Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential bid, raised nearly $5 million last month, and roughly 20% came from three Ohio companies that share an address, USA Today reports.
“The $1 million in contributions from the connected Ohio firms were disclosed in filings today with the Federal Election Commission and underscore the ability of wealthy donors to contribute large sums to influence the election.”
“It wasn’t about body parts. It wasn’t about dissent. It wasn’t about anyone’s religious beliefs. It was that last comment that took it a step too far, and that’s what crossed the line about … The ‘no means no’ comment. That went a step too far. As I said to someone up north here, it’s like giving a kid a time out for a day, you know. Hey, time out.”
— Michigan state Rep. Wayne Schmidt (R), explaining why state Rep. Lisa Brown (D) was barred from speaking on the House floor for saying the word “vagina.”
A new Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney, 49% to 43%.
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London Mayor Boris Johnson tells New York magazine that cities are all about prestige, which is the central thesis of his new book.
Said Johnson: “We seek cities because there are a greater range of girls at the bar, of
reproductive choice. Number one. Number two is there are better
outcomes for health and wealth. And now we care more about the
environment, and cities are better for the environment. But above all, talented people seek cities for fame. They can’t get famous in the fucking village.”
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R), who once flirted with the idea President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, now says he thinks the president lied about being born in Kenya in order to get into college.
Said Bennett: “Now, I know there’s a lot of people that are very skeptical as to whether he was born in Hawaii. Personally I believe that he was. I actually believe he was fibbing about being born in Kenya when he was trying to get into college and doing things like writing a book and on and on and on.”
Bennett also said he thinks Obama has spent as much as two million of dollars to cover it up.
Samuel “Joe The Plumber” Wurzelbacher (R), made famous during the 2008 presidential campaign by John McCain and now running for Congress in Ohio, says in a new campaign video that gun control led to the Holocaust and Armenian genocide.
Wurzelbacher, who is featured in the video blasting tomatoes with a shotgun, proclaims at the end, “I love America.”
The New York Observer followed up with a campaign spokesman who not only stood by the video but suggested gun control may have also helped cause slavery in the United States.
“We thought we’d taken a wooden stake and put it through this type of Democrat’s heart.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by the Newark Star Ledger, saying that “Corzine Democrats” are back.
President Obama “invoked executive privilege to withhold from a Congressional oversight committee some documents and communications among his advisers regarding the failed gun enforcement operation known as ‘Fast and Furious,’ in which weapons purchased in the United States were allowed to cross into Mexico,” the New York Times reports.
It was the first time since Obama took office that he has asserted the privilege.
Washington Post: “The president’s decision to withhold the documents and the House
panel’s anticipated contempt citation quickly intensified a
long-simmering feud between the White House and Republican lawmakers and
set up a clash between over the extent of presidential power that may
take months to resolve.”
The Brookings Institution announced that Jon Huntsman will join the think tank as a distinguished fellow, according to the Washington Post.
A new Public Opinion Strategies (R) poll in Nebraska finds Deb Fischer (R) absolutely crushing former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D) in the U.S. Senate race, 58% top 33%.
A new Garin Hart Yang (D) poll also shows Fischer way ahead, 52% to 38%.
Coming later this summer: Thank The Liberals For Saving America by Alan Colmes.
Former Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) “abruptly quit Florida’s Republican U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, all-but-assuring frontrunner Connie Mack IV the GOP nomination,” the Tampa Bay Times reports.
“LeMieux was behind in fundraising, behind in name identification and behind in big-name endorsements when compared to Mack, a sitting congressman from Fort Myers and the son and namesake of former Florida senator.”
Chris Moody: “A new insider survey of 58 legal experts conducted after the oral arguments concluded found that most predict that the court will strike down the so-called individual mandate, a central provision within the law requiring that every American purchase a government-approved form of health insurance. The same expert survey was conducted before the hearings began, which found the opposite: Most thought the law would be upheld.”
A new We Ask America poll in Michigan finds Mitt Romney slightly ahead of President Obama, 45% to 43%.
“While Romney can lay claim to Michigan roots, it didn’t seem to help him
greatly in the Primary, and President Obama’s economic recovery program
that bailed out the auto industry should arguably give him a leg up
here. The fact this this and other polls have the race so close at this
point doesn’t bode well for conventional wisdom in the Wolverine State.”
A new We Ask America poll in Iowa finds President Obama barely ahead of Mitt Romney in the presidential race, 45% to 44%.
“Iowa — the state that helped launched President Obama’s political
rocket ship — may be reacting to the loss of ethanol subsidies and the
president’s stance on same-sex marriage (remember that Iowans voted
three judges out of office after they helped legalize gay marriage).”
“Rick Scott doesn’t seem to have any political skills at all. I’d give him a B for governing. I’d give
him an A for strangeness.”
— Former Florida GOP chairman Tom
Slade, quoted by Bloomberg.
First Read ponders the back and forth reports yesterday over whether Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is on Mitt Romney’s vice presidential short list.
“But here’s a little rule of thumb in American politics: If you have to say you’re vetting someone, is that someone really under serious consideration? Indeed, despite being the party’s rising star and a favorite of the GOP base, the signs always have pointed AGAINST Rubio being Romney’s pick. Why? For starters, he’s only been a U.S. senator for a year and a half, and he didn’t endorse Romney until late in the GOP primary season. Then there’s the opposition research out there on him — something that the Romney folks who worked for Charlie Crist’s 2010 Senate campaign know pretty well: Rubio charged more than $100,000 to state GOP credit cards, had racked up nearly $1 million in personal debt, and had nearly foreclosed on a home. No doubt that Rubio has plenty of assets (young, Latino, from Florida). But he also carries a lot of risk for the usually risk-averse Romney.”
Mark McKinnon says President Obama “has done it again. First he did it with gay marriage. Now with immigration.”
“It’s typical of the Democratic approach. Rather than creating a tidal wave that carries everyone, as Republicans generally do when they win, throw a thousand rocks and create a million ripples. Pick ’em off one by one. And, who knows, between Team Obama’s supernova data mining and demographic slicing and dicing and the president’s targeted-constituency executive orders, maybe that will be enough to claw their way to 50.1 percent of the vote.”
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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