From politics to pop star…and other dangerous moves from Washington

Amy Walter

Politically Foul

Politics: it's not a game, exactly. But there are rules, and when you break them you are running….Politically Foul!

Colin Powell: retired 4-star General, Secretary of State, suggested Presidential Candidate and....future pop star? Appearing on CBS This Morning with Gayle King, the former Cabinet Secretary used a commercial break to drop his rendition of Carly Rae Jepsen's hit "Call Me Maybe." Powell even went so far as to break out some signature dance moves showing that while the Retired General may have given up the march, he will never lose his need to boogie.

Speaking of kicking it old school, Ragin' Cajun James Carville had some advice for President Obama this week warning that when the White House talks, "people take that as a signal that [the Obama administration] thinks things are fine." Hold on…flashback to 1994 when then-aide David Axelrod had this advice for President Clinton: "When you stand up and claim great progress, you are only alienating this frustrated middle class." If only he had a Mr. Fusion and a way to reach 88 MPH, he could fire up a DeLorean and we might not be in this mess!

Campaigns are doing all they can to woo the all-important Hispanic vote. Consider Exhibit A: the RNC's Spanish language website RNCLatino.com. Only one problem…the kids featured in that photo on top of the site? They're Asian. Despite the potential of chalking this one up to color-blindness, the RNC put the blame on an outside vendor and quickly took the picture down.

From the outside, Presidential campaigns look glamorous—they travel to foreign capitals, ride in motorcades with lots of guys with earpieces—but at the end of the day it's the regular people, yes those darn voters who live in the unglamorous towns, that make or break a campaigns. During a campaign stop at a small-town Iowa café this week, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his staff were not exactly the most gracious of guests at Diane Bauer's Main Street café. Ms. Bauer says the Romney campaign threw the tablecloths out the back door in addition to damaging other items in the diner and she didn't even get to meet the Presidential hopeful. Although he apologized, maybe next time Romney will be better off with carry out.

Those are the political blunders we flagged this week. Tell us your best and worst moments and we'll survey the field again next week.