Politics - what I see and what I do not understand

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Buddy Roemer Prepares to Bid a Teary Goodbye to the Granite State

By Sarah Parnass Jan 10, 2012 7:04pm

Steve Pope/Getty Images

Most of the GOP candidates hopped a plane to New Hampshire last week by way of Iowa, following the caucuses. But not Buddy.
Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer has lived in an apartment on Brown Avenue near the airport in Manchester, N.H., with his son, Dakota, since Dakota found the apartment in July. In those months, Roemer traversed the Granite State, shaking hands and taking donations, no more than $100 per contributor.
But Roemer’s lease is almost up. Come Jan. 15, he’ll move on to Michigan.
Is he happy to go? No way. Roemer told a local TV station today he “got teary-eyed thinking about leaving New Hampshire.”
“I love New Hampshire,” Roemer said. “It’s small enough that you can go from Derry to Keene and up to Littleton in a couple of hours.”
Roemer compared his time in New Hampshire the past six months to his college years as a Harvard student in Massachusetts.
But his time in New Hampshire has not been without challenges. Taking limited donations and eschewing Super PACs made it largely more difficult for Roemer to accrue the same level of resources as candidates without these limitations. “It’s been frustrating,” going up against campaigns with more money, he admitted.
But Roemer said his goal was never to win the presidency. Instead he hoped to inform voters about what he perceives as corruption in Washington politics and establish credibility as the best man to deliver that message. In that, he believes he succeeded.
“I’m very pleased with what happened in New Hampshire,” he said
Roemer also set himself apart this campaign season by live tweeting several televised presidential debates, which he was not invited to attend.
As for tonight’s results, Roemer expects to get no more than 2 percent of the vote.
“I mean Mitt Romney’s going to win this state. He’s led from the beginning. He lives here, he’s well-known,” Roemer said. “And so I didn’t expect to overcome that.”
From New Hampshire, the Roemer campaign will forge on to Michigan and then Arizona. Roemer said he was already on the ballot in 25 states and hoped to gain at least 10 or 15 more before the Republican National Convention. Though some analysts have already anointed Romney as the presumed winner of the GOP nomination, Roemer believes the race is not yet settled.
“I think the Republican Party is up in the air as to who the nominee is going be,” Roemer said. “I think this process will take a long time.”

The Obama Campaign Dives Into Romney’s New Hampshire Exit Poll Results

By Jake Tapper
@jaketapper
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Jan 10, 2012 9:16pm

Key to that victory: the substantial independent vote in this state.

The Obama team is watching those independents carefully, as well as other key demographic groups. They’re focused on how former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney performs, since he’s the candidate they’ve long been convinced will win the GOP nomination.

Members of Team Obama say that current exit polls indicate that:

* Mitt Romney lost to Ron Paul by four points among self-identifying independents — Paul 31%, Romney – 27%;

* Romney finished a distant fourth among voters who thought “Strong Moral Character” is the most important candidate quality, losing to Paul by 21 points.

* Romney won the wealthy, but lost the middle class. His biggest margin was among those making over $200K followed by those making $100-200K but he lost those making under $50K by 4 points.

“So he loses independents and low income voters,” says a top Obama campaign official. “His right-turn isn’t going to help these things.”

Another top Democrat says he’s looking at Romney’s performance in lower- and middle-income wards and areas of the Granite state.

“Like Iowa, he did not do well here,” the Democrat says. “Wait to see what happens in South Carolina with those groups after a couple million dollars and relentless ‘corporate raider’ pounding.” The Democrat also says that before Iowa Romney had about a thirty point lead. “He will have lost almost two-thirds of that in one week,” the Democrat says.

One polling guru who wanted to keep his name out of it takes the larger point that Romney needs to be stronger with independents, as well as lower- and middle-income groups, but he splashes cold water on some of the numbers members of Team Obama are throwing around.

“Given the margin of sampling error in the exit poll, Paul’s four-point margin over Romney among independents is not statistically significant. We’re saying they ran about evenly in this group. Ditto for those who make less than $50,000 a year.”

-Jake Tapper

Michelle Obama Responds to Reports of Friction With White House Advisers

By Mary Bruce
@marykbruce
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Jan 10, 2012 8:32pm

In an interview with CBS News’ Gayle King, Obama conceded that she is “not an expert on most of the issues that [the president] is dealing with on a daily basis.”

“I am one of his biggest confidants, but he has dozens of really smart people who surround him,” she said. “I want him and he wants to be talking to the people with the best information. That’s not to say that we don’t have discussions and conversations. That’s not to say that my husband doesn’t know how I feel.”

A new book by New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor out today depicts the first lady as a powerful behind-the-scenes player in her husband’s administration. However, the book, entitled “The Obamas,” also says that there was frustration and tension between Obama and her husband’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

“One thing is true, that I talk very candidly to my husband about how I feel, but that’s the kind of relationship we have,” Obama told CBS. “I wouldn’t go to Rahm about something that I would talk to my husband about. If I didn’t agree with something, I would talk to my own husband about it.”

Monday, January 9, 2012

Republican Party presidential debates, 2012(update)

This is an update to a previous blog December 16, 2011
Republican Party presidential debates, 2012

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of a series on the 2012 US presidential election	2012 US presidential election
Democratic candidates · 3rd-party / Ind. candidates

Republican candidates · debates · primaries (Iowa · N.H. · S.C. · Fla. · Nev. · ME · CO · Sup. Tues.) national polling · statewide · straw

Timeline · General election debates Additional races: House · Senate · gubernatorial

"Republican debates" redirects here. For Republican debates from previous elections, see Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries.

The 2012 United States Republican Party presidential debates are a series of political debates being held, prior to the 2012 Republican primaries, among candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in the national election of 2012. The first debate occurred on May 5, 2011 in Greenville, South Carolina, and was hosted by Fox News.

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[edit] Debates

The following table includes more prominent venues involving several Republican presidential candidates. (Note: Clicking link at enumeration redirects to summary of debate below.)

Debates among candidates for the 2012 Republican Party U.S. presidential nomination
*N°.*	Date	Place	Sponsor	Participants^*
P Participant. N Non-invitee.^{^†} A Absent invitee. O Out of race (exploring or withdrawn).				Bachmann	Cain	Gingrich	Huntsman	Johnson	Paul	Pawlenty	Perry	Romney	Santorum
1	May 5, 2011	Greenville, SC	Fox News / South Carolina Republican Party	O	P	O	O	P	P	P	O	A	P
2	June 13, 2011	Manchester, NH	CNN / WMUR-TV / Union Leader	P	P	P	A	N	P	P	O	P	P
3	August 11, 2011	Ames, IA	Fox News / Washington Examiner / Iowa Republican Party	P	P	P	P	N	P	P	O	P	P
4	September 7, 2011	Simi Valley, CA	MSNBC / Politico / Reagan Library	P	P	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
5	September 12, 2011	Tampa, FL	CNN / Tea Party Express	P	P	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
6	September 22, 2011	Orlando, FL	Fox News / Google / Florida Republican Party	P	P	P	P	P	P	O	P	P	P
7	October 11, 2011	Hanover, NH	Bloomberg / WBIN-TV / Washington Post	P	P	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
8	October 18, 2011	Las Vegas, NV	CNN / Western Republican Leadership Conf.	P	P	P	A	N	P	O	P	P	P
9	November 9, 2011	Rochester, MI	CNBC / Michigan Republican Party	P	P	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
10	November 12, 2011	Spartanburg, SC	CBS / National Journal / South Carolina Republican Party	P	P	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
11	November 22, 2011	Washington, DC	CNN / Heritage Foundation / American Enterprise Institute	P	P	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
12	December 10, 2011	Des Moines, IA	ABC News / WOI-DT / Des Moines Register /Iowa Republican Party	P	O	P	N	N	P	O	P	P	P
13	December 15, 2011 Iowa Caucus: Jan. 3	Sioux City, IA	FOX News / Iowa Republican Party	P	O	P	P	N	P	O	P	P	P
14	January 7, 2012	Manchester, NH	ABC News / WMUR-TV	O	O	P	P	O	P	O	P	P	P
15	January 8, 2012 NH Primary: Jan. 10	Concord, NH	NBC News / Facebook	O	O	P	P	O	P	O	P	P	P
_•	January 16, 2012, 9PM ET	Myrtle Beach, SC	Fox News / South Carolina Republican Party	O	O			O		O
_•	January 19, 2012 SC Primary: Jan. 21	Charleston, SC	CNN / Southern Republican Leadership Conf.	O	O			O		O
_•	January 23, 2012	Tampa, FL	MSNBC / NBC News / National Journal / Tampa Bay Times / Florida Council of 100	O	O			O		O
_•	January 26, 2012 FL Primary: Jan. 31	Jacksonville, FL	CNN / Republican Party of Florida	O	O			O		O
_•	NV ME CO MN Caucuses: Feb. 4–11 February 22, 2012^[1]	Mesa, AZ	CNN / Arizona Republican Party	O	O			O		O
_•	AZ MI Primaries: Feb. 28 March 1, 2012	TBD, GA	CNN / Georgia Republican Party	O	O			O		O
_•	WA Caucus: Mar. 3 March 5, 2012	Simi Valley, CA	Reagan Library	O	O			O		O
_•	Super Tuesday: Mar. 6 March 19, 2012	Portland, OR	OPB / Washington Times / Oregon Republican Party	O	O			O		O
_*_{^ Participating in at least one debate listed above: Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota • Businessman and talk radio host Herman Cain of Georgia • Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia • Former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah • Former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico • Rep. Ron Paul of Texas • Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota • Gov. Rick Perry of Texas • Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts • Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania}
^†^ Not invited to any debate listed above: Jack Fellure • Buddy Roemer • Fred Karger • Andy Martin • Thaddeus McCotter • Jimmy McMillan • Jonathon Sharkey

December 15, 2011 – Sioux City, Iowa

The thirteenth Republican debate was hosted by Fox News and held in Sioux City, Iowa. It was moderated by Bret Baier. Candidates in attendance were Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Jr., Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
After facing criticism for his offer of a $10,000 bet to Rick Perry in the previous debate, Mitt Romney was considered by one commentator to be back "at his very best".^[52] Once again, Newt Gingrich came in for criticism from all the other candidates, particularly from Michele Bachmann, with special focus given to his opinion of Government-sponsored enterprise and the $1.6 million he received from Freddie Mac.^[53] Gingrich responded that Bachman's relationship to the facts was dubious.^[54]
Ron Paul again clashed with Bachmann and Rick Santorum over foreign policy and Rick Perry expressed a desire to be "the Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses".^[55] Bachmann claimed that after the previous debate, PolitiFact.com "came out and said that everything that I said was true",^[56] which prompted the fact-checking website to label her claim as "pants on fire", saying "that’s simply not the case".^[57]