Nic Shaykos RSS http://nic.shaykos.com Nics RSS FEED en-us Mitt’s Negative Attack Strategy? A-OK http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2012-01-31 There have been rumblings in the media. Mitt Romney is too negative. He has no ideas on the campaign trail. All he is doing is attacking Newt Gingrich. To this I say, well done Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney is doing one thing right now, trying to ensure he is the nominee of the Republican Party. To fault him for that is to fault the process, which some people do but I fault neither.
 
Look at this in the lens of what has happened so far. Mitt gets a virtual tie in Iowa declared a win. He then wins new Hampshire. What does he do? He plays the prevent defense and Newt Gingrich has two amazing debates and takes the reins in South Carolina. Mitt is still the favorite, but he is damaged due to him switching to general election mode too soon. So what does Mitt do, he attacks back at the bully. He is stepping on the throat of Newt Gingrich and making sure he stays down. Newt became “the conservative alternative” and Mitt attacked that man to death. ...]]> 2012-01-31 Me in High School: 10 Things I loved and loathed http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2012-01-26 Its now been almost 9 years since I graduated from James Ford Rhodes HS. As chatter builds toward our 10th anniversary reunion, it got me to thinking about the past some. I wanted to take a break from all the political post of late to reflect on those years here.
 
Loathed: How arrogant I was in general. Most of the things I loathed fall under this category. A few knew of this, and those who did know it hard
 
Loved: FIRST Robotics. If you asked me the day I graduated what was the best thing about HS I would have said Robotics. It has not changed. I had responsibility making sure our robot followed all the rules of the competition on the systems team.
 
Loathed: My attitude toward my teammates on the Math team. ...]]> 2012-01-26 Debate Preview: Tampa, Florida http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2012-01-23 This debate tonight should have a lot of fireworks. This is the strategy I expect out of the four candidates.
 
Mitt Romney:
 
This debate is most important to Mitt Romney. It’s gut check time. He can either turn this around and South Carolina just becomes a blip or it can be the undoing of his campaign. He needs to punch a hole in Newt gingrich. All of his fire will be aimed in that direction. With the high amount of foreclosures, expect him to attempt to connect foreclosures with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac and the lobbying (or “strategic advice” if you believe Newt). Besides that, Mitt will try to make the argument that Newt is unelectable and that he is. Mitt has a tall order to fill, can he rise up?

Newt Gingrich:
 
For certain, the multitude of these debates has helped Newt Gingrich the most. ...]]> 2012-01-23 Newt's Revenge http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2012-01-22 Something strange is happing in the GOP primary race right now. The republican primary voter is not acting rational. There was zero reason for Newt Gingrich to win a single primary. We are talking about a man who has cheated on two women he was married to. He left one who had cancer and another shortly after she was diagnosed with MS.We are talking about a man who was booted out of his own leadership position because of his erratic and flamboyant behavior. Newt is best when he is in a box spewing out ideas. 9 of them are crap, but 1 of them may be good. He ought not to be our nominee for president.
 
Think about this. Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, yet the vast majority of the members have not endorsed him for president. Worse, many have given an anti-endorsement based off his leadership style. ...]]> 2012-01-22 Nic Shayko Endorsement: Rick Santorum http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2012-01-15 With Jon Huntsman dropping out of the race, it was easy for me to make an endorsement of Rick Santorum. Of all the candidates in the race, I line up most in terms of issues with Rick Santorum. Santorum has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting in regards to the pro-life movement. Specifically, he was one of the leaders in banning the sickening partial birth abortion under the Clinton administration.
 
Santorum was a Senator for 12 years and a representative in the US House before that. He was a senator in a blue swing state and he stood for his values and won.  He is the rare person who does not shake on his foundational values yet still knows how to compromise.  He helped pass welfare reform.
 
Some complain that Rick Santorum is a “Big Gov’t conservative” It’s hogwash. Rick Santorum believes in a smaller gov’t. ...]]> 2012-01-15 A virtual Tie in Iowa, what Now? http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2012-01-04 What we have in Iowa is a virtual tie between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. As I write this Rick Santorum leads by 34 votes, which is basically nothing. Still, what Iowa did was really bring into focus a clear Mitt Romney alternative. Newt, Bachmann and Perry end up being flops. Huntsman has to have his day in New Hampshire, and it’s not looking good for him but hey, we still have a week left.

So New Hampshire turns into gut check time for Mitt Romney, he needs to have a significant min there. He should and there will be little news there. It will be interesting to see what Paul gets there as he had a good showing in Iowa but Paul has his devoted kooks and they kinda just sit out there. So Rick Santorum will now be vetted as the Mitt Romney alternative.
 
Where it all matters is South Carolina, as it usually does. Mitt should be coming off a solid win in New Hampshire. ...]]> 2012-01-04 Nomination Reform http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-12-23 The current primary system is ridiculous. Every year it seems the voting starts sooner and sooner because certain states want to be first. These are traditionally Iowa and New Hampshire. Still, other states who are jealous a looking to hop them. The Primaries were supposed to start on Feb 6th with Iowa until FL tried hopping the processing by holding their primary on Jan. 30th. Thus Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina had to hop back in front of them and voting happens in Iowa on January 3rd. Here is my idea to solve this problem.
 
Divide the states into 5 regions. I have divided the states as seen below
 
I am a proud alum of Rochester Institute of Technology. At RIT, hockey is king and we just moved to Division 1 in 2005, after being a D3 powerhouse. My friend and I decided to travel down to the game at Cornell about two hours away. It’s a classic hockey rink that holds about 4,000 people and has a low ceiling that makes the arena very loud. About half of the arena is the student section and the whole thing was packed.
 
The key is where I bought my tickets. If I would have bought them at RIT, we would have been placed in the RIT area, about half a section. ...]]> 2011-12-01 Where Are We Now? http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-11-29 I realize that not everyone following this blog knows exactly where we are in the process and what are the scenarios for who wins the nomination and how quickly that happens. I will not go through all the rises and falls by the candidates thus far, only where everything stands from this point forward.
 
The GOP Nomination has set up to be a race between two people. Mitt Romney and an alternative to Mitt Romney. We have spent this entire year trying to find who that alternative to Mitt will be, and we still are not certain who that will be. Currently the alternative seems to be Newt Gingrich. The problem is every month or so that alternative seems to be a certain person and then that person is knocked down for one reason or another.
 
All of this positioning is being done before the Iowa caucus, which occurs on January 3rd. The voters of Iowa can choose an alternative or they can choose Mitt. ...]]> 2011-11-29 Breaking Down the Time Person of the Year Nominees http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-11-17 Who Ought to Win

Steve Jobs- If Jobs won it would be a lifetime achievement award of sorts. Biggest inventor probably since Edison died this year. Changed how the world works. The iTunes changed how we listen to music. The iTunes store changed how we buy it. The iPhone ushered in the Smartphone era. The iPad could end up being the swiss army knife of the 21st century. Not to mention other things such as the apple store business model, the Apple II, Pixar and my mac fanboys will point out even more.
 
Other Good Choices
 
Arab Youth Protesters- Through social media the Arab youth has taken down dictators who have been in power for decades. This would be a solid pick.
 
Gabrielle Giffords- Dem. Congresswoman who was shot in the head by an assassin and survived. And amazing story of hope. The Sully Sullenburger pick of this year. ...]]> 2011-11-17 A Sick Feeling http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-11-08 I have stayed away from the Conrad Murray case. First off I hate this kind of news and I generally avoid it. But alas, the news even fell into my world yesterday as it started off “Hardball” on MSNBC and I caught some of the coverage on Piers Morgan Tonight. The people who came on that show to gloat about how Justice was served and spoke about Michael Jackson’s legacy. Piers asked one of the people what was Michaels Jackson’s number one legacy. The person said, its not the dancer or the singer but his amazing children and how great a father he was.
 
Let me state the Michael Jackson legacy clearly. He is a freak who was one of the most talented pop stars of the modern age. He was NOT a great father. He took his baby and held him (or her) over a 2nd story ledge. Seeing him do any interview was just bizarre. He paid this Conrad Murray a ton of money to give him the medical cocktail. ...]]> 2011-11-08 GOP Oddsmakers- November Edition http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-11-07 Mitt Romney 2/5- Could things be going better for Mitt. The frontrunner has women problem and knows nothing. Its holding a legit stalker behind. Meanwhile, Mitt just slowly plods along. Mitt is going to have to have a major screwup in order to lose this one  (pvs 4/5)
 
Rick Perry 6/1- Shades of howard dean? What was that speech in New Hampshire? He is heading the wrong way, but he more than anyone still has the money and team behind him that he could pick up the pieces from the inevitable Cain plunder (pvs 5/1)
 
Newt Gingrinch 10/1- Newt vary quietly gaining traction and if Perry can’t resurge Newt may very well surge. He still has way too much baggage but what he does have is a brain and that may actually be useful later.  (pvs 100/1)
 
Herman Cain 12/1- His boom has been unexplainable. He leads most the national polls. He still has no chance. ...]]> 2011-11-07 My Ballot for Tuesday in Parma Ward 1: Supporting Issue 2 http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-11-03 Issue 1
 
Issue 1 is composed of 3 parts. Parts two and three of the constitutional amendment are agree upon as generally good law on both sides. Part one is where the dispute is. Right now Judges must be under 70 when they start their term. The proposed amendment moves that age up to 75. I personally think no maximum age makes sense. I trust in the voters in elected cases and the legislature in appointed cases to ensure that judges are competent to do the job. This goes with my position of fewer limitations on running for office.  I oppose term limits and personally don’t even like the minimum age in the constitution for House, Senate and President.

 
Issue 2
 
Issue 2 is the issue getting all the attention here in Ohio. It is a referendum on Senate Bill 5. ...]]> 2011-11-03 Cains Lack of Professionalism http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-10-31 So the story broke over the weekend that 2 women accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment. They were paid off and signed non-disclosure agreements.  Herman Cain today finally said that, yes, they did accuse him and yes, they were paid. He said this only after denying it never happened and ask telling a reporter who asked him about it “Were you ever accused of sexual harassment.” I am taking Cain at his word that he did not do anything that would be considered sexual harassment. Still, the way his campaign handled this crisis is a prime example of why.
 
The campaign knew this story was coming out 10 days before it did. Instead of getting in front of the story, they were sloppy and behind it the whole time. What they should have done was dumped the story themselves on Friday afternoon. Why then? 1) It’s a holiday weekend. 2) The World Series was that night 3) It avoids all this cover-up that just makes you look stupid. ...]]> 2011-10-31 Why cant my phone be dumb? http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-10-18 I hate my cell phone. I consider it a necessary evil in the world today.  I don’t like that people feel they should be able to contact me whenever they want and I am supposed to be ready to answer.  Now it’s time for me to get a new cellphone. AT&T is pushing the iPhone on me. Get a free iPhone 3G with a new two year contract!  My brother has a 4G. My friend just got the brand new 4GS. Part of me says to get one, because its rapidly becoming the only game in town. Most of me is repulsed by the who movement in cell phones to become a device to do everything. I was listening to the Tony Kornheiser Radio show last Friday and he said the following:
 
“Why won’t somebody make a dumb phone. That is what I want. . . See when the people come to PTI, for example, the guest come to PTI, and they all want to take pictures with me and Wilbon. They don’t have cameras. ...]]> 2011-10-18 Cains Foundation http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-10-18 The fact that Herman Cain leads in the national polls for the GOP Nomination will be a funny footnote six months from now. Cain is basically the Morry Taylor of this cycle. Don’t know “The Grizz” as he was nicknamed in the 1996 GOP nomination contest? He was a business man who thought he could spend a lot of money in untraditional ways and with the nomination. He, like Cain, was known for his lack of political correctness.
 
The difference is Morry never was a factor like Cain is today. This is mostly due to the internet age. The tea party wing/extreme right wing base of the party is looking for an alternative to Mitt Romney. It was Trump, he didn’t run. It was Bachmann, but then a better option seemed to come along in Rick Perry. Turns out Rick can’t debate so now they have turned to Herman Cain.
 
So can Cain take advantage? The answer is no. ...]]> 2011-10-18 GOP Oddsmakers- October Edition http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-10-02
Mitt Romney 4/5- The Tea Party seems to have a flavor of the month all the while Mitt is as steady as a rock. He looks presidential, talks presidential and has a firewall in New Hampshire. The GOP base don’t have to love him in order to nominate him.  (pvs 6/5)
 
Rick Perry 3/1- Rick Perry is falling. But he isn’t dead like the pundits are writing him off. Yes he sucks at debates but he can fundraise and that still means something. You don’t become governor of texas without some talent. (pvs 5/1)
 
Jon Huntsman 15/1-  Huntsman is the best general election candidate. Yet he is finding no traction as of yet. He needs someone to emerge as the right tea party choice so they can have a beatdown in Iowa and then Huntsman would need to have a shocker in New Hampshire. ...]]> 2011-10-02 Jon Huntsman for President http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-09-03 Today I want to announce that I am throwing my support behind Jon Huntsman for President of the United States. Like four years ago when I endorsed Mike Huckabee for President, I make this move with a candidate who sits at less that 3 percent in the polls. Still, there are many differences between the two men, but I believe that Huntsman will make an excellent President.
 
Why? Well he is well rounded like no other candidate in the field. He has the executive experience that I like to see, as he was the Governor of Utah. On top of that, his foreign policy credentials top anyone else in the field as the former ambassador to china under the Obama administration.
 
You heard me right, the Obama administration. Huntsman, unlike most of the Republican party and in particular the well intentioned but misguided Tea Party movement do not think Obama is evil. ...]]> 2011-09-03 GOP Oddsmakers- July Edition http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-07-21 Next Oddsmakers will be post Ames Straw Poll.

Mitt Romney 6/5- Mitt really isn’t doing anything wrong right now. Its just that he does not have that “it factor. People are looking for an alternative. Interesting to see Mitt trying to put money in through the back door. (pvs 8/5)
 
Michelle Bachmann 4/1- I am still amazed how real Michelle Bachmann is. When she ran I thought she would be a relevant as Dennis Kuninich was on the left. Boy have I been wrong. She is running very well. So well in fact she had to deal with a “Migraine” headache issue (pvs 15/1)
 
Rick Perry 5/1- Perry will run and the question is can he take over the Bachmann voters and add some more. (8/1)
 
Jon Huntsman 8/1- So far the candidate of the media is that and little more. He is going super positive and that just may not work now. ...]]> 2011-07-21 Michelle Bachmann is for Real http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-06-27 It is still amazing to me but Michelle Bachmann could very well be the GOP Nominee for president. The woman who said this on Hardball when she was a campaign surrogate in 2008:
 
I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America? I think people would love to see an expose like that.

How far have we come? It was this woman I labeled as 500/1 to win the nomination when I set my GOP Oddsmakers last month in May. I thought of her as many did, a rabble rouser who could never be disciplined enough to run a real campaign and win. Bachmann is a great activist, but not a great candidate. It’s early, but I look to be very, very wrong in my early assessment. The recent Des Moines register poll makes her a co-leader with Mitt Romney in Iowa. She has gone from joke to top tier candidate quick. ...]]> 2011-06-27 GOP Oddsmakers- June Post-Debate Edition http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-06-14 Odds are to win the GOP Nomination

Mitt Romney 8/5- Mitt looked great at last debate. That plus the field, namely Tim Pawlenty not wanting to attack him makes him the heavy favorite. (pvs 5/2)
 
Tim Pawlenty 5/1- The great news, no Huckabee! The bad news, he needs to stand out at these debates as he has little name ID and needs to stand out. He has time to shape up but a few more performances like that and he is done. (pvs 6/1)
 
Jon Huntsman 5/1- Huntsman is not formally in the race but he will be next week. Someone will become the alternative to Mitt and with Pawlenty falling this makes Huntsman all the more likely to be the one to step up. GOP Insiders are very impressed by him (pvs 12/1)
 
Rick Perry 8/1- The Texas Governor sees an opening and he is right. He could very well become the alternative to Mitt. ...]]> 2011-06-14 Indians to US Cellular for a quick 2 http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-05-18 The Indians disposed of the Royals in a quick two game series and now face another against the Chicago White Sox. The Sox are trying to dig themselves out of a huge hole in the division 7 of their last 10 but still 18-25 and 10 games behind the Tribe. The tribe faced the Sox opening weekend and the sox took 2 of 3 games. The White Sox are in the bottom of the league both hitting and pitching but they are the worst team in the league hitting at home, a horrible 223 at US Cellular Field. The tribe is the 3rd best team in the AL on the Road; though scoring 19 on Monday really helped move them up.
 
The Sox have been generating their power from mostly Paul Konerko. They need someone else to step up if they are going to make a run back up. Konerko leads the team with 10HR, 30RBI and 312 average. The  tribe has been getting hitting from all around and hope to keep it that way an riding high. ...]]> 2011-05-18 Pandora http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-05-17 Time.com in their 100 issue makes tons of list. One of them was overrated web sites and one of them was Pandora. It says the following:
 
Back when Pandora was one of the only options for streaming Internet radio, it seemed awesome. It knows what type of music you like! But the problem? Now services like MOG do too, as well as giving you the option to listen to just about any track on-demand. We find ourselves tuning into Pandora less and less.

Well I didn’t know what MOG was, so I looked it up and its interesting but its not for me right now. Anyway, Time gets Pandora 100% wrong anyway. ...]]> 2011-05-17 Critical Series for Kansas City vs the Tribe http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-05-16 The Indians take on the Royals in Kansas City after two straight Rainouts vs the Mariners in Cleveland. The Royals just got swept by the Tigers in a rain shortened 2 games series. After the weekend it puts the Tribe at 24-13 and the Royals at 20-19, 5 games behind the Tribe. Thus for the Royals this is a very critical series. If they can win these two games they can get right back in the mix with the Tribe and the Red Hot Tigers. The Indians lead the season series 5-2 already. KC is much better at home than on the road, with the 2nd best record in the league at home at 15-8, only behind the tribe. The Indians are just 9-9 away from home.
 
These are two of the best hitting teams in the league, the Tribe 2nd in average and the Royals 4th. The Tribe has more power but the Royals lead the league in Stolen Bases. The Indians are much better pitching than the Royals but let’s look at the matchups. ...]]> 2011-05-16 My Feelings on No Huckabee in 2012 http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-05-15 Let me first say I was not surprised by Mike Huckabee decision not to run for President in 2012. I was predicting it for months, and when the announcement was to be made on his show, it made it all but certain it was a no go. Nevertheless, I am a bit saddened today. Mike Huckabee was, and always will be my 1st political love. I hopped onto the Mike Huckabee bandwagon when he was at less than 1%. I endorsed him officially on May 20th, 2007 on this very blog. When I endorsed him, I hoped he could win the nomination but I did not expect him to even get to Iowa.
 
What ended up happening is that we rode the Huckaboom all the way to a victory in Iowa. I drove my car half way across the country just to help Huck him win the Caucus. And win the caucus is exactly what we did. It was a moment that I will never forget. ...]]> 2011-05-15 GOP Oddsmakers- May Edition http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-05-13 The game has started. Who will be the GOP nominee in order to face Barack Obama in the 2012 Election. 
 
The Favorite
 
Mitt Romney- 5/2- The GOP is the next in line party in terms of who they pick to nominate. Romney was basically the Co-runner up with Mike Huckabee in the 2008 nomination. He has the money, he has been through the process and he covers all bases of the party. Biggest asset is that he is a businessman and the economy is his best issue in an election likely to be focused on the economy. Biggest weakness is that he signed Romneycare, basically Obamacare light. Being a Mormon is still an issue as well
 
The Contenders
 
Tim Pawlenty- 6/1- Pawlenty is hitting all the correct notes. There is no group in the party that dislikes him. Weakness is that no one loves him either. ...]]> 2011-05-13 Wedge Returns to Cleveland http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-05-13 My friend and avid Tigers Fan James suggested I do an Indians blog and I decided no because I would not be committed but what I am going to try to do is blog about the Indians by the series, not by the game.
This weekend the Tribe take on the Seattle Mariners. The Tribe enter the series 23-13 and 1st place in the AL Central, on a two game skid which both the Royals and Tigers have taken advantage of by closing the gap to 1st place by 3.5 and 4 games, respectively. The M’s are 16-22, 5 games behind the 1st place Angels and currently on a 5 game losing streak.
 
This is a three game series that the Indians are favored at -180 to win (Bet 180, win 100). It is the 2nd series vs the team with the Tribe’s former manager, Eric Wedge. The tribe swept Seattle in their only trip to the Emerald City in a 3 game series back in April. ...]]> 2011-05-13 Judge John Hogman http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-04-10

I was disappointed because there was a good idea there. Well what I discovered today was the Judge John Hogman podcast. You probably know Hogman as the PC in the famous MAC vs PC ads. This podcast is really a mix of Judge Judy and the Marriage Ref. Its in the style of a small claims court show but deals with issues that you would have seen on the marriage ref. ...]]> 2011-04-10 Mello Yello http://nic.shaykos.com/Blog.php?Day=2011-03-11 I go to the grocery store today and pick up the essentials. Milk, Bread, Corned Beef (St Patrick), Cabbage and the like, and I also need something to drink as my 40 liter supply of Mountain Dew I bought over a month ago at CVS for 25 cents a liter has now been killed. I plan on buying generic cause there is no sale on dew and I am not paying $2 for a 2 liter bottle. That is highway robbery. But they are running a $1 for a 2 liter on coke products. What shocks me is that they have mello yello, the Coke version of Mt. ew which typically is not found here and only sold in the south (I mean the real south, not Northern Virigina).

So I bought 5 2 liter bottles and am sippin it right now. Its very cola-cola esque, sweeter than Mt. Dew. Kinda like the differance between Pepsi and Coke, the Mt. ...]]> 2011-03-11