Romney hammers Gingrich in Florida

Romney won the primary in Florida by double digits. Now it's on to NV and CO.

Gingrich and Romney slug it out in Florida

Former speaker Newt Gingrich and former governor Mitt Romney battle it put in the Sunshine state. It's expensive and expansive. The most diverse state so far and the most expensive with 10 media markets.
The other key element in this states primary is that it's winner take all. Putting more pressure on both campaigns to deliver.

EU joins US to boycott Iran

The European Union has decided to encourage Iran to disclose its nuclear arsenal to the UN. The EU will boycott oil from Iran. This would reduce Irans funds from its oil revenues to pursue its nuclear weapons program.

Keystone pipeline--What's the deal?

In an effort to gain more information about why the pipeline was delayed the Assistant Secretary of State testified. Many other federal agencies had already approved the proposal including the EPA. The application was submitted in 2008. Many members of the committee were obviously frustrated by the bearacracy.

POTUS gives State of the Union

Obama states the union is getting stronger

Legislative session starts Tuesday

The legislative session starts on Tuesday. In a pre session meeting of the governor and legislative leaders expect the session to be quick. Governor Dayton has proposed a bonding bill. It's not clear when a stadium bill for the Vikings will be ready since there have been several proposals but no bills drafted yet.. At least there is not a deficit to deal with.

Gingrich wins first victory in SC

In a week filled with controversy over the airwaves and on the debate stage Gingrich pulled out a major victory.
Romney was slipping in the polls toward the latter part of the week. Gingrich"a campaign which was thought to be on life support after reports earlier last year that top campaign staff left en mass left some people to wonder.

WI democrats submit form to recall governor

WI democrats formally filed paperwork with the state board of elections. They needed 640,000 signatures but got 1,000,000 signatures. The election board must now certify the signatures that were submitted to determine accuracy.
My thought is that while I respect them for exercising their right to recall their governor but also feel like this is being done for purely political reasons. They simply do not agree with his politics. That should not be a legitimate reason to recall a governor. Especially when he was just elected. This was the will of the people.

Perry to bow out back Gingrich

Texas governor Rick Perry is reportedly going to drop out and back former Speaker Newt Gingrich. This is expected to tighten the race ahead of the primary on the 21st.

Huntsman to endorse Romney

It's being reported by Politico that former governor Huntsman is expected to drop out of the republican primary and endorse Mitt Romney for president.

Movement conservatives choose Santorum

As the South Carolina primary edges closer and conservative republicans not satisfied with Romney. Led by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Gary Bauer former GOP presidential candidate, and James Dobson of Focus on the Family, the group voted for their candidate. Santorum is the candidate that they are backing.

The Romney campaign has to be concerned with this latest development because he has been able to benefit from other candidates dividing up the socially conservative vote pool. So will Santorum be able to capitalize on this new development and force a protracted fight for the GOP nomination?

South Carolina is in a interesting predicament.  They have many evangeiical christians who would vote for Santorum but are also pro business.  Can Santorum convince voters there that he has a broad enough appeal and that he is the candidate that can take on Obama in the general election?

Romneys main campaign strategy has been working thus far but will he be able to convince that as a business man he also understands their concerns on social issues in a state that values business equal to their social values.  South Carolina faces high unemployment.  Romney is leading in South Carolina--for now.

Why the GOP is undecided

I believe that the reason why no one has emerged as a viable candidate to Mitt Romney is that the candidates either did not have broad appeal on conservative issues and could not back up their claims adequately. Perry can't remember anything, Gingrich has too much baggage, Huntsman is liberal, bachmann can't get her facts straight, and Paul has a
Isolationist foreign policy. Santorum needs broader appeal.

Romney and Bain Capital

Wow this interesting. Romney is being attacked by both sides. You would expect that from the democrats but republicans do that at their own peril. Especially going into South Carolina where 60 percent of voters are evangelical Christians and most of them are likely pro business.
The fallout is that Perry lost a key endorsement who is now backing Romney. If Romney wins South Carolina most of the other candidates will probably drop out. Even if Paul stays in it will make no difference.

Romney wins NH

Former governor Mitt Romney wins New Hampshire, Paul comes in second and Huntsman comes in third. Now the Romey campaign heads to South Carolina where of he wins there he is well on his way to becoming the party's nominee.

Romney the nominee?

Mitt Romney with his narrow victory in Iowa is now in New Hampshire. Will the state of New Hampshiire deliver the state to him or make him wait a little longer.  A recent poll in New Hampshire indicated a 20 point lead for the presumed front runner.  Although some campaign officials are concerned about complacency in the first in the nation primary.  The campaign is pulling out a grass roots effort to make sure their supporters show up at the polls on Tuesday.  Meanwhile Romney did campaign in South Carolina where Romney has a slight lead over Rick Santorum.  It was reported earlier that a group of prominent conservatives were meeting in Texas because they are concerned that if Ronmey is nominated that he is not conservative enough.

Meanwhile the race for second is a dead heat between the surging Santorum, and others like Gingrich, Hunstman, Perry.  Who will challenge Romney in the precding states?  Santorum did an excellent job of pivoting from his speech in Iowa to focus on the economy and blue collar roots while still reminding conservatives of his socially conservative credentials.  I think Hunstman is out of it because he hasnt make much progress but we will find out Tuesday night if skipping Iowa was a strategic good move.  While Perry has good conservative credentials he has to prove himself knowledgable and and more credible on a debate stage.  Obama will eat him for lunch.  Gingrich is fascinating but his past baggage has clearly cost him even though he clearly has command of the issues. 

There are two key issues at play here.  Can Romney keeep the socially conservative candidatesdivided up long enough to get the nomnation?  Will the unemployment rate continue to drop?  Romneys camp is counting on the economy to be a key issue. While the rate is going down it will dependent on whether the people feel like things are getting better.  We are the worlds leader so people will not find a mediocre economy acceptable. 

GOP going down to the wire in IA

GOP hopefulls are getting ready to Tuesday night as Iowans cast the first in the nation caucus to decide who will challenge Obama for the next election.  Romney has been down this road before.  Although he hopes for a different result.  His electablity and appeal across the middle has attracted moderates in the party who may have otherwise passed him for a more culturally conservative candidate.  He also has had a track record of turning around troubled companies and organizations around.  Many other candidates such as Santorum, Bachmann, Perry and Gingrich are vying for the culturally conservative vote.  This may be a strategic advantage for Romney because these other candidate will likely split the convservate vote while attracting those who are economic conservatives who are worried about the economy.  So the question is will conservatism or economics be on the minds of Iowa republicans Tuesday night?  We"ll see.