2012 Election: Republican Candidates

From MSNBC:

[QUOTE][I]By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com[/I]

Updated at 12:35 a.m. ET March 7: Campaigns live and die on the momentum swings of big victories, strong debate performances or debilitating gaffes. But nominations are won with delegates, and in this year's Republican presidential campaign, the math is relentless: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is starting to pile them up, and faster than any of his rivals.

That's partly because of the nature of the 2012 race, but it's also because, more than in any other recent campaign, the state Republican parties are doling out their delegates in a variety of ways this year. They've moved away from the more traditional system in which the winner of a congressional district takes most or all of that district's delegates — a winner-take-all approach that has led to the nomination's having been decided after just a few big primaries and caucuses in previous cycles.

Casual followers of politics might assume that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, won most of the 76 delegates Tuesday night in his home state, Georgia — and he would have under the winner-take-all system. But the Republican National Committee has tried to steer the state parties toward district allocations that more accurately reflect the popular vote.

The upshot is that even though Gingrich won Georgia, according to NBC News' projection Tuesday night, he could end up with fewer than half its delegates. Romney, meanwhile — despite finishing second or third — could come away with a quarter of them or more.

Math like that made it possible for Romney to hit 323 total delegates, according to NBC News' projections through 12:35 a.m. ET — more than triple the number won by Gingrich (105) and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania (101) and 13½ times those won by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas (24).

And it's the kind of math that makes it harder for a non-front-running candidate to make a big leap in delegates, which he could do by winning an upset in a big winner-take-all state.

The problem for Santorum and Gingrich is that there are only 12 such opportunities this year, compared to 25 in 2008. That's the number of states — none of them on Super Tuesday — that were running largely winner-take-all contests, while 22 were awarding delegates more along proportional lines.

(As for the rest of the states, they were waiting for state conventions or were using a combination of the two systems, many of them with unique complications — like Ohio, where delegates were being allocated proportionally unless one candidate won a clear majority, in which case it would switch to winner-take-all. Tennessee was using a similar arrangement, except the winner-take-all trigger wouldn't be pulled unless one candidate won two-thirds of the popular vote.

(None of this takes into account the three wild-card delegate spots in each district reserved for members of the RNC. Still with us?)

Boil it all down, and what it means is that having to navigate such a patchwork of rules rewards candidates with well-financed national campaigns that can compete in every state.

It rewards Romney, in other words.

Besides having won six contests going in to Tuesday, Romney had also finished second in four of the five others, winning a significant number of delegates in many of them. Besides adding three more wins by mid-evening, he was also running second or was in a virtual tie for the lead in most of the rest of Tuesday's contests that had reported returns.

Certainly, an unexpected development, like a candidate's withdrawal or a major mistake in a debate, could change the calculus, but as it stands now, the problem for Gingrich and Santorum is that, no matter how good they look in national polls compared to Romney, they're finishing third or fourth too often.

Meanwhile, the majority of winner-take-all states, where they theoretically could begin to catch up, are backloaded this year, with most coming in April or later. By that time, Romney could well have taken on the mantle of inevitable nominee, thanks to lackluster but good-enough finishes to keep the delegates ticking into his column.

Romney all but pointed that out himself at a rally Tuesday night in Boston:

"Tonight, we are counting up the delegates for the convention — and counting down the days until November," he said.[/QUOTE]

From Fox:

[QUOTE][B]Santorum lands Southern primary wins in Mississippi, Alabama[/B]

[I]Published March 14, 2012 | FoxNews.com[/I]

Rick Santorum scored a big pair of victories Tuesday night, winning the Mississippi and Alabama Republican primaries as he builds the case that he is the "conservative" alternative to Mitt Romney over Newt Gingrich.

"We did it again," Santorum told a cheering crowd in Louisiana Tuesday night.

The former Pennsylvania senator won in two deep red states that are among the most conservative in the nation. In his victory speech, Santorum suggested the GOP contest remains far more competitive than Romney's supporters make it out to be.

"We will compete everywhere. The time is now for conservatives to pull together," Santorum said.

Mitt Romney did not go home empty handed, clinching a victory in the Hawaii caucuses by a wide margin. He took home 45 percent of the vote, with over 80 percent of precincts reporting. Santorum trailed with 25 percent.

Romney also won the small Republican caucus in American Samoa. He picked up all nine delegates in the contest in the U.S. territory located 2,300 miles south of Hawaii.

With Tuesday's contests, the Republican candidates are now at roughly the halfway point in the nominating battle. Twenty-four states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, still have to hold their primaries and caucuses.

In Mississippi, Gingrich finished second, just ahead of Romney. With nearly all precincts reporting, Santorum was leading with 33 percent of the vote. Gingrich was behind with 31 percent, followed by Romney with 30 percent.

Gingrich and Romney are still battling for second place in Alabama. With 99 percent reporting, Santorum was ahead with 35 percent -- followed by Gingrich with 29 percent and Romney with 29 percent.

Ron Paul is a distant fourth in both states.

Santorum's wins allow the candidate to increase the pressure on Gingrich to bow out of the race. The two primary contests Tuesday were considered crucial to the former House speaker's Southern strategy, and Santorum in the run-up to the vote had suggested it was time for Gingrich to exit. So far, the former speaker has won just two contests, in Georgia last week and South Carolina in January.

"It's very, very clear that outside of Speaker Gingrich's backyard, if you will, we're the candidate who's taking it to Mitt Romney," Santorum told Fox News. He told Fox News earlier in the day that conservative voters "have pretty much made a decision," claiming Gingrich is probably not "in the mix for getting the nomination at this point."

But Gingrich told Fox News before the results came in that he will not step aside. Talking to supporters Tuesday night in Alabama, Gingrich made clear he intends to stay in it.

"One of the things tonight proved is that the elite media's effort to convince the nation that Mitt Romney is inevitable just collapsed," Gingrich said. "The fact is in both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 70 percent of the vote. And ... if you're the front-runner and you keep coming in third, you're not much of a front-runner."

Gingrich said his campaign stands out for its emphasis on "substance" and big ideas, and he vowed to fight "all the way to Tampa" to compete for the nomination at the convention. He said his emphasis on gas prices already has changed the national debate, citing President Obama's recent focus on the issue.

Alabama offered 47 delegates on Tuesday, while Mississippi offered 37. Because both states divvy up their delegates proportionally, Gingrich and the other candidates will each win delegates Tuesday. That means Santorum will again struggle to make measurable gains on Romney, the delegate leader.

Santorum's campaign was similarly frustrated over the weekend, after winning big in the Kansas caucuses -- only to watch Romney negate his delegate gains by picking off a few in Kansas and many more in under-the-radar contests held in various U.S. territories.

Going into the race Tuesday, Santorum had 217 delegates to Romney's 454. Gingrich had 107 and Paul had 47. It takes 1,144 to clinch the nomination.

Exit polls, as they have in prior races, showed Romney doing best among moderates on Tuesday. In exit polls out of Alabama, Santorum was pocketing 41 percent among those who describe themselves as very conservative. Gingrich was pulling 36 percent among that group.

In the same state, Santorum led among evangelicals, followed closely by Gingrich. But Romney far outpaced his competitors on the question of who is most electable against Obama -- 46 percent chose Romney, while less than a quarter said the same for Santorum or Gingrich. Three percent thought Paul was most electable.

The Gingrich campaign meanwhile circulated a memo late Tuesday afternoon claiming the candidate is "well positioned" to win the nomination, citing the numerous Southern contests still on the horizon.

"This race is not going to be won or lost over backroom deals or endless and mind-numbing discussions in the media over delegate counts. This race is going to be decided by a big debate -- a big choice -- among GOP primary voters about the future of the Republican Party; what it stands for, and which candidate has the most compelling vision and most credibility to carry forward a conservative governing agenda," Gingrich advisers said in the memo. "That is the debate Newt is going to win, and with it, the nomination and the election."

Romney did not address supporters Tuesday night but made clear beforehand that he doesn't consider the Southern contests to be must-win for his nomination chances.

"John McCain didn't win either of these states, Alabama or Mississippi," he told Fox News. "We are delighted that we are doing so well there. The polls are suggesting it is kind of a three-way tie. It is an away game for me."

[I]Read more[/I]: [url]http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/13/alabama-mississippi-gop-primary/print#ixzz1p53wZjHt[/url][/QUOTE]

From ABC:

[IMG]http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/AP_rick_santorum_puerto_Rico_thg_120315_wblog.jpg[/IMG]
[COLOR="#696969"]Image credit: Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo/AP Photo[/COLOR]

[I]Mar 15, 2012 12:16pm[/I]

ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe and Shushannah Walshe report:

Rick Santorum Wednesday became the first Republican presidential hopeful in this election to visit Puerto Rico before the island commonwealth’s Sunday primary, taking a controversial stand on statehood that he was forced to defend this morning after losing a key supporter.

Rather than boost his standing, the trip has ignited a firestorm with Santorum’s comment that English would have to be “the main language” in order for Puerto Rico to become a U.S. state.

“Like in every other state, it [must comply] with this and every other federal law,- and that is that English should be the main language,” Santorum said in an interview with the El Vocero newspaper Wednesday. “There are other states with more than one language, as is the case with Hawaii, but to be a state of the U.S., English should be the main language.”

The question of statehood is a huge issue in Puerto Rico, which is set to vote on the matter in November. The island’s voters will have a referendum on whether to become a state, something some Puerto Ricans favor and others oppose, whether they be in favor of remaining a commonwealth or becoming independent.

Santorum’s comments left one of his supporters, Oreste Ramos, so upset that the former Puerto Rican senator rescinded his endorsement.

“Although such a requirement would be unconstitutional, and also would clash with our sociological and linguistic reality, as a question of principle I cannot back a person who holds that position,” Oreste said, according to El Vocero. “As a Puerto Rican and Spanish-speaking U.S. citizen, I consider the position of Mr. Santorum offensive.”

Santorum’s deputy chairman in Puerto Rico tried to explain away Ramos’ defection by claiming that his gripes have more to do with Santorum’s stance on statehood than specifically with the English-language issue, and that it is too late for Ramos to remove his name as a delegate for Santorum.

Santorum himself today defended his English-language comments as he was exiting a special-needs school in San Juan with his wife, Karen, and five of their seven children.

“What I said is English has to be learned as a language and this has to be a country where English is widely spoken and used, yes,” Santorum told reporters, stating that the use of English should be a “condition” if Puerto Rico is to become a state. The island, he said, “needs to be a bilingual country, not just a Spanish speaking country.”

“I think English and Spanish – obviously Spanish is going to be spoken here on the island – but this needs to be a bilingual country, not just a Spanish-speaking country, and right now it is overwhelmingly just Spanish speaking. But it needs to have, in order to fully integrate into American society, English has to be a language that is spoken here also and spoken universally,” Santorum explained.

“I think that would be a condition. I think it’s important. And I think if you talk to most parents, they want their children to learn English. It is essential for children in America to be able to speak English to fully integrate and have full opportunities,” he added. “I don’t think we’re doing any more than, you know, people who come to America on the mainland. We’re not doing them any favors by not teaching them English.

Puerto Rico considers English and Spanish its official languages, but Spanish is more frequently used. With the island’s primary only three days away, Santorum – already the underdog there – can ill afford to alienate supporters. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney is the favorite in the commonwealth, and the former Massachusetts governor enjoys the backing of Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno. If Romney, or any other candidate, wins more than 50 percent of the vote Sunday, then he will take 20 of the island’s 23 delegates. That leaves three super delegates, and two have already endorsed Romney.

Santorum met with Fortuno in San Juan Wednesday, explaining away the governor’s support for Romney by noting that “the establishment across America lined up behind Gov. Romney very early on and I certainly respect that.”

At the same time, Santorum tried to emphasize his ties to the island, noting that he was once referred to as “Senador Puertorriqueno.”

“I was referred to by many in my state as Senador Puertorriqueno,” he told reporters. “They used to make fun of me: ‘Why are you representing Puerto Rico?’

“Well, someone has to because they don’t have a voice. I felt a responsibility to the island.”

But such comments garnered far less attention than his call for English to be the “main language” there. Romney, for his part, is scheduled to arrive on the island Friday, hoping the visit goes far better than Santorum’s has.

There is plenty at stake for both candidates come Sunday, and every misstep, as evidenced by Santorum’s stop there, comes with potentially significant consequences.

[I]Matthew Jaffe is covering the 2012 campaign for ABC News and Univision.[/I]

From The Ticket:

[QUOTE][B]Romney’s ties to China surveillance firm whacked by Obama campaign[/B]

[I]By Olivier Knox[/I]
White House Correspondent
[COLOR="#0000FF"]By Olivier Knox | The Ticket[/COLOR]

President Barack Obama's reelection campaign pounced Friday on a New York Times report that Mitt Romney may stand to profit, through a family blind trust administered by the Bain Capital private equity firm he founded, from China's government surveillance of its citizens.

[B]Here's how The Times puts it:[/B]

"In December, a Bain-run fund in which a Romney family blind trust has holdings purchased the video surveillance division of a Chinese company that claims to be the largest supplier to the government's Safe Cities program, a highly advanced monitoring system that allows the authorities to watch over university campuses, hospitals, mosques and movie theaters from centralized command posts."

Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, seized the opportunity to hit back at Romney, who has sharply assailed the president's policy towards China: "Mitt Romney has criticized President Obama on the campaign trail for putting economic interests ahead of human rights in China. But this new revelation about Romney's financial interest in a Chinese surveillance company suggests that Romney is not living up to his own publicly-stated values."

"Mitt Romney seems to play by one set of rules on the campaign trail but has another set of rules for his own finances," she said in a statement the campaign emailed to Yahoo News.

The Times noted that "Mr. Romney has had no role in Bain's operations since 1999 and had no say over the investment in China. But the fortunes of Bain and Mr. Romney are still closely tied."

And Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul called Cutter's remarks "a ridiculous attack from President Obama who is trying desperately to change the subject from price shock at the gas pump, which is creating more misery for people trying to survive his bad economy."

"Governor Romney left Bain 13 years ago, and his investments are in a blind trust, but that is not the issue on the minds of voters. The issue is we have an administration that has no idea what to do about rising gas prices because it's running on empty," she said in a statement by email to Yahoo News.

But the Times report gave fresh ammunition to Democrats who have already gleefully painted Romney as the poster child for Wall Street excess and as out of touch with average Americans, and suggested that the former Massachusetts governor is hiding something by not making a fuller disclosure of his finances.

"Now we know why Mitt Romney has been less than forthcoming about the details of his finances. This revelation not only highlights Romney's utter hypocrisy on China, but it also raises more questions about what his investments are and why he won't reveal all of them," Cutter said.

A Romney campaign spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.[/QUOTE]

From Fox:

[QUOTE][IMG]http://a57.foxnews.com/video.foxnews.com/thumbnails/032012/640/360/396/223/032012_aehq_romneyspeech_640.jpg[/IMG]

[I]Published March 21, 2012 | FoxNews.com[/I]

Mitt Romney romped to victory over Rick Santorum in the Illinois Republican primary Tuesday, notching his latest win in an industrial state and leaving his chief rival with an increasingly steep road to the nomination.

The victory poses a setback for Santorum, with just a few contests left on the calendar before a mid-April hiatus. Santorum is banking on a win in Louisiana this Saturday, but he may have to wait another month for any major opportunities to catch up to Romney -- as the GOP presidential front-runner builds his case that he is marching inexorably toward the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

At his victory speech in Illinois, Romney focused squarely on the November general election.

Glossing over his rivals in the Republican contest, he described the hypothetical race between him and President Obama as a choice between a "conservative businessman" and a "law professor." Romney said "economic freedom" will be on the ballot.

"We're going to face a defining decision as a people," Romney said. "I'm offering a real choice and a new beginning."

The former Massachusetts governor stressed his private-sector experience above all else on his resume, signaling a renewed focus on jobs going into the weeks ahead. "For 25 years, I lived and breathed business and the economy and jobs," Romney said.

He said the campaign is moving closer every day to victory, as well as a "better America."

Romney will add to his delegate lead with Tuesday's performance. The former governor received 46 percent of the vote, followed by Santorum with 35 percent, Ron Paul with 9 percent and Newt Gingrich with 8 percent.

A total of 54 delegates were up for grabs in Illinois.

Santorum, though, stressed that he would peel off some delegates from the contest. Speaking in Gettysburg, Pa., Tuesday night, he said he feels "very, very good" about Louisiana and predicted a big win a month later in his home state of Pennsylvania.

Santorum urged his supporters to "saddle up" for the race ahead, casting Romney as a flimsy conservative and himself as the candidate with "a long track record of deep convictions."

The former Pennsylvania senator took a shot at Romney, saying he doesn't fight just because of what a pollster or a teleprompter tells him. Romney used a teleprompter Tuesday night for his speech, but Santorum noted: "I don't happen to have one here tonight."

Santorum accused Romney and Gingrich of swaying with the political winds, particularly on climate change. "I'm not going to change with the climate," Santorum assured Republicans.

The candidates head next to Louisiana, where polling shows Santorum indeed has the edge -- but the state is not worth as many delegates as Illinois, with just 25 on the table. Santorum had fought hard for an Illinois upset, campaigning in the state and hoping to follow up his back-to-back wins in Alabama and Mississippi a week earlier.

Despite those wins, Santorum has struggled to make any delegate gains on Romney, who most recently added to his lead with a shutout victory in Puerto Rico over the weekend.

In Illinois, Romney invested heavily ahead of Tuesday's vote. Romney and the super PAC that supports him outspent Santorum and his super PAC by roughly 7-1 in the state, according to the Associated Press. CBS News reported the margin was 18-1, citing an estimate by the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Operational problems in the Santorum camp also opened the door for Romney to win more delegates on Tuesday regardless of the outcome. Because of filing problems, Santorum was ineligible for 10 of the 54 delegates at stake.

Santorum adviser John Brabender, speaking to reporters before the Illinois race was called, said the nominating battle is only at about the halfway point, and projected that Louisiana on Saturday would be an "important" contest.

After that, Santorum will have to wait until late April before the state he used to represent in Congress, delegate-rich Pennsylvania, holds its primary. In between is a three-contest set in Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia on April 3, with 95 total delegates at stake. Santorum did not make the ballot in Washington, D.C., but is competitive in the other two contests.

Romney adds Illinois to a column of industrial state victories that includes Michigan and Ohio.

Exit polls in Illinois on Tuesday reflected a familiar theme. They showed Romney dominating among self-described moderates, as well as voters who view electability as the most important candidate quality. Santorum was leading among voters who most want their nominee to either have strong moral character or be a "true conservative."

Though Gingrich and Paul continue to campaign, neither campaigned extensively in Illinois.

Gingrich, in an interview on Fox News, argued that he is best suited to go up against Obama in November.

"I'm staying in the race because I really do think it's a question of who can beat Barack Obama," Gingrich said.

His campaign also put out a statement knocking Romney for spending so much in Illinois, saying, "Republicans can't nominate a candidate who relies on outspending his opponents 7-1."

Going into Tuesday's contest, Gingrich and Paul trailed in delegates -- with Gingrich at 136 and Paul at 50.

Romney had 522 delegates going into the Illinois voting, according to the AP count. Santorum had 252. It takes 1,144 to win the nomination. [/QUOTE]

From New York Post:

[QUOTE][IMG]http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/03/27/news/web_photos/APTOPIXSouthKoreaNuclearSummit082016--300x150.jpg[/IMG]
AP
[COLOR="#4B0082"]Obama in Seoul Tuesday[/COLOR].

Last Updated: 8:23 AM, March 27, 2012
[I]Posted: 8:22 AM, March 27, 2012[/I]

SEOUL -- A day after being caught on an open microphone telling his Russian counterpart he would have more "flexibility" to address a missile-defense disagreement following the November US election, President Barack Obama was more circumspect Tuesday -- covering a microphone as he chatted with Dmitry Medvedev at the nuclear security summit in Seoul.

He also indicated to reporters that he stood by his comments, saying the current partisan political battling in the US made it difficult to enter into constructive discussion with Russia.

According to a pool report cited by FOX News Channel from the summit's first plenary session, Obama appeared to make light of his embarrassing hot-mike gaffe Tuesday, which had drawn widespread condemnation from rivals back in the US.

Grinning, the president placed his hand over a nearby microphone as he greeted Medvedev, in an obvious reference to the previous day's incident.

On Monday, Obama and Medvedev had been caught on-air discussing the disagreement both countries have over US plans for a missile-defense system.

"This is my last election, and after my election I'll have more flexibility," Obama said to Medvedev after their bilateral meeting, according to audio picked up by television cameras that apparently was not intended to be heard by reporters.

"I understand," Medvedev replied.

"I will transmit this information to Vladimir," the outgoing Russian president added, referring to his successor in the post, Vladimir Putin.

When he explained the hot mic remarks to reporters Tuesday, Obama defended his comments, saying it takes time to discuss complex, technical issues such as arms control.

"I don't think it's any surprise that you can't start that a few months before a presidential and congressional elections in the United States and at a time when they just completed elections in Russia, and they're in the process of a presidential transition where a new president's going to be coming in a little less than two months," he said.

He added that the political climate in the US in the lead-up to November's presidential election was not conducive to bilateral weapons discussions.

"The only way I get this stuff done is if I'm consulting with the Pentagon, with Congress, if I've got bipartisan support," he said.

"Frankly, the current environment is not conducive to those kinds of thoughtful consultations. I think the stories you guys have been writing over the last 24 hours is pretty good evidence of that."

Following his hot mic comments Monday, Obama was slammed by his GOP rivals for not being forthright on a national security matter.

"When the president of the United States is speaking with the leader of Russia, saying he can be more flexible after the election, that is an alarming and troubling development," Republican presidential frontrunner Romney told supporters during a rally at the medical device company, NuVasive, in San Diego.

Newt Gingrich also weighed in, calling Obama's remark "chilling" during an interview with FOX News Channel's Neil Cavuto.

The former House speaker interpreted Obama's statement to Medvedev as, "Let me pretend I'm tough long enough to be re-elected, then I'll take care of you."

Russian bloggers were also quick to pick up on Medvedev's response to Obama, characterizing it as an admission that he has to run all important matters via Putin, who reclaims the title of president in May.

"Today, let's all respond to every tweet: 'I will transmit this to Vladimir'," opposition leader Alexei Navalny said in a Twitter message.[/QUOTE]

From Christian Science Monitor:

[QUOTE][URL="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0404-romney-obama-budget/12195532-1-eng-US/0404-romney-obama-budget_full_600.jpg"][IMG]http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2012/0404-romney-obama-budget/12195532-1-eng-US/0404-romney-obama-budget_full_380.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[COLOR=#696969]Mitt Romney gestures during the Newspaper Association of America annual luncheon in Washington on Wednesday[/COLOR].
Larry Downing/Reuters

[B]On Tuesday Obama said the Republican budget would lead to draconian cuts to the social safety net. Mitt Romney counterpunched Wednesday, calling the warnings 'rhetorical excess.'[/B]

[I]By LInda Feldmann, Staff writer / April 4, 2012[/I]

[B]Washington[/B] - Mitt Romney punched back Wednesday for the merciless beating he and the Republicans took at the hand of President Obama the day before, calling Mr. Obama’s predictions of draconian cuts to social safety net and other programs “straw men.”

Mr. Romney was in Washington to address the Newspaper Association of America, and fresh off a sweep of Tuesday’s three primaries that tightened his grip on the GOP nomination. Obama, he said, had looked at the House Republican budget and pointed to “all the terrible things that would happen” if cuts were made by the same percentage across the board. But that’s not how it would work, he said.

“These things are just straw men that have no relevance in reality,” Romney said during the question and answer portion of his appearance. “I think it’s important for us to talk about the real issues that exist in the country and how we would address them.”

Mitt Romney's top 5 attacks on President Obama

Romney accused Obama of engaging in “rhetorical excess [that] I don’t think serves us terribly well in a process like this.”

In his speech Tuesday, Obama listed a series of cuts aimed at illustrating life under the House Republican budget, from depriving 2 million women and young children of nutritional assistance to reductions in financial aid to 10 million college students.

Romney suggested Obama was engaging in a false exercise. “Of course you wouldn’t cut programs on a proportional basis,” he said. “There would be some programs you would limit outright – eliminate outright, Obamacare being first on the list. And that saves about $100 billion a year.”

One straw man, Romney said, was that “Republicans are interested in corporations being able to do whatever they want to do with pollution and with their employees with impunity, without regard to the consequence.”

In his prepared remarks, Romney accused the president of not being forthcoming with his plans for the country.

“He wants us to reelect him so we can find out what he will actually do,” Romney said. “With all the challenges the nation faces, this is not the time for President Obama's hide-and-seek campaign.”

Romney also rejected Obama’s assertion Tuesday that Ronald Reagan couldn’t “get through a Republican primary today,” because of his willingness both to cut spending and raise taxes in the name of deficit reduction.

“I actually think Ronald Reagan would win handily in a primary, and frankly in all the primaries,” he said. “I also think that our party is intent on preserving the vitality and dynamism of the American spirit that I think is being deadened by a series of government programs that have been increasingly invasive and have attacked economic freedom.”

Romney played down Obama’s claims of success in his presidency, saying that his legislation failed to get the economy going again.

“I know some will say, ‘But the economy is getting better,’ ” Romney said. “Yeah, three and a half years after the stimulus has expired. Of course, every recession ends.”

Romney acknowledged that polls show him facing a large deficit in the women’s vote against Obama, noting that the Republican Party has traditionally faced a gender gap. He blamed the Democrats for “doing a good job of mischaracterizing our views.” But in the final analysis, “we will win with men and women in battleground states and across the country,” he said. “That will be by focusing on issues women and men care most about.”[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=#000080]So why are the bozoes, other Republican candidates, still out there? Trying to do what?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#000080]One Bozo left the race; there are still two bozoes left...[/COLOR]

From Washington Post:

[QUOTE][COLOR=#000080][IMG]http://washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Epaper/2012-04-11/A/1/38.2.3147820656.jpg[/IMG]
Rick Santorum turns to his wife, Karen, after announcing in Gettysburg, Pa., that he is suspending his presidential campaign.
[/COLOR]

By Rachel Weiner, Updated: Wednesday, April 11, 7:49 AM
Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign was always a longshot prospect. But the former Pennsylvania senator succeeded in one respect — he will no longer be remembered just for his stunning 17-point loss in the 2006 Pennsylvania Senate race.

Now that his campaign is over, here are the moments we think will be remembered of Santorum 2012, both good and bad.

* Calling “bulls---” on a question from New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny. Santorum went on to argue that “if you haven’t cursed out a New York Times reporter during the course of a campaign, you’re not really a real Republican.”

[IMG]http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/03/26/National-Politics/Videos/03262012-21v/03262012-21v.jpg[/IMG]

* Almost as memorable a jab came in February, when Santorum called President Obama a “snob” for thinking that every child should go to college: “There are good decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that aren’t taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate them.”

[video=youtube_share;GSn3YL1hZOU]http://youtu.be/GSn3YL1hZOU[/video]

* Santorum’s emotional speech on the night of the Iowa caucuses was one of his best, tying together his social conservativism with an appeal to blue collar workers.

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* Santorum’s debate performances were uneven, but in a late January CNN debate he effectively rattled Mitt Romney on Massachusetts’ health-care law.

[video=youtube_share;3t5LrxJdhjI]http://youtu.be/3t5LrxJdhjI[/video]

* Though it didn’t attract widespread notice until February, last October Santorum said that John F. Kennedy’s speech on the separation of church and state “makes me want to throw up.” He initially defended the comment but later said he wished he could take it back.

[video=youtube_share;gf7R6KSgvhM]http://youtu.be/gf7R6KSgvhM[/video]

* Santorum inspired a backlash from some fellow Republicans when he expressed concern about women in combat, saying the “types of emotions that are involved” could compromise a mission. 

[video=youtube_share;MLIZCuSlL8E]http://youtu.be/MLIZCuSlL8E[/video]

* In his concession speech, Santorum noted that he had helped stimulate the economy a little by selling his own American-made sweater vests. Here he is telling CNN the vests represent “the right to bare arms.”

<EMBED height=374 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=416 src=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2012/01/09/exp-erin-santorum-walk-and-talk.cnn wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" bgcolor="#000000">[/QUOTE]</EMBED>

[COLOR="#0000FF"]Elder Stateman or Aging Bozo?

Shouldn't he bet/invest on Mega Lottery for a better result/chance? [/COLOR]

From ABC:

[QUOTE][video=youtube_share;DFDFZLaqCts]http://youtu.be/DFDFZLaqCts[/video]

Gingrich Defends Utah Bounced Check
[I]By Elicia Dover | ABC OTUS News[/I]

NEWARK, Del. - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich today defended the $500 bounced check his campaign submitted to the Utah elections office as payment for the fee to appear on the primary ballot.

"This is one of those goofy things," Gingrich said after a campaign stop in Delaware. "That check was drawn in December. The account actually was closed by the time they processed it. It wasn't a question of money. That particular bank account was closed."

Utah elections director Mark Thomas attempted multiple times to contact the campaign about the bad check and said that if the matter isn't resolved by April 20, Gingrich will be disqualified from the ballot, ABC News reported Tuesday.

"I went back and checked and it was entirely a technical question of the bank being closed," Gingrich said. "It wasn't that we didn't have the money in the bank but that particular account had been closed as they made a transition to a different bank on January 1," Gingrich said.

The campaign had recently changed finance and accounting staff, although the designated agent who submitted the check, Wallace Woodruff "Woody" Hales, is still employed by the campaign, a source close to the campaign said.

This isn't the first time Gingrich has been connected to a bounced check. An attack ad from the height of the House banking scandal surfaced on the Internet from BuzzFeed in which Gingrich's opponent in the 1992 election, Herman Clark, made Gingrich's 22 bounced checks written to the House bank when he was the House minority whip a central issue of the campaign.

Gingrich won that election by only 980 votes.

The ad is set to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm":

"With a bounced check here and a pay raise there, here a check, there a check, everywhere a bounced check. Newt Gingrich wrote a rubber check to the IRS," the ad stated.

The ad claims that a Gingrich check to the IRS bounced for more than $9,000, and that Gingrich bounced 22 checks for more than $26,000.

As for the bounced check given to the Utah elections office, Gingrich told ABC News, "They apparently have it all worked out."

He confirmed that the campaign will post a little less than $4.5 million debt because of exponential spending in the Florida primary.
[/QUOTE]

From Yahoo:

[QUOTE][IMG]http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/fP8VuIfpWrMQR6eR8afpSQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/theticket/AP12041117279.jpg[/IMG]
[COLOR="#696969"](Steven Senne/AP)[/COLOR]

Democrats devalue stay-at-home moms.

That's the message of a Mitt Romney campaign fundraising email issued Thursday afternoon seeking to capitalize on the bipartisan outrage over Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney.

Democrats from the White House on down Thursday strongly opposed Rosen's comments that Mrs. Romney can't represent female voters because she's never "worked a day in her life." But that isn't stopping Romney's team from using Rosen's comment to declare war on the entire Democratic party.

[Related: Is there really a "war on women"?]

"If you're a stay-at-home mom, the Democrats have a message for you: you've never worked a day in your life," Romney's senior campaign advisor Beth Myers wrote in a fundraising email titled "War on Moms."

The Democrats have claimed this spring that the GOP is leading a "War on Women." Well, welcome to the age of rebranding.[/QUOTE]