comMITTed to Romney!

‘No Apology’ looks at nation’s standing in world

WASHINGTON - Later this winter, Mitt Romney will strike out on a national book tour, but unlike his party’s most successful recent author he does not expect to make headlines with bits of fresh gossip from the 2008 campaign, see his fans camp overnight outside bookstores, or chat with Oprah Winfrey about his family.

“Inevitably there are going to be comparisons with the Sarah Palin book,’’ said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman. “We’re not going to match her crowd size or sales. These are two different people with different ways of expressing themselves.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/01/03/romney_will_hit_key_primary_states_on_book_tour/

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Today’s news of the formation of a PAC by Tim Pawlenty reminds me of the start of the Indianapolis 500 race. “Lady and Gentlemen, start your engines!”

TPaw is in, Sarah is establishing her street creds, Newt sounds like a guy getting ready to run, Huckabee is waiting in the wings, Guiliani is dipping his toe into the water and Mitt Romney is collecting IOU’s and raising money in key races in New Jersey and Virginia. Ya gotta love it.

~~John Cronin~~

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/pawlenty-to-start-pac.html?hpid=news-col-blog

Washington Post.com
By Chris Cillizza

In the latest sign that he is preparing to run for president in 2012, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) is starting a political action committee that will allow him to donate to state and federal candidates and travel the country in support of his party.

The “Freedom First” PAC is slated to hold its first official event in November, according to a save-the-date e-mail being circulated among Republican activists. The event, which includes a reception and a dinner, is scheduled for Nov. 4 at the Minneapolis Hilton. To serve as a “chair” for the fundraiser, an individual must collect $100,000 for the event while “co-chairs” are required to bring in $50,000. Individual tickets cost $5,000.

“When the Governor said he wouldn’t seek re-election, he said in addition to finishing his term strong, he would help other Republicans candidates, and obviously a PAC is one key way to do that,” said Alex Conant, an unofficial adviser to Pawlenty.

In the past few months, Tpaw has worked aggressively to introduce himself to potential 2012 Republican primary voters. He has visited (or will visit by the end of the month) a number of battleground states including Florida and Ohio and drew considerable media coverage for his speech last week at the Value Voters Summit in Washington. (That activity led us to name Pawlenty the second most influential Republican in the country last week.)

Pawlenty’s expected rivals for the 2012 nomination already have PACs up and operational.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) is at the head of the PAC class, having collected $2.3 million for his “Free and Strong America” committee so far in 2009 and ending August with $811,000 in the bank. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin closed June with $732,000 raised via her “Sarahpac” while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee collected $305,000 through his “Huck PAC” in the first six months of the year.

In recent presidential elections, leadership PACs have become de rigeur for top tier candidates — allowing them to begin the construction of a national financial apparatus while also building up chits with candidates running for office.

This process is especially important to Pawlenty as he has never run for national office before and starts at something of a disadvantage in terms of national organization and name identification when compared to Romney, Palin and Huckabee.

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