by Art Kelly

Writing in Newsmax, Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., says Romneycare and Obamacare are identical.

McCaughey's 1993 analysis of Hillarycare exposed the exact mechanics of this complicated legislation.  Her analysis is credited by Wikipedia with being the major factor in turning public opinion overwhelmingly against the bill. 

She was later elected lieutenant governor of New York.  More recently, McCaughey has written The Obama Health Law: What It Says and How to Overturn It.

McCaughey states that Romneycare, signed into law in Massachusetts in 2006 by Governor Mitt Romney, has more in common with Obamacare than just the requirement that each person must purchase private health insurance. 

She says Romneycare "broadens the powers of government to dictate treatment decisions and even interferes in where and how patients die. The result will be a breathtaking shift of decision-making from the doctor at bedside to the state."

by Art Kelly

Including Florida, only 97 of the 2,286 delegates (4.24%) to the Republican National Convention, to be held the week of August 27 in Tampa, have been selected so far.

In the parlance of football, the equivalent of 12 minutes and 6 seconds are still left in the first quarter.

Accordingly, any attempt to anoint anyone as the likely nominee is highly premature.  The night of the Florida primary, second place finisher Newt Gingrich had signs proclaiming, "46 states to go."

According to Wikipedia, the complete results of the Florida primary are:

775,014 (46.42%) Mitt Romney
533,117 (31.93%) Newt Gingrich
222,798 (13.34%) Rick Santorum
117,105 (  7.01%) Ron Paul
    6,768 (  0.41%) Rick Perry
    6,198 (  0.37%) Jon Huntsman
    3,959 (  0.24%) Michele Bachmann
    3,494 (  0.21%) Herman Cain
    1,196 (  0.07%) Gary Johnson

The 1,669,649 votes this year were 279,849 votes less than were cast in the 2008 Republican primary in Florida--not a good sign for the GOP's general election prospects in that state.

by Art Kelly

1.  The outcome of the Florida Primary on January 31 cannot be predicted, as the winner is very likely to be determined by the CNN debate at 8 PM Eastern on Thursday, January 26.

During two separate periods in the campaign, Newt Gingrich had fallen to the bottom of the polls, only to come back to the top through impressive presentations in nationally televised debates with the other candidates.

But at other times, Gingrich has fallen fast when he did not do well in the debates.

For instance, in a debate just before the New Hampshire Primary, a previous issue of this newsletter recounted how Gingrich was hurt by a dramatic confrontation with Ron Paul regarding military service.

The result was a strong second place showing for Paul in the primary and a near-last place finish for Gingrich.

But in debates before the South Carolina Primary, a different issue of this newsletter reported on Gingrich's extremely powerful performances, which produced unprecedented standing ovations from the audiences.