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We Republicans cherish the free market. So now might be the right time to start listening to it. Our party has lost the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections.
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The Republican convention is Mitt Romney's first big opportunity since the primaries to speak directly to general-election voters. Will he focus on rallying the Republican base, or will he try to connect with the swing voters who hold the key to the White House?
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That was the question bouncing around in my head after I spent my first 24 hours in Tampa on increasingly soggy ground. The twin horrors of Tropical Storm Isaac and the Nielsen ratings have already combined to wipe out Monday nightÕs planned activities, and you know what? Nobody cares.
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Biography no longer seems to matter much in American politics. There was a time when a candidate's story was everything and legions of hickory-tough old generals, backwoods rail splitters and celebrated Rough Riders soared into the White House on the wings of their modest roots and past accomplishments.
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Mitt Romney is in trouble again. Despite having won the must-win states of New Hampshire and Florida, he faces yet another formerly lagging opponent's surge to the top of the polls.
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As the Republican Presidential contest enters its final stage, Mitt Romney faces an interesting choice: Does he chug along to the party's nomination, sticking with the same basic stump speech that has made him the presumptive nominee? Or does he use the next two months to better position himself for what will likely be a tough general election?
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Conventional wisdom holds that Rick Perry, last week's inevitable GOP presidential nominee, is now toast. Is that correct? Or will the race offer more surprises in the weeks to come?
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Last weekÕs Des Moines Register poll tells us Ñ assuming nothing actually happens in Iowa over the next six months Ñ that about 22% of the 125,000 or so Hawkeyes most likely to show up for next yearÕs Republican caucus will do so intending to vote for Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
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Democrats are in a grumpy mood, and with good reason. A big special-election victory in upstate New York quickly sagged into a disastrous media frenzy over Democratic CongressmanÐInternet lothario Anthony Weiner's spectacular success in becoming the Twittersphere's most obvious twit.
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Iowa's presidential-caucus season is off to a slow start, so Governor Terry Branstad let slip a blazing 100-decibel hog call when he announced that many Republican voters in his state were still up for grabs. "It's a wide-open race," he said. His real message to the GOP hopefuls, however, could not be clearer: Iowa is open for business, and you had better get here, starting right now.
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If you don't look too closely, the battle lines between Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, and his state's public employees' unions seem to be clearly drawn.
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Despairing Republican friends have been asking me what I think we should do to rebuild the GOP and begin our certain and inevitable comeback. My answer disappoints them: "Build an ark."
I say this because I've made a career out of counting votes, and the numbers tell a clear story; the demographics of America are changing in a way that is deadly for the Republican Party as it exists today. A GOP ice age is on the way. Read More.
In his Inaugural address, Barack Obama summoned Americans to a "new era of responsibility" and challenged us to end the politics of "standing pat ... and putting off unpleasant decisions." It could have happened. If there was ever a President sitting on a high enough mountain of political capital to lead the country through a series of very painful but necessary political decisions, it is Obama. But sadly, that new era has so far been a promise unfulfilled. Read More.
Alas, my GOTV calling pals at the VA Blue Ridge Lock n' Load gun club have not sent me any photos, but I did get this cool one from a hip Obama phoner working with the "30Barack" group. This is an Obama phone bank -- mostly targeting Nevada I'd suspect-- located inside a giant movie soundstage in Los Angeles. All volunteers. Gotta give kudos to Hollywood; I love the dutch camera angle...
Mike's Blogs on TIME's Swampland
Just heard Obama Manager David Plouffe's view of the world at a groovy TIME magazine event. I'll post some thoughts on it a bit later. But for now, a quick review of last night's Hillary speech and a dire prediction about tomorrow's planned spectacular at Invesco field.
Hillary gave the best speech of her career. It will do Obama some good. The only downside was that it was very generic: a single tap of the word processor key to switch and replace out 'Barack Obama' and the speech could have been changed in two seconds to endorse Chris Dodd. There was no explicit praise for Obama's specific talents and character, just a strong endorsement of the party nominee. Not bad, just not perfect, especially with the Clinton vs. Obama tension talk still very much in the air. We'll see how the former POTUS does tonight.
I think the normally shrewd Obama campaign has a blind spot about tomorrows big speech at Invesco field. The Pepsi center is the visual 'home' of this convention. Having Obama do his big finish in another venue screws up the visual vernacular of the convention. Turn off the sound, and watch the tape. In the end it will look like two different conventions; one visually dominated by Clintons, another by Obama. That is a message of separation, not unity. Also, ask any TV director: staging a TV mega-event outdoors is very tricky. Lots of things are hard to control. The whole Obama speaks to massive crowd thing is impressive, but done. We've seen it before. Finally, the Mount Olympus set looks problematical at best. An Obama staffer assured me it'll look better tomorrow. For their sake, it better. They should have changed this up yesterday and moved to a more intimate man in the arena set up back in the Pepsi center. Obama is the nominee, he should own this house. Maybe I'm wrong; but we'll see how tomorrow night ultimately turns.
Mike's Blogs on TIME's Swampland
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