In this Colbert Report, John Colbert makes evident the loophole in recent laws concerning campaign funding.  After the supreme court case in 2010, when it was considered unconstitutional to limit the amount of money an individual can give to an organization, since spending money is the equivalent to the freedom of speech.  Colbert realizes that he wants to be involved in the campaigning process and creates his own super PAC.  Super PACs cannot be associated directly with a candidate running for office, and the law states that they cannot collaborate at any times.  The Super PAC is supposedly oblivious to what the candidate wants, but Colbert exposes this fact in his show.  He become the owner of a PAC and then gives the PAC to John Stewart to take care of and control.  This exploits just how Gingrich is able to get so much funding without breaking the law even his own fundraising efforts are not nearly as effective as the PAC the supports him that apparently has no clue of what he intends to do along the campaign trail.  The irony is that it is so easy for Colbert to start this political action committee and is very easy to avoid the law with very simple steps.  The show portrays the new campaign finance laws as very ineffective and even he can create a Super PAC.  This comedy has a republican slant since it gives insight in how the nominees managed to raise so much money.  The man running the super PAC could be their best friend and they could of planned out what they wanted to do, only if they do not talk during the Republican primary process.



     The Daily Show with John Stewart bases the topics off of recent events that have occurred in the political world.  In this show, the main concentration is Gingrich and the large amount of ignorance he carries on his back in debates and in press conferences.  John Steward talks to a black reporter after Gingrich's racial slur regarding food stamps.  He said loud and clear that black people are the ones in need of food stamps, white the facts show that most Americans on welfare and in need of food stamps are predominantly white individuals.  Even when Gingrich is asked to recall his previous statement he adds in that he wants to be the money check president and not a food stamp president.  Stewart then replays all the videos of Gingrich seeming to be a racist by also attacking Palestinians, claiming that they are an invented people, and also more attacks on the black community. The irony is that Gingrich is unaware of what he has been saying in most of his speeches.  What comes out is not right and he shows no ways of correcting his impediments.  He is so naive of what he is saying that he probably does not listen to what he says, or if he does, he is blatantly unaware of how he is offending others.  This is more of a liberal slant because the other Republican candidates during the debates or even in their press conferences do not attack Gingrich mainly on his speeches, but on what he did in the past.



     In this Colbert report the main focus is all the Republican candidates seeking the nomination especially Mitt Romney.  Colbert has a clock ticking down the time until Romney seals the deal for the nomination since he is largely ahead in national pulls at this stage in the race.  This however is very ironic since there is still a week away from the Iowa caucus.  At this point, Herman Cain is still in the race, with a field of seven including Rick Perry.  On the show they imitate the nominees in a debate style, making fun of the candidates that appear to be outrageous according to Colbert.  The impersonator of Herman Cain talks about his 9 9 9 deal and reminisces of a time when he was in the restaurant business, and also about his relationship with his wife since he was being charged in a scandal during the debates.  Perry is attacked for having trouble finishing up his sentences and lacking in his intelligence in the political spectrum.  He stutters and is unsure of what he wants the government to cut back on.  Ron Paul is even brought up for being radical and his huge difference in foreign policy for not wanting the military to be abroad in a different country.  This comedy is of a liberal slant since it makes all the candidates portrayed have weaknesses that are now evident to the public.  It makes the nominees seem less prepared to face Obama and not intelligent enough to even voice their opinions clearly.

     In the cartoon, Rick Santorum is being interviewed by a television network about the Republican nomination process and asked about his chances of becoming the nominee.  The bottom of the screen is says Election 2012 and right next to this caption it depicts Santorum's name next to the (R) for Republican.  He is being asked about his fellow competitor, Mitt Romney's advantage of having out raised his campaign by a long shot, thus ensuring an easier and more successful path to victory.  He states that "Romney is only trouncing me because he has outspent me 3 to 1."  This just shows how money is probably the biggest factor in this process and why Gingrich, who has barely any support from the general public compared to Santorum and Romney, has stayed in the race.  Money has the ability to showcase ads, get more publicity, gain the support of those that are undecided, and most especially, get your viewpoints voiced and widely heard.  Romney has this edge and with all these advantages it just shows that Santorum was at a disadvantage from the start.  This just shows that Americans are do not care about the views and policy, but they jump on the bandwagon to join their friends.  Santorum in a thought bubble reminds himself that "It will be different when President Obama outspends me 50 to 1."  The irony is that Santorum ignores the fact that he cannot compete for the presidency even if he wins the nomination.  Electability is ignored which is probably the most important issue for the party as a whole to consider if they want to regain power in the country.  This is from a liberal slant because it shows the improbability of Santorum trying to win at this point even with his confidence and high hopes.



   In this cartoon Mitt Romney is depicted as the Easter Bunny and Rick Santorum is depicted as a little kid searching for easter eggs.  Romney is smiling and is a very happy bunny.  His basket is filled to the brim with large colorful eggs to the point of overflow.  Each egg has the initials of all the states he won leading up to Easter Sunday.  Mitt is able to relax with his family and enjoy the holidays as he seems ready to share his joy with others.  Rick, on the other hand, has a glum look in his eyes.  He is staring at Mitt, glaring at all those giant eggs.  Santorum merely has a small basket with about five eggs in total which are tiny relative to his competitor.  He is on the ground, defeated with not enough eggs (states) to satisfy his great yearning to have the majority.  This relates directly with the nomination process.  Santorum has had stretches of good fortune, winning three in a row at one point, but Santorum has lost in the long run.  The last and probably the most vital state that he had to win was Wisconsin, but Romney is gladly hopping away and ready to celebrate the inevitability of the winning the Republican Nomination.  Romney is set to take on Obama after having a huge lead in delegates.  The slant is indifferent.  The cartoonist is ready for the battle for the presidency and move on with the race after a long primary process.  Mitt is ready after defending what he stands for, for the most part.

     In the cartoon there is a man holding and etch a sketch in his hands  His shirt says voters on the back.  The border of the toy has the phrase "Mitt Romeny's Core Principles."  In a speech bubble the man says "the knobs on the etch a sketch don't do anything."  This cartoon is referring to something Romney said recently in a campaign speech that a politician has right to shake up their profile and start a new, similar to how a etch a sketch erases a message.  This means that politicians make mistakes and that it is okay if they change their views to reflect what is prevalent in the country or if a significant and resonable event causes a politician to have an epiphany or atleast come up with a better solution to the situation at hand.  The real irony is that Romney has been considered a flip flopper.  Throughout the invisible primary and even up to the present, he has changed his mind on his pro-choice platform, on his immigration platform, and most especially on his viewpoint of healthcare.  The purpose of all this change is to move to the more conservative end of the spectrum and appeal to the ture conservatives of the Republican Party in the primary season.  The irony upon ironies is that the voter says that these knobs are not creating change in Romeny's ideological views.  This shows the naivity and uneducation of voters today.  They are not involved in politicis enough to know the backgrounds of the candidates or know exactly what they stand for.  The majority of voters do not vote prospectively or intelligently but on whims or due to bandwagon appeal.  This is definitely from a liberal standpoint or from Gingrich or Santorum trying to show the holes and gaps in the Romney campaing and Romneys ideas for improving the country in general.

     The title of the cartoon says "The Final Four."  Paul, Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney are all on a basketball court.  In college basketball, the top 64 teams in the country play in a tournament to compete for the national title and become the best team of the year.  The final four is when there are only four teams left, the semifinals, probably the most well known stage of the tournament according to the catchy phrase.  In the Republican horse race there are also four candidates left, however they are not evenly matched as depicted by the cartoon.  Ron Paul is playing croquet on the basketball court, clueless of what is taking place.  He is focused only on what he assumed they were gathered there for.  Gingrich is also confused, thinking that he showed up for a debate.  He is angry at the humiliation he is experiencing.  He is more alert, and standing up instead of slouching like Paul.  Gingrich has a determined look on his face to compete.  Santorum is the most prepared besides Romney.  Santorum is actually wearing recreational attire, and has a basketball to go along with his outfit.  Although he is still confused, beleiving that the basketball game was only half court.  On the contrary, Romney is wearing a complete uniform and jersey.  He is dunking a ball on stilts which is obviously against the rules.  This directly relates with the primary race.  Their spot in the race is exactly where they stand on the courts.  Paul is not worried about winning the nomination, but Gingrich lacks organization and elitist support, Santorum does not watch what he says, and Romney is at the top because he raises the most money and the best organization.  Romney is on stilts because Romney is not conservative enough, he is merely the defaylt candidate even if he does not follow the party platform, or the rule of basketball in this case.  This is from a independent ideological standpoint because this is an objective analysis of where the candidates stand currently in the polls and their amounts of delegates.

   In the cartoon there is a man flying off a mechanical bull.  The man's suit jacket has written the word "elections", while painted onto the machine it reads "super PAC money".  The man or politicians facial expression is worried.  He is looking at the ground searching for where he might land, while the mechanical bull is tilted, paused at the same spot the politicial was flung off into the air.  This symbolizes the dependency on super PACs.  All the candidates today have their own PACs, but the candidates are not to associate themselves with these fundraising organizations or even tell them what to do while they function.  The main super PAC that supports Romney is called Restore Our Future which has raised around 100 million dollars so far.  These PACs help set up ads on television and on the radio.  This cartoon is saying that if there were no super PACs or if the fundraising is not receiving enough donations, then the candidate is pretty much out of the race.  Money is the most important thing besides support when reaching for the nomination.  The PACs are churning out the most money they can like a machine and when the machine malfunctions then the candidate cannot get their message out to the public or retaliate to negative ads from other candidates.  This has does not have much of ideological tilt because it is fact.  Gingrich is doing so poorly because his donors are not contributing enough so it is difficult relating to the public or being featured on the media.      

Link to this page:
http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/e0b32c90-71e9-4530-9f65-d87d5caec638.html

     This cartoon is in general a critisism of Newt Gingrich.  The image shows Newt with a double chin, chubby cheeks, but small eyes, nose and mouth to go along with his large face.  He has crows feet on the edges of his eyes and in addition to the grey hair he appears to be old.  On the wall behind him there is graffiti with word "get out", "take a hike", "go", "enough", and "quit".  Gingrich's response to all of these suggestions is "What writing on what wall".  He does not want to except the fact that he is behind in the polls, almost at the level of Ron Paul.  He is only still in the race because his super PAC, Winning Our Future, is pumping in millions of dollars to run campaign ads and get out his true conservative views.  The slant of this cartoon is definitely conservative.  Some conservatives want the race play out and if it is Romeny and Santorum, with Gingrich out of the race, then it will be more likely for Romney to be battled and struggling to reach 1144 in delegates.  Gingrich is not as conservative as Santorum but he has taken away Evangelical votes from Rick and also far right wing voters.  Gingrich however is stubborn and keeps on claiming that he will stay in the race until Tampa, where the GOP convention will be held.  Gingrich is a beleiver put it is truly impossible for him to win the nomination at this point with so little delegates.

     The caption on this cartoon states, "A yankee campaigning in the South must remember three things; kiss babies, eat grits, and don't get the two mixed up.  Romney has been doing very poorly in southern states so far in the primary elections.  So far Gingrich has clinched South Carolina and Georgia, while Santorum has snagged, Tennesse and Oklahoma.  Romney has failed, but was able to win Florida which consists of a diverse population.  If Romney wants to seal the nomination and acheive the alottled amount of delegates, 1144 he must come up with a startegy to win those, or else his rivals will stick around too long, causing him some tough challenges up ahead.  This cartoon is obviously of the liberal ideology because it is mocking Romneys performance.  He is struggling to connect with the so called "true conservatives" and the Evangelical Christians.  Democrats want the nominating process ot play out so more negatives about the candidates appears in the media and from their rivals.  The cartoon depicts Romney eating a baby with its foot still hanging out of his mouth.  There is a lady in the back that says, "Well kiss my grits" which is relates to Romneys confusion in his strategy.  The irony is that Romney is seen as an imbicile, not able to connect to Americans.  Romney is probably the most intelligent of the pack, attending Harvard Law School as a part of his education life.  Losing a few states is not a precursor to his idiocy in the South, but just not enough time invested in the South.  His campaign is the most organized and it okay if the race plays out since he has a large lead.

 

     The caption of the cartoon says, "Kiss the Newt and I will turn into a conservative prince."  Newt Gingrich is a frog or kind of lizard sitting on top of a stone, which could be a grave stone.  Gingrich has disappeared from the leading position in National polls after North Carolina in the second primary however he has not had any other success besides his home state Georgia.  There seems to be a little diconnection between Newt and conservative voters.  What really hurt him was his last few performances in the debate.  When he was attacked dramatically by Ron Paul and Santorum, he did not have a comback and support his decisions that he made in the past.  He did not retaliate and acted as if he ignored the insult completely.  Newt had campaigned as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, however it appears that Santorum took his place.  If Gingrich does campaign strongly and takle every state with the same amount of honor and time he will definitely have shot bakc in the race.  The sole problem is that he needs to raise a lot of money which he is lacking from his supporters.  He needs to up his anty and campaign hard to gain more delegates.  The ideology is liberal.  It puts Gingrich in a bad light.  He is a wierd looking creature in this case.  The point of the tomb stone symbolizes that his character has died.  He is no longer a contender unless something miraculous occurs.  In real life he needs a helpful billionare donor, and in the cartoon he needs a kiss even with his atrocious appearance.  Gingrich is between a rock and a hard place and by the time he wiggles out of it Romney will have the nomination, unless Gingrich endorses his fellow competitior Rick Santorum.

On the verge of super tuesday

    The cartoon caption shown in the background says "Super Tues."  This sign has an arrow pointing to a voting booth.  There is a man at the back of the voting of the voter center.  A sign in book, to ensure identification as a US citizen and registered voter sits on the desk.  There is a speech bubble coming from the volunteer watching, but there are no words or even any letters or symbols in the bubble.  It is blank.  The irony of this is that the voter is focused just on placing a vote, a civil liberty, but being stubborn and ignorant of that man is the essence of problem caused by Republicans, they cannot decide who to elect.  The voter in this case is an elephant, the mascot of the Republican Party.  This pertains to todays political field because Super Tuesday, also known as the southern primary, is next tuesday.  History has proved that Super Tuesday has been a turning point in both the Democratic and Republican nomination campaigns.  There are hundreds of delegates up for grabs and this can either keep a candidates momentum up, and push that candidate to the party convention, or this date can pull conservative voters to an alternative, that may have been struggling to raise enough money to keep in the running for president.  This cartoon is of a liberal slant.  The elephant is all beat up as it approaches the voting booth.  He has a cast on right foot and one on his left arm.  His head even has a small bandage.  This shows that because of all the Republican debates, commercials, and speeches, the Republican candidates have been tarnishing each other, while destroying what the Republican party stands for.  What is a true conservative?  This competition can be considered horrible.  Obama does not have to criticize any of the candidates since the Republicans are dishing out insults and using negative ads to gain support.  With all these attacks and the economy rising, Obama is in an ideal position to defeat any rising Republican nominee, even if one is chosen the day after Super Tuesday.



     The caption, picture frame hanging on the wall, says "Michigan, Home Sweet Home."  The Michigan primary has just passed and Mitt Romney has emerged as the winner.  The media had predicted the week before this primary that Santorum had a considerable lead.  The irony is that Romney was born and raised in the state, his father was the Governor, has the home field advantage and would have been devastating to his demeanor as a candidate to loose the state he is very familiar with.  If Romney had lost Michigan, his momentum would have dropped dramatically and would be second guessed since his people would not even vote for him as a reliable and superior candidate.  The cartoon depicts Romney sitting on the couch, probably in the house he grew up in.  He is wiping the sweat from his brow with a towel in relief of what the results showed in the primary.  A thought cloud depicts the words, "Phew, that was close."  He only beat Santorum by a mere three percentage points, however both Romney and Santorum received the same amount of delegates, thus splitting the congressional districts.  Romney said in a conference later on that a "win is a win."  The ideology represented is neither liberal nor conservative.  This is a factual representation of what Romney actually felt and the word choice he used in his victory speech in Detroit.  This is definitely a plus for the Romney campaign, and he just dodged a bullet which could have taken him out of the number 1 position in the primary season.

GOP struggle

     In this cartoon, all of the five characters are Republicans.  All are stacked on each other, similar to a todem pole.  Newt Gingrich is on the top, followed by Donald Trump, Michelled Bachman, Mitt Romney and a fifth character whos name is difficult to transcribe.  Their goal as a team is to reach the microphone behind the podium that is named, "2012 Presidential Material".  Once they can speak into the microphone, if they ever elevate to that plateu, then they can give their party platform or atleast the objectives of the Republican Party.  However this group is most likely a variance from the true conservative values of the GOP.  The current problem is that their stack falls short, they do not have the length to acheive their goal at the final moment, but Gingrich shows hope.  He is the only one that is optimistic.  Gingrich adds that there is a posibility as long as their tower remains straigth.  The ideological perspective is more of a liberal slant.  A conservative voter would be confident that a republican candidate will eventually stick out from the mix, but this cartoon depicts candidates and their counterparts in a situation that is unsturdy.  It is a huge obstacle to rise to this height, and a dilemma of choosing a consistent candidate to represent the GOP.  One irony from the cartoon is that the heaviest man is on the top.  Newt Gingrich had his name on the spotlight, but for this exercise his mass belongs on the bottom of the structure.  Gingrich must be switched out of order, but no matter who the person on the top of the pack, it is not likely that they will reach the microphone to share their insights on becoming president.  If they cannot get the presidential material, their shot at becoming the next president is slim.

 
The title, "A Rising Tide Sinks All GOP Boats," encompasses the whole picture of the cartoon.  The three republican nominee hopefuls all have their own personall rowboat and are under water falling to the bottom.  Romney and Santorum are not blown out of proportion, but Gingrich is an overweight man is a seemingly smaller vessel.  Fish are staring at these strange creatures.  On the surface of the wavy water the word "economy" is written.  The message overall is that the GOP candidates are loosing ground.  If the economy keeps on improving, then president Obama looks more accomplished and succesful in his original goal of boosting the economy and bringing it out of the recession.  Furthermore, the Republicans cannot attack Obama as much in the general election debates when the time comes.  The ideological slant is definitely liberal because most Republicans would say that Obama has led a failed presidency, and that it is his fault that the economy is so low, and any positive effect is merely recovering what the incumbent caused.  One source of irony is the facial expression of the fish.  They can be seen as conservative citizens who are dissapointed in them.  They are giving the men blank stares and show no disbelief in their current situation.  This cartoon shows that the GOP is not happy with any of these candidates and it is apparent if a clear front runner does not arise then there is little hope of defeating Obama.

What Republicans want

     All that has taken so far has been exciting.  There has been drama even before the Iowa Caucus which hurt and helped some of the Candidates.  The silent primary eliminated three candidates from the field.  Michelled Bachman got off to a slow start in the first place and could not get that tea party majority she was hoping for, even in Iowa where she grew up.  Rick Perry was in the lead of the Iowa polls for a solid week, but dropped down immediately after a few debates showed that he was not a good speaker, was unclear, and had trouble arguing and being assertive against his rivals.  A similar event happened to Hermain Cain.  It seemed he spontaneously rose in the polls, and miraculously held the top slot for a long time.  He probably would have done well in the caucus, but sadly he had to deal with the past, and could not overcome allegations of sex scandals.  With the field cut in half, Mitt Romney prominently took the drivers seat and finally had that lead.  Romney who had hovered at 25 percent in Iowa could not reach new heights and barely outplayed Rick Santorum.  However this is a problem to the Republican universe.  Republican voters are looking for an individual who is new, not a dirty old politician, but one who can create progress, work with the congress and keep the conservative ideals throughout their presidency once they are inaugurated.  The census is that Romney is too moderate, more likely to succumb to the liberal side and compromise, and form a plan that does not contain the core values of "Republicans."  This is most clear when his health care plan implemented in Massachusetts comes up.  He made sure that all persons of that state recieved health care at a low affordable price, which is more of a Democratic view, using government intervention to help individuals instead of individuals working hard to survive, a more conservative viewpoint.  Romney has also had trouble connecting to the average American.  He supposedly "talks like a robot," answering questions automatically with seemingly no thought process.  He also is very wealthy, and even being a Mormon comes up with the rest of his impairments. 

see link http://www.usatoday.com/video/news/iowa-caucuses-who-will-win/1244179341001

Immigration & Romney

       Immigration has been a hot topic for almost all the debates that have gone on, from Iowa all the way up to the first Florida debates.  But why has immigration risen as an important issue in voters minds and for the candidates to address?  The main reason is jobs.  Most Republicans agree that illegal immigrants most likely will work for a salary lower than minimum wage, thus taking the jobs of the average citizen who has to be paid no less than minimum wage.  If these immigrants are cheaper to have in business then no Americans can capitalize on job oppurtunities.  As Santorum has said plenty of times, if they are in this country "they have probably broken more than one law," such as stealing someones social security number to get highered.  Almost all the candidates agree that the borders must be more secured to illegal immigration can be reduced rapidly.  However, each candidate has a different stand on what to do with those currently raising a family and helping a business out in the US. 
     Romney is known for flip-flopping on issues, and he has in fact changed his mind on immigration.  Romney thinks that those who have been born in America or raised from a child in America should remain, because the US is their home, what they are used to.  Romney has changed his opinion of those who have recently "hopped the border."  At first he thought they should be deported, but now he is more sympathetic by saying that most illegal immigrants will self-emmigrate, decide to leave since there is no prosperous job oppurtunities.  Romney takes the spotlight since part of his family did immigrate to the US from Mexico.  His family has obviously live the good life and wants immigrants have the oppurtunity to gain citizenship, start a family, get a job, be free, and contribute to the US economy.

see link http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/11/01/opinion/1248069266155/immigration-and-the-elections.html?scp=5&sq=immigration&st=cse

Where Paul stands

     Ron Paul is trying for his third time to inherit the nomination for the Republican party.  He has obviously failed in his last two attempts, even in 2008 when Romney was also one of his competitiors.  Paul had gained plenty of support in Iowa and at one point seemed that he might overtake Romney in the polls up until the caucus, but that proved not to be the case.  Over the past years, Paul has had supporters stick to his perspective on issues.  Supporters will not budge from this congressman and they would never consider another candidate to represent them.  To most Republican voters Paul's views on the economy, foreign policy, taxes, social security, and health care seem out of the ordinary.  He wants the least amount of government intervention and have the states dictate the decisions on these issues.  Even on foreign policy, Paul does not want the US to be involved or preoccupied with other nations, and is very skeptical with have alliances or setting up massive trade paths between the countries.  He is a straight up libertarian, all for keeping civil liberties for citizens as high as they can be.  For Republicans to transfer their values and switch to a more libertarian ideology is difficult when most republicans are religious and may not be for allowing freedom for social issues, like pro-choice, or allow gay-marriage.  Paul seems a little to radical, but in order for Paul to gain voter support, his record needs to be shown because it is a clean slate.  His opinion has not wavered and he sticks true to his promises.  If citizens ignore his low electibility, he may be a huge threat.  Not for the nomination, but as a spoiler, taking away votes from the front runners, especially Gingrich who Paul despises.

see link: http://www.dailypaul.com/164587/ron-paul-on-hardball-may-13th

Newt retaliation

     Gingrich has been on the run about how to handle his campaign.  He has been disorganized and has lacked the amount of money needed to be successful at outcompeting his rivals.  Starting with Iowa, he did not manage his time well in many areas of the state, and because of this he did not amass enough supporters to give a speeches or have a signing event.  Even while attempting to gain support in Iowa, at the same time he had to try and gain support in New Hampshire, since the primary and caucus was a mere week apart from each other.  Newt has been struggling in these states in the state polls out right now.  He is not even in the top three for these two states.  Newt Gingrich, out of all this trouble and running around the state for nothing, while wasting valuable money raised on the campaign trail, he needs to find someone to blame for the damage.  Romney has been his target, calling Romney a cheapskate, one who does not play by the rules.  He has constantly been telling his competitors to stop releasing negative adds about him, because they are plainly false.  Gingrich from the beginning of his run for office promised that he would not run any negative ads or do any push polls through the telephone.  All Gingrich wants is a level playing field, but it seems that his vision is never going to be reality.  Positivity and politics almost seem opposites.  Romney's super-pact has mostly been attacking Gingrich, however the rule is, that the candidate and president of the super-pact cannot communicate, so Gingrich is using faulty logic when it comes to fair play.  Gingrich has to hope, due to his lack of money, that critisizing how other candidates organize their campaigns may treat him to a rise in the polls.

see link below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/08/newt-gingrich-mitt-romney-new-hampshire-primary-republican-debate_n_1192799.html

Cain's reign

     Herman Cain is out of the race for sure although he said he was taking a break from the campaign trail instead of dropping his candidacy bid for the Republican nomination.  Cain had held the lead for awhile, gaining support from diversified demographic areas.  His appeal to the public was grand.  It was evident when the debates were held because the audience was behind his back, giving a tremendous cheer whenever he stuck to his disposition and spoke with such potency.  He ran an inspiring campaign until the end.  What ultimately determined his fate were allegations from women who claimed that he had a relationship with during the time he was married to his current wife.  Time after time he denied the claims about his actions, but there soon became too many attacks from the public and super-pacts of the other running mates.  Cain started out as a man with dreams that were extraordinary, much different then his counterparts.  His new ideas that were never thought of before earned a lot attention, mostly from tea-party supporter hoping for a total change and revolution in the government that captivates the nation currently.  Not only were his ideas simple, like the 9-9-9 plan, but these innovations in political thought were well planned and Americans could easily understand the content of the proposed bills.  He could relate to the average American probably the best out of all the candidates, mostly due to his humble backgrounds.  He started out in a family that was not well-off.  He worked his way up by working in plenty of different jobs to get enough pay to survive and move on.  He soon earned obtained enough money to open a small business, a pizza restaurant.  His success contributed to massive gains and soon became a lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association.  This may have hurt his chances of wining the nomination, but he followed the American dream to become a wealthy man.

see link below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/03/herman-cain-suspending-presidential-campaign_n_1126331.html

Newt treading for support

     Newt Gingrich has been criticizing Romney about not turning in his tax returns.  In a recent debate in South Carolina, Romney claimed that he was unsure about if he will release his taxes and said "maybe" to his final decision about the issue.  This was surprising, and the audience booed when this was spoken aloud. Romney will not even follow in his fathers footsteps of releasing his tax returns for twelve years straight, as his father did when he was the Governor of Michigan.  This seems discouraging to voters that Mitt Romney does not look up to his father George as a model to follow, and Americans look for a candidate to be a family man.  Someone who can relate to a regular American and drink a beer is what, instead of politician who is rich and removed from the middle class and does not respect what his father did.  This was the wrong answer, because it portrays Romney in a light that is dim.  Romney has a big family and a loving wife, so not looking up to his father when the question was asked was a bad decision.  Newt Gingrich has been especially demanding that he consider republican voters and release his tax returns.  Gingrich has released his information to the public and has claimed that the Americans have a right to see what we earn and how much they pay. He is obviously wealthy and pays a tax of around 30 percent which is on the high end of taxes.  Romney made sure that he should not be frowned upon for being rich, since he worked hard to have a high income.  Romney, in fact, even though he is rich, has made considerable donations to charitable causes. Gingrich is trying to put Romney in a tight position which will eventually lose some support of Romney voters in the end.

see link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46090453#VpFlash

Two men race

       The last the day before the South Carolina primary was a day Romney was on the move.  He had to defend his stance, since he is not that conservative compared to his competitors.  His goal was to share that he has the highest electability, and it has shown since the Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina stated that it is a “two-man race.”  He is referring to Gingrich and Romney.  The week ended with plenty of drama.  Rick Perry dropping out, the debate on the 19^th, and Gingrich’s ex-wife was much unexpected.  Romney appeared on FOX news saying that Gingrich will not go away and is a true rival, but not the man to beat the incumbent.  He has been campaigning in the southern part of the state trying to win over Perry voters after his endorsement to Gingrich.  Gingrich, however lacked attendance at a conference and had to cancel it.  Sadly, for Gingrich he had to ward off the new allegations of having an “open marriage” with his previous wife.  Santorum, on the contrary, has been trying to gain some momentum after the news of him actually being victor in the Iowa caucus.  He is claiming to be the true conservative, and is for the people, but none seems to pay off.  During the debate, Romney had to defend his position on abortion and was even booed when he said that he might release his tax returns instead of actually doing it.  South Carolina has decided almost all Republican candidates to win the nomination.  All these drastic changes influence voters until the final ballot is cast.  The jockeying between Gingrich and Romney will ultimately decide the candidate as it currently seems and everything said must be said with caution.  The article is of a conservative slant by focusing how each candidate is trying to gain supporters, and retaliate instead of depicting the negatives of each Republican without their path to amending the negativity.

Published Friday January 20, 2012  by the Associative press

    Ohama World Herald

Romney, GOP rivals poised for Saturday's S.C. primary

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Mitt Romney entered the final full day of campaigning in South Carolina's GOP primary contest Friday scrambling to fend off challenges from more conservative rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and insisting that he's the candidate Republicans can trust to “post up well” against President Barack Obama.

With South Carolina's critical primary only a day away, Gingrich was gaining on Romney, and South Carolina's Sen. Jim DeMint declared it a “two-man race.” Santorum said he's still part of the equation and that he's finally drawing enough campaign contributions to compete aggressively in next-up Florida and beyond.

Rick Perry's departure from the race, a raucous Charleston debate and fresh reminders of Gingrich's tumultuous personal life promised to make the dash to Saturday's voting frenetic and the intra-party attacks increasingly sharp.

But Republican Party Chairman Reince Preibus, in a morning appearance on CNN, insisted that the tone wasn't all that negative and said “a little bit of drama” was good for the GOP as it sorts out the strongest challenger to Obama.

Romney, appearing on Fox News Channel, called Gingrich “a feisty competitor” but argued that the former House speaker was not the best man to put up against Obama. Santorum, who turned up on C-SPAN, said the GOP presidential race “has just transformed itself in the last 24 hours” and that he was still part of the mix.

At Thursday night's debate, he offered himself as a more reliable conservative than either Romney or Gingrich.

“I've been fighting for health reform, private sector, bottom-up ... for 20 years, while these two guys were playing footsies with the left,” Santorum said.

Romney, whose lead has shrunk in the race's closing days, opened the day by waving the endorsement of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and planned stops along the coast, in the state's midlands and conservative north. Gingrich, buoyed by Perry's endorsement, concentrated on the south, especially the heavily pro-military Charleston area.

But the former House speaker canceled a planned Friday morning appearance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference due to poor attendance. Gingrich spokesman Nathan Naidu said the decision had been reached in conjunction with conference officials. There were only about two dozen people in the hall at the College of Charleston.

Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, was rallying supporters in four stops statewide, including the conservative upstate, the home of his evangelical base. The libertarian-leaning Ron Paul, whose support has slipped with his light campaign effort here, hoped to whip up his supporters with a six-city fly-around.

Saturday's victor “is likely to be the next president of the United States,” DeMint, a tea party leader, predicted on “CBS This Morning.” He hasn't endorsed a candidate in the race.

The GOP race spun wildly Thursday, beginning with news that Santorum had edged Romney in Iowa, a reversal of the first nominating contest more than two weeks past.

Perry, having struggled in vain to build support in his native South, quit and endorsed Gingrich. Gingrich, meanwhile, faced stunning new allegations from an ex-wife that he had sought an open marriage before their divorce. An aggressive debate punctuated the day.

Santorum played aggressor during the faceoff, trying to inject himself into what seemed increasingly like a Romney-Gingrich race after Perry's endorsement of his onetime rival.

“Newt's not perfect, but who among us is,” Perry said in backing Gingrich. “The fact is, there is forgiveness for those who seek God, and I believe in the power of redemption, for it is a central tenet of my own Christian faith.”

Gingrich angrily denounced the news media for putting his ex-wife front and center in the final days of the race and spreading her accusations.

“Let me be clear, the story is false,” he said when asked at the opening of the debate about her interview.
Santorum, Romney and Paul steered clear of the controversy.

“Let's get onto the real issues, that's all I've got to say,” said Romney, although he pointed out that he and his wife, Ann, have been married for 42 years.

Gingrich and Santorum challenged Romney over his opposition to abortion, a well-documented shift but a potent one in evangelical-heavy South Carolina.

Recent polls, coupled with Perry's endorsement, suggested Gingrich was the candidate with the momentum and Romney the one struggling to validate his standing as front-runner.

Gingrich released his income tax records during the course of the debate, paving the way to discussing Romney's. The wealthy former venture capitalist has said he will release them in April, prompting Gingrich to suggest that would be too late for voters to decide if they presented evidence Obama could exploit.

“If there's anything that's in there that's going to help us lose the election, we should know before the election. If there's not, why not release it?” Gingrich asked.

His effective tax rate, roughly 31.6 percent of his adjusted income, was about double what Romney told reporters earlier this week he had paid.

Romney, asked about the issue Friday on Fox, said he didn't want to give Obama and the Democrats a “nice little present of having multiple releases.” He said that past GOP nominees John McCain in 2008 and George W. Bush before him released their taxes at tax deadline time, and said he'd do likewise. He didn't say how many years of returns he would release.

Gingrich grappled with problems of a different, possibly even more crippling sort in a state where more than half the Republican electorate is evangelical.

Marianne Gingrich told ABC's “Nightline” that her ex-husband had wanted an “open marriage” so he could have a wife and a mistress. She said Gingrich conducted an affair with Callista Bistek, now his wife, “in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington” while she was elsewhere.

“He was asking to have an open marriage, and I refused,” she said.

Santorum, asked about the issue Friday on C-SPAN, said it would be up to voters to decide “whether these are issues of character” that matter in the race. But he said that when such actions occur when someone is serving in public office, “that has an additional level of relevance.”

Three candidates now out

     Governor Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican nomination process Thursday.  He left by endorsing his fellow rival Newt Gingrich hoping that he will eventually win.  Perry stated that “Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?”  He praised the former House speaker for being a “conservative visionary,” a man to follow as a model for other politicians in most aspects.  This, however, does not ensure that Perry voters will go straight into Gingrich’s pocket.  Gingrich has to use his persuasive rhetoric to move more voters to his side of the arena, and if he can do this, he may just win the South Carolina primary.  Unfortunately, this was the end of promising Perry ticket.  He started off strong, combating for first place for several weeks against Romney, but his performance in the debates shattered his character, marked by forgetting the third federal agency he wanted to abolish.  This is huge for all the remaining four candidates.  Either one can pick up more votes and fuel their campaign onward.  The evangelical vote will be the most important section in the South Carolina primary since Perry had the most support in that area of the spectrum.  With the field narrower, it may soon be clear who the nominee is, instead of having a prolonged battle.  The author is indifferent on the situation, merely commenting on the details and facts of the event.

      The Oregonian

Rick Perry drops out of GOP presidential race

Published: Thursday, January 19, 2012, 8:38 AM  by the Associative Press

View full sizeDavid Goldman/APRepublican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry pauses while announcing Thursday that he is suspending his campaign and endorsing Newt Gingrich.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich, adding a fresh layer of unpredictability to the campaign two days before the South Carolina primary.

"Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?" Perry said. He called the former House speaker a "conservative visionary" best suited to replace Barack Obama in the White House.

While the ultimate impact of Perry's decision is unclear, it reduced the number of conservative challengers to Mitt Romney. The decision also reinforced the perception that Gingrich is the candidate on the move in the final hours of the South Carolina campaign, and that the front-running Romney is struggling to hold onto his longtime lead.

Perry's exit marked the end of a campaign that began with soaring expectations, but quickly faded. He shot to the head of the public opinion polls when he announced his candidacy last summer, but a string of poor debate performances soon led to a decline in support.

His defining moment came at one debate when he unaccountably could not recall the third of three federal agencies he has promised to abolish. He joked about it afterward, but never recovered from the fumble.

Competing for #1

     Ron Paul visited South Carolina right after the results of the New Hampshire primary came in.  He had just finished second in New Hampshire and traveled down to Columbia, SC.  There were around 300 supporters listening to his speech regarding the military.  His goal when inaugurated is to reduce the amount of the soldiers across the world, and abolishing the Federal Reserve.  The crowd responded well and many members of the audience believe that only Congressman Paul can put the country back on the right track.  Paul has also gathered plenty of attention from independent supporters and is banking on this to raise his number in the polls.  The main problem is changing how the US will deal with foreign policy.  Paul is addressing what is the right amount of force needed to keep the US in control while not risking too many American lives.  The affect Paul proposes is to limit the defense force and only put soldiers on the frontlines when it is actually needed, when there is a major problem.  Paul would rather have the foreign country work things out instead of a US intervention.  Since Afghanistan is still a highly prominent issue, this will cause voters to consider the best way to make Afghanistan a peaceful nation while making sure American lives are not wasted.  Mr. Phillips takes an indifferent position on Paul’s position although Paul’s perspective may seem to radical or extreme in the political arena.  This is not a conservative ideology to limit the military, and may cause him to lose conservative voters on this left-sided perspective.

             The State

Ron Paul lands in Columbia with message about reduced government, constitution

January 11, 2012

By NOELLE PHILLIPS - nophillips@thestate.com

Ron Paul only played two notes during a brief campaign stop in Columbia this afternoon but his message struck a chord with about 300 supporters.

Paul focused his points of reducing the U.S. military’s presence around the globe and abolishing the Federal Reserve during a rally in an Eagle Aviation hangar at Columbia Metropolitan Airport. His message played well with a crowd worried about the country’s direction, and one filled with people who relish being a part of the campaign of a perceived outsider candidate.

“If they call me dangerous, they think you’re dangerous, too,” Paul said to rousing cheers.

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop today in West Columbia.

- David Goldman /The Associated Press

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He stopped in Columbia after finishing second in the New Hampshire primary. He and his supporters believe he is force to be reckoned with and voters must pay attention.

“We’re not a small minority,” Paul said as he closed his speech. “We’re growing and we’re going to have a lot of influence on the election.”

Many in attendance are fed up with the political establishment and believe Paul is the only candidate who can turn the country around.

Few appeared to be undecided on how they will vote in the Jan. 21 Republican primary.

Lloyd Carson, 72, of Gilbert is an avid Paul follower, saying he would even vote for Paul as an independent candidate in the general election.

“This country is at a critical juncture,” Carson said. “If we don’t get it right this time, we’re going to lose our country. I’m telling you it is so serious this room ought to be full of people. Ron Paul is the only one who is telling people the truth.”

Huntsman on the Move

     Jon Huntsman support has been on the rise in New Hampshire since he decided to strictly campaign in this state rather than waste time in Iowa.  On Sunday before the primary, Huntsman was able to gather a considerable crowd, around 250 people, all cramped in a coffee shop.  From the start he had very small crowds and audiences at the beginning of his campaign, and this turnout shows just how much he has grown as a republican candidate.  This primary is up in the air to who will come in second place.  Romney has a sufficient lead, and it could be Paul, Santorum, Gingrich, or Huntsman who finishes second, and it all depends on what happens these few days before the vote.  Huntsman had spoken well on the debate, and his new slogan became, “Country first,” after he responded to the criticism of working with Obama.  Huntsman shared that this country needs a leader who can work with both parties and create a bipartisan effort.  Huntsman has used Romney line “I like to fire people” to his advantage by saying that he will be able to create jobs and increase the economy.  Huntsman, however, is definitely more moderate than his counterparts.  He is more moderate on social issues, and the environment, but his experience in foreign policy is a huge plus and an edge over the other candidates.  Thomas Fitzgerald writes in an informative tone on the situation Jon Huntsman is experiencing.  New Hampshire will either make or break his campaign and his efforts to gain a majority of voters.  This is his last hope, since all of his money raised has gone into the soul purpose of placing well.  If he does not win, he is likely done.

The Philadelphia Inquire

Huntsman hoping for N.H. surge

The fate of the moderate's campaign may hinge on Tuesday's vote. Polls show him battling for second.

January 10, 2012|By Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer

• 

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, campaigning with his wife, Mary Kaye, uses a bullhorn… (ELISE AMENDOLA / Associated Press)

HAMPSTEAD, N.H. - Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah, stood on the counter so the 250 people crammed into the BeanTowne Coffee House on Sunday afternoon could see him - a slender figure in a brown leather bomber jacket, flannel shirt, and jeans whose moment in the Republican presidential spotlight seemed to have arrived.

On Tuesday, the fate of Huntsman's rogue campaign could depend on the strength of his showing in New Hampshire's primary. He bet it all, skipping Iowa and spending most of his time in this state, which figured to be more receptive to his moderate views.

"There's not going to be a coronation, folks," Huntsman said in the coffee shop. "Can I feel the surge? Can I feel the energy on the ground? I can feel it."

In the final sprint, especially amid positive reviews of a weekend debate performance, Huntsman was drawing large crowds, a contrast to his months of speaking to mere handfuls of voters at events across the state. The latest polls found him battling libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas for second place in New Hampshire, though both trailed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by a large margin.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also are in the hunt in what amounts to a free-for-all for second and third place, said Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and the pollster for WMUR, the state's only broadcast TV station.

"All of the candidates behind Romney have a good chance of finishing anywhere between second and fifth place," Smith said.

On Monday, Huntsman and the other rivals got a gift from the gaffe gods who sometimes intervene late in campaigns: Romney, who is under attack for his former career as head of the corporate buyout firm Bain Capital, quipped that he liked "being able to fire people."

Romney was referring specifically to the importance of consumer choice in health insurance, saying healthy competition in the market allows people to "fire" companies that do not provide superior service.

Yet the comment fed into a growing campaign narrative, pushed by his GOP challengers, that Romney was a heartless predator whose business cost hundreds of thousands of working-class jobs. Opponents pounced.

nterest in Huntsman, who has long been the favorite GOP candidate of independents and broad-minded Democrats, spiked after a strong moment in Sunday's televised debate on NBC's Meet the Press. He pushed back against Romney's attacks for his service as ambassador to China under President Obama. "I put my country first," Huntsman said, as the studio audience burst into applause.

"Country first! Country first!" supporters on the sidewalk outside Crosby's Bakery in Nashua chanted as Huntsman pulled up in his dusty SUV on Monday for a campaign stop. (Interestingly, that was also GOP nominee John McCain's slogan in 2008.)

"The headline Wednesday will be: 'New Hampshire upends conventional wisdom,' " Huntsman declared, shouldering through the crowd.

His hopes, polls suggest, rest on attracting unaffiliated voters; New Hampshire allows independents to participate in either party's nominating contest. Huntsman, who favors a faster U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, is competing hard for independents with other rivals, especially Paul, who pushes a noninterventionist foreign policy.

Thirty-eight percent of the voters who cast ballots in New Hampshire's 2008 Republican primary were independents, and the Huntsman campaign is pinning its hopes on a turnout of 45 percent of unaffiliated voters.

"Jon's a free trader, and he's an internationalist. That's a big fundamental difference between us and Ron Paul," said John Weaver, Huntsman's senior strategist. "And we don't have a conspiracy commission on our campaign, either."

Huntsman has alternated between touting his conservative credentials and blasting his own party as too extreme. He was a tax-cutting, pro-business governor, a post he held from 2005 to 2009, but he has moderate views on foreign policy, immigration, and climate change, among other issues, and has not been as harsh in his attacks on Obama as have some in the field.

Analysts say Huntsman's decision not to contest Iowa allowed Romney to consolidate moderate support as Huntsman dropped out of the news. (He also got some bad news in Arizona, where officials said Monday he did not qualify for the state's presidential ballot.)

But "I have a feeling we are going to beat market expectations," Huntsman said as he made his way out of the coffeehouse Sunday, with nearly 100 reporters and camera-crew members squeezing him like an anaconda.

Huntsman pressed a theme he has sounded before, that the GOP field has risked alienating swing voters by engaging in immigrant bashing and antigay rhetoric.

"We are sane when we stand up and talk about real solutions for the American people," he said. "We are insane when we stand up and light our hair on fire. . . . The American people need real ideas, and they ultimately want to be brought together."

Independent voter Sarah Emert of Chester, N.H., said she was sold after hearing Huntsman at BeanTowne.

"Some of the other candidates are too right-wing," she said. "He's more middle of the road, and he doesn't seem to be as slanderous to the president."

Mohamed Motiwala was holding a Huntsman sign Monday outside Crosby's in Nashua.

"He's an intelligent person who understands the nuances of the world," said Motiwala, 30, a business consultant from Manchester. Obama must go, Motiwala added, because "his economic policies have failed."

Larry Stubbs said he felt he could trust Huntsman.

"I like his approach," said Stubbs, 62, a retired factory worker from Nashua. "He doesn't go off making rash statements that he can't defend or support."