The Blue State

Romney's roundabout on McCain

Now all of a sudden Mitt Romney is desperate to get his face back in the spotlight.  He wants to be McCain's VP.  I say great!  Romney is one of the most unappealing, phony, used car salesman-like politicians out there.  So go ahead:

“I think any Republican leader in this country would be honored to beasked to serve as the vice presidential nominee, myself included,"Romney told FOX's Sean Hannity in a broadcast set to air tonight.  "Ofcourse this is a nation which needs strong leadership. And if thenominee of our party asked you to serve with him, anybody would behonored to receive that call … and to accept it, of course.”

Only fitting, this was just a few months after Romney called his new friend, John McCain, "disingenuous" on the issue of gay marriage.

Especially after this exchange on waterboarding:

Romney and Obama go at it

On the campaign trail before Thanksgiving, Mitt Romney credited Bush for his handling of the Iraq war, and contrasted the President's policy with that of Barack Obama:

"It's fortunate we did not have Barack Obama as president," he told astanding-room-only crowd of 200 at a coffee house here. "If he had beenpresident, he'd have just pulled our troops out, and al-Qaeda wouldhave been a safe haven in Iraq."

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietorsaid: "If Barack Obama were president, we never would have gone intoIraq in the first place. We would've gone after Osama bin Laden,finished the job in Afghanistan, and made America a lot safer than itis even after seven years of a divisive, failed foreign policy thatMitt Romney apparently wants to continue."

If Republicans are going to latch onto the Bush policy, they can all but kiss the White House goodbye in 2008.

Romney: It's all about the money

Late this week, in an interview with the Associated Press, Mitt Romney attempted to educate Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson what this presidential race is all about, and how to get votes.  To Romney, it's all about money:

"I think you're going to have to see what level of ground supportthat they have and what level of fundraising they have," Romney said inan interview with The Associated Press. "If Huckabee raises $20 millionthis quarter, like we did in the (first) quarter, then he'll become afront-tier candidate."

"And I think from Thompson's standpoint, Ithink he certainly has to look at $20 million as sort of the — this is,if you will, the low hanging-fruit quarter for him," Romney said,adding that it's easier to raise money in the first weeks of a racewhen friends, family and allies are tapped.

And Romney should know.  After all, he spent $5 million to help him win the Iowa straw poll last month.  Money, money, money.

Romney and Obama run into one another at Labor Day parade

As the Democratic candidates battle one another, it is exciting to think how at this time next year we will be getting ready for the three presidential debates.  No more intra-party fighting.  It will be Democrat versus Republican, with entirely different views of which direction the country needs to go.

Today at the Labor Day parade in Milford, New Hampshire, a predominantly Republican town, candidates from both parties were out in full force.  Two possible future rivals crossed paths:

Done with the press, Romney walked about 20 yards to his east.There, Barack Obama was greeting a small crowd of wellwishers, mostlyhigh school and college kids wearing "Department of Peace" tee-shirts.A Secret Service agent guarding Obama's rear tried to stop the phalanxconsisting of Romney, several camera crews and Romney aides fromslipping right behind Obama, but it was to no avail. Romney stuck hishead in the camera shot and gave Obama a big "Hello, Senator!" Obamaseemed mildly amused. "Well, let's wait until we debate," he said.

Romney jaunted off.

Until next year -- maybe.

The White House Attacks Hillary **VIDEO ADDED**

This post is a follow up to a story in today's 'BlueRadar' regarding the White House's attack on Hillary Clinton:

In response to her campaign ad that was released yesterday, the White House attackedHillary Clinton's claim that Americans are not well-represented by thisadministration.  WH Depouty Press Secretary: "As to the merits of it,I think it's outrageous. This is a president who, first and foremost, has helpedmillions of seniors across the country have access to prescription drugs at amuch lower cost." ("Have access to?"  But at whatcost?)

More Specifically the line:

"As to the merits of it,I think it's outrageous. This is a president who, first and foremost, has helpedmillions of seniors across the country have access to prescription drugs at amuch lower cost."

The audacity of that statement made my skin crawl, so I figuredI would post a reminder about the republicans wonderful victory of Medicare PartD. Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes did a segment on Part D back on April 1, 2007, andit is more than worthy to get it back out there.

The unorthodox roll call onone of the most expensive bills ever placed before the House of Representativesbegan in the middle of the night, long after most people in Washington hadswitched off C-SPAN and gone to sleep.

The only witnesses were congressional staffers, hundreds of lobbyists, andU.S. representatives, like Dan Burton, R-Ind., and Walter Jones, R-N.C.

"The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill," says Jones."The bill was over 1,000 pages. And it got to the members of the House thatmorning, and we voted for it at about 3 a.m. in the morning," remembersJones.

Why did the vote finally take place at 3 a.m.?

"Well, I think a lot of the shenanigans that were going on that night,they didn't want on national television in primetime," according to Burton.

"I've been in politics for 22 years," says Jones, "and it wasthe ugliest night I have ever seen in 22 years."

The voting which is supposed to remain open for 15 minutes remained open foralmost 3 hours! Read the transcript HERE.

A brief 2 minute video which outlines the story can be viewed HERE.

Here is the complete '60 Minutes' segment 'Under The Influence'

And let's hope Romney isn't elected. Last night on Hannity & ColmesRomney talked about his idea of healthcare.

Well actually, the plan I put forward said no one gotfree insurance. Everybody could pay what they could afford. And so we had asliding scale and still do, based on your income. And the state will help paythe portion of your premium you can't afford for the poor.The good news is it costs us less to help people buy their own private insurancethan it was costing us giving out free care at hospitals. So I do talk aboutthat. And I'll be giving a speech to the Florida Medical Association describingto them our plan in some detail.But I insisted that everyone pays something. I didn't want to have anythingfree. Our legislature overrode that idea and so the people at the very low gotit free. I think that's a mistake. I think everyone should pay something.Read the complete transcript HERE

Great plan Mitt, the poor can pay something for healthcare and eat cardboardboxes.

Lobbyists own Romney more than he owns himself

It is true that Hillary Clinton received more DC lobbyist money than any candidate in either party during this presidential cycle.  However, over an extended time frame, no one should thank special interests more than Mitt Romney.  Clinton has name recognition, and would still be among the top-tier even if she did not accept lobbyist money.  But as far as Romney is concerned, these interests are responsible for his rise to power, and he will owe them if he wins the presidency:

Republican Mitt Romney ,the wealthiest candidate in the presidential race, earned as much as$15 million in 2006 and early 2007 from the private equity firm he lefteight years ago, helping him expand his personal fortune and bankrollhis campaign.

The extent of Romney's continuing relationship with Boston -based Bain Capital Partner ,which has also supplied him with scores of savvy fundraisers andwell-heeled donors, was detailed in a financial disclosure report filedyesterday with the Office of Government Ethics. The report revealed theholdings of Romney's blind trust and provided the most completeaccounting of his wealth, estimated at between $190 million and $250million.

The filing, which listed 47 pages of investments spanning the globe,estimated that Romney earned between $17 million and $69 million lastyear.

According to the campaign finance disclosure site Open Secrets, Mitt Romney has failed to disclose where 7.2% of his money originated from -- that's $2,348,704 of possibly dirty money.  In addition, 20% of all Romney's campaign money came from his own bank account -- $6.5 million in the second quarter alone. 

Romney was also out-raised by Giuliani $15 million to $14 million that quarter.  This guy is the Republican front-runner, yet average Americans are not donating to his campaign at the same ratio as other GOP candidates. 

Romney's donations in Massachusetts, his home state, fell by 69% in the second quarter.  He only has 80,000 donors, which is less than one-third what Barack Obama has.

Mitt Romney will owe those that gave him funding, and they will do anything to see that he gets in.  He is the anti-populist candidate, if you are looking for one.

Romney walks away when asked on campaign trail about Iraq

The GOP candidates are in a tricky situation.  Whoever makes it to the general election will try to distance himself from President Bush's war policy.  But until the primaries, they can't show opposition to the war because it might upset the conservative base.

In the run-up to Saturday's Iowa straw poll, today was saw a classic example why the Republican candidates are scared to answer tough questions about Iraq.  Here is an exchange that happened between Mitt Romney and two people among the audience:

Here is the exchange:

Father (Holding up a photo of his son: “This is my son governor.”

Mr. Romney: “How are you doing? Good to see you.”

Father: “Are any of your sons in the military?”

Mr. Romney:  “Oh gosh. No, not now.”

Father: “None of your sons are in the military?”

Mr. Romney: “No. They are not”

Father: “Are they going to go over to Iraq?”

Mr. Romney. “No they are not. Can I take a look at your son?”

Father: “Who is going to do his job?"

Mr. Romney “We have a volunteer army. That’s the reason.”

The man moved away as Mr. Romney tried again to shake his hand, andMr. Romney turned to another voter. “Hi, how are you? , iMr. Romneyasked. A moment later, Mr. Romney was called over by Ron DeVoll Jr. 26,from Cedar Falls, and found himself in a confrontation surrounded bypeople – some reporters, some passers-by, and some, no doubt, agents ofrival campaigns – holding cameras and tape recorder.

DeVoll: “I’m an Iraqi vet, who was wounded over there.  So if you’re elected when would you pull the troops out?”

Mr. Romney: “When the job was done and hopefully that gets done soon and the surge is successful. I sure hope it is.”

Mr. DeVoll: “Don’t you think that this is compared to the Vietnam War?”

Mr. Romney: “It is by a lot of people, but I think it’s different ina lot of respects and the key respect is this: And that is if we leavethe wrong way there, this could become a conflict that would engulf theentire region and draw us back into a worse situation. I believe thesurge – I hope the surge – is going to be successful. We are going togive it a shot. ”

At that, one of Mr. Romney’s aides announced that the governor had to leave.

The party that runs on being pro-military is learning the lesson that military communities all throughout the country are fed up with the rhetoric and want a solution.  No Republican candidate other than Tommy Thompson and Ron Paul has laid out a plan to end the war.  These GOP contenders underestimate the significance of foreign policy as an issue in the '08 Republican primary.

A lot riding on an undemocratic vote this Saturday

Imagine running for student body president, and being able to prevent your opponent's friends from entering the gym to vote.  Better yet, imagine giving your friends money just to make sure they show up that day.  If you like what you hear, chances are you are either a candidate or participant in the Iowa Republican Straw Vote.

This Saturday, GOP activists will converge on Iowa State University, pay a poll tax, and then vote for their favorite GOP candidate.  Even though this is not a legitimate poll, two campaigns have already indicated that their candidates might drop out if they have a poor showing.

Now to the strangest part.  Mitt Romney is likely to win the straw poll because he is paying to bus his supporters in there.  In all, the former Massachusetts Governor has spent $5 million to help him win on Saturday.  Another tactic he and some other contenders are using is to take as many buses as possible, therefore limiting the number of buses available for other candidates, such as Mike Huckabee:

Mike Huckabee does not have buses.

Huckabee needs to get people to the straw poll in Ames this Saturdayand even if he had the money for buses — which he doesn’t — there areno buses left to rent.

Everything that moves in Iowa — buses, vans, tractors, combines,horses, mules, and hogs large enough to be saddled — have all beensnapped up by the other campaigns.

Mitt Romney has buses, Sam Brownback has buses, Tom Tancredo has buses and Tommy Thompson has buses.

But Mike Huckabee does not have buses.

Bottom line: the straw vote comes down to money and transportation.  May the most elite candidate win.

Republicans mimicking Democrats with debate boycott -- this time of CNN-Youtube

Both attempts by Fox News to hold Democratic presidential debates were stopped dead when John Edwards and Barack Obama decided to boycott them on the grounds that the network was anything but fair and balanced.  Other candidates, such as Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson, joined in the boycott, and the rest soon followed.  This decision was welcomed by the net roots in the wake of various studies throughout the years that pointed to specific instances of media bias on the part of Rupert Murdoch's network.

Now a few Republican candidates are borrowing a page from the progressive playbook.  If the thought of boycotting Fox News excited progressives, then maybe boycotting CNN and Youtube will have a similar effect on conservative activists.  Mitt Romney and a few other GOP candidates announced they will not attend the CNN-Youtube Republican debate on September 17th, even though hundreds of videos from voters have already been submitted:

Inan interview Wednesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader, Romney saidhe's not a fan of the CNN/YouTube format. Referring to the video of asnowman asking the Democratic candidates about global warming, Romneyquipped, "I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher levelthan having to answer questions from a snowman."

Even though Romney is choosing to boycott Youtube, his campaign still uses the Youtube site to reach out to its supporters.  As of Friday morning, Mitt Romney's Youtube page had 2,558 subscriber and 692,360 channel views.

So on one hand, Republican candidates like Mitt Romney want to appear anti-Youtube, yet they turn around and rely on the video social network as a means to garner support.  Nice flip-flop.

Commentary: How Bloomberg would fare in the general election

Immediately after New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg officially announced his defection from the GOP ranks, political analysts quickly began hyping a possible general election match-up between three New Yorkers: Giuliani, Clinton and Bloomberg.  Already, the media is in love with the idea of a three-candidate New York showdown in '08.

Prematurely though, these pundits are assuming that Clinton and Giuliani will win their party's nominations.  We are six long months away from the first vote.  Anything can happen on both the Democratic and GOP ends.  Giuliani's pro-choice stances could be his undoing.  Hillary's Washington establishment label could cause a massive voter revolt in January.  We cannot presume anything at this point.

So while other blogs, news sites and so-called 'pundits' salivate over a possible Clinton-Giuliani-Bloomberg showdown, Newsweek's Jonathan Darman thought outside the box about Bloomberg's possible impact on all the other candidates:

Other candidates could also feel the Bloomberg effect in a generalelection fight. John Edwards has made a strong pitch for his party'spopulist wing. Should he win the Democratic nomination, pro-businessvoters in the middle might view a Bloomberg vote as a protest againstboth Bush-backing Republicans and Labor-pandering Dems. Barack Obama'scampaign is centered around the idea he would introduce a new,different kind of politics. Whatever you may think of it, Bloomberg'scandidacy would certainly be new and different. On the right, MittRomney has taken conservative positions on every major social issue inthe hopes he will emerge as the choice of Christian conservatives inthe primary. Should he win the nomination, he's counting on moderatevoters remembering he was the governor of liberal Massachusetts forfour years. But that pivot could prove harder with a viable, sociallymoderate Independent candidate in the race. John McCain and FredThompson's aides talk up their candidates' appeal to a broad swath ofvoters as evidence they can lead the GOP out of troubled times. Butthat appeal may well be limited as long as McCain and Thompson refuseto break with Bush on the unpopular war in Iraq.

This is a pretty decent analysis.  Mitt Romney is expected to perform yet another political makeover if he becomes the GOP nominee -- transforming himself back into the moderate candidate he was as Massachusetts Governor.  Many of Romney's moderate positions on social issues will be canceled out by Michael Bloomberg.  There would be too much overlap.  For that reason, if Romney and Bloomberg were two of the three candidates in the general election, almost any Democrat would win.

But I don't think it will come to that.  The Karl Rove's strategy of pandering to the far-right works well.  That is why someone like Fred Thompson or Mike Huckabee, two conservative southerners that are good at reaching out to Evangelical conservatives, would be affected the least if Bloomberg got into the race.

Obviously, these hypotheticals are nothing more than late-night thought unless Bloomberg actually does run.  But if he chooses to, Bloomberg would be much more electable than Ross Perot.  It would be unlike any other election in American history.