As John Edwards’ campaign finance trial begins today, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that just 3% of registered voters hold a favorable view of him.
Economists Up Their Forecasts
A USA Today survey of economists finds that “despite the headwinds of higher gas prices and Europe’s financial crisis” they think the U.S. economy will grow faster than expected this year.
Key findings: “The economy will grow 2.5% this year vs. their 2.3% forecast three months ago. Unemployment averaging 8% in the fourth quarter vs. 8.2% now.”
Romney Effort Raises Red Flag for Wall Street Donors
Mitt Romney’s effort to increase the amount of money wealthy backers can give to his campaign — by encouraging donations to state parties — “has hit a hurdle: new Securities and Exchange Commission rules that are making some Wall Street donors skittish about writing checks,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
At issue: “Presidential candidates in the past have asked donors to give money to state parties to help fund their election effort. But Mr. Romney’s inclusion of state campaigns has raised a red flag with some Wall Street firms because of new SEC rules enacted after ‘pay to play’ scandals.”
Huntsman Rips Republican Party
Jon Huntsman “took a battle axe to his own party, comparing it to China’s Communist Party and criticizing it’s standard bearer in a wide-ranging interview,” BuzzFeed reports.
He also “jokingly blamed his failed candidacy in part on his wife, Mary Kaye, who told him she’d leave him if he abandoned his principles.”
Said Huntsman: “She said if you pandered, if you sign any of those damn pledges, I’ll leave you. So I had to say I believe in science — and people on stage look at you quizzically as though you’re was an oddball.”
Huntsman added that Ronald Reagan would “likely not” be able to win the GOP nomination in this environment.
The Case Against Picking Jeb Bush
George Will says there’s no way Mitt Romney will pick former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) as his running mate:
“If Jeb Bush is to be Romney’s running mate, it would mean that in seven of nine presidential elections there would be a Bush on the Republican ticket. And it gets hard to argue that we’re not a tribal society at that point.”
Hollande and Sarkozy Advance to Runoff
French Socialist Francois Hollande won the most votes in the first round of the country’s presidential election, the BBC reports.
“He got about 28% of votes, according to projections based on partial results, against about 26% for centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. The two men will face each other in a second-round run-off on 6 May.”
But the Financial Times notes the “shock of the night” was the 20% received by the National Front’s Marine Le Pen, who beat pollsters’ predictions.
Feinstein on Cruise Control
Despite millions of dollars embezzled from her campaign and 21 challengers in a June primary, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) “isn’t a bit worried. Her campaign is on cruise control, her re-election all but certain — yet again,” the San Jose Mercury News reports.
“After holding elected office for all but five of the last 42 years, Feinstein is the doyenne of California Democrats. She’s so politically bulletproof that no A-list candidates are wasting their time and money trying to dethrone her.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I think a lot of Republicans in Congress want to cooperate and know better, but they’re in the thralls of this reign of terror from the Far Right that has dragged the party to the Right.”
— David Axelrod, in an interview on CNN.
Is Romney Pitch-Perfect?
Katy Steinmetz:
“Romney’s speaking style, try as he might, often seems forced and
rather wooden… But if the economy gets worse, more Americans may be
drawn to a dry Mr. Fix-It, someone better suited to budgets than
banquets. Rousing oratorical skill is not something people require in a
good plumber or mechanic… Of course, Romney still needs to make his
audiences feel as well as think. He can achieve that by capitalizing on
frustrations that voters have about Obama.”
Was White House Staff Involved in Prostitution Scandal?
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is questioning the U.S. Secret Service about possible involvement of White House staff in the Colombian prostitution scandal, the Washington Times reports.
At issue: “Did the Secret Service reserve rooms at the Hotel Caribe or other hotels in Cartagena, Colombia for representatives of the WHCA or the White House Advance Team? If so, have records for overnight guests for those entities been pulled as part of the investigation? If not, why not?”
Rubio Not Discussing Veep Pick Anymore
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) told CNN he’s not going to comment on Mitt Romney’s running mate selection process anymore.
Said Rubio: “Up to now it’s all been theoretical, we have a nominee now, and our nominee, Mitt Romney, the leader of the Republican Party, has a vice presidential process in place. And I think from this point moving forward, I think it’d be wise for all Republicans to kind of respect that process, myself included, and say moving forward, we’re going to let his process play itself out.”
However, he then suggested Jeb Bush would be a great pick.
Edwards Trial Begins This Week
John Edwards goes on trial Monday “on charges he used illegal campaign contributions to cover up an affair with a mistress who became pregnant during his failed bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination,” Reuters reports.
Quote of the Day
“I’m going to try something different this year. I’m going to try to stay out of this one.”
— Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), in an interview on Fox News Sunday, saying he won’t endorse a presidential candidate.
Re-Evaluating Ike
The New York Times reviews Eisenhower in War and Peace noting author Jean Edward Smith makes the “startling claim” that apart from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower was “the most successful president of the 20th century.”
Smith carefully traces Eisenhower’s “preparation for the presidency, and that’s what this biography is really about. (Only a quarter of the book is devoted to the White House years and beyond.) From it, Eisenhower’s own views on success in leadership emerge reasonably clearly. To reduce them to the length of a tweet — an exercise my students recommend, and which Ike might well have approved — they amount to achieving one’s ends without corrupting them.”
“Ends, Eisenhower knew, are potentially infinite. Means can never be. Therefore the task of leaders — whether in the presidency or anywhere else — is to reconcile that contradiction: to deploy means in such a way as to avoid doing too little, which risks defeat, but also too much, which risks exhaustion. Failure can come either way.”
GOP Insiders Think Romney Will Pick Portman
An informal BuzzFeed survey of more than half of the Republican State Chairmen and national committee people at the GOP meetings in Arizona this weekend finds that two-thirds said they believe Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) is the most-likely and best-qualified running-mate for Mitt Romney.
Said one: “He’s from Ohio, and we need to win Ohio, it’s that simple.”
Romney to Merge Staff with RNC
Mitt Romney’s top aides “plan to move quickly after the primaries on Tuesday to integrate the campaign’s growing staff with the Republican National Committee, in an effort to avoid logistical stumbles that have hampered past nominees,” the New York Times reports.
“Romney has been careful not to push the committee into a formal support role while two of his rivals — Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul — continue campaigning for the nomination. But aides to Mr. Romney expect that dynamic to change after Tuesday, when he is expected to win all five of the primaries, including those in New York and Pennsylvania.”
Walker Says He Won’t Be Recalled
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) predicted he won’t be recalled from office in June, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Said Walker: “I think when we win, it will not only reaffirm what we did. It will send a powerful message to every politician…in our state and even in our city governments who are trying to take on the tough issues and do the right thing. It will send a powerful, powerful message that you can stick your neck out, you can make the tough choices and there will be voters helping you along the way.”
New Voter Laws May Hurt Obama
Here’s a potential problem for President Obama’s re-election bid: “New state laws designed to fight voter fraud could reduce the number of Americans signing up to vote in this year’s presidential election by hundreds of thousands,” Reuters reports.
“Voting laws passed by Republican-led legislatures in a dozen states during the past year have sharply restricted voter-registration drives that typically target young, low-income, African-American and Hispanic voters — groups that have backed the Democratic president by wide margins.”
