The Scott Cox Report |
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 Veteran news talk radioman Scott Cox Show is now stirring the pot online. Come jump into the conversation...
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| Posts from February 2012 |
Romney Has The Momentum Again. For Now.
by Scott Cox
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posted Feb 13 2012 1:33AM
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So, Mitt Romney has regained the latest round of simulated momentum. As soon as the GOP race narrowed to 4 candidates, the assumption was that Mitt was the obvious nominee. Then he had that really bad day in Florida, where he not only lost to Newt Gingrich, but also found out that Rick Santorum had beaten him in Iowa. Then, all of the sudden it was a 2 horse race again. Newt was right in the thick of things. Santorum and Ron Paul were novelty candidates. Or so everyone thought. Next thing you know, Newt starts talking about colonizing the moon, and drops off the national radar. So, it's all about Mitt again. Everything is going according to plan. or so it seemed.
Then, things got weird again. Santorum swept the 3 caucuses in the midwest, and somehow we were back to a 2 man race, but with the wrong 2 men. Now it looked like Santorum was the only other republican capable of giving Mitt a run for his money. Newt's billionaire superpac donor announced he was thinking about heaping all that cash on Santorum if it looked like he had the best shot at defeating President Obama in November. So now Santorum is raising cash like crazy, and in a lot of states, polling ahead of Romney. So everything is coming up Rick Santorum, right? Well, actually not so much. The ridiculously low voter turnout in Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota means that voters there aren't too fired up about any of the candidates, and whomever the candidate is will need much bigger turnout to turn those states red this year. And the big-time fundraising people know this, and will spend accordingly. Speaking of spending, Santorum's other problem is simply that Romney's superpacs will focus their negative ads on Santorum instead of Newt. So, how is all this starchy unfolding? Very well, if you're Mitt Romney. He won Nevada and Maine easily, and most recently he won the straw poll at CPAC, the largest conservative get-together of the political season. Sure, those straw polls are unreliable, and generally all those votes are bought and paid for, but it is an indicator that conservatives are perhaps more comfortable with the idea of Romney as their nominee than previously thought. So, what happens now?
All the strategies in play now revolve around Super Tuesday, and they should. 10 states will pick their guy, and if any candidate should gain a big advantage at the end of the day, then we will have a clear idea of who's going to take on Obama. The fireworks in the meantime will be provided by Romney and Santorum, as they throw everything they have at each other going into Super Tuesday. And for Santorum, it's all about how much cash he can raise in the meantime to keep taking the fight to Romney. That's why I say Romney is the current holder of fake momentum. There are still tons of delegates yet to be decided, and until Super Tuesday, we can only speculate on how they'll go. Until then, people around the country will be able to enjoy as many negative ads as they can stand. And then some. Then we can all sit back and watch Santorum struggle to keep up with Romney in a huge spending contest. And we all know how that will turn out. Maybe he can run with Romney for a while, but I doubt he can do it for long. So unless Newt comes back (highly unlikely), or a new candidate gets into the race (even more unlikely), it looks like we can all look forward to Romney vs Obama in November. Oh boy.
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The Super Bowl: Bad For Football Fans, Great For The Economy
by Scott Cox
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posted Feb 6 2012 2:26PM
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America's big day has come and gone. Super Bowl Sunday went off without a hitch. We got a pretty good football game, some (but only some) above-average commercials, and an astonishingly bad halftime show. But none of those things are why the Super Bowl is so important to America. Here are some fun facts about the greatest spectacle in sport.
More people travel to another place on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's a lot of gas getting burned. More pizza get bought and delivered than any other day of the year. More beer, soda (all kinds), potato chips, nacho cheese, hot dogs, wine, cheese, carrots (yes, carrots), bottled water, limes, cilantro, folding chairs, celery, avocados, glass cleaner, beans, (baked and refried), chili, plastic cutlery, orange juice, and crackers are bought in preparation for this game than any other event.
Then there are the big-ticket items. More people cite the Super Bowl as their primary reason for buying a new TV than any other, and it's not even close. People buy new furniture and other household upgrades for the big game too. See, the Super Bowl is far more than a sporting event -- it's a big part of our country's economic engine.
The Super Bowl rakes in less cash than Christmas, but way more than Valentine's Day, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Cinco De Mayo, and all the other spring holidays too. It's kind of a big deal. And while we all love Christmas, almost none of us bet on it, which is where the real cash get flowing on super Sunday.
About 70,000 fans went to Indianapolis for the big game. They all spent big bucks on tickets, lodging, and, presumably, Johnny Walker Red. But, while Indy certainly raked it in over the weekend, as usual, they couldn't hold a candle to Las Vegas. An estimated 350,000 folks made their way to Vegas for the Super Bowl, and while they saw the game on plasma screens instead of in person, they spent a lot more to do so.
Not only did they spring for lodging and food and beverage and tips, they wagered pretty close to $95 million. And that's just the legal sports book kind of gambling. The actual amount that was bet in Vegas alone is estimated at around $200 million. That's some serious re-distribution of wealth. And that's not counting the gambling houses all over the world, from Atlantic City to Monaco. Or my house, or yours, for that matter. Those dopey Super Bowl party games where you buy a square and a winner gets picked each quarter? Over half a billion dollars gets spent on those.
Add in all the friendly wagers that get made on the game, and the illegal-but-ubiquitous kind of gambling is around $2 billion. It's a good thing. For the winners, anyway. But also for the economy. People tend to spend cash that they won right away, whereas they will hang onto money they earned, so the economy gets a delayed boost after the Super Bowl. I know that the cash I won is going towards a couple of Johnny Cash records that I want on vinyl. So World Records will get a bump too. And don't forget all the band-wagoners out there who will spring for new Giants jerseys, hats and t-shirts. That adds up too.
Also, the fine folks on Madison Avenue will spend nearly $400 million to show you all those new commercials. Yes, they'll all be running all year, but make no mistake -- they were crafted especially for the big game. Think about this -- if Acura sells every NSX that is has available for sale in the U.S., they still won't make back the money they spent on that Seinfeld commercial. It was an excellent commercial, but also an excellent example of how much companies value the Superbowl as an advertising opportunity. Again, really good for the economy.
So even if you don't like the Patriots or the Giants, or care about football at all, just remember -- the Super Bowl is a hugely important day for our country. It brings us together, gives us something to root for, and most importantly, makes real people some real money. It's a great day all around, and not even Madonna can ruin that.
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