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04 Mar 2012 10:08

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Politics: Super PACs aggressively spend ahead of Super Tuesday. Super.

  • $10 million in Super Tuesday ads bought by Super PACs source
  • » Four states getting strongest focus: Ten states are holding primaries and caucuses in a couple of days, but the ones that the GOP candidates are really focused on? Ohio, Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Much of the advertising seems to be focused on trashing other candidates, with both Mitt-and-Newt-affiliated Super PACs attacking Rick Santorum — who is currently leading in Ohio. In other news, Mitt won a caucus in Washington on Saturday with Ron Paul scoring second place, though the caucus is non-binding.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Feb 2012 21:26

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Politics: Romney reverses on Roy Blunt’s health care amendment

  • A few hours thought: Ever the maestro of hasty take-backs, reversals, and changes in direction, Mitt Romney today found himself on both sides of an amendment to the Affordable Care Act proposed by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt. Romney denies he meant to tell an interviewer “I’m not for the bill,” saying that he “misunderstood the question,” but given the perception of many GOP voters that he’s insufficiently conservative, the damage may be done. The Blunt amendment would allow employers to deny any health service that violates their religious, or moral convictions — a polarizing, red-hot issue that Romney might prefer not to deal with. (Photo by Gage Skidmore) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Feb 2012 01:30

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Politics: Unsurprisingly, female voters like Romney more than Santorum–at least in Michigan

  • 1% margin by which Mitt Romney won the male vote tonight in Michigan
  • 5% margin by which Romney won the female vote source
  • » Why? Well, these statements in opposition to placing female soldiers on the front lines of battle may have had something to do with it. Or maybe it’s his opposition to abortion, or his opposition to contraception. Santorum may be aware of this deficit he faces: As Molly Ball at The Atlantic notes, “Santorum began his speech by thanking his mother, his wife, and his eldest daughter at length, emphasizing their professional bona fides. He seemed to be implicitly going out of his way to assure women he took a modern view of their place in the workplace and role in society.”
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Feb 2012 16:03

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Politics: Ron Paul hasn’t attacked Romney once during the debates

  • Ron and Mitt, bosom buddies: A lot has been made of the mysterious affinity between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. In addition Romney offering his private jet for Paul’s use, many note that, despite sharing almost none of the same policy positions, the two rarely go after each other during debates. ThinkProgress analyzed the forums, and its findings seem to confirm this: During the 20 Republican forums, Paul hasn’t attacked Romney once. We’d like to learn more about their methodology before drawing any hard conclusions from this (what counts as an “attack?”); we’re also curious as to why candidates like Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain weren’t included in the analysis [Edit: Herman Cain is actually represented on the chart; thanks to robajob for pointing that out]. Nevertheless, it is a rather odd phenomena, with explanations ranging from “they’re just friends” to “Romney promised Ron Paul’s son the VP slot” (which seems rather far-fetched, but not altogether impossible). It’s nice to have some numbers to back up the observation, and it’ll be interesting to see how the two handle Virginia’s primary, where they’re the only two candidates on the ballot. [many thanks to ThinkProgress, both for the analysis and the image] source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Feb 2012 11:25

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Politics: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer endorses Mitt Romney for president

Brewer, whose profile grew significantly as a result of her stances on immigration, says that she likes Mitt’s business background and says that the race will effectively be over after Super Tuesday. Arizona’s primary is Tuesday. (photo by Gage Skidmore) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Feb 2012 11:06

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Politics: How Mitt Romney’s dad lost his presidential momentum: Brainwashing

  • About 45 years ago, George Romney was looking hot. A popular Michigan governor who did well in the 1964 Republican primary (but did not win), he was considered a frontrunner in the 1968 race. Until this interview above, that is, done in August 1967 by Detroit news personality Lou Gordon. When asked about the Vietnam war, he explained why his views changed so that he was suddenly against the war. His answer? “When I came back from Vietnam, I had just had the greatest brainwashing that anyone could get.” This one comment derailed his campaign, decades before Twitter would’ve made that comment blow up like a forgotten third thing in a debate. MLive has a really great history on this interview that’s worth a read. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2012 16:03

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Politics: Polling suggests Romney, Santorum running tight race in Michigan

  • 32% Mitt Romney’s support in Michigan, according to new polling by Mitchell Research/Rosetta Stone
  • 30% Rick Santorum’s support in Michigan, according to the same poll — he had been broadly leading recently source
  • » But the margin of error washes the slate clean. With a possible discrepancy of 4.7%, Romney’s 2-point lead could be a practical tie with his arch-rival of the moment, Rick Santorum. Or Santorum could, in fact, be ahead of Romney. Nonetheless, recent polling provides at least a bit of relief for the Romney camp; Santorum had opened up more impressive polling leads over Romney, but the recent trend seems to show a tightening, at bare minimum. Expect an exciting primary come February 28th; a loss by Romney would be devastating to his chances.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

21 Feb 2012 10:47

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Politics: Mitt Romney’s campaign plowing through cash, not getting much back

  • 287% the “burn rate” of Mitt’s campaign in January
  • $18M the amount Mitt spent on the campaign trail in January
  • $6.5M the amount Mitt got in donations last month — far less than he took in
  • $7.7M the amount Mitt had in the bank at the end of January source
  • » Spending a lot, not getting much back? With pricey losses and close contests, including in Iowa and South Carolina, the Mitt train seems to be losing some steam. And his toughest week is ahead of him: With contests in Arizona and Michigan in just a week, and Super Tuesday on the horizon, there’s a good chance he may not be able to pull it off, leading to the possibility of a “brokered” or “contested” convention in August.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Feb 2012 20:12

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Politics: Gingrich claims fellow GOP candidates are too scared to debate him

  • Anybody who’s afraid of debating Newt Gingrich isn’t going to be in very good shape to debate Barack Obama.
  • Newt Gingrich • Campaigning in Peachtree City, the Atlanta suburb he represented in Congress for twenty years. The GOP presidential candidate mocked his rivals for pulling out of a CNN-hosted debate scheduled to occur just days before Super Tuesday. Both Mitt Romney’ and Rick Santorum’s campaigns announced that they would be skipping the debate, leading the network to drop their coverage. Ron Paul’s campaign announced that Dr. Paul would be withdrawing as well a short time later. Romney’s campaign cited a busy schedule as it’s reason for skipping the debate, but Gingrich challenged the assertion saying, “you can’t hide behind millions of dollars in negative ads and think you’re going to win the presidency.” Let’s be honest with ourselves, though, Newt — there have been so many debates that even the presidential candidates are getting sick of them. Make it stop! source
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Feb 2012 13:59

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Politics: Rick Santorum points out another Mitt Romney flip-flop

  • He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake Olympic Games. In an earmark.
  • Rick Santorum • Blasting Mitt Romney for running campaign ads attacking Rick Santorum’s support of earmarking. Santorum accused his rival of being a hypocrite at a tea party gathering in Ohio this morning.  Romney’s campaign responded quickly, stating that the requests were due to a post-9/11 need for heightened security. Campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul also went on record saying, “Mitt Romney wants to ban earmarks, Senator Santorum wants more ‘Bridges to Nowhere’.” source
Posted by Scott Craft • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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