Iowa Caucus

     The Iowa Caucus turned out with a surprising result, one no one expected to be so close, not even Rick Santorum who lost by a mere 8 votes.  The night finally ended when Republican Carolyn Tallet shared the vote totals for Clinton County, the last Iowan County counted.  Throughout the night Romney seemed to be in the lead, but soon the percentage of votes between the Santorum and Romney was identical.  At ten twenty PM, Santorum grabbed the lead by 100 votes and was able to hold on to this lead until eleven thirty.  The percentage stayed the same during this time and at one point Santorum only had a two-vote lead.  At eleven thirty five Romney trudged ahead with 24 votes.  Fox news was broadcasting these results to the public. Santorum was now up by 18 votes at midnight and there were only 5 precincts left to be counted.  Santorum was sure to win and his lead stabilized without any drastic vote changes, but astonishingly, Romney won the battle officially at 1:16 PM.  Ms. Jacobs describes the night with huge excitement.  This is a conservative perspective since the curiosity of who the victor is, is mostly a concern to conservative voters.  Romney’s victory in the end shows America who Iowa wants and may influence other state voters to jump on the Mitt Romney bandwagon.  This is the reason why there is frontloading, to create an impact.  This may start a successful ballot in the Romney campaign.

  
Des Moines Register

Anatomy of caucus night in Iowa: Precinct by precinct, drama kept growing

January 4, 2012                                                                                                                                                                                                by Jennifer Jacobs

A late-night knock on 70-year-old Edith Pfeffer’s door helped resolve the nail-biter of who won the Iowa caucuses.  It was fellow Republican Carolyn Tallett, 70, at the door to tell her the whole world was waiting to know who won Clinton County.

Just 18 votes separated the two leaders, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, in the first-in-the nation vote in the GOP presidential nominating campaign, and Santorum was up.

“It was just nuts for it to be this close with 120,000 votes cast,” Republican Party of Iowa Executive Director Chad Olsen, who oversaw the vote tabulations, told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday. “It will probably never happen again in our lifetimes.”

Millions watched the results roll in on TV — 2.14 million on Fox, 999,500 on CNN and 932,412 on MSNBC between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m., according to Nielsen Media Research. (The Register’s website had 417,000 unique visitors.)

By midnight, all the precincts’ votes were logged. It all came down to Clinton’s Ward 2, Precinct 2.

Here’s how the made-for-television drama went down:

2:30 p.m. — Olsen arrives at the party’s designated hacker-proof, protester-proof “undisclosed location”: Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse and two meeting rooms at the Radisson Hotel, near the Des Moines airport.

Two satellite trucks are in the parking lot, and a bunch of journalists with cameras are in the lobby, but the press never figures it out. “They literally were right there, and they didn’t know it,” Olsen said.

6:30 p.m. — High-level representatives from each campaign, assigned to oversee the vote counting, arrive at the restaurant, where party officials treat them to dinner.

Johnny’s happens to be where the first Iowa strategy meeting for a hoped-for Romney presidential bid took place in 2006. On Tuesday evening, Romney’s assigned vote watchdog, Kent Lucken, calls the campaign’s Iowa strategist, David Kochel.

“On the way there, I’m telling David, ‘This is going to finish where it all started,’ ” Lucken told the Register.

In this Dec. 30, 2011 photo, Mitt Romney talks about electability while his Iowa capaign consultant, David Kochel, listens. (David Purdy/The Des Moines Register)

7:20 p.m. — Warren County’s Whitebreast precinct is the first to report. About 50 call-takers at a Kansas firm hired by the Iowa GOP are taking the vote counts from the counties, overseen by a team of about a dozen Iowa Republicans.

Between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. — MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reports Gary Johnson has dropped out and is endorsing Ron Paul. “That’s fascinating,” Chris Matthews says. But the information is a hoax, she later admits.

9:40 p.m. — Romney is winning.

10:21 p.m. — Right after Newt Gingrich gives a fire-breathing speech accepting his fourth-place finish, Santorum grabs the lead by 68 votes, and holds it for more than an hour.

10:35 p.m. — Santorum’s state director, Cody Brown, emails the Santorum leadership team: He’s up by 107 votes.

10:49 p.m. — Some of the big urban counties haven’t rolled in, including precincts in Dubuque, Linn, Polk and Scott. Santorum is still leading.

11:08 p.m. — Santorum is up by 31 votes.

11:15 p.m. — Olsen and party staff call precinct leaders who haven’t yet phoned in.

“We apologized profusely and said the results were so close their precinct was critical, and the entire country was watching,” Olsen said Wednesday. “They’d say, ‘I thought I’d just call it in in the morning,’ and they’d say, ‘I gotta go down to the kitchen table and find that form.’ ”

11:18 p.m. — Santorum is up by two votes.

11:24 p.m. — Up by 48 votes.

Olsen recalled: “I was desperately hoping that at the end there would be a gap of 500 or 1,000.”

11:25 p.m. — Olsen texts Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn, referring to the total number or precincts: “Not going to have 1,774 for a while.”

11:27 p.m. — Strawn texts Olsen: “It’s too damn close! I can’t say anything except record turnout.”

11:35 p.m. — With all Dubuque County precincts reporting, Romney is up by 24 votes.

11:41 p.m. — Olsen texts Strawn: “18 precincts remaining.”

11:52 p.m. — Strawn texts Olsen: “Just got asked about a box of votes from Ames in a truck?” (Fox News’ Bret Baier triggered national ridicule of Iowa when he repeated a report that the counting was delayed because they were waiting for someone in a pickup from Story County to drive in with results. The report was false, Story County GOP Chair Cory Adams said Tuesday night. Fox ran a correction on its website at 1:25 a.m.)

11:59 p.m. — Olsen texts Strawn: “5 precincts remaining.”

The representatives for Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Paul had long ago all left the building, knowing they haven’t won. It was just Santorum’s Brown and Romney’s Lucken in the room.

“It was a healthy tension in the air, like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ We got along great,” Brown said Wednesday. “It was just a heck of a ride.”

Midnight — “This was the most powerful point of the evening,” Lucken said.

The gap is 18 votes, and Santorum is up. The tally: 29,944 for Santorum, 29,926 for Romney.

Two precincts remain.

The Romney campaign has its own vote-counting operation, with volunteers in every precinct, and their numbers show they will gain exactly 18 votes from the Clinton precinct.

“There was this huge moment, where we were tied,” Lucken said. “We were truly tied heading into the last precinct.”

Edith Pfeffer

12:10 a.m. — Ryan Gough, organization director for the Iowa GOP, reaches the county chair and gets the missing Keokuk precinct (Sigourney Plank Van Buren) numbers: 11 for Santorum, 5 for Romney.

Then he telephones Tallett, secretary of the Clinton County GOP. He says he can’t reach Pfeffer, the Clinton GOP chairwoman, who possesses the vote count.

Tallett drives over and bangs on Pfeffer’s door.

Pfeffer fetches the numbers. That puts Santorum up by 6.

It’s over — they think.

“Santorum wins,” Lucken said. “Cody called it in. I shook his hand and said, ‘You guys won.’ ”

12:25 a.m. — Lucken thanks the state party for its work and drives away.

12:33 a.m. — His phone rings. Corrections have come in for two precincts in Story City, by coincidence the town where Kochel was born. The difference yields a net of 14 for Romney.

12:35 a.m. — Lucken texts Kochel: “Hold the press on our loss.”

Around 12:40 p.m. — CNN tracks down Pfeffer and Tallett and interviews them live by phone.

“We walked out into the lobby, where there was a big flat-screen TV,” Olsen said, “and there was Edith Pfeffer reading them the vote totals that we haven’t even reported yet, and (John King and Wolf Blitzer) were doing the math on the board, and they were predicting what Mitt Romney was going to win by. It was just surreal.”

12:49 a.m. — Derek Flowers, a Waukee Republican who was helping the party with the vote tabulations, texts Kochel: “You won.”

12:50 a.m. — At the Romney post-caucus party at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, campaign staff gallop into the ballroom where Fox News’ Carl Cameron is reporting live. Cameron looks over his shoulder and pegs them as rowdy Occupy protesters.

1:16 a.m. — Strawn texts the Register: “Romney by 8 votes. 30,015-30,007.”

Christie to the rescue

     Romney got a huge endorsement from Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey.  Christie was expected to run for president on the republican ticket, however, he decided to keep his position as Governor and finish his term in office.  Christie appeared with Romney in Wets Des Moines Iowa at a campaign rally.  It was a cold day as Christie spoke of coming back on the campaign trail if the audience does not vote for Romney on Tuesday.  The Governor was stern about what he said and hoped that everyone listened and respected what he said in respect to Romney.  The Romney campaign has been very careful to gain support that he did not get in the 2008 primary.  He is prepared and his campaigning has been more extensive.  When Christie, he disregarded the possibility of Romney claiming victory in Iowa, since he was truly unsure.  With the support from Christie, Romney was able to raise over a million dollars extra.  Afterwards Romney traveled to New Hampshire, to start his campaigning, where the first primary will be held.  Finally, there is candidate that will implement what Christie has done in Jersey to the country, and that is Romney.  However, there is still the uncertainty to support Romney since it is unclear how Romney will handle himself as president, because he is not Governor Christie.  Jenna Portnoy takes a conservative look on how Governor Christie has used his power to sway voters towards Romney.  Christie appears to be liked more than Romney since she cites that no one can do a job as well as the job being done in New Jersey.  Romney needs this supportive man in power to put voters in the Romney bank, but Christie must make a greater effort because it sounds that his whole heart is not dedicated to making Romney the nominee. 

New Jersey Star-Ledger

Christie uses tough talk in Iowa to encourage Republicans to vote for Romney

Published: Saturday, December 31, 2011, 6:00 AM    

By Jenna Portnoy/Statehouse Bureau

Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesFormer Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R) and N.J. Gov. Chris Christie appear together at a campaign rally at a Hy Vee supermarket Dec. 30, 2011 in West Des Moines, Iowa.

DUBUQUE, Iowa — Gov. Chris Christie likes to say he’s improving New Jersey’s image around the country.

But at a campaign stop in Des Moines Friday morning, Christie let loose on Iowa Republicans with all the attitude they’ve come to expect from the birthplace of "The Sopranos."
"If you don’t do what you’re supposed to do for Mitt Romney on Tuesday," Christie said, defiant in only a suit jacket against the biting cold and wind-whipped rain, "I will be back, Jersey-style, people. I will be back."
A few hours later in Cedar Rapids, Christie was unrelenting in an interview: "I hope they’ve taken me seriously because I will come back here plenty angry if they don’t do the right thing on Tuesday night. So they don’t want that. They’ve seen that. It’s not good."
That straight talk is part of Christie’s appeal in Iowa, where voters are preparing for the first-in-the-nation caucuses — and what will be the start of the 2012 presidential contest — on Tuesday night.
Mindful of Romney’s debilitating second-place finish here four years ago, the campaign has done much to manage expectations. But after months of moving slowly and tentatively, it has hit its stride.
In recent days, Romney’s poll numbers have improved, moving him ahead of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and well in front of Newt Gingrich. The finicky Republicans here have even bolstered former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, in the final crucial days. Not long ago voters named Michelle Bachman winner of the Iowa straw poll and rallied around Herman Cain.
Still Christie, who will track the returns in New Jersey, stopped short of predicting a victory during his one-day whirlwind trip to Iowa.
"I don’t know how he’s going to do Tuesday night," he said. "I have a sense he’ll do well. Whether well means first place, second place, third place, it’s such a fluid situation. We’ve seen the polls are crazy so who knows."
Traveling with the governor, his close friend and political confidant Bill Palatucci said the Romney campaign was notably upbeat compared with their last visit. In between, Romney picked up $1.2 million at a fundraiser in Parsippany hosted by Christie.
"I feel a sense of real calm confidence about the Romney campaign that wasn’t quite evident when we were here three weeks ago," he said. "It’s different.
Christie won’t be back to Iowa before Tuesday, but Palatucci said the campaign understands the energy Romney’s most bombastic surrogate brings to the trail. Several hundred people stood outside the Hy-Vee grocery store in West Des Moines lashed by the wind and the rain to watch the men share a stage, along with Romney’s wife Ann.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesN.J. gov. Chris Christie addresses a campaign rally with former Massachusetts Governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (R) and his wife Ann Romney (2nd R) at a Hy Vee supermarket on Dec. 30, 2011 in West Des Moines, Iowa. Christie, who was urged to run for president earlier this year, appeared with Romney just days before the "first in the nation" Iowa Caucuses.

Romney then peeled off for a 30-hour trip to New Hampshire, where the first primary will be held, and Christie alone packed the Spring House Family Restaurant in Cedar Rapids and Catfish Charlie’s in Dubuque before calling it a day.
"The Romney campaign always extends the governor an open invitation to come whenever he wants to wherever he wants." Palatucci said. "They see him as a major asset. They’re happy to have him whenever the schedule allows."
Romney speaks highly enough of Christie — who may well be his most prominent supporter — to keep fueling rumors of a Romney-Christie ticket in November. And though Christie coyly demurs, he has not shut the door completely.
"We finally have to have someone go to Washington who will do what Chris Christie is doing in New Jersey, which is to finally bring sanity to the people there, to work across the aisle," Romney said, surveying the crowd in West Des Moines that was dotted with American flags.
John Wisniewski, chairman of the Democratic Party in New Jersey, swatted back the comparison in an e-mail message.
"Let’s face it, Mitt Romney could never do what Governor Christie has done in Trenton," he said. "He couldn’t generate enough razzle-dazzle to distract people from the fact that he’s picking their pocket to reward millionaires with tax cuts as if his life depended on it."
Ronald Cashman, the owner of a milk-hauling business outside Dubuque who is still undecided but leaning toward Romney, liked the idea of an opposites attract team for the White House.
"(Christie) has no finesse whatsoever and Romney is all finesse," he said, waiting for the governor’s arrival at Charlie’s Catfish. "Christie wants to have a Jersey brawl."

Paul down the drain

     Newt Gingrich gave a huge blow to Congressman Paul after saying that he welcomes the support of racists and anti-Semetic views.  This issue has become a huge deal.  Gingrich said that these people are so isolated and are not true Americans to have such radical and ignorant views of other Americans.  Now that Paul is a threat and currently highly ranked in the national polls, these negative attributes are coming up to discourage voters.  Paul had apologized for welcoming their support, but the other Republican candidates find it hard to believe he made amends so easily.  In the past, Paul had claimed that he does not support these extremist views, but he said they are allowed to believe what they want.  Paul needs all the support he gets but he should not acknowledge these un-American people.  The article is unbiased regarding Paul’s dilemma.  Gingrich obviously wants to narrow the field of competitors so he has a better chance of obtaining more votes, which in turn is more delegates, the object of the primary season. Paul does not have a sufficient retaliation, and having such radical supporters will make Paul’s idea and plans too far fetched for the America we live in.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Gingrich says Paul embraces racist and anti-Semitic views

Published: Tuesday, December 27, 2011, 9:23 PM    

A controversy over racially charged writings in newsletters published two decades ago in Ron Paul's name have roiled the Texas congressman's White House campaign in the days leading up to Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses next Tuesday.
"Ron Paul's newsletters are totally outside the mainstream of virtually every decent American," Paul rival Newt Gingrich told CNN on Tuesday.
The former House speaker said he could not vote for Paul against President Obama, saying the Texan embraced "racist, anti-Semitic" views.
"Read the newsletters," Gingrich said. "Look at what he said."
The Houston Chronicle extensively examined these writings during Paul's 2008 presidential campaign and his 1996 congressional campaign. The issue has now become a hot topic in the national media.
"When he wasn't a threat [to win a state], these things in his background didn't have the resonance they do now," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak, a former spokesman for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas Republican. "He's going to be under intense scrutiny now."
"An August 1992 edition of the Ron Paul Report newsletter described former Rep. Barbara Jordan, a Houston Democrat revered in the civil rights community, as "the archetypal half-educated victimologist, yet her race and sex protect her from criticism."
In the midst of Washington's crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, Paul wrote, "I think we can assume that 95 percent of the black men in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."
A top Paul adviser, Jesse Benton, said Tuesday that the newsletters were written by a ghostwriter in Paul's name but admitted that "he should have better policed it."
"Dr. Paul has assumed responsibility, apologized for his lack of oversight and disavowed the offensive material," Benton said.
"But Paul's Republican primary opponents aren't buying that explanation, and Democrats have stoked the political fire.
"Ron Paul's newsletters are deplorable and another example of the hatred that has become accepted in the Republican Party," said Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Rebecca Acuna."

The Check List

     Already there is talk about what the requirements are to win the South Carolina primary.  Romney has a generous lead in both Iowa and New Hampshire, but South Carolina is a different beast.  The state is in a whole different geographic area where the concentration of Evangelical and Born-Again Christians is very high.  Gingrich needs to keep the support on the rise and sustain the amount of supporters.  He is at the top but needs to keep it for the next 13 days.  Romney has to get above the block of around 22-23 percent of South Carolina voters.  With the large field still in the race, more candidates need to drop out in order to gain more support.  A colossal deciding factor is endorsements.  Which Senators will give out endorsements or other elected officials like the governor.  These are crucial because if the citizens of South Carolina enjoy these elected official serving in their state, then South Carolinians will follow in their footsteps.  If Romney gets the approval from Sen. Jim DeMint and US Rep. Tim Scott, then he can run away with the majority of voters. Tea party supporters will also change the stance of the candidates.  Supporters can make a difference worth fighting for.  This primary has the potential of breaking the competition up.  South Carolina’s position on the calendar has made it a must win.  Whoever wins, usually gets the Republican nomination.  These key components to win must be followed and the candidate who does the best job will probably be the nominee.  The article is indifferent and there is no slant to the style in which it is written.

     The Sacramento Bee

What will it take to win South Carolina's GOP primary?

By Adam Beam | The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Adam Beam McClatchy Newspapers

One month from today, South Carolina voters will pick their Republican presidential choice out of a crowded field.
And, if history holds, they will also pick the Republican presidential candidate. Since 1980, the state’s GOP voters have successfully chosen the eventual nominee.
Here are five factors that will determine who wins in the Palmetto State Jan. 21.
Can Gingrich sustain his momentum?
In a high-scoring football game, the team that gets the ball last usually wins. And in this topsy-turvy Republican primary, former Speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich has the ball with time running out.
Gingrich leaped to the top of polls thanks to his solid performance in a series of televised debates, said Adam Waldeck, Gingrich’s S.C. director.
But with just 13 days to the Iowa caucuses, and one month until the S.C. primary, can Gingrich sustain that momentum?
Can Mitt Romney break through?
Since September, Romney has received between 27 and 21 percent of the S.C. vote, according to a majority of polls.
He is not picking up additional S.C. votes.
Romney also has ranked in second place in nearly every poll since the summer, trailing Texas Gov. Rick Perry, then Georgia businessman Herman Cain and now Gingrich.
If he’s going to win South Carolina, he must rise to the top.
The Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 10 could help him by knocking some candidates out of the race, say S.C. political scientists. He may also get a bump from Gov. Nikki Haley, who is expected to stump for him.
Who will Tim Scott endorse?
Big endorsements have been thin so far in the Palmetto State.
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, the big prize, says he won’t endorse, while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has said he “might not” endorse. Haley has been the exception, endorsing Romney.
That leaves U.S. Rep. Tim Scott of Charleston, a media rock star and favorite with GOP voters and Tea Party members alike, as the top endorsement in the state. Why Scott and not any of the other four freshmen congressmen from South Carolina?
Scott’s district includes three of the largest counties in the state that are voter-rich: Horry, Dorchester and Charleston counties.
• Scott, more than any other S.C. congressman, has been involved in the primary process. Candidates have fallen over each other to attend Scott’s First in the South Presidential Town Hall meetings, during which Scott leads a question and answer session in front of a packed house and TV cameras.
A Scott endorsement for Romney, coupled with Haley’s support, could be what Romney needs to finally push to the front here, say S.C. political scientists.
Scott said Tuesday he is deciding now who to endorse and will announce as soon as he can schedule a final town hall meeting featuring Texas Rep. Ron Paul. All the other major GOP candidates have appeared at previous town hall meetings.
Will South Carolina break the tie again?
South Carolina’s strength in the presidential primary process has always come from its place on the calendar.
S.C.Republicans vote early, but not too early. That means one candidate wins Iowa, another candidate else wins New Hampshire — and South Carolina breaks the tie.
It happened in the state’s first primary in 1980, when South Carolina picked Ronald Reagan over George H.W. Bush, and again in 2008 when voters picked John McCain over Mike Huckabee.
Today, Paul is leading in Iowa. Romney is leading, as he has throughout the election cycle, in New Hampshire.
All signs point to another S.C. showdown.
Will the Tea Party be a factor?
The South Carolina Tea Party first flexed its muscle in the 2010 governor’s race, plucking Nikki Haley from a relatively-obscure State House seat and into the Governor’s Mansion.
But since then, the Tea Party has fractured. Every candidate can claim some segment of Tea Party support, a signal that their power has waned in the Palmetto State.

By Adam Beam | The State (Columbia, S.C.)  

One month from today, South Carolina voters will pick their Republican presidential choice out of a crowded field.
And, if history holds, they will also pick the Republican presidential candidate. Since 1980, the state’s GOP voters have successfully chosen the eventual nominee.
Here are five factors that will determine who wins in the Palmetto State Jan. 21.
Can Gingrich sustain his momentum?
In a high-scoring football game, the team that gets the ball last usually wins. And in this topsy-turvy Republican primary, former Speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich has the ball with time running out.
Gingrich leaped to the top of polls thanks to his solid performance in a series of televised debates, said Adam Waldeck, Gingrich’s S.C. director.
But with just 13 days to the Iowa caucuses, and one month until the S.C. primary, can Gingrich sustain that momentum?
Can Mitt Romney break through?
Since September, Romney has received between 27 and 21 percent of the S.C. vote, according to a majority of polls.
He is not picking up additional S.C. votes.
Romney also has ranked in second place in nearly every poll since the summer, trailing Texas Gov. Rick Perry, then Georgia businessman Herman Cain and now Gingrich.
If he’s going to win South Carolina, he must rise to the top.
The Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 10 could help him by knocking some candidates out of the race, say S.C. political scientists. He may also get a bump from Gov. Nikki Haley, who is expected to stump for him.
Who will Tim Scott endorse?
Big endorsements have been thin so far in the Palmetto State.
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, the big prize, says he won’t endorse, while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has said he “might not” endorse. Haley has been the exception, endorsing Romney.
That leaves U.S. Rep. Tim Scott of Charleston, a media rock star and favorite with GOP voters and Tea Party members alike, as the top endorsement in the state. Why Scott and not any of the other four freshmen congressmen from South Carolina?
Scott’s district includes three of the largest counties in the state that are voter-rich: Horry, Dorchester and Charleston counties.
• Scott, more than any other S.C. congressman, has been involved in the primary process. Candidates have fallen over each other to attend Scott’s First in the South Presidential Town Hall meetings, during which Scott leads a question and answer session in front of a packed house and TV cameras.
A Scott endorsement for Romney, coupled with Haley’s support, could be what Romney needs to finally push to the front here, say S.C. political scientists.
Scott said Tuesday he is deciding now who to endorse and will announce as soon as he can schedule a final town hall meeting featuring Texas Rep. Ron Paul. All the other major GOP candidates have appeared at previous town hall meetings.
Will South Carolina break the tie again?
South Carolina’s strength in the presidential primary process has always come from its place on the calendar.
S.C.Republicans vote early, but not too early. That means one candidate wins Iowa, another candidate else wins New Hampshire — and South Carolina breaks the tie.
It happened in the state’s first primary in 1980, when South Carolina picked Ronald Reagan over George H.W. Bush, and again in 2008 when voters picked John McCain over Mike Huckabee.
Today, Paul is leading in Iowa. Romney is leading, as he has throughout the election cycle, in New Hampshire.
All signs point to another S.C. showdown.
Will the Tea Party be a factor?
The South Carolina Tea Party first flexed its muscle in the 2010 governor’s race, plucking Nikki Haley from a relatively-obscure State House seat and into the Governor’s Mansion.
But since then, the Tea Party has fractured. Every candidate can claim some segment of Tea Party support, a signal that their power has waned in the Palmetto State.

Perry's last hope; his Wife

     In Concord, New Hampshire, Anita Perry, the wife of Rick Perry went to a retirement homing area where she related with older New Hampshire voters.  She spoke mainly about her family, her relationship with her husband, and also the view Rick Perry stands for.  She told the audience about Perry’s humble backgrounds growing up and many questions were asked regarding his stand as the Governor of Texas especially on issues, such as immigration, the death penalty, and how these laws should be enforced.  Anita stumbled over questions that were in the realm of taxes and the proposals for a flat tax.  Governor Perry was away campaigning in Iowa, aimed towards the evangelical voters.  Sadly, he is currently holding only ten percent of the vote in Iowa now.  Criticisms were directed towards Anita’s poor knowledge of taxes and an audience member, Mr. Schoefflier, commented that the tax plan of Rick Perry is not ideal for New Hampshire.  Governor Perry also had an issue about brochures placed in the chapel were Anita spoke.  It said to make America a “super power,” once again, which raised the question of military support.  Why should soldiers stay in Iraq or be kept abroad?  Anita ended the session with pleading voters to select the “right guy,” the “true conservative” within the pack.  This article affects the outlook of Rick Perry as a candidate.  It shows that his goals to men issues lack in planning and are not strong enough to seem that they will get the job done.  The article is definitely of a liberal bias since it focuses on the negatives of how Anita represented her husband.  There were unclear views and not enough details to make a positive impact for Perry in New Hampshire.

Concord Monitor

Perry's wife meets retail politics

Havenwood residents pitch sharp questions            

Photo by Alexander Cohn and Alexander Cohn/ Monitor staffAnita Perry, wife of presidential candidate Rick Perry, visits the chapel at Havenwood-Heritage Heights retirement community in Concord;

Monday; December 19, 2011.

By Tricia L. Nadolny / Monitor staff

December 20, 2011

                                           Larry Gates greets Anita Perry, wife of presidential candidate Rick Perry, to Havenwood-Heritage Heights retirement community in Concord; Monday; December 19, 2011. Perry spoke about her family and hr husband's bid for the Republican nomination in the chapel.

After Anita Perry talked about her husband's humble roots, a Concord audience yesterday turned to her - in the candidate's absence - for details on Texas Gov. Rick Perry's approach to war, stance on immigration and defense of the death penalty. Anita Perry soldiered through the pointed questions, but at times struggled to expand on her husband's policies.
"Twenty percent for GE, too?" Sid Schoefflier, a resident of the Havenwood-Heritage Heights retirement community, asked in response the candidate's flat tax proposal.
The first lady paused, looking to a campaign aide in the back of the room before someone in the audience offered up, "General Electric."
"Oh, close those corporate tax loopholes. I'm not sure how it would do that. He doesn't believe in government bailouts," she said slowly before pausing and turning to another section of the audience. "Ladies, no questions?"
Anita Perry's visit yesterday came as her husband continues a 14-day bus tour across Iowa, a swing aimed at socially conservative, evangelical voters whose support is paramount for a strong showing in the Jan. 3 caucus. The governor is polling with 10 percent there, according to the Public Policy Polling center, and hoping for at least a fourth place finish. New Hampshire numbers released by the group yesterday show Perry pulling at 2 percent here.
Schoefflier, a former economics professor who posed yesterday's question on taxes, surmised that the flat tax proposal might be contributing to the candidate's weak Granite State support.
"There are places in the country where that would be very popular," he said after Anita Perry left for her next event in Manchester. "But I can't imagine that happening in New Hampshire. . . . The idea of a flat tax, meaning that millionaires pay the same tax as poor people as a percentage, is probably not popular anywhere. So I'm surprised that she emphasized that. I hope for Perry's sake that their market research is better than mine."
Paul Young, a local campaign spokesman, said he expects the candidate to be campaigning heavily in Iowa before the caucus there, and then turn his attention to New Hampshire before the state's Jan. 10 primary. Young said businessman Steve Forbes, who worked on Perry's flat tax proposal, will be visiting New Hampshire for the candidate sometime next week.
Yesterday's event, held in the community's chapel, was attended by 15 people who filled about half of the room.
"This document says he wants to restore America to its rightful place as the world's greatest superpower," resident Reid Tauber said, reading from a glossy brochure placed on each chair. "Does that indicate that the troops who are exiting Iraq could expect to go someplace else under his administration?"
"We don't like war. And we're very, very close to members of the military," Anita Perry responded. "He wants there to be a clear mission with an exit strategy. And with the best advice of the people in the military who will tell him and advise him on the best way to do that. No, to go into a war that is not necessary and unfounded, he would not be for that."
In her prepared remarks, Anita Perry focused heavily on her husband's character, detailing his time in the Air Force and his small-town upbringing.
"On either side of the school where he went was a Methodist church and a Baptist church so you could go to either one, and if you got mad at one or the other you could switch and go to the next one the next week," she said. "And really, people did that."
At the end of her speech, the Texas first lady made a direct request for votes, a more forward approach than she used on a previous visit to New Hampshire in November.
"You can reach behind the confines of the beltway and chose a bold, conservative leader that's a true outsider from Washington," she said. "I'm going to ask you for your help. I'm going to ask you for your vote so that you can help Rick get America working again."

watch out for the GOP

     Speaker John Boehner with other Republican representatives just agreed to extend Social Security payroll tax cuts as it was highly opposed by Democratic congressmen.  This legislation does not raise taxes or destroy job opportunities, but protects Social Security.  Democrats argued that this bill only helped benefit the wealthy, and Harry Read claimed that the GOP was trying to impress tea party supporters.  Congress then voted on extending tax cuts but not yet increasing the tax on wealthier citizens to give their share in improving America.  A jobs program that Obama wanted to be dealt with in September includes significant parts of Obama’s plan to create new jobs.  Payment cut to doctors who have Medicare patients would be avoided.  Republicans also want an almost 200 billion dollar oil pipe to be built of 1700 miles which would pass by rare environmental habitats.  The pipe would start in Canada and travel all the way to the Texas Gulf Coast.  This deal will be settled in 2012.  A trillion dollars is set aside to fund a majority of government agencies but there are still negotiations to where exactly this money will go.  Democrats want an income tax on wealthy Americans, but Republicans do not agree, however a House bill passed that stopped higher pension for a year, and Medicare expenses for citizens about eighty thousand dollar income.  The GOP’s plan does not seem promising in protecting the struggles families face today.  This affects the Republican primaries highly.  The GOP represents all of the candidates and if the popularity of the Republican Party is not in good spirits then the movement to vote for a Republican president goes down the drain.  The GOP has to accomplish something with the president, and since they have the majority in the House, they must be able to settle some deals and improve their approval rating in congress.  The article is unbiased since it GOP and Obama have caused gridlock in Washington.  The GOP has offered impractical ideas and there no sense of compromise between the two parties in the House to offer helpful suggestions.

The Tennessean

GOP pushes oil pipeline, tax cut 

through House                                         

 Dec. 14, 2011  

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, is joined by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, talking to reporters after passage of legislation to extend Social Security payroll tax cuts. / J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Defiant Republicans pushed legislation through the House on Tuesday night that would keep alive Social Security payroll tax cuts for some 160 million Americans at President Barack Obama’s request — but also would require construction of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline that has sparked a White House veto threat.

Passage, on a largely party-line vote of 234-193, sent the measure toward its certain demise in the Democratic-controlled Senate, triggering the final partisan showdown of a remarkably quarrelsome year of divided government.

The legislation “extends the payroll tax relief, extends and reforms unemployment insurance and protects Social Security — without job-killing tax hikes,” Republican House Speaker John Boehner declared after the measure had cleared.

Referring to the controversy over the Keystone XL pipeline, he added, “Our bill includes sensible, bipartisan measures to help the private sector create jobs.”

On a long day of finger pointing, however, House Democrats accused Republicans of protecting “millionaires and billionaires,” and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., derided the GOP-backed pipeline provision as “ideological candy” for the tea party set.

After the House vote, the White House urged Congress on in finishing work on extending the tax cuts and jobless aid. Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement that didn’t mention the pipeline but renewed Obama’s insistence that the legislation be paid for, at least in part, by “asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share” in higher tax levies.

Lawmakers “cannot go on vacation before agreeing to prevent a tax hike on 160 million Americans and extending unemployment insurance,” he said.

Voting in favor of the legislation were 224 Republicans and 10 Democrats, while 179 Democrats and 14 Republicans opposed it.

Jobs program

At its core, the measure did include key parts of the jobs program that Obama asked Congress to approve in September:

The Social Security payroll tax cuts approved a year ago to help stimulate the economy would be extended through 2012, avoiding a loss of take-home income for wage-earners.

An expiring program of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless would remain in place, although at reduced levels that the administration said would cut off aid for 3.3 million.

A threatened 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients would be averted, a provision Republicans added to appeal to conservatives but one that the White House and Democrats embrace, too.

While the tax and unemployment provisions were less generous than Obama sought, he and Republicans clashed principally over steps to cover the estimated $180 billion cost of the measure, and on the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada through environmentally sensitive terrain in Nebraska to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Obama recently delayed a decision on granting a permit for the pipeline until after the 2012 election.

The payroll tax legislation was one of three major bills that Congress was struggling to finish before adjourning for the year, and by far the most contentious.

A measure covering Pentagon spending was ready for passage, and, separately, negotiators said they were close to a deal on a $1 trillion measure to fund most government agencies through the end of the budget year.

That deal was in limbo, though, with Obama and congressional Democrats using it as leverage to keep House Republicans at the table negotiating a final compromise on the tax and unemployment measure.

It was the final showdown of a year that once brought the government to the brink of a shutdown and also pushed the Treasury to the cusp of a first-ever default.

Obama and most Democrats favor an income surtax on million-dollar earners to pay for extending the Social Security tax cut, but Republicans oppose that, saying it is a violation of their pledge not to raise taxes. Instead, the House bill called for a one-year pay freeze and higher pension costs for federal workers, higher Medicare costs for seniors over $80,000 in income, as well as other items to cover the cost.

Obama’s veto message focused on economic issues, accusing Republicans of putting the burden of paying for the legislation on working families “while giving a free pass to the wealthiest and to big corporations by protecting their loopholes and subsidies.”

Obama?

     President Obama also has to keep the concentration on him instead of total attention on the Republican debates.  He realizes that his re-election will not be as easy as he expected due the poor state the economy is in.  Obama is concerned with those still unemployed and has said that issues like Iraq and health care are not nearly as important to those Americans struggling.  Obama is still unsure of who will run against him, since it is so close between the Romney and Gingrich.  Obama’s campaign officials are expecting a long hard fought primary competition that would hurt the Republican nominee.  David Axelrod claims that the candidates have to appeal to a more conservative view on issues, but in the general, the candidate must be more moderate.  Republicans still say that Obama has not held to his promises from 2008 and that a new president can restore the hope in Washington.  With Gingrich and Romney leading the pack, the GOP has to keep Obama suppressed and they blame him for the poor economy.  Obama still has to fulfill what his promises and will be likely the case for his campaign for his second term.  Obama has to fend off these attacks, and his fundraising of 150 million dollars will help him in the year to come.  Obama must keep his spirits up and his progress moving forward.  Hope and change must come in order for him to keep his job for a second term.  If his status remains where it is, it will be likely that a Republican might just win in the General election.  This article is of a conservative slant, since it portrays Obama as a man who has given up, not stuck to his promises.  On the other hand, it commends Romney and Gingrich for running successful campaigns.

The Houstan Cronicle

Obama beseeches supporters to stick with him

KEN THOMAS, Associated Press

Updated 03:36 p.m., Tuesday, December 13, 2011

• 
  President Barack Obama pauses during his news conference with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington. Photo: Carolyn Kaster / AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Imploring supporters to stick with him, President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that his re-election is not "a slam dunk" because of understandable public skepticism over the economy but said his campaign would put forward a vision aligned with the mood of the country.

The president, addressing donors at a hotel near the White House, drew attention to his efforts to heal the economy, end the Iraq war and overhaul health care but said "all those things don't mean that much to somebody if they're still out of work right now or their house is still underwater by $100,000. So, yeah, this is going to be tough."

"We're going to have to fight for it. It's not going to be a slam dunk," he said. Obama said the campaign would pursue "the vision that is truest to our history and most representative of the core decency of the American people."

Obama spoke hours after his top campaign advisers said they were uncertain about which Republican will emerge to challenge him next year but predicted a long GOP primary contest that they say will produce a weaker opponent in 2012.

Democrats have been targeting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the most likely GOP nominee but noted that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's surge in the polls has made the Republican contest very unpredictable.

Obama campaign officials said during a briefing in Washington that they expected a lengthy primary contest that would eventually hurt the party's nominee. They noted that only 15 percent of Republican convention delegates will be awarded by the end of February, making it likely that the contest will continue well into the spring.

"They're being tugged to the right every day. I think they're mortgaging themselves for the general by tacking as far as they are," Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said of the Republican candidates. He said that would make it more difficult for the nominee "to scramble back" to the center and appeal to a broader base of the electorate for the November general election.

Republicans said Obama and his advisers keep talking about his "vision" for the country but that all he has offered are empty promises.

"After three years of Obama, Americans want results - not more of his vision that has lost jobs and created record deficits," said GOP spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski. "Americans know the truth: This president is full of empty promises and has taken our country in the wrong direction, which is why the Obama's job approval continues to slump in battleground states across the country."

Romney and Gingrich remain locked in a close contest in early Republican voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina with less than a month before voters begin assessing the GOP field. The Republican field repeatedly has blamed Obama for the nation's economic woes and said his policies have failed to jumpstart the economy.

Obama campaign officials said the president's speech last week in Kansas offered a glimpse of what his message will be next year: His argument that the middle class has faced numerous challenges during the past decade and that the country's economic policies must give everyone a "fair shot and a fair share."

Obama made that case again in his remarks to donors, telling them "we're all in this together."

"That vision can contrast to a vision that basically says you are on your own," he said. "It's what this election was about in 2008; it's what this election is going to be about in 2012."

The campaign officials also claimed an organizational advantage over the GOP. They said they have more staff on the ground in Iowa than the Republicans and have had about 1 million conversations with supporters and about 90,000 in-person meetings with volunteers since Obama launched his re-election campaign in April.

Obama's campaign outlined several potential paths to victory that would build upon states that Democrat  John Kerry won in 2004 and winning in Western states like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada or holding onto Southern states Obama captured in 2008, such as Virginia and North Carolina.

Obama's session with top campaign donors came ahead of the Dec. 31 deadline for the current fundraising quarter. Obama has raised more than $150 million for his campaign and the Democratic National Committee through the end of September.