dragons 龍 2012 Senate Election Outlook

King DivGoverah astride the capitol.
A 2012 divided government sequel?

For the committed dividist, deciding how to vote in a national election is a two step process. The first step is a realistic clear-eyed assessment of the prospects for either party taking control of the House, Senate, and White House. The next step is advocating and casting a vote for the scenario most likely to prevent one party rule of the legislative and executive branches. Finding the divided government vote in any given election cycle is far easier than it sounds. In fact, it is usually quite obvious.

It's Halftime in Canada, Mexico and Italy

UPDATED: 07-Feb-12

image ripped from Jalopnik

Yesterday, like most Americans, I watched the game (and commercials) and enjoyed both. I thought the Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad at halftime was excellent. It never occurred to me that this was an overtly political ad, or endorsing Obama's re-election, or supportive of corporate bail-outs. Who knew? Apparently I am not sufficiently politicized to recognize the offensive polarizing nature of the ad.

I naively saw the ad as simply a straight-line continuation of the theme and style of Chrysler's excellent "Imported from Detroit" Eminem ad last year.

Here is the 2011 Eminem ad:

Year of Divided Government Dragons 龍 2012 Political Prognostication & the House of Representatives

The three headed King Divgoverah 2010 dragon ravages the homeland

We are in the midst of a two week celebration of the Chinese New Year and it is not just any new year celebration. This is the Year of the Dragon - the Water Dragon* - the most auspicious, desirable, and luckiest of the Chinese zodiac menagerie. It is, of course, also an election year. Can we glean any meaning from this collision of ancient Asian astrology and modern American politics?