Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

06 Apr 2011 22:49

tags

Politics: Trump’s polling paints a muddy picture

  • yeah… In the latest WSJ/NBC poll, The Donald trumped his opponents, vaulting ahead of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich and tying Mike Huckabee for second place. He also came in second in a New Hampshire poll, losing out to Willard “Mitt” Romney.
  • but In last week’s PPP poll, Trump scored an approval rating of just 28% (with net approval at -18), and lost a hypothetical match-up to President Obama by 11 points. He also came in a dismal fifth amongst primary voters in a recent CNN poll. source
  • » What to make of this: By and large, the takeaway here is that the Republican field is very weak, and there’s no clear favorite (Huckabee and Romney could perhaps be considered “co-favorites”). Trump has done well in a few polls, but this is more likely due to a) boredom on the part of primary voters, and b) Trump’s recent media blitz. It’s difficult to imagine a candidate with such toxic approval ratings winning a national election; he’d have to win over an additional 18% of voters just to break even. That being said, 26% of voters in the PPP poll haven’t yet made up their mind about Trump, giving him lots of room to grow. Still, we agree with Christian Heinz over at The Hill, who noted that Trump’s numbers illustrate “the tremendous thirst for a new, charismatic candidate” in the GOP primary. Charismatic? You betcha. Electable? We’re not so sure.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Mar 2011 22:26

tags

Politics: Romney rolls out ambiguous plan to undo health care reform

  • problem As Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney passed a bill that served as the basis for the Democrats’ health care reform bill (which celebrates its first anniversary today). This is perceived by many to be a serious problem for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign hopes.
  • solution If he becomes President, Romney pledges to “issue an executive order paving the way for Obamacare waivers to all 50 states.” However, as Ezra Klein points out, Romney is vague on details, and it’s unclear exactly what type of executive order he could, or would, issue. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Mar 2011 00:47

tags

Politics: Mitt Romney rips Obamacare (which was based on his own plan)

  • You may have noticed that the president and his people spend more time talking about me and Massachusetts health care than Entertainment Tonight spends talking about Charlie Sheen.
  • Mitt Romney • Trying to get a whip-dash burn in on Obama while being hip and of the moment. Romney was in New Hampshire today making the kind of inroads a presidential candidate might make. Which, of course, means that he has to eventually talk to the elephant in the room – he health care plan he enacted, on which the federal plan was modeled. Romney’s take? He was dealing with problems “unique to Massachusetts” with his plan, and Obamacare is “Misguided and egregious.” Because hey. As long as I look good and I can take credit for something, it doesn’t matter what you do. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Feb 2011 23:53

tags

Politics: Obama vulnerable against imaginary candidate

  • good newsConservatives rejoice: The latest Public Policy Poll shows Obama running dead even against a generic Republican candidate in 2012.
  • bad newsRepublicans have to nominate an actual human being, not just a theoretical blank slate, and Obama leads against every one of them by several points. source
  • » Some more odd bits from the poll: PPP took the interesting step of asking respondents to rate the Brothers Bush, Jeb and George W. both, against Obama in a hypothetical 2012 race. The results? Jeb would get trounced by fourteen points (paging Rich Lowry!), while the Constitutionally-ineligible former President would only lose by four, meaning he’s actually a more formidable candidate than Mitt Romney. In addition, the GOP could defeat Obama by two points if they nominated a “moderate Republican candidate,” so all they’ve got to do now is set their time machine to 1952 and they’ll have a slew of strong contenders to choose from.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2011 21:51

tags

Politics: Does Rudy have a shot at the Republican nomination?

  • unsurprisingNew Hampshire Republicans want Mitt Romney as their presidential nominee in 2012, according to a recent poll. It wasn’t a shock last time he won such a poll, and it’s not a shock now.
  • surprisingWho came in second place behind Romney? Why, none other than America’s Mayor himself, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani. His mere inclusion in the poll is almost as surprising as his placing. source
  • » But take this with a grain of salt: Encouraging as these results may be to Giuliani, he still finished thirty (30) points behind Romney, which is an awfully steep deficit to overcome. And New Hampshire’s not exactly a deep red state, so it’s expected that they’d favor a moderate like Giuliani over someone like Mike Huckabee (who tied with Tim Pawlenty for third)). Still, just about nobody in the media has been taking a potential Giuliani candidacy seriously, so this second place showing is, if nothing else, a surprise.
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Feb 2011 00:57

tags

Politics: Conservatives launch anti-President Romney campaign

  • You know how sometimes a movement will arise to try and draft a reluctant candidate to run for President? Well, this is the opposite: a movement to dissuade an eager candidate from running. The problem with Romney, according to the good folks at DontDoItMitt.com, is that he’s just not conservative enough. The site says that he “pushed through [his] own version of nationalized health care in Massachusetts” (an odd charge, seeing as “nationalized” refers explicitly to something that’s not state-level), and begs him “not to take down the entire Republican party.” Maybe if they’re successful, Romney will bow out gracefully and decline a run. We’re thinking probably not. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2011 20:03

tags

Politics: Mitt Romney wins New Hampshire GOP straw poll

  • 35% Mitt Romney’s take in the New Hampshire poll
  • Why this matters: As one of the earliest states to hold its primary (only Iowa votes first), New Hampshire is critically important in determining presidential nominees. Although he won the state in ’08, some had worried that the presence of Tea Partiers might thwart his chances this time around. But if this poll is any indicator, Romney can relax: the very same people surveyed here also just elected a Tea Party activist to head the state GOP. Seeing as he probably won’t win in socially-conservative Iowa, New Hampshire is crucial if Romney wants to be the Republican nominee for President. This poll suggests he might have a fighting chance. Some other notable results:
  • 11% libertarian hero Ron Paul’s second-place result
  • <3% ultra-coiffed Donald Trump’s absurdly high showing
  • 0% well-regarded former lobbyist Haley Barbour’s showing; ouch source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Dec 2010 00:02

tags

Politics, U.S.: GOP divide: 2012 contenders disagree on tax cut legislation

  • five potential GOP candidates support the tax cut deal: Mike Huckabee, John Thune, Newt Gingrich, Mitch Daniels and Tim “T-Paw” Palenty
  • four potential GOP candidates oppose it: Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mike Pence, and Rick “The Rock” Santorum source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Dec 2010 17:41

tags

Politics, U.S.: 2012: Pawlenty leads the pack in book sales

  • 12k Amazon users purchased Mitt Romney’s recent book, “No Apology”
  • 9k readers went for Newt Gingrich’s “To Save America” for their 2012 fix instead
  • 263k fans opted for Tim Pawlenty’s upcoming manifesto, “Courage to Stand” source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Dec 2010 10:16

tags

Politics: Romney drops strong hints of his 2012 aspirations on Leno

  • If someone’s looking for me to say something negative about Sarah Palin, why, that’s not going to come from me. I mean, did you see what she did to the halibut the other night on her show? Yeah, I’m not in for that …
  • Presumptive 2012 candidate Mitt Romney • Dodging the issue of what he thinks of Sarah Palin by ripping on her fish-clubbing skills. Slick, Mit, slick. He was on Jay Leno (boo) talking about himself (boo), and was sounding awfully presidential. Will he run for president? Is water wet? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>