A new Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin shows Mitt Romney leading Rick Santorum in the Republican presidential race, 39% to 31%, with Ron Paul at 11% and Newt Gingrich at 5%.
The Wisconsin primary is April 3.
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Boehner Chides Romney for Criticizing Obama While Abroad
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) came to President Obama’s defense saying that Mitt Romney’s recent criticism of the president was inappropriate while Obama was abroad, National Journal reports.
Said Boehner: “Clearly while the president is overseas, he’s at a conference, and while the president is overseas I think it’s appropriate that people not be critical of him or our country.”
Quote of the Day
“This was a train wreck for the Obama administration. This law looks like
it’s going to be struck down. All of the
predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem
with this law were wrong.”
— Jeffrey Toobin, in an interview on CNN, on the tough questions by the Supreme Court over the health insurance mandate.
Toobin, author of The Nine, is considered a leading authority on the current court.
Insurance Mandate Faces Tough Questions
“With the fate of President Obama’s health care law hanging in the balance at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a lawyer for the administration faced a barrage of skeptical questions from four of the court’s more conservative justices,” the New York Times reports.
Wall Street Journal: “The most worrisome remarks for the plaintiffs–the side arguing against the Obama health law–came from Justice Kennedy, who wavered over the claim that when it came to health care, a bright line could be drawn between those engaged in commerce by buying insurance and whose wholly outside the market by declining to do so.”
SCOTUSblog: “If Justice Anthony M. Kennedy can locate a limiting principle in the federal government’s defense of the new individual health insurance mandate, or can think of one on his own, the mandate may well survive. If he does, he may take Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and a majority along with him. But if he does not, the mandate is gone.”
Kerrey Way Behind in Nebraska
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Nebraska finds Democrats are actually in a much worse position with Bob Kerrey (D) as their U.S. Senate candidate than they would have been with Sen. Ben Nelson (D), and that Jon Bruning (R) is now a strong favorite in the general election.
Bruning leads Kerry by a stunning 17 points, 54% to 37%.
Key finding: “Kerrey’s campaign rollout has not been a success. In October his favorability rating in the state was a +5 spread at 39/34. Since then it’s dropped 20 points on the margin to -15 at 36/51.”
Romney Won’t Detail Cuts Until After the Election
Mitt Romney tells the Weekly Standard that he’d eliminate some federal agencies if he’s elected president, but he won’t say which ones.
Said Romney: “One of the things I found in a short campaign against Ted Kennedy was that when I said, for instance, that I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, that was used to suggest I don’t care about education. So I think it’s important for me to point out that I anticipate that there will be departments and agencies that will either be eliminated or combined with other agencies… but I’m not going to give you a list right now.”
Jonathan Chait summarizes: “One of the things I have found in previous elections is that announcing my plans makes people want to vote against me!”
Romney’s Lifelines
National Journal notes that if Mitt Romney “ends up falling just short of the votes he would need to win the nomination, he can turn to an unlikely, if somewhat ironic, source of untapped delegates: The members of the Republican National Committee — the closest thing Republicans have to super delegates.”
There are still 81 RNC members who have not yet said how they will vote when the gavel comes down in Tampa, including the entire delegations of Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington state.
Romney Hires a Lobbyist for His Vacation Home
Politico has more details on the renovation of Mitt Romney’s California beach house — previously found to have a planned 3,600 square foot basement — and notes he’s also looking to build a “split-level, four-vehicle garage that comes with a ‘car lift’ to transport automobiles between floors.”
“A project this ambitious comes with another feature you don’t always find with the typical fixer-upper: its own lobbyist, hired by Romney to push the plan through the approval process.”
Wisconsin Republicans Focused More on Recall
“Political yard signs and bumper stickers are plentiful in Wisconsin these days. They just don’t carry the names Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum,” Bloomberg writes.
“Wisconsin Republicans are more focused on protecting their incumbent governor, Scott Walker, from recall than on the April 3 presidential primary in their state. Romney and Santorum have to convince party activists to focus some attention on them rather than solely on trying to protect Walker’s job in the recall election tentatively set for June 5, a vote triggered by anger over anti-union legislation the governor signed last year.”
Punching Above Their Weight
Jon Karl flags a Danish television clip showing how President Obama welcomed Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt to the Oval Office last month by noting the Danes “punch above their weight in international affairs.”
But the video also cleverly shows how President Obama has — in the same Oval Office setting — found that “Norway punches above its weight.” Ireland, too. And the Netherlands. And even the Philippines.
Irony at the Supreme Court
First Read: “Yesterday’s oral arguments were simply the opening act in the Supreme Court’s consideration of President Obama’s signature health-care law. But today’s discussion — over whether or not the individual mandate to purchase health insurance is constitutional — is the main event. And there’s plenty of irony (and even hypocrisy) on this issue. After all, it was then-candidate Barack Obama who railed against the individual mandate, which was supported by Hillary Clinton. What’s more, the individual mandate was once a conservative-leaning idea (championed by the Heritage Foundation, Newt Gingrich and, yes, Mitt Romney).”
“The final bit of irony: Only a small percentage of the public would even be subject to the individual mandate, if it’s found to be constitutional. A new Urban Institute study finds, per Huffington Post, that 98% of Americans ‘would either be exempt from the mandate — because of employer coverage, public health insurance or low income — or given subsidies to comply.’ So there you have it, folks: The central issue before the Supreme Court was once opposed by Obama, supported by conservatives and Republicans, and won’t even affect most Americans.”
Romney’s Killing Machine
Since the Republican primaries began, the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future has spent $35 million on commercials attacking Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, Bloomberg reports.
The group has spent just $1.1 million promoting Romney, the data shows.
Group Sought to Divide Gays and Blacks
BuzzFeed obtained a confidential strategy memo from an anti-gay marriage group, the National Organization for Marriage, with a goal of “fanning the hostility” between black voters and gay voters by casting President Obama as a radical foe of marriage.
“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies.”
National Poll Finds Romney Still Close
Despite a rough GOP primary, a new McClatchy-Marist poll finds Mitt Romney is still neck and neck with President Obama in a hypothetical general election matchup.
Obama leads Romney 46% to 44%, “suggesting a country that remains closely divided between the major parties, unwilling to rally to the Democratic incumbent and refusing to cast aside the front-runner for the Republican nomination after a dark hour of attacks and sniping inside his party.”
A Suffolk University poll yesterday found Obama with a 10 point lead.
Gingrich Starts Charging for Photos
In a sign that his campaign is in need of fresh funds, Newt Gingrich began charging $50 to have a photograph taken with him following a campaign speech, National Journal reports.
“It was the first time that the former House speaker has charged those attending one of his public speaking events to pose for a photograph with him.”
NBC News: “Charging for photos, in addition to news that the campaign canceled a
trip to North Carolina, contributes to the narrative that Gingrich is
struggling to stay afloat financially.”
The 2016 Guessing Game
Alex Pareene: “Being that it’s still March 2012 and we have no way of knowing who will actually be president by the end of January 2013 (besides “not Ron Paul,” obviously), it would seem to be a bit premature to speculate as to how the 2016 presidential race will shake out. And yet political reporters, finally bored perhaps with the inevitable Republican nomination of Mitt Romney, are already spewing forth predictions…”
“But you see where we are, at this point: Randomly tossing out names. It’s like predicting the 2016 NFL Draft. Some of these kids are still in high school!”
Etch-A-Sketch Maker Wants to Keep Buzz Going
Larry Killgallon, president of Etch-A-Sketch maker Ohio Art Co., told Bloomberg TV he’s loving the use of his company’s toy in the presidential campaign debate.
Said Killgallon: “We’re talking about creating T-shirts and the kind of things we could bring to the convention.”
He added: “What we need is a long time period of time and we need to sustain this into the fall. If we keep this dialogue going between the campaigns and Etch-a-Sketch, it will be great.”
Reporters Stop Following Gingrich
Newt Gingrich “has lost his last embedded print reporters,” reporters on the trail confirm to Politico.
“The last two print reporters covering Gingrich full-time on the trail — from Politico and the Atlanta Journal Constitution — pulled out on Friday. The Associated Press pulled its embed after Tuesday’s Illinois primary.”
