Conservative Donnybrook

Walter Williams has an alarming story concerning a proposed energy amendment in California. Apparently there is a proposal whereby any newly installed thermostat will be required to have the capability of being remotely controlled by the government. Why in the world would anyone want that? Well, to control energy usage. Let’s get California greener.

The California Energy Commission has recently proposed amendments to its standards for energy efficiency (www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-400-2007-017/CEC-400-2007-017-45DAY.PDF). These standards include a requirement that any new or modified heating or air conditioning system must include a programmable communicating thermostat (PCT) whose settings can be remotely controlled by government authorities. A thermostat czar, sitting in Sacramento, would be empowered to remotely reduce the heating or cooling of your house during what he deems as an “emergency event.”

Say you disagree with the czar’s temperature setting for your house, the California Energy Commission is one step ahead of you with the provision: “The PCT shall not allow customer changes to thermostat settings during emergency events.” In other words, the thermostat must be configured in a way that doesn’t allow the customer to override the czar’s decision.

The offending provision is on pages 63-64.

In a completely unrelated, but somehow pertinent, article. Michelle Malkin expresses her desire for a man. A man who rejects Big Nanny government. It would seem that Walter joins you in such a desire. Although, he would (as we would) probably find a different way to express it.

For all the Huck-haters out there, you might consider sending in a donation. To Fred Thompson.

In South Carolina, it would appear that Thompson competed well in exactly the counties where Huckabee needed to do well – the northern, heavily evangelical counties. While Huck won those counties, the margins were lowered by Thompson capturing around 20% of the vote there. As result, Huckabee won those counties by a lesser margin than McCain won the more moderate coastal counties. In the end, that spelled victory for McCain.

I would expect the same scenario to play out in Florida with the heavily evangelical, conservative panhandle region splitting its vote between Huck, Romney and Thompson. The wildcard, of course, is that McCain and Giuliani will likely be competing for the more moderate voters in southern Florida. Florida is a winner-take-all state, so a second-place finish does a candidate no good.

The dilution of the conservative vote is an alarming trend which will likely keep McCain’s and possibly Giuliani’s campaigns alive longer than would otherwise be the case. The best case for the more conservative candidates would be for Thompson to realize his effect and bow out of the race.

On the other hand, Huck’s second place finish in South Carolina could mean the end of his campaign as Florida voters migrate to Romney in hopes of fending off a McCain or Giuliani presidency.

With McCain’s big win last night, we should probably all pause for a moment and consider what we have done. Lawrence Auster from View From the Right had this excellent post about a week ago. In it, he links to an interview that Mark Levin conducted with McCain’s former Senate colleague, Rick Santorum.

The bottom line is McCain bleeds (and has bled) Red, White and Blue. But, mostly Blue.

Last night 55 delegates were up for grabs. The big winners? Romney and McCain. McCain picked up 23 and Romney 18 of them. Of the other 14 delegates, Huck secured 7, Paul 4, Thompson 2, and Giuliani 1.

Here’s how it stacks up:

Romney 72
McCain 38
Huckabee 29
Thompson 8
Paul 6
Giuliani 2
Hunter 1

Romney seems to be running a masterful campaign. The “small” states like Wyoming and Nevada have contributed 26 delegates to his otherwise sizable lead. To be sure, some of this is the result of having a war chest that is flush with cash. But, it is also a testament to a sound campaign strategy. Every delegate matters. In the end, it is all that matters. Win enough delegates and you will be the nominee. Period.

Last night, Thompson made a concession speech that sounded remarkably like he was withdrawing his candidacy. He stopped short of doing that. Listening to some of the coverage, I got the real impression that he was running for vice president. . . in McCain’s administration. Over and over in South Carolina, he would address crowds with a speech that sounded like: “My good friend John McCain is wrong about immigration, but that Huckabee guy, he’s Satan personified! Let me tell you how rotten that SOB is.” Of course, that’s highly paraphrased, but it was along those lines. Time will tell, but I can’t help but think that Thompson’s going to put one last effort into winning Florida and if the results are the same, that will be the end for him. And, so far, it looks like the results will be the same if the latest polls are correct. I also can’t help but think that Thompson would be better off saying nice things about Romney, if he wants a chance to veep.