well, all of a sudden the republican presidential primary race has gotten really, really interesting. and since interesting has an inverse relationship to frontrunner mitt romney, that could only mean the republican party must have a new presidential frontrunner, and indeed, it does, kind of. texas governor, rick perry. first, a somewhat sad housekeeping note. you can cross out tim pawlenty's name. he dropped out after a third place finish in the ames, iowa, straw poll. michele bachmann won the straw poll with over 4,800 votes. she squeaked out a victory over ron paul by 152 votes, however, her first place finish has led the media to declare bachmann a real contender. it was noted saturday night her vote total was roughly equal to the number of people who visited his blog that hour.