comMITTed to Romney!

ROMNEY IN COUNTY: Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate, will be the keynote speaker for the Lake County Republican Federation’s annual fall dinner Sept. 24 at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort.

“We are delighted to welcome Gov. Romney to Lake County and to our fall dinner,” said Alexander Stuart of Lake Forest, federation president. “It is an honor to have such a distinguished champion of free enterprise and public service speak to us as we gear up for the critical elections in November.”

Tickets for the dinner range from $100 per person to $1,000 for a table of 10. Seating is limited. For more information, contact federation Executive Director Chelsea Stanley at (847) 680-6680 or e-mail chelsea@lcgop.org .

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[ Editor's Commentary: Kudos to New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond for not dignifying the presence of the most pro abortion President to ever occupy the Oval Office in connection with his scheduled speech at Xavier University. The Archbishop was not invited to Obama's speech at the school and my understanding is that he would not have attended the speech even had he been invited.

We need to maintain a principled resistance to this failed President and his ruinous policies and "being otherwise occupied" when President Frequent Flier blows into town is a good start.

~~John Cronin~~]

FOXNEWS.COM

President Obama will be in New Orleans Saturday to remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina five years after the storm roared ashore, but the location the White House has picked for his remarks is stirring an old controversy — and it has nothing to do with storm or the rebuilding of the Gulf.

Some Catholics don’t agree with the fact that the president is being allowed to speak at Xavier University, a Catholic institution, because it is giving a platform to someone who is very publically opposed to the teachings of the Catholic church.

They argue that his positions on issues of life — abortion and stem cell research specifically — means that he should not be given the chance to speak so openly at a Catholic university.

It all goes back to a 2004 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) statement on “Catholics in Political Life.” It reads in part, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

The controversy similarly swirled when the pro-choice and pro-stem cell research president was invited to speak at Notre Dame’s commencement address in 2009, where he was also given an honorary degree.

While neither the Notre Dame speech nor the Xavier one were set up to be outright political events, some argue there can always be a political dimension and that in his commencement address the president did bring up both abortion and stem cells.

“The situations are similar in that President Obama is choosing a Catholic environment to provide a platform for his political activity, and the U.S. Bishops have expressed concern about a Catholic institution being used for purposes by individuals who are clearly opposed to Catholic teaching,” said Patrick Reilly, the president of the Cardinal Newman Society a lay Catholic educational group.

Reilly also mentioned there’s the possibility of becoming political and argued it’s a bigger issue that Xavier is not taking a stand, “[The] Greater concern about Catholic institutions trying to simply be a neutral platform, when they ought to be actively promoting Christian values,” he said.

The USCCB is the organization that issued that 2004 statement, however in matters like these, as with the Notre Dame case, the group doesn’t take a stand on specific matters, and leaves that to the local archdiocese.The issue delves into a bit of church hierarchy, but ultimately the USCCB, a national group, defers to the local jurisdiction and wouldn’t supercede their views. That allows for the local church officials to interpret the 2004 USCCB statement’s meaning.

New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond will not be attending Obama’s speech at Xavier and has no plans to meet with the president.

“He was not in any way consulted, invited — nor will he attend the event with President Obama at Xavier,” said Sarah McDonald, Director of Communications for Archdiocese of New Orleans.

As far as invitations go, university officials say, all questions regarding invitation process go to the White House.

The archbishop will be taking part in other services that day that were already planned.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/08/26/obama-violating-catholic-bishops-position-katrina-speech-location#ixzz0xiQ1fCxh

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NEW ORLEANS — Mitt Romney won the straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership conference here Saturday in a victory that will be taken as a sign of the former Massachusetts governor’s strength as a 2012 presidential candidate.

That’s because the 2008 GOP presidential hopeful elected to skip the conference to continue his book tour, unlike many of his rivals.

Romney triumphed by a single vote over Ron Paul, who took second place, 439 votes to 438. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich tied for third with 18 percent of the vote each.

1,806 ballots were cast by the conservative activists who attended the conference. No other candidate got more than four percent of the vote.

On the straw poll ballot, conference attendees were asked who they would vote for if the Republican presidential primary were today. They were asked for a first and second choice from among nine candidates: Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Gary Johnson, Palin, Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Romney and Rick Santorum. (See the ballot here.)

Huckabee, Pawlenty and Romney did not appear at the conference, though Pawlenty sent in a video address. Some rumored 2012 candidates, including Rick Perry, Haley Barbour and Bobby Jindal asked to be taken off the ballot, Hotline’s Reid Wilson reported.

Supporters of both Romney and Paul spent money in an effort to win the straw poll, with a group called “Evangelicals for Mitt” paying for 200 tickets for supporters and Paul’s Campaign for Liberty offering more than 600 discounted tickets for Paul backers, according to Washington Post’s David Weigel.

Paul’s mostly-college age supporters stood out form the rest of the conference-goers and cheered their preferred candidate loudly when he spoke. Many other attendees remained silent or offered only polite applause during Paul’s speech. Paul won the Conservative Political Action Conference in February on the strength of his passionate if limited following.

“Evangelicals for MItt” gave away books, buttons and piggy banks to conference attendees and urged them to cast ballots. Organizers claimed they did not coordinate with Romney’s Political Action Committee or staff, though one attendee speculated that they found her via Romney’s e-mail list and offered a free ticket.

Straw polls offer a signal about the level of support for various candidates, though detractors are quick to note they are easily manipulated and that the pool of respondents do not necessarily represent the party overall. The winner in 2006 was former Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, who won when the conference was held in his home state of Memphis.

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By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret News

Tracy Parker, a wedding hostess from Centerville, was already starting to read her pre-autographed copy of his book, included in the ticket price. Parker said the evening was a surprise 50th birthday present from her husband, Rich.

“I’m excited to read it. Oh my gosh, there are so many things I think about,” she said, tapping the cover of the book. “I have no idea what we should be doing. But this man is so smart.”

Some Utahns in the audience paid extra to spend time with Romney at a reception held before the speech that also was attended by fellow Republicans politicians, including Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch and Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

Chaffetz joked about the large turnout for Romney. “He’s a rock star. Jon Bon Jovi doesn’t get this many people.”

Larry Deans, who moved from Southern California to Hooper, Weber County, after losing his aerospace job, said Romney spoke at the reception about his time as head of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and “how warm and wonderful the people of Utah are.”

Deans said he wants to see Romney make another run for the White House to bring his business expertise to Washington, D.C. “I shook his hand and told him I wanted him to run again in 2012,” Deans said.

Romney’s wife, Ann, spoke to the crowd before his speech, reminding them of the years their family spent in Utah during the 2002 Winter Games.

“We had a life-changing experience by being here. It was such a wonderful blessing in our lives,” Ann Romney said, noting they were just in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

“Yes, those Games are nice, but there’s nothing like Salt Lake,” she said.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700016373/Rock-star-Mitt-Romney-gets-big-ovation-in-Utah.html?pg=2

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Main Content
Romney tops bestseller list - Ben Smith: Romney tops bestseller listMarch 10, 2010

Mitt Romney’s new book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” will debut on top of the New York Times bestseller list due out March 21, a source tells me.

Romney’s book tour has, so far, attracted pretty large crowds, serving — along with the book sales — to reassure his supporters that, though he may not draw Sarah Palin style hordes, he’s a figure of genuine popular interest. He reportedly attracted more than 1,000 people to a book signing in Naples, Fla. last night.

Romney’s in Michigan today on a leg of his 19-state book tour.

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by Dan Nowicki
The Arizona Republic

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s recent endorsement of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s re-election was widely viewed as another sign of how far the relationship between the two fierce rivals from the 2008 Republican presidential primaries has evolved.

More cynical observers noted that Romney, a leading GOP 2012 White House prospect, likely wants to remain on the good side of McCain, his party’s 2008 nominee.

But to some in the camp of Senate challenger J.D. Hayworth, Romney’s embrace of McCain came as a personal blow.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, perhaps Hayworth’s highest-profile ally in the state, previously was Romney’s honorary Arizona campaign chairman, going so far as to stump for Romney and against McCain in the key early presidential-race states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Arpaio said Romney’s decision to back McCain won’t diminish his respect for him.

“If he runs again, I’m sure he would like to have McCain support him,” Arpaio said. “Is that how politics operates? One day you’re on one side, and the next day you’re on the other side?”

Jason Rose, Hayworth’s campaign spokesman and political consultant, was Romney’s state director during the 2008 race.

“Governor Romney is a good man who would make a great president,” Rose said in an e-mail when asked about Romney’s choice of McCain over Hayworth.

Meanwhile, a Facebook group called “Mitt Romney Supporters for J.D. Hayworth” as of late Friday had 137 members, including Hayworth himself.

In other developments:

• Local “tea party” activists apparently aren’t totally sold on Hayworth as a conservative alternative to the more moderate McCain. Organizers of four tea-party groups in Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff and Mohave County issued a joint statement Monday saying they are declining to endorse in the GOP Senate primary.

“The Tea Party is a non-partisan, grass-roots movement that stands for limited government, free markets, and fiscal responsibility,” Tucson Tea Party co-founder Robert Mayer said in a written statement. “Both McCain and Hayworth’s records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired on these issues.”

But Hayworth still can point to local tea-party support - many in attendance at his Feb. 15 campaign kickoff identified themselves with the movement - and he recently did secure the endorsement of the national group TaxDay TeaParty.com.

• Rep. Charles Rangel’s ethics troubles have prompted three House Democrats from Arizona to jettison campaign cash linked to the embattled New York Democrat.

Rep. Harry Mitchell returned $28,000 and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords donated $21,000 to veterans groups, aides confirmed. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick relinquished $14,000, the Associated Press reported.

Rangel, under fire for multiple ethics issues, on Wednesday said he was stepping aside as chairman of the prestigious House Ways and Means Committee.

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CBN News
By: David Brody

Mitt Romney, who is clearly positioning himself for a 2012 run at the White House starts his book tour this week.

The book is called “No apology: The case for American greatness.”

Despite the rumor, it is not called “Mitt Romney Goes Rogue”. That’s Palin territory. And it is not called, “I’m a Mormon. Deal With It.”

Anyhow, this media blitz looks like a presidential campaign schedule. He’s going to 19 states and among them are the political hot bed states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

The Romney campaign says the former Massachusetts governor will stop by The Brody File for an interview.

I promised that we would have bagels and lox in the green room for him. Not sure if he cares but that would be a big draw for my family members.

Quick Brody File straw poll. You like salted or unsalted lox?

http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2010/03/01/romneys-presidential-book-tour.aspx

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Palm Beach Daily News

By MICHELE DARGAN
Daily News Staff Writer

Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Palm Beach Republican Club will host former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney March 7.

The 2008 Republican presidential candidate will appear at a reception, lecture and book signing at 5 p.m. at the Marriott West Palm Beach, 1001 Okeechobee Blvd.

Romney will sign copies of his book No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.

The event is open to the public at $95 per person. The price includes the reception and photographs, one beverage ticket, lecture and one book.

The club also is organizing another gathering after the public event: dinner with Romney at a private home in Palm Beach. That ticket is $500 each, which includes all of the above plus dinner in a small setting. There is a limited number of tickets available for the dinner.

R.S.V.P. by Wednesday. Send a check payable to The Palm Beach Republican Club, P.O. Box 2622, Palm Beach, FL 33480.

Call 655-5545 or 644-4229.

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/2010/02/27/briefromney022710.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=7

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PUBLIC POLICY POLLING

Mitt Romney is the early preference, by a small margin, among Republican voters in both Texas and New Mexico to be their 2012 nominee for President.

In Texas he gets 32% with Mike Huckabee right behind at 29%, and Sarah Palin further back at 23%. In New Mexico he receives 33% to 32% for Palin and 18% for Huckabee.

The internals of these polls suggests a path to the nomination for Romney: stay competitive among conservative voters while holding a large lead with moderates. In Texas the three are bunched up among conservatives with Huckabee leading at 32% to 30% for Romney and 27% for Palin. But Romney’s blowing the other two out of the water with moderates, getting 40% to 22% for Huckabee and 13% for Palin.

It’s a similar story in New Mexico. Palin leads Romney 34-31 with conservatives, but Romney has the overall advantage thanks to a 37-29 advantage with moderates.

In each state Romney is particularly strong with senior citizens, who tend to comprise a large portion of the Republican primary electorate. He has an 11 point lead over Huckabee with them in Texas and 13 point lead over Palin with them in New Mexico.

One of the more interesting things about Palin’s numbers is that she performs worse with women than men in both states. In New Mexico she gets 33% from men and 31% from women, while in Texas she gets 26% from men and 21% from women. It doesn’t appear she’d be able to count on a boost from Republican women in a hypothetical White House bid.

Obviously it’s incredibly early and things will change a lot between now and 2012, but it’s a good sign for Romney to have even this small early advantage in a couple of states that are a long way from home.

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/02/good-numbers-for-romney.html

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I am thrilled to share some exciting news. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Political Action Committee today announced its endorsement of my campaign for Governor.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is among the most respected and effective public policy organizations fighting for hardworking Californians. The association is the state’s largest grassroots taxpayer organization with more than 200,000 members. There is no organization that better understands the relationship between low taxes and individual prosperity.

I am honored and grateful to receive the endorsement.

“High taxes and out-of-control spending have pushed state government to the brink of bankruptcy, and we need strong leadership to put California back on track,” Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal said. “Meg Whitman is the only fiscal conservative in the race, and her commitment to cutting spending and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse is the way to restore prosperity to the Golden State.”

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Boston, MA - A longtime aide of Mitt Romney is considering a challenge of Martha Coakley in the Fall for Attorney General.

Peter Flaherty is a former prosecutor and is considering a run at Coakley. Flaherty was an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County under District Attorneys Newman Flanagan and Ralph Martin.

Peter Flaherty served as deputy manager of Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. He then served as the director of Romney’s new national political vehicle, the Free and Strong America PAC.

The Boston Globe quoted Flaherty recently:

“I’ve been approached by several people, and I’ve told them I’m flattered by their interest, and it’s something I’m going to discuss at length with my family.”

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/19439/Longtime_Mitt_Romney_Aide_to_Challenge_Martha_Coakley.html

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POLITICO

One of the first big moves of 2012 — Mitt Romney Names Matt Rhoades PAC Executive Director:

BOSTON — Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC announced today that Matt Rhoades, who has held senior positions on major presidential campaigns and at the Republican National Committee, will serve as the PAC’s executive director. … ‘He’s been a friend and an adviser for several years now and I’m pleased that he has agreed to run the day-to-day operations of my Free and Strong America PAC. He shares with me the view that 2010 is going to be a critical election year, with many races and lots of opportunities to elect Republican candidates,’ said Governor Romney.

“Rhoades is currently a Vice President with DCI Group … He replaces Peter Flaherty, who will become a Senior Adviser to the PAC. He previously served as Communications Director for Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign … During the 2006 election cycle, Rhoades was a Deputy Communications Director in charge of research for the Republican National Committee. He also was Research Director for the 2004 Bush/Cheney re-election campaign. Rhoades also has held the position of White House Liaison at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the Bush Administration. Prior to that, he was an Associate Director in the White House Presidential Personnel Office. He holds a B.A. from Syracuse University and an M.A. from George Washington University.”

Rhoades, a big J-E-T-S fan, will be moving to Red Sox Nation.

Kevin Madden: “Matt is one of those rare professionals who blends strategic thinking with a superb management style. The governor has a lot of respect for and confidence in Matt and his leadership abilities. Those sentiments are widely shared by everyone counted as part of the Romney team.”

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Take a listen to Mitt Romney easily parry the reporter’s loaded questions on this YouTube video from August, 2008. It reminds me why I believe that Gov. Romney is the most qualified candidate for President in 2012. Can you think of anyone else who can handle these financial and tax questions with such ease?

After four long years of political drift and massive deficits, we are going to have to unite behind the “best businessman in North America,” as CNBC’s Jim Cramer said a couple of years ago. We can’t afford the luxury of anymore bone-headed experiments in socialism in this country. We are going to have to return to the discipline of the “profit and loss” statement. If any proposal, from either party, can’t be proven to be deficit-neutral, the automatic answer is “No!”

~~John Cronin~~

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IMPACT: Far from a disappointment

To the editor:

Hudson Todd is correct in his analysis that this year’s IMPACT Symposium does not feature a Democrat. However, the lineup that the Speakers Committee developed over the last six months has depth and promises to be the most compelling IMPACT in several years. Both major parties are sympathetic to capitalism, and, as such, the committee needed to go beyond the labels of Republican and Democrat, as we have many times in the past, to find speakers who would cause us to ask the deepest question: Is capitalism right?

The goal of our committee was to focus on a domestic issue for this year’s IMPACT, as the past few years have dealt with foreign policy. We selected former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as the keynote because he has the experience of an American businessman and politician. He was CEO of Bain & Company, a management-consulting firm, not to mention a former presidential candidate and a strong contender for the Republican nomination in 2012. Yes, he will present a more conservative economic dialogue, but we hope that his perspective will be refreshing and balanced.

As for the evening with journalist John Stossel and former presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader, it will not be a “debate.” It will be a point-counterpoint discussion that will provide two unique outlooks on the current economic situation and what the future looks like for our capitalist system. We hope that following this event students will take both the positions and information provided to them and form their own opinions. We have chosen two speakers who are radically opposed in their viewpoints in an attempt to cover the entire spectrum during the discussion. The tradition of IMPACT is to have controversial discussions about current events, and Speakers Committee expects Stossel and Nader to disagree with each other in the spirit of this tradition.

Stossel will not be discussing global warming, and Nader will not be dwelling on his presidential campaigns. Their discussion, as well as Romney’s speech, will focus entirely on the American economy and its future. Since 1964 IMPACT Symposium has enhanced the political dialogue on campus by inviting diverse speakers. This year’s symposium follows up on last year’s (which did not feature a Republican) in returning IMPACT to its great days of the 1960s and 1970s.

In one year, IMPACT hosted Stokley Carmichael, Martin Luther King Jr. and Strom Thurmond, and the committee more recently convinced Ann Coulter and Al Sharpton to share a stage. We’ve also brought Bobby Kennedy, George H.W. Bush and Margaret Thatcher to campus. The Speakers Committee invites everyone to join us for what is expected to be another animated, enlightening symposium.

Ralph Nader and John Stossel will speak on March 30, followed by Mitt Romney on March 31. Both events are free and will take place in Langford Auditorium. All attendees of the Mitt Romney event will receive a copy of his new book “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.”

Ethel Mickey
Speakers Committee

http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/12789

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If you are a conservative or a center-right voter, take the time to watch this excellent YouTube video that exposes the smears and outright lies that were used to prevent Gov. Romney from winning the nomination of the Republican Party and thereby ushering into power someone who looks like a man on track to become the worst President in the history of the Unites States of America.

~~John Cronin~~

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