Forget Super Tuesday.  Consider, please, the pure power of Feb. 12 — when DC, Maryland, and Virginia vote.  The Pundit Primary.  What those states lack in delegates they make up in sheer noise in dominating the political media.  At-large delegates mean nothing next to larger-than-life celebrity journalists bloviating and pontificating about the candidates.

Which makes this all the more interesting:

On Virginia’s ballot (at least in Fairfax County), in what order do the Republican candidates appear?  Like this…

• Ron Paul
• John McCain
• Fred D. Thompson
• Mike Huckabee
• Rudy Giuliani
• Mitt Romney

Which places Ron Paul squarely on top of the ballot in prime position to, well, to do something quite interesting in Virginia.

And a footnote: Fred Thompson is the only candidate whose middle initial made it onto the ballot.  D, for Dalton.  The name Dalton is legendary in recent Republican Virginia history: Former Gov. John N. Dalton was a popular conservative Republican who led the Virginia Republican Party to dominance in the 1970’s and was one of the state’s most popular Governors when he served served from 1977 to 1981.

A candidate with a middle name Dalton versus Ron Paul.  What more do you want for a  sensational Pundit Primary?

Quite a double-take this morning reading this New York Times headline:

For Thompson, Goal Is to Don Reagan Mantle

For a moment I thought they were remembering this guy…

My company New Media Strategies is now working with the Fred Thompson presidential campaign on online strategy.  I am directly involved in those efforts.
How will this affect the Extreme Mortman blog?  Simple.  I will continue to ridicule the first and third “Die Hard” movies, but “Die Hard II” is now off limits.