The Morning Flap: September 17, 2012
Chief Strategist Stuart Stevens and Mitt Romney
These are my links for September 13th through September 17th:
- Mitt Romney abruptly shifts strategy– Mitt Romney, sensing an opening in the Middle East mess and catching flak from conservatives for giving too little detail about his policy plans, is rolling out a new and broader strategy to make the election a referendum on “status quo versus change,” chief strategist Stuart Stevens told POLITICO.The shift, which is to include much more emphasis on Romney’s policy prescriptions, means he is scrapping the most basic precept of his campaign. From the time he began contemplating running again after his loss in the 2008 primaries, Romney’s theory of the case has been a relentless and nearly exclusive focus on the listless economy.
- Daily Number: 79% of Egyptians Have an Unfavorable View of the U.S.– 79% – Most Egyptians Have an Unfavorable View of the U.S.Egyptians express highly negative opinions of the United States and President Barack Obama’s performance in the Pew Global Attitudes Project survey done this spring.Fully 79% say they have an unfavorable view of the U.S., while just 19% offer a favorable one. That is one of the highest unfavorable ratings among the 20 nations in the survey; 86% say this in Jordan and 80% in Pakistan.Most Egyptians also say that the U.S. gives little consideration to their country’s interests when making international policy decisions. Eight-in-ten (80%) say the U.S. considers their interests “not too much” or “not at all.” Again, that is one of the highest among the countries surveyed.About seven-in-ten in Egypt (69%) say they do not have confidence in Obama to do the right thing in world affairs, while 29% express confidence in the U.S. president. That also ranks among the most negative ratings for Obama; 73% say this in Jordan and 68% in Greece
- Inside the campaign: How Mitt Romney stumbled– Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s top strategist, knew his candidate’s convention speech needed a memorable mix of loft and grace if he was going to bound out of Tampa with an authentic chance to win the presidency. So Stevens, bypassing the speechwriting staff at the campaign’s Boston headquarters, assigned the sensitive task of drafting it to Peter Wehner, a veteran of the last three Republican White Houses and one of the party’s smarter wordsmiths.Not a word Wehner wrote was ever spoken.
- Swings states remain focus for White House– With just over seven weeks until Election Day, the campaign for the White House has boiled down to just a handful of states and neither campaign is spending time in other places – unless it is to raise money.That was the script followed last week by Mitt Romney, who stopped Thursday and Friday in Virginia and Ohio, sandwiching those events with some fund raising in New York.And that’s exactly what President Obama will do this week – he campaigns on Monday in Ohio, raises money on Tuesday in New York, and makes stops later in the week in Florida and Virginia.When you look at the ten states seen as toss ups right now, the poll averages (as tabulated by Real Clear Politics) are almost all trending in favor of the President (Electoral votes in parentheses):Florida (29) – Obama +1.3%
Ohio (18) – Obama +4.2%
Michigan (16) – Obama +6.3%
North Carolina (15) – Romney +4.8%
Virginia (13) – Obama +0.3%
Wisconsin (10) – Obama +1.4%
Colorado (9) – Obama +3.0%
Nevada (6) – Obama +3.3%
Iowa (6) – Obama +0.2%
New Hampshire (4) – Obama +4.0%
- With voting under way, Romney camp faces test from Obama’s ground game– The first votes of the presidential election have already been cast — and in a battleground state.As of Sunday, 602 ballots had been returned by mail to election officials in North Carolina. President Obama won the state narrowly in 2008, becoming the first Democrat to carry it in a presidential election since Jimmy Carter in 1976. It sits near the top of Mitt Romney’s target list this year.By Saturday, almost half the states in the union will be issuing absentee ballots by mail, according to the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College. Among them will be the battleground of Virginia. Yet another key state, Iowa, will allow in-person voting from Sept. 27.
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-17 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-17 #tcot
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/boardwalk_empire?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Season premier…. Love Boardwalk Empire #GetGlue @hbo
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/tv_shows/nbc_sunday_night_football?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – Love that Faith Hill… #GetGlue #snf
- NC Poll Watch: Romney 51% Vs. Obama 45%– Mitt Romney has cleared the 50% mark again in the battleground state of North Carolina despite the presence of the Democratic National Convention there little over a week ago.The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely North Carolina Voters shows Romney with 51% support to President Obama’s 45%. One percent (1%) likes some other candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) are undecided.
- Twitter / Wilk2012: Scott Blough has begun the … – RT @Wilk2012: Scott Blough has begun the sign campaign in Simi Valley. got wilk?
- Obama Is Too drunk On His Celebrity To Understand The Gravity Of The Attacks On America– So, on a highly symbolic date, mobs storm American diplomatic facilities and drag the corpse of a U.S. ambassador through the streets. Then the president flies to Vegas for a fundraiser.No, no, a novelist would say; that’s too pat, too neat in its symbolic contrast. Make it Cleveland, or Des Moines.The president is surrounded by delirious fanbois and fangurls screaming “We love you,” too drunk on his celebrity to understand this is the first photo-op in the aftermath of a national humiliation.
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-16 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-16
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-16 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-16 #tcot
- Untitled (http://getglue.com/topics/p/usc_trojans?s=tch&ref=Fullosseousflap) – USC vs Stanford on Fox. Fight on! #GetGlue #USCTrojans
- Gregory Flap @ Ronnie’s Diner – foursquare – Only got 9.5 miles in today due to the heat. Wow! Hit 92 in Santa Monica. Now at Ronnie’s Diner (@ Ronnie’s Diner)
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-15 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-15
- AD-38: Anti-Scott Wilk Website Makes Its Appearance – Flapsblog.org – AD-38: Anti-Scott Wilk Website Makes Its Appearance
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-15 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-15 #tcot
- The State Worker: Conservative organization gives $4 million to Proposition 32 – Conservative organization gives $4 million to California Proposition 32 Paycheck Protection Initiative campaign #tcot
- Ethics czar angers bloggers with proposal to shine light on campaign pay – latimes.com – Angers? No, it is just unconstitutional |Ethics czar angers bloggers with proposal to shine light on campaign pay #tcot
- Ace of Spades HQ – Ace has the burning skull out: US GOVERNMENT NOW ACTING AS CENSORSHIP ARM OF ISLAMISTS #tcot
- Parents Photo Faves – Please vote for my grandson James in this baby photo contest. You can vote every day until the 17th! Thanks. #tcot
- ElectionTrack – Those Teachers, Nurses, FF’s & Police unions are sure giving the cash to defeat Cal Prop 32 Paycheck Protection #tcot
- California Proposition 32 “Paycheck Protection” Passing 53% Vs. 37% – California Proposition 32 “Paycheck Protection” Passing 53% Vs. 37% in latest CBRT Pepperdine Poll
- Amazon buyers can use 3rd-party sellers to avoid tax– Here’s some good news for California bargain hunters annoyed that they’ll have to pay sales tax on Amazon.com starting Saturday: Many of their purchases won’t be affected.Amazon doesn’t plan to collect tax on anything sold by its vast array of third-party sellers – the thousands of retailers, large and small, that use Amazon’s Internet platform to market their goods.It’s no small change. Third-party sellers accounted for about 40 percent of the goods ordered by Amazon buyers worldwide in the second quarter of this year, said Anne Zybowski, an e-commerce analyst with Kantar Retail consulting in Boston.That’s millions of dollars a year in sales in California alone.The percentage has “really started to creep up,” she said. “It’s pretty big.”
Amazon says its stance is perfectly legal – and consistent with how the company handles third-party sales in the seven other states where it collects sales tax.
- Worst of West Nile virus season to come in California– California and parts of the Bay Area are expecting the current West Nile virus season to be the worst in at least five years, with almost twice as many cases of the viral infection in humans so far compared with last year.Contra Costa County officials announced the first Bay Area case on Wednesday, in a woman who was infected in mid-August and is recovering now. With the peak reporting weeks still ahead, five people in the state have died from the virus, including a 74-year-old Placer County man whose death was reported Thursday.Beyond California, the United States is in the grip of what may turn out to be the worst outbreak of West Nile since the virus arrived in the country 13 years ago. Although the national outbreak may have reached its peak, public health authorities say they won’t have full reports on the extent of the epidemic for another few weeks.
- Nearly one in four California children in poverty, Census Bureau says– California’s poverty rate was 16.9 percent in 2011, the highest it has been in 15 years, according to numbers released by the US Census Bureau Wednesday.Nearly one in four California children lives in poverty, the report said. More than a third of Californians living below the poverty level are age 18 or younger.The increase in the poverty rate between 2010 and 2011 was not statistically significant, but since 2006, the rate has increased by 4.7 percentage points from 12.2 percent. The last time it was as high as it was in 2011 was 1996, when the state was still recovering from an early 1990s recession and just prior to the high-tech boom that improved economic conditions across the board in California.To be classified as poor in 2011, a family of two adults and two children would have had to make less than $22,811. That is a national figure, and many advocates believe it understates the poverty level in California because of the state’s high cost of living.
- Ventura County Star Says No On California Proposition 37 – Flap’s Blog – Ventura County Star Says No On California Proposition 37 #tcot
- CA-26: “Out of Townley” Julia Brownley Files Specious Complaint – CA-26: “Out of Townley” Julia Brownley Files Specious Complaint with FEC #tcot
- Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-14 – Flap’s California Blog – Flap’s California Blog @ Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-14
- @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-14 – Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2012-09-14 #tcot
- Parents Photo Faves – OK, friends! You can vote everyday for my grandson’s photo in this baby photo contest. Please vote! #tcot #teaparty
- AD-38: Scott Wilk Hosting Republican Assembly Leader Connie Conway – AD-38: Scott Wilk Hosting Republican Assembly Leader Connie Conway at Fundraising Event
- Berman and Sherman play ‘Dueling Republicans’ – LA Observed – What a JOKE! Both LIBERAL Dems Berman and Sherman play ‘Dueling Republicans’ #tcot
- Flap’s Dentistry Blog: Another Case of an Illegal Dentist Harming Patients – Another Case of an Illegal Dentist Harming Patients
- (404) http://www.flapsblog.net/2012/09/another-case-of-illegal-dentist-harming.html – Another Case of an Illegal Dentist Harming Patients
- U.S. Jobless Claims Rise to Highest in Two Months: Economy- Bloomberg – Jobless Claims in U.S. Rose More Than Forecast Last Week #tcot
- The Morning Flap: September 13, 2012 – Flap’s Blog – The Morning Flap: September 13, 2012 #tcot
One Comment
Justin Tuttle
I believe he now feels the pressure of losing.