It's not necessarily worth breaking out the pricey champagne and noisemakers just yet, but there is good economic news out today: the nation added 200,000 jobs, which is evidently a “robust” number.

That's just good news in general.  

As it relates to politics, I think I want to set today as a bit of a benchmark in your mind going forward.  Even though “[i]t was the sixth consecutive month that the economy showed a net gain of more than 100,000 jobs,” we'll start with economic news this year.  If you look at the next nine months going forward and assume that we continue to get economic news this good or better, what does that mean for the re-election chances of President Obama?

I'm not saying that will happen.  I'm no economist, but I suspect we'll continue the modest economic recovery through 2012, barring some national or global catastrophe.  And that bodes well for the president's chances in November.  

As a sort of aside, I find it surprising there's not more written about that.  Maybe economists and political prognosticators don't want to speculate on that kind of thing too much.  Or maybe I just don't know where to look.

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As usual, Mustang Bobby is more articulate than I, this time on the dis-ingenuousness and finger-wagging nanny-state-er-ism of Rick Santorum on the issue of gay marriage.  Santorum likes to employ the old, if it's okay for gays to marry, then why not polygamy? nonsense deal that these mopes have been pulling for years, now.  MB takes it apart pretty effectively:

Setting aside for the moment Mr. Santorum's oft-noted obsession with other people's sex lives, including his belief that the government has the right to control what goes on between two consenting adults in the privacy of their home, it seems that he is either forgetting or ignoring the fact that marriage is basically a legal contract and therefore it can be written with limitations and stipulations.

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think it takes someone with a law degree to understand that the state can set standards for contracts. For instance, you can't write a legally binding contract to commit an illegal act, such as to hire someone to kill someone else. And I'm pretty sure that the state can limit a contract to people of a certain age and with ability to understand and sign the contract. That would eliminate the possibility that someone could marry their dog since a dog can neither understand the terms of the contract nor sign it. (For one thing, you need an opposable thumb to hold the pen.) The state can also set limits on the number of parties bound by the contract, such as two. Therefore if the state wants to prevent polygamy, it's perfectly within its rights to do so based on that limit.

Of course Santorum gets this.  Anyone can grasp this concept.  Santorum just doesn't want to because it doesn't serve his political purposes… or so he thinks. 

More and more states are moving in the direction of embracing gay marriage.  The latest is Washington, and Governor Christine Gregoire, who, it should be noted, is a Catholic, much like Senator Santorum.

I don't know how much longer guys like Santorum can use gay marriage — like abortion — as a bludgeon in a cynical attempt to divide us for political gain.

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In just about four days we'll be counting votes in New Hampshire.  Here's a pretty good pre-analysis from Chris Cillizza at The Fix.  

The bottom line is, if Romney doesn't win, that means he's got big, big problems.  He's probably going to win, though.  Got a vacation home there, used to be governor of the state next door, Massachusetts.  

So this is really about coming in second.  Santorum? Maybe.  I'm not so sure he can do it.  He's kind of a looney-tunes ideologue.  I mean, they're all nuts, but Santorum is especially nuts.  Ron Paul?  I'm not sure he can expand his base much beyond what it probably is.  Is New Hampshire a chance for Gingrich to bounce back?  

Who knows.  Yeah, it's probably anyone's race for second.  But if one of those guys can pull what you might call an “Iowa 8″, then it may well be anyone's race for the nomination.

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Yeah, I read the Daily Beast, but usually only once a day, and just to glance at it.

Now that they've hired conservative weirdo David Frum, maybe I'll spend my time elsewhere.

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In social media news, I (inadvertently, really) started a Facebook page for the Spencerian.  If you go to my personal Facebook page, I'm sure you'll find it.  And if not, just hit the “like” button in the upper right of this blog, and that'll be good enough.

The jury is still out on whether or not I like the new timeline feature on Facebook.  Seems a little awkward right now. 

I still tweet, too: @bkirby816.  Just when I think I'm over Twitter, it surprises me.

And yeah, I'm on +1, Google-plus, or whatever in the hell it's called.  I haven't used it in ages.

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Don't forget to check out my friend the Ybor City Stogie, especially if you're hungry and you want to eat local.  One of these days I'm going to get him down to Gulfport for dinner at Peg's, or maybe lunch at the Habana Cafe.  

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A few days ago, I asked you to go read some stories and vote in the Creative Loafing Fiction Contest.  I managed to get my story — Twilight & Brimstone — in the top ten, out of more than 80 submissions.  I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.  

I didn't win the top prizes — the judge's choice or the votes of the public — but it was a real honor to participate, and a thrill to make the top ten.  Don't worry, I'll publish Twilight & Brimstone on my other blog, Clintonaut, soon.  

I just wanted to say thank you for your vote and for reading.   

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It's finally Friday.

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Post by Benjamin Kirby of The Spencerian read more of this blogger's posts at http://warnerkirby.blogs.com/spencerian/