Presidential Politics Update

On the GOP side, Thompson has dropped out, although one of his advisors was making some chatter about his qualifications for VP. He might well end up competing with Huckabee for the position.

There are rumors on the Dem side that Edwards might be ingratiating himself to the Clinton campaign as a potential VP. That would take our Obama-Edwards hypothesis off of the table if true.

Finally, the WSJ editorial board penned an assessment of the GOP candidates’ tax plans. On our favorite one, Huckabee’s platform to enact the Fair Tax, they offered the following:

Mike Huckabee is the most unusual, combining an anti-corporate message with the most radical reform of all — the so-called FairTax…that would replace all federal income and payroll taxes. We have our doubts that such a root-and-branch upheaval could ever pass Congress, even if it did survive a Presidential campaign.

No opinion is offered regarding the likely economic effects of removing all taxes on productive investment. A 30% rate is claimed without citation (the one we’re familiar with is 23%). Too bad. It looks to us like the WSJ has lost touch with its earlier tax radicalism, when folks like Bob Bartley and Jude Wanniski dared to think outside the box, and helped set tax policy on much sounder footing in the 1970s and 1980s.