Mitt Romney

It's never too early...

Gary Gore — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:48:24 -0500

NBC and Wall Street Journal Republican Pollster, Neil Newhouse was already conducting a post-election survey last night to gauge where, both, the general public and the Republican voter feel the GOP should look in terms of the 2012 Presidential Election. As they say, "it's never too early!"

From MSNBC (Yeah, I know...):

*** Some first clues: NBC-WSJ GOP pollster Neil Newhouse did a post-election survey last night, and here's what he found: Just 12% of those surveyed believed Palin should be the GOP's new leader; instead 29% of voters said Romney, followed by 20% who say Huckabee. Among GOPers, it was Romney 33%, Huckabee 20% and Palin 18%. Look for more from this survey later today.

Huckabee tries to stick a shiv in Romney

Drew McKissick — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:09:59 -0400

No sooner does the McCain camp let it out that they'll announce the VP pick by next weekend does Mike Huckabee pop up and pop off...from all the way over in Israel no less.

From Huckabee's blog:

Last week, there were reports that portrayed me as saying that conservative voters would be okay with Mitt Romney on the ticket with John McCain. I didn’t say that. I specifically said these things:

1. That I committed to support the ticket and would do so.

2. That many conservatives would have a problem with Romney and that it had NOTHING to do with his faith, but his inconsistent views. I said that I personally would still vote for McCain if he picked Romney, but thought there were many who wouldn’t, including many people who supported me. I further said I hoped he didn’t pick someone to be his VP who wasn’t. pro-life. ...

Nice. Romney could easily say the same types of things about the Huck...especially concerning conservatives who care about taxes and economics....or immigration. But there is such a thing as being classy.

Romney endorses McCain

Drew McKissick — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:59:28 -0500

Mitt Romney officially ended his campaign yesterday and endorsed John McCain for the GOP nomination:

Sen. John McCain earned the endorsement of one-time rival Mitt Romney yesterday, further securing his grasp on the Republican nomination, even as the Democratic contest grows more heated and polls show the candidates preparing to split upcoming primaries.
The Republicans said they want to use the ongoing Democratic battle to their advantage.
"Let us come together and make progress while they're fighting," Mr. Romney said at a press conference in Boston in which he also urged the about 280 delegates he won to instead support Mr. McCain in September's nominating convention. "There's no question in my mind this individual should be the next president of the United States, not Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton."
Mr. Romney's endorsement signals the Republican race is nearing its end, and those delegates allowed by state and party rules to change their support likely will, said Clark Stith, one of the eight pledged delegates Mr. Romney earned in Wyoming's caucuses earlier this year.

While Romney "suspended" his campaign last week, (keeping control over his delegates), his endorsement of McCain essentially brings an end to the contest, as those delegates would put McCain just under the magic number of 1191...and make it mathematically impossible for Huckabee to win. Time to fold the tent.

***

Wizbang Politics points out the importance of delegate allocation rules...

Right Wing News has a VP poll...

More: WaPo - The Fix - Michelle Malkin - Wizbang

The Strengthening Coalition at CPAC

Gary Gore — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 22:05:28 -0500

There has been a lot said about the attendance and address by John McCain at CPAC this week.

Most everyone agrees that McCain is going to have to make major considerations towards the GOP's conservative base and detail key issue components in his platform; as in Judicial Selection Ideology, Embryonic Stem-Cell Research, Free Political Speech, and Immigration.

McCain’s decision to show up at the event this year and address the gathering may eventually turn out to be a very good, even crucial, one for his presidential hopes.

However, history may ultimately reveal that the most important words spoken at CPAC were those exchanged between Mitt Romney and a large contingent from the political right, as reported by The Washington Times.

The group of about 50 conservative leaders organized a make-shift meeting of minds following the address to the conference, in which he surprised many in attendance by suspending his presidential campaign. The meeting's objective was to request that Romney continue standing with them and that he would agree to be the voice of the conservative movement's future.

Since halting his run, it’s been interesting to speculate on just what kind of role Mitt Romney will take on for the next several years. From the behind-the-scenes events at CPAC, it's clear that the conservative movement would like him to fill his time maintaining his strong advocacy for the conservative cause.

Romney drops out

Drew McKissick — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:41:38 -0500

Romney announced that he's withdrawing from the race today via his speech to conservatives at the CPAC conference.

Mitt Romney told a conservative group briefly stunned silent by the news that he is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
During his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, Romney said if he prolonged his run, it would hurt the party and front-runner John McCain’s ability to defeat the Democratic nominee.
“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator (Hillary) Clinton or (Barack) Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror,” he said. ...

“I will continue to stand for conservative principles; I will fight alongside you for all the things we believe in. And one of those things is that we cannot allow the next president of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism,” he then said to cheers and applause. ...

Campaign aides said Romney was suspending the campaign. He had spent an estimated $35 million of his own money to fund the increasingly longshot bid. By suspending rather than quitting he will be able to continue to collect donations from contributors....

It also means that he can hold on to his delegates at the convention and perhaps keep a little leverage on platform issues. More than that, I suppose there's a little bit of positioning for 2016 (or even 2012). I wouldn't be surprised if he uses the interim to start his own conservative lobbying/policy organization and/or PAC, (building off of the campaign and his earlier work under the Commonwealth PAC).

* Excerpts from Romney's speech here.

* Ace says "thanks" to "Vice-President Huckabee"

More: Michelle Malkin - Outside the Beltway - Wizbang - Volokh - Powerline - Hot Air - Stop the ACLU

Romney win in Wyoming

Drew McKissick — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:03:13 -0500

Although the press has been too busy with what's going on in New Hampshire to give this much play, Romney won the Wyoming GOP caucus yesterday and, for the time being, is in first place in the delegate count.

From the AP:

CASPER, Wyo. - Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming's delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday.
The former Massachusetts governor won seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.
The win was a boost for Romney, coming two days after his loss to Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses and three days before the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. Those two states have attracted most of the political attention. Wyoming had scheduled its GOP county conventions earlier to attract candidates to the state but had only modest results.

National Review endorses Romney

Drew McKissick — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:20:13 -0500

The editors at National Review have come together and made their endorsement for the Republican nomination. The winner? Mitt Romney. They point out that Romney's the best positioned candidate to unite ALL conservative elements of the GOP, (that being economic, social, and foreign policy). This is an important point because it's the unity of those elements that built the winning Republican coalition in our country since Ronald Reagan first won the White House in 1980.

National Review puts it this way:

Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate. In our judgment, that candidate is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest. While he has not talked much about the importance of resisting ethnic balkanization — none of the major candidates has — he supports enforcing the immigration laws and opposes amnesty. Those are important steps in the right direction.
Uniting the conservative coalition is not enough to win a presidential election, but it is a prerequisite for building on that coalition....
Romney is an intelligent, articulate, and accomplished former businessman and governor. At a time when voters yearn for competence and have soured on Washington because too often the Bush administration has not demonstrated it, Romney offers proven executive skill. He has demonstrated it in everything he has done in his professional life, and his tightly organized, disciplined campaign is no exception. He himself has shown impressive focus and energy ...
We believe that Romney is a natural ally of social conservatives. He speaks often about the toll of fatherlessness in this country. He may not have thought deeply about the political dimensions of social issues until, as governor, he was confronted with the cutting edge of social liberalism. No other Republican governor had to deal with both human cloning and court-imposed same-sex marriage. He was on the right side of both issues, and those battles seem to have made him see the stakes of a broad range of public-policy issues more clearly. He will work to put abortion on a path to extinction. ...
For some people, Romney’s Mormonism is still a barrier. But we are not electing a pastor. The notion that he will somehow be controlled by Salt Lake City or engaged in evangelism for his church is outlandish. He deserves to be judged on his considerable merits as a potential president. As he argued in his College Station speech, his faith informs his values, which he has demonstrated in both the private and public sectors. ...
More than the other primary candidates, Romney has President Bush’s virtues and avoids his flaws. His moral positions, and his instincts on taxes and foreign policy, are the same. But he is less inclined to federal activism, less tolerant of overspending, better able to defend conservative positions in debate, and more likely to demand performance from his subordinates. A winning combination, by our lights. In this most fluid and unpredictable Republican field, we vote for Mitt Romney.

Not a bad endorsement, given that it is coming from the quintessential journal of conservative thought in our country.

More:

Powerline calls Mitt the new Republican frontrunner

(full disclosure: I'm on the Romney wagon)

Huckabee's low blow

Drew McKissick — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:41:45 -0500

You have to wonder why someone who's been doing well in the polls would sink to attacking another person's faith, but that's what Huckabee's done in an interview with the New York Times, (to be published this Sunday).

In the interview, when questioned about his thoughts on Romney's Mormon faith, Huckabee says, "Don't Mormon's believe that Jesus and the Devil are brothers?".

For his part, Romney said that "attacking someone's religion is really going too far"

"But I think attacking someone's religion is really going too far. It's just not the American way, and I think people will reject that," Romney told NBC's "Today" show.
Asked if he believed Huckabee was speaking in a coded language to evangelicals, Romney praised his rival as a "good man trying to do the best he can," but he added, "I don't believe that the people of this country are going to choose a person based on their faith and what church they go to."

The WaPo has an article on the story, noting the position of the LDS Church in Salt Lake:

The authoritative Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992, does not refer to Jesus and Satan as brothers. It speaks of Jesus as the son of God and of Satan as a fallen angel, which is a Biblical account.
A spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Huckabee's question is usually raised by those who wish to smear the Mormon faith rather than clarify doctrine.
"We believe, as other Christians believe and as Paul wrote, that God is the father of all," said the spokeswoman, Kim Farah. "That means that all beings were created by God and are his spirit children. Christ, on the other hand, was the only begotten in the flesh and we worship him as the son of God and the savior of mankind. Satan is the exact opposite of who Christ is and what he stands for."

Hugh Hewitt comments:

No word yet on whether the former Arkansas governor asked if the Jews killed Jesus or if Catholics pray to Mary as a god.
When your campaign is in trouble, it is better to focus on the trouble and fix, not set it ablaze.

For a candidate who's been trading on being the quiet, well-spoken, "nice guy" in the race, this comes off as desperate. So what's up? Well, here's the breakdown of the latest Strategic Vision poll, via MSNBC:

Huckabee and Obama continue to lead in Iowa according to a new Strategic Vision (R) poll which will be released tomorrow. On the Democratic side, Obama leads with 33% of the vote and Clinton and Edwards are statistically tied for second with 25% and 24%. Biden and Richardson each received 4%.
On the Republican side, Huckabee leads with 30% while Romney has 25%. Thompson came in third with 13% followed by Giuliani with 10% and McCain with 5%. The poll was conducted December 8 to 10 with 600 people from each party. The margin of error is 4.5%.

In other words, it looks like his lead is diminishing, which I'm guessing has something to do with the hits he's been taking on his positions on taxes and immigration lately.

****

(full disclosure: I'm on the Romney bandwagon!)

More: Wizbang

Daily Roundup

Gary Gore — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:37:20 -0500

We Pick ‘Em, You Click ‘Em:

On the trail…:

* Romney, Huckabee Even in Iowa - Yahoo

* Romney Maintains Strong Lead in New Hampshire - Yahoo

* McCain Flubs Joke with N.H. Audience - Fox News

* Hillary Cites Obama Kindergarten Statement as 'Flip-Flop' Example - Cybercast News

News:

* British 'Teddy Bear' Teacher Arrives Home - CBN News

* Bush: Iran Still Dangerous, Despite Break in Weapons Program - Fox News

* West Ignoring 'Systematic Persecution' of Palestinian Christians - Cybercast News

* Court Debates 'God' on Money and Pledge - KTVU.com

* Pakistan Arrests 'Code Pink' Protestors - The Washington Times

Opinion:

* Exposing Clintons' Lies - The Washington Times - R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

* Can Diversity Destroy Us? - Human Events - Pat Buchanan

* Random Thoughts - Townhall.com - Thomas Sowell

Random Musings

Gary Gore — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:13:21 -0500

It was noted on Rush’s show Monday - at the bottom of the 12 o’clock hour – the man who held one of Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign offices hostage on Friday, Leeland Eisenberg, contacted CNN three times attempting to get the NY Senator on the phone with him.

The touch of satire easily added to this aspect of the event was that the disturbed man’s reasoning for looking to the network seems quite understandable in light of their recent series of mishaps relating to Mrs. Clinton.

__________

Hugo Chavez is defeated in his measure to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution, which would have allowed him to run for office again in 2012, at the completion of his current term. The voting’s margin was about as close as it could possibly get - 51% to 49%. It would be unwise, however, to believe this is the last we’ve heard of the dictator’s attempts at remaining in power past 2012.

My guess would be that within the next couple of years he puts the issue back up for vote again – this, of course, after additional measures are taken to allow his government to control the media, silence opposition and generate fear in those that disagree with him and his policies.

If need be, the measure will be on the ballot until it passes. If - perhaps when - it does pass, the people of Venezuela will never see that opportunity again to voice opposition to the man.

__________

Mitt Romney has announced his is planning on giving a speech to explain his faith to the American people. The speech will be given on Thursday titled “Faith in America” at the George Bush Presidential Library.

I’m torn on this decision. While, I do look forward to the former governor being given the stage to speak on an issue he obviously holds in highest regard, I am a little disappointed that it is seemingly a necessity for him to do so. All indications are that it will be advantageous for him to make “the speech”. I’ve just felt he has done very well, thus far, reflecting on his faith when brought up in context of individual issues and individual questions on the trail.

Governor Romney rarely disappoints when given a forum to express his values and ideas – I doubt Thursday will be any different.

__________

It seems what we’re seeing over in the democrat race for the White House is exactly what happens when an assembly of government officials who legislate and govern without any sense of political compass or set values are transformed into even worse – Politicians, in a run for office, who campaign with even less a sense of political compass or set values.

What is spoken by the politicians seems to be dependent upon which zip code they find themselves in or what specific group of supporters entail the audience of the moment. What the candidates have not yet seemed to grasp is that in this day and age, especially in such a pivotal election, there is always a documentation of what is said from one day to the next, one stump speech to the next.

As well documented, one candidate on (D) side has been at the biggest disadvantage in this regard.