Mitt Romney has moved ahead of Newt Gingrich in national Republican registered voters’ preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination, 31% to 26%, according to Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 27-31. This includes one night of interviewing that may partly reflect Republicans’ reactions to Romney’s victory in the Jan. 31 Florida Republican primary.
Newt Gingrich will have to survive the month of February with small gains – perhaps with a win in Arizona. The proportional contests will not lead to a “real”or insurrmountable delegate lead for Mitt Romney.
As long as Newt’s money holds out, he can wait until later Southern GOP primary elections and hope that Rick Santorum drops out, so he can consolidate the anti-Romney more conservative vote.
These are my links for January 30th through February 1st:
HBO’s Game Change portrays “meltdown” Palin – The latest trailer for HBO’s “Game Change” portrays Sarah Palin as natural disaster mistakenly unleashed by the McCain campaign.”Oh my god what have we done.” Woody Harrelson’s Steve Schmidt says, “I can’t control her anymore.” — “She’s on the verge of a complete nervous breakdown.”
Julianne Moore’s Sarah Palin repeats lines like “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.” and “It’s not my fault, I was not properly prepped.” — “I miss my baby, I miss sleeping with my baby.”
At the end she whispers, “We have to win this thing, I so don’t want to go back to Alaska.”
Ted Olson compares Obama to Nixon, McCarthy – President Obama’s first ad of his reelection campaign didn’t mention David and Charles Koch by name, but everyone knows that they are the “secretive oil billionaires” who “attack President Obama” mentioned in the ad’s opening lines. With so much else going on both domestically and internationally kicking off his reelection campaign with a personal attack on private citizens did seem like an odd choice. But former solicitor general of the United States Ted Olson sees some darker forces involved. He writes in today’s Wall Street Journal:Olson doesn’t mention it, but there is a very simple reason Obama is targeting the Koch’s: he can’t run on his record. With unemployment still higher than when he took office, and the Congressional Budget Office now certifying he will fail to cut the deficit in half as he promised, he has no accomplishments to run on. All he can really do is identify villains and ask his supporters to punish them. That is what Obama’s Buffett Rule is really all about. And that is why he is attacking the Koch’s.
Greek PM seeks backing for reforms key to bailout – Greece’s prime minister is calling the country’s political leaders in the next few days to seek backing for more austerity after the International Monetary Fund warned this was key to securing the new bailout Athens needs to avoid a messy default.With a long-delayed deal with private sector creditors to cut Greece’s debt mountain by 100 billion euros nearly wrapped up, the government is now racing to complete talks on the 130-billion euro ($170.18 billion) bailout by the end of the week.
To do so, Athens must first persuade the European Union and IMF – which have grown increasingly exasperated with its repeated failures to meet deficit and reform targets – that it will implement long-delayed reforms and slash spending further.
Dick Lugar: From top target to tea party pal? – Last year, Sen. Dick Lugar was the tea party’s top target — a 35-year veteran who lives in Washington, strays from conservative orthodoxy and even criticized the right-wing movement in the wake of the 2010 elections.But last week, Lugar was the tea party’s dining companion.
Michelle Malkin » For Santorum – Lest we forget, this election is not about choosing a showboat candidate to run against John King or Juan Williams or Wolf Blitzer.It’s not about “raging against” some arbitrarily defined GOP “machine.”
For many grass-roots conservatives across the country, Romney and Gingrich are the machine.
And at this point in the game, Rick Santorum represents the most conservative candidate still standing who can articulate both fiscal and social conservative values — and live them.
Michelle Malkin Endorses Santorum, Torches Newt – For months, super star conservative author and blogger Michelle Malkin has described the Republican presidential primary as a “pageant of the imperfects,” lamenting that the GOP field represents an uninspiring, “nose plugs” choice for conservatives. Despite her public misgivings, she’s finally donned the requisite odor blockers and made her selection: Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. The entire piece is worth a thorough read, but here is a small sampling of Malkin’s pro-Santorum case:
Nevada officials: Luxor guests had Legionnaires’ – Health officials in Las Vegas said Monday that the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease was found in water samples at the Luxor hotel-casino this month after a guest died of the form of pneumonia.The Southern Nevada Health District said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention national surveillance program reported three cases in the past year of Luxor guests being diagnosed with the disease caused by Legionella bacteria.
The Las Vegas Strip resort’s water was tested after the first two cases were reported during the spring of last year, but no Legionella bacteria was detected, district officials said. Those guests recovered.
Officials say the Luxor, owned by MGM Resorts International, immediately began a remediation process once the bacteria was found.
MGM Resorts spokesman Gordon Absher said treatment procedures include superheating and super-chlorination of the water system.
The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the economy would remain sluggish, with high unemployment, and that the federal budget deficit would exceed $1 trillion in 2012 for the fourth consecutive year.
The deficit will be $1.1 trillion in the current fiscal year, about $200 billion less than in 2011, and will fall sharply in the next three years as a result of tax increases and spending cuts required by existing law, the agency said in its annual report on the budget and economic outlook.
However, it said, that same combination of higher taxes and caps on spending will crimp economic growth. As a result, it said, the unemployment rate, which was 8.5 percent in December, will climb to 8.9 percent in the last quarter of this year, which includes Election Day, and will rise to 9.2 percent in the final quarter of 2013.
“We have not had a period of such persistently high unemployment since the Depression,” said Douglas W. Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office.
So, when you see President Obama giving rosy scenario speeches, ask yourself, what is he really doing about America’s economic problems?
For those who think Mitt Romney, the Bain Company Investment Banker, will be a disaster for the Republican Party, there is fresh evidence this morning.
In an interview with CNN Wednesday morning that should have been a Florida victory lap, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney made a fumble that could give rivals an attack ad sound bite.
Asked about his economic plan, Romney said repeatedly that he was not concerned with very poor Americans, but was focused instead on helping the middle class.
Romney explained that he was confident that food stamps, housing vouchers, Medicaid and other assistance would keep the poor afloat — he pledged to fix holes in that safety net “if it needs repair.” He repeated past statements that his main focus is the middle class because those people, in his opinion, have been hardest hit by the recession (President Obama also has focused many of his efforts on the middle class).
But Romney’s awkward phrasing could give fuel to critics who argue that he does not empathize with the poorest Americans.
“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there,” Romney told CNN. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”
Sorry Mittens, but many of us do not have a $200 million fortune to tide us over when business conditions go south.
I am also sorry, but this guy is just out of touch with everyday Americans.
Let’s hope that Newt Gingrich can make a comeback or the GOP convention has some insight and chooses someone else – ANYBODY.
If not, President Obama will be re-elected in November and I suspect quite easily.
@LizMair Had the Nevada GOP nominated a regular candidate, they would have won both seats and would not have Harry to contend w/ this cycle. in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair Sandoval did win though and thrashed Reid's son. I think an opportunity exists but Romney will have to work it in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair But, the union influence may be properly counterweighted with the very poor economy there and a better messaged/organized candidate in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair Granted Reid worked the hell out of the Clark County Unions, but Angle being a poor candidate, especially vis a vis Hispanics hurt in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair Reid would have lost but for Angle. Sandoval should help with Hispanics. Union workers in Clark Co. are unemployed or moved out. in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair NH will likely flip red. NV will be in play because of cheap media market and unemployment. Demographics matter there = LDS in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair PA won't be in play unless there is a landslide against Obama. OH, VA, FL, NC, NH, NV, maybe CO & IA in play. in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair Then, those pundits need to read the polls. Perhaps they are suffering delusions of grandeur. Just a handful of states in play. in reply to LizMair#
@LizMair Do you really think WI, MI, PA, are in play? VA and Ohio = of course. Others – nope in reply to LizMair#
RT @LizMair When voters at large start seeing attack ads featuring workers, then a better sense will exist as to Romney vulnerability. #
@Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-01-31 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog http://t.co/wKVXC9Np#
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