comMITTed to Romney!

Polls are necessary evils in politics. They are used to try and gauge interest for a particular topic, and they are OFTEN wrong. Polls can be distorted to give a particular result, etc. What can not be denied, however, is a trendline. A trendline is basically the same as “momentum”. If you are seen having a rising trendline, things look good. A falling one, not so good.

Iowa is a very tough region to poll, hence why we’ve seen polls all over the place this last week or so. Back in 2000, at this point in the race, Howard Dean looked to be a sure fire winner. He came in 3rd. So, while ANYthing is possible in politics…..momentum is something that is KEY to have and I believe the data below will reinforce this.

What I did was take the last 6 major polls conducted after the Christmas break, where Iowan’s were making their final choices and settling in on who their choice for President will be. In these polls, like I said…the numbers were all over the map….but the MOMENTUM looks to be clearly in Gov. Romneys favor. Take a look :

These polls ( Quad City Times, Strategic Vision, Mason-Dixon, ARG, Zogby, MSNBC) show either Gov. Huckabee or Gov Romney in the lead. However, take a look at the graphic above. CLEARLY Gov. Romney is on the rise and Gov. Huckabee is on the fall…..

Like I have been saying for a month now, Gov Huckabee peaked too soon. Even some of his own people are saying they peaked “2 weeks early”. This has given opposition and the media time to research his true policies and positions and make sure it’s known out there just what Huckabeee stands for.

In my opinion, Romney will win Iowa by 4-5% on caucus night. Not only is Huckabee bleeding from constant hits on his record, Gov. Romney has far far superior organization in Iowa and that can make up a 3-4% difference in getting your voters out to caucus. People were dating Huckabee, but in the end will marry Romney.

What this says to me is….Gov Romney will be our nominee and all of the hard work will have paid off. He’ll stave off McCain in NH, win WY and MI, and have enough momentum to take SC and if he does that…..he will walk to the nomination.

Alot can happen in 5 days, but I am really really liking our chances…..

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Posted in June 2006, CBN’s “The 700 Club” highlighted Romney as the first of the candidates for President. If you look real close you can see what this blog used to look like (amazing how far we’ve come) . I hope you enjoy the video and the read.

http://news.bostonherald….rticleid=145695

Reaching out to the Christian right, Gov. Mitt Romney appeared on televangelist Pat Robertson’s 700 Club to dismiss criticism of his Mormon faith and recall a 1968 near death car wreck in Paris.
In an in-depth interview on the show, which is targeted at fundamentalist and some evangelical Christians, Romney solemnly recalled being falsely pronounced dead at age 21 by French police after the car he was driving was struck head-on by a drunken driver. Romney, who was on a Mormon mission, had four fellow missionaries in the car, one of whom was killed.
The police that arrived on the scene had to get us out with the Jaws of Life, and in my case, they took my passport and wrote “il est mort” - he is dead, Romney recalled.
Romney has said little publicly about the crash but Robertson’s show pointed to the tragedy as a theme in the governor’s life.
Turning around that near-death experience is a theme that has followed him through much of his life. Just when it appears all is lost, he’s able to find an answer, Christian Broadcasting Network host David Brody said of Romney in the segment, which aired yesterday on the “700 Club” and ABC’s Family Channel.

The theatrics of this piece were great, during the “crash sequence” of the story they made Governor Romney’s face like a sepia look, with some black mixed in while he was talking trying to make it look like a bleak moment in his life as it obviously was.

Considered a leading Republican contender in the 2008 presidential race, Romney said he has yet to make a final decision on his political future. He did, though, caution against discounting him because of his Mormon faith.
People said, “Well, gee, can a Mormon win here in a state that’s, what, 50 to 55 percent Catholic? Romney said, referring to Massachusetts. “Well, the answer is yes.”
He added, Could an actor who’d been divorced win as president? Yes. Ronald Reagan was able to do that.
Brody told the Herald the network targeted Romney for its first profile of possible 2008 presidential candidates in part because of the Mormon issue.

He was right on target when answering questions about how his faith would affect whether people would vote for him for President.

“He’s right out of central casting for the presidency. It seems like he may have the whole package that folks potentially could be looking for,” Brody told the Herald.

I truly was stunned to see how positively they played Governor Romney on this network, I definitely would have expected it to at the very least been as neutral as it could have been; but they really in my opinion did a good sell job on Governor Romney being quite like the anyone and dispelled the idea of Mormonism being weird.

Bay State Democrats, who have relentlessly criticized Romney for his out-of-state travels, were quick to pounce once again, accusing the governor of putting presidential aspirations ahead of Massachusetts.
“He’s been a miserable failure in terms of making Massachusetts a great place to live,” said state Democratic party spokeswoman Cyndi Roy. “And it’s unacceptable for him to fly in and out of the state when it fits his campaign schedule.”

Let’s see, miserable failure…Universal Healthcare, a budget turned from a deficit to a surplus without raising taxes, his dedication to education, Melanie’s Law, amongst other “failures”.

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I’ve laughed at some of the silly things reported about Fred, but there is a fine line of running a respectable campaign on issues and one of smear tactics. The Washington Post blog has linked a South Carolina consultant of the Romney campaign to an Anti-Thompson web site. The site was just rude and dumb. No substance and it looked like a smear report you’d see on E! Channel.

We can’t have it both ways. We can’t run a clean campaign with a clean candidate and have consultants setting up smear websites. Such websites smack of fear of the competition and show poor sportsmanship. I know we’ve had negative things on this site about Fred. I think we should keep it above the board and on the issues and policies of our country. Such websites are bad! Although we have strong opinions, we should present them in the most persuasive form of logical arguments and clean discussion.

Once Romney’s campaign was asked about it, the site was taken down. Yet, the damage was done. As the pace of this campaign increases, we can’t forget to clean house and make sure our message matches the messenger. I hope this consultant is dealt with swiftly and surely so all the consultants know what is allowed and what is unacceptable.

Nathan W.

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A complaint about a Romney aide has now risen to the N.H. Attorney General’s attention. Does not sound like road rage, but more like road security check. The interesting thing to me is the one degree of separation from the person issuing the complaint (Paul Nagy) and Patrick Hynes who works for McCain’s PAC, Straight Talk America.

So what do you think? Was Paul in the convoy with the Romney group or in the car with Mark Leibovich, a New York Times reporter, or just an innocent bystander on the sidewalk when it happened? Sounds like hearsay to me, why didn’t the Times reporter make a complaint?

Nathan W.

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Over the last few weeks I have been astounded by the personal attacks that McCain has spewed at Romney over immigration. One naturally concludes that when McCain knows that he is weak, wrong, and vulnerable, the only option is to lash out to try and damage his opponent in any way possible.

This same thing is happening on a much larger scale in the mainstream media. We have all seen them lash out it many ways at Romney, and what is at the heart of it? They realize that more than any other Repulican candidate, the Democrats are vulnerable in a general election when put up against Romney. Very rarely will you get them to admit it, and even on rarer occasion will they further opine as to why they are scared. In a seemingly off-the-cuff type of comment, Arriana Huffington lets you in on some of the fear that drives the mainstream media’s constant attacks on Romney.

So…I want all of your thoughts. For what specific reasons are the Democrats scared to put their candidate, especially Hillary, up against Romney in the general election?

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Disclosure: I like the simplicity of the Fair Tax. I think our tax system is broken and needs to be fixed. I am not an advocate for the 16th Amendment, but I want further educated discussion on all aspects of the Fair Tax. Gov. Mike Huckabee is promoting this. I prefer Romney’s fix the inefficiencies verses throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Most of us agree that the problem with invading Iraq was that we did not plan or think deeply about the aftermath especially planning for all the potential down sides. I think this is what is happening with the Fair Tax movement. There is an easy to follow reaction to throwing away an inefficient and complicated system for a new simple solution. The problem is that if we do not pursue all avenues of preparation and thought of the inherent weaknesses of a new system, then we are bound to hit most of the potholes in the new path we’ve chosen, we could do to our tax system what we did to Iraq if we’re not careful, prepared and take the time to come up with solutions to the problems such a simple system may produce.

I will not discuss all the pros of the Fair Tax as those have been addressed many times and in many forums. I’d like to bring up several of the cons to the Fair Tax and seed a discussion which may help us be more prepared if we choose to go down such a path. These are the issues I’d like to start with:

1. Where does the motivation go?
2. Burden of enforcement
3. How do we fix it?
4. Short term inflation
5. Services taxation
6. Internet taxation

More »

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http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/157851.aspx

The Brody File again addresses an issue we’ve all talked about. Some of the anti-Romney crowd’s argument against Romney is

it’s not because he is a Mormon. It’s because it gives legitimacy to the LDS Churches [sic] drive to be accepted as a Christian group.

Can we put this assumptive argument to rest? If a person believes the LDS Church to be false, then why don’t they trust that other folks can make the same informed rejection if they hear anything from said religion? It’s like they want people’s First Amendment right’s to be squashed since hearing anything from a different church may cause them to join said church. They prefer folks not to be exposed to Romney’s religion. This sounds very similar to Wahhabism’s take on other religions, which is not the freedom our Troops fight to protect.

How does Romney’s becoming President give validity to the LDS Church? Did his gubernatorial rein in Massachusetts cause increased conversions? None that I’ve read about in the media or from said Church. Does Senator Harry Reid’s Mormonism give validity to said religion? I have not read about the vast conversions happening in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yet as David Brody says, “Let’s be real here. If Romney wasn’t Mormon, this would be a slam dunk for Evangelical leaders.” This is the closest thing to religious bigotry in my generation I’ve seen. Some of these people hate the LDS Church and think’s it’s members are going to hell and anyone exposed to it may take a trip with them. I guess it’s better in our country because we don’t kill such inquisitive people like the Wahhabists do, some just don’t want to elect an impressive secular candidate because of the same concerns the Wahhabists have.

Nathan W.

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There is this thought that I’m just one of 300 million in this country and anything I do will not affect the country as a whole. Why is this fallacy? The Election next year is affected by what you do tonight. Did you know that less than 1/100th of 1 percent of U.S. citizens contributed to Mitt Romney’s campaign during the first quarter this year, but their contributions raised his campaign to be the leader of fundraising for the Republican Party? Is our work done? Should we leave it to everyone else to help fund the policies you and I want? If so, then we probably won’t get what we want.

How can you make a difference? United we stand, divided we fall. Most of us can look at our budgets and contribute $5 to $10 tonight. Some can share even more. If you want the things you’re interested in to happen, follow Mitt Romney’s example and do what it takes to get it done. Will your $5 make a difference to our country as a whole? Yes, but the people donating $5 to Obama hope you won’t do that tonight.

Nathan W.

Go to https://www.mittromney.com/contribution/form-SUA, and donate $5 or more.

Under Referral Information:
Fundraiser ID: 10002
Fundraiser First Name: Nathan
Fundraiser Last Name: Waite
Source Code: QC01
Event Name: Promoting What I Want

OR you can use Ann Marie’s information in the right hand column.

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A few good reads (I guess one is actually a view), that have nothing to do with each other:

1. Here is a poignant 55 sec. speech by Kentucky Rep. Geoff Davis. Short and oh so sweet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRXsfdsNjeE

2. The Salt Lake Tribune recently did a highlight on Spencer Zwick who is Romney’s National Finance Director. It’s called “Romney’s ‘Sixth son’ Handles Campaign Money”.

Zwick was originally brought on to translate Olympic documents because he speaks Spanish and Thai. Romney was quite impressed with his work ethic and innovative ideas. Zwick has hardly left his side since. Zwick is currently only 28 years old! How old does that make him when he first started working for Romney?

3. From SC for Romney we learn how “Down to Earth” Mitt Romney is. The writer of the article points out several instances of Romney doing things that you wouldn’t find your average multi-millionaire doing: Fixing a rain gutter in the middle of a storm, directing traffic during the Olympics, and showing up to help a neighbor move even though his shoulder was injured.

There’s just something unique about Governor Romney and his willingness to serve others. We often get so jaded towards humanity that this kind of sincerity seems impossible. There is enough evidence in the life of Mitt Romney to prove otherwise. If ever a politician had sincere intentions with regard to a presidential bid–it would be this man.

Thanks for the great example, Governor!

Read the article. It’s for your own good.

~Nate Gunderson

UPDATE: I just found out that the article from SC for Romney was written by Andru Blomquist who is also a blogger here at this site, so I’ll give credit where credit is due. Andru (in an e-amil) was wondering if any one else out there had personal stories of Mitt Romney that would give us more insight into his character. Please share them in the comments section if you do.

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According to NASCAR, drafting is “when a car travels through the air it leaves a gap behind it. Another car driving in this gap doesn’t have as much air resistance pushing on its nose and can then travel faster or use less fuel to travel the same speed. This effect can be noticed at speeds as low as 70mph but the effect increases with speed.”

Rudy Giuliani is in the lead of GOP candidates among most national polls. Others are falling behind. But with a debate yet to happen and even grass roots efforts being pretty much flat line at this point, much can change in the next nine to ten months. Newsweek’s article “Rudy’s Rise” shows Rudy’s success in a recent poll. But digging deeper into the numbers, Rudy has yet to leave everyone in the dust. Although Giuliani is beating McCain by 25 points and double that for Romney, the article exposes the risk Rudy may soon face in the debates:

The NEWSWEEK Poll finds that 58 percent of registered Republicans and “Republican leaners” describe themselves as social conservatives. Only a quarter (26 percent) of Republican voters claim to know “a lot” about the pro-choice and pro-gun-control Giuliani, while a full third (34 percent) admit to knowing little or nothing about him. A large number say that knowing where he stands on those issues and his opposition to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage will hurt his chances with them: half (50 percent) of self-identified social conservatives say the candidate’s support of Roe v. Wade would at least make them less likely to support him. Almost half (44 percent) say the same of his opposition to a ban on same-sex marriage, and nearly a third (30 percent) say his stance on gun control could lead them to support someone else.

Interestingly, this poll has a 12-point fudge factor for registered Republicans and Republican leaners, so bring your salt shaker.

So who is really drafting the lead car?

With national polls having Romney in a dismal third, why would anybody care about him? Obviously the national polls do not reflect the intentions of those cognizantly aware of the GOP race, the Democrats. The DNC has released more attack pieces on Romney than any other candidate. The Associated Press released an attack article on Romney citing his great-great grandfather was a polygamist over 110 years ago, but fails to note that Barack Obama had a bigamist father (he was married to multiple women). Never mind an anonymous effort to attack Romney in South Carolina with a six-page color flyer mailed out to a county. If the national polls are right, then these efforts are sorely misguided.

There is movement in the ranks of the GOP race that the national polls do not show. Some in the know were polled in the following: The CPAC straw poll and an L.A. Times poll of Republican Insiders. In the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, Romney won 21% over 17% for Giuliani. In a different L.A. Times poll, their article says:

Among Republicans, Romney had the most backing among party insiders, with 20% support, followed by Giuliani with 14%, McCain with 10% and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia — who has said he might enter the race in the fall — with 8%. In a potentially worrisome sign for McCain, just over 1 in 10 RNC members said they would not support him if he won the party’s nomination in his second attempt.

This early in the race anything can happen. Just don’t loose sight of those in a power position.

Nathan W.

Cross posted at Redstate.com

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http://www.washingtonpost…7021200661.html

The problem with political correctness is the tendency to use it “politically” and not as a way to inform, educate and empathize with others. Case in point:

The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) comes out with harsh criticism towards Mitt Romney’s announcement to run for President in the Henry Ford museum. The Washington Post and ABC News have both picked it up:

“Romney has been traveling the country talking about inclusiveness and understanding of people from all walks of life,” Forman said. “Yet he chooses to kick (off) his presidential campaign on the former estate of a well-known and outspoken anti-Semite and xenophobe.”

Now when I was in school, including college, everything I was taught about Ford was his revolutionary ideas in regards to company operations and assembly lines. I never once heard about Ford’s views on Jews in any of my college history courses. Have you? Maybe I cut class that day.

The NJDC’s article is inflammatory against Ford. Maybe Ford deserved it, but I would have thought if Henry Ford was so anti-Semitic, we would’ve heard about it before, say during Ford Motorcar’s advertising or something pertaining to the man’s legacy and products, not a presidential candidate’s announcement. The timing of it just seems a little too political to be correct to me. Given Romney’s supportive and novel ideas for Israel and condemnation of Iran, I know where Romney stands on Israel and Jews. I don’t know where the NJDC stands politically, but I question their timing and venue for coming out against Romney.

Sound off in the comments and let me know if I am the only person in the U.S. that did not know about Henry Ford’s past and what you think about the timing of the NJDC’s comments.

Nathan W.

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Today is February 6, 2007, which happens to be President Ronald Wilson Reagan’s birthday. President Reagan would have been 96 today. You can visit the Reagan Foundation website here.

Here’s my favorite Reagan quote of the moment:

We’re blessed with the opportunity to stand for something - for liberty and freedom and fairness - and these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to. And we have good reason to be hopeful and optimistic. We’ve made much progress already. So let us go forth with good cheer and stout hearts, happy warriors out to seize back a country and a world to freedom. –Ronald Wilson Reagan

Feel free to share your favorite Reagan quote in the comments section.

Long Live The Reagan Revolution!

-Kyle Joseph Farmer

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Open Blog Weekend - Share Your Thoughts

I hope Ann Marie doesn’t mind me kicking off the Open Blog Weekend. I’ve had some thoughts brewing for a while that I want to chat about.

1- Introduction
I’ve never officially introduced myself here even though I’ve been a long time commenter and a recent addition to this blog-o-matic machine. My name is Nathan Gunderson; I am 30 years old and Orem, Utah is my home. As far as I know I’m the only blogger on this site from Utah, which proves that those who say Romney’s only supporters are in Utah are quite wrong.

2- One reason I why I like Romney
My interest in Romney developed when I started reading this blog back in July. Before that time I knew surprisingly little about Romney: he headed the Olympics here in Utah, and that he was currently governor of Massachusetts. I started to investigate Romney’s credentials after hearing that he, McCain, and Giuliani were some of the presidential aspirants. Being a social conservative I was not thrilled about the Mayor, and I’ve always had souring in my stomach with McCain because of his brashness. Hope that there was someone better on the agenda was very quickly satisfied when I learned about Governor Romney. Though MR 2008 has many qualities to appreciate as a leader, one that sticks out to me is his business sense and cutting of government waste. If a business was run like our government is today it would utterly fail. It has no competition and almost no restraints on spending. It’s decisions are based on what is popular, not on what is financially sound. Unfortunately it is not popular to cut spending. As a small business owner myself I’ve often fantasized about Mitt coming to our company to streamline operations and show us how it’s supposed to be done. I guess I can keep hoping.

3- The dominate Pro-Romney Blogosphere
The count of blogs dedicated to Romney’s campaign is nearing 50, with another half dozen sites without blogs. My favorites are this blog, EvangelicalsforMitt.com, and MyManMitt.com. These are extremely active blogs. Add in the 40+ other Mitt blogs and you’ll notice that the slight hum of the Pro-Romney buzz sounds more like a shouting chorus. And to top it all off is the beautifully designed Official Exploratory Committee site with its impressive MittTV. Not enough can be said about how well they’ve done the official site. Now, does any single online following or official site for any other candidate in the Republican party compare? Definitely not! I have yet to find a blog for McCain with an entry more recent than November, and his exploratory site looks dreary and is lacking in content. Giulani’s exploratory site is slightly improved over McCains, and there is one active blog although though it seems sleepy in comparison to the Pro-Romney blogs and tends to focus on premature polls.
Why are the grassroots blogs for Romney so much more active? Why don’t the other candidates improve their websites when it’s obvious how spiffy Romney’s is?

4- $6.5 million vs. coin toss
On the same day that the Romney camp pulled in a whopping $6.5M (I’ve heard the end of day count was higher) McCain got some sweet exposure flipping the coin for the BCS college football championship. A few comments in a post over at race42008.com discussed the question of who had the better day. I recall a few of them saying that you can’t buy exposure like McCain had tossing the coin (28 million viewers). But $6.5M is a big haul. My thoughts are that you can by several minutes of ads during the Superbowl with that much money. Besides, McCain didn’t say anything in his exposure, and he looked rather uncomfortable and awkward to me. I think Mitt clearly had the better day. What do you think?

5- Have all the arrows in the quiver been spent?
We have seen the opposition hurl some pointy arrows at Romney recently. The Romney camp has acted promptly and neutralized these attacks with surprising efficiency. Before Mitt has even announced his official candidacy they have dug up everything they could find in his past in hopes of sinking his ship, all for little avail. What are they going to use now? I suspect they will use the religion issue (no matter how unjustified) over and over until the American public gets sick of it and spurns any report of his faith being an issue.

6- Who will be included in the debates starting in April?
If every candidate that is officially running or exploring is invited it’s going to be a crowded debate room. Does anyone know anything regarding debate attendees? Is it better to have many or just the big three?

The floor is now yours. Feel free to write about my comments or anything that’s been brewing in your mind.

~~~Nate Gunderson

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I’m going to click all categories. I am opening up the blog to whatever stories, discussions, ideas, etc…you want. Please be advised though that any crude or profane language will be deleted. You must discuss your ideas in a civil fashion with no name calling. Other than that, the floor is yours. Other posts will be posted as needed, but this one’s for you. One note: Try to think outside the box, and make this discussion as varied as possible

Read, Set, Go!!!

Ann Marie

P.S. While you’re at it contribute. Yes, I am a shameless promoter. Follow the following instructions to do so…Thanks!

—–
Contribute NOW! - Time is of the essence, and I urgently ask you to donate to Mitt Romney’s Exploratory Committee for President 2008. It is very important in terms of the future of this country that we raise the needed funds for this campaign to get off to a good start. President Bush raised over $100 million in his campaign run in 2004, and this cycle will likely need much more than that. Contributions of even $10 can make a difference in this critical phase of the campaign cycle. Let’s get rolling and show Governor Romney what we’re made of!

Guidelines for contributing:

Individuals can give up to $2100, and couples can give up to $4200 per year.

Ways to contribute:

1. Visit this URL: Contribute, and fill in your information and donate by credit card. Please use fundraiser ID: 250001, and my name Ann Marie Curling.

2. Write a check with your donation amount (please write Ann Marie Curling - 250001 in the MEMO field). Print the form located at Contribution Form PDF, and fill in all the necessary information. Then mail your form and check to the following address: Romney for President Exploratory Committee, Inc., P.O. Box 55899, Boston, MA 02205-5899.

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Ann Marie Curling started this a few weeks ago.

Talk about whatever Romney related topics that you want to in the comments section of this post!

So let the comments begin!

Kevin Davis Jr.

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