I challenge anyone to come up with a better “Shorter” version of Mitt Romney’s exit speech than TBogg:

Our country, our world, our culture, our existence face enormous threats. I quit.

Genius.

Mitt Romney | 4 Comments »

Or just unaware of what Teh Reagan did? You decide.

Mitt Romney | 3 Comments »

Duncan Hunter explains why he would not be comfortable endorsing Mitt Romney. Hunter’s problem is with Bain Capital, Romney’s company, is partnering with a Chinese defense contractor to buy an American defense contractor.

Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney | No Comments »

Regardless of any Waterloo-like stands in Florida, Rudy Giuliani is done. Why? Because his “momentum-proof” tri-state area firewall is gone, as best signified by the fact that Giuliani is now significantly behind John McCain in New York, according to the Sienna poll. Trend in parentheses (PDF link).

McCain: 36% (15%)

Giuliani: 24% (48%)

Romney: 10% (7%)

It gets worse: Last month, Giuliani was up 33% on McCain in the Sienna poll. That’s right, there was a 45% swing in New York state against Rudy Giuliani in one month. New York Republicans don’t even like Giuliani any more:

For the first time in a Siena poll, Giuliani had a higher unfavorable rate _ 48 percent _ than favorable just six years after the Sept. 11 attacks. McCain was viewed favorably by 56 percent of New Yorkers.

Another NY poll out today from Marist gives McCain an even bigger lead: 34% to 19%.

Giuliani campaign manager Mike DuHaime had previously called Giuliani’s leads in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut “momentum proof.”

“Some of those leads are momentum-proof at this point,” he said. He stressed Giuliani’s margins in the New York tri-state area of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut versus what he called Romney’s “precarious” lead in New Hampshire where he is known, having been governor of neighboring Massachusetts.

Giuliani now trails in New York (by 12-15%), New Jersey (by 2-4%), Connecticut (by 23%), and Pennsylvania (by 16%), another February 5th neighbor to New York.

If Giuliani is going to lose badly in New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and likely lose in New Jersey as well, he has no base of support. His only hope is in Florida.

So, how does Florida look for Rudy? Not good - he trails in every poll that’s come out in the last ten days save one, which shows a statistical tie. The Insider Advantage poll from last Thursday showed Giuliani with a one point lead over McCain and Romney. The Rasmussen poll out today has him down five to Romney.

As I said above, Rudy Giuliani is done.

Polling, Rudy Giuliani | 10 Comments »

The results aren’t even in from South Carolina, but Duncan Hunter is dropping out.

Apparently Mitt Romney’s endorsement of Hunter to win the SC primary didn’t help.

Duncan Hunter | 2 Comments »

Mitt Romney Defends Himself Against Allegations Of Tolerance

In what is surely bad timing for the Romney campaign, the fake news outlet The Onion reports that “Mitt Romney’s candidacy took a major hit following the discovery of statements he made a decade ago that imply he isn’t sickened by gays.”

While it surely hurts him with the Republican base, I’d have to think that this report has the potential to swing more Michigan Democrats to vote for him in today’s open primary.

The real question is, how long will it take for life to imitate art and for the Romney campaign to make concerted efforts to bolster his anti-gay street cred to stop Huckabee to continue to siphon votes from the religious right base?

Mitt Romney | No Comments »

There’s a push going on, lead by Markos Moulitsas and echoed by many around the liberal blogosphere, to encourage Michigan’s Democratic voters to vote for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary. The logic is basically that since Democrats aren’t having a contested primary and since Michigan holds an open primary, the best thing for Democrats is to have Romney remain in the race following a Michigan win. Romney has made clear that Michigan is a crucial state for him and a loss could bring him close to dropping out.

Some right wing putz has two problems with Dems in Michigan and is filing suit to try to stop Markos’ efforts. Here are his problems: he doesn’t like Markos encouraging Democrats to vote in the GOP primary (his argument hinges on a misuse of the term “voter fraud”) and he doesn’t know how the meaning of “open primary.” Adam B at Daily Kos takes him down in thorough and hilarious fashion.

I’m posting a poll in the sidebar to get people’s thoughts on Dems working to give Romney a victory in Michigan. I think the effort is pretty funny and continued turmoil in the GOP field is a good thing.

Mitt Romney | 3 Comments »

Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films has another installment of The Real Rudy. This might be the most damning of BNF’s short documentaries about Giuliani’s culpability for worsening the human impact of the 9/11 attacks and his false exploitation of this tragedy for personal gain as a presidential candidate.

NB:  Now that the Dodd campaign is over, I’ll likely return to blogging here and elsewhere. I’m still in a decompression phase and do not know how frequently I’ll be posting. That said, when things stand out, I will certainly post on them.

Rudy Giuliani | 2 Comments »

Ahem.

I’m very happy to announce that I have been offered and accepted a position on Senator Chris Dodd’s presidential campaign. I moved to Washington DC on Sunday and today is my first full day in Dodd HQ. From this point forward I will only be publishing my writing in an official capacity for the Dodd campaign on its blog and on progressive blog community sites around the net.

A bit about the job. I will be blogging for the campaign alongside my friend Tim Tagaris and others. More specifically, I will be traveling with Senator Dodd as he campaigns around America. I will be posting videos of Senator Dodd and the people he meets at campaign stops nationwide. In many ways my job will be to give the American public an unprecedented window into the Dodd campaign.

The question most of you are probably asking yourselves is “Why Chris Dodd?” I believe that America needs a leader who can solve the problems facing our country with poise and conviction. Thanks to the Bush administration’s failures, our next president will enter office will little margin for error. I believe Chris Dodd is best person to fill this national need because he’s already doing it. By standing up to the Bush administration and calling for an end to the Iraq War, by fighting to restore the US Constitution and the right of habeas corpus, by protecting Americans working families from predatory lending, by strongly opposing the nominations of John Bolton, Sam Fox, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden, by working to increase make college education affordable through Pell Grants, Senator Dodd has repeatedly lead through his actions. That’s what America needs today - action, not rhetoric. That’s why I’m going to work for Senator Dodd.

As an activist and I writer I have spent the last two and a half years blogging about the things I want Democratic politicians to do in service to America. In Chris Dodd, I find a man who has time and time again done the right thing without having to be asked. I deeply respect his active commitment to democratic ideals in a time when we’ve watched far too many politicians shirk their responsibilities to the American public. I look forward to helping him win the Democratic nomination and become the next President of the United States.

Check out my first post on the Dodd blog.

Technorati Tags: Chris Dodd

Uncategorized | No Comments »

I’m starting to think that Rudy Giuliani is not going to take the path most observers thought he would take with regards to abortion. Giuliani’s socially moderate positions, particularly his wishy-washy support for abortion rights as long as the courts say so, are generally perceived as a vulnerability that will make him less appealing to conservative Republican primary voters. At some point Giuliani would have to walk back some of his past statements in support of Roe v. Wade and disavow his efforts as mayor of New York to expand funding for abortions for women who could not afford. If effect, Giuliani would have to engage in a kabuki dance for the Republican base to convince them that they are all knowing and he had erred.

The most blatant confrontation between Rudy Giuliani’s abortion beliefs and the gilded position held by most of the Republican Party on the issue was last week at the Simi Valley GOP debate. In that setting Giuliani waffled on whether he thought it would be acceptable for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. Giuliani said it would OK if they did and OK if they didn’t, while reasserting his contention that abortion rights should be decided on a state by state basis.

Besides failing to convey any personal conviction to any ideology, Giuliani’s answer struck me as a signal moment in his campaign. Maybe he isn’t going to pull a Full Romney and change his state belief on abortion to improve his chances to win higher office. Yes, it is admirable that he will retain his soft support for abortion rights while running for president, but from a purely political standpoint this has to be viewed as reducing Giuliani’s chances of winning over Republican primary voters. Worse still, with Giuliani falling in many polls, unexpected steps counter to the desires of the base could really mean Giuliani will be finished soon.

Giuliani wants to shift the focus of the debate away from abortion:

Rudolph W. Giuliani told a gathering of conservatives Monday that his campaign could be boiled down to two major themes: national security and economic security.

Mr. Giuliani did not cite values as a theme, which is unusual for a major Republican presidential candidate, and the omission seemed especially striking Monday, coming as it did just hours after a report that he and his former wife had donated $900 to an abortion rights advocacy group and provider.

The potential to damage his relationship with the conservative base surely grew yesterday as Giuliani had a somewhat confrontational appearance on conservative pundit Laura Ingraham’s radio show.

“My idea of a choice is that it should be a real choice and that ultimately, then, you have to respect a woman’s consciousness,” Giuliani told Ingraham and listeners on 340 radio stations nationwide. “I think life is enormously important, but so is personal liberty.”
…
When Ingraham ended the segment with a standard line about his returning again, a clearly agitated Giuliani responded: “I would love to come back, but you’re going to have to ask me about the war on terror and what we do about the economy, which is after all what most citizens ask me about.”

“Well, conservatives are citizens, too, Mayor Giuliani!” Ingraham responded. “We’re citizens, too.”

The exchange with Ingraham is revealing in that it shows that Giuliani thinks he really can run a campaign for the Republican nomination for president without devoting time talking about abortion. He does not think it germane to the debate he wants to have, so he ends up insulting the Republican base.

Giuliani does not want to talk to conservatives about abortion rights and his beliefs on how abortion should be legislated in America. Getting a clear answer from Giuliani in front of a hostile audience (GOP debate & Ingraham’s show) is difficult. He just doesn’t want to talk about his known weak spot and, at the debate in particular, he gets petulant when pressed for answers. This is not a recipe for success.

Technorati Tags: 2008 Presidential election, abortion, Laura Ingraham, Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani | 3 Comments »