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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 12th on 09:12
These are my links for May 12th from 09:12 to 09:15:
- Mitch Daniels solves Cheri problem? – It’s long been public, if in a quiet way, that Mitch Daniels’ wife’s jitters were central to his decision, and that they related to her not wanting media scrutiny on the period in the ’90s when she left him for another guy.Daniels’ hesitation has now forced that story into print this week in the Indianapolis Star, New York Times, AP, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, where a rival campaign aide — in a kind of shot across the family’s bows — even shopped Jason Horowitz the other man’s ex-wife’s contact info. (The Post story doesn’t name or quote her, or her ex-husband, though.)
I wonder if this doesn’t explain Daniels’s hesitation in another way: The bitter pill has now, at least in part, been swallowed. If a fear of triggering public discussion of a 15 year old marital rift was a reason for Cheri Daniels to veto the run, it’s less of one now, for the simple reason that it’s already underway.
And unless we can convince Richard Ben Cramer to come back for another round, the political media is actually hardly known for deep biographical dives into spouses or even, really, candidates themselves.
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We will see tonight, now won’t we?
- President 2012: Is Cheri Daniels ready to take the plunge? – A year ago, Cheri Daniels envisioned more time on the golf course and monthlong stays at her family’s West Virginia vacation home after her husband leaves the Indiana governor’s office.She brushed off then-budding talk of a presidential candidacy as hype. Asked by an interviewer to rate the likelihood that Mitch Daniels would run, she said 2 — on a scale of 1 to 10.
What a difference a year makes.
Anticipation for Mitch Daniels to announce his plans has risen in national political circles. And Cheri Daniels — in a rare step outside the low-key role she has fashioned as Indiana’s first lady — will face her biggest stage yet.
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Read this profile from the Indy Star.
I say she is.
- Mitch Daniels, Weighing Run, Considers Cost to Privacy – Cheri Daniels has made no secret of her distaste for politics. She did not campaign for her husband, Mitch Daniels, during two races for governor. She did not fully move into the governor’s mansion after his election. She has never delivered a political speech.But as leading Republicans step up their efforts to urge Mr. Daniels to run for president, the attention has suddenly turned to Mrs. Daniels, who makes her debut here on Thursday when she delivers a keynote address at the spring dinner of the Indiana Republican Party.
Her willingness to take on a public role has increased the speculation about his intentions. But it has also come at the price of increased scrutiny on the couple’s private life, something Mr. Daniels had seemed to have on his mind for months as he made it clear that family considerations would weigh heavily on his decision.
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Read it all
- Mitch Daniels solves Cheri problem? – It’s long been public, if in a quiet way, that Mitch Daniels’ wife’s jitters were central to his decision, and that they related to her not wanting media scrutiny on the period in the ’90s when she left him for another guy.Daniels’ hesitation has now forced that story into print this week in the Indianapolis Star, New York Times, AP, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, where a rival campaign aide — in a kind of shot across the family’s bows — even shopped Jason Horowitz the other man’s ex-wife’s contact info. (The Post story doesn’t name or quote her, or her ex-husband, though.)
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 12th on 06:53
These are my links for May 12th from 06:53 to 07:09:
- What Mr. Obama can do to further immigration reform – FOR THE THIRD TIME in as many weeks, President Obama and his top domestic policy advisers hosted a group of prominent Hispanics and immigration experts the other day at the White House. That was followed by a policy speech on immigration reform Tuesday in El Paso. The president’s goal has been twofold: First, and explicitly, it was to reaffirm his support for overhauling the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system, which has produced 11?million undocumented immigrants. Second, and implicitly, it was to galvanize relations with a large and increasingly restless voting bloc whose support was critical to his victory in 2008 and will be again for his prospects in 2012.The restlessness of Hispanic voters is understandable, if not wholly attributable to Mr. Obama. As a candidate, he promised to press, in his first year in office, for comprehensive immigration reform. But the first year came and went with no movement on immigration. And that was before Mr. Obama lost his Democratic majority, along with much of his influence, in the House of Representatives.======
Read it all.
Obama is pander first, pander second and pander third….forget about the policy changes.
- Obama’s lousy immigration record – As for enforcement, Obama has exaggerated his own success on that front. The White House brags that it has doubled the number of border agents since 2004. But who did that? An indignant Capitol Hill Republican e-mails me: “What they don’t tell you is that the doubling all happened before President Obama took office. Remember, it was the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) that included a provision increasing the number of Border Patrol agents by 2,000 annually from FY2006 to FY2010. In other words, they’re bragging on an accomplishment that happened during the *gasp* Bush administration.” This chart nicely illustrates the point (understand that the 2009 increase was determined before Obama entered office).That would be the administration that put forth and fought for its own comprehensive immigration plan. Pretty gutsy. Entirely un-Obama.======
Watch for Newt Gingrich to attack Obama on immigration very soon.
- Am I Running? Ask My Wife – The Mitch Daniels Story – More than 1,000 Republicans will pack an Indianapolis ballroom Thursday night to catch the state’s most anticipated political speech in years.The speaker? Not Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, but his wife, Cheri, a woman who famously hates politics and has long shied from the political spotlight.Cheri Daniels’s keynote appearance at the state GOP’s spring dinner is generating buzz—and more than a few TV satellite trucks—for a simple reason: Party leaders see her as the main hurdle to Mr. Daniels’s entry in the 2012 presidential race, a move many top Republicans hope the governor will make.
“Everyone knows he won’t run unless she gives the go-ahead,” said James Bopp Jr., a prominent Indiana Republican. “That’s what makes this all so intriguing.”
The Cheri Daniels event is far outselling the group’s ballyhooed speaker last fall, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “This is the biggest crowd we’ve had in at least a generation,” said Pete Seat, the state party’s spokesman.
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Read it all.
Will there be a hint of an announcement to come?
Stay tuned…..
- Rep. Dan Lungren blasts Obama’s joke about moats and alligators for border security – Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) on Wednesday night said he is “disappointed” that President Obama chose to mock those who are demanding tighter border security in his Tuesday speech in El Paso.Obama angered many by ridiculing demands for beefed up border protection, at a time when law officers and citizens in southwestern states have been injured or killed by drug violence that has leaked over the border from Mexico.”Let me register my disappointment at the demonization of those who might have a disagreement with the president that was expressed by him in his speech yesterday,” Lungren said on the House floor Wednesday night.
“Talking about moats and talking about alligators and talking about intransigents on the others side of the aisle is not the way to attract bipartisan support to deal with one of the most difficult and important questions of our nation,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I’m outraged. I would say I’m disappointed at the tone of those remarks of the president yesterday. If in fact we’re going to work together on issues as important as that, it would seem to me to be important for us to in some way at least accept the fact that there may be legitimate reason for differences, and try and bridge those differences rather than expand them.”
“Maybe they’ll need a moat,” Obama said. “Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They’ll never be satisfied.”
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I would say that most Americans understand that Obama is pandering to Hispanic voters in the most cynical way.
Actually, Obama is just delivering another political speech and playing a race card.
I don’t think American voters will view it in any other way.
Plus, Obama will do nothing for the Hispanics and illegal aliens anyway. This is not how he rolls.
- What Mr. Obama can do to further immigration reform – FOR THE THIRD TIME in as many weeks, President Obama and his top domestic policy advisers hosted a group of prominent Hispanics and immigration experts the other day at the White House. That was followed by a policy speech on immigration reform Tuesday in El Paso. The president’s goal has been twofold: First, and explicitly, it was to reaffirm his support for overhauling the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system, which has produced 11?million undocumented immigrants. Second, and implicitly, it was to galvanize relations with a large and increasingly restless voting bloc whose support was critical to his victory in 2008 and will be again for his prospects in 2012.The restlessness of Hispanic voters is understandable, if not wholly attributable to Mr. Obama. As a candidate, he promised to press, in his first year in office, for comprehensive immigration reform. But the first year came and went with no movement on immigration. And that was before Mr. Obama lost his Democratic majority, along with much of his influence, in the House of Representatives.======
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 11th on 20:47
These are my links for May 11th from 20:47 to 20:49:
- Whether Mitch Daniels runs for president may come down to his wife’s vote – The Washington Post – Whether Mitch Daniels runs for president may come down to his wife’s vote
- Whether Mitch Daniels runs for president may come down to his wife’s vote – Indiana first lady Cheri Herman Daniels is a “lifelong Hoosier” who has four daughters with Gov. Mitch Daniels. Her official state Web site also shares that the blond and personable 61-year-old enjoys reading, golfing, exercising, cooking and spending time with family and friends. In recent months, she has participated in the “Cheri’s Chores” program, in which she acquires new skills. (“Cheri’s Chores Assignment 1: Learn how to drive a dump truck and operate a gravel shooter.” No. 8: “Learn how to be a lunch lady.”)As she prepares to deliver the keynote address at the Indiana state GOP dinner on Thursday, Daniels has taken on a new task: shaping the Republican presidential field.
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We will find out tomorrow night….
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 11th on 19:08
These are my links for May 11th from 19:08 to 19:13:
- Mitch Daniels Passes the Cap and Trade Test – “Want to guess which potential Republican candidate looks ready to pass the pH test on [cap and trade]? Mitch Daniels. In early 2009, when the issue was ill-defined, he was already arguing against it. That’s a nice arrow in the quiver the next time he’s asked about the ‘social truce.'”=======
And, everyone else?
- Mitt Romney: Do you remember the Hillary campaign? – But what if Republican voters in 2012, like Democrats in 2008, care more about the future than the past; what if they want new and not the next in line? Is a corporate candidate going to wow the populist Tea Partyers? That remains to be seen.And, of course, he still has some explaining to do about RomneyCare. He’ll give a speech tomorrow trying to defuse that issue. But it’s not simply one topic. It is, as abortion was in 2008, a symptom of a larger question about Romney: Does he have core political beliefs? Republicans have no doubt that Mitch Daniels is a penny-pincher and Newt Gingrich is a passionate defender of American exceptionalism and a robust foreign policy. But the passion that Republican voters are looking for is not a defining feature of Romney’s political persona. The very qualities that make him attractive to Wall Street financial types may not resonate in the heartland.
Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are the ultimate “A” students — prepared, diligent and eager to please. But if it’s true that “C” students hire “A” students it may be that Romney (as Hillary did) is more likely to show up in a Republican Cabinet than in the White House.
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Read it all.
Agree.
Mitt will make a good Secretary of Commerce.
- Mitt Romney = Obama’s Running Mate – Mitt Romney travels to Ann Arbor today to deliver what his campaign bills as a major address laying out his “2012 principles for health-care reform.” These are likely to be sensible, but what we’ll be listening for is how he explains his health-care principles of five years ago.As everyone knows, the health reform Mr. Romney passed in 2006 as Massachusetts Governor was the prototype for President Obama’s version and gave national health care a huge political boost. Mr. Romney now claims ObamaCare should be repealed, but his failure to explain his own role or admit any errors suggests serious flaws both in his candidacy and as a potential President.
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There’s a lot to learn from the failure of the ObamaCare model that began in Massachusetts, which is now moving to impose price controls on all hospitals, doctors and other providers. Not that anyone would know listening to Mr. Romney. In the paperback edition of his campaign book “No Apology,” he calls the plan a “success,” and he has defended it in numerous media appearances as he plans his White House run.=======
Read it all.
Mitt Romney is a flawed candidate and will not be the GOP nominee for President in 2012.
- Mitch Daniels Passes the Cap and Trade Test – “Want to guess which potential Republican candidate looks ready to pass the pH test on [cap and trade]? Mitch Daniels. In early 2009, when the issue was ill-defined, he was already arguing against it. That’s a nice arrow in the quiver the next time he’s asked about the ‘social truce.'”=======
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 11th on 07:12
These are my links for May 11th from 07:12 to 07:14:
- Mitch Daniels signs controversial Planned Parenthood bill into law – Republican Indiana governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate Mitch Daniels signed a bill Tuesday that will cut off significant amounts of federal funds given to his state’s chapter of Planned Parenthood, a move the group fought by filing for a temporary restraining order and injunction with the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.
The bill, which passed both houses of the state legislature by large margins, imposes some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on abortions, cutting off about $3 million in public funds received for female preventive health services, including birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings and other tests in the Hoosier state.Although federal law prevents government funds being used for abortion services, proponents of the bill have said they do not want federal money funneled to an organization that performs abortions.
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Read it all
The abortionists will try to demonize Daniels but this bill will actually help him in key battleground states like Florida and North Carolina.
- Sarah Palin and the Curse of a Thin Skin – In some ways, the story of Palin is a story of temptation. Rather than sticking to her guns and deepening her political credentials and her knowledge base, she embraced her celebrity instead. And in doing so, she didn’t defeat her critics and enemies; she capitulated to them. Listen, it’s her life and her fortune and she is free to do what she wishes with it. And there’s no telling what the future holds for anyone in America. But she had and has more raw political talent than anyone I’ve ever seen, and, alas, as phenoms go, it looks like she is headed for a Darryl Strawberry-like playing career.=======
Read it all…..
Agree – but she will have a long and notorious media career.
- Mitch Daniels signs controversial Planned Parenthood bill into law – Republican Indiana governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate Mitch Daniels signed a bill Tuesday that will cut off significant amounts of federal funds given to his state’s chapter of Planned Parenthood, a move the group fought by filing for a temporary restraining order and injunction with the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 10th on 08:44
These are my links for May 10th from 08:44 to 08:50:
- President 2012: The Tragedy of Sarah Palin? – From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican convention, she was seen as an unbending, hard-charging, red-meat ideologue—to which soon was added “thin-skinned” and “vindictive.” But a look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics. That Sarah Palin might have set the nation on a different course. What went wrong?======
An interesting analysis, read it all.
- Chris Christie praises Mitch Daniels, might back him if he runs – As top Republican fundraisers head to New Jersey in the hopes of persuading Chris Christie to leap into the presidential race, the New Jersey governor is heaping praise on Indiana’s chief executive.Continue Reading
In a radio interview on Monday morning, Christie said he’d like to see a governor in the Oval Office.“He’s certainly somebody who I have enormous respect for and would give real consideration to supporting” Christie told talk radio host Chris Stigall, speaking of Mitch Daniels.
“If you look at it, governors have tended to be some of our best presidents. That’s why I would lean in that direction,” he said.
Daniels is weighing a run and is expected to announce his decision soon.
Stigall — who calls himself an “unabashed, gushing” fan of the New Jersey governor — noted the number of likely candidates courting Chrstie’s support in Princeton.
He’s already met with Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty, and is set to sit down with Jon Huntsman in the coming week.
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Read it all
A courtesy shout out but would aid Daniels over the early start of Mitt Romney
- President 2012: The Tragedy of Sarah Palin? – From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican convention, she was seen as an unbending, hard-charging, red-meat ideologue—to which soon was added “thin-skinned” and “vindictive.” But a look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics. That Sarah Palin might have set the nation on a different course. What went wrong?======
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 9th on 19:00
These are my links for May 9th from 19:00 to 19:04:
- Waiting For Superman? GOP Searching For 2012’s ‘Plan B’ Candidate – What makes Christie unique is the fact that he is the only candidate who can claim both the serious executive ability of a Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Mitch Daniels, and the gregarious, straight-talking personality of a Donald Trump or Sarah Palin.Will he get in? First there’s the issue of answering that question countless times the same way: no chance. “I don’t feel ready in my heart to be president. And unless I do, I don’t have any right offering myself to the people of this country,” Christie told ABC’s Diane Sawyer last month. http://abcn.ws/fSKMrY
Then there’s the question of why he’d be more convinced to do it now. Killing Osama bin Laden does not make Obama invincible, but combine that with improving economic numbers and the path to beating the current occupant of the White House looks steeper every day.
If not Christie, then who? Don’t count out former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been thrust back into the spotlight post-bin Laden and who’s headed later this week to New Hampshire where the latest WMUR-University of New Hampshire poll showed him in third place behind Romney and Trump.
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Read it all.
Mitch Daniels, Rudy Giuliani,Chris Christie = any of those three would make a good GOP nominee.
- President 2012: If Mitch Daniels Runs – With only 23% hard name recognition (16-7 favorable), why would Mitch Daniels be a significant candidate with so many better known men and women in the potential field? There is, of course, his splendid record as governor of Indiana. He has done everything a governor could do. He took a deficit and produced a surplus with no tax increase (although he flirted with one early in his term but dropped the idea). His education choice legislation is the most advanced in the nation and will offer all Indiana children the ability to use state funds to go to the school of their choice after it phases in over three years. He has restricted collective bargaining with public workers a la Wisconsin and sharply limited teacher tenure. His landmark legislation replaces teacher pay based on seniority and advanced degrees with compensation determined by merit and student test scores. It allows school boards, in the event of layoffs, to waive the “last hired first fired” rule in favor of merit as criterion for dismissal. He allows state workers to enroll in Health Savings Accounts with an annual state grant of $2700 for all health care costs and lets the worker keep any unspent portion of the funds. Any medical spending over the flat fee gets a sliding scale of state assistance. Almost two-thirds of state workers have gotten money back at the end of the year. He blocked state funding of Planned Parenthood. With a record like that, he is probably the most successful conservative governor in America today.=====
Read it all.
I say he runs….
- Waiting For Superman? GOP Searching For 2012’s ‘Plan B’ Candidate – What makes Christie unique is the fact that he is the only candidate who can claim both the serious executive ability of a Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Mitch Daniels, and the gregarious, straight-talking personality of a Donald Trump or Sarah Palin.Will he get in? First there’s the issue of answering that question countless times the same way: no chance. “I don’t feel ready in my heart to be president. And unless I do, I don’t have any right offering myself to the people of this country,” Christie told ABC’s Diane Sawyer last month. http://abcn.ws/fSKMrY
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 9th on 15:37
These are my links for May 9th from 15:37 to 15:41:
- The Christie campaign — to get him to change his mind – It’s no secret that Republican voters, donors and operatives are less than thrilled with th current lineup of Republican contenders. It’s also well known that because of that dissatisfaction, many donors are holding back, wishfully awaiting the arrival of a candidate whom they can enthusiastically support. Now comes word that some of the donors are taking matters into their own hands:Some of Iowa’s top Republican campaign contributors, unhappy with their choices in the developing presidential field, are venturing to New Jersey in hopes they can persuade first-term Gov. Chris Christie to run. The entreaty is the latest sign of dissatisfaction within the GOP over the crop of candidates competing for the chance to run against President Barack Obama in 2012.
Bruce Rastetter, an Iowa energy company executive, and a half-dozen other prominent Iowa GOP donors sought the meeting with Christie, the governor’s chief political adviser, Mike DuHaime, told the Associated Press. The get-together is set for the governor’s mansion in Princeton, N.J., on May 31.
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Read it all.
Please note that Michael DuHaime ran Rudy giuliani’s Presidential campaign in 2008 and some of Christie’s staff are Giuliani’s.
So, there is some national experience there.
- Mitch Daniels ‘Would Like To’ Run For President, Top Adviser Says – But Daniels is not moving forward unless and until he is able to do so with the full support of his family. The Daniels adviser who spoke to HuffPost was frank in describing the current state of Daniel’s nascent campaign effort.“There’s no campaign. There’s no candidate,” the adviser said. “There is no structure. There is no anything.”
Nonetheless, Eric Holcomb, the Indiana State GOP chairman and a longtime Daniels aide, is in talks with potential campaign staffers and has them on standby. And fundraising would be much less of a challenge for Daniels –- plugged in as he is to the donor network that propelled George W. Bush to the White House, given that he was Bush’s first budget director –- than for someone like former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or some of the other candidates.
If Daniels does decide to run, he would be a formidable opponent. And he would present a challenge to top-tier candidates such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, given his potential to be competitive in or even win Iowa, which begins the primary process with its caucus early next year.
The conventional wisdom is that Iowa is so dominated by evangelical Christians that only a candidate like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee –- who won it in 2008 -– or Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) can win it. However, there are so many candidates currently competing for that vote – Bachmann, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain, and maybe Huckabee – that they might fragment that vote. That would allow someone who is conservative but with a bit broader appeal outside the evangelical enclave to emerge victorious.
The evangelical vote is only about 30 percent of the vote anyway, said a senior Iowa Republican official who asked not to be identified so that he could asses the field more honestly.
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Read it all.
Fish or cut bait sometime within the next 7-10 days.
Cheri Daniels delivers a speech to the Indiana GOP on Thursday night. So, anytime after this.
- The Christie campaign — to get him to change his mind – It’s no secret that Republican voters, donors and operatives are less than thrilled with th current lineup of Republican contenders. It’s also well known that because of that dissatisfaction, many donors are holding back, wishfully awaiting the arrival of a candidate whom they can enthusiastically support. Now comes word that some of the donors are taking matters into their own hands:Some of Iowa’s top Republican campaign contributors, unhappy with their choices in the developing presidential field, are venturing to New Jersey in hopes they can persuade first-term Gov. Chris Christie to run. The entreaty is the latest sign of dissatisfaction within the GOP over the crop of candidates competing for the chance to run against President Barack Obama in 2012.
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 9th on 14:43
These are my links for May 9th from 14:43 to 14:50:
- U.S. Senate 2012: Is Olympia Snowe feeling the heat? – Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe has often been the Democrats’ favorite Republican — the first moderate on board when Democrats needed someone in the GOP to jump ship.But those days may be over as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Snowe have had an increasingly nasty falling out that could threaten future deals in the Senate.
It started in 2009, when Snowe lamented being shut out of Democratic negotiations over the health care bill, continued as Reid bashed her in a 2010 magazine interview and culminated in recent weeks when the two engaged in a rare public spat on the Senate floor.
The two sparred over a noncontroversial small-business reauthorization bill, with Reid accusing Snowe of “killing” the bill and Snowe saying Reid reneged on a promise to bring up her amendment.
Reid’s frustration with Snowe might be about more than just a small-business bill.
Snowe has been voting far more along Republican party lines as she faces the possibility of a tea party challenger in her 2012 Republican primary, making her a much less willing partner for Democrats in search of a Republican deal maker. Democrats also are targeting her seat in 2012, so Reid has less incentive to give her bipartisan cover.
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Well, Senator Snowe does feel the Tea Party heat but also knows Harry Reid is a snake and will likely not be majority leader come 2013.
Sooooo, like any POL, she votes her conscious….
- President 2012 and the Republican rescue fantasy – Talk to enough people around this key primary state and you’ll learn two lessons, over and over again. One is that there is absolutely, positively no unity among Republicans about any presidential candidate or potential candidate; there’s no such thing as a frontrunner. The other is that in the back of their minds, many Republicans are hoping that somewhere, somehow, a superhero candidate will swoop down out of the sky and rescue them from their current lackluster presidential field. They know it’s a fantasy, but they still hope.It’s not just dissatisfaction with the field — Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, and Gary Johnson — that took part in the first GOP debate on Thursday night. Even if the other would-be candidates — Mike Huckabee , Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Mitch Daniels, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, and Donald Trump — had all been onstage with the others Thursday, there still would have been plenty of unhappiness among South Carolina’s political professionals, activists, and ordinary people who just follow politics. Seeing each candidate as flawed, they focus on the unattainables — Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio — who they believe might bring a fresh face and new hope to the GOP.
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Read it all.
If Mike Huckabee runs, he will win Iowa and South Carolina. Mitt Romney will have to rely upon New Hampshire, Nevada and then Florida.
The race between the two may go on for some time unless Mitch Daniels runs. Then, the race will be anyone’s guess, especially since the Bush faction of the GOP will back Daniels.
I figure there will be a deal with 2 of those three making up the ticket in some form or the other.
Jon Huntsman is running for 2016.
The rest are just noise.
- U.S. Senate 2012: Is Olympia Snowe feeling the heat? – Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe has often been the Democrats’ favorite Republican — the first moderate on board when Democrats needed someone in the GOP to jump ship.But those days may be over as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Snowe have had an increasingly nasty falling out that could threaten future deals in the Senate.
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Flap’s Links and Comments for May 2nd on 21:26
These are my links for May 2nd from 21:26 to 21:39:
- Mitch Daniels: Does he have any foreign policy views? – Right Turn – The Washington Post – Mitch Daniels: Does he have any foreign policy views?
- Mitch Daniels: Does he have any foreign policy views? – The 2012 Republican presidential candidates and potential candidates are weighing in on the most significant development in the war on Islamic terrorism in years. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich have commented on the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, offering praise for our magnificent armed forces and intelligence team. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have issued statements as well. Mike Huckabee’s comments included the best line of the day: “Welcome to hell.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) had extended remarks, and his staff put out the video.
The one noticeable exception? Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R). I was surprised and e-mailed his staff. I received a one-word answer as to whether he had comment on the killing of Osama bin Laden: “No.”
This response does not strike me as one from a guy who envisions himself as commander in chief. Other than mouthing Ronald Reagan’s now very shopworn slogan (“Peace through strength”), Daniels speaks only of national security when he describes the need to cut defense spending.
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Maybe Jennifer the Daniels folks just did not want to respond to you. Everyone on the right knows you are not Mitch's favorite fan.
Think about it…..