Paul Will Not Partake in Trump Debate

At least two Republican presidential hopefuls are declining to participate in a debate set to be moderated by real estate mogul and once presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman will both skip the debate, citing concerns about the seriousness of the event.

In a campaign statement released Saturday, Paul's campaign called the debate a distraction from the real issues of the campaign.
"The selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will be watching is beneath the office of the Presidency and flies in the face of that office's history and dignity," Jesse Benton, Ron Paul's national campaign chairman, said in a statement.
Benton cited Trump's flirtation with running for president himself as a factor in the decision not to participate in the debate.
"Mr. Trump's selection is also wildly inappropriate because of his record of toying with the serious decision of whether to compete for our nation's highest office, a decision he appeared to make frivolously," Benton said.
Reacting to the Paul campaign's comments, Trump slammed Paul as a non-electable candidate.
"As I said in the past and will reiterate again, Ron Paul has a zero chance of winning either the nomination or the Presidency," Trump said in a statement to CNN. "My poll numbers were substantially higher than any of his poll numbers, at any time, and when I decided not to run, due to the equal time provisions concerning my hit show The Apprentice, I was leading the Republican field." Trump announced in May he would not seek the nomination.
In his statement, Trump said he was pleased to hear that Paul and Huntsman would be skipping the debate. "Few people take Ron Paul seriously and many of his views and presentation make him a clown-like candidate," Trump said. "I am glad he and Jon Huntsman, who has inconsequential poll numbers or a chance of winning, will not be attending the debate and wasting the time of the viewers who are trying very hard to make a very important decision."
Huntsman's campaign said Friday the former Utah governor wouldn't be making an appearance at the event.
"We have declined to participate in the 'Presidential Apprentice' Debate with The Donald," Huntsman spokesman Tim Miller said in a statement. "The Republican Party deserves a serious discussion of the issues so voters can choose a leader they trust to defeat President Obama and turn our economy around."
On Friday, the conservative online publication Newsmax announced they were sponsoring the Trump-moderated debate on December 27. It will be held in Des Moines, Iowa, just days before the state holds its first-in-the-nation caucus.
Candidates for the 2012 GOP nomination have been meeting with Trump since this summer. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, businessman Herman Cain and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann have all met with "The Apprentice" host at least once. On Thursday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he would be meeting with Trump on Monday.

Cain Suspends Campaign, Effectively Ends Presidential Bid

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told his supporters on Saturday that he’s suspending his campaign, which has become hobbled in recent weeks by accusations of sexual harassment and an Atlanta woman's claim that her and Cain carried on a 13-year affair.

While he will still be able to raise and spend campaign funds because he did not officially drop out, Cain's White House bid is effectively over. Cain said he came to the decision after assessing the impact that the allegations were having on his wife, his family and his supporters. Cain and his wife held hands as they walked up to the podium where Cain made his remarks in Atlanta. Even as he stepped aside under the weight of the allegations that have dogged him, Cain said that he was at "peace with God" and "peace with my wife."

He repeatedly called the allegations untrue and that the media spin hurts. "I am not going to be silenced and I will not go away," Cain said, announcing what he called his Plan B: A website named TheCainSolutions.com, through which he will continue to advocate for his platform.
His catchy "9-9-9" economic plan is not going anywhere, he said.
He will endorse another of the Republican presidential hopefuls soon, he said.

Recently, Cain acknowledged that Ginger White's allegations of an affair had led to a drop in campaign contributions, and a Des Moines Register poll showed his support among Republican Iowa caucus-goers has fallen to 8%, down from 23% in October.
This week, White told the news media that she and Cain engaged in an on-and-off affair for more than 13 years. She described the affair as "very casual." White issued a statement, through her attorney, after Cain's announcement Saturday.

Two women, Sharon Bialek and Karen Kraushaar had previously accused Cain of sexually harassing them in the 1990s while he was head of the National Restaurant Association. Two other women also have said Cain sexually harassed them while they worked at the association, but they have declined to be identified.

Cain told the Union Leader in New Hampshire that he repeatedly gave White money to help her with "month-to-month bills and expenses." But he denied the relationship was sexual, as White contends. He said the two were friends.

Cain's announcement comes a month before the Iowa caucuses, the first formal test of the primary season, scheduled for January 3.
New Hampshire Republican officials who supported Cain began to survey their options Saturday, with several state representatives saying their support could go to Gingrich or Ron Paul. Cain's most prominent supporter in the state, former GOP state party chair Jack Kimball, said he would wait to learn whom Cain would endorse before making his own decision.

He said in the Thursday Union Leader interview that his wife's feelings, as well as the reaction from supporters and donors, would be important factors in deciding whether he will stay the race.
Cain told the newspaper he would drop out of the race if his wife asked him to, but quickly added that she wouldn't.
Though Gloria Cain rarely makes public appearances or statements, she told Fox News last month that she believed the sexual harassment allegations were "unfounded."

New York 26th Congressional District Race

Jill Terreri spoke by phone about the New York 26th Congressional District special election taking place on May 24, 2011. The candidates are Republican Jane Corwin, Democrat Kathleen C. Hochul, and tea party candidate Jack Davis. Candidates' campaign ads were shown.

New Reports: Newt was "Cozy" with Freddie

As Newt Gingrich attempts to shrug off his political baggage, the former House speaker is under scrutiny for having close ties to health care giants and flip-flopping on his statements on health care.

The Center for Health Transformation, which Gingrich founded, raked in millions of dollars from heavy hitters like GE Healthcare and Wellpoint, as first reported by the Washington Post. The group says it does not lobby, but on its website, it touts its ability to build bridges between the federal government and private sector.

Gingrich no longer owns the company and left when he decided to run for president. But his work with the group shows that the former congressman from Georgia has yet to overcome the challenge of reconciling his two roles of businessman and politician.
He has blasted the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, saying in a video that he is “completely opposed to the Obamacare mandate on individuals,” and that he “fought it for two and half years at the Center for Health Transformation.” But the group, which Gingrich founded, actually supported imposing a mandate on those who made more than $50,000 per year.

Still, Gingrich hasn’t made that clear. In fact, he criticized opponent Mitt Romney for implementing such a “bureaucratic” mandate in Massachusetts.
Gingrich also broke from the right when he praised his client Gundersen Lutheran Health System‘s end-of-life best practice as one that “empowers patients and families.” At the height of the health care debate in which end-of-life care became a key dividing issue between Republicans and Democrats, Gingrich stood out alone in the Republican field.

Gingrich’s other businesses are also under the spotlight. Through Gingrich Group, the former House speaker consulted for reportedly $1.8 million for eight years for Freddie Mac, the federally-backed mortgage giant that most conservatives say should be eliminated. While Gingrich has denied lobbying for them, he hasn’t provided a viable explanation of what kind of services he provided to an organization that he himself recently said should be abolished. In 2008, he demanded that President Obama and other members of Congress return the money they received from them, and more recently said Democrats like Rep. Barney Frank should be jailed for having ties with lobbyists at those organizations.

On Wednesday, Gingrich's staff offered a fuller picture of Gingrich's activities after a Bloomberg article revealed that he made about five times more than what was originally stated as a $300,000 income in 2006.

"Gingrich was given a briefing by one of the company's economists," spokesman R.C. Hammond told Fox News. As for claims Newt never flagged to Freddie that a bubble was coming, Hammond said that Gingrich's reaction after the briefing was "that's a bubble. You are creating a bubble." Though he never told the CEO directly, he did tell the company representative.

Hammond added that a dozen companies hired Gingrich to provide similar consulting as provided to Freddie, and in almost all cases the client would provide challenges and he would give advice to them on how to solve that problem. The Gingrich Group had contracts with Freddie Mac starting in 1999 but none with Fannie. The amount paid was similar to the figure he got from other companies he consulted for during that time.

Freddie itself had a robust internal and external government affairs division on the 1990s and hired a number of outside firms for lobbying and consulting services, of which The Gingrich Group was one. In 2008, Freddie fired all of its external lobbyists and dramatically pared back its internal shop.

The connections with Washington insiders and multi-million dollar corporations makes it hard for Gingrich to cast himself as an outsider and clouds his campaign, experts say.
As he rises in the polls, Gingrich’s inconsistencies are increasingly coming under the spotlight. It remains to be seen whether Gingrich can overcome these hurdles but the results of this scrutiny could be damaging, experts say.

Herman Cain Ad Controversy

Telephone lines were open for comments on 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's campaign ad featuring a testimonial from his campaign manager Mark Block, who was smoking a cigarette at the end of the message.

GOP Primary Race & Romney and Perry Campaign Ads

Molly Ball talked about the 2012 Republican presidential primary race. Topics included the role of "evangelical" voters, the latest polling data, candidates' electability, and President Obama. Campaign ads were shown.

Gerry Mandering Looking to Make an Appearance in 2012

Every decade, following the decennial census, the state legislatures of the United States are told how many representatives their state will send to the United States House of Representatives. Representation in the House is based on state population and there are a total of 435 representatives, so some states may gain representatives while others lose them. It is the responsibility of each state legislature to redistrict their state into the appropriate numbers of congressional districts.

Since a single party usually controls each state legislature, it is in the best interest of the party in power to redistrict their state so that their party will have more seats in the House than the opposition party. This manipulation of electoral districts is known as gerrymandering.

In the last 10 years, 78% of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, almost four out of every five members of Congress did not change party hands even once. In California, with 53 seats, the most in the nation, incumbents were kept so safe that only one of those seats changed party control in the past decade.
David Wasserman, a redistricting expert for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, says only 20 races for Congress are expected to be tossups in the 2012 election. That's only 20 out of the 435 seats in the House. "In general elections, it's almost rigged," he said.

The lines for seats in Congress are redrawn every 10 years after the U.S. Census measures population shifts. That process is going on now in states across the country.

Race has been used to create a political divide in the South. In South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana only nine Democrats are left in Congress. Only one is white. He is Georgia Democrat John Barrow, and Republican control in that state's legislature has led to his home city of Savannah being excluded from his current district.

In 2010, Republicans captured control of North Carolina's legislature for the first time since shortly after the Civil War. They drew district lines in a way to pack 49% of all of North Carolina's African-American voters in just three of the state's 13 congressional districts. That left the other 10 districts mostly white and predictably Republican.

After the GOP landslide in 2010, Illinois is the only battleground state winning or losing a seat where Democrats remain in control. Nowhere is gerrymandering more apparent than in Chicago's 4th District, where a grassy strip hardly a football field wide, stuck in between two expressways, connects the top and bottom halves of a district designed to keep a Hispanic in Congress.

In California voters have revolted. In 2010, they passed an amendment to the state constitution to take redistricting out of political hands and have a commission of citizens redraw the lines. It was forbidden to favor incumbents. As a result, more than half of California's 53 representatives were placed in the same district with another colleague for the 2012 election. As many as 15 could lose or else face retirement to avoid losing.

For three decades now, Iowa has had a nonpartisan redistricting system. Two legislative staffers draw the maps in secrecy without political interference. "In Iowa, it is understood incumbent protection is not the name of the game," one of those staffers said. Iowa, with its regular-shaped districts, will host the only 2012 House face off between Democratic and GOP incumbents. Iowa has the nation's only congressional race next year where a longtime Republican incumbent, Tom Latham, is paired against a longtime Democratic incumbent, Leonard Boswell.

Computers and GIS were utilized in the 1990 and 2000 Census by the states to make redistricting as fair as possible. Despite the use of computers, politics does get in the way and many redistricting plans are challenged in the courts, with accusations of racial gerrymandering tossed about. We certainly won't expect accusations of gerrymandering to vanish anytime soon.

Obama Vs. McCain Presidential Debate

Senator McCain and Senator Obama participated in the first of three presidential debates. Jim Lehrer moderated the debate which focused on foreign policy but began by addressing the current financial crisis and proposals for a federal rescue plan for U.S. financial markets.

"Super Committee" Deadlocked as Deadline Approaches

They have been meeting for two months, arguing over concepts and ideas already hashed out by three other groups over the past year. But just 10 days before the deadline, members of the congressional "super committee" created to forge a deficit reduction deal indicated Sunday that they remain hung up on basic issues of tax and entitlement reform that have previously stymied agreement.
Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the panel's Republican co-chair, told CNN's "State of the Union" that the only solution possible might be a two-step process in which the bipartisan committee sets a figure for increased tax revenue that congressional committees would then implement through legislation.

The continued political wrangling over how to reform the tax code and entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid as part of a broad deficit reduction plan causes consternation for two senators who were part of the "Gang of Six" that put together their own plan earlier this year.

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma told CNN that a lack of leadership from the White House and top congressional Democrats and Republicans is preventing a compromise.

The panel created under the debt ceiling deal earlier this year has until November 23 to reach an agreement on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.
If it works out an agreement, Congress must vote on the unamended plan by December 23. Failure to reach an agreement or gain approval by Congress and President Barack Obama would trigger $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect in 2013.
Hensarling said Sunday that the process will fail unless Democrats are willing to accept significant reforms to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, the government-run health care systems for the disabled, poor and elderly.
Democrats, meanwhile, say any solution must be balanced with spending cuts, entitlement reforms and increased tax revenue.

Republicans oppose any kind of tax increase, particularly the call by Obama and Democrats to raise rates of wealthy Americans to increase their share of the tax burden. However, the Republican position has shifted to accept increased tax revenue through reforms that would lower rates by expand the number of payers and also end some subsidies and loopholes.

Republicans have offered a proposal with $1.4 trillion in deficit reduction, including $500 billion in new revenue from capping individual deductions while cutting all six income tax rates by roughly 20%. Under the proposal, the top rate would fall from 35% to 28%.
Democrats immediately rejected the plan as insufficient, saying it would end up decreasing revenue in the long run by permanently extending tax cuts from the Bush administration that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2012.

Both plans call for around $4 trillion in deficit reduction by a combination of spending cuts, tax increases and reforms to entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Another deficit commission in 2010, headed by former White House Budget Director Alice Rivlin and former Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-Wyoming, also called for a comprehensive approach including higher taxes, frozen spending and entitlement reforms.
A so-called "grand bargain" along those lines discussed by Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, earlier this year fell apart over differences on tax hikes on the wealthy sought by Democrats and Medicare restructuring sought by Republicans.

Podium Watch Presidential Debate (Contd.)

Presidential candidates George W. Bush and Vice President Gore met in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for their second debate. In this version, C-SPAN showed the two candidates in separate video windows to enable viewers to see each candidate and their reactions throughout the debate.

Podium Watch Presidential Debate

Presidential candidates George W. Bush and Vice President Gore met in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for their second debate. In this version, C-SPAN showed the two candidates in separate video windows to enable viewers to see each candidate and their reactions throughout the debate.

Perry's "Oops" Could Cost Him the Nomination

"I will tell you: It's three agencies of government, when I get there, that are gone: Commerce, Education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see. ... OK. So Commerce, Education and the -- ... The third agency of government I would -- I would do away with the Education, the ... Commerce and -- let's see -- I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops." Oops? Oops? That was Rick Perry’s comeback. He simply said, "Oops." And then the microphone went to one of his seven Republican rivals. Oops indeed. This was seriously terrible. You might say that blunders happen in debates. After all, Perry is not the first, nor will he be the last, to have a mental lapse in a debate. So the question is: How much damage will Perry's gaffe do?

Perry's mental block was very, very bad. One reason is that the question he was asked at the time wasn't even about cutting agencies. It was about how he could work with Democrats across the aisle. But Perry wanted to add some flair, so he looked at Ron Paul to brag about how he would cut three different agencies and then gave himself the self-induced wound.

Unfortunately, if you have been watching these Republican presidential debates, your first impression, along with that of many other viewers, is that Rick Perry does not have the best grasp of the issues and he has a difficult time answering questions. Fair or not, this may turn people away from voting for him.
Lately the entire focus of Perry's team has been trying to change the public's first impression of their candidate. They believed these upcoming debates would help. After all, Perry couldn't get any worse, right? Oops. It turns out he could. And since many in the public have an unfavorable first impression, Perry's performance fed right into that.
Because of his poor first impression, Perry was the candidate who could least afford a slip-up of this magnitude. Instead of overcoming that negative first impression, he did the opposite. He cemented it.

To some political observers, the Texas governor's legendary brain freeze went down as the worst unforced error in modern debating history. But Perry is actually starting to campaign off the gaffe in which he blanked on the third of three departments in the federal government that he would eliminate. And his campaign issued a fundraising appeal, saying the 2012 hopeful has just demonstrated that the federal government is so vast and unwieldy that the most-versed politician can't keep it all straight.

"I think we've had over 2,000 hits already," Perry said on Fox News during a Thursday afternoon appearance, the latest in a sweep of television media outlet interviews for the day.


Perry said he will also attend another GOP debate Saturday in South Carolina, but doesn't know his schedule after that. He has weighed whether to abandon the debate format for venues and events where he can excel in one-on-one contacts and long-form answers.
And he argued he has the best plan for an American recovery.
"I am hoping that the American people are the type of individuals that understand there are mistakes to be made, but what are you going to get done for us. Those people sitting around the dinner table, around the TV last night may not have a job, or are fixing to lose a job because of policies that have been put in place because of these federal agencies that are piling the regulations on," he said.

Conservative Media and Politics

Paul Rules Out Third Party Run

Texas Rep. Ron Paul is ruling out the possibility of an independent bid for the White House.
"I have no intention doing that. That doesn't make sense to me to even think about it, let alone plan to do that," Paul told Fox News on Sunday.

Paul said that if he's not the GOP nominee, he's not certain that he would support the GOP nominee unless he “sat down and spoke with the nominee and they shared common goals for America”.

Paul said his proposal for getting the economy back on track would be to cut $1 trillion in the first year of his administration, and balance the budget in three years so that spending would be 15.5 percent of the gross domestic product.
But that would put government's ratio of GDP at its lowest level since 1951, and think tanks like the conservative American Enterprise Institute argue those kinds of dramatic short-term cuts would send the country back into a recession.
Paul said that was the argument made after World War II, when the budget dropped by 60 percent and taxes by 30 percent while 10 million people returned from war.

Among the cuts Paul is pursuing is to reduce the National Institutes of Health budget by 22 percent, reduce funding for the Centers for Disease Control by 38 percent.
Paul said those are two examples of functions that government is not properly authorized to conduct and get caught up in special interests and lobbying.

Some Republicans are worried an independent bid by Paul would split the conservative vote to basically ensure the re-election next year of Democratic President Barack Obama.
Paul, who is making his second run for the GOP nomination, has held a steady middle position in the polls so far, below the top-tier candidates but generally getting double-digit support to top the rest of the pack.
He advocates sharply reducing the size and role of government, including the end of a U.S. military presence in many places around the world.
Asked Sunday about U.S. policy on Iran in light of reports that Tehran continues striving to build a nuclear weapon, Paul called for a diplomatic approach rather than any kind of harsh or militaristic response.
Instead of sanctions or backing an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Paul said, the United States should change its approach to the Iranian government by "maybe offering friendship to them."

In the most recent ABC News/Washington Post, Rasmussen Reports, and Quinnipiac polls, Paul remains in single digits behind Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry among those likely to vote in the Republican primaries or caucuses. And like Michele Bachmann, he’s dropped several percentage points since October, according to the latest poll.
But Paul continues to do well in the straw polls because of the way they’re designed and because it’s easier for his enthusiastic and very loyal supporters to take part.
At the Values Voter Summit last month, young Paul supporters showed up by the busload to vote for him in that straw poll. The result? He won 37 percent of the vote.
In Illinois over the weekend, Paul’s 52 percent win over his GOP rivals comes with interesting caveats.
Voters in the straw poll (who had to contribute $5 to the Illinois Republican Party for the privilege) could participate either in person or online.

Twitter Feed During Joint Session of Congress (Continued)

During a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, members comments on the social media network Twitter were shown. Footage begins with senators crossing Statuary Hall to attend the joint session.

Twitter Feed During Joint Session of Congress

During a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, members comments on the social media network Twitter were shown. Footage begins with senators crossing Statuary Hall to attend the joint session.

Cain Has a Whole Lot 'Splainin' To Do

Herman Cain has some serious damage control to do. This week Cain’s campaign has faced increased pressure over sexual harassment allegations from the 1990s, including calls to lift a gag order on a financial settlement with one of the two former female employees who filed complaints, as well as new allegations from a third woman.

Washington lawyer Joel P. Bennett, asserting he represents a woman who he says complained about Cain harassing her at the National Restaurant Association, says that his client wants to get her side of the story out. She is offended by Cain's claims that he was falsely accused and thinks he is lying.
At the moment, she has promised a copy of her original settlement with the restaurant association. Bennett probably will ask the association to release her from her confidentiality agreement so she can talk openly. Even if she does try for a release and the restaurant group refuses, it seems probable that the contents of the settlement will more than likely find their way into the media.

And at least one other accuser might be waiting in the wings: The New York Times reported Wednesday that the National Restaurant Association gave a second woman a full year's salary -- $35,000 -- as severance after she complained that Cain had behaved inappropriately toward her. A full year? That's a lot of money and suggests that she may have a story to tell, too. Once we see a real, live woman step forward and accuse a presidential candidate of sexual harassment, it will certainly become a circus with Cain smack in the middle of it.

The sexual harassment story is only one of the possible scandals brewing around Cain. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported this week that a private corporation has given the Cain campaign some $40,000 in goods and services. The report has been overshadowed, but it won't go away. If that happened, those gifts could be violations of the law.

Amid all the controversy, Cain’s fortunes have been bolstered by conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter who have rushed to his defense. Limbaugh has sparked a familiar cry among tea partiers about "liberal media witch hunts." But no one, least of all the Cain forces, should believe he is getting this behind him. Far from it.


So far, the greatest source of concern among some conservatives is how inept Cain and his team has been in responding. He needs to put an end to the sex controversy and do it fast. If he permits this to continue through the weekend he could be toast.

What should he do? It may seem a hard call, but it isn't really. He should announce that he would be fine with the restaurant association releasing the accuser from her confidentiality agreement, and let each of them make their case to the public. He may have to suffer some embarrassment, but he has to show he is open, fair and ready to lead.

Cain may think that is asking too much of him, but he is asking people to entrust him with the most powerful office on Earth. Is it not fair to voters to get straight answers from a candidate about who he is and how he has acted in his professional life? Cain may bounce back and stay a contender, but conventional wisdom would say he has about 48 hours to get his campaign under control or risk falling out of contention.

White House Daily Breifing ( August 31, 2011)

Jay Carney led the daily White House briefing. Most questions were related to President Obama's request to Congress for a joint session on September 7, 2011, to talk about his jobs plan, and his overall economic agenda.

Which Mitt? Romney Shifting on Climate Change

Mitt Romney lately has found himself taking hits from both Republicans and Democrats Friday over his position on climate change, which both sides say has changed over the past few months.
On Thursday, the former Massachusetts governor told voters at a campaign event in Pittsburgh that he didn't know what was causing climate change.

"My view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet," Romney said. "And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us."
Romney's opponents quickly noted that his stance seems to have changed, using comments Romney had made in the past to support the notion he was flip-flopping on the issue.

Perry's campaign and the Democratic National Committee highlighted a statement Romney made when speaking to voters in New Hampshire in June, when he said "I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer. And number two, I believe that humans contribute to that."
In a statement, Perry's spokesman said the comments reflected a substantial change in position.
The DNC produced a web video using a similar criticism, punctuated with the question, "Which Mitt?"
Romney's campaign said that the governor's full quote provided more context.
"I don't speak for the scientific community, of course, but I believe the world's getting warmer," Romney said in June. "I can't prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer. And number two; I believe that humans contribute to that. I don't know how much our contribution is to that, because I know that there have been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past but I believe we contribute to that. And so I think it's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you're seeing."

Between the comments in June and his comments Thursday, Romney has taken a skeptical approach to climate change. On Aug. 8, Romney told a group in Nashua, New Hampshire, "I'm not a scientist. I think the Earth is probably getting warmer, but I'm not sure how much we contribute to it."
A few weeks later, on Aug. 24, Romney's expressed similar skepticism at an event in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
"Do I think the world's getting hotter? Yeah, I don't know that but I think that it is," he said. "I don't know if it's mostly caused by humans."
He continued, "What I'm not willing to do is spend trillions of dollars on something I don't know the answer to."

White House Daily Breifing (December13, 2010)

Robert Gibbs spoke to reporters and answered questions on a number of issues including the ruling by a federal judge that portions of the health care reform act was unconstitutional, Senate consideration of the new START, and congressional consideration of a deal to extend tax cuts and unemployment benefits.

Create Jobs for USA Intiative

Mark Pinsky talked about Starbucks Coffee Company teaming up with Opportunity Finance Network to launch Create Jobs for USA. Create Jobs for USA will pool donations from Starbucks customers, partners (employees) and concerned citizens into a nationwide fund for community business lending.

Iowa Still Anybodys Race to Win

Just two months before the GOP nomination voting begins, Iowa's presidential caucuses are any Republican candidate's to win. Republicans aren't really leaning toward former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney even though he's essentially been running for president since losing in the state in 2008. This time, none of his opponents have emerged as the consensus candidate of conservatives, however that could soon change.
Sensing an opening, Romney is stepping up his Iowa campaign and talking about winning the state after months of taking a more low-key approach. He probably will return to Iowa in November and hold a conference call with thousands of Iowa GOP caucus-goers.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, casting himself as the conservative option, is starting to confront Romney. With $15 million in the bank, Perry started running a TV ad last week that, without mentioning Romney challenges Romney's efforts to portray himself as the strongest candidate on the economy.
"I'll create at least 2 1/2 million new jobs, and I know something about that," Perry says in the ad that highlights Texas job creation.
Businessman Herman Cain, a political outsider enjoying a burst of momentum, has begun to focus more on Iowa, adding staff and visiting the state recently for the first time in 10 weeks. He's popular for his business background and plain-spoken speaking style. However he's far behind in building an Iowa campaign and he's under attack by conservatives for referring recently to abortion as a choice. But he trails both Romney and Perry in fundraising by the millions.
The up-for-grabs nature of the Iowa race matters nationally because the outcome on Jan. 3 will shape what happens in the states that vote next -- New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida -- and beyond.
As it stands now, Iowa reflects the Republican Party's lack of clarity when it comes to the crowded GOP field and its increasingly urgent search for a candidate who can defeat Democratic President Barack Obama next fall.

Large numbers of Iowa Republicans are undecided and just starting to tune into the race in earnest. Fewer than 20 of Iowa's 76 Republican legislators have publicly declared their support for a candidate, and no single candidate has a clear edge among those who have picked sides. At this point four years ago, nearly all lawmakers had endorsed someone. Critical groups of activists also are waiting to rally behind a candidate, too.
Iowa's evangelical pastors, influential among a part of the GOP base, are divided. So are home-school advocates.

Most of the 2012 candidates, but not Romney, courted Christian conservatives at a forum on values last weekend. The all-out effort to court social conservative is partly why Romney is recalibrating his approach toward Iowa, where he's only made three visits this year. He has been reached out quietly to past supporters and working to cast himself as the candidate with the strongest economic credentials. Unlike in 2008, he's not overtly competing for the love of social conservatives. These voters, a potent bloc in the caucuses, have had doubts about his Mormon faith and his reversals on several social issues.
Romney is the only major candidate who hasn't committed to appearing in Iowa at Tuesday's forum on manufacturing hosted by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Pella or the state GOP dinner Friday in Des Moines.
He has little choice given that he's lagging in state polls, facing challenges from the right and fighting with rivals for the backing of social conservatives. The former Texas agriculture commissioner and Air Force officer is trying to broad his appeal, reaching out to veterans and farmers as he looks to cobble together a winning coalition and stop Romney.

Republican Leadership Conference

The 2011 Republican Leadership Conference held its 3-day conference in New Orleans, which brought 2,000 Republicans from around the country to listen to conservative officials, candidates, and activists, speak about new initiatives of the GOP.

Perry Set to Unveil Flat Tax Plan Sometime Next WeeK

Wanting to reinvigorate his Republican presidential campaign, GOP hopeful Texas Gov. Rick Perry is set to reveal his plan to simplify the federal tax code with a flat income tax rate. This is a proposal that has energized conservatives in the past but failed to gain mainstream support.

Perry entered the presidential race as the expected frontrunner in August but has stumbled in his first few debates. He is hoping his plan will recapture that early momentum his campaign had early on, much in the same way that Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan helped position him to the front of the GOP field. Lately however, Cain’s plan has come under intense scrutiny and intense criticism, forcing the former pizza executive to redefine the plan to make it fairer for the poor.

Perry campaign aides have yet to unveil details of his plan yet but Perry said this week his plan will be "flatter and fairer" than Cain's. Sarah Palin endorsed the plan, telling Fox News it’s “going to gain momentum.” But liberal groups have quickly criticized Perry's plan, saying it would raise taxes on lower- and middle-income Americans while giving breaks to the wealthiest.
While many variations exist, the main idea is to replace the current stair-step range of income tax rates with one rate, paid by everyone. Advocates typically call for eliminating some or all of the existing tax deductions, such as those allowed for mortgage interest payments, gifts to charity and some medical costs.

Perry's plan will differ from Herman Cain's so-called 9-9-9 plan because it will not call for a national sales tax. Cain, whose presidential bid has prospered lately, wants a 9 percent flat tax on personal and corporate income, as well as a 9 percent national sales tax. Criticisms of a flat tax focus on its full or partial elimination of the progressive nature of the current tax code. In a progressive system, higher earners pay higher tax rates on their income.
Under a pure flat tax, with no exemptions or deductions, individuals who earns $200,000 a year would pay exactly 10 times the amount of tax paid by someone who earns $20,000 a year. All income would be subject to one flat rate. Under a progressive system, even if there were no exemptions or deductions to help poorer people, the $200,000 earner would pay more than 10 times the amount of tax paid by the $20,000 earner. That's because he pays higher rates on the upper portions of his income.

Supporters of progressive income tax systems say the feature is important to social fairness because other taxes tend to be regressive. For instance, a 5 percent state sales tax hits lower-income people proportionately harder than high earners because they must spend a larger portion of their income on necessities. That leaves them less able to save, invest or otherwise protect their income from the sales tax. Payroll taxes, gasoline levies and other taxes also tend to be regressive because they essentially are flat.

Mitt Romney Town Hall Meeting Part 2

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney held a town hall meeting at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. During this clip Romney discusses changes to the tax code and reform.

Mitt Romney Town Hall Meeting

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney held a town hall meeting at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. During the event, he said the Republican Party needed to do a better job in delivering its message to younger voters and Hispanics and other minorities in 2012 to elect a Republican president.

Obama’s Foreign Policy Victories May Not Matter in 2012

With the death of former Libya dictator Mommar Qaddafi, and the announcement that the Iraq War is coming to end, President Obama has been on a roll with foreign policy over the last six months since the takedown of Osama bin Laden. And while Obama is likely to play up his foreign policy accomplishments on the campaign trail, a struggling economy still heavily looms over his re-election bid.
But this hasn’t prevented Obama’s campaign from trying to find ways to maximize his foreign policy success. One approach is to contrast them with Congress' partisan-driven gridlock on taxes, the deficit and other domestic issues.
The Democrats hope that the American people will see a bold and more than capable president in Obama who keeps his promises when Republicans don't create roadblocks. They note that he green-lighted a daring nighttime raid to kill bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1; approved policies that led to last month's drone-missile killing of American-born terror advocate Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen; backed allied actions that led to Libyan leader Qaddafi's ouster and death; and is officially ending U.S. involvement in Iraq on schedule.
The list of achievements, contrasted with President George W. Bush's erroneous claims about Iraq's weaponry in the first place, should help Democrats shake their image of being the weaker party on national security. Translating that claim into votes for Obama 13 months from now may be difficult, however. The latest Associated Press poll confirmed that Americans still place a far greater emphasis on domestic issues, especially the economy, than on foreign matters, including the war on terrorism.
The poll found that Obama's overall approval rating is at an all-time low, 46 percent, for the second straight month, even though 64 percent of adults approved of his handling of terrorism. Only about 40 percent approved of his handling of the economy.
Ninety-three percent of those questioned said the economy was an extremely or very important issue. By comparison, 73 percent put the same emphasis on terrorism.
Democratic officials believe Obama's foreign policy record will look even better when the Republican presidential candidates hold a debate on that topic Nov. 15. Leading contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are current or former governors, while Herman Cain has never held public office. So none of the GOP candidates have any extensive foreign policy experience if at all.
Voters routinely accept that, however. In recent presidential elections they have chosen governors from Georgia, California, Arkansas and Texas, plus a first-term senator, Obama.
On Friday, Romney and Perry criticized Obama's handling of Iraq. "President Obama's astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women," Romney said.
Perry said in a statement: "I'm deeply concerned that President Obama is putting political expediency ahead of sound military and security judgment by announcing an end to troop level negotiations and a withdrawal from Iraq by year's end."
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Obama "kept his pledge to the nation to end the war in Iraq in a responsible way, he has promoted our security in Afghanistan, and eliminated key Al Qaeda leaders while strengthening American leadership around the world."
Long-time Republican strategist Rich Galen said the economy clearly will dominate the 2012 election, and it might undo Obama. As for Obama's foreign record, however, Galen said, "they're doing exactly the right thing" by highlighting every success they can.

Florida and the 2012 RNC

Lenny Curry discussed Florida's position as a key battleground state in the 2012 presidential election as well as the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL.

Obama Raises A Whopping $42 Million in Third Quarter, Laughs all the Way to the Bank.

Surpassing the expectations by members of his own party, the Obama re-election campaign raised $42.8 million in the period running from July through the end of September, an Obama campaign aide told CNN. The campaign announced publicly Thursday that along with the Democratic National Committee it brought in more than $70 million in the third quarter of fundraising.

Some Democratic sources had said they expected the combined total to be around $55 million.

The $42 million figure likely will be close to, or exceed the total raised by all of the Republican presidential candidates together for this quarter.

Campaigns have to report their amounts to the Federal Election Commission by Saturday. The Obama campaign and the DNC raised a record breaking $86 million in the last fundraising quarter that ended in June.

During the most recent quarter the Obama team had to deal with questions about whether key constituencies of the Democratic party base were fully supportive of President Obama, especially after a nasty confrontation over raising the nation's debt ceiling which resulted in an agreement that upset many in the progressive movement. The unstable economy has made it more difficult for all of the campaigns to raise funds during this time.

The president has had to cancel several fundraising events to stay in Washington due to the debt ceiling fight.  Obama unveiled his jobs proposal last month and displayed an aggressive stance toward congressional Republicans - moves that were applauded by many Democratic activists.

From July to September the Obama team reported that 606,000 people donated to the campaign - more than in the second fundraising quarter between April and June when it set a record for the number of donors. And it said of the 766,000 donations, 98% were $250 or less – a key figure as it tries to keep attracting the small donors who were a major driver for the 2008 campaign. One of the ways the campaign tried to woo small donors was to sponsor a contest with the prize being a dinner with Obama.

Overall, the campaign said since the president announced his re-election bid this spring, almost 983,000 individuals made donations, with 258,000 of them making their first contribution.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised $14.16 million in the 3rd quarter, and has $14.65 million on hand, according to financial numbers released today by the former Massachusetts governor's presidential campaign. Overall, Romney has raised a total of $32 million for the GOP presidential primary.

The total represents only primary contributions as the campaign did not raise general election funds, the campaign emphasizes. By comparison in 2007, Romney collected $10 million for the third quarter reporting period. Texas governor and GOP rival for the nomination Rick Perry raised $17 million in the same quarter-- his first full fundraising period as a presidential candidate. "Seems like they spend a lot of money and have little to show for it," tweaked Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman.

Battleground States and Campaign 2012

David Parker talked from Charlotte, North Carolina, about Democratic Party strategy in the key battleground state of North Carolina in 2012. Charlotte is the site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Third Party Presidential Bid

Elliot Ackerman talked about his new group, Americans Elect, that is hoping to secure ballot access in all fifty states for a third party 2012 presidential candidate. The group plans to run a national online nominating .

Cain the Center of Attention at Tuesday Debate

There was one clear winner from Tuesday's Republican presidential debate, based on the metrics of name recognition alone: businessman Herman Cain's "9-9-9 Plan." Cain, the latest Republican presidential candidate to surge to the top of the polls, found himself in the hot seat Tuesday night at a debate in New Hampshire centered on the economy.

Nearly all the candidates at the debate table had something to say about Cain's plan to replace the tax code with three, flat nine-percent federal taxes on consumption, business and income. Cain, once delegated to the remote wings of the debate stage, has of late, enjoyed a surge in the polls since he won the straw poll in Orlando, Fla., last month, and at the first debate since he joined former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry in the top tier, Cain and his policy proposals took up more of the debate's time than the ideas floated by any other candidate. Of course, this isn't to say that any of them praised Cain's idea. Everyone who had an opportunity took shots at the plan.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney suggested that the 9-9-9 scheme would be "inadequate" to solve the nation's problems. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, sharply questioned Cain's economic credentials. Bachmann said the plan would do little to create jobs and would simply offer the government a new way to collect tax revenue. Cain defended his plan as a fresh solution. "Therein lies the difference between me, the non-politician, and all of the politicians," he said. "They want to pass what they think they can get passed rather than what we need, which is a bold solution." Texas Rep. Ron Paul also attacked Cain for naming former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan as the kind of person he would appoint to the Fed if elected.

But none of his detractors were able to stop Cain from repeating the line all night. Perhaps not anticipating that the candidates would spend their own time discussing Cain's proposal, the moderators ran a pre-arranged clip of Cain touting it a few weeks ago and asked all the candidates to comment on it. Again. So they did, and the "9-9-9 Plan" got a fresh dose of airtime. It was as if every time the candidates mentioned those words--"9-9-9"--Cain got a little more powerful.


Separately, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defended the 2008 bailout of Wall Street banks, saying it was essential to preserving the nation's currency and financial system from collapse. Asked about his own 59-point plan, Romney said that while simplicity like the 9-9-9 plan are often helpful, they're also frequently incomplete. He noted that he wants to target a middle-class tax cut because the rich will survive and the poor have a safety net. As for his own economic plan, Perry said he is introducing it shortly, but the government must open the way for more production of domestic energy.
Hours before the candidates met, Romney picked up New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's endorsement, which he hopes will help cement his support among the GOP establishment and nurture an image that he's the party's inevitable nominee. But at least for tonight, everyone's talking about the 9-9-9 plan, and Cain couldn't have asked for a better gift from his opponents.

Van Jones Remarks on the Progressive Movement (Cont'd)

Former Obama administration Green Jobs Adviser Van Jones called on progressives to learn from the successes of the tea party movement. He warned that the progressive movement must be tied to "principles and not a person." Mr. Jones' speech was part of a Campaign for America's Future conference grassroots organizing, the progressive movement, and helping the middle class in a slow economy.

Van Jones Remarks on the Progressive Movement

Former Obama administration Green Jobs Adviser Van Jones called on progressives to learn from the successes of the tea party movement. Mr. Jones' speech was part of a Campaign for America's Future conference grassroots organizing, the progressive movement, and helping the middle class in a slow economy.

Obama's Best Bet for Reelection: Social Networking?

President Obama may be struggling in polls and losing support amongst his core supporters, but when it comes to the ability of identifying, connecting with and mobilizing voters, as well as integrating voter information with the complex workings of a national campaign, his team is way ahead of the Republican pack.
Alone among the major candidates running for president, Obama not only has a Facebook page with 23 million "likes,” he has a Facebook app that is scooping up all kinds of facts about his supporters. Users of the Obama 2012 AreYouIn? app are not only giving the campaign personal data like their name, gender, birthday, current city, religion and political views, they are sharing their list of friends and information those friends share, like their birthday, current city, religion and political views.
According to a report by CNN, the Obama operation staff members are using a powerful social networking tool called NationalField, which enables everyone to share what they are working on. Modeled on Facebook, the tool connects all levels of staff to the information they are gathering as they work on tasks like signing up volunteers, knocking on doors, identifying likely voters and dealing with problems. Managers can set goals for field organizers like the number of calls made, the number of doors knocked, and see how people are doing against all kinds of metrics.
In addition to all the hard data, users can share qualitative information: what points or themes worked for them in a one-on-one conversation with voters, for example. "Ups," "Downs" and "Solutions" are color-coded, so people can see where successes are happening or challenges brewing.
For a campaign that tapped the volunteer energies of millions of people in 2008 and appears to need all the help it can get in 2012, these kinds of fine-grained technologies could make a key difference. While the Republican field has been focused on how their candidates are doing with social networking, Obama's campaign operatives are devising a new kind of social intelligence that will help drive campaign resources where they are most needed.
It all sounds like common sense, but actually, connecting and synchronizing the data a campaign collects from its field operation, fundraising operation and Web operation isn't a trivial task. Most political campaigns tend to rely on consultants to carry out part or all of these functions, resulting in even greater obstacles to sharing information.
But how powerful can this data driven politics be? By the end of the 2008 election, it had amassed 13 million supporter e-mail addresses, collected nearly 4 million individual donations and tallied about 2 million registered users on my.BarackObama.com, the campaign's social networking platform. Seventy thousand members have used the site to conduct their own personalized fundraising campaigns.
Since 2008, enthusiasm for Obama has waned, but his online presence hasn't. His base on Facebook has soared nearly six times from the 4 million he had on Election Day, and his following on Twitter now stands at 10 million, dwarfing the Republican field. So even if Obama isn't drawing millions of people off their sofas to rally to his side on their own in 2012, his team has a huge amount of raw data to work with as they build his re-election machine.

Perry in a Heap of Trouble after Pastor Remarks

These days on the campaign trail poor Rick Perry just can’t seem to catch a break. The presidential hopeful spoke at the Values Voter Summit, a social gathering of hundreds of conservatives in Washington, on Friday, however the evangelical pastor who introduced him stole the show, sparking a controversy in the process. The Texas pastor introduced Rick Perry at the major conference of Christian conservatives as “a genuine follower of Jesus Christ” and then walked outside and attacked Mitt Romney’s religion, calling the Mormon Church a cult and stating that Mr. Romney “is not a Christian.”
Jeffress praised Rick Perry for defunding Planned Parenthood in Texas, calling the provider of women’s health and abortion services, “that slaughterhouse for the unborn.” He also lauded Perry’s “strong commitment to biblical values.”
Jeffress’ comments and his backing of Perry threaten to inject some tension into what has been a relatively quiet year for religion on the campaign trail and the Perry campaign sought to ease the growing uproar.
This raised immediate suspicions that the attack might have been a way for surrogates or supporters of Mr. Perry, the Texas governor, who has stumbled in recent weeks, to gain ground by raising religious concerns about Mr. Romney. The campaign’s official comment on Jeffress changed quickly on Friday afternoon. When initially asked by ABC News whether Gov. Perry agreed that Mormonism is a cult, Perry spokesman Mark Miner said: “The governor doesn’t judge what is in the heart and soul of others. He leaves that to God.”
Back in 2007, Jeffress had this to say about Romney: “Even though he talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult.” In 2008, Jeffress asserted that Mormons worship ”false” god and said: “I believe we should always support a Christian over a non-Christian.”
The Perry campaign sought to put some space between Mr. Perry and Mr. Jeffress, stating that the governor “does not believe Mormonism is a cult” and that Mr. Jeffress was chosen to speak by the organizers of the event, the Values Voter Summit, which was put on by the Family Research Council, the American Family Association and other evangelical Christian groups. A Romney spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Jeffress’ remarks.
While refuting that his comments were coordinated with the Perry campaign, Mr. Jeffress said he emphatically believed that Mr. Romney’s faith would spell trouble for him with many Republican voters and make it hard for him to win in Iowa, as well as South Carolina and other Bible Belt states.
He also said that he believed Mr. Romney is a “good, moral person,” and that he would endorse him over the president. If it comes to that, he said, “I’m going to instruct, I’m going to advise people that it is much better to vote for a non-Christian who embraces biblical values than to vote for a professing Christian like Barack Obama who embraces un-biblical values.” Looks like things are starting to heat up as the year winds to a close. These next few weeks on the campaign trail should be very interesting to say the least.

2010 Elections and the Democratic Party

Former Governor Kaine spoke about Democratic Party prospects in the 2010 midterm elections and the party's efforts to register and motivate voter turnout.

Christie Set to Run?

After months of avoiding the issue, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is finally giving some serious thought to the idea of throwing his hat into the ring for a GOP presidential run; and could make his decision next week, The Post has reported. The announcement may come as early as Monday, said sources familiar with Christie’s thinking. The renewed consideration about a White House run came after prodding this week from some Republicans he idolizes, as well as a Republican field that has been struggling to put forward a clear front-runner, creating an opening.

Only the pugnacious, popular Christie could pull off such a complete 180 from his blustering denial of interest less than a year ago. Republican insiders familiar with Christie's thinking about a presidential bid are now putting the odds of him running at 50-50, telling CBS News there's a "decent chance" he will get in. If Christie rules it out, as one insider said, it's because he will see too many potential roadblocks in his path to the Republican nomination.

Insiders say Christie is ready to put a presidential campaign together “pretty fast.”
And he’d have to, since filing deadlines for key primary ballots are just weeks off.
Months ago, his top advisers roughed out a finance plan that could be put into play immediately, insiders said. The heightened buzz has Washington Republicans worked up too. If Christie decides to run he would be a formidable force in uniting the base of the GOP and winning over independents. His candidacy may not be a lock on the White House, but his positive effect on the race

It may be too late for Christie to make a competitive run. Running an effective campaign for president takes years of preparation and planning and is difficult to create this late in the game. Raising the money needed would also be a daunting task for Christie. The filing deadline for the Florida primary is the end of next month, and Christie would need to put together a campaign team and fund raising

apparatus within a matter of weeks if he decides to get in. And he could have a hard time keeping up with Mitt Romney and Rick Perry in fund raising when he does get in, since he'll have to focus on developing a national platform and prepare for debates and interviews.

It's also unknown how rank-and-file Republicans will respond to Christie, who holds moderate views on bedrock conservative issues like gun control, civil unions, and immigration that will make it hard for him to compete in the first-in-the-nation voting state of Iowa. But Christie would also enter the race with serious advantages, including the strong support of wealthy northeastern donors and a brash, confrontational style that makes many Republicans swoon.

Hispanic Voters and Campaign 2010 (Cont'd)

Brent Wilkes talked about the role of Hispanic voters in 2010 midterm elections and civic group efforts to increase Hispanic voter participation. Other topics issues of importance to the Hispanic community and allegations that some groups are trying to discourage Hispanic turnout in 2010.

Hispanic Voters and Campaign 2010

Brent Wilkes talked about the role of Hispanic voters in 2010 midterm elections and civic group efforts to increase Hispanic voter participation. Other topics issues of importance to the Hispanic community and allegations that some groups are trying to discourage Hispanic turnout in 2010.

Race an Issue for Obama

As President Barack Obama begins to roll on his reelection campaign, he has an ever growing weakness in a demographic, that by all accounts, ought to be rock solid: African-American Democrats. Their support for his programs, belief in his leadership and enthusiasm for another term is becoming unstable just as he needs it most.
Recent developments in the past few weeks have been concerning; the president has been chastised by the Congressional Black Caucus for avoiding troubled inner-city districts, bombarded with questions on BET, and suffered plummeting poll numbers among black voters.
That last item is critical. During the 2008 election, their turnout was massive and their support almost unanimous. Now, however, a Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that black voters with a "strongly favorable" view of Obama dropped from 86% to 58% in just five months. The drastic drop in approval for the President over recent weeks is something to discuss. Simply put, if you think back to 2008 the white voters heralded the election of a black president as a sign that long-standing racial gaps were closing, and they expected Obama to play a post-racial role; a president for everyone, who just happened to be black. Meanwhile, many of the African-American voters similarly saw his election as a great leap forward and hoped the presence of a black president in the Oval Office would bring a new level of understanding, acknowledgment, and relief for their community's problems.
The driving problem, however, is neither black nor white -- it is green. Joblessness, bad for everyone, is much worse in African-American communities, where unemployment is pushing 17%, the worst since the 1980s. That is what triggered the revolt in the CBC and those tough questions during TV interviews. The president has been on the defensive, pointing out that his initiatives, such as health care reform and the recent jobs bill, especially help lower-income families, many of whom are black. On BET, he quickly dismissed talk about a lack of specific programs for minorities.
"What people are saying all across the country is we are hurting and we've been hurting for a long time," the president said. "The question is: How can we make sure the economy is working for every single person?"
He also insisted that even if black leaders are complaining, it's not really about him or his policies. There's always going to be somebody who is critical of the president of the United States. And at a CBC fundraising dinner he raised eyebrows by telling members to quit complaining and start "marching" with him for change.
To be sure, most African-Americans still support Obama. Political analysts do not expect a massive shift of their votes to the Republicans; and even the president's most adamant black critics often follow their barbs with a quick salve, saying African-American voters ultimately will not oppose him. Still, the danger for the White House is not that black citizens will vote against Obama, but that they won't vote at all. A less than expected  turnout in just a few key states could tip the electoral balance against him. What's more, every moment he spends making sure black Democrats come to the polls increases his risk of distancing himself from white voters, and is time lost winning over independents, whom he also must have if he wants to return to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for four more years. He faces a balancing act in the 2012 campaign in appealing to various blocs.