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Obama Trying to Rekindle Hope and Change in Iowa?
I cannot help but laugh at Matt Drudge’s screencap of dry, dying Iowa corn in back of President Obama.Today, it has been all Romney and his Vice Presidential running mate Paul Ryan. No Hope and Change exuberant crowds for the President as he embarks on a three day campaign tour of Iowa.
President Barack Obama often says Iowa holds a special place in his heart. Iowans in 2008 lifted him from underdog presidential hopeful to Democratic caucus winner, and gave him 54 percent of the vote in that year’s general election.
He began a three-day bus tour through the state today on less sure footing, with polls showing Iowa up for grabs in November. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sent his newly-announced running mate, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, to the Iowa State Fair today to try to steal some of Obama’s thunder.
The Obama campaign is not playing to big “Hope and Change” crowds.
Of course, Obama is not running against a lame duck unpopular President George W. Bush (Iraq War and Katrina, among a number of issues) and an “aged” POL in John McCain with an inexperienced Governor of Alaska as the VP.
But, where has the Obama campaign “magic” gone?
Down the drain with disastrous policy choices, unemployment above 8 per cent and a stagnant economy.
With the Romney choice of Ryan, there will be no negative (“stupid POL”) Sarah Palin demonization. Obama and Biden will have to run on their records of governance.
Good luck with that…..
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Romney Attacks Obama Again Over Work for Welfare
This is the second television ad in which Mitt Romney has attacked President Obama over welfare.
Mitt Romney’s first television commercial since announcing House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate brings back a claim first brought up last week: That President Barack Obama is altering the federal welfare-to-work program by dropping work requirements in the law.
The narrator in TV ad, released Monday morning by the campaign of the GOP presidential challenger and by the Republican National Committee, says that “Barack Obama has a long history of opposing work for welfare.”
The spot then includes sound of Obama from June of 1998, with the then-Illinois State Senator saying “I was not a huge supporter of the federal plan that was signed in 1996.”
The ad continues with the narrator adding that “on July 12th, Obama quietly ended work requirements for welfare. You wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. Mitt Romney strongly believes work must be part of welfare.”
I believe this is a strong theme and will resonate well in Florida and the key upper-Midwestern states of Iowa and Wisconsin. This work for welfare meme will be pounding the President frequently.
Although the Romney Campaign will not release their ad buy, it appears this will appear in all of the key battleground states.
As is their practice, the Romney campaign would not reveal any details on where the new commercial will run or on the ad buy.
But according to data provided to their clients by Kantar Media/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political ad spending on broadcast and national cable TV, the new spot began running Monday morning in television markets in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers, Florida; Manchester, New Hampshire; Denver, Colorado; Reno, Nevada; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Washington, D.C. (which covers much of northern Virginia).
Here is the ad, embedded below:
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Romney in Florida Attacks Obama on Medicare
Mitt Romney is taking the Medicare debate right to President Obama as he campaigns in the key battleground state of Florida – where there just happen to be many senior citizen retirees, who use Medicare.
Mitt Romney told a Florida crowd Monday he and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wanted to “preserve and protect Medicare” as Democrats seized on his vice presidential candidate’s reform proposal to claim Republicans would increase healthcare costs for seniors.
The debate is likely to become a focal point of the presidential election, with Florida’s 29 electoral votes — and powerful senior voting bloc — crucial to winning the White House.
Mitt Romney told a Florida crowd Monday he and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wanted to “preserve and protect Medicare” as Democrats seized on his vice presidential candidate’s reform proposal to claim Republicans would increase healthcare costs for seniors.
The debate is likely to become a focal point of the presidential election, with Florida’s 29 electoral votes — and powerful senior voting bloc — crucial to winning the White House.
And, running mate, Paul Ryan answered critics of his Medicare proposal yesterday evening on CBS’s Sixty Minutes:
During an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Ryan defended his Medicare proposal.
“My mom is a Medicare senior in Florida,” Ryan said. “Our point is we need to preserve their benefits, because government made promises to them that they’ve organized their retirements around. In order to make sure we can do that, you must reform it for those of us who are younger.”
Here is a video of a portion of Romney’s speech:
Mitt Romney now moves on to Miami for an afternoon campaign event with Senator Marco Rubio.
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Day By Day August 12, 2012 – Bunker Economy
Chris, your History Channel is correct.
President Obama’s campaign for re-election is division by demographics. It is a rather simplistic strategy in turning out your constituencies to vote and to hell with policy and actual governance.
My take on the state of the election is that Obama is hanging tough now but without a miracle, like a national security crisis, Obama will gradually fade going into October.
Then, the campaign will become VERY nasty.
Flapsblog readers please go here and support Chris Muir and his excellent Day By Day cartoon:
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Does Paul Ryan Help Mitt Romney in the Electoral College?
This map is from the interactive site, 270towin.com
Why, yes, the selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running mate might just very well help the GOP recapture the White House.
The Electoral College map above illustrates why – namely, Wisconsin and Iowa are moved to red, while Nevada moves to blue from my previous prognostication map which is below.
Mitt Romney has decided to employ an upper-Midwestern Electoral College vote strategy as opposed to a Hispanic-voter Western states Electoral College strategy. In other words, the key battleground states of Nevada and Colorado will be de-emphasized or even written off (although having just returned from Las Vegas a few days ago, the Romney campaign and Crossroads GPS television ads are omni-present and frequent).
Most political pundits agree that Paul Ryan will help Romney in Wisconsin. With the failed recall of Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin might be ripe for a flip from Obama to Romney (polling there shows Romney/Ryan tied with Obama). And, who better to team up with Romney than a “Wisconsin favorite son” in Paul Ryan. Iowa is right next door to Wisconsin and will also be in play.
Now, this punditry assumes that other key battleground states like Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Florida will also flip from Obama to Romney/Ryan. But, with the addition of Iowa and Wisconsin, Romney/Ryan could afford to lose Virginia and still reach the 270 Electoral College votes required for victory.
The key battleground states are taking shape – add Iowa and Wisconsin to the mix.
Tonight, the Electoral College numbers are looking a whole lot better for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
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President 2012: Obama Approval Sinks to 43 Per Cent
According to the latest Gallup Poll.
Gallup tracks daily the percentage of Americans who approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. Daily results are based on telephone interviews with approximately 1,500 national adults; Margin of error is ±3 percentage points.
And, the CNN and Fox News polls showing President Obama today with a large lead are – well, inaccurate.
This race with Mitt Romney will be close.
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Romney Attack Ad – What Does it Say about a President’s Character?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-EEETo3Sqo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
This dramatic Romney campaign ad responding to an Obama supporting Super PAC ad alluding that Mitt Romney’s actions at Bain Capital lead to a woman’s death will now play in “swing states.”
It didn’t take long for Team Romney to go on offense over the despicable attack ad from Priorities USA Action that strongly implied that Mitt Romney was responsible for the death of a spouse laid off by GST — several years before her diagnosis, and long after Romney left Bain Capital’s active management. Today the Romney campaign released a new TV-ready ad that attacks Barack Obama for “scraping bottom” and asks, “What does it say about a president’s character that tries to use the tragedy of a woman’s death for political gain?”
The ad title is “America Deserves Better,” but it could be just as easily called “The Death of Hope and Change”…
Eventually, the Obama Campaign will have to make a “big” apology and fire someone responsible.
In the meantime, this ad will play all weekend long – probably during the Olympics.
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Day By Day August 3, 2012 – Bond Obama Bond
Chris, I wonder if President Obama is bonding around the increasing unemployment rate this morning of 8.3%.
The U.S. economy followed up a weak second quarter by creating more jobs than expected with 163,000 new positions added in July, but the unemployment rate rose to 8.3 percent.
Markets reacted positively to the announcement, with the stock market surging at the open and safe-haven bond prices plunging. Economists had been expecting 100,000 new jobs.
As the country struggles to gain growth traction, the unemployment rate held above 8 percent for the 41st consecutive month, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The economy is stagnant and the Obama Campaign has already shot their wad on Romney and Bain Capital.
On to the Vice Presidential selection and the national political conventions…
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Day By Day August 2, 2012 – Plumber Crack
President Obama unscripted and without his teleprompter in his Roanoke Speech reiterated his views of “spreading the wealth around.”
To say the least, American small business owners were not too pleased with the President. His staff and the LEFT rallied to re-write his comments, but, like his “Joe the Plumber” incident in 2008, the true policy direction of Obama was out in the open.
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Day By Day August 1, 2012 – Petards
Chris, President Obama is used to the “Blame Game.”
Hell, he is still blaming Bush for __________.
You name it.
This is what America should have expected from a POL who earlier in his career voted “Present” and delivers speeches only from a teleprompter.
