comMITTed to Romney!

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I am currently reading a very interesting and informative book written by the LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, published by THE LYONS PRESS, “CHOOSING THE PRESIDENT 2004″.

They have a study they refer to in the book that was done by the PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE PRESS; “2002 MEDIA CONSUMPTION SURVEY.”

Here’s a look at what they found.

“As recently as 1990, the major television networks—ABC,CBS and NBC—had a dominant role in delivering news to the American people. In 1992, the nightly network news shows with Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings regularly reached 60 percent of the adult population. By 2002, that number had declined to 32 percent—almost cut in half.

Newspapers, the most traditional of the major media, faced the same trend. While 58% of people polled in 1994 said that they had read a newspaper in the last day, by 2002 that figure was down to 41%. In addition, older Americans are much more likely to be newspaper readers than people in their twenties—a trend that has the newspapers very worried.

Local TV news and radio also reach lots of people, and both of these news media have also lost viewers or listeners in the past ten years. Cable TV news, the most influential of the new media, has held steady in recent years. In 2002, it was regularly watched by 33% of Americans.

When you take into account all their news programing, including the morning shows and news magazines, the major networks still receive some attention from a majority of Americans. As a result, their coverage of the issues and the candidates can have considerable influence on the course of a presidential campaign. But campaign planners are very much aware that the way America gets it’s news is changing fast, and new strategies are needed.”

For most of our readers, the above is probably old news. I quote it to point out the need for utilizing a very basic, but very effective grassroots organizing technique, neighborhood canvassing. My experience with door-to-door canvassing earlier this year was very positive. It reinforced my belief that one way to help overcome the MSM’s effect on the campaigns of conservatives is to get in front of voters and deliver a message to them that they haven’t heard before. My experience both in Des Moines and in St. Louis was that most people still rely on the newspapers and broadcast TV for their impressions of the candidates, and everyone on this site knows from bitter experience what the Huckabee network of churches and pastors and the MSM propaganda machine did to Gov. Romney’s run for the nomination.

If you have not tried it before, I’d like to encourage you to team up with a friend and to start to organize your own neighborhoods for a conservative Republican Congressional candidate or incumbent. Make sure you are up to speed on your candidate’s positions and very importantly, keep good records of your contacts. Get them on an emailing list where possible and hand out literature for those voters who don’t have internet access. Ask for permission to place a sign in their yards and be sure to recontact everyone you talked to the weekend before the election in order to “get out the vote.”

It’s hard work and time consuming. It’s also very effective. Here’s a look at how Gov. Romney did in the areas that had the highest concentrations of grassroots volunteers. To a great degree, the results were influenced by these area’s favorable demographics, having a higher percentage of college educated and upscale voters (patterns we saw very plainly in Des Moines as well), but, according to the national campaign office in Boston, the results were also influenced by the volunteer organization’s co-ordinated efforts.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY

McCAIN………………..41.06%

ROMNEY……………….36.49%

HUCKABEE…………….16.98%

ST. CHARLES COUNTY

ROMNEY………………37.72%

HUCKABEE…………….21.83%

JACKSON COUNTY (KANSAS CITY)

ROMNEY……………..34.68%

McCAIN………………34.13%

HUCKABEE……………23.16%

~~John Cronin~~

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Here are a few encouraging details from tonight’s contest, from the CBS News website:

According to CBS News exit polls, self-described Republicans made up 68 percent of the vote - and they supported Romney by a wide margin. Independents made up just 25 percent of the GOP primary vote today while just 7 percent were Democrats. In 2000, independents made up 35 percent of the vote while another 17 percent were Democrats.

The economy overwhelmingly topped the concerns of voters, with 55 percent of primary voters citing it as their top concern. The Iraq war ranked second, but lagged far behind. Just 17 percent said that was their top concern. Discussion of the economy dominated the Michigan contest in its closing days, as Romney sought to strike an optimistic tone about the future of a state which has seen some 76,000 jobs lost in the past year alone.

… Romney also won among late-deciding voters, indicating that his arguments may have won some supporters.

Takeaways? The GOP is supporting Mitt, and “it’s the economy, _______.”

Additional takeaways? Mitt sticking to his message seems very productive. Mitt gained a head of steam and connected with people, which he’ll need continue. Meanwhile McCain lost momentum as he had to defend his truth-distorting, sack of fibs mailer. In addition, earned media seems much better at conveying and building momentum than paid media.

And lest we forget, the big difference maker in Michigan was Mitt’s “no job left behind” theme, giving hope where the Washington insider offered only pessimism and job retraining. Now that Mitt’s found his stride I expect the good vibe and the connection he’s making with voters to continue.

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From: CBS’s From the Road

“He was one person you never had to reprimand about talking, you know,” She said. “He worked hard.”

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Welcome to me, the latest addition to the ElectRomneyIn2008.com blogger staff. My name is Paul Johnson and this is my first posting. I have some good tidbits for you live from Urbandale, IA, one of Mitt Romney’s volunteer campaign sites.

First a bit about me: I’m a corporate lawyer by trade, trained at BYU both undergrad (dual major in English and Business) and grad school (JD/MBA). I started my career in the internet boom in Palo Alto, CA in ‘96, transferred with my then-current firm to San Diego in ‘99, and have stayed in San Diego since. I specialize in corporate financings and in mergers and acquisitions.

My intro to Mitt Romney was, like many, through hearing about the debacle that was unfolding at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. As someone who spent a lot of time in Utah, I didn’t want the state or our country to be embarrassed by the event. I heard someone named Mitt Romney, a very successful business person with Bain, was being put in charge, and not long after was hearing things were turning around. Of course September 11 intervened and the Olympics staff had to respond to an entirely unforeseen security threat in just a few months’ time. I myself was going to be attending the event with my 3 sons, so security was a concern for me. When I arrived, security was tight and the event unbelievably well-organized.

Next I heard about the Miracle in Massachusetts, how the same Mitt Romney, a republican, had somehow been elected to be governor of a deep blue state. Another good impression. I knew this person must have cross-party appeal. More good news followed as Mitt was able to balance MA’s budget, then actually adopt a healthcare plan tailored for the state. Then I hear about the MA Supreme Court’s decision (described here by CNN). CNN said at the time: “Massachusetts’ governor immediately denounced Tuesday’s decision and said he would work for a constitutional amendment to overturn it,” and I was glad to know we had a resourceful man of integrity at the forefront of this issue.

More good impressions followed. A few years ago Matt Romney, Mitt’s son, moved into my neighborhood (see Matt’s musings at the Five Brothers Blog). Matt and I ended up on some volunteer assignments together. I’d told Matt I was a baseball fan, so he invited me at one point to a game with him, his brother, Tagg and a few other friends. I came to find out as well that another friend, Jim Davies, was Ann Romney’s brother. When it began to be rumored Mitt might run for president, I told Matt if his dad ran, I’d be interested in pitching in. Soon I was attending events in San Diego and contributing to the campaign, a first for me. A couple weeks ago I began responding to some bitter and biased posts about Mitt, his family and his religion, some things I knew a little about first-hand, by some readers of The Politico (a site I otherwise enjoy) and other political websites. Now I find myself in Urbandale doing my first blog post!

I’ll get to where I agree with Mitt on policy issues in future posts, but for now here are some snapshots from one of the command centers.

A visit from Ann Romney

The troops got encouragement from Ann Romney just before lunch. She met with volunteers and gave her pitch for her husband as a man capable of addressing our country’s complex issues.

Here’s the view from the cheap seats!

Here’s Ann with grandson Parker:

Visits from the Press

Yesterday we had a visit from CNN. Today the folks from Salt Lake’s KSL TV and Salt Lake’s CBS affiliate were here, as was RAI from Italy. Jim Davies gave an interview in fluent Italian. It’s been great to be at ground zero at such an influential time in American politics. Channel 24 from Argentina is just going through now. Wish you were here, where we hope to be a part of electing the next president of the U.S. More to come…

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UPDATE: Read somewhere today that the Huck could sharpen those Foreign Policy Skills with —–>one of these. I think I agree, it quite might be beneficial for the Huck.

UPDATE II: You must check this out from —–>HotAir. Please be sure to check out the comments section, if nothing for comic relief.

Huck receives “call from God”

From: —–>Huckabee Reaction to Bhutto Assassination.

Mike Huckabee strode out to the strains of “Right Now” by Van Halen and immediately addressed the Bhutto situation, expressing “our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan.”

He said the assassination is a reminder that here in the US, we are lucky to vote “not with bullets but with ballots,” and said “I guess we are sometimes lulled into failing to appreciate the magnitude” of the democratic process.

I asked him what he would do right now if he were President to tackle the situation. He avoided taking a strong policy position, saying he would offer sincere sympathies to the people of Pakistan, and monitor who’s behind it. When asked what he thinks of the Musharraf government and how it has handled the security situation and aid from the US, he replied, “I think today is not the best day to comment on what the Musharraf government should or shouldn’t have done” though “we need a full accounting of that money.” He was also asked if today’s news highlights why the next President needs to have foreign policy, which he lacks. His response: “I think it’s more important to have the right principles for the American people.”

He made a bad choice of words when saying the U.S. needs to consider “what impact does it have on whether or not there’s going to be martial law continuing in Pakistan.” He should have said whether or not martial law will be reinstated – it was lifted nearly two weeks ago. A minor slip, maybe, but not a subject he wants to mess up on when he is already considered weak in the area of foreign policy.

My 5th Grader could have gave better answers to these questions, and he has special needs (not that I’m knocking those with special needs mind you).

I’ve got to show you some of the comments to this post at From the Road.

• Based on his lack of foreign Policy knowledge and history of ignorance in such matters, I wonder if Mr. Huckabee could find Pakistan on a map, let alone know who Benzir Bhutto is, her history and what the significance of her assassination is to U.S. interests and U.S.-Pakistani relations.

  He seems to rely more on scripted, one or two sentence soundbites when dealing with matters such as this- indicating a lack of understanding and gravitas in relation to foreign affairs. One example is his offering ”apologies” to the people of Pakistan. What exactly does he mean? Does he realize that this statement will be used by our enemies as indication of possible US culpability in this assassination? A very confusing and intemperate comment at such a critical time.

• “our sincere concern and apologies for what has happened in Pakistan.”

  I wonder what Huckabee is apologizing for? Is he suggesting that the United States is to blame for he assassination? If he is, I”d be curious to see how this stance affects his campaign.

Contrast this with Governor Romney’s Response:

Governor Mitt Romney On Today’s Events In Pakistan.

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The Brody File reports another gain for Mitt Romney, this time from the imploding campaign of Fred Thompson.

Mitt Romney’s campaign tells The Brody File that Bill Wichterman, who used to do conservative and religious outreach for Fred Thompson’s campaign, has joined Team Romney. This is a nice “get.” He’ll be a part of the Faith and Values steering committee.

Bill Wichterman left the Thompson campaign because Thompson DOES NOT support the federal marriage amendment. At least the version that is on the table now. Mitt Romney does support it. Wichterman liked that fit. Who can blame him?

This is a guy who has been big on the federal marriage amendment for years. When Bill Frist was trying to push the amendment through the Senate, it was Wichterman who was leading the charge by getting social conservative groups organized and mobilized. Expect him to be a big boost for the Romney campaign when it comes to the marriage issue. His depth of knowledge here is masterful.

It’s not just the marriage issue. By nabbing Wichterman, it’s a sign to inside and outside the beltway social conservative groups that Romney is serious in courting them. Wichterman is very well respected by these groups and he has close contacts at places like Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, etc. When he was on the Hill, he was very active in the Senate’s “Value Action Team” meetings where dozens of groups would meet once a week to go over social policy and plot strategy.

Mitt Romney continues to make “All the Right Moves.”

~Ryan Jesperson

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Visit CBS News to watch the entire video.

He goes further in depth about his faith than he has before…

I’m happy about it, I have felt that it’s been a shame that he’s had to be so careful (understandably so) about talking about his faith. Every other candidate (like Mike’s post from earlier from the Boston Globe piece) can talk openly and freely about their faith. They can meet with religious leaders of their faith whenever they want (press in hand even). But, Governor Romney has to fight against such utter bigotry on this issue that he is shackled. I’m sure that privately he speaks to leaders of the church, etc., but it’s just not the same as the other candidates can do.

I am hoping that it becomes less and less of an issue, but at least for now that looks almost impossible. So, he has to take what he can get and hope that it turns out for the positive. It’s so nice to see some evangelicals coming out and endorsing him for President. It was absolutely awesome to see him win the FRC straw poll vote, it’s just so unfortunate that the faith issue has to dog him so badly all the time. But, because Governor Romney is who he is, and he’s faced this sort of rejection his entire life if anyone can overcome it he can.

Here’s Bob Schieffer’s written commentary after the interview:

(CBS) Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.
When former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, he said he believed in God and would say no more about it than that. He said the rest was his business.

That’s a good answer as far as I am concerned. That’s why - when I interviewed former Governor Romney - I asked how much of his faith he felt obligated to share with voters.

I brought it up because polls show many Americans say they just won’t vote for a Mormon. For a Mormon politician, that’s not a religious problem, it’s a political problem.

So when Romney said he was happy to be asked, I asked.

I found his answers interesting. He outlined how he saw the relationship of his religion to the duties of the presidency in much the way that John Kennedy explained his faith in that 1960 speech after people questioned his Catholicism.

Romney didn’t go as far as Kennedy but I came away feeling I knew more about who he was and that helps to make a political, not a religious judgment.

Had he said his religion was none of my business, I would have taken that as a legitimate answer. In America, what we choose to tell others about our faith is nobody’s business but our own.

Kennedy said he hoped no one would vote for or against him because he was Catholic. Romney said the same.

I think they got that part exactly right.

CBS News Face the Nation Transcript

Update:
YouTube now has Bob Schieffer’s Commentary…

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