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.”
“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.”
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.
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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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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!”
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.”
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.”
Ryan Lizza has the memos that show exactly when President Obama changed his mind about the individual health insurance mandate.
“If we only have a two-month campaign, [the Obama campaign’s] money
advantage, and it’ll be an advantage, won’t make much difference because
there is only so much money you can spend in two months to have really
any impact. There are diminishing returns after awhile. But if we have a
nominee next week, all of the money advantages they have, now, are
going to be trained on destroying the nominee.”
— Rick Santorum, in an interview with National Review, on why a contested convention would be a good thing for the Republican party.
Rick Santorum told David Brody he would consider being Mitt Romney’s running mate if he doesn’t become the Republican presidential nominee.
Said Santorum: “Of course. I mean, look. I would do in this race as I always say, this is the most important race in our country’s history. I’m going to do everything I can. I’m doing everything I can. I’m out there. In the last 10 months, I’ve had five days off. Two for Thanksgiving, and three for Christmas. I’ve been working every single day. My wife and my kids, we’re just busting our tail, because we know their future and all of our childrens’ future is at stake in this election and I don’t want to be the guy who has to sit with my granddaughter, 20 years from now, and tell stories about an America where people once were free. I don’t want to have that conversation.”
Of course, Mitt Romney seemed to rule out the possibility earlier this month.
Here’s a book to put on your reading list: It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism by Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein.
After President Obama spent months fighting back against opponents’ use
of the term “Obamacare” as a pejorative for his health care reform law,
the President and his team have begun to embrace the term in a reversal
that is no accident, reports The Fix.
“What
the White House and the Obama reelection team in Chicago clearly
believe is that the Supreme Court case amounts to the opening of a new
front of the message wars surrounding the health care law. And, if they
lost the first fight because they played too much defense, now they are
doing their damnedest to get on offense — early and often… Embracing
the term ‘Obamacare’ is a recognition that the president owns the law
politically-speaking no matter what the court decides. That reality
means he must re-define ‘Obamacare’ in the eyes (or, more accurately,
ears) of the public. ‘Obamacare’ currently stands for everything people
don’t like about the law. The White House has to make it stand for all
the good things in the law.”
The campaign even launched a “I like Obamacare” Facebook page.
In anticipation of Robert Caro’s Passage to Power — which is out in just five weeks! — the New Yorker makes available seven of Caro’s previous pieces for the magazine.
A new Suffolk University poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney in a general election match up by 10 points, 47% to 37%, with 7% saying they would vote for a third-party candidate and 7% undecided.
Obama led the other GOP candidates by even larger margins: Rick Santorum by 14 points, Newt Gingrich by 19 points, and Ron Paul by 21 points.
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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