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.

GOP races to the Iowa finish line

As the day gets closer, presidential caniddates are racing to meet as many Iowans as possible and show that they have the street cred to be the republican nominee.  Most polls shows that most caucus goers are still undecided. Why?  The candidates fall into two basic camps right now.  Either very conservative but unelectable or electable but not conservative enough.  Charismatic or knowledgable.  The question is who will beat Obama?  I believe that Romney has the best chance for the Republican party.  I was on his steering presidential steering committee. No candidate is conservate, knowledgable or charismatic enough to clearly lead the pack.  Romney has led most of the way.  We have had a president who was very charismatic but clearly cannot get the job done. 

Does Iowa Straw poll really matter?

The field of GOP candidates are racing to the finish line as the Iowa straw poll is expected to take place at Iowa State University on Saturday.  But before that there will be debate on Friday sponsored by Fox News and the Washington Examiner.  Its been debated whether the outcome of this straw poll really does anything.  Minnesota candidates Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann have been pouding the poltiical pavement.  Mitt Romney has been noticeably absent but has been able to support a campaign financial network from his last run for president in 2008. 

Will the State Avoid Government Shutdown/Who will blink first?

I put two titles in here today because there could be two titles. A policy oriented phrase or one that a media group might use to grap your attention.  Yes, I admit that talking about finances is never the sexiest topic to talk about but its also a situation if not dealt with honestly or in a timely manner can bring disasterous result which is why the state is at an impass today. 

I think that if there is a government shutdown the republcans will probably bear the political brunt of it because the governor is not up for re-election for awhile and the republicans are in control of the state legislature.  I always found it interesing when it is reported that the leadership is close to deal. Either you have a deal or you dont.  I guess theres a lot of political posturing on both sides.  They need to convince their base that they fought hard for their values and principles.  a deal means no goverment shutdown.  No deal means government shutdown.

Happy 4h of July Everyone!

Is it tea party time?

The Tea Party movement has become influential.  While Democrats and some liberals lambast their ideology they do it at their own peril.  Most tea party Americans are regular Americans who pay their taxes and expect their government to protect their constitutional rights.  Most Americans do believe that goverments has gotten out of control in their spending.  While most Americans have cut back on their spending as well as business the government has been on a spending binge.  It is time for governemnt to live within its means.  We need to cut back on programs that are no longer useful or beneficial.  Unfortuately for every government benefit there is someone there to defend its purpose.  To be honest even repubicans are guilty of the overspending.  We call this corporate welfare.  We lambast social welfare but everyone seems to be at the public trough now a days.  It needs to stop and needs to stop now.  Its not patriotic to profit in this country and then send it offshore to avoid taxes on it.  The Republcan party tends to defend corporate welfare because these corporations create jobs.

Convservaties still in wait and see mode

There are a variety of narratives so far in the repulibcan primary so far. The Gingrich campaign has an internal implosion as top campaign staff jump ship. Bachmann and Palin vying for similar voting block middle of America. Pawlenty a former governor is a smart guy but strggles for attention in the face of other GOP media heavy weights. Romney is a front runner but has not backed away from his health care bill that he signed as governor of Massachusets. Stated that is appropriate for states to experiment with ideas but not the federal governemnt. Word has it that Huckabee might not really be out of the race however if that were true he probably would still not be hosting his show on the Fox News Channel.


Recent polls have suggested that republican activists are not excited aboout the current field. I think we will have to wait and see. Its too early to tell who will emerge yet. We should give these candidates some time to tell us their story and how they would lead us for the next four years. My personal favorites are Romney and Pawlenty because they seem to be able to balance politics with policy.