National Republicans
Live From Myrtle Beach
A TAPster who was at the South Carolina Republican debate sent these updates last night: (7:52 PM): Republicans are having a great time tonight in Myrtle Beach. Cocktail hour is in overtime as they await the 9 pm kickoff of the big debate. Many Romney supporters but, South Carolinians being South Carolinians, would love…
Read MorePalmetto Strategy
It’s somehow fitting that the state that started the Civil War generally decides the Republican presidential war. The question this year is whether Mitt Romney’s opponents picked the wrong battle. Was it a mistake to attack him on Bain Capital instead of his shifting positions on social issues? Suppose they made more of an…
Read MoreMitt is It?
Four lessons emerge from Mitt Romney’s less-than-convincing New Hampshire win. First, he’ll be the Republican nominee – thanks to a cast of inept, uninspiring and half-insane conservative rivals. Second, more than 60 percent of Republicans don’t want him to be the nominee. Third, as his announcement speech showed, he lacks even a hint…
Read MoreFired Up, Ready to Go
I call it Hickman’s Law, because I first heard it from pollster Harrison Hickman: “The worst wounds in politics are self-inflicted.” Mitt Romney has inflected a doozy on himself: “I like being able to fire people.” He did it just as Winning Our Future, a super-PAC supporting Newt Gingrich, released a doozy of…
Read MoreLet Newt Be Newt
The last time Newt Gingrich got this mad, he shut down the federal government. He thought Bill Clinton disrespected him by giving him a bad seat on Air Force One. Now he thinks Mitt Romney disrespected him by having super-PACs dump millions of dollars on his head in Iowa, making his comeback one of…
Read MoreTwo Headlines
Newspaper headline: ‘Santorum strategy pays off.’ New York Times synopsis: Rick Santorum reached the top in Iowa with a savvy strategy – by relying on his own instincts he succeeded with no polls, no speechwriter, and skeletal advertising. That’s one explanation. Of course, there’s another. Headline: Lightning strikes Santorum. Synopsis: After his…
Read MoreThe Bedrock Beneath Our Feet
While General Washington camped in New York waiting for the British to attack, fifty-six men in Philadelphia – who said they not only had a Creator but that He’d given them what they called inalienable rights – crossed the Rubicon and told the King of England they were done being colonists. Then, years later,…
Read MoreMitt Broccoli
Mitt Romney is like political broccoli: Republicans may have to swallow him, but they still don’t like the taste. On CNN last night, James Carville cut through all the clutter and chatter with this dead-on analysis of what Iowa means: – Romney will be the Republican presidential nominee. – A lot of…
Read MoreThe Year of the Negative Ad
I begin this new year by publicly thanking the U.S. Supreme Court for all it has done to make 2012 the Year of the Negative Ad. The high court’s bold, wise Citizens United decision already has claimed one victim – and an appropriate one: Newt Gingrich. But the best is yet to come. …
Read MorePolls and Guesses
NBC News and Marist University have released an 11th hour poll in Iowa – in the last four weeks 19% of the voters have switched candidates, almost half going to Rick Santorum with most of the rest splitting between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. Ballot Change Romney 23% +4 Paul 21% +2 Santorum 15%…
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