The Department of Energy, a Jimmy Carter creation that has been a familiar conservative punching bag for more than three decades, eluded Texas Gov. Rick Perry during tonight’s GOP presidential debate when he launched into a familiar riff about federal agencies he’d like to dismantle.

“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: Commerce, Education and the, uh, what’s the third one there, let’s see….”

By the time Perry came up with the Department of Energy minutes later, the episode was already being compared to other legendary self-inflicted presidential debate wounds, including former President Gerald R. Ford‘s insistence in 1976 that “there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.”

President Obama is at roughly the same stage of his presidency as Jimmy Carter was in the summer of 1979 when he delivered his infamous “malaise speech” bemoaning a “crisis of confidence” in America.

Consumer confidence today is 22 points lower and the unemployment rate 3.4 points higher than when Carter gave his speech. But Obama — whose party once popularized the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” — is unlikely to join Carter in the ranks of one-term Democratic presidents, according to a history professor who has correctly forecast the popular-vote winner in the last seven presidential elections.

The economy is only one part of American University Prof. Allan Lichtman‘s “13 Keys to the Presidency.” Read about it in today’s Palm Beach Post.

Democratic Senate hopeful Jeff Greene says he still doesn’t remember whether he voted for Republican icon Ronald Reagan in 1980, but reminded a Democratic retiree crowd today that the U.S. was “in a mess” at the time and “Ronald Reagan didn’t get elected just by Republicans.”

Palm Beach billionaire Greene campaigned at Century Village of Boca Raton, where Democratic club president Marvin Manning — speaking personally and not in his official role — told the crowd of about 150 that Greene is the “strongest candidate to represent our party in November.”

Greene’s main primary rival, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, released an Internet video today calling himself the only “real Democrat” in the race. Meek has repeatedly noted that Greene ran for Congress in California as a Republican in 1982 and, after years of being registered with no party affiliation, didn’t register as a Democrat until 2008.

(more…)

As noted here previously, Palm Beach County Democrats have dumped politically incorrect 19th century presidents Thomas Jefferson (slaveowner) and Andrew Jackson (slave-owning Indian relocator) from their annual fund-raising dinner, tentatively changing the Jefferson-Jackson dinner to a Truman-Johnson event.

Since going public with those plans, county Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel says party leaders have been lobbied by supporters of John F. Kennedy and will probably add the slain 35th president’s name, making it a Truman-Kennedy-Johnson dinner.

The event isn’t until November, so there’s probably time for more lobbying. Adding Jimmy Carter would make a complete roster of Democratic presidents from the Cold War. Watch this space to see if any other candidates emerge…..