Wall Street Journal : "Today's Republican party is more populist and downscale than your father's GOP". - Tim Pawlenty is "Scott Walker with experience" and shows a grasp of tea-party-friendly populist economics - Scott Walker in Wisconsin is just doing some of the same things Pawlenty had already done in Minnesota.

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Wall Street Journal
Is America Ready for President TPaw ?
The TPaw moment has arrived.

By GERALD F. SEIB
MAY 23, 2011

Is America Ready for President TPaw ?


Some excerpts :

For the uninitiated, TPaw is Tim Pawlenty, recently departed governor of Minnesota and one Republican who's neither coy nor reticent about running for president. He formally launched his candidacy with a speech in Iowa Monday.

Some cynics—citing his relative anonymity and his, well, nonelectric personal style—will scoff. They shouldn't.

Few candidates have had as many things break right for them as has Mr. Pawlenty in the last three months. The shape of the Republican field, the departure of some potential rivals, the pace of the campaign and the emerging issue mix all have broken about as well for the 50-year-old Minnesotan as he could have hoped.

That doesn't mean Republicans are enraptured by him, or that he will succeed in taking advantage of this opening. His climb remains uphill. Still, he does have a golden chance to become the chief rival to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

He offers a good narrative for today's Republican party, which is more populist and downscale than your father's GOP.

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As governor he fought Democrats in a budget battle that led to a government shutdown, and battled public-employee unions in a long transit strike. As Stanley Kurtz wrote recently on National Review Online, he is "Scott Walker with experience," a reference to the new Wisconsin GOP governor, who recently caused a much bigger ruckus by doing some of the same things Mr. Pawlenty had already done in Minnesota.

As a former Catholic who has become an evangelical Christian, Mr. Pawlenty has bonds with the Christian conservatives so important in the early states of Iowa and South Carolina.

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"Internet fund-raising from small donors has become the way that insurgent candidates can wage asymmetrical political warfare. But in the early going, ideologically intense long-shots (Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann) have far greater online appeal than establishmentarian play-it-safe contenders"

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"The New Republic" about Tim Pawlenty and his urgent need of money to run - Internet fund-raising does not seem the best option for him, he has to spend immense amount of time shaking hands at dinners.

Tim Pawlenty and John Huntsman will have to fly cross-country to woo wealthy donors in LA when they should be holding a town meeting in a high-school gym in Cedar Rapids. The pressure to raise $1.5 million a week to compete with Mitt Romney.

The New Republic
Tim Pawlenty's Cash Problem
The major flaw that could sink the former Minnesota governor’s presidential campaign
By Walter Shapiro
May 23, 2011


Tim Pawlenty's Cash Problem


Some excerpts :

And here lies Pawlenty’s problem: To run a competitive campaign, T-Paw will be forced to spend long hours each week ingratiating himself with wealthy donors in places like Houston and Atlanta. But in this cycle’s foreshortened campaign season, Pawlenty cannot afford to shirk even a minute of the face-to-face politics that have proven essential to winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. In other words, in a race where time will likely be of the essence, Pawlenty has dangerously little of it to go around.

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This means that Pawlenty has maybe six months to raise $40 million, which works out to be about $1.5 million (or 600 donors giving the maximum of $2,500) per week. Last week, Pawlenty held what probably will be his largest fund-raising event of the second quarter, raising $800,000 from home-state supporters (aka “low-hanging fruit”) in Minneapolis. To hit $40 million by December, Pawlenty has to have two fund-raising events on par with the Minneapolis rollout every single week.

What about the online political cash machine? Since the dramatic rise of Howard Dean in 2003, Internet fund-raising from small donors has become the way that insurgent candidates can wage asymmetrical political warfare. But in the early going, ideologically intense long-shots (Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann) have far greater online appeal than establishmentarian play-it-safe contenders. If Pawlenty wins Iowa or somehow galvanizes conservatives with dramatic debate performances, then maybe he will be a click away from online riches. But that is a hope rather than a realistic strategy.

The only way that candidates like Pawlenty and Huntsman can reliably raise big bucks is through the most labor-intense form of old-fashioned fund-raising—putting high-roller donors in the same room with the candidate and cocktails and a catered dinner. With Pawlenty running neck-and-neck with the margin of error in most national polls, would-be T-Paw donors will be making a leap of faith rather than betting on a sure thing. That is why they need the handshake, the hand-on-the-shoulder conversation, and the autographed picture with Pawlenty to prove they were there (far) right from the start. Phone calls by Pawlenty from a van in Iowa are not enough—the candidate has to care enough to come to them.

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Republican time bomb : Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed budget : As most House Republicans remained mute during a GOP meeting on the Ryan plan, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) rose and drily asserted : "People in my district like Medicare"

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Paul Ryan’s controversial measure was passed in a deceptively unified 235-193 vote, with only four House GOP dissenters.

House Republicans are wasting time and money with a Budget Proposal that will never become Law ( because the Democrat U. S. Senate will reject it ) - Prominent Republicans realize how stupid these Republican efforts are.

POLITICO.COM
Republicans ignored warnings on Paul Ryan plan
By GLENN THRUSH & JAKE SHERMAN
May 23, 2011


Republicans ignored warnings on Paul Ryan plan


Some excerpts :

It might be a political time bomb — that’s what GOP pollsters warned as House Republicans prepared for the April 15 vote on Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposed budget, with its plan to dramatically remake Medicare.

No matter how favorably pollsters with the Tarrance Group or other firms spun the bill in their pitch — casting it as the only path to saving the beloved health entitlement for seniors — the Ryan budget’s approval rating barely budged above the high 30s or its disapproval below 50 percent, according to a Republican operative familiar with the presentation.

The poll numbers on the plan were so toxic — nearly as bad as those of President Barack Obama’s health reform bill at the nadir of its unpopularity — that staffers with the National Republican Congressional Committee warned leadership, “You might not want to go there” in a series of tense pre-vote meetings.

But go there Republicans did, en masse and with rhetorical gusto — transforming the political landscape for 2012, giving Democrats a new shot at life and forcing the GOP to suddenly shift from offense to defense.

It’s been more than a month since Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his lieutenant, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va) boldly positioned their party as a beacon of fiscal responsibility — a move many have praised as principled, if risky. In the process, however, they raced through political red lights to pass Ryan’s controversial measure in a deceptively unified 235-193 vote, with only four GOP dissenters.

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At a fundraiser shortly after the vote, a frustrated Camp groused, “We shouldn’t have done it” and that he was “overridden,” according to a person in attendance.

A few days earlier, as most Republicans remained mute during a GOP conference meeting on the Ryan plan, Camp rose and drily asserted, “People in my district like Medicare,” one lawmaker, who is now having his own doubts about voting yes, told POLITICO.

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HuffPost : Fox News is trying to distance itself from the Tea Party movement -- which it heavily promoted in 2009 - Fox News Chief Roger Ailes wants the New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to run - Ailes dislikes Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Co.

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This information is Amazing !! ..... Sarah Palin has no chance of winning the Republican Primary if Fox News dislikes her :

Huffington Post
Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Thinks Sarah Palin Is 'Stupid': New York Magazine
By Michael Calderone
May 22, 2011


Fox News Chief Roger Ailes Thinks Sarah Palin Is 'Stupid': New York Magazine


Some excerpts :

NEW YORK -- Fox News still dominates the cable news ratings, but chairman Roger Ailes wants something more: to help elect the next president.

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nother GOP source told Sherman that "every single [Republican] candidate has consulted with Roger." However, Ailes isn't a big huge fan of any of them.

That's the takeaway from Gabriel Sherman's New York magazine cover story hitting newsstands Monday. Sherman, who's currently writing a book on Fox News for Random House, looks at how Ailes -- who built up a stable of possible presidential contenders after the 2008 election, including Sarah Palin -- isn't so pleased with their chances at beating President Barack Obama in 2012.

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Outside of running himself -- a somewhat ridiculous idea floated in October 2009 -- what's Ailes left to do if he wants to elect a Republican in 2012? Paging Chris Christie!

Sherman reports that Ailes called the New Jersey Governor a few months ago "and encouraged him to jump into the race." That's not the first time they've discussed the idea. Ailes brought Christie and talk show host Rush Limbaugh to his upstate New York home for dinner last summer. Despite Ailes' courtship, Christie isn't running.

In the piece, Sherman also provides a behind-the-scenes look at Ailes' split with Glenn Beck, network disputes over a Palin special, the 2009 feud with the White House, and how Fox News is trying to distance itself from the Tea Party movement -- which it heavily promoted in 2009 -- by now highlighting straight news stars like Bret Baier and Shepard Smith.

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So we'll see how Ailes responds now after a Republican close to him anonymously claims he and Chris Matthews may actually have the same opinion of Palin.

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POLITICO.com : Mitch Daniels OUT : "The GOP race is being shaped by who’s not running" - "The weakest Republican primary field in recent memory" - Beneficiaries of Daniels’s absence : Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman

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Intelligent and Wise Republicans ( there are some of them ! ) watch how the events unfold and want a "dark and hidden horse" to win the race.

Many GOP professionals with strong ties to the Bush family, are desperate making efforts to get Jeb Bush tu run, Jeb Bush is the former two-term governor of Florida, and was very successful in Education, budget control, etc ..... and he is moderate, rational and a great friend of Latinos, his wife is Mexican, but he is very reluctant and already said NO ! ...

Jeb Bush is the only Republican that is said to perhaps attract the Latino Vote. Who knows ?? ... I think that Republicans have reached the point of no return, and even a super star like Jeb Bush can not perform the magic.

Republicans, if you are wise, then reserve that wonderful candidate ( the Jeb ) for 2016, when you have had another four years of "weeping and gnashing of teeth"

POLITICO.com
With Mitch Daniels out, GOP looking for new 2012 option
By JONATHAN MARTIN
May 22, 2011


With Mitch Daniels out, GOP looking for new 2012 option


Some excerpts :

Mitch Daniels’s overnight decision against a presidential bid will immediately raise the volume on the low-hum grumbling among Republican insiders that they’re gearing up to face President Obama with the weakest primary field in recent memory.

The pressure on a handful of Republicans who’ve insisted they won’t consider running but would be potentially strong alternatives to Mitt Romney will now significantly intensify, but the ultimate beneficiaries of Daniels’s absence may be two candidates already on course to run: Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman.

At the moment, though, the Indiana governor’s exit illustrates the degree to which the GOP race is being shaped by who’s not running.

Consider the list of would-be candidates who’ve passed on a campaign in the last four months: Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and now Daniels.

Add Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan and Rick Perry – Republicans with star power who’ve said flatly they won’t run – and it translates into a GOP establishment deeply worried that the flawed options they’re left with won’t be any match for an incumbent president who seemingly won’t face a primary but is likely to shatter campaign fundraising records.

“Insofar as politics abhors even a near-vacuum, others are bound to get in,” Weekly Standard editor William Kristol predicted this morning, suggesting a race that could “remain open and fluid until Thanksgiving.”

One Daniels friend and longtime Republican, who had already gotten dozens of emails by 7:30 bemoaning the news, was blunt when asked about who in the current field was now more appealing: “None of the above.”

In the near-term, Daniels’s exit means that Republican donors, operatives and elected officials aren’t likely to keep taking no for an answer and will surely attempt to convince one of the would-be candidates who’ve already rebuffed entreaties to reconsider.

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REUTERS Analysis : 12 dangerous Swing States that Obama won in 2008 by less than 15% : Nevada, Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida

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Conservative states like North Carolina, Indiana and Virginia will be very difficult for Obama 2012 given the unemployment and economic situation. Traditional Rust Belt battlegrounds like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are crucial for re-election. They are not easy for Obama.

Nevada has the highest state unemployment rate at 11.9 percent. Florida and North Carolina have unemployment rates above 9 percent.

REUTERS.COM
Obama faces narrower path to 2012 re-election
By John Whitesides
Friday May 20, 2011 3


Obama faces narrower path to 2012 re-election


Some excerpts :

The Obama campaign has promised to push hard to compete in states like North Carolina and Virginia, where he was helped last time by a big voter turnout among blacks. In a sign of the commitment, the Democratic nominating convention will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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In addition to the traditional big three battlegrounds -- Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida -- Nevada and Colorado will be critical to Obama's hopes.

Those two Western states and New Mexico are home to big Hispanic populations that Democrats hope will create a Western stronghold in 2012. Some Democrats hope to add Arizona to the mix.

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"No matter who is on their ticket, Republicans are going to have problems in 2012 with Latino voters," said Simon Rosenberg, head of the Democratic advocacy group NDN. Hispanics also could have an impact in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and be a factor in a few other states, he said.

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The stubbornly high unemployment rate also will be vital to Obama's hopes, and several crucial 2012 battlegrounds have unemployment rates above the national average of 9 percent.

Nevada, where an influx of new residents and the growing Hispanic population propelled Obama to a 2008 win, has the highest state unemployment rate at 11.9 percent. Florida and North Carolina also have unemployment rates above 9 percent.

Simon Rosenberg ( NDN Hispanics ) said the political map would be heavily influenced by how the economy fares in the next 18 months.

"A year from now, if the economy is in good shape, Obama gets re-elected. If it's not, he doesn't. It's that simple," he said.

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VIDEO, Obama calls for the first time to begin negotiations for a Palestinian state based on Israel's pre-1967 borders and supports the Arab Spring. Call Obama anything, but do not call him a coward. My Psychoanalysis of Obama

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Many say Obama is the Antichrist, an undercover Muslim, a Manchurian Candidate, an Anti-White Racist, the destroyer of America with "Entitlements", a crazy spender, etc ... - I do not agree ....

Obama is not perfect, he has the defects of his qualities. People that are Professorial, Intellectual, Rational, Cerebral, Introverted may be also Idealistic and even Illusory or Delusional.

But Obama a Coward ??

No way, perhaps the best quality of the President is Courage, Bravery, Valor, Relentless Determination and Decision in the face of Perils and Dangers. He is no sissy or weakling to be pushed.

If he seems dithering or irresolute is because he is thinking carefully, he is not precipitate or rash, but he evaluates carefully all posisitions and decisions and leaves room to back in case of trouble.

And Obama is a long range and long term thinker, he is not immediatist. He plans for the long term future of America and the World.

This formidable guy Obama is not a man of Prejudices, being Half-Black Half-White has helped him to understand the supreme irrationality and stupidity of Prejudices and Ethnic Hatreds.

Obama Urges Israel to Go Back to 1967 Borders

VIDEO, Fox News, Carl Cameron - Fox News presents here the Republican Candidates as a bunch of crazies and crackpots .... Beware of the end of the World and Repent !

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This is strange : Fox News presenting the Republican Candidates in bad light - Can these crazies defeat the Professorial, Intellectual, Rational Obama ( the slayer of Dragon Osama Bin Laden ) ??


Uploaded by SubscribeForMoreNews on May 18, 2011

Race to Face Obama in 2012 [FOX: 5-18-2011]

National Journal : Evangelical Christians were 44% of GOP’s primary electorate in 2008 - Mitt Romney encountered strong resistance from them in 2008, because of being a Mormon - Front Runner Mitt Rommey is threatened by dislike of Evangelicals for him :

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Obama is attacking Mitt Romney, by praising Romney's Excellent Health Care in Massachusetts,  Shrewd Obama is creating big problems for this Front Runner and for the Republican Party, because Obama makes the Republican Primary more disputed and more contentious, lots of Republican blood. The Republican candidates will be forced to be more extremist, right wing and even racist in order to win the nomination, but that strategy of Racism and Extremism dooms the Republicans in the later General Election for President.

This is the most important paragraph of this article in the "National Journal" :

"So, Huckabee might have helped Romney by siphoning off the voters most skeptical of him—evangelical Christians—into a candidacy that ultimately was unlikely to succeed. Huckabee had the potential, Ayres notes, of denying to any other candidate “the voters Romney will find most difficult to get.” In the same way, Huckabee might have again dominated the Deep South primaries—where Romney faces the biggest hurdles—and thus taken them off the board for any other competitor".

National Journal
Romney’s Evangelical Problem
Challenged: Mitt Romney
Mike Huckabee’s exit from the race makes it more imperative for Mitt Romney to increase his appeal among evangelicals.

By Ronald Brownstein
May 20, 2011


Romney’s Evangelical Problem



Some excerpts :

Romney has encountered two levels of resistance from evangelicals: doubts that he is truly committed to conservative positions on social issues such as abortion, and theological tension over his Mormon religion. That latter problem was especially pronounced in the South, where Southern Baptists and Pentecostals, two groups particularly leery of Mormonism, make up at least two-thirds of Republican evangelicals, notes John C. Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron who is an expert on religion and politics. Class issues compound Romney’s challenge. Polls suggest that his smooth, boardroom manner plays better among college-educated than noncollege Republicans, and in many places evangelicals tilt toward the latter. (See “Populists Versus Managers,” NJ, 12/18/10, p. 16.)

Evangelicals constituted 44 percent of GOP presidential primary voters in 2008.

Romney’s weakness with evangelicals, somewhat counterintuitively, explains why he might have benefited had Huckabee entered the race. In 2008, Huckabee won either a plurality or a majority of evangelicals in 15 of the 29 states with exit polls, including virtually every Southern state. Huckabee’s appeal to Southern evangelicals was so powerful that he won five states in Dixie after his late-January defeat in South Carolina essentially guaranteed that he would not capture the nomination.

But Huckabee showed extremely limited appeal beyond that community. In 15 states last time, he attracted no more than single-digit support among non-evangelical voters. Unless Huckabee could have radically extended his reach in 2012, that profile suggests that he would have had enough of a floor to threaten Romney but probably too low a ceiling to beat him.

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Now, those evangelical voters and Southern states are in play again and are a potentially bigger risk to Romney if they support a candidate with a greater chance than Huckabee of incorporating them into a broader coalition. “The reaction of a lot of people is that Huckabee being out is good for Romney,” Green says. “But, strategically, it might create a more serious problem for him.”

Almost all GOP analysts agree that Huckabee’s departure increases the odds that evangelical voters will fragment early on, especially in Iowa, whose caucuses will kick off the Republican race. But if the contest eventually reduces to Romney and one rival—either in the South Carolina primary or immediately after it—Huckabee’s exit increases the possibility that evangelicals will unify against Romney, unless he can expand his appeal with them.

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TIME.COM : When Obama joked in El Paso Texas that Republicans would soon demand a border moat filled with alligators, instantly Twitter exploded with messages, people sending the quote to friends, signaling a messaging victory

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TIME.COM -
White House Memo -
Can They Win, One Tweet at a Time? -
By Michael Scherer -
Thursday, May 19, 2011


Can They Win, One Tweet at a Time?



Some excerpts :

When Barack Obama traveled to Texas this month to talk immigration, David Plouffe, his top message guru, decided to stay home and watch Twitter instead. While Obama spoke, Plouffe sat before two flat-screen televisions in the White House complex. One showed live footage of Obama in El Paso. The other flickered with a lightning-quick vertical ticker tape of people tweeting with the #immigration hashtag, reacting line by line to the President in real time. "I find it useful," Plouffe says, "to see what's penetrating."

When Obama went off script to joke that Republicans would soon demand a border moat filled with alligators, a blur of Twitter messages showed people sending the quote to friends and followers, signaling a messaging victory of sorts. "It's kind of the next evolution," Plouffe explains. "Remember back in 2008, you'd have the presidential debate, and then most of the networks would have some sort of dial going up and down. That seems very Jurassic Park–like compared to this."

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Plouffe, who served as Obama's 2008 campaign manager, is an engineer, more interested in data, numbers and quantifiable metrics than in storytelling. He uses the word cume as a verb — meaning "to build up a cumulative audience" — and describes other people as "influence hubs."

From the moment he arrived in January, Plouffe changed the way the White House unfolds each morning. He demanded far more precision and repetition in the language used by the President and his surrogates. ("Win the future," ad nauseam.) He sought greater outreach to state and local media outlets. (West Wing aides now get news summaries from regional papers and local 6 o'clock news broadcasts, not just national publications.) And he doubled down on efforts by the White House to use social media to spread its message.

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