Marco, Chris, and Hillary. Oh My!

Since Dave posted that he was right about Iowa, I would like to do the same and claim some credit for warning Marco Rubio about that coveted post-SoTU spot - He sure shootin' dropped the ball in his weird lunge for the water bottle. I was going to post about it but it seemed like piling on, and so I let it pass because I am inherently kind. Besides: What more could I add to the howling choir of Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, Kimmel, Leno and SNL? Anywho, since then Sen. Rubio has been quite active in our Invisible Primary, and so we will start with him and then double back to Hillary. Away we go.

First, a tip of the hat to Rubio for Tweeting a picture of his water bottle immediately after his SoTU train-wreck. That showed self-awareness and a bit of moxie. It certainly showed that he tried to get in front of his self-made prat-fall, which is an attractive quality for someone who wants to be in the spotlight for the rest of his life. Rubio continued the self-deprecating-water-bottle humor on his trip to Israel, which seemed to be taking the joke a bit far, but whatever works. On the other hand, it feels old now so we'll turn our focus to Rubio's international trip that aimed to prove two things: One, that he should be taken seriously on significant foreign affairs issues; second, that by taking a hard pro-Israeli stand, he is waving a gigantic carrot in front of American Jews. And I think we all know that since Passover is right around the corner, Jews love nothing more than a carrot with which to make some Tzimmes. We all knew that, right? Tzimmes? OK, moving on... Marco came back from abroad and hit the ground running, going to New York to fund raise among the movers and shakers of Wall Street. Hilarity ensued when Rep. Peter King (R-NY) gave Rubio the big finger for opposing funding for Hurricane Sandy relief: “It’s bad enough that these guys voted against it, that’s inexcusable enough. But to have the balls to come in and say, ‘We screwed you now make us president?’” HA! But forget the balls reference for just a moment -- Rubio is working the IP system like a champ. Makes me want to hydrate.

Moving along the I-95 corridor, Gov. Chris Christie, another IP fave, has been in the news for three reasons. First, he was dinged by CPAC (and said he "Can't sweat the small stuff." You go, Chris!). Then came news that former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is hosting a fundraiser for the Governor's re-election campaign, joining similar efforts from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. Finally, the news out of New Jersey is that Christie is sooooo popular there and polling data predicts that he is going to win his re-election bid in a walk. All of this put together points to a strong Christie as he enters his gubernatorial re-election bid, setting himself up nicely for a war chest and national name recognition.

And finally, to the Democrats to the Democrat. A recent PPP poll shows that the former Secretary of State is a strong Invisible Primary candidate, at least in the state of Wisconsin. The poll, released yesterday, shows Hillary beating Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan in their home state, which is good news for her as she begins to write her memoirs. Joe Biden? Where are you? Probably off trying to fix the sequestration fiasco, which is where our attention must focus for now. But the IP continues!

Happy weekend, everyone!

It begins.

So, the best thing about being a college professor has to be the terrific students who love this poli-sci-rrific stuff as much as we do. And into the fold comes Nicholas, who brought his WaPo article to my attention today: The Invisible Primary begins in earnest. And thank you, Nicholas, who just earned extra credit points towards his final grade.

Now, anyone who knows me know that I loath the term "earnest" for reasons too personal to address here (you know what you did, Ernie!) but in this case I will give the word a pass, because it fits so well. We have begun the Invisible Primary in earnest. Who says so? Apparently... the pollsters, and "The Fix" of the Washington Post who felt fealty towards the horse race strong enough to go ahead and lay down some odds so freakin' early on in the game. Hence the love of the I.P. Please allow me to nugget it down for you, so you can skip your daily dose of Cillizza and get to the good stuff - catching up on "House of Cards.":

1) Most notably, the Fix skipped the Dems all together for now, making the passive-aggressive argument that Hillary was the one to beat (has he been reading this blog? Was he the one who asked what I was wearing? Oh Chris. You flatter.) and so it was a top 10 list of GOPers on the hunt.

2) The Boring Were Named for Intellectual Street Cred: You have your Thune, Kasich, Pence, and Portmans (Portmen? And why so many from Ohio?) who bring the brains to the operation and portend weighty conversations about budgets and balances that the rest of the electorate finds tedious. Yet important. but mostly boring.

3) The Rock Stars Were Named for Readability: We have our Ryans (again!), the Bushes (again!) and the Christies (again!) who are kicking ass and taking names. Oh, Paul Ryan - we loved your abs so much in the 2012 Veep-Stakes, maybe we will see you in 2016? Our Twitter feeds hope so. Jeb - everyone knew you were the smart one. Maybe our Bush fatigue has lessened - no wait. No, it hasn't. We still hate your family for destroying the world. Sorry! And good luck with that e-mail hacking thing, because that just stinks and you guys don't deserve that. Yeesh. And Chris - love, love, love the way you take command. So go ahead and make our day: Change the conversation about you, please. And thanks.

4) Bobby Jindall - if I may steal a line from a mediocre political move: You are the future of the Republican Party, And you always will be.

5) And finally: My man Marco. Giving the response to the SOTU on Tuesday! How freakin' COOL is THAT! Oh - but ask Bobby about the perils of that limelight. Sometimes it burns. You can do it, Marco Rubio! Everyone says you can! But the problems with the Invisible Primary? Sometimes "everyone" is wrong.

So, ladies & gentlemen, we have our all-male Republican review. Now that the top ten slate has been posted, let's watch how these men use the actual Invisible Primary mechanisms to advance their campaign and earn the positive media attention they are so obsessive about. Of course, it is still so incredibly early to cancel any other possible contenders, just as it is too early to lay odds at the horse race. But such is the joy of the Invisible Primary: So much time, so little to do.

Wait. Reverse that.