New York Times‘ political blogger Nate Silver crunched the numbers and found that Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich has mentioned Ronald Reagan a whopping 55 times during the GOP presidential debates — more than any of the other candidates combined.

Who: Josh Levin, Mike Pesca and Stefan Fatsis, with guest- Nate Silver What: Slate’s Hang Up and Listen, Live! Where: City Winery When: January 17, 2012 Thumbs: Up “I don’t want it to sound like a tautology” isn’t the kind of concern audibly shared at most sports panels, but while explaining how bad defenses play [...]

One week after the story of sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain blew up, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows the first signs of possible orbital decay in the embattled presidential hopeful’s ride at the top of the GOP polls. According to the poll, Cain’s approval rating among registered Republicans has slid nine points, from 66% last week, to 57% this week. As Jay Carney might say, this can’t possibly be the kind of nine Cain wants.

On his show today, Chris Matthews and panel discussed the very likely possibility of a Barack Obama-Mitt Romney showdown in the 2012 election, and amongst all the talk of class warfare and business experience, Matthews asked if American voters would embrace or resent Mitt Romney for his vast wealth and business ties given the anti-business climate in America encouraged by the Occupy Wall Street protests.

When America’s Favorite Statistician Nate Silver says something, it’s best to take note, because when he says that a New York hurricane could be a multibillion dollar catastrophe, as he does in his New York Times blog today, chances are he’s on to something. He doesn’t, however, mean that Hurricane Irene will.

Following cable news this weekend, it is fair to have come out of the Ames Straw Poll experience believing that the media find it highly relevant and predictive to what will happen nationally in the 2012 presidential race. That feeling is not universal, however, as Rachel Maddow proved tonight by dedicating a segment to explaining how the Ames Straw Poll was a “racket” designed to make money that ultimately could have an impact in Democratic primaries, but not Republican ones.

In the year that Mediaite has been around, it’s certainly been an interesting time for the media world. As Mediaite quickly established itself as one of the go-to sites covering the media industry, legacy media outlets finally began to come to terms with social media — particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post, two of the most storied newspapers in America. In the past year, these news organizations and others began to incorporate social media into their plans – but with varying objectives.

Numbers genius Nate Silver crunches…well…numbers and comes up with some extremely wonky but very interesting scenarios, which he explains in detail here. The general conclusion, and there are a lot of variables, is that Palin has a solid chance at getting the GOP nomination as long as no one asks too many detailed questions about anything. Some interesting notes on the factors weighing into it all after the jump.

The Founding Bloggers? Or an Internet tea party? Take your pick. This morning news broke that a group of “politically diverse group of [high profile] bloggers” were so impressed with last week’s question and answer session between President Obama and the House Republicans that they have banded together to call on the president and the Congress to make it a regular thing.

If President Obama’s goal this week was to alienate and anger just about everyone than it would seem he has succeeded. Last night’s late-breaking news that the president would announce a three year spending freeze on most domestic programs during tomorrow’s State of the Union has met with angry responses on the left — Obama is the new Hoover!

According to Politico, Scott Rasmussen‘s polling firm Rasmussen Reports has come under increasing fire from liberal bloggers and pundits, many of whom see it as a conservative front and talking point factory. Surprisingly, liberal polling and statistics maven Nate Silver came to Rasmussen’s (qualified) defense:

Didn’t scramble quickly enough to get your own elusive tickets to this year’s New Yorker Festival featuring the likes of Rachel Maddow, Matthew Weiner, Nate Silver, and Wallace Shawn (just to name a few!)? Fear not, you attend vicariously via the Twitterings of those lucky few who are there. Enjoy!

We’ve often wondered about the relationship between Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, and whether Beck’s dazzling ascent to power and influence would inversely affect Limbaugh, the current king of conservative media presence. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finally provides some answers and the results, as they say, may surprise you.

Is Bill O’Reilly a socialist? On the Wednesday night O’Reilly Factor, he surprised many by appearing to come out in support of a moderate form of the public option on healthcare. But was that really what he was saying?
The meaning of his remarks is likely to be hotly debated for the next few days — draw your own conclusions after the jump.