Archive for the ‘Rick Santorum’ Category

Mitt Romney can’t catch a break. On the day after winning Illinois, his largest victory of the primary contest , he finds himself defending the Etch A Sketch gaffe of his communications director.

We tossed you the original CNN video earlier today. Here’s Newt Gingrich taking advantage of the same, also via CNN:

The former U.S. House speaker posed with an Etch A Sketch and said this:

“Given everybody’s fear of Governor Romney’s flip-flops, to have Romney’s communication director say publicly to all of us, if we’re dumb enough to nominate him, we should expect that by the acceptance speech, he’ll move back to the left, triggers everything people are worried about.

“You’ll notice that the picture’s not permanent. Nothing is locked down. You can re-do it anytime you want. And that’s the problem…

Rick Santorum had a similar reaction:

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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Continue reading Newt Gingrich jumps on the Mitt Romney campaign’s Etch A Sketch gaffe »

President Barack Obama is at parity in Georgia when matched with three of the four remaining GOP candidates, according to an automated poll conducted last night by 20/20 Insight for the progressive group Better Georgia.

Given the survey’s 3.5 MOE (773 registered – rather than likely — voters polled), any of these November general election match-ups would qualify as a toss-up:

– Mitt Romney, 46 percent; Obama, 45 percent;

– Newt Gingrich, 46 percent; Obama, 45 percent;

– Obama, 47 percent; Rick Santorum, 44 percent;

Click here to check all the top lines, methodology, and question content – all of which can have an impact on survey results. On other topics:

– Drug testing: 64 percent of those polled support drug-testing for those who receive welfare and unemployment benefits. But 83 percent support drug-testing of state elected officials and senior government appointees. Slightly less popular (68 percent) is drug-testing for CEOs and senior executives with corporations …

Continue reading Obama at parity with three GOP candidates in Georgia »

On Tuesday night, Rick Santorum dashed the GOP presidential aspirations of Newt Gingrich and complicated Mitt Romney’s slog toward the Tampa convention.

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gives a thumbs up during his election night partyon Tuesday in Lafayette, La. AP/Eric Gay

More than that, Santorum thwarted pollsters who had suggested a happy night for both the former U.S. House speaker and former Massachusetts governor. The culprit was a serious undercount of evangelical clout.

From Stefan Hankin and Campaign & Elections:

Two firms released polling in the days leading up to the primaries and both were badly off the mark. American Research Group (ARG) had Mitt Romney up in Mississippi at 34 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich at 32 percent and Rick Santorum at 22 percent. Public Policy Polling (PPP) had Gingrich in the lead at 33 percent, followed by Romney at 31 percent and Santorum in third at 27 percent.

…Looking at the PPP …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Polls miss evangelical surge in Mississippi, Alabama »

Last month, the Pew Research Center found that marriages crossing ethnic and racial lines continued to rise in the United States:

The share of new marriages between spouses of a different race or ethnicity increased to 15.1 % in 2010, and the share of all current marriages that are either interracial or interethnic has reached an all-time high of 8.4%.

For new marriages, that’s more than double the rate in 1980. It’s a phenomenon of the American West more than any other region, where 22 percent of all marriages between 2008 and 2010 crossed a cultural boundary, the Pew study declared.

On Monday, this regionalism was underlined — and not in a kind way – by a Public Policy Polling survey of likely GOP voters in the two states that hold their presidential primaries today:

Alabama’s pretty much on board with interracial marriage, with 67% of voters thinking it should be legal to 21% who think it should not be. There’s still some skepticism in Mississippi though — only 54% of …

Continue reading Swaths of GOP voters in Alabama, Mississippi still want ban on interracial marriages »

Three GOP presidential candidates are headed toward a photo finish in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries tomorrow. The candidate without a statistical shot at winning the “grits” contest is Ron Paul, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling:

In Mississippi Newt Gingrich is holding on to a slight lead with 33% to 31% for Mitt Romney, 27% for Rick Santorum, and 7% for Ron Paul. And Alabama is even closer with Romney at 31% to 30% for Gingrich, 29% for Santorum, and 8% for Paul.

…The reason Romney has a chance to win despite being less popular in both states is the split in the conservative vote.

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A new Washington Post survey this morning says the price of gasoline is having its effect on President Barack Obama re-election bid:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation at the pump, where rising prices have already hit hard. Just 26 percent approve of his work on the issue, his lowest rating in the poll. …

Continue reading Gingrich, Santorum, Romney in photo finish to ‘grits’ contest in Alabama, Mississippi »

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and his wife Callista, left, at a rally in Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday. Josh Haner/The New York Times

After he skewered a doubting news media and a hostile GOP “establishment” on Tuesday night, a crusty — yet cheerful — Newt Gingrich concluded his victory in the Georgia presidential primary with a vow to carry his fight into Kansas, Alabama and Mississippi.

By the time the sun had come up on Wednesday, Kansas — which holds caucuses on Saturday — had been dropped from the Gingrich itinerary. And campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond acknowledged that the former U.S. House speaker had been reduced to a Deep South strategy.

Gingrich’s hopes of keeping his presidential ambitions on this side of reality now rely on his ability to cut a swath of victories from South Carolina to Texas. Somewhat like General Sherman in reverse — except that Sherman didn’t finish third in …

Continue reading Newt Gingrich reduced to a Deep South strategy »

Over at the Washington Post, Chris Cillizza has a worth-reading take on whether Newt Gingrich should withdraw from the GOP presidential contest. He says no – not yet:

If Gingrich can win in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana — and, to be clear, that’s a big “if” — he will have stockpiled enough delegates in the most reliably Republican region in the country to give himself a bit of bargaining power with the eventual nominee.

…If he holds out and can score wins in the deep South over the next three weeks — not entirely out of the question — then Gingrich is in a position to cut a deal with Romney who will be looking for ways to consolidate support and close out the nomination by then.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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Continue reading A reason for Newt Gingrich to stay in the race »

Over at Fenuxe, a new website aimed at gays and lesbians, Ryan Lee is pushing a last-minute plan to monkey with the GOP presidential primary in Georgia:

Instead of requesting a Democratic primary ballot to vote for an unopposed Barack Obama, LGBT voters in Georgia ought to pull a Republican ballot on Tuesday in order to vote for one of the most enthusiastically bigoted politicians of our generation: Rick Santorum.

And just over an hour ago, state Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, sent out this Tweet:

Just voted in Candler Park; twice as many R ballots had been cast vs. D ones. #santorum will win here. #carefulwhatyouwishfor #gapol

The object, of course, is to boost the candidacy of a fellow whom Democrats think would do badly in November. And Georgia’s presidential primary is an open one. But these things rarely work without the cooperation of the candidate himself – as happened in the Michigan primary, when Santorum began soliciting Democratic, blue-collar votes.

In fact, …

Continue reading Your morning jolt: Gay website encourages votes for Rick Santorum in Ga. primary »

Updated at 4:30 p.m.: Yet another poll of the presidential primary in Georgia, again showing Newt Gingrich in the upper-40 percentile, has just been dropped by CNN/ORC International.

The poll also shows, like two others today, Santorum dangerously under 20 percent — the amount needed Tuesday for a share of 34 at-large Georgia delegates. The CNN top lines:

– Gingrich, 47 percent;

– Mitt Romney, 24 percent;

– Santorum, 15 percent;

– and Ron Paul, 9 percent.

More interesting is the portion of the CNN poll that looks at a general election contest with President Barack Obama. Asked whether they would vote for the Republican nominee or the incumbent Democrat in November, 1,775 registered Georgia voters were split, 48 to 48 percent.

Updated at 12:15 p.m.: In the wee hours this morning, following on the heels of a weekend AJC poll, Public Policy Polling of North Carolina came out with yet another survey that shows GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich creeping toward the 50 percent …

Continue reading CNN/ORC poll: Barack Obama tied with GOP nominee in Ga. »

The first robo-call of the GOP presidential race arrived at the west Cobb County homestead this afternoon.

Notably, it was a personal message from Rick Santorum, challenging – not Newt Gingrich – but Mitt Romney. Santorum and Romney, according to the latest AJC polling, are locked in a tight race for second place in Tuesday’s vote.

This is why Romney was in Snellville this afternoon.

In his phone message, Santorum accused Romney of writing personal checks to Planned Parenthood – something we hadn’t heard in the GOP discourse so far. Said Santorum:

”….Two-thirds of Governor Romney’s contributions come from people who give the maximum amount. Two-thirds of my donations come from people who give under $100. My campaign doesn’t have the money that the Romney campaign does. We have something else that Mitt Romney will never have. That’s the support of hard-working families, a conservative track record, and a vision to change this country.

“You see, while …

Continue reading Robo-call war begins: Rick Santorum says Mitt Romney wrote ‘personal checks, funding Planned Parenthood’ »