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by Jen Green

What a strange day yesterday was. We woke up to the news that Rick Perry’s new campaign slogan is “but I’m not dead yet!” after raising 17 million dollars in 49 days. Later, we found out businessman Herman Cain was on top of several polls and that Obama could be beat by any generic Republican by a convincing six points. Then, we ended our day with Sarah Palin finally “putting an ‘Amen’ to it” and Steve Jobs dying of cancer.

Whew. That’s a lot of news, even for our media-ravaged culture.

Someone made the point to me about Rick Perry that nowhere in the fundraising numbers does it say when in the last quarter the bulk of that money was given. It could have been in the beginning of the 49 day cycle, while he was still the flavor of the month and before he had begun his slide. That is true, but regardless, a 17 million dollar haul made the media wake up and take notice. Others will, too. No telling what Perry is going to do with the redirected attention and the cash, but my advice would be to start playing offense on the messaging, Governor. Right now, when someone says, “Rick Perry” the knee-jerk reaction is “Gardasil and college tuition to illegals.” He might want to work on that.

Herman Cain is taking the unprecedented step of removing himself from the campaign trail and going on a book tour. Come ON. He was on TOP of polls yesterday—and he’s hanging out at Barnes and Noble signing books? Do you really think he’s in this to win this? He has more momentum than any other candidate right now and he’s using it to promote a book? What about this being “the most important election in our lifetime?” Mr. Cain might be focused on the best seller list more than the oval office.

I think Thaddeus McCotter should reconsider his presidential run. According to Rasmussen, he could beat Obama by six points. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be looking for? Besides, I want to see the press corps tie themselves up in knots trying to figure out his wickedly dry sense of humor. State dinners could be broadcast on the Comedy Channel.

Sarah’s not running. In other news, the sequel to “The Undefeated” is in production. The working title is “The Big Tease.”

And finally, on the most serious of notes, Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer. My nine-year old daughter wanted to know who he was. My husband told her, “He was a very smart man who invented a high quality product that changed our lives.” She was nonplussed. I said, “Honey, because of him we have Daddy’s phone, my iPod, and your favorite movies.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, wow,” she said. “He was really cool.”