comMITTed to Romney!

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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http://herald-zeitung.com/story.lasso?ewcd=fb74cf595a885e3f&
-session=HeraldZeitung:40DA3C4E0eeb400F6EVsV29F740C

By Mitzie Stelte

Published June 11, 2008

HOUSTON —

Mitt Romney, a former top contender for the GOP presidential nomination, will speak at the Texas Republicans state convention this weekend.

GOP leaders say they expect a variety of opinions at the huge event, which runs Thursday through Saturday at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The state convention typically attracts about 14,000 participants. Of those, about 6,500 are delegates and 6,500 are alternates.

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It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from the Ron Paul campaign, but Congressman Paul and his enthusiasts will be in Austin in force this week, boosting their candidate.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories
/060908dntexpaul.237cc45.html?npc

Associated Press

AUSTIN –

Presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain will have plenty of surrogates at the state GOP convention this week, like former rival Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

But supporters of Ron Paul want to make the most of his Texas home turf to promote his message, too, before thousands of GOP activists attending the convention in Houston.

Paul, a Lake Jackson Republican running for president and for re-election to Congress, won’t have an official speaking role at the convention. He’ll be introduced with others from Texas’ congressional delegation.

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By Anna M. Tinsley and Jeff Claassen

Star-Telegram Staff Writers

Some North Texans don’t have to file their tax returns to get big refund checks in the mail.

Dozens of area residents who donated to the campaigns of Republicans Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani are getting some of that money back.

After ending their presidential bids in February, Romney and Giuliani began returning $84,920 and $53,200, respectively, to Tarrant County donors, according to a Star-Telegram analysis of Federal Election Commission data.

“It’s a very interesting action on the part of Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani that their people sent back donations they didn’t use,” said Allan Saxe, an associate political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. “It’s a noble action on their part.

“Once those donors get that money back in the mail, it should make them feel very good about the candidates they originally supported.”

Candidates can legally use those donations for everything from paying campaign debt to funding bids for another federal office, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

With Giuliani and Romney out, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain for the first time became the top money-getter in Tarrant County in both February and overall, the analysis shows.

McCain has raised $437,473 in Tarrant County during this presidential race — $211,087 in February alone.

That may be partly because at least five local donors who received refunds from Romney or Giuliani are believed to have donated the same amount or more to McCain’s campaign, records show.

One of those listed, lawyer Dee Kelly, said, “I gave money to McCain because I wanted to, not because I got a refund from anybody.” Kelly has donated to several candidates.

The other local donors could not be reached for comment Monday.

Presidential candidates who drop out of the race cannot use their campaign funds for personal expenses.

Under federal guidelines, they can either give the donations back within 60 days after dropping out or get donors’ permission to use the money for something else, such as a charity, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“This shows that Giuliani and Romney were really pretty honorable people,” Saxe said. “Some people loan their own money to the campaign and then pay it back through donations. But they’re returning money, and they’re doing it quickly.”

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I saw this story on the Border Fence this morning and I thought it would be very informative and very interesting to hear from our readers who either live in areas near the Southwestern border or who have friends or family members who live in those areas to post their comments about the issues involved in erecting a physical barrier. What are the concerns of farmers and cattle ranchers in those areas? How will this effect local business? Do property owners have legitimate complaints or do national security interests trump all other concerns?

Will the border fence ever get built or will it be promptly forgotten by the politicians once they are safely ensconced in office for the next four to six years?

~~John Cronin~~

By Terence P. Jeffrey
CNSNews.com Editor in Chief
February 22, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - In a CNN debate in Austin, Texas, Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton agreed Thursday night that the Secure Border Fence Act of 2006, which directs the secretary of Homeland Security to construct 700 miles of double border fencing along specific sections of the U.S.-Mexico border, should not be enforced as written.

Stressing her desire to be deferential to the views of people who live along the border in Texas — which on March 4 will hold a primary that is widely viewed as a must-win event for the New York senator — Clinton said of a border fence, “there may be limited places where it would work. But let’s deploy more technology and personnel, instead of the physical barrier.”

“This is an area where Senator Clinton and I almost entirely agree,” said Obama. “I think that the key is to consult with local communities, whether it’s on the commercial interests or the environmental stakes of creating any kind of barrier.”

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By: Hugh Hewitt

TOWNHALL.COM

Sorry I can’t provide the link. I evidently clicked on something I shouldn’t have and I removed the URL window from my browser. I’d appreciate your help in restoring it. Thanks in advance.

In the meantime, great news coming from battleground California. According to Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby, Gov. Romney is leading California over “Open Borders” McCain 37% to 34%. Below are a couple of quotes from the article.

~~John Cronin~~

If the swing towards Romney in California continues, he will emerge from Tuesday’s contest in a solid second place with a new narrative and a renewed debate about the race –can Romney surpass McCain in Ohio and Texas in March? The rapidly fading Huck would simply disappear, as he is doing in many places where the obvious has already registered: A vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain.

As the Arizona numbers underscore, McCain would not even bring a marginally united party with him. Given his animosity towards Romney, McCain wouldn’t add Romney to the ticket ,and the die-hard opponents of McCain will spend the next nine months hammering on how Huckabee blocked the consolidation of the conservative vote thus allowing the Reagan coalition to be eclipsed. Many would get over it and pull the lever for McCain, but how many would work for him or contribute to his coffers? And how many irreconcilables does it take to doom the campaign from the start –5%? 10% Not many, especially when it comes to the purple states of Colorado and Ohio.

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Before you pull the lever for John McCain on Super Tuesday, please consider the following information first. As a Mitt Romney supporter, I would prefer to convince people why they should vote for my candidate, rather than against John McCain. However, I’ve tried this approach for the past 18 months, but people haven’t been able to get past his religion or the false impression that he’s a flip-flopper. As governor, Romney never contradicted a position he campaigned for in 2002 and while he did change his stance on abortion, he upheld his campaign promises throughout the end of his term. You can trust that the stances he is taking for America (which are decidedly different than the needs of Massachusetts in 2002), will be consistently adhered to while he is in office.

McCain on the other hand consistently changes positions, or blatantly lies about his record and the records of others. As accounts continue to surface about his private dealings with fellow legislators, staffers, and other private individuals, it is abundantly clear that John McCain is concerned about the one thing he’s always been concerned about—himself.

Perhaps you’ve resigned yourself to the “electability” argument, and believe that John McCain is the only Republican who could win in November. McCain will be the first one to tell you not to trust polls that come out 6 months before an election (just look at last July’s polling data for McCain). Additionally, you give the Democrats too much credit. As the economy and budget woes worsen, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barak Obama has any credibility to solve this impending crisis. On this issue alone, John McCain would be much easier to beat than Romney since he can’t run effectively on the economy. If we nominate John McCain, it will be like nominating Bob Dole all over again (and he was supposed to be the most electable at the time).

For all you know, everything I have just said could simply be made up charges for political reasons. So I ask you to take a look at the whole picture of John McCain’s life and his accelerated advancement through the naval ranks—in spite of his poor record and actions unbecoming of a Naval officer. As you read the following story of McCain’s Naval record, compare this with Mitt Romney and answer the following questions:

· Both had influential fathers, what did this give them in life?
· Both were accepted to prestigious universities, what did they do with that opportunity?
· Both had careers that ended in high-profile positions. How did they get there?
· How do their personal and family lives compare?
· What kind of people do they associate themselves with?
· What have these two candidate shown that they are good at?

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First it was Amway…now it’s Total Gym (scroll down to the end of this story from The Caucus - The New York Times Political Blog)…Well, since the Huckster can’t seem to sway more than a few evangelicals in Iowa, it appears that he’s interviewing for his next job…Infomercial Salesman. Doesn’t it fit him just fine America?

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Much has been made of the feud between Huck and Rush. Pundits wondered if Rush was going to have an impact since he’s on vacation between now and the Iowa Caucuses on 1/3.

Read into it what you will, but the entire left column of his homepage today features the following stories:

- Rush responds to Gov. Huckabee
- Huckabee campaign chairman Ed Rollins trashes Rush instead of debating conservatism
- Governor Huckabee forces attack El Rushbo
- Callers reacto to Huckabee attacks on Rush
- Democrats want Mike Huckabee
- Identity politics and the Hucksters
- Gov. Huckabee sounds like Perot

Quoting the ancient general and warfare theorist, Sun Tzu, “Ouch…that’s going to leave a mark.” (just kidding…about the Sun Tzu part, I think it was Don Corleone)

Contrast this with what else Rush has featured on his website today:

- Mitt Romney’s Inspiring Speech (with links to the video and the text)

Recall that after the 1st debate, Rush called Romney “Reaganesque.” The high praise from El Rushbo keeps on coming. Rush has steadfastly clarified that he does not endorse in the primaries, but with “non-endorsements” like these, who needs endorsements?!

Complete transcript from Rush after the jump…

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It’s not everyday that you hear a politician talk about MORE faith in Government. That happened today when Governor Mitt Romney gave the speech of his life at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station Texas. As I’ve been thinking ever since hearing the speech this morning it comes right back to religious liberty and being a faithful people and country. Prior to his delivery of the speech those of us with Press Credentials were given an advance copy of it, and I knew from the moment I finished it that it was going to be an incredible day for the Governor. I don’t think he could have done even one ounce better than he did today.

This part is one that I think is absolutely awesome:

“These American values, this great moral heritage, is shared and lived in my religion as it is in yours. I was taught in my home to honor God and love my neighbor. I saw my father march with Martin Luther King. I saw my parents provide compassionate care to others, in personal ways to people nearby, and in just as consequential ways in leading national volunteer movements. I am moved by the Lord’s words: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me…‘

There were other awesome parts, but I’d be quoting the entire speech if I went into them more. I just really was moved by the one I just mentioned because it’s rare in politics that you hear scripture quoted like that. Also, I hold special fondness for the father Romney. Since his history is so warmly remembered in Michigan, it’s so awesome how he mentioned him marching with Martin Luther King.

I’ve already quoted Richard Land earlier, but his statement bears repeating, “America needed this more than Governor Romney”.

Others from Lou Sheldon, “Defining moment in American History”, “A speech that will be studied for time”.

I’m so glad that Governor Romney used his conviction to express the importance of religion in our life. It’s so refreshing to hear. Thank you Governor, we hear you loud and clear, and we thank you!

I’m very tired, this has been one heck of a whirlwind for me…I’ll add more later. Also, Victor took many awesome pictures today I’ll make sure to get them up as soon as I have them, he’s mailing them to me on a flash drive. Please be patient. Side Note: Vic, Kevin, Rebecca and I met up with Nancy French and Charles Mitchell from Evangelicals for Mitt, it was a very nice visit.

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We’re all set up here in the filing room, they just did a sweep of the Auditorium and the Filing Room. I spoke to David Brody and Jay Sekulow, I thanked Jay for his support of Governor Romney and all his efforts toward his cause. We’ve seen plenty of national media, and now we’re just waiting. Governor Romney is practicing his speech in the auditorium right now.

It was very nice meeting Kevin Anderson, and seeing Vic again. Rebecca got some pictures which we’ll post later of a protester with a Joseph lied website. But, besides that lone person we really haven’t seen anything else in terms of protesting.

I’ll add more to this post as the process goes along.

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Rebecca Thayne, Victor Lunquist, Kevin Anderson, and I are here on the ground in College Station Texas. We’ll be reporting on the Romney speech tomorrow morning. Please as Nate has said, come into the chat room here during the speech and give your opinions.

See ya tomorrow!

Ann Marie Curling

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According to analytics there are many people searching Google and Yahoo to find out when Romney’s speech is tomorrow and which stations will be broadcasting it. Here is what I know:

The speech is at 10:30 Eastern. It is taking place at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. I have heard that most FOX affiliates are picking it up for local TV markets. I called the campaign office and someone said that they believe C-SPAN might pick it up, but I’m sure there may be several cable stations that will cover it live.

If you have broadband internet there will be a live feed provided at MittRomney.com . If you visit the official site now you will see that the site is already set-up for the live feed.

Additionally, there is a toll free number that you can call to listen to live audio of the speech, in case you don’t have a TV accessible at the time. Phone#: 1-866-866-2244. Participant Code: 9411758. Thanks to Justin Hart of MyManMitt.com for that bit of info.

I will set up a poll immediately after the speech to get everyone’s input on what they thought. Tune in, and wish Governor Romney luck tomorrow morning.

~Nate Gunderson

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Mitt Romney has already said much of what he will be saying on Thursday about his religion. So, what do you think he should say in his speech? I’d like specifics with details on how you think it would help or hinder him politically. I will start off this little exercise:

I agree that he shouldn’t go into theological details of Mormonism, but what is the purpose of this speech? He has to convince people who worry about Mormonism that a vote for him will not actualize their concerns. What are their concerns?

1. Mitt may be beholden to the leaders of the church for policy.

2. Mitt becoming President gives legitimacy to Mormonism.

3. Mitt’s judgment is flawed since he believes in some unbelievable things within the faith.

4. Does Mitt really believe his religion with his past positions?

What have I missed?

Recommended Answers:

1. He must draw the line like Kennedy did about influence.

2. He must explain that although he was a Mormon governor, no one joined the religion in Massachusetts because of that. The religion demands much from its members and folks do not make such a drastic life change because some politician was born into that church. OK, the first sentence may be enough

3. Many people believe in miracles. Many people believe a man saved humanity by loading animals two by two in a boat. Many people believe the Red Sea was parted to save the Israelites. There are many miraculous things in the Mormon faith that have helped to shape Mitt’s values and compassion. He should then segue into those values.

4. One of the tenets of Mormonism is that members believe they should not impose Mormon commandments on others. Yet the values of compassion, understanding and service he learned while in the religion are critical to building a strong society, culture and laws of decency.

Please sound off and let Mitt know what will succeed and what will fail. What are your concerns with Mormonism and Mitt Romney?

Nathan W.

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This has been a busy couple of weeks for Texas A&M University. First they won their big game against University of Texas and now Mitt Romney is coming to the campus to make what may well be one of the most anticipated speeches of this election cycle.

After months of speculation and the opinion of nearly every blogger, pundit and politician, Governor Romney will deliver a speech titled “Faith in America” on Thursday, December 6 at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Ken Madden, spokesman for Romney’s campaign has stated, “This speech is an opportunity for Governor Romney to share his views on religious liberty, the grand tradition religious tolerance has played in the progress of our nation and how the governor’s own faith would inform his Presidency if he were elected.”

In many ways, the speech itself and the response to it will be a defining moment in Romney’s campaign. There has been so much attention and anticipation that it seems unlikely that the speech can be all things that have been hoped for by the voting public. It is almost certain that the MSM will find fault with anything that Romney has to say on the subject as they are eager for this opportunity to condemn all religions as fanatic.

What is less certain is whether there are words that can sweep away the lingering doubts and fears of those who are uncertain about the Mormon faith. In following this campaign, however, I have learned that Romney always looks before he leaps. He looks extensively at the numbers, analyzes them and meets them head on with the most intelligent and qualified team he can assemble. In other words, if anyone can give this speech successfully, it is Mitt Romney.

Both the state and the venue are in his favor. Although the Romney campaign and the Bush Library caution that the invitation to speak does not constitute an endorsement, the linking of the two will be remembered in people’s minds. (Earlier this year both Romney and Mayor Rudy Giuliani were invited to address forums at the Library on separate weeks. It was stressed then, as it is now, that these invitations did not denote an endorsement for either candidate.) However, people who find comfort in the Christian faith of both present and former President Bush may also find comfort in the confidence they place in Governor Romney both as a person and a leader.

Texas is a very conservative state and more prone to worry over issues of border security than theological differences. Texas is also religious and respectful. The invitation-only audience is not likely to demand that a man who professes deep commitment to his faith, dissect his religion in public for their amusement.

If, on Thursday, Governor Romney can put an eloquent cap on the Anti-Mormon inhibitions of evangelicals and other religious or value-conscious voters, he will have a strong stance from which to spring, not only into the primaries, but into the general election as well.

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