• Mitch Daniels,  Mitt Romney,  Newt Gingrich,  Polling,  President 2012,  Rick Santorum

    President 2012 GOP Poll Watch: Close Race in Michigan

    February 20, 2012 /

    Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney

    A couple of recent polls show a dead heat in Michigan.

    We Ask American Poll:

    • Romney – 29%
    • Santorum – 29%
    • Gingrich – 10%
    • Paul – 12%
    • Undecided – 20%

    PPP Poll:

    The Republican race for President in Michigan has tightened considerably over the last week, with what was a 15 point lead for Rick Santorum down to 4. He leads with 37% to 33% for Mitt Romney, 15% for Ron Paul, and 10% for Newt Gingrich.

    The tightening over the last week is much more a function of Romney gaining than Santorum falling. Santorum’s favorability spread of 67/23 has seen no change since our last poll, and his share of the vote has dropped only 2 points from 39% to 37%. Romney meanwhile has seen his net favorability improve 10 points from +10 (49/39) to +20 (55/35) and his vote share go from 24% to 33%.

    What we’re seeing in Michigan is a very different story from Florida where Romney surged by effectively destroying his opponent’s image- here Romney’s gains have more to do with building himself up.

    Groups Santorum has double digit leads with include Protestants (up 47-30), union members (up 43-23), Evangelicals (up 51-24), Tea Partiers (up 55-20), ‘very conservative’ voters (up 54-23), and men (up 40-28).

    Romney is leading the field with women (38-34), seniors (42-34), moderates (35-24), ‘somewhat conservative’ voters (40-34), and Catholics (43-31).

    As I have said, if Mitt Romney were to lose Michigan, the state of his youth and family legacy, there will undoubtedly be another candidate who will jump into the race. If Romney wins Michigan by a point or two, then there may also be a challenge.

    Take your pick: Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush.

    Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are not polling well in general election match-ups against President Obama. The GOP Establsihment will not stand by and let Santorum and/or Gingrich sink their 2012 prospects.

    But, the new candidate will have to move quickly since election deadlines loom in early March.

  • Bobby Jindal,  Jeb Bush,  Mitch Daniels,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012,  Rick Santorum

    President 2012: If Mitt Romney Loses Michigan – We Need a New Candidate Says Top GOP Senator

    February 17, 2012 /

    Former Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Hispanic Leadership Network’s conference, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 in Miami

    You knew it was going to start.

    The GOP establishment is getting antsy about Mitt Romney and if he does manage to lose Michigan – well, he is done.

    A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race.

    “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity.

    The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not.

    “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win the state in which he grew up.

    “He’d be too damaged,” he said.  “If he can’t even win in Michigan, where his family is from, where he grew up.”

    What about Rick Santorum?

    “He’d lose 35 states,” the senator said, predicting the same fate for Newt Gingrich.

    And, who would the new candidate be?

    Jeb Bush, said this Senator.

    I, frankly, think it will be Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels or Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal – or even Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.

    If the GOP wants to win against President Obama, they had better hope Santorum beats Romney in Michigan.

  • Mitch Daniels,  Pinboard Links,  The Morning Flap

    The Morning Flap: January 25, 2012

    January 25, 2012 /

    These are my links for January 23rd through January 25th:

  • Mike Huckabee,  Mitch Daniels,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012,  Rudy Giuliani

    President 2012: George Will, Michael Dukakis and Mitt Romney – The Pretzel Candidate

    October 29, 2011 /
    +++++Update+++++

    George Will’s column is now posted.

    Pretty brutal stuff…..

    George Will “Romney is the Republican Party’s Michael Dukakis”

    I wrote a few weeks ago why the Republican Party should NOT settle for Mitt Romney without eyes wide open.

    George Will in a preview of this Sunday’s column drives the point home.

    Romney, supposedly the Republican most electable next November, is a recidivist reviser of his principles who is not only becoming less electable, he might damage GOP chances of capturing the Senate: Republican successes down the ticket will depend on the energies of the tea party and other conservatives, who will be deflated by a nominee whose blurry profile in caution communicates only calculated trimming. Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from ‘data’ … Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for THIS?

    I, frankly, think there needs to be another candidate to face off against Mitt Romney in the upcooming primary elections. Mitt may win the nomination with the current field but, despite what the poll says today, will lose to President Obama.

    Mitch Daniels, Rudy Giuliani or Mike Huckabee are all capable POLS who SHOULD challenge him. There should be an immediate DRAFT effort.

    If the GOP were to nominate Romney anyway, then there you go. Don’t blame me for the epic loss to Obama and the failure to win back the U.S. Senate.

    But, Republican voters really should have more choices.

  • Mike Huckabee,  Mitch Daniels,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012,  Rudy Giuliani

    President 2012: George Will, Michael Dukakis and Mitt Romney – Oh My!

    October 28, 2011 /

    George Will “Romney is the Republican Party’s Michael Dukakis”

    I wrote a few weeks ago why the Republican Party should NOT settle for Mitt Romney without eyes wide open.

    George Will in a preview of this Sunday’s column drives the point home.

    Romney, supposedly the Republican most electable next November, is a recidivist reviser of his principles who is not only becoming less electable, he might damage GOP chances of capturing the Senate: Republican successes down the ticket will depend on the energies of the tea party and other conservatives, who will be deflated by a nominee whose blurry profile in caution communicates only calculated trimming. Republicans may have found their Michael Dukakis, a technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from ‘data’ … Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for THIS?

    I, frankly, think there needs to be another candidate to face off against Mitt Romney in the upcooming primary elections. Mitt may win the nomination with the current field but, despite what the poll says today, will lose to President Obama.

    Mitch Daniels, Rudy Giuliani or Mike Huckabee are all capable POLS who SHOULD challenge him. There should be an immediate DRAFT effort.

    If the GOP were to nominate Romney anyway, then there you go. Don’t blame me for the epic loss to Obama and the failure to win back the U.S. Senate.

    But, Republican voters really should have more choices.

  • Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    President 2012: How’s That Mitch Daniels Candidacy Looking?

    October 27, 2011 /

    Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels speaks at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. More than a year out from Election Day, all sorts of Republicans, including Daniels, are making a point of keeping themselves in the national spotlight, stoking speculation that they’re positioning themselves as potential running mates for the eventual GOP presidential nominee

    Phil Klein looks at a Daniels what if?

    Many conservatives have been desperate for an alternative to Mitt Romney, but he still finds himself ahead in the first four primary states, because no single rival has been able to consolidate opposition to him or convince the establishment wing of the GOP that they’d be plausible. (BTW, I’m using “establishment,” roughly speaking, as a way of describing those who place more emphasis on electability than ideology.)

    Daniels, no doubt, had his share of detractors, given his social issues “truce” comments, uncertainty about whether he’d be open to raising taxes, and skepticism over his foreign policy views among hawks. But his governing record in Indiana was well to the right of Mitt Romney’s in Massachusetts. If Romney can overcome past support for abortion, gun control, the McCain-Kennedy immigration approach, and government-run health care — among other liberal positions — Daniels’ deviations from conservatism would have looked mild by comparison. In addition, his command of policy details and strong executive record would have allowed him to compete with Romney for establishment support. It’s hard to imagine Daniels having a deer in the headlights moment in a debate.

    Mitch Daniels would be the nominee, if he had run.

    Will Mitt Romney choose him as a Vice Presidential candidate?

    Only if he wants to win.

    And, if Romney loses, then Daniels will be th epresumptive front-runner for 2016.

  • Chris Christie,  Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    President 2012 Video: Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels STILL Not Running for President

    September 23, 2011 /
    Video: Govs. Christie and Daniels on why they’re not running for president

    I guess NOT.

    Chris Christie took another spin in the “I’m not running for president” tango this morning. Today’s dance partner: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

    Speaking before an audience of students at Rider University, Republican governors were asked (again) to explain their respective decisions not to run for president. Christie did, prompting this push from Daniels:

    “I’m not taking no from Christie…I’m taking ‘Not yet,'” Daniels said, before declaring his respect for Christie’s decision. “He’s doing so many good things for your state. Your state needs him to keep on.”

    But……

    And while his (Christie’s) words say no to a quick departure from New Jersey, recent actions — such as this week’s launch of $1.5 million ad campaign touting his achievements in New York and Pennsylvania — say “maybe.”

    The GOP Presidential field needs additional candidates, if not them, who?

  • Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    President 2012: Mitch Daniels Calls for a More Honest Debate

    September 19, 2011 /

    Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels answers questions Thursday, May 19, 2011, at the Palais Royale ballroom during a breakfast speech in South Bend, Indiana

    I still wish Daniels would have run for the Presidency but now he is hawking his book that will be out tomorrow.

    Four months after he decided against jumping into the Republican presidential race, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana says that he has occasionally been frustrated by the discourse in the campaign and that the field could benefit from at least one more contender whose candidacy was rooted in a message of fiscal discipline.

    Mr. Daniels said his party’s candidates had a responsibility to conduct a “more candid and honest” conversation about the nation’s financial burdens, particularly Social Security and Medicare.

    “Somebody else could still enter and have a competitive chance,” Mr. Daniels said in a weekend interview. “The candidate I could get instantly excited about is someone who is willing to level with the American people and assume they are prepared to listen to the mathematical facts and agree that whatever other disagreements we have aren’t as important.”

    Mr. Daniels, who is among the country’s most respected Republican governors, has not chosen a favorite candidate in the party’s nominating contest. He said the recent contentious exchanges over Social Security between the party’s leading candidates, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, had not advanced the debate.

    Please, please a team of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Rep. Paul Ryan. Either or both would be better than Romney and Perry.

    The observations from Mr. Daniels come as he prepares this week to release a book, “Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans.” In the book, to be released Tuesday, he calls for a new Reconstruction period in the United States and proposes major changes to entitlement programs to help control the deficit and avert “the most predictable crisis we’ll ever face.”

    He outlines in stark terms what he views as the nation’s precarious economic condition, suggesting that Democrats and Republicans alike have failed to adequately prepare for a new “Red menace” facing the United States.

    “It’s quite possible that some Republican could win next year by just being not the president, but then what?” Mr. Daniels said. “They should campaign to govern, not just win an election.”

  • Michele Bachmann,  Mitch Daniels,  Mitt Romney,  President 2012,  Rick Perry,  Rick Santorum,  Sarah Palin

    President 2012: CNN/Tea Express GOP Debate Winners and Losers

    September 13, 2011 /

    David Brody interviews former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum

    After watching last night’s GOP Presidential debate, I am wondering how and where the GOP got to this place with the top two candidates being Rick Perry and Mitt Romney with an assorted supporting cast. The field could use another candidate or two – calling Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels or Representative Paul Ryan – PLEASE RUN.

    The current GOP Presidential field is very weak, each candidate has a track record that can be exploited in the primary elections and by the Democrats in the general election. But, with that said, Sarah Palin has said it is a time for choosing and choose we must.

    Winner: Mitt Romney

    Mitt Romney appeared Presidential, looked good in his skin and his suit was impeccable. Romney shows that he is a cool, calculated character who is not easily rattled. His experience in running for the Presidency these past 6-8 years shows. RomneyCare looms in the background and is very exploitable by the Obama team – they can hardly wait as a matter of fact. But, it might not help Obama and Axelrod with this very poor American economy.

    Romney was able to attack Rick Perry with a smile on his face and the nasty direct mail in his back pocket. The attack television ads, especially in Nevada and Florida are just a few months away. Everyone knows they are coming. The issue will be Social Security and Romney will drive Perry into the ground with the term Ponzi Scheme.

    Biggest Loser: Rick Perry

    Rick Santorum’s quote in the video above is the most telling, “The more I find out about Rick Perry the more concern I have.” This was my feeling and that of the Twitterverse last night. This morning the MSM is piling on Perry.

    The Texas Governor continued his folksy way, but did not answer the Social Security Ponzi Scheme questions. Perry has put forward no entitlement reform plan. Romney attacked the issues and the others piled on.

    The Gardisil, “government injection” flap was devastating to Perry. We all knew it was coming and exploitable, but Michele Bachmann thrust in the knife and Rick Santorum twisted it. Perry made a poor policy decision, and certainly not a one that will endear him to conservatives – or anyone for that matter. Bachmann’s framing of the issue as “crony capitalism” and a pay off from lobbyists will be replayed time and again.

    Next, was the illegal immigration issue and the Texas Dream Act. Perry signed the bill giving the children of illegal aliens an entitlement paid by American citizen taxpayers and was booed by the Tea Party crowd. Immigration is not a primary issue because the GOP controls the House, but conservatives and the Tea Party have to be wondering if this former Al Gore supporter will not be another Bush and/or McCain pushing comprehensive immigration reform. Being booed by the Tea Party is NOT a good thing for Rick Perry.

    None of these single issues are fatal to the Perry campaign, but voters have to be wondering, why is Rick Perry considered the front-runner?

    Losers: All of the rest

    Michele Bachmann did OK and I can see her doing well in Iowa. But, her vision is narrow, has no executive experience and her voice grates on me after a few minutes.

    Jon Huntsman – made wise-ass jokes about Nirvana and immigration (to Perry) and has revealed him as the rich, arrogant ass that he is. Huntsman is through with his Presidential run for this year and all time. Done – put a fork in him.

    All of the rest have NO chance and debate organizers should limit the number of participants to 3 or 4, plus any newcomers.

    Another candidate:

    The GOP Establishment must be scrambling this morning after Rick Perry’s implosion. There are better GOP candidates out there and they should be asked to run. Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Ryan are all better candidates, than any in the field. Sarah Palin probably won’t run, but she could beat these characters.

    If this is the best field, then you go with Romney, run the Senate races hard and keep your fingers crossed that Obama is so weak that Romney can manage a small win. The GOP will hedge its bets by winning the U.S. Senate and effectively blocking the lame duck Obama.

    I was very disappointed in this debate and am certainly not as optimistic that Obama will be a one term President as I was prior.

  • Mitch Daniels,  President 2012

    President 2012: Why Mitch Daniels Did NOT Run for President

    May 23, 2011 /

    Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and wife Cheri

    Obviously, it was for the sake of his family.

    Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels received encouragement to pursue the presidency from all over the country, from tea party activists to Republican Party elites. But after months of deliberation, Daniels could not overcome the barrier that he warned supporters about from the start: family concerns stood in the way.

    Daniels’ unusual marital history was apparently the issue. He’s only been married to one woman — but twice, and the gap in that marriage in the 1990s was the sore spot. Cheri Daniels left Mitch when he was in private life in 1994 and moved to California with a doctor. The Danielses would later remarry, but the pain it caused the people involved, including their four daughters, was too much to bear.

    A whisper campaign already making the rounds among political activists revealed how tough some of the scrutiny was going to be: What kind of first lady would leave her children at home for her husband to raise? Why did Mitch Daniels take her back?

    Many Washington GOP strategists have said for months that that one issue would be too much for Daniels. In the end, it was — according to Daniels’ himself.

    And, then there was the other wife who Cheri Daniels ruined her family (marriage and children with the California doctor). You know that would have come out and it has – even with Mitch out of the race.

    RealClearPolitics was approached by the ex-wife of the doctor with whom Mrs. Daniels fled to California. The other couple was married at the time, and the woman said in a phone interview that the move “blindsided” her.

    While she said she’s over the breakup of her marriage, in an email she characterized Cheri Daniels as “vengeful.”

    The doctor’s ex-wife continued: “What I will say is they remarried for political reasons. She didn’t care what she did to her children or mine in 1994. And she doesn’t care about what she does now. Look up ‘narcissist.’ I really question her character, and her motives.”

    The media scrutiny would have been overwhelming. If you think the tabloids have gone after Bristol Palin, can you imagine what they would have done to the four Daniel’s daughters and their friends?

    Politically, the Independent Expenditure groups would have beaten up Mitch, Cheri and especially their children. And, then there is the Obama campaign, if Daniels happened to beat Mitt Romney who would have beaten Mitch senseless – all through IE expenditures.

    So why is this happening? Simple. You’ve probably heard that the president and his team are looking to raise $1 billion to run on in 2012. They may make it; they may not. But what is that money to be spent on? He won’t have to spend it in a primary, it looks like. So that means the Obama team will have hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars to spend with one object and one object only: Destroy the eventual Republican nominee. Go after him. Drag his name through the mud. Run commercials every 15 seconds in six battleground states in which he removes wheelchairs from Medicare patients and grabs checks from Social Security recipients. And should there be a personal problem, a marial difficulty…well, Katie, bar the door. Imagine being Mitch Daniels, with your complex marital history, contemplating the onslaught of a negative campaign that cascades over you beginning in June 2012, just as you’re trying to “define” yourself to the American people. Pretty horrible to contemplate.

    Mitch Daniels is 62 years old, has two more years on his term as Indiana Governor, and why put up with all of this crap running for the Presidency.

    Daniels made a wise decision.