¡Alarcon 2012! The crime spree continues...

Sometimes, things happen in the Los Angeles political game that are difficult to wrap your head around. Other times, things are fairly predictable.

The photo above is of City Councilman Richard Alarcon on the steps of the Criminal Courts Building after being indicted on over 30 charges of voter fraud.

So, of course....the next natural step for Alarcon would be... resigning in disgrace, or fleeing the country with his ill-gotten gains...right?

No way! It's re-election time, baby!

Alarcon has filed papers with the County Clerk to run for the State Assembly seat he bailed out on years ago. Alarcon is counting on the stupidity of the voters in the 39th Assembly District. He figures...hey....they were dumb enough to vote for him before... well... why not one more time?

In way, you have to admire the chutzpah.

Few people in the world are this arrogant.

I have an intense dislike of Alarcon, based on his pathological dishonesty and his tendency to fill city positions with talentless relatives.

I was joyous over his indictment last year, but have been bitterly disappointed by his failure to serve a single minute of time behind bars. I've also been disappointed in the voters of the 7th District failing to recall him or demand his immediate resignation.

If they truly are that dumb, maybe Richard Alarcon will be able to continue his crime spree at taxpayer expense.

How Rick Perry can win South Carolina

1. Forget about Iowa. Iowa tends to vote for strong anti-abortion candidates. But they couldn't get Mike Huckabee into the White House and they probably won't get Rick Santorum there, either. Let it go. Move on...quickly.

2. Start traveling and spending money in South Carolina. It is crucial to the Perry campaign to finish near the top in South Carolina. A bus tour is required.

3. Appeal to South Carolinians as an authentic Southerner. Paint the others as Northern liberals. Big government meddlers.

4. Talk up the 10th Amendment. Remember that this is where the Civil War started and many Southerners still hold a residual grudge over an overbearing and oppressive Federal Government.

5. Get some military commanders to back your campaign and put them in TV ads. South Carolina is loaded with military and ex-military. Talk up the Commander-in-Chief angle of the Presidency. Mention how the others might not be ready.

6. Remind South Carolina voters of Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum voting for and supporting massive government spending while in office. Throw around the phrase "Romneycare" a few times.

7. Forget about the Ron Paul voters. You weren't going to get them anyway, but neither were any of the others.

8. Get some of the other big name Southern Governors out on the campaign trail for you.

9. Raise more money. Santorum and Gingrich are almost broke.

10. Don't quit. Sweat it out. Grind out the days. Outlast Gingrich and Santorum to become the only "Anti-Romney" left. And you will win.

Rick Santorum teaches Christine Essel a lesson

Retail Politics.

That's how Rick Santorum won the Iowa Caucus.

(Well, technically he didn't win, but he made it a statistical tie with front-runner Mitt Romney.)

Santorum spent months in Iowa, going to small gatherings and civic functions and giving speeches to small crowds.

My preferred candidate, Governor Rick Perry of Texas, tried to do a drive-by on Iowa. He tried to use his big money to win the election. He spent millions on TV ads. It didn't work.

In the end, the voters preferred the man they had seen in person repeatedly for months at various local social functions. A backyard barbeque. A softball game. Rick Santorum was there. Shaking hands. Smiling. Charming people face to face. And it worked.

Santorum is now one of the top three candidates for the GOP nomination. The winner of the nomination has a decent chance to defeat Barack Obama in 2012.

Rick Perry ended up spending over $4 million dollars in Iowa. It worked out to about $400 per vote. That is mind blowing.

We had a situation here in Los Angeles where a lady named Christine Essel was running for City Council. She had connections and money, as she was a former executive at Paramount Pictures. She ended up spending over a million dollars running for this city council seat, and she lost.

My friends and I have often theorized that if Christine had spent all her time knocking on doors and shaking hands, she would have won. She is a charming lady with a bubbly personality. She could have routed Paul Krekorian.

Instead, she listened to bad advice and sent 157 mailers to every household, which ended up pissing people off. She ended up spending about $80 per vote received. At the time I joked that she would have done better if she had just walked about Council District 2 handing out $100 bills.

Santorum spent about $30,000 of his own money in Iowa....working out to about $1 per vote.

He beat Rick Perry, who saturated the airwaves with TV ads.

Rick Perry could also have walked around Iowa handing out $100 bills and he would have done better in the election.

But both Rick Perry and Christine Essel could learn a lesson from Rick Santorum. Sometimes it is the personal touch that counts in politics.

Surveying the wreckage after Iowa

Headline of the day: Mitt Romney wins Iowa Caucus by 8 votes over Rick Santorum.

Gee. Just fills you with confidence over our 2012 chances, right?

Anyway...let's get to the down-and-dirty analysis...starting in reverse order.

Jon Huntsman

Huntsman is a fool. You don't ignore the Iowa Caucus if you are running for President. History has shown that winning there (Mike Huckabee) doesn't always send you to the White House...but a poor showing there doesn't help, either. Huntsman should have checked with President Giuliani before deciding to blow off Iowa to chase votes in another, later primary state. Huntsman will get blasted in South Carolina, and he will be out.

Michele Bachmann

I have to admit to a soft spot for the Minnesota Congresswoman. I identify strongly with her ideologically, and could have supported her, but I felt she had a very thin resumé with very few accomplishments. She is tough, and a fighter... but sometimes your own personal passions are not enough to carry you to an election victory, as I have learned myself. I think Michele raised her profile and she should go back to Minnesota and run for Senator or Governor. I would love to see her take Al Frankens Senate seat in 2014.

Rick Perry

My own personal choice for the 2012 GOP nomination did not do well in Iowa. Rick Perry spent millions on TV ads, yet got poor results. His campaign has been hampered by the poor debate showings, which caused many to abandon him for other candidates. However, he is still viable because of his financial backing. Santorum and Gingrich are both almost broke and it will be difficult for them to continue on through all 50 states. Perry has the financial strength to continue this campaign. But he needs to finish near the top in South Carolina, or I think he will be done.

Newt Gingrich

Gingrich is still a viable candidate, and if he can survive to land more knockout blows in further debates, he will be OK. But this fourth place showing in Iowa did not help. Gingrich is still the most talented candidate and the biggest threat to Obama. Voters will have to overlook a mountain of baggage to make him their choice, though.

Ron Paul

Crazy old "Uncle Ron" continues to perplex the Republican establishment by refusing to go away. Ron Paul will not be the 2012 GOP Nominee. His foreign policy opinions are considered too dangerous to national security for far too many of the 2012 primary voters. He will plod along all the way to the GOP National Convention, piling up delegates, and then he will make a nice speech before the real nominee gets to the stage. His supporters will make a big noise in Tampa, but that will be it for Ron Paul.

Rick Santorum

To be honest, I don't know a lot about this former Senator from Pennsylvania. I had written him off from the start because he had lost badly as an incumbent Senator in 2006. But I agree with him on many issues. I think Iowa tends to vote for very strong anti-abortion candidates. They did it for Mike Huckabee in 2008, and they did it again last night with Rick Santorum.

Could Santorum go all the way and become President? Maybe. I don't know. But I do know that Iowa has catapulted Santorum into the top 3 just like they did for Mike Huckabee in 2008. Huckabee stayed near the top for the rest of that election and went to the Convention in St. Paul with a lot of delegates, but just not enough of them to win. At least for the rest of this primary season, Santorum is here to stay.

Santorums speech last night was amazing. It was so good that I rewound the DVR and watched it two more times. This guy is good. Very good. Maybe not as good as the Big Mouth in the White House....but he can definitely hang out on the same playing field.

I found myself very moved, emotionally, by his speech...and I don't even know anything about this guy. But Iowans obviously do. Santorum spent months shaking hands and attending small social gatherings with only a few dozen people in attendance. He did this the hard way...and he deserves this result. Congratulations to him and his team. But having said that, it leads us to....

Mitt Romney

I have made clear my disdain for this abortion and socialized-medicine-loving liberal from Massachusetts. I do not want him to be our candidate, but some in our party do. They see him as a sanitized moderate who won't offend anyone and won't make any mis-steps on the way to the White House. He is seen as the "safe" candidate for our party to choose.

God help us if we keep thinking this way.

The problem with Romney is that he really doesn't give anyone a specific reason to vote for him. And I think that could spell 2008 all over again in 2012.

Having said that, I acknowledge that Romney has been running for President for 6 years and has been building up the connections and endorsements you need to win a nomination. I think that with this win in Iowa, combined with his big win in New Hampshire next week that he is 75% of the way there for the nomination. He would have to stumble badly to blow it at this point. And I don't see that happening.

The Man From Paint Creek

Today has finally arrived. The Iowa Caucus is here and we begin the selection process to decide who will be the candidate to try and replace Barack Obama in the White House. I'm guessing that Tim Pawlenty is filled with regret right now for dropping out so early in the race.

No, Tim Pawlenty won't be the choice today. Neither will Herman Cain.

Today is kind of a make-or-break moment for some of the GOP Presidential candidates.

Those who finish near the bottom in Iowa will find little reason to continue their campaign.

Polls are saying that Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are leading, and it is highly likely that one of them will win the Iowa Caucus. I have a strong suspicion that it will be Ron Paul to win today. A Caucus is very different than an election. There are no voter lists or messy registration papers to deal with. All you have to do is cram a bunch of your supporters into a meeting hall and shout and scream that you support a certain candidate. To be quite honest, that is exactly what Ron Paul supporters are good at. In fact, when it comes to fanatical support, it is very difficult to top them.

Mitt Romney will do well. "Mr. 25%" rarely goes above or drops below a certain support level in the polls. He's not exciting, but for many voters, he will do.

I think that Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann will be dropping out soon enough. Their support is minimal, and barring some unusual surprise, tonight should be a very somber moment for them.

Me? I'm staying with the man from Paint Creek. Sure, Rick Perry bungled a few answers at the debates. But he has also been repeatedly re-elected Governor of Texas. He has been the steady captain of the worlds 13th largest economy. And he has made Texas such a desirable place to do business in that people are moving there in droves.

He helped create a positive situation for job growth, which is exactly what this election is going to be all about in 2012.

When it comes to guessing what type of leader these candidates would be, there are some clear facts out there on Rick Perry.

Unlike the other choices, we don't have to guess what type of leader Rick Perry will be if he goes to the White House.

We already know.

On Wisconsin!

Off to Pasadena today...

2012

The New Year won't make everyone happy....