February 03, 2012
Brett O'Donnell, a Republican operative "who won plaudits for bolstering Mitt Romney's recent debate performances is not being retained by the frontrunner's campaign, an apparent victim of internal tensions over staff receiving too much credit for the candidate's comeback,"
Politico reports.
"After O'Donnell was
identified last week as advising Romney and then highlighted in subsequent news accounts as being one of the reasons behind the former Massachusetts governor's improved debate performances, Romney campaign officials grew uneasy. O'Donnell received phone calls late last week from two Romney advisers... where it was made clear that there was severe discomfort about how his role was being portrayed in the media and that he ought to tread lightly."
Newt Gingrich tells
CNN why he didn't call Mitt Romney to congratulate him on his Florida primary victory.
Said Gingrich: "They then out spent me five to one to quote, 'destroy Newt Gingrich.' You know, I think that that doesn't deserve congratulations. I think that's reprehensible. I think it's dishonest and I think it's shameful."
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"I don't know why the government owns so much of this land."
-- Mitt Romney, in an interview with the
Reno Gazette-Journal, on whether he would sell land owned by the federal government in Western states.
From a new research paper in
PS: Political Science & Politics:
"Many reformers continue to argue for a de-politicization of the redistricting process, claiming that partisan redistricting is responsible for declining electoral competition and increasing legislative polarization. Our analysis of evidence from state legislatures during the last decade suggests that the effects of partisan redistricting on competition and polarization are small, considerably more nuanced than reformers would suggest, and overwhelmed by other aspects of the political environment."
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) will be meeting with prosecutors about the secret investigation into his current and former aides, the
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.
Walker said that he has hired two attorneys to represent him but he will not use any public money to pay for them.
Mark Blumenthal says we will see fewer polls of the next few Republican presidential contents "because of constrained budgets."
"National media and polling organizations knew that attention would focus on the first four primary and caucus states in January and spent their money accordingly. A few invested in the expensive task of surveying Iowa's likely caucus-goers using live interviewers, but in an era when many media organizations have cut back on polling, these upcoming caucus states are simply a lower priority. As with other aspects of campaign coverage, polling in the February caucus states will be no match for what we saw last month."
Newt Gingrich released a new
web video accusing Mitt Romney of being too much like President Obama and linking him to liberal billionaire George Soros.
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Rep. Phil Gingrey's (R-GA) office confirmed to the
Atlanta Journal Constitution that the lawmaker walked out of President Obama's address at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, "offended by what the congressman said was an injection of
political rhetoric into an occasion of non-partisan reflection."
Just published:
The End of Race?: Obama, 2008, and Racial Politics in America by Donald R. Kinder and Allison Dale-Riddle.
The authors assert that racism was in fact an important factor in the 2008 presidential election, and that if not for racism, Barack Obama would have won in a landslide.
Roseanne Barr is "running for the Green Party's presidential nomination -- and it's no joke," the
AP reports.
"The actress-comedian said in a statement that she's a longtime supporter of the party and looks forward to working with people who share her values. She said the two major parties aren't serving the American people."
A new
Public Policy Polling survey in Ohio shows Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) leading challenger Josh Mandel (R) by 11 points, 47% to 36%.
That said, Brown's approval rating is just 42% and "an incumbent with an approval rating in the lows 40s is never totally out of the woods but this continues to look like a decidedly second tier pick up opportunity for the GOP."
Jonathan Chait: "The biggest victim of today's
blowout jobs report -- aside from the millions of Americans who still lack jobs, of course -- is Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Romney has rested his entire case for election on the sluggish economy... Romney's campaign seems to have been stunned into silence, taking an unusually long time to come up with any reaction at all. But I think going all-in on economic pessimism remains Romney's strongest chance."
"In any case, it's all Romney has. Obama remains personally well-liked. Romney is personally unpopular. The Republican Party is extremely unpopular. Obama has had no major scandals, and his foreign policy has been highly successful to date... He simply has to keep plugging away at his theme, because his only real winning scenario involves winning on the back of a bad economy."
When Mitt Romney cast a vote for Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-MA) in 1992, he formally enrolled in the Democratic Party,
BuzzFeed reports.
"Romney registered to vote in 1976 as what Massachusetts authorities now call an 'unenrolled' voter -- a member of neither party. Under state law, primaries are open, and unenrolled citizens may participate in either primary. But under the law as it stood in 1992 -- it was changed in 2004 -- 'essentially enrolled unenrolled voters (commonly referred to as independent) into the political party based on the ballot they chose at the presidential primary... After voting, a voter would have had to 'unenroll' by completing additional paperwork to go back to their 'independent' status.'"
The Obama campaign is fundraising off of Donald Trump's endorsement of Mitt Romney,
Politico reports.
Said the email solicitation: "Yesterday, Mitt Romney said he was 'humbled' to accept Donald Trump's endorsement. Seriously. Yes, Donald Trump -- birth certificate conspiracy leader -- has decided that Mitt Romney's his guy, and Romney has embraced him without reservation. He made a speech and even sent out a press release welcoming him."
As a result of the dissatisfaction with the GOP presidential field,
CBS News notes that voters "are waiting until the last minute to determine for whom to award their ballot."
"In Iowa, nearly half of caucus-goers decided in the last few days. Of those voters, two in 10 made their decision on Election Day. In New Hampshire, 46 percent of Republican primary voters decided in the last few days, of which 21 percent made up their mind on the last day. In South Carolina, roughly half of Republican primary voters settled on a choice in the last few days before the election, while in the Florida, a quarter of Republican voters were late deciders."
Though
Walter Shapiro admits "by every conventional calculation, the Republican race is kaput" he still won't accept that it's over.
"Maybe it's pure stubbornness, maybe it's a reluctance to listen to Romney recite the lyrics from "America the Beautiful" from now until November, or maybe it's a small child's refusal to believe that the circus is leaving town -- but I keep wondering whether the fat lady truly has sung... I keep picking up small signs that Romney may still be a little less inevitable than he seems."
Sen. Scott Brown's (R-MA) re-election campaign has spent $9,500 since December 2010 to pay his daughter to sing at three campaign events, the
Boston Globe reports.
"I can't imagine Donald Trump being hypocritical. That would be totally out of character for Donald Trump."
-- Rick Santorum, quoted by
NBC News, when asked if it's hypocritical for Donald Trump to have endorsed Mitt Romney after criticizing him in August.
The
Las Vegas Sun has a great primer on what will take place at Nevada's caucuses Saturday.
First Read: "Frankly, the process is a bit of a joke: The caucus places start and stop at different times throughout the state."
The Atlantic: "Each county was allowed to set its own caucus procedures this year, leading to a divergent array of start times and rules across the state... The bizarre arrangement leaves the door open to all kinds of campaign hijinks. Party officials say attendees at the evening caucus will have to sign an affidavit swearing that they didn't already vote earlier, and their names will be checked against the voter rolls."
"What started out as a dull session has turned dramatic with a Republican lawmaker stopped by Denver police on suspicion of drunken driving threatening to leave her party, a move that could imperil the GOP's slim majority in the House," the
Denver Post reports.
Colorado State Rep. Laura Bradford (R) said she "is considering becoming an unaffiliated voter, in part because an ethics investigation against her is proceeding although Denver police admitted she didn't use her position to get out of a DUI arrest."
ColoradoPols: "There's really no overstating the importance: control of the one-seat GOP majority Colorado House, and the future of Speaker of the House Frank McNulty, even if the House remains Republican-held, hangs on her decision."
The U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January -- the fastest growth since April, according to the
Wall Street Journal.
The unemployment rate fell by two-tenths of a percentage point to 8.3%, the lowest it has been since February 2009. Economists had forecast a gain of 125,000 in payrolls and for the jobless rate to remain at 8.5%.
Steve Benen: "After years of jobs reports that were only considered encouraging when compared to where we've been, January's totals is objectively good news. Indeed, this is one of the best -- if not the very best -- jobs reports since the recession began four years ago."
Ezra Klein: "The bottom line is that this isn't just a good jobs report. It's a recovery jobs report. It's showing the sort of numbers that win elections."
A new
Public Policy Polling survey in Nevada shows Mitt Romney is headed for a big victory on Saturday. Romney leads Newt Gingrich, 50% to 25%, with Ron Paul at 15% and Rick Santorum at 8%.
Key finding: "The bad news for Gingrich isn't just that's headed for a distant second place finish. Nevada Republicans actively dislike him, with only 41% holding a favorable opinion of him to 49% with a negative one. That's an indication that GOP voters might be starting to sour on him again, sending his numbers back to pre-South Carolina levels."
February 02, 2012
Jonathan Bernstein: "If you're planning on making political donations this year, and you really want your money to help the cause, here's what you should do: Instead of sinking cash into either presidential campaign, put it where it will really matter -- into Congressional or state and local races."
"Here's why: The battle for the House and Senate may well shape up as toss ups, which means that control of Congress is hanging in the balance. This matters just as much, and in many ways more, than control of the White House. The least bang for your buck comes in presidential general elections. Your money will make a much bigger difference in practically every other type of election."
The U.S. Senate passed a bill to ban insider trading of securities by lawmakers on a 96 to 3 vote,
Roll Call reports.
The bill "engendered a broader debate over public ethics, including issues such as whether lawmakers should own stocks at all, given their ability to affect individual companies."
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