For this round are (in no particular order): Herman Cain, John Bolton, Thaddeus McCotter, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Gary Johnson, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and John Huntsman

Changes from round three:

1. I’ve removed anyone who isn’t already declared candidate or at least hinted that he or she many get into the race.

The results from round three are here.

The candidates in this round are (in no particular order): Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, John Kasich, John Huntsman, John Bolton, Jeb Bush, Liz Cheney, Chris Christie, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Ron Paul.

Changes from round two:

1. I’ve added Jeb Bush, Liz Cheney, Chris Christie, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Ron Paul to the ballot.
2. I’ve removed John Thune and Mike Pence from the ballot since they’ve made it clear they’re not running.
3. I’ve removed the option of voting for “Other” from ballot, you still have the option of voting “Undecided” though.

The results from round two are here.

The former college student who guessed his way into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account during the 2008 U.S. presidential election was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Friday.

David Kernell’s lawyers had been hoping for probation only; federal prosecutors had asked for an 18-month sentence.

The judge in the case recommended that Kernell serve his time at a halfway house rather than federal prison, but that decision is up to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Following his one-year sentence, Kernell must serve three years’ probation.

Kernell, a 20-year-old college student at the time of the incident, got into Palin’s gov....@yahoo.com account by guessing answers to the security questions used by Yahoo to reset the account’s password. In chat logs, Kernell said he was hoping to find information that would “derail” her 2008 vice presidential election campaign.

Palin was then governor of Alaska, and her critics thought she may have been conducting state business via the Yahoo account, in order to sidestep Alaska’s open records law. Kernell found no such evidence after examining her Yahoo account.

Politics aside. one year in prison followed by three years probation seems reasonable. In her autobiography, “Going Rogue,” Ms. Palin describes the incident as  “the most disruptive” of the campaign because it cut off easy communication with her colleagues in Alaska.

Mr. Kernell, who went  by the internet handle “Rubico,” was able to gain access to Ms. Palin’s private Yahoo! mail account by correctly the answers to her “secret questions” — her date of birth, her postal code, and information about where she met her husband Todd and then resetting her password.

Mr. Kernell then posted examples of Ms. Palin’s private emails, the addresses of her friends & family, and family photos on Wikileaks. Mr. Kernell also bragged that hacking into the vice-presidential candidate’s Yahoo account was child’s play… and it was. Standard challenge questions like “What is you date of birth?”, “What is your home zip code” or “Where did you meet your spouse?” are marginally effective for Mr. and Mrs. Average, but for a public figure like Ms. Palin whose life is well documented they’re pretty much useless… The answers can found in a matter of minutes using public sources like Wikipedia.

Previous

• Sarah Palin’s Private E-mail Account Hacked
• Palin E-mail Hack Follow-up
• A Quick Update on the Palin E-mail Hacking Case
• Newsflash: Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted
• Palin E-mail Hacker Hit With Additional Charges
• Palin E-mail Hacker Convicted on Two Counts

The candidates are (in not particular order): Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Mitch Daniels, Bobby Jindal, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, John Kasich, John Huntsman and John Bolton.

Anyway here’s what Bush’s alleged brain had to say about in his latest attempt at alienating grassroots conservatives:

“With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of ‘that helps me see you in the Oval Office’,” Mr Rove told The Daily Telegraph in an interview.

He added that the promotional clip for Sarah Palin’s Alaska could be especially detrimental to any political campaign. It features the mother of five in the great outdoors saying: “I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office.”…

Mr Rove was asked if the 46-year-old Mrs Palin, who is among the front-runners for the next Republican nomination, would be a wise choice if the party wanted to seize the White House from President Barack Obama. He replied: “You can make a plausible case for any of them on paper, but it is not going to be paper in 2011. It’s going to be blood, it’s going to be sweat and tears and it’s going to be hard effort.”…

“There are high standards that the American people have for it [the presidency] and they require a certain level of gravitas, and they want to look at the candidate and say ‘that candidate is doing things that gives me confidence that they are up to the most demanding job in the world’.”

First of all what sane person wouldn’t want to be exploring the wilds of Alaska than sitting in “some stuffy old political office”? Second what’s Mr. Rove’s real aim here?

I think Allahpundit is right on the mark with his three theories:

(1) This is pure payback for Palin needling him on the night of O’Donnell’s victory, calling him a “good old boy” who’s part of the GOP establishment “machine.” (2) This is him trying to run down a formidable presidential contender so that his own candidate of choice in the primary will benefit. Who that candidate might be, I don’t know, and maybe Rove doesn’t know yet either. But Daniels is, of course, a Bush alum, and Rove had some very nice things to say about him just a few weeks ago. (3) This is a ploy to try to reorient Republicans who are leery about Palin back towards the “establishment” and away from the tea-party grassroots. It’s one thing for the average conservative joe to harbor doubts about her, but if a guy who helped get George Bush elected twice is hint-hinting that she’s disqualifying herself by doing this, it may goose the perception among undecideds that she’s unelectable.

Personally, I lean toward number three more than one or two. The Republican establishment has never been comfortable with principled, common sense conservatism… They don’t understand us, they don’t much like us, and they sure as hell don’t want us upsetting the apple cart on them.

I’ve said this before, but I guess worth repeating… I love Sarah Palin. She has great political instincts, a mountain of common sense and humility… something that’s sorely lacking in most conventional politicians. That said, I’m not convinced she’s the best possible Presidential candidate for our side, mainly because I think she’s been to damaged by all the attacks on her from both sides… Which is exactly the impression Mr. Rove is trying to reinforce with his latest comments.

Sarah Palin’s greatest strength — her unpretentious, down to earth authenticity is also her greatest weakness… The same qualities that allow her to easily connect with grassroots conservatives also make it very easy for establishment policy wonks like Karl Rover to dismiss her as lacking “gravitas”.

Anyway the bottom line on all this is, it was conventional politicians that got us into this mess. Voters are utterly disgusted with Washington, they essentially fired Republicans 2006 and 2008 and from all reports they’ll fire Democrats next week. If the choice in 2012 is between another conventional establishment policy wonk politician and an unconventional, common sense conservative like Sarah Palin… I’ll take my chances with Sarah Palin any day. We can’t afford conventional politicians any longer they’ve effectively bankrupted the nation with their big spending, big government, cradle to graven nanny state policies.

Previous

• Karl Rove: O’Donnell Must Explain Witchcraft Comments

Related

• Sarah Palin plays TV tour guide in her home state – Associated Press
• Sarah Palin: I Will Run for President in 2012 if There’s Nobody Else To Do It – Entertainment Tonight

(Reuters) – A college student who hacked into former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s e-mail account and posted some of its contents on the Internet was found guilty Friday.

After four days of deliberations, a federal jury found David Kernell, the 22-year-old son of a Democratic Tennessee state legislator, guilty of obstruction of justice, a felony, and unauthorized access of a computer, a misdemeanor.

Kernell was cleared of a wire fraud charge, and the jury could not agree on a verdict on a charge of identity theft.

Judge Thomas Phillips declared a mistrial on the identity theft charge but did not set a date for sentencing.

The obstruction charge alone carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, while the misdemeanor count is punishable by up to one year in jail.

Ms. Palin issued a statement via her Facebook page, thanking the jury and prosecutors their efforts and explaining the case’s importance:

My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections. America’s elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone’s privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans’ sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election.

I want to thank the public servants who worked so hard on this case, particularly the jurors who gave up precious time from their jobs and families to listen to the evidence and reach a decision.

My family and I appreciate the good people of Knoxville, Tennessee, who showed us true Southern hospitality. We can’t wait to visit again – but without having a subpoena in hand.

Although I expect Mr. Kernell will see some jail time it’ll be far less than the 20 year maximum, federal sentencing guidelines set a range of 15 to 21 months and allow for probation in cases like this. I do think prosecutors overreached a little in this case and as one witness said “put on a dog and pony show“. They had to though, never mind basic privacy considerations… Sarah Palin was a Vice Presidential candidate in the middle of hotly contested election, investigators and prosecutors had to aggressively pursue this case to send  a message that these types political dirty tricks won’t be tolerated.

Related

• Jury convicts Palin e-mail intruder on two counts; mistrial declared on ID theft – Knoxville News Sentinel
• Protecting Against Password Reset Attacks – Randy Abrams, Eset Software.

Previous

• Sarah Palin’s Private E-mail Account Hacked
• Palin E-mail Hack Follow-up
• A Quick Update on the Palin E-mail Hacking Case
• Newsflash: Palin E-mail Hacker Indicted
• Palin E-mail Hacker Hit With Additional Charges

Related

• Third party is the wrong party for Tea Partiers – Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner
• Nashville Shows Tea Party Is America’s Third Great Awakening – Glenn Reynolds, Washington Examiner
• Breitbart, Farah argue Birtherism at Tea Party convention – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air

The people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York are ready to shake things up, and Doug Hoffman is coming on strong as Election Day approaches! He needs our help now.

The votes of every member of Congress affect every American, so it’s important for all of us to pay attention to this important Congressional campaign in upstate New York. I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York’s 23rd Congressional district. It’s my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.

Our nation is at a crossroads, and this is once again a “time for choosing.”

The federal government borrows, spends, and prints too much money, while our national debt hits a record high. Government is growing while the private sector is shrinking, and unemployment is on the rise. Doug Hoffman is committed to ending the reckless spending in Washington, D.C. and the massive increase in the size and scope of the federal government. He is also fully committed to supporting our men and women in uniform as they seek to honorably complete their missions overseas.

And best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine.

Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty. Read the rest…

My quick and dirty analysis: There’s no downside for Palin here, no one expects Hoffman to win so if he gets beat Palin isn’t going to get the blame. On the other hand if Hoffman wins the upside is huge… it’ll be the shot heard around the world that shakes up the party establishment and forces them to take Palin and grassroots activist seriously.

As an aside, Hoffman’s campaign has raised $210,000 in the past seven days… That’s before Palin’s endorsement last night.

You can donate here.

Related

• Rogue Stars Rising – The Green Room

• CBO: Budget deficit hit record $1.4T in 2009 – Associated Press
• Proposals to create jobs add up to second stimulus – Associated Press
• A Nobel for Obama – New York Sun
• Barack Obama’s peace prize starts a fight – Times Online
• McCain Vs. Palin For The GOP’s Soul – Investors Business Daily
• What I Heard in Honduras – Rep. Jim DeMint, Wall Street Journal
• California Budget Is Already in the Red 10 Weeks After Passage – Bloomberg
• Report: Reining in lawsuits would cut deficit – Washington Times
• CBO’s Analysis of the Effects of Proposals to Limit Costs Related to Medical Malpractice (“Tort Reform”) – CBO Director’s Blog
• Save the Greenback, Mr. President – Larry Kudlow, CNBC
• Paying the Health Tax in Massachusetts – Wendy Williams, Wall Street Journal
• CBO Stands for Cooked Books Office – Rep. John Shadegg, Red State
• What happened to global warming? – BBC News
• As Republicans Predict a 2010 Surge, Democrats Dig In – New York Times
• Taliban growth weighs on Obama strategy review – Reuters

Feel free to add your links in comments.

The Arab states named in the report have issued denials… there may still be a grain of truth in the report though as  both Russia and China have been very vocal in their calls to end the Dollar’s reign in international trading:

Leaving aside the viability of the unified GCC currency – Oman and the Emirates have made clear they don’t want to play – the story has a ring of truth about it.

Russia and China have both been vocal in their call to end the hegemony of the greenback in international trade. The single GCC currency, if and when it happens, would be more likely to use a currency basket than a direct dollar peg. With the possibility of intervention now back in its arsenal Japan will clearly do what it feels necessary to protect its deflationary economy from an over-strong currency. France, of course, would take any opportunity to give Washington one in the eye.

In that light it is no surprise that the dollar has taken a bit of a beating since the news broke. It has lost one euro cent and half a yen overnight, adding to the losses it had already made on Monday in the absence of any helpful comment from G7.

Regardless The Independent’s report should server as a stark reminder to our elected leaders of need for sound fiscal policy, a strong stable dollar and real energy independence.

Sarah Palin makes the case on her Facebook page:

All of this is a result of our out-of-control debt. This is why we need to rein in spending, and this is also why we need energy independence. A weakened dollar means higher commodity prices. This will make it more difficult to pay our bills – including the bill to import oil.

In his book Architects of Ruin, Peter Schweizer points out that the Obama administration is focusing primarily on “green energy,” while ignoring our need to develop our domestic conventional energy resources.[5] We’re ignoring the looming crisis caused by our dependence on foreign oil. Because we’re dependent on foreign nations for our oil, we’re also at their mercy if they decide to dump the dollar as their trade currency. We can’t allow ourselves to be so vulnerable to the whims of foreign nations. That’s why we must develop our own domestic supplies of oil and gas.

Though the chant of “Drill, baby, drill” was much derided, it expressed the need to confront this issue head-on before it reaches a crisis point.

Bottom line: let’s stop digging ourselves into debt and start drilling for energy independence.

Gas prices have dropped considerably since the last oil shock made energy independence a front burner issue in the minds of most Americans… The coming debate on Cap and Trade may help bring the issue of energy independence back to the forefront but I suspect it’ll be lost in amongst the debates on the new taxes, costs, and mandates Cap and Trade create.

Whether we like it or not our economy is powered by oil and natural gas… and there is simple no reason not to tap into a significant domestic reserves of both.

Related

• UN calls for new reserve currency – AFP