Politics Links: The Return of Ron Paul

-The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) held it's annual conference this week in Washington.  The highlight of the conference is the Presidential straw poll (read the results, it will only take a couple minute and they're really interesting).  The surprise winner of the straw poll . . . none other than TX Congressman Ron Paul.  48% of voters reported that they were students and 54% said they were aged 18-25 . . . so it's possible that Paul is far more popular among young voters than among older voters.

-Tom Schaller writes that we shouldn't be surprised at the result.  For the past year, he says, plenty of evidence has "connected the Tea Party movement to residual Ron Paulites. When is the national media going to finally make these connections?  Instead . . . these movement activists and their ideas are often discussed without much mention of their connections to Beck or Paul. Beck earns his share of attention, granted. But there is almost no recognition whatsoever of the true origins of this conservative backlash. The movement is instead covered as if it is the somehow the byproduct and wind in the sails of national Republicans like Michael Steele, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, when in fact it is operating wholly independently of any or all of them."

-While CPAC provided more evidence that centrists have lost control of the Republican party, Evan Bayh took to the NY Times to explain why he resigned.  The main problem, he says, is excessive partisanship . . . while many would agree with that point, fewer would agree with his solutions for the problem.


-Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, The Economist asks "Is America Ungovernable?"