an unseemly mix of politics and Mormonism
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Google News election results. As for me and my family, we’re going bowling tonight.
Don’t they have enough polls to screw up do already? I like the guy but come on, it’s too soon:
A Newsweek poll out this past weekend found Romney leading among Republicans and Republican-leaning voters for the GOP nomination next time around. In that national survey, Romney bested GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and former presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.
I realize The One (or “That One”) is due to be anointed next week but Romney shouldn’t be making reservations in New Hampshire just yet.
This is an amazing race. The incumbent president has approval ratings somewhere between Robert Mugabe and the ebola virus. The economy is supposedly on the brink of global Armageddon. McCain has only $80 million to spend, while Obama’s burning through $600 mil as fast as he can, and he doesn’t really need to spend a dime given the wall-to-wall media adoration. . .
And yet an old cranky broke loser is within two or three points of the King of the World. Strange.
Don’t worry, I’m not getting my hopes up, but still . . .
Nifty info-graphic map of newspaper endorsements from across the country as compared to how the state voted. Not too surprisingly, Sen. Obama leads Sen McCain 135 - 52. I’m surprised McCain has even that much.
The map also compares the newspapers’ previous endorsements. While I thought it was silly to make a big deal that the ever-reliable liberal Salt Lake Tribune endorsed Obama as and take it as a sign that even the Mormons are going for him, I was shocked to be reminded that the paper did endorse Pres. Bush in 2004.
Regardless, I don’t think McCain’s overlooking of a VP Romney is what drove the Trib to support hope and change.
Look on the bright side. The media’s finally starting to vet acquaintances of Barack Obama.
How will race affect the election? And who does it help?
Who knows, but according to this Gallup poll:
While 6% of voters say they are less likely to vote for Barack Obama because of his race, 9% say they are more likely to vote for him, making the impact of his race a neutral to slightly positive factor when all voters’ self-reported attitudes are taken into account.
At the same time, 6% of voters say John McCain’s race will make them less likely to vote for him, with 7% saying it makes them more likely to vote for him, leading to the same basic conclusion: McCain’s race, like Obama’s, is on balance neither a plus nor a minus.
A not so “new kind of politics”:
Obama’s greatest strength as a candidate, aside from his oratorical skill, has long been his apparent sincerity and decency. Voters attracted to him think of him as that rarest of things: an honest politician. He has claimed himself that he would never engage in the sort of deceptive politicking that he says has tainted Washington for so long.
Yet here he is violating his own professed standards. This is not the Barack Obama so many voters in New Hampshire and elsewhere thought they knew. But it is the real Barack Obama. For despite his rhetoric, he is in fact campaigning so dishonestly that even The Washington Post and The New York Times have called him on it. Which means that he is in practice no different from those regular politicians against whom his entire campaign has been built.
One example: Rush Limbaugh dismantles Sen. Obama’s ad that completely takes him out of context to smear Sen. McCain as an anti-immigrant racist.
The malignant aspect of this is that Mr. Obama and his advisers know exactly what they are doing. They had to listen to both monologues or read the transcripts. They then had to pick the particular excerpts they used in order to create a commercial of distortions. Their hoped-for result is to inflame racial tensions. In doing this, Mr. Obama and his advisers have demonstrated a pernicious contempt for American society.
Let’s take the “volunteer” out of volunteerism. On comparing Sens. McCain and Obama after last week’s service forum.
Mr. McCain certainly uses his bully pulpit to proselytize Americans about public service. But he more or less stops there, even repeatedly cautioning during the Columbia forum against federalizing public service, although that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t throw taxpayer money at some of his pet service projects. However, his Web site offers nothing near what Mr. Obama is proposing.
. . . Mr. Obama would create several new corps of his own: a Classroom Corps to help teachers and students in underperforming schools; a Health Corps for underserved areas; a Clean Energy Corps to weatherize homes and promote energy independence. The last is separate from his Global Energy Corps, to promote low-carbon energy solutions in developing countries.
Mr. Obama calls all this his “Plan for Universal and Voluntary Citizen Service.” It might live up to its “universal” billing, given that it would prod Americans of all age groups — from preteens to retirees — to sign up. But as to its voluntariness, the plan will make generous use of Uncle Sam’s money — and muscle. . .
The real issue is why Mr. Obama thinks it is necessary to take such extraordinary steps to push all Americans into service. Americans every year contribute close to $300 billion out of their own pockets to charities at home and abroad. This is the highest of any nation — seven times more than Germans and 14 times more than Italians per capita. Americans are equally generous with their time. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service — a federal agency — last year Americans volunteered 8.1 billion hours of service valued at $150 billion to community organizations.
Obama’s new politics in action: a new ad mocking McCain in part because he doesn’t know how to use email. Turns out he can’t because his POW injuries prevent from using a keyboard.
Mitt Romney spoke to the Utah GOP delegation yesterday and said he wasn’t interested in running in 2012 or in even a cabinet spot in a McCain administration.
After his speech, Romney told reporters he planned to continue campaigning for the GOP even after November. But he said “no thanks” to another run for the White House, even though he said his own campaign was a good experience despite some mistakes — which he declined to elaborate.
“I do not anticipate doing it again. It’s hard to imagine something like that,” Romney said.
The same goes for a spot in a McCain Cabinet, he said, because of what he saw when his father, the late George Romney, served as President Nixon’s secretary of housing and urban development.
“I really would not enjoy being in the Cabinet,” Romney said.
We’ll see, but I’m surprised to hear him so down on both prospects. And if so, why the heck is still subjecting himself to this:
Romney Hearts Huckabee
Poltics is truly the most christian of professions. After being defeated in the primaries by a guy who hates you, strung along as his loyal surrogate to not be picked as VP, keep stumping for the guy but then, to make nice with Mike Huckabee?!
To quote Homer Simpson, “This man has turned every cheek on his body.”
Tom Tancredo may not be many people’s cup of tea (as his campaign performance showed) but his take on the GOP primary results are interesting.
It was the Huckabee factor. [Former Arkansas] Governor [Mike] Huckabee decided to stay in even though he could not have won. He absolutely made a difference, and he knew it, and that difference was he was able to keep Mitt Romney out of the play by draining off conservative votes. And I think he did it to a large extent because Mitt is a Mormon. It was really to ruin Romney’s chances. So that created the pathway for Senator McCain.
I am certainly annoyed. I believe that Romney would have made a great candidate and a great president. John McCain is a better choice than Barack Obama, but I just hate the idea of voting for the lesser of two evils. But that’s what it boils down to.
Huckabee was still campaigning against Romney until last week just to make sure he didn’t get the VP nod. Was he merely reminding McCain that Romney’s Mormonism would have hurt him in the South?
This just may be after-the-fact story control from the McCain campaign, but the Washington Post reports that Romney was never a serious consideration and Palin was on the short list since February:
McCain’s advisers conducted interviews with a number of the prospective choices, but McCain did not. Most he knew well enough to have a sense of their personalities, policy positions and character. Among those who never met personally with McCain was Romney. The two men had waged a bitter and often-personal battle for the Republican nomination and when the primaries ended, Romney seemed an unlikely choice because of their distant personal relationship. . .
Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney harbors no ill feelings toward McCain, having never believed he would be the running mate. “It never seemed likely to us because they disagreed on some issues during the primaries, and there were so many other good Republicans to choose from, including Sarah Palin,” he said. But some close associates said that Romney’s advisers were angry about having been strung along until the last minute.
Who says she’s not qualified? She reads a TelePrompTer at least as well as He does.
Who would have known . . .
[via Hot Air]
The Veepstakes has been such a merry go round this summer with a new favorite every week, it’s hard to take a breathless report citing “sources” seriously (sort of like geek journalists reporting on the latest Facebook buyout >ahem< ).
But Mark Halperin at Time is reporting that two knowledgeable GOP sources are confirming that McCain will be picking Mitt Romney as his vice-presidential nominee.
[via Hot Air]
MORE: Now Halperin is hedging while citing a NY Times article that says its down to Romney and Pawlenty. Hot Air theorizes that Halperin’s sources were merely Romney partisans hoping to gin up some buzz. That and prey upon poor, gullible bloggers (couch! cough!) who should know better but are nearly exhausted with this election.
Either way, Gov. Huckabee sure hopes it’s not Romney. I can’t tell if he thinks he’s still running in the 2008 campaign or if he has already kicked off for 2012.
Link: sevenload.com
At least he’s emphatic that he’s not against Romney because of his religion. He spent the first 1:15 making sure we knew that Mormonism shouldn’t be the issue, then came back to it at 1:55 just to make it clear. It’s almost as if he wanted to make sure everyone knew Romney was Mormon.
Obama outraises McCain in Utah:
It appears that Obama supporters are truly enthused by his candidacy and are opening their wallets to show it. Meanwhile, Utah Republicans may be suffering donation fatigue from their heavy contributions to favorite-son Mitt Romney — and have not been so free-flowing with cash to McCain after he beat Romney.
It now seems clear that the recent McCain VP buzz was just supposed to keep the senator on the front page rather than actually crash Obama’s world parade. However, as the Romney name keeps getting mentioned, some interesting people are starting to push back on a Romney VP pick.
Speaking as a Mormon, Orson Scott Card “begs” McCain to not commit political suicide by picking a Mormon as his VP.
What is he going to bring you? Utah? You have Utah already.
What Mitt Romney would do, as your vice presidential candidate, is weaken you in areas that you absolutely must carry: The South and the Bible Belt.
You cannot afford to underestimate the number of people who will never vote for a ticket that includes a Mormon. . .
When you consider that in the South, the black vote will — understandably! — be energized and turn out in record numbers, the last thing you need is for the Evangelical Christian vote to be unenthusiastic, with large numbers of them sitting it out.
And from Romney’s home state, Michigan Democrats have actually produced a web ad as a preemptive strike against Romney on his biggest strength, his business experience.
I think Romney would make the best VP, but he may not be the best political choice. So OSC’s point is legitimate and pragmatic but a total concession to the crudest of identity politics.
And if the Michigan Democrats really think Romney is such a bad pick, why are they running ads discouraging McCain to NOT pick him? Somehow I don’t think they have McCain’s best interests in mind.
The Boston Globe has a nifty timewaster, an electoral college map with adjustable demographics based on race, gender, and religious voting patterns.
Below is a smaller version, only considering the LDS vote. Unlike other faiths, there was only 2006 election data for LDS voters (the sample map below says 2004, but the home site says its 2006) . I suppose its a good sign that while only 2% of the electorate is LDS, its vote is now starting to be measured.
Fiddling with the LDS vote below, you can see that if the LDS vote went 100% GOP (instead of the 80% it appears to be), then it would help Sen. McCain claim New Mexico. On the flip side, if the LDS vote went 100% Democrat, it would gain Utah, Nevada, and Oregon for Sen. Obama.
The Mormon vote is not a powerful voting bloc but it is interesting to see how it can influence the election in specific states.
You can go to the site’s home page to also see how race and gender demographics figured in the elections and adjust them to forecast how 2008 may play out.
Appeals to: Hugh Hewitt, the right-wing wonkosphere, Mormons, CEOs, McCain-wary Bush donors, millionaires with important hair
Alienates: John McCain
Jonah Goldberg considers the pros and cons of a Romney VP pick and those of other contenders
Rumors that McCain may announce his VP pick this week, in part to tamp down the media barage devoted to Obama’s world tour.
Last week, Mitt Romney forgave a $45 million loan to his campaign. Perhaps a multi-multi-millionaire fundraising for his failed campaign would have been futile, but it sure seems Romney must really want all GOP fundraising to be focused on helping his former rival, McCain.
Selfless gesture or getting all his ducks in a row (or both)?
A few weeks ago, a spate of articles suggested that Mitt Romney was on the top of McCain’s list of potential VP picks. At the time it seemed like idle beltway gossip. But instead of subsiding, the talk is gaining momentum. In fact as I was writing this, the Drudge Report made it tonight’s headline (that or its a slow news night).
I didn’t think it was seriously possible, as McCain seemed to especially dislike Romney during the Primaries and there has been the constant concern that a Mormon on the ticket would futher alienate McCain from Evangelicals with whom he’s always had a lukewarm relationship.
Despite the obvious Romney negatives, there has been some interesting speculation and chatter that make it sound not only possible, but a good idea:
Utah won’t be going for Obama.
McCain, the GOP’s presumptive nominee, was the choice of 65 percent of those polled over Clinton, and 62 percent when matched up against Obama. That’s a big change from February, when McCain mustered support from only 30 percent of Utahns surveyed.
Not exactly a shocker but that should put some speculation to rest.
A group of social conservatives is running an open letter warning John McCain that picking Mitt Romney as his Vice-President will be a “deal breaker.” The ads are being placed in cities where McCain is campaigning.
What makes this strange is that the most prominent conservative on the letter is Paul Weyrich, who endorsed Romney during the primaries. Even more odd is that the letter’s two big claims against Romney are his record on abortions and same-sex marriage. While Romney’s record on abortion is arguable his stand against SSM was pretty clear (My Mann Mitt provides links refuting both claims).
As Hot Air asks, “What’s this really about?” Evangelicals for Mitt thinks the targeting of Romney with the rise of Huckabee show “the need for a serious reformation of our movement.”
UPDATE: The group has an online petition you can sign at NoMittVP.com. There is a checkbox you can click that says “I would vote for McCain/Romney.” Some of the later names on the petition are checking that option (cough).
Marc Ambinder points out while the the petition asks that McCain choose someone who supports a Federal Marriage Amendment, McCain doesn’t while Romney does.
Romney to join McCain at Utah fundraiser tomorrow.
Romney and Giuliani are taking the unusual step of returning some campaign donations.
“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.”
Considering that Romney spent $42.3 million of his own money, it seems especially generous that he’s returning unused donations. That, or he and Giuliani know McCain needs every penny he can get.
Last week, there were rumors and speculation that Karl Rove and other prominent Republicans were encouraging a McCain-Romney ticket for this November’s election.
Despite reports that his aides have opposed the ticket, Romney said last night in an interview that he’d accept a VP offer and downplayed the hard feelings between him and McCain, calling him the “Big Dog” (Millenial Star links to video of the interview).
Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard says that Romney would make an excellent pick for Vice-President since he’s seen as a credible president and he won’t subtract from the ticket.
That leads to Romney. He has run a vigorous national campaign and been vetted by the press and his opponents for the Republican nomination. . .
Romney has three other add-ons. He’s acceptable to conservatives and especially to social conservatives, who disproportionately volunteer as ground troops in Republican presidential campaigns. He’s unflappable in debates. With the downturn worsening, the economy may surpass national security as the top issue of the campaign. And after years of success as a big time player in the global economy, Romney understands how markets work. He could shore up McCain’s admitted weakness on economic issues.
However, Barnes dismisses Romney’s Mormonism as a liablity a little too easily. While the role of his religion has probably been overstated, it didn’t help in the Southern primaries where the GOP desperatley needs to win.
My guess is that McCain won’t pick Romney. He doesn’t bring the right geography or demography (sorry but the LDS voting bloc isn’t as influential as we’d like to be).
Never mind that McCain has never tried to hide his dislike for Romney. But maybe McCain can learn from Lincoln and swallow his pride to assemble a “Team of Rivals
As much as I’d like to see McCain swallow some pride for once and pick Romney, the idea will probably remain as idle speculation. I’ll settle my hopes on a cabinet seat should they get that far.
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