RandySF
RandySF's JournalAnne Romney: The media loves Barack Obama
Ann Romney is frustrated by the media’s depiction of her husband — and on Sunday, she hinted that some reporters should stop getting access to the campaign bus. From my piece on Mitt Romney’s Michigan campaign today:
At that luncheon, Ann Romney also complains about the media treatment of her husband. “All of us in this room know the media loves Barack Obama. They don’t want anyone who has a chance of defeating him,” she says.
Speaking openly about how it was “getting harder and harder to be cheerful,” she laughingly says, “I am so mad at the press [that] I could just strangle them! And, you know, I think I’ve decided there are going to be some people invited on the bus and some people just aren’t going to be invited on the bus.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/292153/ann-romney-takes-media-katrina-trinko
PPP: Walker trails both likely recall opponents.
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Wisconsin shows Gov. Scott Walker (R) trails both of his most likely opponents in the recall election by narrow margins. Tom Barrett (D) leads 49% to 46% and Kathleen Falk is ahead 48% to 47%.
Key finding: Walker continues to be unpopular with only 47% of voters approving of him to 52% who disapprove.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/02/28/wisconsin_recall_could_be_close.html
A quick lesson on Michigan early voting.
Early voting in Michigan is not the same as early voting in California or Ohio. In Michigan, residents who are 65 and older may be placed on a permanent absentee voter list. If you are, you receive an application to receive a ballot. You fill out the application and return it to the city or county election office. The ballot is mailed, you fill it out and return it. The only other way you may receive an absentee ballot is if you complete and fill the form to indicate you will be out of town that day.
Romney lost 1 vote due to robocalls.
Jonathan Cohn ? @CitizenCohn
In GOP precinct in Jackson. Voter: 30 Romney robocalls convinced him to vote for somebody else #MIPrimary
https://twitter.com/#!/CitizenCohn
Pro-Newt Super PAC Running Ads Against Romney In Super Tuesday States
With a new inflection of money from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, pro-Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future began running three new ads in four Super Tuesday states, CNN reports. There's a 60-second ad which begins with voters talking about how they don't relate to Romney before explaining why Newt's their man. Then there's a shorter 30-second version of the ad that just hits on voters not connecting to Romney.
Lastly, there's a minute-long cartoon attacking Romney as the establishment candidate without any real ideas. The ad portrays Romney sitting in a waiting room, holding a ticket while a TV announcer talks about Romney as the establishment's candidate who is "next guy in line." But, the ad says, "conservatives are fed up with the establishment picking the candidate for us." Then Romney's ticket to be the next president is whisked away by a breeze as the announcer says, "But as America rises up and speaks, Romney's plans go out the window."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/pro-newt-super-pac-running-ads-against-romney
Time to pony up and make your predictions for tonight.
I'm going to bite the bullet and say that Romney wins by a hair after a late night of counting. So close, I think, that there may be a recount. Ok. what do you think?
PPP:If Romney does indeed end up losing tomorrow, he will have blown it in the final 48 hours.
PPP's final poll in Michigan finds Rick Santorum holding on to the smallest of leads with 38% to 37% for Mitt Romney, 14% for Ron Paul, and 9% for Newt Gingrich.
It's always good to be cautious with one night poll numbers, but momentum seems to be swinging in Santorum's direction. Romney led with those interviewed on Sunday, but Santorum has a 39-34 advantage with folks polled on Monday. The best sign that things have gone back toward Santorum might be that with those polled today who hadn't already voted, Santorum's advantage was 41-31.
Much has been made of Democratic efforts to turn out the vote for Santorum and we see evidence that's actually happening. Romney leads with actual Republican voters, 43-38. But Santorum's up 47-10 with Democratic voters, and even though they're only 8% of the likely electorate that's enough to put him over the top. The big question now is whether those folks will actually bother to show up and vote tomorrow.
Even though things seem to be moving back in Santorum's direction, there's one big reason to think that Romney will still come out as the winner tomorrow night. 18% of the electorate has already cast its ballots and with those voters in the bank Romney has a 56-29 advantage. Santorum's likely to win election day voters, but he''s going to have to do it by a wide margin to erase the lead Romney has stored. We see Santorum with a 40-33 advantage among those who have yet to vote.
Romney hasn't made a good last impression on Michigan voters. His favorability in Sunday interviews was 57/36, but in Monday interviews it was only 47/48. Santorum saw little difference in his reviews between the two days: 54/39 on Sunday and 56/36 on Monday. If Romney does indeed end up losing tomorrow there's not much doubt he will have blown it in the final 48 hours.
We've seen a lot of the Republican contests so far shift dramatically in the final week...this has the potential to be the first one that's shifted twice in the final week. It's going to be interesting.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/02/momentum-back-toward-santorum-in-mi.html
Mitt Romney Lobbied Arlen Specter For Federal Money In 2005
“As a state, Massachusetts and its people have led the way in pursuing energy efficient programs for our homes and businesses,” said Romney. “This year, it’s especially important for consumers to know that winter doesn't have to burn a hole in their wallet. Families can save hundreds of dollars by following some common sense tips.”
[snip]
Low-income residents in Massachusetts are expected to be particularly affected by increases in energy costs this winter. With heating prices on the rise, Romney and Governor Granholm of Michigan have led an effort among the nation’s governors to obtain approximately $1.3 billion in emergency federal fuel assistance funding through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Yesterday, Romney met with Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman of a key Senate Appropriations subcommittee, to lobby for the additional funding.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/mitt-romney-lobbied-arlen-specter_n_1295388.html
Another poll indicates momentum for Santorum.
Santorum and Romney go down to the wire in the Michigan Republican Presidential Primary. The movement within the Michigan’s primary is fluid. Despite gains from the final debate prior to Tuesday’s election, Mitt Romney ceded most of his lead to Rick Santorum.
A deeper analysis shows that not only is Mitt Romney in danger of losing Michigan, but he is in danger of losing most of the congressional districts and geographical regions of his home state, per Eric Foster,chief pollster and President of Foster McCollum White & Associates. Overall, Mitt Romney has 2.14 point margin (37.90% to 35.86%) over Rick Santorum. Ron Paul is third with 9.12%, Newt Gingrich is fourth with 8.31% and 8.90% of the respondents were undecided. Our poll had 1,359 respondents with a margin of error of 2.66% with a confidenceinterval level of 95%.
The Michigan Republican primary has shifted rapidly in the days since the last CNN debate.
Rick has regained footing with a number of his core constituencies and geographical regions of Michigan that has larger bases of Evangelical Christian and very conservative voters.
Former Governor Mitt Romney had benefited from an unexpectedly poor debateperformance by former Senator Rick Santorum. The shifting narrative to social issues from theeconomy had taken a negative impact on Santorum’s numbers. Our findings suggest however, that delivering a dual message of faith, social and economic issue items has helped Santorumre build his advantage in the Southwestern region of the state and with Evangelical voters.
Santorum is currently leading among the following key cross tab groups of Republican voters including:
-Evangelical Christians,
-Voters in the Southwestern, Central, Thumb and Northern Lower Peninsula regions of Michigan,
-Voters in the 6 major Republican Counties (Kent, Jackson, Ottawa, Lapeer, Livingston,Eaton and Berrien counties),
-Male voters, and
-Very conservative self identified voters.
http://www.scribd.com/kyle_r_leighton/d/83024290-Foster-McCollum-White-Associates-and-Baydoun-Consulting-2012-Michigan-Republican-Primary-Voter-Poll-2-27-12-Press-Release
Just called my parents in Michigan about the primary.
Looks like Santorum picked up another two votes. *grin*
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