Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann: Obama's Trying To Keep America's Eyes Off Us With Jobs Speech

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 31, 2011, 5:03PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Michele Bachmann says President Obama scheduled his job speech on the same night as one of three nationally televised Republican presidential debates in the month of September because he wants to prevent Americans from seeing the group of Republicans who may face him next fall.

Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) called on Obama to move the speech, citing the time needed "for a security sweep of the House Chamber before receiving a President."

Bachmann supports Boehner's move, and said "clearly the administration has a great deal of insecurity about their job plan and the lack of it."

Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Bachmann argued, "Boehner is saying... rather than the president hiding his speech, and trying to divert the American people away from hearing from the presidential candidates on their assessment of his job that he failed to do for the economy."

She continued, "John Boehner is rightly saying, let's have the American people watch you."

Read more »

Jon Huntsman

Huntsman Debuts Jobs Plan: Tax Breaks For The Rich

Benjy Sarlin | August 31, 2011, 4:48PM

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman is looking to reboot his flagging campaign with a new jobs plan, offering up a list of ideas to spur growth in a speech on Wednesday. But despite his recent breaks with party orthodoxy on issues like climate change, he stuck to the usual conservative line on revenue, putting tax breaks for the rich and corporations at the center of his proposal.

"I'm not running for president to promise solutions, I'm running to deliver solutions," he said, according to prepared remarks. "Some of my entitlement reforms come directly from the Paul Ryan Plan. Other solutions come from the Simpson-Bowles Commission - a bipartisan group that last year put forth some very sensible tax reforms."

Under Huntsman's proposal, the tax code would be simplified into three brackets of 8%, 14%, and 23%. In addition, the corporate tax rate would be lowered to 25%, and taxes on capital gains and dividends would be eliminated entirely.

Overall, however, the whole shift would be revenue neutral. How?

Read more »

2012

Boehner Asks Obama To Reschedule Jobs Speech

Thomas Lane | August 31, 2011, 4:20PM

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

Just hours after President Obama scheduled his big jobs speech at the same time as the first GOP presidential debate featuring Texas Gov. Rick Perry, House Speaker John Boehner is asking that the President delay the speech by a day.

The format the White House requested for the address on September 7 was a big all-whistles-and-bells joint session of Congress. Boehner fired back in a very polite but pointed letter that made no mention of the GOP debate, but asked Obama to delay it until September 8, citing a different source of concern, namely that Congress won't have time to formally approve the joint resolution of both houses extending the invite for Obama to make the address.

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2012 elections

GOP Debate Sponsors Express Delight That Obama Is Upstaging Them

Thomas Lane | August 31, 2011, 3:31PM

President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address.

What do you do if you're sponsoring a televised GOP 2012 debate and the President of the United States schedules a major address to Congress that clashes with it?

Do you:
(a) Freak out and react angrily.
(b) Grin and bear it.

So far the hosts of the Sept. 7 GOP debate, Politico and NBC News, are taking the latter route. Politico's John Harris called it "a terrific turn of events," and tweeted: "It raises the profile of the whole evening ... makes it the first general election debate."

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Barack Obama

White House: Debate Organizers Can Always Reschedule Away From Our Jobs Speech

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 31, 2011, 1:22PM

If organizers of next week's Republican presidential debate are upset that the White House is calling for a nationally-televised presidential speech before a joint session of Congress at the same time their event is scheduled to begin at the Reagan Library in California, the White House is not offering much in the way of apology.

"There were a lot of considerations," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters today. "And, obviously, one debate of many that's on one channel of many was not enough reason not to have the speech at the time that we decided to have it."

Read more »

Barack Obama

Obama To Make Big Jobs Speech On Same Night As GOP 2012 Debate

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 31, 2011, 12:04PM

America cares about jobs. The national press corps cares about the 2012 presidential race. And next Tuesday, we might get to see which topic can draw a bigger audience.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer announced on Twitter Wednesday that President Obama has called for a joint session of Congress Sept. 7 so he can make his much-anticipated jobs speech to lawmakers and the nation.

That schedule would put Obama's address in direct conflict with the first of three Republican presidential debates scheduled for September.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Tea Partiers To Protest Mitt Romney's Attempted Embrace Of Them

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 31, 2011, 9:28AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Mitt Romney may be trying to make new friends with the tea party, but it seems that some tea partiers are not interested in giving him a friendly welcome.

Freedomworks, which has made standing in the way of Romney's presidential ambitions a goal, will protest Romney's appearance at a Tea Party Express event in New Hampshire this weekend, according to Politico.

Read more »

Polls

Quinnipiac: Obama Matchups With Romney, Perry In A Dead Heat

Kyle Leighton | August 31, 2011, 7:40AM

President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

A new national poll from Quinnipiac University shows that national races on both the presidential level and for Congress are in a dead heat as Washington prepares to return to work in September. Tex. Gov. Rick Perry now leads the announced GOP field in his quest for the presidential nomination, the first choice of 26 percent of Republican voters, followed by former frontrunner former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney at 20 percent, in what is now the fifth national poll Perry has taken the lead.

The poll also shows that President Obama, whose approval rating has been weakened by a slow economy and general disdain for Washington, is running very closely with both Perry and Romney. Obama leads Perry with 45 percent to the Texas governor's 42, and ties Romney at 45 percent. Both matchups are within the poll's margin of error and therefore a statistical dead heat.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Tea For '12: Mitt Romney Suddenly Finds Time For The Tea Party

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 31, 2011, 6:15AM

Mitt Romney

For some undefined but Texas governor-sized-and-shaped reason, Mitt Romney is suddenly very interested in attending tea party events.

It's a strategy that's easy to mock, considering the tea party-friendly Rick Perry's poll numbers -- and Romney's penchant to say the right (read: well-received) thing -- but it shows that Team Romney is actively stepping up to the Perry challenge, which could have a dramatic effect on Perry's march to the top of the field.

But for now, the sheer political expediency of Romney's upcoming tea party tour has political observers snickering and Democrats pointing and laughing. But Team Romney says there's nothing to see here.

Read more »

2012

Romney Re-Do: From Inevitable Candidate To Fighting For Iowa

Kyle Leighton | August 31, 2011, 6:10AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

Over the last week we've seen that the "inevitable candidate" strategy from former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney will surely need recalibration -- mainly due to Rick Perry's arrival in the race. Where Perry has succeded in crafting both hype around his candidacy and real support amongst a wide section of the GOP base, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has struggled to expand her appeal beyond the far right of the party, influential though it is.

But is Romney finished just because of a round of bad polls? Of course not. In fact, it's been reported that he'll now contest Iowa, something he had previously not committed to given his polling leads in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. That lead in South Carolina is now gone, according to two new polls, and it vanished within a few weeks of Perry entering the race. So now Romney may be in the fight for Iowa, and as such could make moves towards a new strategy. Sure, Romney was on soft ground as the frontrunner, but that ground doesn't immediately harden when Perry puts his feet down.

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Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney's Schedule Now Has Room For Jim DeMint

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 30, 2011, 6:13PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) -- the one-time Mitt Romney presidential booster cum Romney presidential critic -- will soon stand near Romney once again.

Read more »

2012

Mitt Romney To Attend First Big Tea Party Rally

Benjy Sarlin | August 30, 2011, 3:32PM

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney will speak at a Tea Party Express rally in New Hampshire on Labor Day, his first appearance at a high profile event associated with the movement.

Romney's scheduled appearance, first reported on CNN, comes as he faces renewed pressure on his right flank thanks to Rick Perry's surging campaign. Perry was one of the earliest national politicians to jump on the grassroots bandwagon -- he made his famous "secession" comments at a Tea Party rally in April 2009 -- and is currently polling very well with self-identified Tea Partiers. He, Michele Bachmann, and Herman Cain will attend a forum with the Tea Party-leaning Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) in South Carolina on Labor Day.

Read more »

2012 Presidential Primaries

The Romney Ceiling: South Carolina Poll Shows Perry Taking Mitt's Moderate Base

Kyle Leighton | August 30, 2011, 11:35AM

Fmr. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

With four national polls in the last week showing Texas Gov. Rick Perry ahead of the field in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, it looks more like the contention that former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney was a weak frontrunner has proved true. But as the primary season prepares to kick into high gear, how has Perry moved to the front so quickly? Numbers released on Tuesday from a Public Policy Polling (D) poll of crucial primary state South Carolina tell the story not just of Perry's new dominance of conservative voters, and Romney's weakness on the right, but of more concern for him -- they show a real vulnerability in the center as well.

The fact that Perry is now dominating in South Carolina, a conservative state, is probably not news to campaign watchers. The PPP survey shows him with 36 percent of the potential vote, followed by Romney with 16 and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) at 13, the second poll in five days to show Perry with a big lead. But the crosstabs show that Romney, the presumed "moderate" candidate (or at least more moderate), cannot even defend his own turf in the middle of the GOP electorate in a conservative state. He faces an implacable right wing of the party, which is fully in Perry's column, and moderate sect that is willing to support Perry despite his more strident views.

Read more »

2012

Romney's Foreign Policy Speech Takes On 'The Harvard Faculty Lounge' And (Basically) Rick Perry

Benjy Sarlin | August 30, 2011, 11:19AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

Mitt Romney took a pointed dig at Rick Perry in his own home state on Tuesday, alluding to his lack of business experience in an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in San Antonio.

"I am a conservative businessman," Romney told the VFW audience, which Perry had addressed the day before. "I have spent most of my life outside of politics, dealing with real problems in the real economy. Career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don't know how to get us out."

Romney has been playing up his private sector experience in the 2012 race, hoping to distinguish himself from fellow governor Perry, and it's likely the "career politicians" line is going to get a lot of spin before the race is over.

Romney began with a riff on the economy, but the audience was there for a foreign policy speech and that's what he delivered. Expanding on the themes of his "No Apologies" book, Romney repeatedly painted President Obama as a weak and ineffectual leader who kowtowed to tyrants.

The Obama administration, Romney said, "leaves us with the belief that America should become a lesser power. It flows from the conviction that if we are weak, tyrants will choose to be weak as well; that if we could just talk more, engage more, pass more U.N. resolutions, that peace will bill break out. That may be what they think in that Harvard faculty lounge, but it's not what they know on the battlefield."

But Romney crafted his anti-Obama message long before the president initiated a bombing campaign against Libya, which has all but destroyed dictator Moammar Qaddafi's regime and killed many of his family members. He also crafted it before the President ordered the death of Osama Bin Laden in an operation where he deliberately kept US ally Pakistan in the dark.

The president's increasingly hawkish resume sits uncomfortably with the "weak" message, but Romney did his best to square the circle. He detached Bin Laden's death from any White House action by playing up the Navy SEAL mission as a bipartisan affair, telling the crowd that "the final image that Osama bin Laden took with him straight to Hell" was not an elephant or donkey but an American flag. For Romney, it seems, that if on 9/11/01 we were all Americans, then on 5/2/11 we all ordered the Abottabad raid.

On Libya, Romney repeated a familiar GOP line that Obama had failed to explain the mission to the public or define its goals. Speaker Boehner has employed similar rhetoric, which has the benefit of appealing to both pro- and anti-intervention Republicans. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul firmly opposed the NATO operation, while Romney supported the decision to attack Qaddafi's forces.

"Today, Qaddafi is on the run and we congratulate the Libyan people and the extraordinary professionalism of our men and women in the armed services," Romney said. "But when a president sends our men and women into harm's way, he must first explain their mission, define its success, plan for their victorious exit, provide them with the best weapons and armor in the world, and properly care for them when they come home." Unmentioned was the fact that so far not a single American soldier has died in the Libya operation.

While Romney pledged to cut waste in defense, he accused Obama of endangering the military by agreeing to "a budget process that could entail cutting defense spending by $850 billion." The number refers to the debt ceiling agreement between President Obama and House Republicans, which cuts defense spending $350 billion over the next decade but also includes a trigger that will automatically cut an additional $500 billion over the same period if a bipartisan committee can't agree to savings elsewhere. As Romney noted in the speech, incoming Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned the triggered cuts would be severe if enacted.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Romney and Perry's two VFW speeches is that the party does not have a clear post-Bush consensus on foreign policy at the moment beyond unconditional support for Israel and a general suspicion of international institutions. It's an economy-focused election so this isn't entirely surprising, but it also speaks to real disagreements within the GOP. Conservative commentators took note that Perry winked at both the more neoconservative and isolationist camps in the GOP in his VFW speech on Monday, condemning "military adventurism" while also calling on Americans to "renew our commitment to taking the fight to the enemy wherever they are before they strike at home." And that's nothing compared to some of the lower-tier candidates' contortions.

Rick Perry

Clouds On The Horizon? Rick Perry Faces Barrage Of Negative Headlines

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 30, 2011, 6:20AM

Texas Gov. Rick Perry

The polls show Texas Gov. Rick Perry is the clear frontrunner at the moment when it comes to Republican support in the presidential nomination fight. But as he treads further into the center stage, Perry's facing down growing media scrutiny -- especially over his own past statements.

How he plays this next phase of his campaign will be key to his viability over the long haul -- if Perry ignores the growing questions about his record, he risks damaging the electability quotient that has helped rocket him ahead of Michele Bachmann by appealing more to Republicans beyond the Tea Party. But if he bows too much to critics, shifting his stances to be more in line with a mainstream electorate, he risks alienating those Tea Partiers who are still the voters Republicans running for president are afraid of.

So far, it seems that Perry is sticking with the Tea Party and letting the attacks fall where they will.

Read more »

Sarah Palin

Who Doomed Sarah Palin's Presidential Dream?

Benjy Sarlin | August 30, 2011, 6:15AM

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is expected to make up her mind about a presidential campaign by the end of September, but it's not clear it matters much either way. Polls show relatively few Republicans clamoring for a Palin run on a national level as the one-time supernova is eclipsed by a crowded presidential contest and an array of new rising stars. About two-thirds of Republicans say they're satisfied with the current primary field.

It feels as if Palin's fabled 2012 run, a source of fervent speculation since before the 2008 contest even ended, has already gone out with a whimper. Palin is polarizing even within her own party and has shown little indication she can reverse the nation's long-settled perception of her as a media phenomenon with little appeal outside her limited fan base.

But how did she end up this way? And who is to blame? Here's a look at five of the leading culprits.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann Memoir To Be Published This November

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 4:43PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) will parlay the national fame she's built on the presidential campaign trail into what might be the next political best-seller.

The AP reports Bachmann has signed a deal with Sentinel, the conservative subsidiary of Penguin Books, to publish a memoir this November.

Read more »

2012

Michele Bachmann's Very Own 'Whitey' Tape Turns Out To Be A Dud

Thomas Lane | August 29, 2011, 2:58PM

Remember the 'Whitey Tape" rumor from 2008? The gist was that a video was secretly in circulation featuring Michelle Obama badmouthing "whitey." The blogosphere was alight with fears (or on some ends, hopes) that it would be released at a critical moment and swing the election towards John McCain.

The tape never emerged.

However, Monday the internet was aflame yet again with an apparent "whitey" tape -- this time featuring not Michelle Obama, but Michele Bachmann.

Read more »

Tea Party Express

Tea Party Express Kicks Off Bus Tour To 'Reclaim America'

David Taintor | August 29, 2011, 1:33PM

Anti-tea party protesters attended the Tea Party Express' rally in Napa, California.

Fresh off conservative criticism of President Obama's Midwest bus tour, the Tea Party Express is kicking its own tires. Leading up to the CNN/Tea Party Express Republican presidential debate Sept. 10, the tea party group on Saturday launched a bus tour in Napa, California.

"We want Washington to live within its means, just like we do," Tea Party Express chairwoman Amy Kremer told Reuters. "We're in an economic downfall. Meanwhile, politicians are busy attending cocktail parties instead of focusing on the issues."

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Romney: I'm Only Doubling My House, Technically

Benjy Sarlin | August 29, 2011, 1:25PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (R-MA)

The size of the gigantic family compound set to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of Mitt Romney's $12 million teardown in California has been exaggerated in the press, according to Romney.

Sort of, at least. Romney told the publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, Joe McQuaid, that while the square footage of the new estate will -- as reported -- nearly quadruple in size once construction is complete, the number is misleading because it includes the garage and basement. According to McQuaid, Romney merely shrugged when pressed why he didn't try and correct the record more aggressively.

Depending on what he does with the place, Romney's "living space" versus "nonliving space" distinction may be somewhat blurry. If MTV Cribs has taught us anything, it's that basements in homes with eight-digit property values are more than just a dank storage pit.

h/t Politico

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Rick Perry

Rick Perry: Social Security Is, In Fact, A Ponzi Scheme

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 12:30PM

Rick Perry

Sometimes campaign spin works to distance a candidate from his controversial past statements. And sometimes the candidate comes back and makes a hash of all the work his staff has done for him.

We could be witnessing the latter scenario when it comes to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and one of the nation's most popular government programs. Last week, Perry's campaign spokesperson took to the Wall Street Journal to help back Perry off the less election-friendly sections of his book, Fed Up!. That includes Perry's suggestion that Social Security is an unconstitutional scheme which should be privatized post-haste.

Over the weekend, Perry walked all that back and fired off some more fiery rhetoric about the perils of the entitlement program that most Americans do not want to see changed.

Read more »

2012 Presidential Primaries

Santorum: The Gay Community Is On A 'Jihad' Against Me

Eric Kleefeld | August 29, 2011, 11:43AM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Rick Santorum really does not like the political activism that gay people have launched against him, ever since his 2003 remarks comparing the legalization of gay sex and gay marriage to pedophilia, bestiality and incest.

"So the gay community said, 'He's comparing gay sex to incest and polygamy, how dare he do this,' and they have gone out on a, I would argue, jihad against Rick Santorum since then," Santorum said at a campaign event in Spartanburg, S.C., on Friday, The Hill reports.

There is a certain irony here, in that radical Islamists -- like Santorum himself -- would want to see homosexuality outlawed. And it is Santorum's prior remarks on that subject that have led to the situation that he is complaining about.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann's Hurricane Irene Joke (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 11:28AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

While much of the eastern seaboard dries out from Hurricane Irene, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has found herself in hot water over the claim she made in Florida over the weekend that the storm and last week's historic earthquake were sent by God to wake up politicians in Washington to the views of the tea party.

Bachmann's campaign says the whole thing was a joke, and that's certainly how CNN played it this morning.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Campaign: Bachmann Spoke 'In Jest' When She Said God Was Communicating Via Earthquakes And Hurricanes

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 9:44AM

Michele Bachmann

Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) presidential campaign says critics are making much ado about nothing when it comes to her viral quote stating last week's East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God to overspending DC politicians.

"Obviously she was saying it in jest," campaign spokesperson Alice Stewart told TPM in a statement.

The quote, made by Bachmann at a Florida campaign rally over the weekend, is making headlines across the Internet and TV.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann: Earthquake, Irene Were A Wake Up Call From God For Politicians

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 29, 2011, 8:26AM

Michele Bachmann

For someone who began her political career mixing fundamentalist religion and public policy, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has done a decent job keeping questions about her faith at bay during her presidential campaign.

Until now.

Speaking to a crowd in Florida over the weekend, Bachmann said the historic earthquake and massive hurricane that rocked the East Coast last week was a message that God is upset with the way politicians in Washington have been doing things. The interview with the St. Petersburg Times grabbed the quote:

Read more »

Polls

Perrymentum: Poll Shows Texas Gov. Leading In South Carolina

Kyle Leighton | August 26, 2011, 3:55PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

To complete a week of good news for Tex. Gov. Rick Perry, in which polls found him leading nationally and in Iowa for the GOP presidential nod little over a week after he began campaigning, a new poll released on Friday now shows him ahead of the pack in South Carolina, with another lead outside the margin of error.

Perry captures 31 percent of the GOP primary voters surveyed, with former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney in second with 20 percent, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) at 14, businessman Herman Cain at 9, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 5, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) at 4, with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former Gov. Jon Huntsman both at 2.

The Texas governor is the most favorably viewed candidate in the race, with 61 percent viewing him that way against 17. Some of the candidates actually have underwater favorability ratings within the GOP electorate, including Gingrich, Paul, Santorum, and especially Jon Huntsman, who registers only a 9 percent favorability rating against a whopping 44 percent with an unfavorable view.

Gallup also revealed new information on Friday that showed Perry is really catching on with Tea Party supporters nationally, data which is reflected in the new South Carolina poll. Perry gets 37 percent of Tea Party supporters, double the next closest candidate, Bachmann.

The poll was conducted and sponsored by Magellan Strategies, and uses 637 automated interviews with likely South Carolina GOP primary voters. It was conducted from August 22nd -23rd and has a sampling error of 3.88 percent.

Polls

The Usual Suspects: Rick Perry's Support In Gallup National Poll Came From The Tea Party

Kyle Leighton | August 26, 2011, 2:31PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) holds a copy of his book

A new detail from additional information released by Gallup on Friday about their national survey on the GOP presidential field: Tex. Gov. Rick Perry, who outpaced everyone in their recent survey with 29 percent of the total, captured 35 percent of those GOP voters who consider themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement.

Rounding out the candidates supported by Tea Party backers were former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), both at 14 percent, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) at 12, businessman Herman Cain at 6, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 5, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (R) at 3 and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman at 1 percent.

Read more »

Donald Trump

Rick Perry Seeking Endorsement From Birther-In-Chief Donald Trump?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 26, 2011, 8:57AM

Rick Perry, by most measures the current frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination at the moment, has been chatting with Donald Trump lately.

Team Trump tells Politico's James Hohmann -- who broke the story Friday -- that Perry has called Trump "on 'several occasions." Trump's folks seem to think this means Perry's looking for Trump's endorsement, though Perry's campaign wouldn't discuss the nature of the conversations with Hohmann and didn't respond immediately to TPM's request for comment.

Trump's representative says Romney's calling, too, though Romney's campaign did not immediately respond to TPM's request for comment either.

Read more »

George Pataki

No Pataki For You! Former NY Gov Decides Against Mounting White House Bid

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 26, 2011, 8:44AM

Former NY Gov. George Pataki (R)

So former New York Gov. George Pataki is not running for president. Repeat: Not running.

That small bit of news brings to an end one of the stranger chapters of the 2012 race, in which the former governor of New York walked right up to the line of a bid, despite confusion from nearly all quarters -- including among the New York GOP.

Read more »

Jon Huntsman

"Centrist" Jon Huntsman Isn't Really All That Moderate After All

Evan McMorris-Santoro & Kyle Leighton | August 26, 2011, 6:23AM

Jon Huntsman

Much ink, digital and otherwise, has been spilled in the past week over former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's emergence as the militant moderate in the Republican presidential contest. As focus has shifted away from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and toward Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Huntsman has emerged as the Democrats' favorite Republican -- taking stands in favor of evolution and expressing his belief in climate change.

Before that, he was known as the guy who supported civil unions, an equally foreign position to much of the 2012 field. Huntsman's viewed as such a moderate that the first ads run on his behalf of the cycle are being paid for by a Democrat.

But in reality, Huntsman's only a moderate when compared to the rest of the modern GOP.

Read more »

Iowa caucus

Pro-Perry PAC Survey: Texas Gov. Moves Ahead In Iowa

Kyle Leighton | August 25, 2011, 5:51PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Tex. Gov. Rick Perry's move from non-candidate to frontrunner in the GOP nomination process has been a big story, but a story driven largely by national polling. While Perry's starting to become the first choice of the national Republican electorate, the nomination process will go through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where other candidates had a head start. But according to two new polls, that advantage has been lost.

A pro-Perry PAC just released a poll of GOP caucus-goers showing him in the lead with 23 percent, followed closely by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) at 20 percent and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney at 16. The rest of the field is rounded out by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) at 9 percent, businessman Herman Cain at 8, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (R) at 7, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 3 and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman at 2. The PAC also touts 30 percent support amongst self-described "very conservative" caucus-goers, which they say makes up 55 percent of that group.

Read more »

2012

On Talk Radio, Perry Fires Rounds At Romney, China, And Martha's Vineyard

Thomas Lane | August 25, 2011, 10:53AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Speaking to conservative talk show host, Laura Ingraham, Texas Gov. Rick Perry unloaded several rounds into typical right-wing targets, namely former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, China, and Martha's Vineyard.

The once GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney attracted a fairly minor barrage of fire by Perry standards. Baited by Ingraham to discuss the main albatross around Romney's neck, his Massachusetts healthcare plan that formed the basis for "Obamacare," Perry simply said, "I think Mitt is finally recognizing that the Massachusetts healthcare is a problem for him," before pivoting off to a broader attack on Obama's plan. Perry claimed to hope that this would not be a major issue in next year's general election because "hopefully" by then the Supreme Court will have ruled the individual mandate component of the plan unconstitutional.

Read more »

Newt Gingrich

Vindication: New Study Shows Newt Gingrich Did Not Pad His Twitter List

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 25, 2011, 9:08AM

You might want to sit down before you read this: There's good news today for Newt Gingrich.

The former House Speaker may be nowhere in the presidential polls, deeply in debt, and suffering snickers from observers who just watched him campaign in Hawaii but at least he's got one thing going for him -- he probably didn't artificially pad his Twitter follower list.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Backs Away From Climate Change

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 25, 2011, 8:58AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Staring down a new rival who believes climate change science is partially some kind of international grant money shakedown conspiracy, Mitt Romney is stepping back from a view of climate change he outlined earlier this summer.

"Do I think the world's getting hotter? Yeah, I don't know that but I think that it is," Romney told a crowd in New Hampshire Wednesday, according to Reuters. "I don't know if it's mostly caused by humans."

Romney then tilted over and grabbed some of Rick Perry's Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)-endorsed ideas on the environment. That is, let's not spend a dime doing anything about it.

Read more »

Polls

Rick Perry's (Southern) Charm

Kyle Leighton | August 25, 2011, 6:10AM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

America is a politically divided nation. For all the outcomes of the 2008 election, it wasn't a true redrawing of the political map. Some states, which were and continue to change demographically, were primed to become full-fledged swing states, and a strong Democratic candidate in a change election brought them to his side.

But two years later, the GOP was again winning statewide elections in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Virginia, and a return to the traditional calculus began. Now as the GOP moves ahead with the 2012 presidential primary process, Republican voters are starting to return to their roots: falling for a southern Governor.

Other GOP flavors of the month have so far been sampled: real estate mogul Donald Trump made some loud noises and bowed out, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) seemed interesting for a while but has probably peaked. Because in the end, what are the actual chances that the modern Republican Party will nominate a congresswoman from Minnesota, or a multi-millionaire former governor from an incredibly blue state? History tells us they aren't great.

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2012

Rubio's Reagan Speech: Entitlements "Weakened" Us

Thomas Lane | August 24, 2011, 5:30PM

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)

Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) seems to be the "right" man for the "right" time. Indeed, there's now so much speculation that he'll take the VP slot of next year's GOP presidential ticket that one wag recently tweeted, "Is it time to rename GOP primaries 'the contest to become Marco Rubio's running mate'?"

The GOP heartthrob delivered a much-anticipated speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Wednesday. The address was packed with the red meat Tea Party audiences crave, and at its heart was the reddest meat of all: a "things-ain't-what-they-used-to-be" take-down of entitlement programs.

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MA-SEN

Khazei Calls On Scott Brown To Apologize For Fake Twitter Feed

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 24, 2011, 3:26PM

Alan Khazei

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alan Khazei isn't letting the revelation that Sen. Scott Brown's (R-MA) campaign team is behind a fake Twitter feed that's been attacking him pass without making some political hay.

"Sen. Brown should denounce these tactics, immediately close the fake Twitter account and apologize to the citizens of Massachusetts," Khazei Chief of Staff Emily Cherniack said in a statement.

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Rick Perry

Senate's Preeminent Climate Skeptic Backs Rick Perry For President

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 24, 2011, 2:59PM

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) will endorse Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign, he told the Tulsa Press Club Wednesday morning.

That marks a marriage of the U.S. Senate's chief climate skeptic with one of the nomination fight's most anti-climate science candidates.

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South Carolina primary

Romney Turns Down DeMint Labor Day Forum

Eric Kleefeld | August 24, 2011, 12:02PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Mitt Romney will not be attending a Labor Day candidate forum in South Carolina -- hosted by the very conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who had previously endorsed Romney back in the 2008 cycle.

As CNN reports, Romney spokesman Ryan Williams has cited scheduling conflicts, saying the candidate will be spending the day in New Hampshire.

Five candidates thus far have accepted invitations: Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. Invitations were also extended to Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani, though they are not actually in the race. Romney is thus the only active candidate to turn down the event.

Romney has become the target of many conservative attacks, mainly over his Massachusetts health care reform -- which later became the basic blueprint for President Obama's national health care reform. DeMint, of course, has reversed his own position on his past praise for Massachusetts health care reform, back when he endorsed Romney in the 2008 cycle.

Polls

PPP: Iowa Becoming Perry Country As Bachmann Falls

Kyle Leighton | August 23, 2011, 12:23PM

As TPM reported Tuesday morning, Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) time as a legitimate contender for the GOP presidential nomination could be up, as a new survey from Public Policy Polling (D) shows her the third choice of Republican voters in Iowa, a state essential to her campaign. The new horserace with the full announced GOP field shows Tex. Gov. Rick Perry at the top with 22 percent, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney at 19 percent, Bachmann at 18, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) at 16 percent.

There's no way around it -- Bachmann's popularity has taken a huge hit over the last two months, as shown by the PPP numbers. In June, Bachmann enjoyed a favorable/unfavorable rating of 53 - 16. That statistic is now 47 - 35, still positive, but not particularly high considering these are GOP voters. Perry, on the other hand, has gone from relatively unknown (a 21 - 16 favorability rating in June, majority undecided) to well liked, with a 56 - 24 rating. Paul has increased his favorability rating by 11 points over that time, and Romney has dropped slightly over the last two months.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Peaked? Polling Shows Bachmann Support Withering After Perry's Debut

Evan McMorris-Santoro & Kyle Leighton | August 23, 2011, 6:30AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

There have been several chapters in the still-extremely-early 2012 presidential race. There was the time that Newt Gingrich's smarts and policy chops was going to shake up the contest. That ended. There was the time Herman Cain's business acumen and tea party ties were going to be a real factor in the race. That didn't work out. Then, of course, there was Donald Trump. Remember him?

Now, it appears, Michele Bachmann's moment has come and gone.

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2012

Barack Who? GOP 2012 Candidates Respond To Qaddafi's Fall By Writing Obama Out Of History

Thomas Lane | August 22, 2011, 6:33PM

The main GOP presidential candidates' responses to events in Libya were strikingly diverse. However, one factor they had in common was the lack of any mention of one person: the President who actually committed US forces to the conflict.

The exception to this was former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. "Ridding the world of the likes of Gadhafi is a good thing," he wrote. "But this indecisive President had little to do with this triumph."

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2012 elections

Paul Ryan Disappoints Everybody By Announcing He Is *Not* Running For President

Thomas Lane | August 22, 2011, 3:16PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

The dream is dead. It's not often that Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol and progressive-leaning Democrats mourn the same thing, but both are likely choking back a sob at the news that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) definitely is not running for President.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday that the controversial GOP heart-throb had put an end to months of speculation by deciding he would resist the growing calls to run:

"I sincerely appreciate the support from those eager to chart a brighter future for the next generation. While humbled by the encouragement, I have not changed my mind, and therefore I am not seeking our party's nomination for President," Ryan said in a statement.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney Calls On New Libyan Government To Extradite Lockerbie Bomber

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 22, 2011, 12:19PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Mitt Romney responded to news of the impending fall of Muammar Qaddafi's regime in Libya by calling on the incoming leaders of the country to allow one of the world's most notorious terrorists to face the music. Again.

"It is my hope that Libya will now move toward a representative form of government that supports freedom, human rights, and the rule of law," Romney said in a statement Monday. "As a first step, I call on this new government to arrest and extradite the mastermind behind the bombing of Pan Am 103, Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi, so justice can finally be done."

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2012 Presidential Primaries

George Pataki Apparently Thinks America Needs His Presidential Candidacy

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 22, 2011, 10:28AM

Despite the fact that Rick Perry is now bringing his Texas gubernatorial swagger to the presidential race, conservatives still seem to want more new names to jump in the fray.

The names that most often come up in public discussions: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sarah Palin, Rep. Paul Ryan (WI). The name that doesn't: former New York Gov. George Pataki.

Guess which one is about to jump into the presidential race?

Read more »

Mitt Romney

California Dream Home Project Reminds Public Of Romney's Fabulous Wealth

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 22, 2011, 9:31AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Breaking: Mitt Romney is richer than you. For at least the second time since announcing his latest bid for the White House, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination has reminded the public of how much wealthier he is than them in a way that doesn't exactly win the award for campaign optics.

The first time, the millionaire Romney declared himself 'also unemployed' to a crowd of jobless people.

This time the reminder that Romney's richer than you was more subtle. Just slightly.

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2012

Will She? Won't She? The Signs Are Mixed Over A Possible Palin Presidential Entry

Thomas Lane | August 22, 2011, 5:55AM

Sarah Palin

Call them "Palinologists" - they're the equivalent of the Cold War "Kremlinologists" who used to scour for subtle hints about Politburo power dynamics. Palinologists, of course, do the same for one woman: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. And lately it seems they're reaching very different conclusions.

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Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman Takes On The GOP Field, And President Obama's Leadership

Kyle Leighton | August 21, 2011, 11:20AM

Jon Huntsman

GOP Presidential nominee Jon Huntsman went after his opponents in the Republican primary on ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour Sunday, continuing a trend of positioning himself as the more moderate candidate in the field: "This is a center right country. I am a center right candidate," he said.

In an interview with guest host Jake Tapper, Huntsman assailed his Republican counterparts with specific criticisms. For former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, the dig was on flip-flopping: "You know, if we were to talk about his inconsistencies and his -- the changes on various issues, we'd be here all afternoon."

For Tex. Gov. Rick Perry, it was his extreme political positioning, referring to Perry's comment that should Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke inject more cash into the economy's money supply, Perry would consider it "almost treasonous,": "I'm not sure that the average voter out there is going to hear that treasonous remark and say that sounds like a presidential candidate, that sounds like someone who is serious on the issues."

And when it came to Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) contention that she would get gas prices below $2 a gallon, Huntsman simply let go: "I just don't know what world that comment would come from. You know, we live in the real world."

Read more »

Rick Perry

Well, If You Insist: Rick Perry Takes The Bait, Runs Against Washington

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 20, 2011, 3:26PM

Texas Governor and Presidential Candidate Rick Perry (R)

ROCK HILL, SC -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry responded to his Washington critics here Saturday in a way that could make you wonder if those critics are actually playing for Team Perry.

On Friday, Politico reported on the concerns of some Republicans in Congress that Perry's Texas-style rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail is perhaps a little too Texas.

Speaking to reporters today, Perry responded by essentially saying he doesn't give a rip about what those Washington fat cats have to say about him. It was a move so slick that Perry could have scripted it.

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Rick Perry

Rick Perry: Illegal Immigrants Who Serve In The Military Deserve Citzenship

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 20, 2011, 2:32PM

Mexican President Vicente Fox and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

ROCK HILL, SC -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) spoke for a few minutes to reporters here about his views on immigration, which have gotten him into some hot water with the conservative base he hopes to woo as his presidential campaign spools up. What he offered up was a little something for everyone.

Perry said states should be responsible for their own immigration laws, also stating that the federal government must step up border enforcement. He also spelled out his support for a national program that would allow illegal immigrants who serve in the military to become citizens.

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Jon Huntsman

Huntsman: "I Wouldn't Necessarily Trust Any Of My Opponents Right Now" On The Economy

Kyle Leighton | August 20, 2011, 12:21PM

Jon Huntsman

Updated: August 21, 2011, 10:30AM

Call him crazy, but former Utah Gov. and former Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is doubling down on his criticism of climate change skepticism as "not a winning formula" for the GOP in 2012, while calling out his opponents in the Republican presidential primary on their willingness to let the US default on its debt.

In an interview on ABC's This Week on Sunday, Jake Tapper asked Huntsman about his shots at Tex. Gov. Rick Perry's contention that evolution is "a theory that's out there," but not a sure thing, nor is the idea of climate change. Last week Huntsman tweeted his take, "To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy."

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Rick Perry

Thumbs Up, Handshakes And Ignored Critics: Rick Perry Walks The Line

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 19, 2011, 6:18PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Over the weekend TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro was on the trail of Rick Perry as he stumped through South Carolina. The following observations of the Texas governor in action reveal much about the political force that's currently shaking up the 2012 campaign.

GREENVILLE, SC -- Remember that Texas presidential swagger? The super-sincere handshakes, the thumbs up everywhere, the short, broski-style answers and genuine charm?

Yeah, it's exactly how you remember it.

For about 30 minutes Friday evening, Texas Gov. Rick Perry walked among the good people on Main St. here, stopping to exchange a few words when his staffers pointed someone out he should meet and -- for one brief moment -- shaking hands and giving thumbs up to the staff of a hookah bar a couple blocks from City Hall. He also pet dogs. A lot of dogs. Perry likes dogs.

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2012 Presidential Primaries

Santorum: I'll Take Up Huntsman's 'Offer' -- He's Crazy To Believe In Global Warming (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 19, 2011, 4:33PM

On Thursday, Jon Huntsman tweeted a jab at fellow GOP primary candidate Rick Perry with the declaration: "To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy" -- a brave move for a Republican presidential candidate in the age of the Tea Party. In response, his fellow (and much more conservative) candidate Rick Santorum seems to be saying: Yup, you are crazy.

Santorum on Friday singled out Huntsman for accepting the scientific consensus on manmade activities being a significant contributor to global warming -- and did not talk at all about Huntsman's belief in evolution, despite his own long political history of questioning evolutionary science and advocating for the teaching of the "intelligent design" movement of creationism.

"Yeah well, I'll be the first one to take him up on his offer," Santorum told MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell. "You know, look, I've been very, very clear that the science just simply doesn't back up the issue of global warming.

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Rick Perry

Rick Perry: Obama Wants To Be Your 'Caretaker'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 19, 2011, 3:05PM

COLUMBIA, SC -- Speaking to a crowd of Republican Party officials and activists here Friday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry didn't mention his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination, but laid out the stakes for a general election contest he says will pit advocates of the nanny state against those who follow the nation's founding documents.

"The central issue of this election is going to be an administration who believes Washington must be our caretaker," Perry said, "and the people who want Washington to only care for their constitutional responsibilities."

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2012 Presidential Primaries

Romney Releases Web Video: 'Businesses Are Comprised Of People'

Eric Kleefeld | August 19, 2011, 1:44PM

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Updated: Aug 19, 2011, 2:53PM

Mitt Romney released a new web video on Friday, firing back at Democratic attacks on his "corporations are people, my friend" comment to a voter in Iowa last week, when he explained his opposition to raising taxes on businesses.

The video is entitled "Mitt on the Road: A Week in New Hampshire," and shows clips of Romney speaking at different locations around that key early primary state, and discussing the poor condition of the economy.

At just over the halfway mark, Romney declares: "Businesses are comprised of people. I'm talking about repair shops, and gas stations, and beauty salons, and restaurants. I'm talking about Apple computer, and Facebook, and Microsoft. I'm talking about businesses that employ people. It's really astonishing to me that the Obama folks would try and argue that businesses aren't people. What do they think they are? Little men from Mars? But when they tax business, they tax people."

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2012 Presidential Primaries

The Gaffes Of August - Bachmann's Big Week On The Stump

Eric Kleefeld | August 19, 2011, 12:03PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

It's been a big week for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and her insurgent presidential campaign. Her victory in the Iowa straw poll forced her fellow Minnesotan and once top-tier candidate, former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, right out of the race. But along the way, as could be expected of Bachmann and her boisterous rhetoric, there have been some other memorable moments.

On Thursday, the Tea Party maven told an interesting tale to a South Carolina audience, explaining her former career as a tax litigation attorney working for the federal government. "How many of you love the IRS? No! It's time to change it," she told the crowd. "I went to work in that system because the first rule of war is 'know your enemy.' So I went to the inside to learn how they work because I wanted to beat them."

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Michele Bachmann

Still Singing That Same Old Song: After Ames, Bachmann As Divisive As Ever

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 19, 2011, 6:05AM

Michele Bachmann

FLORENCE, SC -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is in a tough spot. On the one hand, polls are showing her unlikely presidential candidacy is catching on, at least in Iowa, and she needs to keep that momentum going by expanding her base of support among the various Republican groups here. On the other, Bachmann needs to keep stoking the tea party fire that's gotten her as far as it has.

Speaking to a small audience of true believers and curious visitors in the Palmetto State Thursday, Bachmann made it clear that she's putting her emphasis on the latter goal. In her stump speech, Bachmann offered up an unambiguous call for the dismantling of the federal Department of Education as well as the legislation that created it, which she called "unconstitutional." (She said she'd eliminate the EPA, too, a common refrain among Republicans these days.)

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2012 Presidential Primaries

Huntsman Dings Perry: 'Call Me Crazy' But I Believe In Evolution And Global Warming

Eric Kleefeld | August 18, 2011, 4:03PM

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman is often regarded as too moderate a Republican to qualify for the GOP's presidential nomination -- he does, after all, support civil unions for gay couples, and served in the Obama administration as Ambassador to China. And his latest comments might not help fix that: Slamming Rick Perry's denial of global warming and non-answer on evolution.

Thursday afternoon, Huntsman tweeted:

To be clear. I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.

Hmm. Huntsman is running for the Republican nomination for president, and just tweeted that comment. Maybe we can call him crazy.

Read more »

Rick Perry

Perry On Evolution: 'It's A Theory That's Out There' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 18, 2011, 3:28PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Rick Perry is sure about a lot of things. But the theory of evolution, or even how old the planet Earth is, are not on that list.

A woman who will probably not be supporting the Texas governor brought her young son along to a campaign event in New Hampshire on Thursday, and had the boy ask Perry his views about science. "How old do you think the earth is?" the boy asked. This was an apparent allusion to how fundamentalist Christians often insist that Earth -- and indeed, the whole universe -- is about 6,000 years old.

"How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don't have any idea," Perry responded. "I know it's pretty old. So it goes back a long, long ways. I'm not sure -- I'm not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely hold the earth is.

Perry then steered the conversation to some questions the boy's mother had been asking him, about evolution.

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2012 Presidential Primaries

Obama's Education Secretary Slams Perry's Texas: 'I Feel Very, Very Badly For The Children There'

Eric Kleefeld | August 18, 2011, 10:46AM

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is taking a rhetorical shot at one of President Obama's possible election opponents, slamming the education system in Gov. Rick Perry's home state of Texas.

"Far too few of their high school graduates are actually prepared to go on to college," Duncan said on Bloomberg Television. "I feel very, very badly for the children there."

"You have seen massive increases in class size," Duncan also added. "You've seen cutbacks in funding. It doesn't serve the children well. It doesn't serve the state well. It doesn't serve the state's economy well. And ultimately it hurts the country."

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Rick Perry

Ron Paul: Rick Perry 'Makes Me Look Like A Moderate'

Benjy Sarlin | August 18, 2011, 10:44AM

Ron Paul

Rick Perry's intimidating talk on Ben Bernanke may be too much even for Ron Paul, the patron saint of the anti-Fed GOP movement.

Paul mocked Perry's recent statement that Bernanke's polices may be "almost treasonous" on the campaign trail in New Hampshire Wednesday, referring to him only as "this other governor" and claiming he forgot his name.

"He realizes that talking about the Fed is good, too," Paul said, according to the LA Times. "But I'll tell you what, he makes me look like a moderate. I have never once said that Bernanke has committed treason."

Then the punchline: "But I have suggested very strongly that the Federal Reserve system and all the members have been counterfeiters for a long time."

2012

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) Leads Charge Against 'Extreme' Rick Perry

Benjy Sarlin | August 18, 2011, 6:00AM

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) is on a media blitz this week as part of his mission to sink Governor Rick Perry's candidacy, lending a Texan face to national Democrats' efforts.

"He's arrogant, he's full of himself, he just fits the stereotype that is sometimes misapplied to our state," Doggett told TPM in an interview. "We all are really proud to be Texans, but we're not proud of what he's done to our state."

Doggett urged voters to look at Perry's recent cuts to K-12 education as a model for how he would govern. After insisting that the legislature not dip into the state's rainy day fund or raise taxes to help make up a shortfall this year, the governor forced deep cuts to social services instead , including $4 billion in education funding.

Read more »

Barack Obama

Rove Group To Attack Obama For Using Same $1.1M Bus GOP Candidate Will Use

Ryan J. Reilly | August 17, 2011, 4:30PM

Karl Rove's American Crossroads group is planning to "make a star out of" the $1.1 million armored bus President Barack Obama is using to travel across the country by featuring it in attack ads ahead of the 2012 election.

Read more »

2012

Michele Bachmann Gets Another Super PAC

Benjy Sarlin | August 17, 2011, 3:28PM

Michele Bachmann

It's getting hard to keep track of all the unlimited money groups forming to support various presidential candidates. Rick Perry already has multiple competing ones. Now Michele Bachmann is getting a second one.

The group, Citizens for a Working America, will be chaired by Ken Blackwell, who held office as Ohio's Secretary of State and ran an unsuccessful campaign for governor. Bachmann adviser Ed Brookover will also be on board, according to The Fix, who first broke the news.

CWA joins another recently formed pro-Bachmann group, Keep Conservatives United, that's already announced plans to take on Perry directly.

Bachmann is one of three candidates with Super PAC support. In addition to Perry's trio, Romney supporters have already raised over $12 million through Restore Our Future.

Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich To Shore Up Primary Vote In Hawaii

Benjy Sarlin | August 17, 2011, 2:31PM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) with wife, Callista.

It's a critical month in the Republican primaries, as Rick Perry reshuffles the race, the Ames Straw Poll results set in, and candidates prepare for a brutal stretch of debates in September. So where will Newt Gingrich soon spend a three-day stretch campaigning?

That would be sunny Hawaii, where he's scheduled for a meeting with the Maui GOP on Saturday followed by a visit to an elementary school in Makawao on Sunday to teach about the founding fathers.

Politico wryly notes that while the trip is ostensibly for fundraising, it just happens to coincide with Newt and Callista Gingrich's wedding anniversary.

Newt isn't shipping out from Iowa or New Hampshire, either -- Politico notes that Gingrich will be in California on Friday to screen one of Newt Inc.'s movies.

Rick Perry

Rick Perry: Climate Scientists Manipulate Data For Grant Money (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2011, 1:55PM

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) reaffirmed his climate change denier status before a crowd in Bedford, N.H., Wednesday and accused the researchers behind climate change science of playing games with the numbers to land more research funding.

"I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized," Perry said. "I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects."

Read more »

2012

Report: Chris Christie Exploring Presidential Run

Benjy Sarlin | August 17, 2011, 12:49PM

Perhaps Rick Perry isn't the only late entrant into the Republican field. According to one report, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is considering a last-second bid as well.

According to reporter Jonathan Alter on Twitter, "sources say NJ Gov. Chris Christie is conducting focus groups in preparation for a possible run for president in 2012."

Christie has long denied any interest in a 2012 run. Of course, so did Perry, but the New Jersey governor's denials have been Shermanesque to the point of absurdity.

"Listen, I threatened to commit suicide. I did, I said, 'What can I do short of suicide to convince people I'm not running?'" Christie said in February. "Apparently, I actually have to commit suicide to convince people I'm not running."

But Christie has developed a strong following among grassroots and establishment Republicans alike with his combative style and many conservative commentators have openly pined for him to run. While it's late in the campaign, a lot of top Republican donors have yet to take sides, meaning there's still room to find donors. Or for donors to find Christie: a group of major GOP fundraisers led by Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone met with the governor last month to beg him to change his mind, according to Politico's Mike Allen, only to be rebuffed when the governor gave a firm "no" based on family and state commitments.

Update: CNN quoted an anonymous source close to Christie saying that the governor's thinking doesn't seem to have changed. Still no official denial.

Update II: A spokeswoman for Christie, Maria Comella, denied the focus groups report to First Read. "It's absolutely not true," she said.

Rick Perry

Rick Perry Cowboys His Response To Obama (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2011, 11:31AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Tuesday afternoon, President Obama sardonically "cut" Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) "some slack" after Perry's incendiary remarks about Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke and the military's respect for its current commander-in-chief.

On Wednesday, Perry responded with the kind of Texas swagger his supporters love, his critics hate and everyone should get used to hearing a lot more of as Perry's presidential campaign unfolds.

Read more »

Rick Perry

Rick Perry: Climate Change Is A Hoax Drummed Up By Scientists Looking To Make Money

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2011, 10:04AM

Rick Perry

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a conservative Republican, and as such he does not believe that climate change is caused by human activity. But Perry went one step further than most in the mainstream climate change denier community on the presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire Wednesday, stating flatly that scientists drum up phony climate change data to make a buck.

"A substantial number of scientists [have] manipulated data to keep the money rolling in," New Hampshire Union Leader editorial page editor Drew Cline quoted Perry saying on the stump in a tweet. Before that, Cline quoted Perry saying, "I do believe the issue of global warming has been politicized."

Read more »

Rick Perry

Rick Perry's RGA Replacement Says The Bernanke Quote Was A Bad Move

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2011, 9:58AM

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R)

Add Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell to the list of Republicans raising an eyebrow at Texas Gov. Rick Perry's (R) recent "almost treasonous" line about Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.

"Governor perry is a tough guy but a compassionate guy," McDonnell, who just took over as chair of the Republican Governors Association after Perry left to run for president, told MSNBC this morning. "I thought the remarks probably were something that could have been said differently."

Read more »

Herman Cain

Herman Cain: We Really Should Impeach Obama Over DOMA

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2011, 9:33AM

Herman Cain

Herman Cain, fresh off his fifth-place finish in the Ames Straw Poll, is embracing another one of the extreme positions that have turned him into such a polling success.

Politico reports Cain said Tuesday that impeaching Obama "would be a great thing to do" given Obama's clearly impeachable offenses like signing the health care reform bill into law and declaring the Defense Of Marriage Act unconstitutional. But, sadly, Cain said, the divided Congress stands in the way of removing Obama from office.

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2012

Obama On Perry: "I'll Cut Him Some Slack"

Thomas Lane | August 16, 2011, 7:33PM

President Barack Obama (D)

President Obama joined the chorus of people trashing Texas Governor Rick Perry's foot-in-mouth remarks, in a CNN interview Tuesday night.

At a Sunday campaign appearance in Iowa, Perry said one reason he was running for President was in order to to "make sure that every young man and woman who puts on the uniform of this nation respects highly the president of the United States."

Appearing on an episode of The Situation Room, program host Wolf Blitzer raised these comments to President Obama. The President replied:

Read more »

Paul Ryan

Wisconsin Dems: Please Run For President, Paul Ryan

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 16, 2011, 6:42PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

The rumor mill surged Tuesday with talk that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- last seen playing the bogeyman in numerous Medicare-themed Democratic campaign ads -- was preparing to throw his hat in the presidential ring.

Ryan's staff quickly tamped those rumors down -- just like they were tamped down by Ryan himself the last time this came up -- but not before the Wisconsin Democrats found a way to make a Medicare bogeyman out of Ryan yet again.

Read more »

2012

W's Revenge: Ex-Bushies Gang Up On Rick Perry

Benjy Sarlin | August 16, 2011, 4:23PM

Karl Rove

Rick Perry is facing a full-on assault from former Bush aides over his comments on Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, pushing a long-rumored rivalry between the two ex-governors' camps out into the open.

Acknowledging to TPM that "there is no love lost between the W camp and the Perry camp," one Bush veteran appealed for detente.

"I do not think it serves any purpose for any Bushy to fuel to fire or resentment," the person said. "The goal for us should be to defeat Obama not defeat ourselves.

Read more »

2012

Rick Perry Condemns Federal Farm Regulation -- That Doesn't Exist

Benjy Sarlin | August 16, 2011, 3:06PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Rick Perry pulled a Michele Bachmann on Tuesday, passionately condemning a policy that does not actually exist.

This time round it was over farming issues. "If you're a tractor driver, if you drive your tractor across a public road, you're gonna have to have a commercial driver's license. Now how idiotic is that?" perry told a Des Moines crowd. "What were they thinking?"

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Michele Bachmann

Don't Be Cruel: Bachmann Wishes 'Happy Birthday' To Elvis -- On Anniversary Of His Death

Eric Kleefeld | August 16, 2011, 2:19PM

Michele Bachmann is continuing her campaign theme of celebrating Americana -- even if the details are a bit more macabre than she intended.

"Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today," Bachmann said, kicking off a rally in Spartanburg, South Carolina, CNN reports.

"We played you a little bit of 'Promised Land' when we pulled up. You can't do better than Elvis Presley, and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started celebrating taking our country back to work."

In fact, Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935. Today's date, August 16, is the anniversary of his death in 1977 at age 42, likely caused by heart disease that was seriously exacerbated from prescription drug abuse.

The video is below the jump, courtesy of Politico:

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2012

Rick Perry Stands By 'Passionate' Rant Against 'Almost Treasonous' Bernanke

Benjy Sarlin | August 16, 2011, 11:03AM

Rick Perry

Rick Perry is standing by his remarks about Fed Chair Ben Bernanke's "ugly" reception in Texas should he enact "treasonous" expansionary monetary policies before the election.

"He is passionate about getting federal finances under control," Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan told the New York Times in an interview. "They shouldn't print more money, they should cut spending and move much more rapidly to a balanced budget."

Perry has come under fire, even from some fellow Republicans, for his intimidating talk against Bernanke.

"I know there's a lot of talk and what have you about if this guy prints more money between now and the election," Perry said in Iowa on Monday. "I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas." He added that it would be "almost treasonous" to print money ahead of the 2012 election to help boost the recovery.

But as his spokesman's affirmation suggests, there is political upside as well: a fight over the Fed could be difficult territory for the more Wall Street friendly Mitt Romney.

Mitt Romney

Perry's Fed Fight Dangerous Territory For Romney

Benjy Sarlin | August 16, 2011, 10:23AM

Mitt Romney

Rick Perry's tough words for Ben Bernanke Monday weren't just idle talk. By going after the Federal Reserve, he immediately brings to the forefront one of the few major policy distinctions between him and Mitt Romney.

A successful investor who is well-versed in monetary policy, Romney has been extremely wary about joining in on the Republican party's populist revolt against the Federal Reserve over the last two years. Perry, by contrast, is clearly all too happy to ride the anti-Fed tide, perhaps making a play for some of the Bernanke haters more naturally drawn to Ron Paul.

As recently as April of this year, well after Tea Partiers had taken to vilifying Bernanke as the face of the 2008 bailout, Romney defended the Fed Chair in an interview with CNBC's Larry Kudlow after being repeatedly pressed to criticize him for "depreciating the dollar."

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Rick Perry

Five Ways Rick Perry Changes The Primaries

Benjy Sarlin | August 16, 2011, 9:15AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

As we've seen from the brouhaha over Rick Perry's Bernanke-bashing, the Texas Governor has the potential to shake up the GOP primaries. Merely by stepping into the ring the "good looking rascal," as Bill Clinton called him, has changed the dynamic on a number of levels. Here are the top five.

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Karl Rove

Karl Rove Piles On Rick Perry: Bernanke Line 'Not A Presidential Statement'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 16, 2011, 8:52AM

Karl Rove

It's no secret that Team George W. Bush and Team Rick Perry are not exactly close. And with Perry flailing after he accused Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke of "almost treasonous" behavior, one of Team W's biggest names is taking the opportunity to twist the knife.

"You don't accuse the chairman of the federal reserve of being a traitor to his country. Of being guilty of treason," Karl Rove told Fox News Tuesday. "And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in texas. You know, that is not, again a presidential statement."

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2012

Pawlenty's Top NH Aide Joins Huntsman

Benjy Sarlin | August 15, 2011, 4:48PM

Jon Huntsman

Tim Pawlenty's exit leaves behind a whole campaign's worth of free agents ready to be scooped up by the remaining candidates. And the process is already beginning: according to the New Hampshire Union Leader, Pawlenty's NH state director, Sarah Crawford Stewart, is joining up with Jon Huntsman.

"Governor Huntsman is committed to winning the New Hampshire primary, and I look forward to helping him and his team do just that," Stewart told the paper. "I viewed Gov. Huntsman as somebody with exceptional governing experience. And I viewed him as someone who would be the strongest competitor against President Obama in a general election."

Huntsman has yet to make much of an impact in the race despite his impressive credentials as a former governor of Utah and ambassador to China.

Rick Perry

Rick Perry's 1st Campaign Video: Obama Caused The S&P Downgrade

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 15, 2011, 3:24PM

Rick Perry TV Ad "Rick Perry: Time to Get America Working Again"

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is kicking off his presidential campaign with a bit of creative spin on S&P's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating: turns out President Obama did it.

In his first and bio-heavy campaign video of his presidential campaign, Perry places the blame for the downgrade squarely on the shoulders of Obama. This comes despite the fact that S&P itself says the slew of congressional Republicans who were (at best) apathetic about default were responsible for the rating agency's controversial decision.

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Rick Perry

Bill Clinton Scoffs At Rick Perry's Platform: 'I Mean, This Is Crazy' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 15, 2011, 2:59PM

Former President Bill Clinton (D)

Former President Bill Clinton spoke Monday morning to the International Association of Fire Fighters conference in Manhattan, The New York Observer's PolitickerNY reports -- and he had some tough words for the newest entrant into the GOP race for president, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

"I got tickled by watching Governor Perry announce for governor, for president," Clinton said -- perhaps stumbling a bit in the wind-up of a joke. "He's a good looking rascal."

The former president elaborated: "And he's saying 'Oh, I'm going to Washington to make sure that the federal government stays as far away from you as possible -- while I ride on Air Force One and that Marine One helicopter and go to Camp David and travel around the world and have a good time.' I mean, this is crazy."

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Rick Perry

Rick Perry's Slightly New Groove On Social Security Secession

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 15, 2011, 1:31PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) holds a copy of his book

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) made a lot of hay last year with his contention that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and his suggestion that states should be allowed to abandon it for their own senior support systems before it's too late.

Less than a week after Perry announced his White House bid however, he's tempering that last idea a bit.

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Herman Cain

Cain: If I Get 5th Place In New Hampshire, 'We Will Be Ecstatic' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 15, 2011, 11:33AM

Herman Cain came in fifth place in the Iowa straw poll -- two positions back from third-place finisher Tim Pawlenty, who then quit the race. But not only is he sticking with it, Cain said during an appearance Monday morning on Fox News that he is excited about fifth place.

"Before I let you go, what's your next marker?" asked host Martha MacCallum. "You know, in terms of you looking forward, at what point do you decide, 'I'm in or out based on this date, or this victory, or this place?'"

"I will finish at number five in Iowa -- that's right where we want to be.," said Cain. "If we finish in the top five in New Hampshire, Martha, we will be ecstatic, because we're gonna put the same type of on the ground effort in New Hampshire that we did in Iowa, and we're also working South Carolina simultaneously.

"All right," MacCallum responded, "a determined Herman Cain."

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2012

Rick Perry's Vaccine Push Sparked Backlash From Left And Right Alike

Benjy Sarlin | August 14, 2011, 10:35PM

Rick Perry

Rick Perry's officially joined the cast of the 2012 Republican primary, which means it's time for national audiences to start reading up on his decade-plus tenure as Texas' longest serving governor. One word you're going to be hearing a lot about in the early running: Gardasil.

As in Gardasil, the vaccine developed several years ago to treat against HPV, a virus that can eventually lead to cervical cancer. An effort to introduce the drug into Texas schools turned into one of Perry's greatest defeats, an exceptional episode in that it pitted the governor, renowned for his ability to closely read his base, strongly against the religious right.

"He's pretty clearly a social conservative in the Michele Bachmann camp, but you just can't nail him down all of the time," Bob Stein, a professor of political science at Rice University, told TPM. "He will surprise you."

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Michele Bachmann

Bachmann: I Don't 'Judge' Gays, Everyone Has 'Dignity' And 'Honor'

David Taintor | August 14, 2011, 2:35PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Fresh off her win at the Iowa straw poll, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Sunday launched a media blitz on the morning talk shows.

For the most part, Bachmann stayed on message, calling for the repeal of "Obamacare" and reigning in government spending. But an interesting moment came when Meet The Press host David Gregory challenged Bachmann's position on homosexuality.

It's no secret Bachmann isn't the biggest fan of gays. But when Gregory played a clip of Bachmann saying homosexuality leads to "personal enslavement" and "bondage," she responded simply by saying "I am running for the presidency of the United States."

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Tim Pawlenty

Pawlenty Drops Out Of Presidential Race

David Taintor | August 14, 2011, 9:16AM

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

After finishing a distant third in the Ames straw poll, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) on Sunday told supporters on a conference call he's dropping out of the presidential race, the Associated Press reports.

"We needed to get some lift to continue on and have a pathway forward," Pawlenty said in an interview on This Week. "That didn't happen, so I'm announcing this morning on your show that I'm going to be ending my campaign for president."

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2012

It's Official: Rick Perry Announces Presidential Bid

Benjy Sarlin | August 13, 2011, 1:28PM

Rick Perry

Introduced as the "jobs governor," Rick Perry threw his hat into the presidential ring with an economy-focused speech at the RedState convention in South Carolina .

"It is time to get America working again," he said. "That's why, with the support of my family, and an unwavering belief in the goodness of America, I declare to you today my candidacy for President of the United States."

Perry played up his roots as the son of working class tenant farmers in West Texas, a biography that could help differentiate him from the ultra-wealthy Mitt Romney. He began his address in solemn and faithful fashion, asking for a moment of silence to pray for the Navy SEALS who were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last week.

From there he pivoted to a red-meat speech decrying President Obama's economic record, accusing him of trying to raise taxes to build up government and appointing pro-labor members to the NLRB. According to Perry, Obama "prolonged our national misery, not alleviated it."

"There is no taxpayer money that was not first earned by the sweat and toil of one our citizens," he said. "That's why we reject this president's unbridled fixation on taking more money out of the wallets and pocketbooks of American families and employers and giving it to a central government."

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Mitt Romney

Romney's 'Corporations Are People' Comments Prompt A Second Attack Ad

Thomas Lane | August 13, 2011, 11:14AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

The Democratic National Committee has put out a second ad slamming GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney for saying "Corporations are people, my friend," in response to a heckler on Thursday.

The moment those words were out of his mouth, it was just a matter of time till they made their way into an attack ad. The first was out in a matter of hours, and made creative use of the Barbara Streisand song, "People."

This new ad lacks Streisand's dulcet tones, but shows the type of 30 second-style attack ads we can expect if Romney winds up getting the Republican nomination. Opening with the comment, "Mitt Romney stands with the Tea Party," it then goes on to air the controversial comments before closing with the slogan, "Mitt Romney: Putting Corporations First."

The DNC is airing the ad in the Des Moines area from Saturday through mid-week.

Watch the video below the jump:

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2012

Romney's Fortune More Than $190 Million

Benjy Sarlin | August 12, 2011, 6:50PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney is worth between $190 million and $250 million, according to a financial disclosure report released on Friday.

As is common with politicians, Romney has put his holdings in a blind trust to prevent any conflict of interest. Brad Malt of the law firm Ropes & Gray handles his account, according to a Romney spokeswoman.

The updated numbers make clear that Romney, who made his fortune in finance, successfully weathered the 2008 crisis. He disclosed a similar range on his wealth during his last presidential run four years. The former Massachusetts governor spent $45 million of his own money during that campaign, but has elected to finance his 2012 effort with donor cash alone so far.

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Ames Straw Poll

Perry, Palin, and Polls: The GOP Primary's Wild Weekend

Benjy Sarlin | August 12, 2011, 5:16PM

Ames, Iowa. 2011. Ron Paul Supporters

Saturday is easily the most important day of the Republican primaries so far as the candidates face a major test in Iowa -- and a new challenger enters the arena.

The bulk of the field has been gathered in Iowa all week mingling with locals and noshing on corn dogs as crowds of national reporters follow their every move. The big show is Saturday afternoon as candidates make their final appeal for votes in the Ames Straw Poll, with the ballots closing at 4 PM.

Candidates are already planning all sorts of stunts to attract supporters. Rick Santorum is handing out free jelly. Tim Pawlenty invited Christian rockers Sonicflood. Herman Cain will sing gospel. All three will receive a visit from 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee, who will play bass at their booths.

The poll is totally unscientific, but a strong showing can give candidates a nice shot of positive press. And every candidate besides the state-leading Michele Bachmann is in desperate need of some help in that category. The only other heavyweight in the national polls, Mitt Romney, is not participating (although he's spent the last few days in Iowa). Tim Pawlenty is staking big money on Ames to jolt his lackluster campaign back to life and said on Friday that a flop would require him to "reassess" his approach. For some of the less establishment candidates, like Ron Paul and Herman Cain, a straw poll win could vault them back into the national conversation, much like Huckabee's second place finish helped draw new attention to his campaign and built momentum for his eventual upset victory in the state.

For the middle of the pack candidates, that boost is especially important given who isn't at Ames. That would be Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is expected to announce his presidential campaign in Charleston, South Carolina at a convention organized by right-wing site RedState.com. Perry's perfectly timed entrance threatens to squash contenders' straw poll gains by dominating the news cycle. If they don't break out soon, they could become buried as the race turns into a top-heavy war between frontrunners Bachmann, Romney, and Perry.

As if Perry's announcement isn't enough of a news suck, candidates in Iowa will also have to share headlines with Sarah Palin, who's in Ames. Although there's little evidence Palin is still seriously preparing for a presidential bid at this late stage in the game, she's still doing her best to convince her supporters not to rule her out. "There is still plenty of room in that field for a common-sense conservative," Palin told state fair-goers on Friday. "Watching the debate, not just last night, but watching this whole process over the past year, it has certainly shown me there's plenty of room for more people."

2012

David Axelrod Says He'll Fire Aides Who Call Romney 'Weird'

Benjy Sarlin | August 12, 2011, 11:11AM

Campaign aides who call Mitt Romney "weird" will be kicked off President Obama's re-election team, according to senior adviser David Axelrod.

The term appeared numerous times in a Politico article quoting a number of named and unnamed Democratic strategists on how they planned to attack Romney in a general election.

Appearing on MSNBC on Friday, Axelrod challenged the report's assertion that the aides quoted were connected to the campaign. "No one on my team believes that," he said, calling the article "garbage."

Asked whether he would fire an aide who used the term, he replied "I would. If someone used words like 'weird,' I would certainly do that."

Despite his protestations, Axelrod was quoted in the Politico article offering up some of the Romney campaign trail stories that were cited as evidence of how playing up Mitt's "weirdness" factor might work in a national race. He never used the word himself, however.

"When he makes jokes about being unemployed or a waitress pinching him on the butt, it does snap your head back, and you say, 'What's he talking about?'" he said in the piece.

Mitt Romney

Did Mitt Romney Raise Taxes Or 'Close Loopholes'?

Benjy Sarlin | August 12, 2011, 9:40AM

News that then-Governor Mitt Romney's office played up his predecessor's tax hikes to secure a better rating from Standard & Poor's may undercut his hardline anti-tax image. But the S&P story also revives a longstanding debate over Romney's own revenue raisers as governor, an issue that takes on greater significance than it did in 2008 thanks to the recent debt ceiling talks.

On Wednesday, Politico reported on a presentation Romney's office gave to S&P in 2004 touting the strength of the state's budget thanks in part to a 2002 tax increase that he opposed. The presentation also highlighted higher fees and newly closed loopholes that Romney championed himself. While Romney supporters have long argued these policies should not count as tax increases, critics have long insisted otherwise and the S&P story pushes the debate into the headlines once again.

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Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Gets Asked: 'As President, Would You Be Submissive To Your Husband?'

Eric Kleefeld | August 11, 2011, 11:09PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Debate host Byron York asked Michele Bachmann about her past quotes that she became a tax lawyer at her husband's insistence, citing Biblical passages that a wife should be "submissive" to her husband.

"As president, would you be submissive to your husband?" York asked -- prompting vociferous booing from the audience.

"Thank you for that question, Byron," Bachmann responded, to applause. "Marcus and I will be married for 33 years this September 10th. I'm in love with him, I'm so proud of him. And what submission means to us -- if that's what your question is -- is respect. I respect my husband...and he respects me as his wife. that's how operate our marriage. We respect each other, we love each other."

Bachmann then added that together, she and her husband had built a business, raised their children, and raised 23 foster children. "I'm very proud of him."

2012

GOP Fight Night: The Top Five Moments

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 11:06PM

Remember that nice friendly New Hampshire debate from June when the GOP's fresh-faced field candidates, still basking in fluffy magazine profiles, joined hands to sing songs of President Obama's failed stimulus? That wasn't this debate.

Instead the candidates mixed it up early and often, even lashing out at the moderators. We compiled the pugilistic highlights, from Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann's snowball fight to Newt Gingrich's war on FOX News, into a video. Read on for the nitty gritty details after that.

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Pres '12

Paul And Santorum Battle Over Iran

Eric Kleefeld | August 11, 2011, 10:52PM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Sparks flew between Ron Paul and Rick Santorum during Thursday night's Republican debate, over Paul's opposition to a hawkish foreign policy approach against Iran.

"Why wouldn't it be natural that they might want a nuclear weapon? Internationally they would be given more respect," said Paul. "Why should we write people off? We should at least talk to them - Reagan talked to the Soviets."

Paul added that during the Cold War that the Soviet Union and China had many nuclear weapons -- compared to Iran's current efforts to produce just one -- and represented genuine threats to the United States. But America did not go to war with those countries, instead maintaining diplomatic relations.

This prompted a fiery response from Rick Santorum, who boasted of how he had passed legislation to isolate Iran when he was in the Senate.

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Minnesota

Pawlenty vs. Bachmann On Abortion, Taxes: Who Was Right?

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 10:44PM

In a very fiery exchange, Tim Pawlenty and Michele Bachmann dueled over the ins and outs of Minnesota's 2005 budget standoff, wading into abortion politics along the way.

For non-Minnesotan observers, however, the debate was likely a blur. So here's a quick and dirty explainer. The big -- and most currently relevant -- compromise on Pawlenty's behalf was a 75-cent fee on cigarette packs, dubbed a tax by critics, in order to free up cash for K-12 education.

"I did agree to the cigarette fee," Pawlenty said in the debate. "I regretted that. The courts held it to be a fee. But nevertheless it was an increase in revenue."

But Bachmann charged, noting that she had been "very vocal against that tax, and I fought against that tax." However, she did in the end vote for the bill that contained it. So what happened?

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Mitt Romney

DNC Mocks Romney's 'Corporations Are People' Claim With Streisand-Scored Video

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 8:52PM

Well, that was quick. Several hours after Mitt Romney told an Iowa heckler that "corporations are people, my friend" the DNC is up with a video lampooning the quote. Featuring the smooth sounds of Barbara Streisand's "People," no less.

Restore Our Future

Watchdogs File Complaints Against Two More Pro-Romney 'Phantom Companies'

Susan Crabtree | August 11, 2011, 3:34PM

Mitt Romney

Two campaign-finance watchdogs want the Federal Election Commission and Department of Justice to crack down on the so-called phantom companies that are sprouting up apparently for the sole purpose of allowing anonymous million-dollar donations to the pro-Mitt Romney Restore Our Future Super PAC.

The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 have filed complaints with the FEC and DOJ calling for an investigation into the activities of two companies that appear to have been used to funnel funds to a Super PAC created by former Romney campaign staffers. The complaints come on the heels of a another the two groups filed against the first phantom company, W Spann LLC, was discovered to have masked the true identity of a $1 million mystery donor to Restore Our Future.

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2012

Michele Bachmann Gets A Super PAC

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 1:30PM

Michele Bachmann

Supporters of Michele Bachmann are launching an independent Super PAC to help elect her president, making her the third Republican candidate with the backing of an organization that can accept unlimited donations.

Founder Bob Harris told CNN on Thursday that the new organization Keep Conservatives United will run ads in Iowa playing up Bachmann's record in Congress while also lobbing attacks at Rick Perry, who is expected to enter the race soon.

"Bachmann has the guts to fight the Washington establishment and Rick Perry is just a spoiler," Harris told CNN. "I think his record is not what people think it is."

Super PACs are not allowed to coordinate with the candidates, but can accept unlimited donations, including from corporations. Mitt Romney supporters have raised over $12 million so far for the Super PAC Restore Our Future, which made headlines this month after one donor, former Bain Capital executive Ed Conard, contributed $1 million indirectly through a mysterious corporation that closed within months. Perry backers have already launched multiple competing Super PACs that are currently battling for his supporters' favor.

2012

Romney: 'Corporations Are People, My Friend' [VIDEO]

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 12:45PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Mitt Romney told an Iowa crowd on Thursday that the country should not raise taxes to shore up Medicare and Social Security because "corporations are people" too.

Responding to a question from an audience member as to why Social Security should be included in deficit talks when it doesn't add to the deficit, Romney drifted into a defense of corporate rights.

"Corporations are people, my friend," he said. "Of course they are."

After receiving jeers from the audience over the quote, he elaborated: "Everything corporations earn goes to people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings, my friend."

Romney went on to suggest raising the retirement age rather than increasing taxes on business in order to fix entitlement programs' shortfalls.

A video of the key quote below:

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Israel/Palestine

Gingrich: Cut Off U.N. Funding If They Recognize Palestinian State

Eric Kleefeld | August 11, 2011, 12:10PM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

In a new column published on Wednesday at Human Events, Newt Gingrich calls for the United States to respond strongly to the expected move by the Palestinians to seek statehood at the United Nations in September -- by threatening to cut off American funding to the U.N.

Gingrich writes:

The United States has the leverage to prevent this diplomatic disaster if the Obama Administration wants to use it: we are by far the largest donor to the U.N., financing roughly a quarter of its entire budget.

We should be willing to say that if the U.N. is going to circumvent negotiations and declare the territory of one of its own members an independent state, we aren't going to pay for it. We can keep our $7.6 billion a year.

We don't need to fund a corrupt institution to beat up on our allies.

Gingrich explains that back in 1989, the administration of President George H.W. Bush used the same approach with the U.N. to prevent the extension of statehood to the Palestinians.

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Polls

CNN Poll: The Only GOPer Who Beats Obama Is....Probably Not Running

Kyle Leighton | August 11, 2011, 11:30AM

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

New data from the latest national CNN poll out on Thursday shows that the distance between President Obama and his possible GOP opponents is tightening among the declared (Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney) and nearly declared (Tex. Gov. Rick Perry) GOP frontrunners. But it also showed that there was one Republican candidate in the poll who outpaced Obama in a matchup, 51 - 45. That candidate was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Just one problem...he's probably not running.

Other candidates did have a decent showing against Obama: the President was ahead of Romney only by a point, 48 - 47, and Perry was able to pull within five points, at 51 - 46, despite not even announcing or having a formal campaign yet. Even Bachmann, beginning to sag in the polls due to the entrance of Perry, was able to get close to the President at 51 - 45.

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2012

Mitt Romney Touted Tax Increase To S&P In '04 Presentation

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 9:57AM

Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney insisted that Republicans rule out any tax increases in negotiations to avoid a debt ceiling default, but as governor of Massachusetts they were a key selling point in his efforts to raise the state's S&P rating.

In a presentation from 2004 obtained by Politico's Ben Smith, the Romney administration touted a 2002 tax increase of over $1 billion approved by his predecessor as evidence the state was in good fiscal health. According to the 50-page presentation, Massachusetts "successfully managed revenue and expense positions" in 2002 and 2003 and "acted decisively to address the fiscal crisis."

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Debates

Iowa Showdown: Five Stories To Watch In Tonight's GOP Debate

Benjy Sarlin | August 11, 2011, 6:00AM

Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

You might say that 2012 really starts tonight. At 9pm Eastern time, the declared Republican presidential candidates take the stage at Iowa -- barely two days ahead of the Ames Straw Poll, which many consider the unofficial first round of the primary season.

Of course, this debate will also be interesting for who it doesn't have: Texas Governor Rick Perry. Today he made it official that he'll be declaring his candidacy on Saturday. His shadow is sure to loom large over tonight's proceedings.

TPM's livewire will keep you updated of the night's events as they happen. We'll also be posting blog posts, fuller articles, and video throughout the evening.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the debate itelf, here's TPM's advice on what to look for:

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2012

Despite Rhetoric, Bachmann Requested Stimulus, EPA Cash For District

Benjy Sarlin | August 10, 2011, 11:16AM

Michele Bachmann

For Michele Bachmann federal cash is absolutely disgusting -- and the portions are so small!

Despite repeatedly decrying the evils of federal spending, records obtained by the Huffington Post show Bachmann repeatedly requested money for her district even from agencies and programs she has vilified in her speeches. They include the stimulus program that she branded "fantasy economics" as well as the Environmental Protection Agency she's said should be renamed the "Job Killing Agency."

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Ames Straw Poll

No Favorites: Huckabee To Join Cain, Santorum, And Pawlenty At Ames

Benjy Sarlin | August 10, 2011, 9:26AM

Mike Huckabee

Not one to play favorites, Mike Huckabee will play bass for not only Herman Cain but Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty as well at the Ames Straw Poll this weekend.

The news takes some of the thunder out of Cain's earlier announcement that Huckabee would back him up while he sang gospel himself at the event. The former Arkansas governor won the state handily in 2008 and it was considered his to lose in 2012 if he had decided to run. He has yet to endorse any of the candidates.

Huckabee's daughter, Sarah Huckabee, is a top aide to Pawlenty and tweeted on Wednesday that her father would play bass with the bands Sonicflood and the Nadas, who are performing at Pawlenty's booth. As for his Santorum appearance, the Des Moines Register reports he'll play Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue."

2012

Huntsman's Big Endorsement: Jeb Bush Jr.

Benjy Sarlin | August 10, 2011, 9:17AM

Jeb Bush Jr.

Jon Huntsman is headed to Florida on Wednesday to accept an endorsement from Jeb Bush Jr. - son of the state's popular ex-governor Jeb Bush Sr. and a nephew of President George W. Bush.

Huntsman had teased the Florida visit as a "major announcement," sparking immediate speculation that Governor Bush, who has spoken highly of Huntsman in the past and is one of the party's most highly respected figures nationally, might declare his support. But the junior Bush is an established figure in the state as well and has helped lead efforts to bring Latino voters into the Republican fold.

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2012

Mike Huckabee To Jam With Herman Cain At Ames

Benjy Sarlin | August 9, 2011, 5:05PM

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa in 2008, will join Herman Cain at his Ames Straw Poll booth this weekend to lay down some bass grooves behind Cain's gospel vocals.

While not billed as a formal endorsement, Huckabee's appearance is a major boost to Cain, who has been counting on a strong performance at Ames to rocket him into the top tier of GOP contenders.

"I am honored to have the Governor join me on stage for this historic event," Cain, who like Huckabee is a Baptist minister, said in a statement. "We share many commonalities, including the deepness of our Christian faith and our love of music. I am humbled by his graciousness to share his musical gifts with me and I hope Iowa voters will enjoy the show."

Cain will also appear on Huckabee's FOX show the day after the straw poll.

2012

Tim Pawlenty Polls Behind Thad McCotter in MI

Benjy Sarlin | August 9, 2011, 4:25PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Tim Pawlenty

Tim Pawlenty's numbers haven't looked great anywhere in recent weeks, but the latest from PPP in little-polled Michigan peg him at fringe status, polling last behind candidates like Rep. Thad McCotter (R-MI).

According to PPP, Romney, who won the state in 2008's GOP primaries, currently leads the pack with 24%, followed by Michele Bachmann at 18%. Rick Perry stands at 14%, while Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich have 7% each. Ron Paul has 6%, followed closely by McCotter at 5%. Pawlenty is at a humble 4%.

McCotter is from Michigan so he has some home court advantage. But given the much higher profile campaign from Pawlenty, the results are surprisingly weak. As PPP puts it, "he gets the dubious distinction of being the first serious candidate to poll behind Thad McCotter anywhere."

Mitt Romney

Romney Irked By Democrats' Prepared Attacks

Benjy Sarlin | August 9, 2011, 10:31AM

President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Mitt Romney is condemning Democratic strategists for planning an array of attacks on his character in order to bring him down in a general election.

The former Massachusetts governor took particular exception with a quote from an unnamed Democrat in a Politico story on the strategy, who said that "Unless things change and Obama can run on accomplishments, he will have to kill Romney." The person's connection to the White House was left vague, however -- the article merely described them as "aligned" with the re-election campaign.

"It is disgraceful that President Obama's campaign has launched his re-election with the stated goal to 'kill' his opponent with an onslaught of negative and personal attacks," Romney said in a statement. "President Obama will say and do desperate things to hold onto power because he knows he has failed. Neither despicable threats, nor President Obama's billion dollar negative campaign, will put Americans back to work, save their homes, or restore their hopes. On November 6, 2012, this will change."

The article in question listed a number of vulnerabilities Democrats hoped to exploit, most of which have already been raised in the press in recent weeks: Romney's awkwardness on the campaign trail, his reputation for changing positions, and his professional background as a high-powered executive at Bain Capital.

2012

Rick Perry's Immigration Journey Could Haunt Presidential Race

Benjy Sarlin | August 9, 2011, 6:00AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

In August 2001, Governor Rick Perry stopped by Edinburg, Texas, to deliver a speech before a gathering of Mexican and United States officials on issue related to the border. Emphasizing the cultural and economic connections between the two nations, Perry called for new investment in infrastructure and an easing of restrictions on border traffic to further deepen ties. He also took a moment to tout a groundbreaking new law that allowed children of illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition at Texas universities.

"We must say to every Texas child learning in a Texas classroom, 'we don't care where you come from, but where you are going, and we are going to do everything we can to help you get there.'" he said. "And that vision must include the children of undocumented workers. That's why Texas took the national lead in allowing such deserving young minds to attend a Texas college at a resident rate. Those young minds are a part of a new generation of leaders, the doors of higher education must be open to them. The message is simple: educacion es el futuro, y si se puede."

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann: Obama Should Heed/Ignore S&P

Benjy Sarlin | August 8, 2011, 4:00PM

Michele Bachmann simultaneously chided the White House for paying too little and too much attention to Standard and Poor's downgrade of US debt on Monday.

"After a weekend of hiding out at Camp David, pretending that the Standard and Poor's ratings do not matter and hoping the markets wouldn't notice, the President discovered he was wrong on both counts," Bachmann said in a statement. "He came out just long enough today to again declare that raising taxes and cutting Medicare are his only solutions to our nation's economic crisis. He dismissed the downgrade of our country's credit rating, and argued that there's no more room for spending cuts in Washington."

Bachmann's criticisms are contradictory. While she clearly believes Obama is "wrong" to dismiss the downgrade, the ratings agency made it abundantly clear that the president's proposals to fix the problem -- entitlement reform and tax increases -- are exactly what is needed to strengthen America's credit rating.

According to S&P's own downgrade announcement,"We lowered our long-term rating on the U.S. because we believe that the prolonged controversy over raising the statutory debt ceiling and the related fiscal policy debate indicate that further near-term progress containing the growth in public spending, especially on entitlements, or on reaching an agreement on raising revenues is less likely than we previously assumed and will remain a contentious and fitful process."

Perhaps more than any other presidential candidate, Bachmann is on shaky ground tying herself to the S&P, since the agency also cited Republicans' threats not to raise the debt ceiling as a major cause for the downgrade. Bachmann took the position early in the debate that the debt ceiling should never be raised under any circumstances, meaning by S&P's account she contributed to the problem as much as any lawmaker in the country.

Rick Perry

Report: Rick Perry To Announce Presidential Run Saturday

Benjy Sarlin | August 8, 2011, 2:55PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

The wait is almost over. After weeks of hints and rumors, Texas Governor Rick Perry will reportedly announce a presidential run in South Carolina on Saturday.

According to Politico, the speech at a RedState convention may not mark his formal entrance into the race but will make clear his intentions. He'll head to New Hampshire later the same day for a house party with State Rep. Pamela Tucker. Perry's backers are reportedly trying to secure an early wave of donations in anticipation of his announcement in order to quickly establish his credibility.

The timing of Perry's speech undercuts the Ames Straw Poll, a crucial event for many of the Republican candidates that will occur the same day. With Perry not participating, the results will likely hold less weight and may quickly be overshadowed by coverage of the Texas governor's debut.

Iowa straw poll

Come To Ames -- For The 'Santorum Summer Dance Party'

Eric Kleefeld | August 8, 2011, 2:11PM

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Oh, Boy!

Rick Santorum is hoping to show Iowans a good time at the Ames Straw Poll: First with Santorum's homemade jelly -- and now, his campaign has announced, with musical entertainment from the late Buddy Holly's backup band the Crickets, plus the Big Bopper Jr.

Back in 1959, the 22-year old Buddy Holly and the 28-year old original Big Bopper, plus 17-year old Ritchie Valens, were killed in a plane crash -- in Iowa, during a Midwestern tour called the "Winter Dance Party."

As such, the name of the Santorum campaign event is the "Santorum Summer Dance Party."

"After three weeks of traveling across Iowa and meeting thousands of Iowans, we are excited to cap off our family trip with a day of fun in Ames," said Santorum in a press release. "We are all looking forward to eating, singing, and dancing along with the traditions that make summertime in Iowa the epitomizes the heart of the American experience."

Mitt Romney

Romney: 'No Controversy' In Bain Exec's $1 Million Donation

Benjy Sarlin | August 8, 2011, 12:49PM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

That $1 million donation routed through a mysterious corporation to a Super PAC devoted to electing Mitt Romney? No big deal, Romney told reporters in New Hampshire on Monday.

"I think he came out and discussed who he is," Romney said of the donor, who revealed himself to be former Bain Capital executive Ed Conard last week. He added that there's therefore "no controversy because he said, 'Hey, it's me, and I've given to Mitt many times before.'"

Read more »

Gay Marriage

Michele Bachmann Attends Anti-Gay Sermon in Iowa

August 8, 2011, 11:49AM

Michele Bachmann spoke at a church service in Iowa on Sunday that featured a separate sermon about "immoral" gays as well as a video presentation promoting gay conversion therapy.

"We inherently know that homosexual behavior is immoral and unnatural," Pastor Jeff Mullen told churchgoers during a half-hour presentation, according to NBC. Afterward he played a recorded testimonial from a man who claimed to have been cured of his homosexual urges through the power of prayer and is now married with an expecting wife "I am so happy God has given me natural affection for a woman," he says in the video.

Read more »

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann's Radical Reading List

Benjy Sarlin | August 8, 2011, 11:14AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Ryan Lizza's New Yorker piece on Michele Bachmann, which focuses on the Tea Party candidate's influences, is the current talk of the political world. The article delves deep into Bachmann's ideological roots, showcasing a number of books and films by her favorite far-right Christian thinkers. Here are a few of the highlights from Bachmann's reading list.

Read more »

Herman Cain

Cain't Win: Herman Cain Takes Weeklong Beating From Conservatives After Apologizing To Muslims

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 8, 2011, 5:55AM

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain

How important is warning about encroaching sharia to the modern conservative electorate? Judging by attacks Tea Party favorite Herman Cain has suffered since reaching out to American Muslims, pretty darn important.

Since shifting gears from his role as the campaign's pied-piper of sharia to the guy who may actually preach at a mosque someday soon, Cain has suffered the slings and arrows of his supporters and prominent voices on the anti-sharia right. He's also been lauded by some supporters, but it seems clear that, in aggregate, the new more tolerant Cain has not gone over well.

Read more »

2012

Mystery Romney Donor Revealed As Bain Executive

Benjy Sarlin | August 6, 2011, 3:09PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Mystery solved! The person who donated $1 million to a pro-Romney group through a barely existent company, W Spann LLC, has outed himself after campaign watchdogs demanded a federal investigation.

Ed Conard, a former executive at Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded, told Politico on Friday that he had funneled the money to Super PAC Restore Our Future on the advice of his lawyers.

"I am the individual who formed and funded W Spann LLC," he said in a statement. "I authorized W Spann LLC's contribution to Restore Our Future PAC. I did so after consulting prominent legal counsel regarding the transaction, and based on my understanding that the contribution would comply with applicable laws. To address questions raised by the media concerning the contribution, I will request that Restore Our Future PAC amend its public reports to disclose me as the donor associated with this contribution."

Watchdog groups like the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 asked federal and state officials to look into the matter, claiming that the use of shell companies to conceal contributors violated laws prohibiting donors from giving money indirectly through another person. Democratic officials, as well as presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, condemned the donation in recent days.

2012 Presidential Primaries

GOP 2012 Candidates Agree Obama Deserves The Blame For S&P Downgrade... But Disagree Over Why

Thomas Lane | August 6, 2011, 11:55AM

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

S&P's own explanation of their decision to downgrade the U.S credit rating spreads the blame around. Tellingly, It slams the GOP's intransigence over letting the Bush tax cuts expire. Overall, it paints a bleak picture of the whole political system.

However, for the GOP presidential candidates it's pretty clear where the blame really lies. You guessed it: with President Barack Obama.

Read more »

2012

DNC, Huntsman Condemn Shadowy $1 Million Pro-Romney Donation

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 6:05PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

A mysterious corporate donor to a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney has already drawn the full attention of campaign finance watchdogs, who suspect the barely-existent firm, W Spann LLC, was created to conceal the origins of a giant $1 million contribution. Now Romney's political opponents are taking notice as well.

Read more »

Iowa caucus

Bachmann Slams Obama Birthday Party: I'll Cancel My Barbecue If Stocks Crash

Eric Kleefeld | August 5, 2011, 5:31PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Michele Bachmann has joined the ranks of Republicans attacking President Obama for celebrating his birthday on Thursday, which coincided with the 512-point mega-drop in the Dow Jones stock index. And as Bachmann said, she would not "celebrate" the news as she accused Obama of doing -- she would have canceled the barbecue.

"The birthday present he got was huge drop of 512 points in the market and not only that, what was the president's response? He threw a barbecue last night at the White House to celebrate," Bachmann told an Iowa crowd, the Des Moines Register reports.

She added: "One thing I will guarantee you, President Bachmann will be canceling barbecues if we see the market go down and if we see the jobs report going down."

But wait a second: Wouldn't that sort of abrupt reduction in consumer spending result in layoffs of catering employees? That's not the kind of bold move that the ratings agencies are looking for.

Iowa caucus

Santorum Denounces 'Super-Right' Of 'Sexual Liberty,' And The 'Pursuit Of Pleasure'

Eric Kleefeld | August 5, 2011, 2:27PM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Rick Santorum is continuing his staunch opposition to gay rights -- warning that courts have created a "super-right" to sex, which overrides the constitutional right of religious freedom.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board, Santorum claimed that same-sex marriage was a threat to religious liberty, alleging for example that government could threaten the licenses of marriage counselors who don't treat gay couples.

"Religious liberty is now trumped because we have now created a super-right," said Santorum. "We have a right [in] the Constitution of religious liberty but now the courts have created a super-right that's above a right that's actually in the Constitution, and that's of sexual liberty. And I think that's a wrong, that's a destructive element."

Also, the paper reports: "Santorum says if 'pursuit of happiness' means 'pursuit of pleasure,' we won't be a country very long."

Jon Huntsman

Huntsman 2.0's Latest Body Blow: Is Mitt Romney A Manchurian Candidate?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2011, 2:24PM

Jon Huntsman and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Jon Huntsman's new groove is going on the attack. The one-time Mr. Nice Guy has been sticking it to Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney over health care, the debt ceiling, and that mysterious $1 million donation in the hopes of tearing down the Romney colossus.

On Friday, Team Huntsman floated a new line of attack: Romney may be too close to the Chinese for comfort.

Read more »

2012

Rick Perry's Lousy Grades On Par With Past Nominees

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 1:49PM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

Rick Perry's newly released college transcript may not look like much, but graded on a curve he's not doing so bad.

Per the Huffington Post, which obtained Perry's college records, he scored mediocre to lousy marks in a broad array of subjects:

While he later became a student leader, he had to get out of academic probation to do so. He rarely earned anything above a C in his courses -- earning a C in U.S. History, a D in Shakespeare, and a D in the principles of economics. Perry got a C in gym.

Perry also did poorly on classes within his animal science major. In fall semester 1970, he received a D in veterinary anatomy, a F in a second course on organic chemistry and a C in animal breeding. He did get an A in world military systems and "Improv. of Learning" -- his only two As while at A&M.

Taken in the broader context of presidential nominees, however, Perry looks much better. President Bush, Perry's predecessor in the Texas governors' mansion, was a famously "meh" student at Yale University and graduated with a 77 average. His highest grade was an 88 which he received in three classes. He only had one "D" however.

Read more »

2012

Republican Presidential Field Bashes Jobs Numbers

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 9:06AM

Investors fearing the worst after Thursday's sell-off greeted today's better-than-expected jobs numbers with relief. Republican presidential candidates? Not so much.

Read more »

2012

Rick Perry Recommits To Religious Right At Saturday Prayer-Fest

Benjy Sarlin | August 5, 2011, 6:05AM

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)

The wait is over! Rick Perry will host his much-buzzed about Christian prayer-fest "The Response" in Houston on Saturday, where participants will ask for divine help to overcome America's myriad problems.

"A historic crisis facing our nation and threatening our future demands a historic response from the church," Perry said in a video recorded to promote the event. "We must, as a people, return to the faith and hope of our fathers. The ancient paths of great men were blazed in prayer - the humility of the truly great men of history was revealed in their recognition of the power and might of Jesus to save all who call on His great name."

It's a far cry from the Perry of 2002, who was described in a Texas Monthly profile as reluctant to discuss his faith in public. Asked how his religion informed his politics, he replied: "I don't think it does, particularly."

Read more »

Campaign Finance

Watchdogs Demand Investigation Into 'Brazen' $1 Million Pro-Romney Donation

Benjy Sarlin | August 4, 2011, 3:08PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Watchdog groups are demanding that state and federal officials investigate a $1 million donation from a mysterious firm to an independent political group backing Mitt Romney's campaign in order to determine whether it violates federal campaign laws.

In a letter to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, the Public Campaign Action Fund claims that the giant contribution to Super PAC "Restore Our Future" from the firm W Spann LLC is out of bounds. As first reported by NBC's Michale Isikoff, records show the firm was incorporated in the state in March and then dissolved in July with little apparent activity besides its donation and virtually no publicly available information on its owners.

Read more »

Campaign Finance

Mysterious Firm Gives $1 Million To Pro-Romney Group, Closes Shop

Benjy Sarlin | August 4, 2011, 9:54AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

A firm with no apparent purpose or even clear address donated $1 million to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, before closing up shop.

The cash and its mysterious origins, first reported on by NBC's Michael Isikoff, raise significant questions about the limits of campaign money in the post-Citizens United era. Super PACs, which can accept unlimited corporate donations to run independent political ads, are required to disclose their donors. But the firm, W Spann LLC, which was formed in Delaware in March by a Boston lawyer and dissolved in July, is a private company and can thus conceal details of its backers and agenda.

Read more »

Iowa straw poll

Hmm...Pawlenty Pulls Ads For Straw Poll Home Stretch

Eric Kleefeld | August 3, 2011, 6:44PM

Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN)

Tim Pawlenty is now making an unusual move in the run-up to the politically crucial Iowa Straw Poll: Pulling his TV and radio ads for the 72 hours running up to the event next weekend, focusing instead on his on-the-ground turnout operation.

Politico reports that the Pawlenty campaign insists the redirection of funds is not because they might be short on cash, but is simply a matter of wanting to concentrate on their turnout operation. "It's such a small universe of people, we really want to focus on people we know are supporting us -- focus on turnout mode instead of name ID and recruitment," said campaign adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Pawlenty had previously reserved $200,000 in TV and radio ads for the Des Moines-Ames media market, which is now being diverted. By contrast, his fellow Minnesotan (and apparent Iowa frontrunner) Michele Bachmann just launched a whole new ad, boasting of her vote against the debt-ceiling increase -- and asking viewers to head to the straw poll in Ames.

Iowa straw poll

Santorum To Give Out Free Jelly At Ames

Eric Kleefeld | August 3, 2011, 3:34PM

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

Rick Santorum may not have raised a lot of money or attracted much support in the polls, but his campaign for the presidency will be trying a new tack for votes at the Ames Iowa Straw Poll: Some delicious homemade peach jam.

The Des Moines Register reports that Santorum told an Iowa audience on Tuesday that his family has fruit trees back home, and he and his children harvested peaches, peeled them, and made them into jelly. And now, they will be bringing 40 jars to Iowa.

"We are bringing them to the Straw Poll and we are going to give everybody a sample," said Santorum, dubbing the product "Pennsylvania Presidential Peach Preserves."

Don't count out this tactic completely. In the 1840 presidential election, one thing the opposition Whig Party did to cement its momentum from the economic depression was to mount a national effort of handing out hard cider at campaign events, tying it to the manufactured image of nominee William Henry Harrison as a rugged outdoorsman. Though come to think of it, 40 jars of peach jelly probably isn't as convincing as hard cider.

2012

Palin Rips Romney, Praises Bachmann On Debt Ceiling

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 10:05AM

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA)

Flirting with a kingmaker role, Sarah Palin bashed Mitt Romney and praised Michele Bachmann in an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday night.

"Bless his heart, I have respect for Mitt Romney, but I do not have respect for what he has done through this debt increase debate," she said. "He waited until it was a done deal that we would increase the debt ceiling and more money would be spent, more money would be borrowed and spent on bigger government, and then he came out and made a statement that he didn't like the deal after all. You can't defer an issue and assume that the problem is then going to be avoided."

Her words echoed similar attacks from Romney rival Jon Huntsman as well as Democratic strategists like Priorities USA's Bill Burton. Like Huntsman, she praised Bachmann for taking an early position on the debt ceiling (she was a firm "no" on any increase from the start).

"She spoke out and she cast her vote according to her principles, she stood true," she said.

Palin has shown little indication she'll enter the race, though she said in the interview she hasn't made up her mind yet. But her direct attack on Romney suggests that she might play a significant role from the outside. It's unclear if she still has the same influence she used to, however, even with her famously loyal base of followers. A heavily promoted pro-Palin film, Undefeated, proved a box office disaster this month even as Palin lent it her personal seal of approval.

2012

Believe It! Bachmann Unveils New Iowa Ad

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 9:14AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

It's all sun and smiles for Michele Bachmann's latest Iowa ad, except for the dialogue. Titled "Believe It," the spot features Bachmann discussing her vote against raising the debt ceiling and slamming her colleagues for "looting the treasury and bankrupting the nation." Like the rest of the presidential field, Bachmann is rallying her supporters for the crucial Ames Straw Poll on August 13, and the ad asks voters to come join her for the big day.

2012

Mitt's Magical Misery Tour: Romney's Top 5 Depressing Campaign Moments

Benjy Sarlin | August 3, 2011, 6:10AM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

Mitt Romney's jobs-focused message has proven effective thus far, helping him solidify his frontrunner position in the GOP primary while the other candidates are still caught up in the day-to-day chaos of the campaign. But it's also among the more depressing campaigns in recent memory, relying on a constant stream of hard-times imagery ranging from foreclosed homes to unemployed workers (metaphorically) lying down in the road waiting to be run over. The latest campaign video, on joblessness in Chicago, is even timed to kill the mood at President Obama's birthday party.

Is it a dark theme for dark times or just gratuitous misery? Either way, make sure you're far from any sharp objects or ledges before you look at the following lowlights.

Read more »

Iowa caucus

Santorum: Govt Pre-School Programs Want To 'Indoctrinate Your Children'

Eric Kleefeld | August 2, 2011, 6:13PM

Rick Santorum at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff Event

Rick Santorum fired a verbal salvo at early-education programs on Tuesday, telling an Iowa crowd that government pre-school programs are part of a hideous plot by the government to indoctrinate children.

"It is a parent's responsibility to educate their children. It is not the government's job. We have sort of lost focus here a little bit," said Santorum, the Des Moines Register reports.

"Of course, the government wants their hands on your children as fast as they can. That is why I opposed all these early starts and pre-early starts, and early-early starts. They want your children from the womb so they can indoctrinate your children as to what they want them to be. I am against that."

In order to shield his own family from indoctrination, Santorum and his wife have home-schooled their seven children through the eighth grade.

Read more »

Pres '12

Cain, Paul And Others Selling Campaign Gear Not Made In U.S.A.

Eric Kleefeld | August 2, 2011, 5:23PM

Presidential candidate Herman Cain (R)

Show us the invoices!

ABC News, which previously revealed that Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were selling campaign T-shirts and other gear made outside the United States, has now found two other campaigns selling not-made-in-the-U.S.A. merchandise: Herman Cain and Ron Paul.

"No, I wasn't aware it was made in Honduras," Cain said in response. "I was just aware it was Fruit of the Loom ... which is an American company."

Ron Paul did not know, either -- but unlike other candidates, he isn't apologetic about it. "I wasn't aware of it ... but I wouldn't change it," said Paul. "I would argue the case that the market should determine it."

Debt Ceiling

MA GOP Splits With Romney Over Debt Deal

Benjy Sarlin | August 2, 2011, 4:31PM

Mitt Romney Holds Campaign Event In Front Of Valley Plaza Mall in Los Angeles, July 20, 2011

It took a while, but Mitt Romney finally made up his mind and condemned the debt ceiling agreement on Monday, saying that it "opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table." His own state's Republican party, however, came down even harder on Democratic politicians who voted against it.

"Voting to send our country into default represents the height of irresponsibility, and these lawmakers owe their constituents an explanation for their incredibly reckless decision," Jennifer Nassour, chair of the Massachusetts GOP, said in a statement. "Massachusetts voters deserve more than blind ideology and a total refusal to compromise."

Read more »

Jon Huntsman

Huntsman On Awkward Bachmann Quote: I Was Trying To Compliment Her

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 2, 2011, 2:48PM

Jon Huntsman

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman raised a few eyebrows yesterday when he described Rep. Michele Bachmann's press coverage thusly:

"She makes for good copy--and good photography." The quote came in the middle of a massive feature about Huntsman and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney running in the latest issue of New York, and was part of a discussion about the media coverage Bachmann gets versus her potential to actually win the nomination.

On Fox News Tuesday, Huntsman said the quote was a compliment.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Robert Bork And Conservative Legal Philosophy Join The Romney Campaign

August 2, 2011, 1:32PM

The conservative beef with GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney is that he's too centrist. On issues like climate change and health care and social conservatism, Romney has issues convincing the right wing he's one of them.

Could wrapping himself up in some of the most conservative names from the legal sphere help change that image? We're about to find out.

Read more »

Paul Krugman

Huh? Newt Declares Obama 'A Paul Krugman Presidency'

Benjy Sarlin | August 2, 2011, 12:09PM

Newt Gingrich took to FOX News Monday night to compare President Obama to, of all people, Paul Krugman, one of the White House's fiercest critics.

"This is a Paul Krugman presidency," Gingrich told Bill O'Reilly. "[Obama] believes that stuff. He actually believes in left-wing economic ideas. The only problem with them is that they don't work."

It was an odd comparison, given that the New York Times columnist has staked out a position as Obama's ultimate nemesis on the left since the very earliest days of his administration.

"If only!" Krugman replied by e-mail, when asked about Newt's claim by TPM.

Krugman made the cover of Newsweek in Obama's very first year in office as part of a profile entitled "OBAMA IS WRONG: The Loyal Opposition of Paul Krugman." Politico's Mike Allen labeled him the "anti-Obama."

At the time of the Newsweek story, Krugman was arguing in his column that Obama's stimulus plan was too small to prevent massive, prolonged unemployment and that the White House had failed to get tough enough on big finance. Needless to say, the stalling recovery today and Obama's recent interest in negotiating multi-trillion dollar spending cuts hasn't led Krugman to change his tone. One recent post recast the president as "Barack Herbert Hoover Obama."

"This is truly a tragedy: the great progressive hope (well, I did warn people) is falling all over himself to endorse right-wing economic fallacies," he wrote.

Update: Krugman has a blog post up entitled "Bwahahahaha, Newt Edition."

"Yes, I'm secretly giving Barack marching orders, and only pretending to be deeply frustrated by his actions and rhetoric," he writes. "Incidentally, those 'left-wing economic ideas' are Economics 101; and try stacking up my economic predictions over the past few years against any of Gingrich's favorites."

This story has been updated.

Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Literally Phones It In For Iowa Campaign Event

Eric Kleefeld | August 1, 2011, 5:40PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Michele Bachmann has temporarily left the campaign trail, staying in Washington to vote against the debt ceiling deal -- but she's still finding time to talk to her pre-scheduled events in Iowa. What's more, she is even sticking with her vigorous physical campaigning motifs, though it might not translate as well over the phone.

The Des Moines Register reports that Bachmann addressed a rally in Iowa today, speaking to supporters over the phone and the event's P.A. system.

"Let me ask you this question," said Bachmann. "Do you want me to vote 'No' on raising the debt ceiling? Raise your hands."

Of the 30-person crowd, a majority slowly raised their hands -- though Bachmann could not see them.

Read more »

Jon Huntsman

Jon Huntsman: The Media Covers Michele Bachmann Because She's Pretty

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 1, 2011, 3:11PM

Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann

Since she entered the presidential contest, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has leaped up the polls and, wowed audiences, and dominated a nationally televised debate. She's taken a strong stand on the central political issue of the day -- the debt ceiling -- drawn a frontrunner's press attention.

Or, as Jon Huntsman puts it, she gets coverage because she's pretty.

Read more »

Mitt Romney

Romney Breaks Debt Ceiling Silence: 'Cannot Support This Deal'

Benjy Sarlin | August 1, 2011, 10:45AM

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney (MA)

After a week of attacks from left and right alike over his failure to take a position on the latest round of Republican debt ceiling proposals, Mitt Romney has made up his mind on the final deal: he's against it.

"As president, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced - not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table," he said in a statement. "President Obama's leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute. While I appreciate the extraordinarily difficult situation President Obama's lack of leadership has placed Republican Members of Congress in, I personally cannot support this deal."

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