The happiest happy warrior:  If I had to place a bet on who was the happiest warrior right now I would put it on Arthur Laffer, the father of “supply side economics. Briefly and very simplified SSE suggests if you lower taxes on corporations that money is then invested back into the business which in turn raises production, which causes other great benefits down the road. Anyway, Laffer is now trying his hand at prognostication.  Check this out  from The Hill:

“I would be surprised if the Republicans don’t take 45, 46, 47 states out of the 50,” Laffer told host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York’s AM-970 on Sunday. “I mean, I think we’re going to landslide this election.”

47 out of 50 states?  That’s pretty freakin’ happy.  Laffer then went on to praise almost all our candidates, and said Hillary Clinton’s day “is over”.

Trump goes birther, again: Just when it seemed as if Donald Trump and Ted Cruz would walk arm and arm into the White House, Trump suggested last week Cruz was not a natural born citizen and thus couldn’t be president. Cruz fired back by going to Breitbart News and showing his mother’s birth certificate as well as his own. He also gave details of Mrs. Cruz’s time in Canada. Given the new information and the certificates everything should be good, right? Not for the Donald, who doubled down on the birther charges yesterday. ABC news caught up with him in Iowa:

“I mean, you’ve got to get a declaratory judgement, you have to have the courts come up with a ruling or you have a candidate who just cannot run because the other side will immediately bring suit and you’ve got that cloud on your head.”

Not to be outdone Senator Rand Paul weighed in saying on Face the Nation today, that the issue may have to be decided by the Supreme Court.

Sunday morning must read: An article in The New York Times made me laugh a little too loud this morning. Entitled “For Republicans, Mounting Fears of Lasting Split” by Patrick Healey and Jonathon Martin, the article tells conservatives little they didn’t already know, and that always brings about my laughter.  Take this part:

“…its once powerful establishment grapples with an eruption of class tensions, ethnic resentments and mistrust among working-class conservatives who are demanding a presidential nominee who represents their interests.”

Yep. That’s true! (giggle)  Conservatives have been yelling for someone to represent those interests for decades and the calls have only gotten louder over the last few years. Those TEA party rallies and similar gatherings weren’t recipe exchanges. And the establishment is just NOW becoming fearful that side of the party will break away?  This line, too, caused some snickering:

“Rank-and-file conservatives, after decades of deferring to party elites, are trying to stage what is effectively a people’s coup by selecting a standard-bearer who is not the preferred candidate of wealthy donors and elected officials.”

Its almost as if establishment Republicans now realize the base has gotten tired of being at the back end of a horse’s costume. The view never changed. The base is ready to take its turn at the front end of the horse now.  Its not that there’s a “mounting fear of lasting split” among Republicans as the title suggests.  The palpable fear is emanating from establishment.  Its a good read for a Sunday.  Enjoy, and chuckle.

Looking for the polls? Got several. Today new numbers are out for Iowa and New Hampshire from NBC/WSJ/Marist. Also, one came out yesterday for New Hampshire by NH1/Reach. As to what the numbers mean – I’ll leave that to someone who actually knows.

Good news for drivers: The odds grow each day that gas prices will be $1 a gallon in some parts of US. At least according to this USAToday story. Sort of depends on how close to a pipeline you live, what your gas taxes currently are,  and of course, the current supply.

That’s it for today’s Watercooler: Thanks for stopping by.  But, hey, leave a little something down below before you go.  Comment on something you’ve seen here or maybe drop a line about something interesting you saw elsewhere.  If it’s too small for a diary or just a breaking news blurb…drop it here.