comMITTed to Romney!

Although the horrific day for the McCain campaign will probably be overshadowed by President Bush’s decision to commute Scooter Libby’s sentence (way to go GWB!), the news from the McCain camp kept getting worse throughout the day. McCain’s fast burn rate coupled with the fact that he is going to actually raise less in the second quarter than his terrible first quarter numbers mean that his campaign has only about $2 million cash on hand according to this AP story.

When I read that, it became clear to me why McCain decided to drop out of Ames - he can’t afford it. Jeff Fuller can speak on this with much greater authority than me, but as I understand it, Ames is expensive for a campaign. With these numbers, it seems to me that the McCain camp realized that they couldn’t compete even with the likes of Rudy, Huckabee, etc. without completely draining their cash on hand, and they wouldn’t gain enough momentum to justify the expenditure because they knew that they’d get beat by Governor Romney despite their best effort.

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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I remember the National Review cover a few months ago with Governor Romney and Senator McCain in a boxing ring. Since that time, GMR and his campaign team have been systematically taking the McCain campaign apart. It seems that McCain is on the ropes and taking a beating. I hope someone in his corner convinces him to throw in the towel sooner rather than later.

AP is reporting another significant shake-up in the McCain organization here.

Some 50 staffers are being let go, and senior aides will be subject to pay cuts as the Arizona senator’s campaign bows to the reality of six months of subpar fundraising, these officials said.

Once considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, McCain came in third in the money chase in the first three months of the year with $13.6 million. He is struggling to reach that total in the second financial quarter.

I had originally thought McCain would survive the summer and drop out after the third quarter fundraising results were announced, but I’m beginning to seriously wonder if he can make it that far.

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Hello Everyone. I feel like I should re-introduce myself since it’s been so long between this post and my last one! Finishing up my master’s degree took a little more time than I thought it would, but now school’s out and I’m ready to pick up my blogging!

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to hear Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett discuss the 2008 race in a couple different forums. Chairman Bennett believes that there is a real possibility that no candidate will emerge from mega Tuesday with enough delegates to secure the nomination. That would make Ohio’s primary on March 4th critical. He may be right!

So, I was just curious to see how many readers we have from Ohio, and what your view of the race in the Buckeye state is at the moment. Comment away!!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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I think it may be worth it to look a little deeper at today’s Des Moines Register poll. Clearly, the Team Mitt strategy of focusing on the early primary states in paying HUGE dividends since the debates began.

Here are the front page numbers:

Mitt Romney: 30%
John McCain: 18%
Rudy Giuliani: 17%
Tommy Thompson: 7%
Sam Brownback: 5%
Mike Huckabee: 4%
Tom Tancredo: 4%
Undecided: 12%

Wow….12 points. I’m really shocked to see things move so quickly, even though I know that the campaign is making a tremendous effort in the Hawkeye state.

Here’s some more interesting numbers:
GMR’s Favorable Rating is at 74% and his unfavorables are only 13%.

GMR’s strength lies with older voters who are most likely to attend the Caucus

And here’s a huge item:

“Most likely Republican caucus participants — 71 percent — say it makes no difference in their choice of a candidate if that person would be elected the first Mormon president.”

So much for the MSM’s desire to use the LDS as a wedge with Evangelicals.

Just one word of caution….it’s VERY early. Among those stating a preference, 87 percent say they could still be persuaded to support another candidate as their first choice. But, it’s still an amazing poll for Team Mitt!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Don’t you just love headlines like that? That particular headline comes from today’s Politico, which is a pretty good resource on all things political.

The article come from the Des Moines Register which recently did a poll showing Governor Romney leading the entire field.

Here’s a quote from the Register’s pollster:

“His success raising money seems to have aroused caucusgoers’ interest, prompting them to take a serious look at the candidate,” Selzer said. “He’s helped by the top two qualifications Republican caucusgoers are looking for in a candidate — experience as a governor and as CEO.”

What astounds me about the article is that Tommy Thompson gets seven percent in the poll. I’m pretty sure they have TV sets out in Iowa, so I can’t imagine how anyone who saw either of the two debates could possibly think of Tommy Thompson in the Oval Office as POTUS. Thompson was an innovative governor of Wisconsin, but he’s doing his legacy a huge disservice with this run for the White House.

If you haven’t read the whole article, it’s worth the time. You can find it here. It’s nice to see the national media picking up on GMR’s success in the early primary states.

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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After reading the reactions around the blogosphere and, as President Bush would say, the internets this morning, I cannot escape that the one clear fact that came from last night’s debate was that it’s time to narrow the field.

The vast majority of the reportage this morning deals with Rudy’s slap down of Ron Paul. Paul deserved it, and I’m glad Rudy took the opportunity to do it, but debates ought to be about more than who can react quickest to a completely asinine statement made by a lunatic fringe candidate who once ran for President as a member of another party.

This happens because everything is compressed to soundbites with 10 candidates on the stage. I don’t even blame the media for it. However, the media can end it by narrowing the field of invited candidates to future GOP debates.

I would argue that based on the two debates that have taken place, Mike Huckabee as earned a spot on the narrow stage along with Governor Romney, McCain, and Guiliani. I also think it’s time that the media outlets force Gingrich and Thompson to make a decision. So, I say invite them and make it public if they refuse to debate. That puts us at six, which isn’t a lot better than 10, but it’s a start at least

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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I was enjoying a late breakfast this morning while watching the syndicated “Chris Matthews Show.” I nearly choked on a bite of peanut-butter toast when David Ignatius of the Washington Post said the following:

This will be the summer of Mitt Romney.

Wow!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Throughout the political world today, Governor Romney is getting his due for his debate performance last night. As I’ve said before, it was great to see “my guy” do so well!

I want to shift focus for just a moment though and thank and congratulate the Governor’s campaign staff. So much of a debate’s outcome is independent of the debate itself. By that I mean spin is king in the debating world. Watching MSNBC after the debate and reading a number of blogs and political sites this morning, it’s clear that Team Romney won the post-debate as well. This is critically important going forward because the Governor will be the focus of all the attacks at the next debate, so Team Romney is going to need another great post-debate performance.

Also, can I just plead with the powers that be to get Tancredo, Paul, Gilmore, and Hunter (at the minimum) off the stage!!!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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I was a county chair for Bush-Cheney in 04, and I remember feeling like I had been punched in the gut after each debate. I thought it was two losses and a tie for the President.

I just want to say how nice it is to watch a debate and the spin and clearly know that our guy won!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Governor Romney continues to show that he is the class of the GOP field. His latest move is to get glowing press coverage over at Townhall by being the first candidate to agree to their debate in Florida.

Check out these articles:
Jonathan Garthwaite is here.
Matt Lewis is here.

Lewis is worth quoting at some length:

Mitt Romney deserves a lot of credit for being the first candidate to agree to participate in this scheduled debate. This really says two things about him:

1. Romney gets the new media. By agreeing to participate in this scheduled debate (which would include a straw poll at Townhall.com), Romney’s campaign is showing they realize the world is changing — and that Republican candidates will have to use the blogosphere, the net, and talk radio, to get their message out to the voters.

2. Romney gets conservatives. This isn’t MSNBC. By being the first to agree to participate in this debate, Mitt Romney is helping support the conservative movement and the conservative blogosphere. And he is also showing he is willing to take questions coming from a conservative perspective.

I’ve known for quite some time that Romney gets conservatives. That’s because he IS a conservative!

The only thing I didn’t see in either of these articles is the date of the debate. Does anyone know?

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Well, okay, maybe that’s not exactly true. But, he certainly doesn’t like the Ames Straw Poll very much and doesn’t have the sense not to talk about it!

Here’s what he said according to Jonathan Martin’s blog at The Politico:

“Would I prefer that there wasn’t an Iowa Straw Poll? Probably, because I could be doing other things. But that’s what the party wants and that’s what the party’s going to get.”

Wow…is that arrogant or what?!? I can’t imagine Governor Romney ever saying something like that. The Governor always seems to be enjoying the campaign trail.

So, if you’re out there in Iowa, remember what Senator McCain thinks of you and your party!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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This hasn’t gotten as much attention as it should:

Governor Mitt Romney today announced that Cofer Black, a former top counterterrorism official at the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department, has joined his campaign for President of the United States. Black will serve as Senior Adviser for counterterrorism and national security issues.

I think most people agree that Governor Romney’s strength is his obvious management skill. The world is still a dangerous place, however. And Rudy Guiliani’s poll numbers show that GOP voters know that terrorists still want to strike us (I won’t even pretend to know what whacko Dem primary voters want in a candidate). The way for Governor Romney to close this gap is by continuing to show that forward-thinking is the way to win the GWOT (see Mike’s post on nuclear terrorism below) and by gaining solid endorsements like Cofer Black. Go here to read the entire release.

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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As an evangelical Christian and committed Romney supporter, I read Mark DeMoss’s article in the Politico yesterday with a great deal of interest. His article is EXCELLENT and should be read by every Evangelical who will vote in the Primaries next year. Here is just a bit of what DeMoss had to say:

Last fall near Boston, a dozen evangelical leaders joined me for a three-hour conversation in the living room of then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who, as the world knows, is a Mormon. Over soup and sandwiches, the Republican presidential hopeful took questions about Iraq, Iran, North Korea, immigration, government spending, taxes, the Supreme Court, abortion, stem cell research and the federal marriage amendment. Two of his lunch guests quizzed him about faith — about Jesus and salvation.

The meeting broke ground, if only for bucking conventional wisdom that evangelicals would reject out of hand a Mormon running for president. I would not presume to think that the governor converted all of his lunch guests to his campaign. But, having spent my entire life in evangelical circles, I will say that I do believe many evangelicals will conclude they can — and indeed will — support this Mormon in 2008.

A month before this luncheon, I’d spent an hour in Romney’s office, wanting to hear firsthand his vision for the country. After studying his life and career for a number of months, I told the governor that not only could I support him (a number of evangelicals have said as much), but also that I would support him.

If you know anyone who is struggling with the fact that Governor Romney is a member of the LDS church, please go here and print the article out and give it to them. Email the article to them. Send them the link to this post. Just get them to read it!!!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Are you a big enough Mitt supporter to fill out a 3XL t-shirt? I am for sure!

Check out the official campaign store by clicking here.

I’m happy to say that I’ve ordered from these folks before and their merchandise has always been excellent.

Also, don’t forget to get some of Ann Marie’s Romney gear through Cafe Press. Check out the right margin for more information.

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Did you see the latest Nevada news over the weekend? Well, according to the results of a new Zogby poll over at the RealClearPolitics Blog, Governor Romney has moved into a second place tie with McCain.

I think the conventional wisdom is beginning to be that a Guiliani vs. Romney head-to-head is more likely every day.

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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