A new JMC Enterprises poll in Iowa shows Herman Cain and Mitt Romney tied atop the Republican presidential field with 20% each, followed by Newt Gingrich at 16%.
The rest of the field: Michele Bachmann at 6%, Ron Paul at 6%, Rick Perry at 4%, Rick Santorum at 4% and Jon Huntsman at 2%.
Former First Lady Laura Bush offers some first-hand advice to the spouses of the 2012 presidential candidates, reports Politico.
Said
Bush: “Very few people ever in the world have the opportunity to…be
involved in the presidential campaign, so I would say to all of them,
you know, remember these moments and take advantage of the experience,
the life experience, that they are offered… It is a really grueling
process, the campaigns are. And I think that’s good because it’s very
grueling to live there.”
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/theGrio.com poll
finds that 49% of African-Americans feel the country is headed
in the right direction, versus 38% who say the country is on the
wrong track. That’s a sharp contrast from recent polling which shows an
overwhelming majority of all Americans who say the country is on the
wrong track.
Interestingly, an overwhelming 86% of African-Americans said they approve of the
president’s handling of the economy. By contrast, 57% of overall
respondents disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy,
versus just 40% who approve.
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Notorious ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff reveals the tricks of the trade in an interview with 60 Minutes,
in which he discusses how he was able to exert so much influence over
lawmakers and the title of the book he would like to write, “The Idiot’s
Guide to Buying a Congressman.”
On how to seal the deal:
“When we would become friendly with an office and they were important to
us, and the chief of staff was a competent person, I would say or my
staff would say to him or her at some point, ‘You know, when you’re done
working on the Hill, we’d very much like you to consider coming to work
for us.’ Now the moment I said that to them or any of our staff said
that to ’em, that was it. We owned them.”
On whether subsequent reforms have helped: “The system hasn’t been cleaned up at all.”
The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows Mitt Romney with a slight edge over Herman Cain, 28% to 27%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 13%, Ron Paul at 10% and Rick Perry at 10%.
The remainder of the field received less than 5% support.
In general election match ups, President Obama leads Romney by six points, 49% to 43%, and tops Cain by 15 points, 53% to 38%.
A new Pew Research survey finds that Americans who have heard about the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain, on balance, think they are true rather than false, 39% to 24%.
However, there is a big difference between people who identify with one of the two major political parties. Among Democrats, 51% to 14% think the allegations are true. Among Republicans, 39% to 29% believe they are false.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen campaign attacks using lawn signs, but a Political Wire reader sends over a funny example from Northern Virginia.
Coming in January: The Real Romney by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman.
Sharon Bialek told reporters at a press conference that Herman Cain had inappropriately touched her when she asked him for help finding a job. When she resisted, Bialek said Cain told her, “You want a job, don’t you?”
The Cain campaign immediately denied the story saying all sexual harassment accusations are “completely false.”
Some reactions:
Ben Smith: “Gloria Allred knows what she’s doing, and the details of Sharon
Bialek’s story today just look quite awful for Herman Cain. These things
always do in their details, and the press conference ended a streak in
which allegations had remained vague.”
Michelle Malkin: “Twittersphere is lighting up with diverse reaction from
conservatives. Some find Bialek ‘very credible.’ More obituaries being
written for Cain. I need to know more.”
Andrew Sullivan: “Absent any more details, all I can say is that, at the very least, Cain
needs to respond to this specific allegation. I believe the woman, but I
tend to believe most professional women who give credible evidence of
abuse of power by bosses.”
A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Herman Cain and Mitt Romney tied for the lead nationally among Republican voters at 21% each. Newt Gingrich moves up to third place with 12%, followed by Rick Perry at 11%. The other candidates are in single digits.
Of the sexual harassment allegations against Cain, 47% of Republicans say the accusations are probably false while 33% say they are probably true.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds 54% of Republican voters say they aren’t concerned about the sexual-harassment allegations directed at Herman Cain while another 15% say they are “just a little” concerned.
By comparison, just 13% of Republicans say they are a “great deal” or “quite a bit” concerned about voting for Cain.
A campaign mailer from New Jersey Assemblyman Scott Rumana (R) “is essentially a full campaign’s worth of opposition research” against opponent Bill Brennan (D), “slapped into one glossy brochure and sent to homes in Wayne Township.”
“Included in the piece are pictures of at least five police reports filed against Brennan, excerpts from a judge’s ruling in a court case filed by Brennan, a copy of a building code violation issued to Brennan and even a picture of the shirtless Democrat in the act of blocking a code inspector from photographing his patio.”
Rick Perry defends his loopy speech in New Hampshire last week in a brutal Saturday Night Live skit.
“Unfortunately for too many Republicans, they also aspire to be frugal socialists. We can’t preserve liberty if the choice is between a frugal socialist and an out of control socialist.”
— Rep. Michele Bachmann, quoted by Politico, on her GOP presidential rivals.
Political Wire asks Jeff Greenfield, author most recently of Then Everything Changed, “Why do you not like to make political predictions?”
In 1971, I helped advance man Jerry Bruno write a book (cleverly called: The Advance Man), in which the last chapter sketched out how the next President wold be….New York Mayor John Lindsay. It had the same effect as my consumption of large quantities of cheap bourbon in my freshman year of college. Just as that near-death experience cured me of any impulse toward alcohol excess, my first “prediction” was like a vaccine, immunizing me from the impulse to think I could predict the future.
Look at the “certainties” of almost every past Presidential election. Taken together, random chance would have been a better guide than the collective opinions of experts a year or two before anyone votes.
If I could predict the future, I would — not by announcing the identity of the next President, but by purchasing the next $100 million Powerball. But I can’t predict….so I don’t.
A new Washington Post-ABC News survey finds that 50% of Americans think President Obama is “making a good faith effort to deal with the country’s economic problems,” but Republicans are “playing politics by blocking his proposals and programs.”
Meanwhile, 44% think Obama is at fault and “has not provided leadership on the economy.”
Independents blame Republicans by a 54% to 40% margin, while moderate voters favor blame Republicans by 57% to 37%.
Greg Sargent: “For all their very real disapproval of Obama, they think one party is
acting in good faith to fix the economy, and the other isn’t. So when is
the national political press going to start seriously covering this
aspect of the debate?”
A new We Ask America poll in Iowa finds Herman Cain leading the GOP presidential field with 22%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 18%, Mitt Romney at 15%, and Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 11%.
No other candidate gets more than 5%.
Radar Online reports a new woman alleging sexual harassment by Herman Cain “will break her silence at a news conference with her powerhouse attorney Gloria Allred Monday afternoon in New York City.”
The press conference is at 1:30 pm ET.
Ben Smith: “This should, in principle, harden Cain’s support among his defenders.
After all, if it was difficult to pin political motives on women who
filed complaints a decade ago and then refused to discuss them, it’s not
so hard to pin a pecuniary motive on people whose press conferences
with Allred leak to radar.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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