With the news today that Joe the Plumber is running for office in Ohio, it reminds me of my blog from Oct. 2008, right before the last presidential election. You remember Joe the Plumber? His first name was not really Joe and he was not a licensed plumber. The Republicans tried to use him against Obama and he eventually became a supporter of the Tea Party. I don't know if he will win but it reminded me of the blog about all the different types of Joes that Obama and McCain could have used in their campaign. I noticed that the number 9 is being used during this campaign. You have Cain's 9-9-9 plan and Romney's 59 steps and the Wall Street Occupiers claiming they are the 99% of the population. Don't forget that the unemployment rate is stuck at around 9% for a long time now. Coincidences? I think not. Obama and McCain did not use my Joe ideas but maybe the Republican candidates today will try some of my number 9 ideas:

Michele Bachmann will try to get a vp nomination by saying that John Adam was helped by a woman called 99. I don't think she will Get Smart and know it was Don Adam.

Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman will be dialing 911 soon because their campaigns are dying.

Michele Bachmann will demand equal opportunity to play because of Title IX.

In trying to get the Canadians who became naturalized citizen to vote, a candidate will claim that he is the Great One of politics, old number 99.

Romney, whose family is from Michigan, will say that he is the really Mr. Hockey by claiming jersey #9, worn by Gordie Howe.

Ron Paul will claim that he is so frugal that he does all his shopping at 99 cent stores.

Football is king in Texas but Rick Perry will declare that he likes baseball better because it is played by 9 players a side over 9 innings.

Perry will also claim that Texas is so powerful that he is responsible for gas prices always ending in .99 cents.

Cain will start offering 9 topping pizzas for $9.99 from Godfather's Pizza. It is an offer you can't refuse unless you want a horse head on your bed.

Romney will try to get rid of his Mormon image by singing "99 bottles of beer on the wall".

John McCain will get back into the race by claiming he has 9 lives.

In trying to get the Hispanic vote, a candidate will try to get the football player Ocho Cinco to change his name to Nueve Nueve.

There are 8 Republican candidates. At the end of the primary season the Republicans will likely wish there was a #9: Chris Christie.

A few days ago the LA Times reported that only about 20% of NCAA division 1 schools made a profit from the athletic department. Most have to be subsidized by the school with general funds or student activity fees. I think that would make a strong argument against paying athletes. How can you expect other students to pay more and do with less in the classroom so that elite athletes can get paid? There is an argument that since football (and maybe basketball) teams bring in most of the money then those athletes should be paid. That will create a two tier system, although one can say that this already exist as football and basketball players get more perks even now.

It is amazing to me that in this time of economic crisis that so much money is thrown into college sports. Most public schools are running deficits and tuition is rising, but there is no cutbacks in most of these schools. Cal tried to cut a few sports last year but donations poured in to reinstate them. How come there isn't enough donations to stop cutting of classes available or to lower the tuition? Oregon is improving their athletic facility because of generous donation from Philip Knight of Nike. So they have become a football power but their academics is still mediocre. Now Conference USA and Mountain West are trying to merge. I think they will have teams from Virginia all the way to Idaho. None of these schools except for maybe Boise State can possibly make a profit. Wouldn't you think that the traveling expense increase will dramatically increase with this merger? Also the long travels will cause more fatigue for the students. The original idea of collegiate sports was a sound mind in a sound body. I think we have lost our minds.

It seems that with each passing season I find less and less good programs on tv. There are a lot more channels than ever before but that only means there are more junks on than before. I am especially annoyed by all these reality shows. The Real Housewives of _______ are all terrible. I don't want to know anything about the Kardashians. How many singing competitions are there on now a days? American Idol was very good in the beginning but I don't see how one can watch so many of these copycat shows. I used to like Dancing with the Stars but this season I just can't into it. There were always annoying people on like Kate Gosselin and Floyd Mayweather, but this season there seems to be more of them. And what was that Carrie Ann crying over Chas Bono's performance? It was terrible! And Nancy Grace had the gall to say that she deserved 8s! Let's get some originality in programming!

If the above rant doesn't make me sound old then consider that I like couple of the shows that are from the 60's. Mad Men and Pan Am. Now you know I am old. To me these shows bring back memories of how I saw America when I was a young boy and an immigrant. I am sure a lot people like these shows because of nostalgia. It was a time when America was #1 in almost everything and was still rising. Everybody likes American products and want to travel in luxurious jets like Americans. But to me these shows are a reminder for those who want to go back to the good old days: it wasn't as great as you remember them to be. Everybody was smoking and drinking nonstop on Mad Men which meant that people from that era died much sooner and suffered more health problems earlier. There were not much opportunities for women or minorities. Witness the people in power were all white males then. Even for most white men life was not necessary better than today. The main character in Mad Men was very high in the corporate ladder. Yet his home would be about middle class level today. Add to the fact that there was worry about the Russians attacking us, you can see that the good old days were not as good as we think. Of course I think most people today would be correct if they rather be traveling on Pan Am with the characters from Mad Men than be on Spirit Airline with cast of Jersey Shores!

With the announcement of Christie and Palin that they will not run, the race to be the Republican nominee will be down to Perry and Romney. There is no time left for anyone else to get in the race and raise money and get an organization going, what with the first primaries and caucuses being pushed earlier and earlier. A few weeks ago I predicted that either Romney or Perry will win with Bachmann and Paul hanging on for few more months. This looks to be correct. However, I had no idea that Herman Cain would be among the top three at this time. I thought he would have been eliminated. Still there is no chance that he will win. The Republicans are just frustrated with the performance of Perry and Bachmann and they don't really like Paul and Romney. All the conservative talk by Cain, delivered much better than Perry, have gotten him this far. But now that people are noticing him, there will be more scrutiny and he will fall out soon enough.

The conservatives had pushed Perry into the race. Then they found out they don't really like his stand on immigration and the HPV vaccine! Plus they found he couldn't debate well. I still think that he has a decent chance because most Republicans still don't like Romney. But again I think if the country stays the same next fall, Romney will have even chance against Obama, while Perry would lose to Obama. Perry can win, of course, if the economy gets even worse or if there is a terrorist attack. Perry can also win if he gets Christie to be vp. But after declining so many times, I don't think Christie will accept vp either. I think if the Republicans lose to Obama again, and Christie loses 50 lbs, I will guarantee that he will run in 2016.