“I enjoy flowers like everybody else.”
— Herman Cain, in an interview on Fox News, on whether he has a “roaming eye.”
Most Texans Don’t Credit Perry for Economic Growth
The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll
finds that an overwhelming number of Texans attribute the state’s
economic success to “long-standing policies and natural resources,” at
65%, while just 21% believe it was a result of Gov. Rick Perry’s (R)
leadership.
“The poll results appear to show Texas voters don’t
buy Perry’s claim that his policies are responsible for the state’s
economy and that he can do the same for the country. The findings,
however, buttress his claim that protecting those state policies against
efforts to raise taxes and increase regulation helped the state weather
the recession.”
Presidential Debates Set
Politico
reports that the Commission on Presidential Debates has set the
presidential debate schedule for next year, pitting President Obama
against his eventual Republican opponent in Colorado, New York, and
Florida.
The schedule: October 3 at the University of Denver,
October 16 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and October 22
at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. There will also be a single
vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky on
October 11.
Supercommittee Members Navigate Political Pressures
As the supercommittee approaches its November 23 deadline, by which time
it must approve a plan that cuts the deficit by $1.2 trillion to avoid
across-the-board cuts, The Hill notes the political pressures on the supercommittee’s 12 members.
“The
panel’s members are confronting risk on all sides. For Senate freshmen
like Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and ambitious House
Democrats like Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Xavier Becerra (Calif.),
signing onto any agreement could alienate segments of their party’s base
and threaten their advancement in leadership… Some political analysts
note, however, that the members of the supercommittee are insulated by
their solid standing both within their party caucuses and in their home
districts and states, which may have contributed to their selection in
the first place.”
Cain’s Story Shifts
An excellent video compilation shows how Herman Cain’s recollection of sexual harassment allegations made against him in the 1990s changed throughout the day.
Daily Beast: “Cain spent Monday morning denying he was ever accused of sexual harassment against two women in the 1990s. Then he ackowledged the allegations but said they were ‘false’ and ‘baseless,’ while saying he knew ‘nothing’ of a cash settlement. Now he acknowledged that he knew about a settlement that was offered to one of the women.”
New York Times: “Cain’s shifting explanations and the gaps in the story made it hard to determine the impact of the revelations on his long-term prospects in states like Iowa, whose crucial caucuses are just two months away.”
McKenna Leads Inslee in Washington
A new Washington Poll finds Rob McKenna (R) leading Rep. Jay Inslee (D) in the race for Washington governor, 44% to 38%.
Rollins Says Bachmann Can’t Win Iowa
Ed Rollins told ABC News that former client Michele Bachmann has “run out of money and ideas” and can no longer expect to win in Iowa.
Said Rollins: “She’s still saying the same things she said in the first the debate. There’s no substance. She says, ‘I’m going to repeal Obamacare.’ But she’s been saying that from Day 1. I told her: That’s your Tea Party speech, now you have to say what you’re going to do next.”
Ben Smith: “Rarely has the arc of a campaign been so clearly foretold (another win for the pundits!) as Michele Bachmann’s, about whom the conventional wisdom this summer was, roughly, Ames victory, abrupt collapse, public recriminations from Ed Rollins.”
Obama is Tobacco Free
President Obama has passed his physical — and is “tobacco free” to boot, USA Today reports.
“Obama, who has been criticized for smoking, has told interviewers recently that he has kicked the habit… The two-page report concludes that Obama is physically active, eats a
healthy diet, stays at a healthy weight, and on occasion drinks alcohol
in moderation.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“None of us should be surprised… look how quickly the mainstream
media goes for the ugliest, racial stereotypes they can to attack a
black conservative… Herman Cain is somebody. Herman Cain is
obviously making some people nervous for this kind of thing to happen.”
— Rush Limbaugh, quoted by the National Review.
Tea Party Binge
A Newsweek investigation found about five dozen of the most fiscally conservative Republicans “trying to gobble up the very largesse they publicly disown, in the time-honored, budget-busting tradition of bringing home the bacon for local constituents.”
Health Care Reform: The Comic Book
Coming soon: Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, How It Works by Jonathan Gruber.
WBUR interviews the author: “I think Mitt Romney is the hero of this story. But I want to make clear that the way he’s portrayed in this book has nothing to do with his presidential campaign. Mitt Romney is the single person most responsible for health care reform in this country: Without his leadership we don’t get reform in Massachusetts, and without Massachusetts reform we don’t get national reform.”
Cain Denies Harassment Claims
In an interview with Fox News, Republican presidential candidate
Herman Cain denied accusations that he had sexually harassed two female
employees when he was head of the National Restaurant
Association, reports Politico.
Said Cain, “It is totally baseless and totally false. Never have I ever committed any kind of sexual harassment.”
Cain also claimed that he “wasn’t even aware” of any settlement between the restaurant association and the women involved.
Meanwhile, NBC News has confirmed at least one of Cain’s accusers received a cash settlement.
Romney Taps Bush’s Network
The Wall Street Journal
reports that Mitt Romney has picked up more of President George W.
Bush’s top fundraisers than any other candidate in the Republican
presidential race, and has even “won over twice as many of the Bush
backers as Texas Gov. Rick Perry,” who served as Bush’s Lieutenant
Governor in Texas.
“Winning the support of Mr. Bush’s
network would be a coup given that the former president’s fund-raising
operation was among the best in recent Republican campaigns. He invented
the modern system of relying on a group of ‘bundlers’ who could
generate huge sums by soliciting donations from colleagues, friends and
associates… Of the roughly 550 people who raised at least $100,000 for
Mr. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, about 400 have yet to make a
campaign donation to any of the Republicans running for president.”
One More Look at Jack Kennedy
Out tomorrow: Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews.
Howard Fineman highlights a story about the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates: “According to new interviews, the Kennedy team insisted that makeup be prohibited. Richard Nixon followed the rules, with disastrous results. JFK did not. His staff secretly applied powder and told reporters that his ruddy glow was merely a natural tan. After Nixon was seen perspiring badly in the first debate, his staff tried secretly to lower the thermostat in the NBC studios for the second debate. The Kennedy team found out and just as secretly turned the dial back up.”
Corzine Firm to Declare Bankruptcy
Jon Corzine (D), whose political ambitions ended when he was defeated for re-election as New Jersey governor nearly two years ago, has now run his Wall Street firm into bankruptcy, Deal Book reports.
However, Corzine “is expected to receive a severance payment of nearly $12.1 million.”
Americans Would Pick Reagan Over FDR
A new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll finds Americans would choose Ronald Reagan over Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 36% to 29%, as the past president they would want in the White House in these trying times.
Thomas Jefferson came in third place with 14% from a list of five past presidents that also includes Harry Truman at 8% and William Henry Harrison at 1%.
What Happens to Cain and the GOP Field?
Herman Cain’s survival as a GOP frontrunner depends on how he handles the mob of reporters interested in his response to the story that he sexually harassed at least two women.
First Read: “Three questions immediately come to mind: One, can his campaign handle this story? (The most sophisticated of political operatives struggle to handle and get in front of scandal stories; Cain’s less experienced team, so far, appears to be struggling big time.) Two, assuming the campaign can’t fix this, does Cain become the latest conservative darling (after Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry) to sink in the polls? And three, what happens if he does? Could that benefit Perry or someone else?”
Ben Smith: “I’m not sure to whose benefit the new information about Cain’s record goes — but that beneficiary will obviously be a Republican. I’m inclined, in fact, to think Newt Gingrich has the best shot of the next boomlet, and both Mitt Romney — eager to have anyone but Rick Perry in that slot — and Rick Perry, who’s still re-assembling his campaign and image, might have been glad to leave Cain there a while.”
Quote of the Day
“Rick Perry is going to go down in history for the all-time train wreck
beginning. Because private polling in Iowa 40 days ago had him leading.”
— GOP strategist Mike Murphy, on Meet the Press, commenting on the latest Iowa Poll that has Perry in 6th place.
