dagblog - Comments for "Close Ties to Goldman Enrich Romney’s Public and Private Lives"

Except at one place where "aw

Oxy Mora — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:21:40 +0000

In reply to can you imagine her actually

Except at one place where "aw heck" is inserted.

Nate Silver has updated with

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:18:10 +0000

In reply to Close Ties to Goldman Enrich Romney’s Public and Private Lives

Nate Silver has updated with two posts today, (as well as changing his projection for Florida to Romney's chance of winning at 95%):

January 29, 2012, 12:54 pm
Gingrich Upset Chances Dwindle in New Florida Polls
By NATE SILVER

Based on the polling out through Saturday evening, Newt Gingrich had become a clear underdog to Mitt Romney in the Florida primary. But you could at least make the case that the downward trajectory in Mr. Gingrich’s polling had stopped, leaving open the possibility of a last-minute comeback.

Now, that case has become much harder to make. Four polls released Sunday morning — from NBC News, Mason-Dixon, American Research Group and Rasmussen Reports — each give Mr. Romney a double-digit advantage in Florida....

January 29, 2012, 7:00 am
Advantage Romney in February, but Risks Abound
By NATE SILVER

Conventional wisdom holds that the handful of states that vote in February are favorable ones for Mitt Romney. Still, Mr. Romney could be vulnerable in several of them.

Seven states will vote next month, although that includes a “beauty contest” primary in Missouri that will not affect delegate allocation and several caucuses with nonbinding results....

We have not released forecasts for the February states, but we will if they are polled more. In the meantime, here is a general lay of the land....

I tend to think just the

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:27:38 +0000

In reply to I may be off base on this

I tend to think just the opposite, that in general, the older people get, the more tolerant they are of things like religion in others, just because of "wisdom of age," the experience of dealing with more people. Yes, of course, they are still prey to trusting their own kind more, but don't fall for the demonization bit as much. Extremism is what they mistrust, they are "conservative" in that way.

It's the Romney campaign team

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:16:23 +0000

In reply to Close Ties to Goldman Enrich Romney’s Public and Private Lives

It's the Romney campaign team executing a new plan that got to Drudge, according to Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny at the New York Times:

The Calculations That Led Romney to the Warpath
Published: January 28/29, 2012

MIAMI — Facing the unthinkable here just seven days ago — a second loss in a row to Newt Gingrich — Mitt Romney’s campaign team hatched a two-part plan to win in Florida: make Newt mad and Mitt meaner.

In a call last Sunday morning, just hours after Mr. Romney’s double-digit loss to Mr. Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, the Romney team outlined the new approach to the candidate. Put aside the more acute focus on President Obama and narrow in on Mr. Gingrich.

[....]

Mr. Romney, meanwhile, had been receiving help from a new debate adviser — Brett O’Donnell, a longtime leader of the Liberty University debate team who advised Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota in her campaign last year — and assumed a new role as the campaign’s chief attacker, relinquishing his old approach of leaving the dirty work to supporters and a friendly super PAC.

A team of some of the most fearsome researchers in the business, led by Mr. Romney’s campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, spent days dispensing negative information about Mr. Gingrich, much of it finding its way to the influential Drudge Report, which often serves as a guide for conservative talk radio and television assignment editors and to which Mr. Rhoades has close ties.

The effort hit a peak by Thursday, when the site was virtually taken over by headlines assailing Mr. Gingrich, whose advisers said they eventually gave up on trying to persuade the Drudge staff to spare them, acknowledging, in the words of one aide, that “very little can be done.”

The Romney team was also carefully tracking Mr. Gingrich’s every utterance for a potential opening. What an aide described as a “eureka moment” came just hours before the debate on Thursday night. At a Tea Party rally in the Central Florida town of Mount Dora that day, Mr. Gingrich had opened a new line of attack, noting that Mr. Romney had investments in funds that included shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage lenders.

Mr. Romney’s opposition-research team in Boston quickly dug into Mr. Gingrich’s own publicly disclosed holdings to find that he, too, had mutual funds invested in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The information was quickly fed to Mr. Romney during his private debate preparation session at a hotel in downtown Jacksonville.

When Mr. Romney delivered the attack against Mr. Gingrich that evening, Mr. Gingrich was left with no substantive response, a killer blow [....]

I tend to suspect in the case of Drudge, it's a case of smart P.R, knowing what kind of juicy inflammatory stuff Drudge likes (i.e, "food fight!") rather than Drudge being won over to support Romney. It's no guarantee he will support him in the future. Even though Rutenberg & Zeleny say Rhoades "has close ties" with him.

Point well made and

Aunt Sam — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:13:52 +0000

In reply to Since I haven't listened to

Point well made and acknowledged.

However, I don't believe that most (especially within the 99%) think that the citizens united ruling is a positive for our already shoddy electoral processes.

I may be off base on this

Elusive Trope — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:11:48 +0000

In reply to Older Florida voters do

I may be off base on this one, but just as the older generation thought Obama being black was a big deal (whether they supported or not), the older voters are probably going to think Romney being a Mormon is a big deal, and usually not in a positive way.

The way I think about it is the look on their face if years earlier the moment one of their kids told them their new boyfriend or girlfriend was a Mormon.

Since I haven't listened to

PeraclesPlease — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:07:09 +0000

In reply to It's the fact that Myth has

Since I haven't listened to him, I don't really know how snide and misdirecting he is.

However, re: $$$$$, it's not Mitt's fault that Gingrich got in late and didn't raise cash - though his billionaire friend has put in, apparently he didn't tithe early for Florida, so no TV spots. And oops, Newt forgot to get on the ballot in Virginia.

Santorum's in similar shape. As for the other candidates, say buh-bye.

Actually, without Citizen's United, Gingrich & Santorum would have been in worse shape.

And you certainly can't blame Citizen's United for the plight of Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Perry. Incompetence is its own master.

Older Florida voters do

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:59:28 +0000

In reply to Older Florida voters do

Older Florida voters do remember his days in Congress

I would imagine that is the case in most states. I should say I haven't checked polls by age on that front. But I suspect, from general polls about how disgusted everyone is with Congress, that if they remember those times, they wouldn't think he's going to offer much of a solution to the country's ills as president because of his behavioral bent, even if they like his ideology.

It's also good to keep in mind that older voters are usually the ones that come out in force to vote in primaries, and it's in the general that all the other generations jump in, watering down the older voter effect, whatever it happens to be.

can you imagine her actually

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:47:47 +0000

In reply to That's so weird, I read that

can you imagine her actually writing something like that?

My impression was that the writer hasn't even bothered to sound like her.

"Goldwater vs

artappraiser — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:44:28 +0000

In reply to Mitt vs. Newt: the Gloves

"Goldwater vs Rockefeller":

Newt hits 'pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate' Romney
By Maggie Haberman, Politico.com, 1/29/12 12:10 PM EST

Newt Gingrich came out swinging wildly against Mitt Romney outside the Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, a bit ago, telling reporters he will take the race all the way to the convention because "the Republican party will not nominate a pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase moderate from Massachusetts."

"When you add the two conservatives together, we clearly beat Romney," Gingrich said of his and Rick Santorum's vote shares in current polls. "And I think Romney's got a very real challenge in trying to get a majority at the convention.....

also of note:

Gingrich dodged a question about the polls showing a huge gender gap between him and Romney, saying he hadn't seen them.