HILLARY CLINTON vs MITT ROMNEY IN 2016: WHAT DO YOU THINK??
It's pretty clear HILLARY CLINTON is going to campaign again for the Oval Office in 2016.
It's also pretty clear CHRIS CHRISTIE will be one of her Opponents.
But what about MITT ROMNEY throwing his hat in the ring again ??
I know his WIFE doesn't want him to but....
I would be stoked to see MITT ROMNEY Win the 2016 GOP Nomination and run against HILLARY CLINTON!
If MITT does decide to run again, I think MARCO RUBIO would make a GREAT GOP Vice-President pick. (just my opinion)
As for the Haters who reject MITT ROMNEY as a possible 2016 GOP U.S. Presidential Nominee, EAT ME!
Now please don't get it twisted.
I would absolutely LOVE....LOVE....LOVE to see HILLARY CLINTON become the First legally elected Woman U.S. President because I Strongly feel she would make a GREAT President, who will Fairly represent both MIDDLE CLASS & LOW INCOME Voters just as her husband former U.S. President BILL CLINTON did.
However......
I would also absolutely LOVE.....LOVE......LOVE to see MITT ROMNEY run again.
ROMNEY'S last campaign was very Well-Organized & I believe he learned a lesson or two from Pres OBAMA'S Election MACHINE.
I think ANN ROMNEY should re-consider the possibilities & allow MITT to run again.
PRAY about it ANN.
Like HILLARY, Gov ROMNEY definitely has a lot to offer Our Country.
The third time just might be a Charm for him!
HILLARY CLINTON vs MITT ROMNEY IN 2016: WHAT DO YOU THINK??
The statement, from Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul, came in response to a call from the Obama campaign that Romney release 30 years worth of tax returns. Team Obama claims that a policy that allowed Bain Capital employees to invest retirement money in companies bought by Bain through a special share class, raises "questions about Romney's manipulation of the tax laws." Saul's response brought the subject back to Obama with a reference to his "hot mic" incident with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev:
“The Obama campaign is playing politics, just as he’s doing in his conduct of foreign policy," Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul wrote. "Obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the American people can be satisfied that he’s not promising to sell out the country’s interests after the election is over.”
The DNC responded with a statement from Dr. Colin Kahl, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, stressing the problems with releasing sensitive information from these meetings:
For example, does Governor Romney think we should release all the notes and transcripts of the President's conversations with our allies, such as the Israelis and Europeans, tipping our hand to Tehran about every last element of our strategy to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?
Our friends around the world need to trust that they can speak with the President of the United States in confidence, and that these conversations will not be politicized during an election.
Such a dramatic and unprecedented step would undermine the ability of the United States to successfully conduct foreign policy at a time when our nation faces numerous challenges abroad, and suggesting it is just a reckless attempt to score cheap political points. It is yet another indication that Mitt Romney is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief.
President Obama’s re-election campaign is calling on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns dating back to the 1980s, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Following a front-page Wall Street Journal article Thursday reporting that employees at Bain Capital, Romney’s former private-equity firm, were allowed to invest their retirement money in companies the firm acquired through a special share class, the Obama camp is seeking Romney’s old tax returns to see if they contain information about the investment arrangement.
Reports indicate that the deal could have increased the value of certain investments, which may have helped swell Romney’s retirement account. The candidate’s IRA was valued at between $20.7 million and $101.6 million as of August, according to his financial disclosures.
“Today’s report raises additional questions about Gov. Romney’s manipulation of the tax laws,” Ben LaBolt, an Obama spokesman, told The Journal, adding that Romney “may have engaged in questionable maneuvers to drive up the value of his IRA.” Romney released his 2010 and preliminary 2011 tax returns earlier this year.
The Romney campaign pushed back Friday with their own request in an e-mail to National Journal: that Obama release the transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders.
“The Obama campaign is playing politics, just as he’s doing in his conduct of foreign policy," Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul wrote. "Obama should release the notes and transcripts of all his meetings with world leaders so the American people can be satisfied that he’s not promising to sell out the country’s interests after the election is over.”
Sources: CNN, National Journal, TPM, Wall Street Journal, Youtube
President Barack Obama took on critics of his energy policies Thursday, saying in carefully coordinated speeches that they weren't paying attention to increased oil production at home and were misleading the public about the cause of rising gas prices.
"Anyone who says that we're somehow suppressing domestic oil production isn't paying attention," Obama said in Cushing, Oklahoma, on the second day of a four-state tour to tout his policies.
"And anyone who says that just drilling more will bring gas prices down just isn't playing it straight," the president continued. " We are drilling more.
We are producing more. But the fact is, producing more oil at home isn't enough to bring gas prices down overnight."
In Cushing and a later speech at The Ohio State University, Obama repeated his call for a diversified policy that increases production of traditional energy sources such as oil and natural gas while increasing investment in alternative sources such as solar, wind and hydrogen power to compete in growing global clean energy markets.
In particular, he rejected Republican claims that U.S. oil reserves alone offer a solution to higher gas prices and long-term supplies.
"Even if we drilled every little bit of this great country of ours, we'd still have to buy enough from the rest of the world to meet our needs," Obama said in Cushing. He added that "the price of oil is set by the global market, and that means every time tensions rise in the Middle East, so will gas prices at home."
In particular, Obama said, rising tension involving Iran was causing the current spike in global oil prices.
At Ohio State, Obama emphasized to a cheering student crowd that since he took office in 2009, "America's dependence on foreign oil has gone down every single year."
"Even as the economy was growing, we've made progress in reducing the amount of oil we have to import because we're being smarter, we're doing things better," the president said.
Romney turns up heat on Obama energy policies
The whirlwind trip over two days followed weeks of criticism of his approach to gas price increases by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trail.
"He has an energy policy that is very simple," Rick Santorum said of the president during a campaign stop Monday in Illinois. "You can sum it up in two letters, N-O.
He is against everything that will create economic incentives to drill."
Newt Gingrich has made reducing prices at the pump a central promise of his campaign, telling voters at a recent event in Birmingham, Alabama, that "an American president who believed in energy and an American president who believed in science and technology would drive the price of gasoline below $2."
Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl sounded a similar refrain after a Republican caucus meeting in early March, agreeing with the president's all-of-the-above approach, but adding, "We need it in action, not just words."
A focus of Republican attacks has been the delay in administration approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada's tar sands production in northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast.
Keystone pipeline: Separating rhetoric from reality
Last year, the administration put off a decision until 2013 after protests by environmentalists concerned about high carbon emissions from tar sands oil production and objections by Nebraska officials to a route near a vital aquifer.
Republicans in Congress, accusing Obama of avoiding the issue until after the November election, tried to speed the process by tacking a measure requiring an immediate decision to the temporary payroll tax cut bill last December.
The Obama administration then rejected the pipeline permit in January, saying an alternate route from Nebraska had yet to be decided. Since then, Republicans have persisted in attacking Obama for rejecting the permit.
The president announced Thursday in Cushing that he was using his executive authority to order federal agencies to expedite the approval process for large-scale infrastructure projects like oil pipelines.
More specifically, he ordered the portion of the Keystone XL pipeline running from Cushing to the Gulf to be placed at the top of the list.
"We're making this new pipeline from Cushing to the Gulf a priority," Obama said to cheers, later adding that "as long as I'm president, we're going to keep encouraging oil development and infrastructure and we're going to do it in a way that protects the health and safety of the American people.
We don't have to choose between one or the other. We can do both."
Many private companies -- including TransCanada, the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL project -- are working to build pipelines that relieve the bottleneck of oil in Cushing, a major hub for crude oil storage and trade.
While federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior have some involvement in the approval process for the domestic portion of the pipeline, the federal government has relatively little control when compared to the absolute say it holds over the portion that crosses the international border with Canada.
The ultimate decision-making authority for the pipeline's domestic route lies mainly with the states it crosses, prompting Republicans to question whether the president can actually claim any credit for speeding the project along.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters Thursday that Obama was claiming credit he didn't deserve on the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline while continuing to prevent construction on the northern leg from Canada.
"It's already gotten its approvals and this idea that the president is going to expedite this will have no impact on the construction of this pipeline," Boehner said of the Cushing-Gulf Coast portion. "The president has continued to block development of oil and gas reserves, big reserves, on federal lands.
And he can go out and make all the noise that he wants, but the facts are there."
Poll: Majority say build Keystone pipeline
On Wednesday, Obama kicked off his energy tour with stops in Boulder City, Nevada, and Maljamar, New Mexico, to focus on work on alternative energy sources.
The visit to Boulder City was designed to tout the success of solar technology at the largest photovoltaic solar facility in the nation. Photovoltaic solar panels create energy directly from sunlight without the need for any water or moving parts.
Obama acknowledged the high prices at the pump, but used the problem as a reason to abandon federal "subsidies" to oil and gas companies.
"We want to encourage production of oil and gas, and make sure that wherever we've got American resources, we are tapping into them," the president said. "But they don't need an additional incentive when gas is $3.75 a gallon, when oil is $120 a barrel, $125 a barrel. They don't need additional incentives. They're doing fine."
What the president calls subsidies, the petroleum industry calls the same tax breaks afforded those in many other industries.
The push to end what Obama deems to be preferential treatment to a petroleum industry that's never been more profitable was central to his two-day tour, but the president also used the trip to push back against those who call federal aid to the renewable energy industry a waste of money.
"Some of these folks want to dismiss the promise of solar power and wind power and fuel-efficient cars," Obama said in Boulder City. "In fact, they make jokes about it.
One member of Congress who shall remain unnamed called these jobs 'phony' -- called them phony jobs. I mean, think about that mindset, that attitude that says because something is new, it must not be real. If these guys were around when Columbus set sail, they'd be charter members of the Flat Earth Society."
With nearly a million solar panels spread across 450 acres, Copper Mountain 1 in Boulder City provides power for roughly 17,000 homes, but employs just 10 full-time employees.
The solar plant's owner, Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, is in the process of building a second facility nearby that's set to more than triple the output of Copper Mountain 1.
Construction of the second facility -- Copper Mountain 2 -- has created 175 temporary jobs but, according to Sempra's own projections, the final solar plant will result in just five full-time positions.
With his re-election fate increasingly tied to the price Americans are paying at the gas pump, President Obama called on Congress to end $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies, and vowed to tackle the country’s long-term energy issues while shunning “phony election-year promises about lower gas prices.”
Mr. Obama, in an appearance at Nashua Community College here, took a page out of his jobs strategy of last year, calling on Americans to contact their Congressional representatives and demand a vote on the oil subsidies in the next few weeks.
“You can either stand up for the oil companies, or you can stand up for the American people,” Mr. Obama said. “You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century, or you can place your bets on a clean-energy future.”
The president aggressively tackled Republicans who have called for the country to increase its own oil production, declaring that “anyone who tells you we can drill our way out of this problems doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” With the United States consuming more than 20 percent of the world’s oil while having only 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, Mr. Obama said “we can’t rely on fossil fuels from the last century.”
Calling for renewed investment in alternative energy, he vowed to make a “serious, sustained commitment to tackle a problem that may not be solved in one year or one term or even one decade.”
Mr. Obama’s decision to spotlight his proposal to end oil and gas subsidies immediately opened him up to criticism from Republicans, who noted that the proposal was unlikely to help lower the price of gas at the pump. The office of the House Speaker, John A. Boehner, sent an e-mail to reporters citing an analysis by the Congressional Research Service last March that found that ending the subsidies could make oil and natural gas more expensive.
Mr. Boehner also told reporters that, after meeting with Mr. Obama at the White House on Wednesday, it didn’t appear that the president would support tapping into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a way to curb rising gas prices.
“It didn’t appear to me that the president believes using S.P.R. would have any meaningful effect on gas prices,” Mr. Boehner said.
The oil reserve was created four decades ago to help the country deal with emergencies in oil supply.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, declined to say whether the president would tap into strategic oil reserves if gas prices continued to rise. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to New Hampshire, Mr. Carney maintained that the president was fixed on long-term solutions to the country’s oil dependence.
Mr. Carney said oil companies “do not deserve and do not need” subsidies or tax breaks financed by American taxpayers. He described the president as “very concerned” about the impact the spike in gas prices is having on American families.
Mr. Obama’s political advisers are concerned as well, and have indicated privately that Mr. Obama will have a tough time getting re-elected if the price at the pump reached or exceeded $5 a gallon.
In New Hampshire on Thursday, Mr. Obama chided Republicans who he said were hoping to gain political advantage from the rise in oil prices. “Now I know this is hard to believe, but some politicians are seeing higher gas prices as a political opportunity,” Mr. Obama said. “You’re shocked, aren’t you? And right in the middle of an election year. Who would’ve thought?” “Only in politics do people respond to bad news with such enthusiasm,” he said.
Appearing in North Dakota on Thursday, one of Mr. Obama’s Republican challengers, Mitt Romney, said the president was out of touch. North Dakota has benefited from the discovery of the Bakken Shale, an oil-rich deposit.
“Today the president is going to be in New Hampshire talking about energy in North Dakota,” Mr. Romney said. “He’s about as far away from North Dakota as he can get and still be in the United States. His idea of course is to be far enough away from the people who know what’s really going on right here to maybe try and blow one past folks.”
Mr. Obama did not mention North Dakota in his speech.
Republicans in Congress, struggling to regain their message as the economy improves, have latched on to rising oil prices and lobbed new accusations of culpability at the White House almost every day this week. But neither Republicans, nor Democrats, have been able to get legislative traction on their proposed solutions.
House Republican leaders tried to pay for a major transportation and infrastructure bill with receipts from federal lands they would open to oil drilling, but that legislative move appears to have collapsed. They continue to press the Obama administration to approve an oil pipeline that would stretch from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
“We are seeing some positive economic news, but it is being overshadowed for many families by soaring oil costs,” Mr. Boehner said on Thursday, as he pressed the president to issue more oil leases in offshore areas and to hasten oil drilling permits.
For their part, Democrats blame the spike in oil prices on speculators, but efforts to mandate a review by the Federal Trade Commission have not gotten far, and the party is divided on whether to press for the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Largely absent from the partisan bickering has been the role tensions over Iran have played in the price rise. Leaders of both parties have pressed the administration and American allies to target Iranian oil exports and gasoline imports as a way to tighten the noose in the Iranian economy. Now that such efforts are starting to bite, neither Democrats nor Republicans want to discuss the collateral damage being done to the American economy.
President Barack Obama was largely dismissive of the Republican presidential field Tuesday, claiming that he's not thinking too much about any of his potential 2012 opponents at the moment.
"I'll let (the Republicans) winnow it down a little bit," Obama told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in a one-on-one interview. But once the GOP chooses a presidential standard bearer for 2012, "I'll be ready for them," the president promised.
Obama made his remarks during what many analysts have characterized as a three-day campaign-style swing through the key Midwestern states of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
Asked to respond to Texas Gov. Rick Perry's assertion that members of the armed services would prefer a commander in chief who served in the military, Obama said presidential candidates have "got to be careful" about what they say. But as Perry just got into the presidential race, Obama said, he will "cut (Perry) some slack" for the moment.
Regarding former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's remarks that "corporations are people," Obama conceded that corporations play a critical role in the generation of wealth but stressed his disagreement with some conservatives over the closure of tax loopholes benefiting certain major corporations.
"If you tell me that corporations are vital to American life, that the free enterprise system has been the greatest wealth creator we've ever seen ... that I absolutely agree with," Obama said. But "if on the other hand you tell me that every corporate tax break that's out there is some how good for ordinary Americans ... then that I disagree with."
Ultimately, Obama conceded, the "buck stops with me" when it comes to the economy. "I'm going to be accountable" in 2012, he said.
But the president was quick to emphasize the "mess" he inherited from former President George W. Bush in 2009. He also blamed the economic drag created by state and local government layoffs, as well as "headwinds over the past six months" coming from Europe's debt crisis and a tsunami-ravaged Japan
"Everything we've done has been related to jobs, starting with the (2009) recovery act," Obama said. The president stressed, however, that he is "going to need a partner" in Congress -- now partially controlled by the Republicans -- in order to pass legislation needed to strengthen the economy in the short term.
While admitting that politically popular entitlement programs such as Medicare are contributing to Washington's spiraling deficits, Obama refused to offer details about what he is willing to do to help control medical costs. He stressed the need to lower health care costs as a whole, as opposed to going along with what he characterized as GOP attempts to "voucherize" Medicare and leave more responsibility for health expenses in the hands of vulnerable seniors.
During a stop in South Carolina on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann wished the late Elvis Presley a "Happy Birthday."
The problem: the message from the conservative congresswoman comes on the anniversary of the death of the "King of Rock and Roll."
"Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today," said Bachmann while speaking in the Palmetto State. "We played you a little bit of promise land when we pulled up. You can't do better than Elvis Presley."
Elvis was born on January 8, 1935.
While it's unlikely the gaffe will cost Bachmann, the presidential contender is no stranger to making questionable remarks. Over the weekend, Bachmann emerged victorious in the Ames Straw Poll, a table-setter for next year's Iowa caucuses.
The Republican governor of Texas begins his presidential campaign by insinuating that a Federal Reserve decision to print more money would warrant violent retaliation
The video:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry ignited the first potential controversy of his fledgling presidential campaign Monday night with some violent words for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. "If this guy prints more money between now and the election," he said while campaigning in Iowa, "I dunno what y'all would do to him in Iowa but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas."
He followed up the "shocking" statement by saying that Bernanke would be committing a "treasonous" act if he approved another round of quantitative easing — in which the Federal Reserve creates electronic money to buy up corporate and government debt and keep borrowing costs down.
Treason is a punishable by death.
The reaction:
"This guy may be good for Texas," says Taylor Marsh at her blog, "but he'd be a disaster for America." Calling Bernanke treasonous for doing something that is the very essence of his job is "political knuckle-dragging" at its scariest. Perry didn't do his campaign any favors with this unpresidential threat, says James Fallows at The Atlantic, but any politician is "destined to make mistakes" when moving from state politics to the intense scrutiny of a national race.
Actually, this "hysteria is ridiculous," says Erick Erickson at Red State. Perry's language is no worse than anything scores of politicians have used to criticize Wall Street executives and blast their political opposition.
Forget, for a moment, the left's outrage over Rick Perry's comment last night that Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke could be guilty of treason.
The more immediate political danger of the remark is within the context of the Republican race: Perry very much wants a mano-a-mano contest against Mitt Romney and the irresponsible suggestion of frontier justice for a respected Fed chair threatens that match-up.
Why?
Because Perry's comment is exactly the sort of misstep that will worry the many GOP donors on the sideline right now who chiefly want to beat President Obama. The quote reinforces their central fear about Perry — that he has a cowboy problem — and could prompt them to remain uncommitted.
And as long as there are big money types sitting on their wallet there remains the possibility that a Paul Ryan or Chris Christie could get in late and muddle the race. Perry looks a lot less formidable if he's fending off Michele Bachmann on the right and a Ryan or Christie on the center-right to get a clean shot at Romney.
As some conservatives have noted today, the Bernanke line probably won't hurt Perry with a conservative base that is radicalized at the moment. But, at this stage in the race, the Texan's audience isn't just activists. It's donors, also, and they are far more finicky when it comes to picking candidates.
We have seen Michele Bachmann being asked questions about her relationship with her husband, Marcus.
We have seen Mitt Romney deal with questions about his religion.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry recently denied rumors he dislikes George W. Bush.
And yet, despite our penchant for asking candidates personal questions that have little or nothing to do with their ability to do their jobs, everyone is avoiding the most basic question with regard to Herman Cain, which is, "Do you honestly believe a black man could win the GOP nomination?"
You know you were thinking it, and if you weren't you probably were not a very good student of history. Or current events.
To be sure, there are plenty of reasons besides race that are hindering Cain. While his experience as CEO of Godfather's Pizza shores up his assertion that he knows how to create jobs, he has never held political office, which makes one wonder if he can create those jobs in a government arena.
He also has said some rather offensive things about Muslims and gays that may play well in the GOP primary but should make moderate Republicans question his electability in the general election. But given the racial tension seen during the 2008 campaign, it has to make you wonder if some of the people who drew caricatures of Obama with a spear and such are ready to embrace Cain as their own.
I'm not suggesting all Republicans are racists nor am I suggesting all Democrats are colorblind. After all, it was the Democrats who passed Jim Crow laws and a Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who issued the executive order known as the Emancipation Proclamation. I believe the constant race card playing of the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are counterproductive and I think most people would be shocked to know that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.
So with all of that, I wonder: How is Cain's campaign playing out in the parts of the country where the GOP is strong and the meaning of the Confederate flag debatable?
This is a country where race still matters -- and this is a month in which the nation saw shocking video of a random black man being beaten and then run over by a group of white teenagers yelling racial epithets.
Certainly Cain has already thought about and to a small degree talked about what it means to be a black Republican running against a Democrat who also happens to be the country's first black president.
If Cain isn't ready to talk in more detail about these topics, then he probably isn't ready to fix any of the country's economic problems, which are closely linked to race as well as class. One glance at who entitlements benefit the most tells us that.
Why the media feels more comfortable asking Bachmann and Sarah Palin if they are going to have a catfight than asking Cain if he believes the country is ready to replace a liberal black man with a conservative one is beyond me.
Talking about race does not make one a racist, just as not talking about race doesn't make it go away. I can respect Cain not wanting to spend a great deal of time talking about the color of his skin, but I can't respect a line of thought that wants to ignore it either. Especially when we know many blacks feel compelled to vote Democrat -- regardless of how they feel about the party's policies-- because the GOP refuses to address its image regarding race.
I suspect one of the reasons why Cain's race is being overlooked is not because he's dealt with it already or that we're a post-racial society, but because few people outside his camp believe he can actually win the nomination -- so what does it matter?
Sure his fifth place finish in the Iowa straw poll was better than expected, but come on, a congressman in his party recently referred to Obama's economic policies as a "tar baby." (The congressman later apologized.) Is this person really going to be behind Cain being the GOP nominee?
I'm not saying race qualifies you for office, but I am saying it can disqualify you in the eyes of many. And for those of you who may be tempted to accuse me of trying to inject race into the conversation, save it. I'm just pointing out the black elephant in the room.
If the mainstream media can openly debate if candidate Obama was black enough for the black community, there is certainly room to openly wonder if Cain is too black for a political party that has struggled to shake its image of being full of racists for the past 50 years, and thus has a hard time attracting black voters.
Does Cain believe he can beat Obama without the support of the black community? With blacks saddled with a 15.9% unemployment rate under Democratic leadership, could Cain win enough trust to debunk former RNC chair Michael Steele's epiphany that blacks "don't have a reason to vote Republican."
To me these are simple, yet important questions the country needs to be asking, because we're not turning this country around without racial minorities having a stronger economic footing than they now have. Someone needs to be able to cut through the racial malaise and talk objectively about facts, problems and solutions because entitlements need to be reformed, businesses like GE need to be paying corporate income taxes and folks who thought they were middle class just found out they are the working poor.
In other words, we have some real problems but we are not going to be able to ask ourselves the difficult questions that could help us fix them if the easy ones like Cain, race and the GOP are too much to handle.
Herman Cain is the latest presidential contender with a book deal.
The Republican best known as CEO of the Godfather's Pizza chain has an agreement with Threshold Editions for the memoir "Who is Herman Cain?" Threshold, a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced Tuesday that the book will come out in October.
Most of Cain's competitors, from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, already have books out. An announcement is expected soon for a book by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Mere days after two top staffers resigned from Herman Cain's presidential campaign, two others have also called it quits.
Tina Goff, the Iowa organizational director, confirms to CNN that she left the campaign on Friday. Goff also said that another Iowa staffer - Straw Poll coordinator Kevin Hart - resigned that day. The Cain campaign confirmed both developments.
The Cain campaign downplayed the significance of Goff's title. "She was a junior-level staffer," claimed Communications Director Ellen Carmichael. She said the campaign had not yet hired a director for the state, but that it soon will.
Goff told CNN that the conservative businessman "wasn't willing to make the commitment to Iowa necessary to win the [Ames] straw poll." That contest is seen as an early test of success in Iowa.
Goff added that she was concerned by the amount of money and time the Cain campaign was committing to that straw poll. However, she declined to discuss specifics.
"I didn't want it to go this way," Goff said. "I'm very sad about it."
But Carmichael emphatically denies the notion that Cain was not putting in enough resources to win in Iowa.
Citing upcoming events in Iowa on Sunday, Carmichael said, "Mister Cain will have been to Iowa 22 times. Any insinuation that he is not committed to Iowa is highly false."
The fresh defections follow those of two other Cain staffers who recently resigned. Matt Murphy left as the New Hampshire state director and Jim Zeiler resigned as Cain's regional director.
In comments that echo those of Goff in Iowa, Murphy reportedly said that Cain refused to mount a serious effort in New Hampshire. The Cain campaign denied that assertion.
"As our first report showed last night we've done quite well. We are continuing to come up with our new staff across the country, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina," Carmichael said.
"These are just two people who are not a good fit for our organization."
On Friday, the Cain campaign reports it raised $2.46 million in the second quarter between April and June. Over 27,000 individuals contributed from all 50 states, the campaign said in a statement.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is dropping out of the Republican presidential contest, after a disappointing third place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll yesterday.
“We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward,” Pawlenty said this morning in an exclusive interview on “This Week.” "That didn’t happen, so I’m announcing this morning on your show that I’m going to be ending my campaign for president.”
Pawlenty finished with 2,293 votes, giving him 14 percent of the total ballots cast – more than 2,500 votes behind winner Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) who finished with 28 percent of the vote, and runner-up Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), who was close behind with 27 percent.
The former Minnesota governor was reportedly planning to spend a total of around $1.5 million on his Iowa campaign from his launch in late May through mid-August.
Despite better resources and organization in Iowa, Pawlenty was only able to beat fourth-place finisher Rick Santorum by just over 600 votes.
Pawlenty sent out an email to supporters last night titled, “Just the Beginning” congratulating Bachmann on the straw poll win, but vowing to continue his campaign.
“As I've said all along, we needed to show progress to do well, and we did just that. This is a long process to restore America -- we are just beginning, and I'm eager for the campaign,” the email to supporters read.
But the weak showing at the Iowa Straw Poll proved to be too large a blow for the campaign to continue.
Ron Paul’s narrow-second place finish at the Ames straw poll was a demonstration of the Texas congressman’s intensified organization and a message retooled to appeal to Iowa conservatives — and a clear sign that he’s going to be a continued presence going into the 2012 election.
Paul got 4,671 votes, losing to Rep. Michele Bachmann by just 152 votes, and placing well ahead of former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose months of work and major investment delivered him just 2,293 votes.
Paul’s supporters were hoping a win here would prove their legitimacy, and Paul’s entourage came armed with statements from previous presidential candidates offering exhortations about just how important winning the straw poll is.
“Obviously,” senior Paul strategist Doug Wead told POLITICO Saturday when asked if an Ames victory would mean more than other straw poll wins. “We have the statements of all these other candidates, Romney on down about the importance of the Ames vote. Even those who are saying it’s not important now, they’re on the record saying it’s important.”
“Relatively speaking, yes that true,” Paul told POLITICO after his speech here when asked if winning at Ames was more important than previous polls he’s topped. “It can give you a boost in morale, and encouragement — for me, it’s always a vote for the endorsement of the views of the concerns of liberty.”
Paul’s tent, after all, was on the same grass where Mitt Romney’s was outside the Hilton Coliseum in 2007 when the former Massachusetts governor prioritized the straw poll and placed first.
This year, Romney chose not to compete, unlike Paul, who deepened his organization here. Led by senior staffers Jesse Benton and John Tate, the Paul campaign developed methodical plans to reach out to specific groups of straw poll goers. At restaurants, for example, Paul supporters were told to leave cards in with their checks: “As president, Ron Paul will fight to exempt hard-earned tips from any income or employment tax,” the cards read.
“It used to be, ‘this movement is like herding cats,’” Wead said. “But now it’s a finely tuned operation.”
Wead pointed to the signs posted inside the Coliseum: Paul signs were everywhere, far outnumbering all the other candidates. There were specific organization rules in place for putting them up — only 8 staffers were allowed, and campaigns had two hours to post them — and the Paul team was done in 30 minutes while others scrambled for space.
But the most important piece of Paul’s Iowa operation was outreach to the social conservatives who play such a critical role in the state’s Republican electorate.
“The missing link for us, the outreach to evangelicals, which is so key to South Carolina and the south — we’re filling it,” said Wead, speaking to POLITICO in between announcements on Paul’s stage.
Wead told POLITICO that the outreach included mailing 5,000 DVDs of Paul to pastors in Iowa before Saturday’s events. And it relied heavily on a new team of evangelicals who are backing Paul. They include Wead himself and also Brian Jacobs, who used to work with Rev. Billy Graham. Jacobs spent the days before the Straw Poll calling pastors throughout Iowa.
And when their candidate took the stage to speak to the reporters and the crowd assembled in the arena here, his opening remarks weren’t about the Fed or monetary policy or anything that referenced the “sliding dollar,” as the children’s play slide outside his tent was labeled.
Paul’s campaign, he said, is usually “identified with the cause of liberty…[but] there is something that precedes liberty and that is life,” he said, launching into a graphic story about watching an abortion while he was doing an OB/GYN rotation in medical school. “The prime reason that government exists in a free society is to protect liberty, but also to protect life. And I mean all life,” Paul said.
At the sprawling area where Paul was handing out hot dogs, offering children stickers and balloons, and handing out copies of the Constitution, the crowd skewed young: There were college students dressed in Ron Paul-logoed minidresses; there was a dunk tank; and the atmosphere inside the tent occasionally felt like a big college party. Parading across the stage were members of Ron Paul’s family — one discussed the Ron Paul cookbook — and Paul’s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, took the stage with his father after the speech here.
Paul supporters’ usual loud enthusiasm was on display as the results were announced, as red-shirted supporters filled the stands inside the arena. At first, there was silence — and then they started a loud chant of “Ron Paul! Ron Paul! Ron Paul”
Whether those supporters can drive Paul to a strong finish in the Iowa caucuses later this month is still an open question — but his staff has said all along that the caucus structure works to his advantage. And that, one longtime Iowa Republican operative said, is what Paul proved in Ames today.
“Paul actually did what Pawlenty was trying to do — and that shows he could make a serious play in the caucuses,” the Republican said.
Ever since Paul won just 1,305 votes in the 2007 contest in Ames, Paul’s ardent core of supporters have become obsessed with straw polls, going all out to win smaller contests at Republican conferences as a way to prove to the media that the libertarian Texas congressman is a legitimate presidential contender.
They have been successful — Paul won both the Republican Leadership Conference straw poll in New Orleans this year and the Conservative Political Action Committee poll in Washington in February — but they haven’t been able to sway the media narrative that paints Paul as a candidate with intense but limited support from Republicans whose views are outside the mainstream.
For Paul’s ardent supporters, that’s the rub: While the media have been covering Pawlenty as a legitimate contender with a plausible path to the White House, Paul’s presidential bid has been largely ignored press.
“The point is: Why are you here?” Wead asked, referring to the hundreds of national reporters who have descended on Ames this weekend. “You’re here because it’s important. If you quit coming, we’ll quit coming. Until then, this matters.”
1.) Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (4823, 28.55%)
2.) Congressman Ron Paul (4671, 27.65%)
3.) Governor Tim Pawlenty (2293, 13.57%)
4.) Senator Rick Santorum (1657, 9.81%)
5.) Herman Cain(1456, 8.62%)
6.) Governor Rick Perry (718, 3.62%) write-in
7.) Governor Mitt Romney (567, 3.36%)
8.) Speaker Newt Gingrich (385, 2.28%)
9.) Governor Jon Huntsman (69, 0.41%)
10.) Congressman Thad McCotter (35, 0.21%)
Scattering (162, 0.96 %) Includes all those receiving votes at less than one-percent that were not on the ballot.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on Saturday won the Ames Straw Poll, besting eight other Republican candidates in a nonbinding but politically significant vote in the first caucus state of Iowa.
The vote was billed as one that could make or break some campaigns. Six Republican presidential hopefuls on Saturday personally appealed for Iowans' vote, not including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She drew throngs at the Iowa State Fair on Friday but has yet to officially decide if she's running.
Bachmann secured 4,823 votes, narrowly besting Texas Rep. Ron Paul who had 4,671 votes. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty was chosen on 2,293 ballots, placing him third.
Pawlenty, who has trailed in recent polls despite heavy investment in Iowa, issued a statement saying, "We made progress in moving from the back of the pack into a competitive position. ... We are just beginning, and I'm looking forward to a great campaign."
The next closest contenders, in order, are: former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum with 1,657 votes, businessman Herman Cain with 1,456 votes, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 567 votes. That was slightly less than the 718 who wrote in the name of Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- who declared his candidacy Saturday and wasn't even on the ballot.
Part country fair and entirely political, the Ames Straw Poll has helped take the pulse of a campaign's strength since 1979. It's also the first opportunity for the tens of thousands of voters who weighed in Saturday on which GOP president candidate they support.
The results were announced around 5:30 p.m. CT, capping days of intense politicking and several hours of speeches from candidates and other prominent Republicans.
Bachmann had reason to celebrate, but had a little competition in the headlines department: Perry announced his presidential bid at a meeting of conservatives in South Carolina. The timing of his announcement prompted some grumbling among Iowa Republicans.
Nine announced candidates were on the Iowa ballot, although two of them -- Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman -- skipped the contest. Huntsman is avoiding the Iowa caucuses completely, while Romney's advisers are carefully watching the state and could pounce in the coming months if they see an opening.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was on the ballot, too, but his cash-strapped campaign did not have a formal presence at the straw poll and he only got 385 votes. Michigan Rep. Thaddeus McCotter shelled out thousands of dollars to reserve campaign space outside the straw poll venue, but -- while he played up the perils of "big government" and of ceding "the 21st century (to) Communist China" -- he was not, as expected, a major factor, securing a mere 35 votes.
Bachmann had been positioned at or near the top of most Hawkeye State polls thanks to the passions she has stirred among tea party activists and social conservatives who make up a large part of the caucus electorate. But there are questions about how strong her organization in the state is and whether she can compete with Pawlenty's respectable ground game.
Like Huckabee in 2007, though, Bachmann has a natural appeal to evangelicals and home-school activists who tend to show up at political events like straw polls.
In her speech in Ames on Saturday, Bachmann exuded optimism -- proudly and loudly insisting, "We are the team that can't be beat."
Besides playing up her roots in Iowa, where she was raised, the three-term U.S. representative cast herself as a fiscal conservative and "national security conservative." Still, some of the most impassioned parts of her speech dealt with her stances on social issues.
"We are social conservatives, and we will never be ashamed of being social conservatives," Bachmann said. "We understand that religious liberty is the essence of the foothold of this nation."
Another candidate who came in with high expectations was Paul, given his strong performances in straw polls at various conservative gatherings over the years. Such successes are a testament to the devotion of his libertarian-leaning followers and their ability to outorganize and outhustle the competition.
But these days, political observers and members of the media take his straw poll wins for granted. And these victories have yet to translate to larger ones for the now three-time presidential candidate -- who hasn't broken through yet in Republican elections nationally.
Speaking Saturday, Paul called for fewer government regulations and more "freedom for America."
"Liberty and life does not come from the government," he said. "It comes from our creator."
As much as the vote -- a fund-raiser for the Iowa Republican Party -- could catapault some candidates, it may also eliminate those who have staked their candidacies on Iowa but struggled to generate grassroots enthusiasm.
They included Santorum, who acknowledged his underdog status but promised a comeback.
"This is the little-engine-that-could campaign," the staunch social conservative said. "They told us we had no chance."
Cain, a businessman and former radio host running on his outsider image, is fading after a strong early start to the campaign. He had tried to manage expectations for the straw poll, but recently told a Des Moines audience that he needs to finish in the top three. Anything less, he said, would compel him to "evaluate" his campaign.
In a raucous address Saturday, Cain ran through his positions on a host of economic, foreign policy and other matters while saying Americans "are ready to embrace a problem-solver and not another politician."
Referring to an epiphany he had 12 years ago after his first grandchild was born, "I had to use my talents, skills and abilities to do something about this nation and get it off the wrong track," Cain said. "This giant has awakened and is not going back to sleep."
Pawlenty's performance in the poll was seen as especially critical. Observers had said he must finish in first or second place and send a message to his supporters (and the media) that his campaign can soldier on through the fall and winter.
The former Minnesota governor has a platoon of smart political operatives in his corner and is thought to have the best ground game in the state. But despite planting an early flag in Iowa and improving his performance on the stump in recent weeks, the Midwesterner remains stuck in single-digits in state polls.
On Saturday, he echoed many others in blasting President Barack Obama, claiming he "has no clue" and saying "he is like a manure spreader in a wind storm."
Pawlenty also vowed that his ability to get re-elected in Minnesota shows he has the track record to succeed in governing and also win over swing voters.
"I don't just talk about it. We got the job done, for Minnesota and America," he said.
The results of the Iowa straw poll will be carefully scrutinized by political analysts, helping propel some candidates in their fundraising and campaign efforts elsewhere even as it deflates others.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a veteran observer of Republican politics in the state, said it is critical that a candidate do well if they are to have any chance, down the line.
"If you're not in the top three here, your chances of getting elected are not very good," he said.
But history shows a straw poll win hardly guarantees future success in the state or nationwide. In 2007, ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the vote, but his closest rival in the state, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, ultimately won the Iowa caucuses and dealt a fatal blow to Romney's candidacy. The Republican nominee that year, meanwhile, was Arizona Sen. John McCain.
Only one Republican has won the straw poll and gone on to occupy the Oval Office: George W. Bush.
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