Open thread: The “Fred’s and Mitt’s last chance” debate!

9 p.m. ET on Fox News from Myrtle Beach, SC. The anticipation over Ron Paul’s impending immolation has deflated a bit thanks to his CNN appearance, but only a bit: Kudos to Wolf Blitzer for tossing him softballs so that Wallace can put the screws to him in primetime. Tonight’s the last spin of the wheel for Fred and Romney, needless to say. With McCain and Huck in front of him, Fred’s going RINO-hunting; expect him to hammer the “true conservative” meme to the point of desperation. Mitt’s task is tough given the fact that Michigan is the must-win for him now, not SC. That means less Carolina social-con red meat about values and the war and more Detroit red meat about economic recovery. Something to chew on while you watch — even if one of them dropped out and could somehow cede all his votes to the other, that would still only put the survivor one point ahead of Captain Amnesty. How did we get to this point?

Also needless to say, count on lots of surge anniversary talk from McCain and some “culture of life” red meat from Huck. While you wait, enjoy the latest on Bloomberg’s already insufferable flirtation with his messianic nonpartisan presidential run. He’s Mitt Romney minus the looks, charisma (really), and conservative values, plus a few extra plutocratic billion in the bank. Where do I sign up?

Two videos for you, too. The first is McCain’s primary strategy — from last month. His guys may not have money but they know what they’re doing. The second is … unfortunate.

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