Inside the Beltway

NEWS AND OPINION:

MITTIFIED

“Halloween … and the New Hampshire Democratic Party has everything you need right here to dress up as this year’s most famous 1-percenter: Mitt Romney. Just like Mitt Romney, the hardest part will be choosing which Mitt you want to be. There’s Unemployed Mitt, Millionaire Mitt, Middle Class Mitt, Mean Mitt and Career Politician Mitt,” advises the waggish New Hampshire Democratic Party.

Yeah, well. Ironically, an actual Mitt Romney mask exits, but it has sold out, according to anecdotal reports and retailers like Costumecraze.com, which until recently sold an over-the-head, vinyl Mitt mask for $15.

Could Democrats be buying out the supplies because they have Romney heebie-jeebies? Polls consistently reveal that while Mr. Romney does not win the popularity derby, he is most often cited as the strongest Republican challenger to President Obama in 2012.

A dozen protesters in Romney masks and blue blazers protested a fundraiser for the candidate in South Carolina earlier this month. And oddly enough, Democrats have alluded to the mysterious Mitt mask for years, like one notable Illinois lawmaker, once asked about his Halloween costume:

“I am thinking about wearing a Mitt Romney mask, but it has two sides to it. It goes in both directions at once,” said then-Sen. Barack Obama during a Democratic presidential debate, staged Oct. 30, 2007.

WHITE HOUSE DOUGH

The White House tried to have a nice, reasonable Halloween, doling out M&Ms, dried fruit and cookies to local schoolchildren who showed up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. on Saturday. The freezing, sleeting, snowing, bone-chilling local weather was not the ideal scenario for fleece-clad hosts President Obama and Michelle Obama.

But wait. Lousy weather or not, White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses has shared the official “White House Sweet Dough Butter Cookie Recipe.” The recipe makes a whole bunch of cookies, though the chef does not specify the exact number. Here are the directions nonetheless, verbatim from Mr. Yosses, and handy, because the Thanksgiving and Christmas rush is already on:

“1 lb. sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 lbs. butter, 1 tsp. salt, 3 eggs, 3 lbs. all-purpose flour.”

“Mix the butter and sugar till soft and well beaten. Then add eggs, vanilla, salt and half the flour. Beat on slow speed till mixed, then add the rest of the flour and mix until incorporated. Push flat onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate overnight. Roll out to one-quarter-inch thick and cut out cookie shapes with cookie cutter. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 14 minutes and then allow to cool.”

HERMAN WATCH

Fresh from a spate of local tea party events in Alabama, presidential hopeful Herman Cain is in Washington on Monday for back-to-back campaign events of the more formal variety. His 9-9-9 plan gets close examination from the Wall Street Journal economic writer Stephen Moore and Brookings Institute analyst William Gale at the American Enterprise Institute in mid-morning. Watch it live on C-SPAN2 beginning at 9:30 a.m., or online here: www.aei.org.

Mr. Cain then scurries over to the National Press Club — a tantalizing two blocks from the White House - for a sold-out luncheon in the club’s swank ballroom, to discuss “why he thinks his skills as a businessman would make him the best choice for president,” organizers advise. The event will be covered on C-SPAN from 1 to 2 p.m., or online here: www.press.org.

HERMAN/NEWT WATCH

A political-cultural moment of note: businessman Herman Cain and campaign rival Newt Gingrich are eschewing a traditional debate and staging their own, set for Saturday in Houston. Just the two of them, talking up “fiscal austerity,” with Rep. Steve King of Iowa as moderator. The encounter is actually a fundraiser for the Texas Tea Party’s Patriot PAC.

Some caution that the matchup is a boon for glib Mr. Gingrich and a gamble for Mr. Cain.

“An important fact that is being overlooked: Cain was hammered in the last debate, yet his support hasnt dropped at all,” says Pajamas Media contributor Ryan Mauro.

POPULATION HORRORS

The biggest Halloween scare on Monday for environmentalists and their media pals is the birth of Earth’s 7 billionth resident, a phenomenon predicted to happen Monday by the United Nations, says Business and Media Institute analyst Paul Wilson.

“For many people, this milestone is a cause for celebration and a human triumph. But for environmentalists on the radical left, the ever-growing legion of consuming humans is a harbinger of impending doom,” he observes.

Mr. Wilson has tracked the gloomy commentaries to find that journalists and assorted philosophers have warned about an expanding population since 1798, to be echoed later by the likes of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, among others.

“Attempts to curb population growth carry with them a heavy economic price. Social programs such as Social Security and Medicare depend upon having enough workers to pay into the system. If too few children are born to replace retiring workers, these programs eventually collapse,” says Mr. Wilson, pointing out that the Population Research Institute has produced a few rare videos taking on the fearmongers, found here: https://overpopulationisamyth.com.

POLL DU JOUR

• 87 percent of Republicans are “non-Hispanic white,” 12 percent are “nonwhite.”

• 7 percent are Hispanic and 3 percent black.

• 68 percent of Republicans say they are conservatives, 26 percent are moderates, 6 percent liberals.•62 percent are married, 37 percent are single; 53 percent are male, 47 percent female.

• 62 percent of Republicans are “Protestant /other Christian,” 22 percent are Catholic, 6 percent are “other,” 9 percent have no religious affiliation.

• 40 percent attend church weekly, 21 percent “nearly weekly/monthly,” 38 percent “seldom/never” attend church.

Source: A Gallup tracking poll of 88,000 U.S. adults conducted June 1 to Aug. 31 and released Friday.

• Hearsay, ultimate truths, complaints to jharper@washingtontimes.com