While Mitt has made a come back in Florida - 9% lead in the two latest polls, he continues his downward trend nationally. Since the national poll is a five day rolling average, in the next few days it will become apparent if his apparent Florida surge is occurring nationally.
As far as the Florida numbers, Newt's number seem to have stabilized around 30% while Mitt has increased his support. So it appears the undecideds are for the moment going Mitt's way.
While there was a vast majority of people who approved of Obama's SOTU. There is some positive news in that some people who believe that the system is fair to them personally, don't see it fair in general. But the results would point to an even split in the country that is reflected in the divided country.
It would be interesting to see what the results were after the SOTU.
Why is Romney having so much trouble talking about his taxes and his wealth? It isn't so that he is uncomfortable with talking about it (which he is); it is (in my opinion) that he is literally not used to talking about it.
Less than two weeks ago, Mitt Romney had a 22-point lead in Florida, but that’s ancient history in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Following his big win in South Carolina on Saturday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich now is on top in Florida by nine.
Newt Gingrich has all but erased Mitt Romney's 23-percentage-point lead of a week ago among Republican voters nationally, and the two candidates are now essentially tied, at 29% for Romney and 28% for Gingrich. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum have significantly lower levels of support, at 13% and 11%, respectively.
Nice little +3 surge for Newt. All my best regards to SC.
In the thread on Articleman’s latest blog, he responded to one of my comments with comment about Mitt:
You can't offload muscularity to your superPAC. Mitt has a glass jaw…. Mitt lacks that gear, which works if you lack any plausible alternative who does. The problem is, Newt is back to plausible and cannot be eradicated with superPAC drones.
I was just musing that we might want to replace muscularity to rage. And the difference between Newt and lot of other politicians is that he doesn’t have to work to get into that rage (muscularity) gear. He is already there. His rage isn’t an act that other politicians put on to appease the base.
...there might be stormy clouds ahead, literally: strong thunderstorms with heavy winds and possible hail have been predicted throughout the central and northern parts of the state—and forecasters warned there could be a tornado or two mixed in there.
Could Romney's lukewarm and dispassionate support become more of a factor? Lets hope so.
Ecotones are typologically unique ecosystems connecting two distinctly different plant and animal communities and the physical characteristics that support those communities.
But these zones are more than just zones of transition. They are areas of disturbance, catalyzed by the differences in the two ecosystems, and they are often zones of conflict as well. The word’s etymology derives from a combination of two Greek words: eco(logy) and—tone, from tonos or tension; ecologies in tension. Ecotones are not merely the blending of two habitats and their characteristics, but actually a third thing. “Although ecotones share some characteristics and species with the habitats on either side of them, ecotones also have their own distinct characteristics and species.”
It's courtroom drama crossed with "Sesame Street," as a television station barred from using cameras during a high-profile corruption trial covers the highlights with a nightly puppet show. It stars a talking squirrel "reporter" who provides the play-by-play in an exaggerated, "you won't believe this" tone.
Maybe this should be done with the Republican debates and the media analysis afterwards.
Thursday may have been one of the most eventful days of the Republican campaign so far, but the state of the race in South Carolina didn't change much. Newt Gingrich continues to lead Mitt Romney by 6 points, 35-29, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each tied for third at 15%.
A recent IBM commercial had a man opening a office door to an empty room save for a group of people lying on the floor. The man asks, “what are you doing?” One the people on the floor answers, “We’re ideating.” “Well,” the man responds, “good luck with that” and closes the closes the door, leaving the group to their ideation activities.
If you watched the Bronco-Patriots game yesterday, you probably saw the commercial that began with a child reciting a bibical verse John 3:16, then another child. It turned out to be a commercial for the Colorado Springs-based Christian ministry Focus on the Family, who knew that there were going to be people tuning into the game who otherwise not be: and his name was Tim Tebow.
Continuing on from my previous blog Time to Retreat, I have further refined the group of 25 individuals who would participate in the five-day national community visioning process. As I stated, the characteristics of the people is based on Gallup polls and the US Census data. I have now added religious identity. I have also attempted to match up the religious identity with the distribution of age, race, regional location, ideological identity and party affiliation as detailed in the previous blog.
Looking at the make-up of the diverse group, the challenge to the facilitator is obvious: how to design the process to not only increase the likelihood common ground can be discovered, but also to develop a vision that will provide guidance to real change.
I was thinking we as a nation needed to take some time to withdraw from the bustle of the day to day and engage in a period of reflection and study...together. I mean, it seems, regardless of one's socio-political stripes, everyone is disgruntled with the way things are. Something's gotta change. But we also seem as a nation to be divided about where we need to go and how to get there (and where we have been). A push me-pull you nation, unable to retreat from the scene even if we wanted to.
So a little notion crossed my mind. What if we had a little retreat to do some strategic visioning. Individuals from across the country would be randomly selected to participate in groups of 25 people. Each group would spend five days in some secluded location and attempt to generate a plan of action for the country. Afterwards, the groups would meet to fuse the plans together in some fashion. The question would be, how would I conduct the five-day retreat if I was to facilitate the retreat.
Sensing the excitement and loving his message, Tebow is also being courted by Republican presidential candidates. The quarterback recently told The Associated Press he's been asked by more than one of the contenders for his support. He wouldn't name names, but did say he'd declined the offer.
It was a night second to none for Alabama, which rolled up LSU to win the BCS national championship, with ESPN's telecast placing as the second-most-watched show in the history of cable. ESPN's Jan. 9 coverage of the Tide's 21-0 throttling of the Tigers posted a 16.2 fast national household rating, translating into nearly 16.1 million households and 24.2 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Gallup's weekly Economic Confidence Index ratings are up significantly from their summer lows, improving by an average of two points each week since early October. If the index continues on that trajectory, economic confidence would cross into positive territory by mid-April, in plenty of time to benefit President Barack Obama's re-election bid.
The spouse of someone I know very well passed away today as a result of complications due to cancer. In writing about his struggle to overcome the cancer, someone wrote in tribute
He never stops being positive! It also never ceases to amaze me how genuine and authentic he naturally is....But we need more people like him in the world. There isn't time to waste not being a mirror of God's love for others with patience, kindness and grace.
The impression he made on me the few times we crossed path was pretty much similar. Needless to say, today has been a somber one. The demands of life, however, continue and we push forward while trying to come to terms with something like the passing of someone in this fashion. We all deal with these things in our own way, and as is my proclivity, I retreated into my head, thinking it out. The wish for people still here to be a mirror stuck with me. Other thoughts of which I have blogged about and have been swirling around in my mind gravitated to it. The aspiration to be a mirror of God's love for others with patience, kindness and grace is one path for what I like to call the struggle to appear.
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