Romney on Leno

Mitt TV: Mitt Romney is scheduled for some gab time with Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show" Wednesday night (although right now, he would get before more eye balls if he sat down with the trio of hosts on ABC's "Nightline", but that's another story). How coy will Romney be? Come on. He is running, isn't he? What would have to happen for him NOT to run? He seems to be trying to figure out HOW to run. He spent a gazillion dollars to try to win the Iowa Caucuses in 2008, but he still couldn't catch Mike Huckabee's campaign on a shoe-string budget (what is a shoe-string, any way?). So will he go slowly in Iowa, if at all, for a while this time around. Maybe even skip the Republican Party of Iowa's Straw Poll next August? And then just shoot for a top 3 finish in Iowa? Would that be good enough to give him the big mo into New Hampshire? Romney, instead of trying to play on his economic/money management credentials in 08, tried (arguably unsuccessfully) to play to the social conservatives in Iowa. That was a tough sell for some since he came from a state with same-sex marriages. In light of the Tea Party movement and the ever-escalating federal debt, will he focus more on finances this time and concentrate less on Iowa and more on other states?

Unemployment Out: What should we do with people who can't/have been able/haven't tried to get a job (I tried to include everyone for every reason) and will now lose their unemployment? Some economists believe cutting off their unemployment will only hurt the economy. While some Republicans don't want to add to the deficit with the cost of the unemployment extension? The Iowa Workforce Development estimates about 2,000 Iowans will lose their benefits each week. What's the right thing to do? Surely, there are some people who just haven't been able to get a job. And, yes, there are those people who just haven't bothered to really try to get a job. Should we help any of them by extending unemployment for a limited time? Tell them all they are now on their own? What's the right thing to do?

Here's what outgoing Governor Chet Culver had to say about it in a statement:

“Today, emergency unemployment insurance benefits expire, leaving millions of Americans without a key lifeline to help them keep food on the table and make ends meet while they fight to find a job.

“I am urging the members of Iowa’s congressional delegation to do everything they can to extend unemployment benefits and assist our Iowa families.

“In December alone, at least 10,000 Iowans and more than two million Americans will lose this aid, and if we don’t act, almost seven million people total, will lose coverage over the next year. Allowing these benefits to expire will mean many Iowans will lose the ability to buy the basics as they look for work. Extending support to those hardest hit by the economic crisis is not just the right thing to do, it’s the right economic policy. Letting millions more workers suffer hardship will hurt our economy at a critical point in the recovery.”