Romney says GOP fight strengthens him for fall (AP)

EAGAN, Minn. ? Barreling out of Florida with money and momentum on his side, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said Wednesday that the bare-knuckled nomination fight thus far has toughened him up for contests to come. Chief rival Newt Gingrich is regrouping after a significant loss and faces serious disadvantages in the next states to vote.

Romney, who won big in Florida with a barrage of negative ads, predicted the tone of the GOP campaign was “just a precursor to what you’ll see” from President Barack Obama in the general election. And he said voters paid more attention to what they heard in the campaign debates than whatever ads were flooding the airwaves.

“Perhaps what we’re getting now inoculates us, or at least prepares us, for what will come down the road,” Romney said as he made the rounds of morning television shows.

House Speaker John Boehner dismissed any notion that the bitter tone of the race and the prospect of a drawn-out nomination battle are worrisome for Republicans.

“I understand that people are concerned about how long the primary process is dragging out,” said Boehner, R-Ohio. “I would remind people that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a fight that went through June of 2008. I think everybody just needs to realize that this will resolve itself.”

Looking ahead, Romney said his campaign is focused squarely on middle-income Americans ? to the exclusion of others at either end of the spectrum.

“I’m not concerned about the very poor,” Romney said on CNN. “We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich. They’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent of Americans who are struggling.”

Romney took another run at the issue as he flew from Florida to Minnesota and reporters questioned whether he cared about the poor. Romney said he’d been saying throughout the campaign that his prime focus is on middle-income people, and that his latest comments were in that same vein.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” he said. “No, no, no. You’ve got to take the whole sentence, alright, it’s mostly the same.” He reiterated his previous comments about the safety net for the poor, and said that “if there are people that are falling through the cracks, I want to fix that.”

It didn’t take long for Obama’s campaign to pounce on Romney’s comments: “So much for `we’re all in this together,’” tweeted Obama campaign manager Jim Messina.

The president’s re-election operation also sought to make money off the GOP squabbling with a fundraising appeal Wednesday focused on the millions that Romney and his supporters had spent on negative ads.

“That’s ugly, and it tells us a lot about what to expect from Romney if he wins the Republican nomination,” Messina wrote. “They’re going to try to spend and smear their way to the White House.”

Romney said his path ahead “is looking very good” as he headed to Minnesota and Nevada for campaign stops Wednesday. Gingrich worked to convince supporters that the primary is a two-person race.

Vowing to stay the course, Gingrich said Tuesday, “We are going to contest everyplace.” He planned one appearance in Reno, Nev., on Wednesday.

Nevada and Maine have caucuses on Saturday. Minnesota and Colorado hold contests on Tuesday. Michigan and Arizona hold primaries on Feb. 28.

Romney begins February with formidable advantages in fundraising and organization. His campaign raised $24 million in the final months of 2011, dwarfing his competitors and leaving him with $20 million to fight a primary battle that’s increasingly spread across many states.

The former Massachusetts governor has had staff and volunteers on the ground in upcoming states for months as he’s prepared for a drawn-out fight for delegates to the Republican National Convention in August. Gingrich doesn’t have a strong ground game as he looks to contests in states that could prove problematic for him. And in a nomination fight so far defined by debates ? typically a strong point for the former House speaker ? he faces a three-week stretch without one. The candidates will next debate in Arizona on Feb. 22.

Romney won Nevada’s caucuses in 2008, and a substantial Mormon population there could propel him to victory. Still, Texas Rep. Ron Paul has been organizing in the state for months and could pose a strong challenge. Romney’s campaign is working to paint the nomination fight as a four-candidate contest, with Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum still in the mix.

Santorum cast his 1-for-4 record in the voting so far as only a hiccup, projecting optimism despite a tough road ahead.

“Only four states have spoken,” he said during a news conference Wednesday in Lakewood, Colo. “There are 46 others.” Then he upped the number to 53, counting U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

“This thing is far from over,” he insisted, adding that all of Gingrich’s votes would come to him if Gingrich left the race.

A super PAC hoping to help keep Santorum’s candidacy alive announced it would run a TV ad in Missouri arguing he’s the best candidate to put up against Obama. Santorum also picked up an endorsement from former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, a conservative and tea party favorite.

Paul, who celebrated his 55th wedding anniversary campaigning in Las Vegas, discussed immigration at a Hispanic event and said he favors a compassionate policy that doesn’t rely on “barbed wire fences and guns on the border.”

Romney’s Florida win was a smart rebound from an earlier defeat and represented a major step toward the nomination. He’ll receive Secret Service protection, beginning Wednesday, requested by his campaign.

Romney had 46 percent of the Florida vote to Gingrich’s 32 percent. Santorum had 13 percent and Paul 7 percent; neither mounted a substantial effort in the state.

The winner-take-all primary was worth 50 Republican convention delegates, the most of any primary state so far.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120201/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Written on February 3rd, 2012 , savor Tags: , ,
AP-GfK Poll: More than half say Obama should lose

More Americans say the economy got better in the past month than say it got worse, according to an AP-GFK poll.

More Americans say the economy got better in the past month than say it got worse, according to an AP-GFK poll.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Entering 2012, President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects are essentially a 50-50 proposition, with a majority saying the president deserves to be voted out of office despite concerns about the Republican alternatives, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.

Obama’s overall poll numbers suggest he’s in jeopardy of losing, even as the public’s outlook on the economy appears to be improving, the AP-GfK poll found. For the first time since spring, more said the economy got better in the past month than said it got worse.

The president’s approval rating on unemployment shifted upward ? from 40 percent in October to 45 percent in the latest poll ? as the jobless rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, its lowest level since March 2009.

But Obama’s approval rating on his handling of the economy overall remains stagnant: 39 percent approve and 60 percent disapprove.

Heading into his re-election campaign, the president faces a conflicted public that does not support his steering of the economy, the most dominant issue for Americans, or his reforms to health care, one of his signature accomplishments. Yet they are grappling with whether to replace him with Republican contenders Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich.

The poll found an even divide on whether Americans expect Obama to be re-elected next year.

For the first time, the poll found that a majority of adults, 52 percent, said Obama should be voted out of office while 43 percent said he deserves another term. The numbers mark a reversal since last May, when 53 percent said Obama should be re-elected while 43 percent said he didn’t deserve four more years.

Obama’s overall job approval stands at a new low: 44 percent approve while 54 percent disapprove. The president’s standing among independents is worse: 38 percent approve while 59 percent disapprove. Among Democrats, the president holds steady with an approval rating of 78 percent while only 12 percent of Republicans approve of the job he’s doing.

“I think he’s doing the best he can. The problem is the Congress won’t help at all,” said Rosario Navarro, a Democrat and a 44-year-old truck driver from Fresno, Calif., who voted for Obama in 2008 and intends to support him again.

Robin Dein, a 54-year-old homemaker from Villanova, Pa., who is an independent, said she supported Republican John McCain in 2008 and has not been impressed with Obama’s economic policies. She intends to support Romney if he wins the GOP nomination.

“(Obama) spent the first part of his presidency blaming Bush for everything, not that he was innocent, and now his way of solving anything is by spending more money,” she said.

Despite the soft level of support, many are uncertain whether a Republican president would be a better choice. Asked whom they would support next November, 47 percent of adults favored Obama compared with 46 percent for Romney, a former Massachusetts governor. Against Gingrich, the president holds a solid advantage, receiving 51 percent compared with 42 percent for the former House speaker.

The potential matchups paint a better picture for the president among independents. Obama receives 45 percent of non-aligned adults compared with 41 percent for Romney. Against Gingrich, Obama holds a wide lead among independents, with 54 percent supporting the president and 31 percent backing the former Georgia congressman.

Another piece of good news for Obama: people generally like him personally. Obama’s personal favorability rating held steady at 53 percent, with 46 percent viewing him unfavorably. About three-quarters called him likable.

The economy remains a source of pessimism, though the poll suggests the first positive movement in public opinion on the economy in months. One in five said the economy improved in the last month, double the share saying so in October. Still most expect it to stay the same or get worse.

“I suppose you could make some sort of argument that it’s getting better, but I’m not sure I even see that,” said independent voter John Bailey, a 61-year-old education consultant from East Jordan, Mich. “I think it’s bad and it’s gotten worse under (Obama’s) policies. At best, it’s going to stay bad.”

Despite the high rate of joblessness, the poll found some optimism on the economy. Although 80 percent described the economy as “poor,” respondents describing it “very poor” fell from 43 percent in October to 34 percent in the latest poll, the lowest since May. Twenty percent said the economy got better in the past month while 37 percent said they expected the economy to improve next year.

Yet plenty of warning signs remain for Obama. Only 26 percent said the United States is headed in the right direction while 70 percent said the country was moving in the wrong direction.

The president won a substantial number of women voters in 2008 yet there does not appear to be a significant tilt toward Obama among women now. The poll found 44 percent of women say Obama deserves a second term, down from 51 percent in October, while 43 percent of men say the president should be re-elected.

About two-thirds of white voters without college degrees say Obama should be a one-term president, while 33 percent of those voters say he should get another four years. Among white voters with a college degree, 57 percent said Obama should be voted out of office.

The poll found unpopularity for last year’s health care reform bill, one of Obama’s major accomplishments. About half of the respondents oppose the health care law and support for it dipped to 29 percent from 36 percent in June. Just 15 percent said the federal government should have the power to require all Americans to buy health insurance.

Even among Democrats, the health care law has tepid support. Fifty percent of Democrats supported the health care law, compared with 59 percent of Democrats last June. Only about a quarter of independents back the law.

The president has taken a more populist tone in his handling of the economy, arguing that the wealthy should pay more in taxes to help pay for the extension of a payroll tax cut that would provide about $1,000 in tax cuts to a family earning about $50,000 a year. Among those with annual household incomes of $50,000 or less, Obama’s approval rating on unemployment climbed to 53 percent, from 43 percent in October.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted December 8-12 2011 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

___

Associated Press writer Stacy A. Anderson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

Online: www.ap-gfkpoll.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-16-Obama-Poll/id-c384b2c760f143b5b8010de7f545e424

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Written on December 18th, 2011 , savor Tags: , ,
Romney picks up SC gov’s endorsement in GOP race (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney charged Friday into the final weeks before the leadoff Iowa caucuses, unshaken by Newt Gingrich, the race’s leader, and trying to stem the former House speaker’s rise in key states.

Romney campaigned in western Iowa, where he had delivered a steady debate performance the night before, stopping short of the attacks on Gingrich that had marked the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign for the past week.

While Gingrich took a day off the campaign trail, Romney claimed a coveted endorsement from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a tea party darling. The state holds the first-in-the-South primary in late January and Gingrich, a former congressman from neighboring Georgia, has organized and campaign aggressively there.

Romney also began airing new ads in New Hampshire and South Carolina on a day that amounted to a show of force for him. He is targeting Gingrich in the top three states with less than three weeks to go before voting begins in Iowa on Jan. 3.

“Neither South Carolina nor the nation can afford four more years of President Obama, and Mitt Romney is the right person to take him on and get America back on track,” Haley, a rising GOP star, said in a statement after announcing her endorsement on Fox News Channel.

She later told The Associated Press that Romney “has led in making decisions.”

The two were to appear together in South Carolina on Friday and Saturday.

In the AP interview, Haley said the large GOP field has strengths and weaknesses.

“We don’t have a perfect candidate,” she said. She said she liked Romney’s ability as governor to work with Democrat, business background and outlook on health care.

Haley’s nod is somewhat rare because sitting governors of important primary states often remain neutral. Iowa’s GOP Gov. Terry Branstad has said he does not plan to endorse a candidate. Branstad said Thursday that he wasn’t sure Gingrich had the discipline to be president, but he also has criticized Romney for not campaigning all-out for the caucuses.

Romney has focused heavily on winning New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 10. But he has been spending more time in Iowa as Gingrich has risen in the polls, and has aired TV ads promoting his candidacy and distributed mailers attacking Gingrich.

“I need your help at the caucus,” Romney told about 80 Republican activists and employees at a Sioux City steel company on Friday.

Romney’s new ad in New Hampshire shows the former business executive talking to voters about their economic concerns. In the ad running in South Carolina, Romney touts his leadership and describes himself as “a man of steadiness and constancy.”

Unlike his all-out but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to win the 2008 caucuses, Romney hopes a better-than-expected showing among Iowa conservatives could lift him going into New Hampshire.

But Romney is also looking increasingly beyond Iowa, advisers said.

Sensing a flattening in Gingrich’s support, Romney stayed positive Friday and looked to step up his effort in South Carolina in hopes of disrupting Gingrich’s plan.

That strategy poses risks for Romney, whose Mormon faith and changed positions on social issues gives some South Carolina GOP activists pause ? as in socially-conservative Iowa.

Romney’s attacks on Gingrich’s judgment and temperament over the past week, and the aggressive criticisms by GOP rivals Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, have cut into Gingrich’s lead in Iowa in a way that could weaken him in next-up New Hampshire.

Taken together, it suggests slowing Gingrich’s rise in Iowa could prevent him from going into South Carolina in a position of strength.

In Thursday’s debate, Romney pivoted from the attacks he’s been leveling against Gingrich and left it to others to pile on.

The fast-paced debate underscored the state of the race, with Gingrich leading in the polls nationally and in Iowa and his pursuers working on multiple fronts to overtake him.

The candidates ? except for Gingrich ? were making final pitches to voters on Friday before people begin focusing on the holidays.

Rep. Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry were taking their argument that Gingrich isn’t conservative enough to lead the party to Iowa voters on separate bus tours.

“I am the only consistent, constitutional conservative,” Bachmann said, beginning a bus tour through Iowa’s 99 counties. “I’m not a convenient conservative.”

She predicted the retail campaigning she’s doing on the bus tour would help her do well in Iowa and that would “be a cannon shot into South Carolina.”

Although Gingrich was off the trail, his campaign drew unwanted attention after two New Hampshire Republicans alleged in complaints filed with state authorities that they had received illegal political telephone calls from the Gingrich operation.

New Hampshire law prevents political campaigns from using pre-recorded political messages, or “robo-calls,” to contact residents on a national do-not-call list.

Gingrich’s campaign denied wrongdoing.

Haley’s endorsement, meanwhile, could help Romney in her state, which is third in line to pass judgment on the GOP field. How much it could help, however, is unknown.

Governors can use their statewide political networks to help presidential candidates. But polls show Haley is not as popular as she was following her November 2010 election.

Even so, she remains a favorite of tea party activists whose energy helped Republicans win across the country last fall. Their enthusiasm will be critical in helping the GOP presidential nominee next year, but Romney has struggled to court them.

South Carolina is a difficult state for Romney. He competed aggressively there during his first presidential run in 2008 only to bail out shortly before the primary. He had failed to ease voter concerns about his faith and reversals on social issues.

Haley’s ties with Romney run deep.

She endorsed him in 2008 when she was in the legislature. Romney returned the favor when she ran for governor in 2010, a year when the tea party wielded big clout in key races across the country, including hers.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Davenport in Spartanburg, S.C., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Written on December 17th, 2011 , savor Tags: , ,
The Newt front-runner (Politico)

Meet the new front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination: Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich leads by a wide margin in Iowa, the first state to vote on Jan. 3, and South Carolina, the first state to vote in the South. In Florida, the biggest January prize, one recent poll puts him ahead by a runaway margin. In the key primary that follows Iowa, New Hampshire, the former House speaker is lodged in second place.

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The Gingrich momentum is captured in national polls as well. He topped the latest national polls taken in late November ? and that was before Herman Cain, much of whose support appears to be migrating toward Gingrich, dropped out of the race. According to Gallup?s most recent polls, Gingrich rates well ahead of Romney in terms of ?positive intensity? of support, and more Republicans view him as an acceptable nominee than Romney.

There?s still plenty of time for the Gingrich bandwagon to go off the rails. But the flood of new polling since the weekend reveals the former House speaker, at the moment, occupies the commanding heights in almost all the early states that traditionally serve as yardsticks.

Three new polls place Gingrich squarely atop the field in Iowa.

An ABC/Washington Post poll of likely caucus-goers released Tuesday shows Gingrich with 33 percent, up 15 points over Romney ? who tied for second with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

An automated Public Policy Polling survey of likely caucus-goers posted Monday night found Romney had slipped to third with 16 percent, 11 points behind Gingrich and just behind Paul.

In South Carolina, where the state of the race has been fluid, Gingrich leads Romney by 38 percent to 22 percent according to a poll released Tuesday by Winthrop University. Rick Perry, the Texas governor thought to have strong appeal in the South, finished a distant third, with 9 percent. The survey included Cain ? who pulled 7 percent.

The spate of recently released polls suggests surprising softness for Romney in two unexpected areas.

Electability has been central to the former Massachusetts governor?s pitch, but the new polls show him losing his edge on the issue. A CBS News/New York Times poll out Tuesday found 31 percent of likely Iowa caucus-goers think Gingrich has the best chance to beat President Barack Obama, compared with 29 percent for Romney. The other candidates trail in single digits.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_69865_html/43821601/SIG=11meumhpt/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69865.html

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Written on December 7th, 2011 , savor Tags: , ,

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