It Is Still Seventeen Months Before the Election. So We Cannot Yet Be at Peak Bullshit from the Media of the Washington Village. Nevertheless...
Live from La Farine: if I did not already know that we have 17 months during which the flow and intensity of the bullshit from the Washington Village media political press corps will only increase, I would have thought we were at peak bullshit now.
Do people really pay $1000 a year to read things like this beat-sweetener from Tim Alberta in the National Journal about how:
South Carolina is Marco Rubio's State to Lose.... Rubio is putting a stranglehold on South Carolina.... Rubio has become an adopted prince of South Carolina's political royalty... snatching up the state's top talent... achieved... an organizational lock... 'put together a first-class team'... courtship... goes beyond his roster of official allies... that's only a fraction of the South Carolina talent Rubio has on payroll... Whit Ayres, Rubio's highly respected pollster, launched his career in South Carolina... crucial hire... Katie Baham Gainey, a veteran of First Tuesday Strategies and Romney's 2008 campaign... "He has an all-star team"... courtship of South Carolina goes beyond his roster of official allies... been at the task of building alliances here for six years...
?
This beat-sweetener that in paragraph 26--twenty-six--TWENTY-SIX--XXVI--finally says:
The most recent poll was conducted by Winthrop before Rubio's April 13 launch and showed him taking only 4 percent, lagging behind Walker, Bush, and five other candidates...
That's eighth place.
The one piece of real information in the article, delayed until paragraph 26.
That's how much influence his elite-network-building has had on the thinking of potential Republican primary voters.
Of course, Tim Alberta hastens to add, in paragraph 27:
Now that he's a candidate, Rubio's numbers will almost certainly spike.... This reality could be unsettling for... in particular Lindsey Graham...
**: South Carolina Is Marco Rubio's State to Lose http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/his-state-to-lose-20150522:
(Subhead) While his rivals spar elsewhere, Rubio is putting a stranglehold on South Carolina.
(¶1) Photos... crowd every available inch of First Tuesday Strategies' suite—framed on desks... [with] one man featured more prominently than anyone else: Marco Rubio.
(¶2) The freshman senator's face is printed on buttons, direct-mail flyers, promotional brochures, dinner programs....
(¶3) In the [past] six years... Rubio has become an adopted prince of South Carolina's political royalty... snatching up the state's top talent....
(¶4) As a result, Rubio has quietly achieved... an organizational lock on one of the most important states en route to the GOP nomination.
(¶5) The senator's inner circle is stacked with South Carolina veterans....
(¶6) In fact... several of the state's most prominent and politically active businessmen have made it known they will support Rubio....
(¶7) 'Senator Rubio has put together a first-class team,' says Matt Moore...
(¶8) J. Warren Tompkins runs the pro-Rubio super PAC Conservative Solutions... central to the senator's 2016 operation....
(¶9) He also is cofounder of First Tuesday Strategies....
(¶10) Down the hall from Tompkins at First Tuesday is Drea Byars, indisputably the most prolific fundraiser in South Carolina politics.... Drea's husband, Luke, the firm's managing partner....
(¶11) Rubio’s courtship of South Carolina goes beyond his roster of official allies.
(¶12) But that's only a fraction of the South Carolina talent Rubio has on payroll....
(¶13) Whit Ayres, Rubio's highly respected pollster, launched his career in South Carolina....
(¶14) Another crucial hire is Katie Baham Gainey, a veteran of First Tuesday Strategies and Romney's 2008 campaign....
(¶15) "You can tell who's serious about South Carolina," says Glenn McCall....
(¶16) McCall pauses, and after several deliberate nods, adds: "He has an all-star team."
(¶17) "It's great to be back in South Carolina, a place that believed in me," Rubio told a crammed auditorium....
(¶18) Indeed, Rubio's rise in South Carolina dates back to June 2009, when DeMint became the first national figure to endorse the young Floridian's upstart Senate campaign against Charlie Crist....
(¶19) "That gave him a chance to get one-on-one time with some of DeMint's key political backers"....
(¶20) A few years later, at the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa, Rubio... came to address the always-popular South Carolina delegation....
(¶21) Meanwhile in the Senate, Rubio forged a close friendship with his colleague Tim Scott....
(¶22) Rubio's courtship of South Carolina goes beyond his roster of official allies....
(¶23) While Rubio has been at the task of building alliances here for six years....
(¶24) ...Walker's failure to make a staffing splash in South Carolina has been especially surprising, McCall adds....
(¶26) Rubio's operation is eager to keep the network he has built under wraps.... The most recent poll was conducted by Winthrop before Rubio's April 13 launch and showed him taking only 4 percent, lagging behind Walker, Bush, and five other candidates
(¶27) Now that he's a candidate, Rubio's numbers will almost certainly spike....
(¶28) This reality could be unsettling for one candidate in particular: Lindsey Graham.... Nobody... thinks he can win South Carolina, much less the nomination...
