The Republican Field Takes Shape

This is what good citizens and political junkies are supposed to do:

We watch the Presidential race unfold like it's the NFL play-offs.

So there I sat in front of my TV dutifully watching the first Republican Presidential debate from the impressive Reagan library in Simi, California. There were the prospective candidates, all lined up under the wingspan of a life-sized Air Force One that loomed over the entire audience of enthusiastic Republican supporters.

Looking at the field, it's hard to believe that anyone but Mitt Romney could possibly be elected President. Last month's frontrunner Michelle Bachmann is a strange woman, a former IRS lawyer who raised five of her own kids and 23 foster children, all while dutifully obeying her husband who professionally counsels homosexuals to "pray away the gay."

Michelle is the Gaffe Queen, getting all mixed up about Elvis Presley, the Battle of Concord and lots of other things that don't matter but that she keeps talking about and getting wrong. Oh and she also says she can make gas cost $2 a gallon - just like that! Too nutty to be President.

Bachmann became the frontrunner right after the former frontrunner Donald Trump dropped out after admitting that President Obama "probably" is a native-born American. That and the TV sweeps rating period was over, and he didn't need the publicity anymore.

The new frontrunner is Texas Governor Rick Perry, who just positively hates Social Security and Medicare and says they are "failures" that should be "given back to the states." Rick just loves to execute criminals (the GOP audience loves it, too!) and thinks that U.S. Senators should be chosen by politicians from each state and not directly elected by the voters. Hmmmmm.

Perry the Republican nominee? Obama can't be this lucky.

One thing that all of the Republican candidates seem to agree on is that taxes should be RAISED on the working poor. I hear it over and over again. Every candidate says it's wrong that 47% of Americans don't pay any federal income taxes. Everyone should have "skin in the game" when it comes to paying income taxes, the GOP hopefuls all say.

But who are these people? They're the working poor. The people who cut our lawns. Serve our lunch and pump our gas. Butter the bagels and sweep the floors. Watch over our kids and care for old folks in nursing homes. This is the backbone of America.

How can it possibly be in the best interests of the nation to make these people pay MORE taxes? They're already paying a greater share of their income in federal payroll and state sales taxes than your average millionaire. Why would anyone want to raise their taxes? I just don't get it.

Since the Republican debate was held at the Reagan Library, I just wish that someone pointed out that it was Ronald Reagan who created the Earned Income Tax Credit that reduced income taxes for lower income workers. It's too bad that all of the GOP candidates who claim to be just like Reagan have such a different point of view when it comes to helping - or hurting - the working poor.

There's no question that tax policy will be a pivotal issue in the 2012 elections.

One party wants to raise taxes on the working poor. The other wants to raise taxes on the richest 2% of America. Let's see how this debate unfolds.

Vision Media Marketing Inc. ( http://vmmi.net/ ) was incorporated in 1985 by Jean Swibinski and Paul Swibinski, who continue to direct the company. A full-service public relations and media communications firm with a long history of successfully delivering clients' messages, it specializes in public policy issues and crisis communications. To visit Vision Media's blog, VMMI Policy Perspectives, go to http://vmmi.net/blog.

View article source

Republican Presidential Candidates 2012 Primaries - This Man or Woman Is Going To Win the Nomination

Many people will be watching the Republican presidential candidates 2012 primaries with heightened interest. Conservatives, moderates, and independents alike are disgusted with the policies of the Obama administration, and they are ready for someone else to take control of the presidency in 2013.

Many Americans are out of work. Many people are losing their homes to foreclosure because they can't refinance their mortgages. Many citizens are trapped in their residence because they owe more than the house is worth. If you are one of millions of Americans that have to move, and you are upside down on your home, you either have to short sell your home or walk away and let foreclosure occur. Americans are tired of the financial stress, and many people are waiting to see who runs against Obama in 2012.

These candidates have the best chance to win the nomination.

Rick Perry Odds

It appears that Rick Perry has an excellent chance to win the nomination for the Republicans. He is polling even better than many people expected before he entered the race. He has taken a commanding lead in the polls, and his lead has even grown since he first announced he was entering the race.

Perry's popularity stems from his strong jobs record in the state of Texas, his strong stance on conservative social issues, and his strong conservative background on other economic issues. He most closely represents the core values of many conservatives, so many people are rallying around him now.

Before Perry entered the race, Romney was the front-runner, but he did not energize the base. Rick Perry has energized the base more than any of the other candidates.

Rick Perry Odds for President 65%.

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann entered the campaign in the summer of 2011, and before Rick Perry entered the race, she was the darling of the Tea Party. She was seen by many people as the best alternative to Rick Perry, but she does not have any executive experience.

Bachmann lost a lot of her support to Rick Perry when he entered the race, and she has been fading in recent polls. She is still seen as one of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination, but she has a lot of ground to make up if she wants to run against Obama in 2012. The Republican presidential candidates 2012 primaries will determine if Bachmann has any chance to gain ground on Perry and Romney.

Michele Bachmann Odds for President 15%.

Mitt Romney

Romney is the leading candidate for the moderates in the Republican Party. He was leading the polls by a small margin before Bachmann entered the race, but his campaign is now in catch-up mode as they try to figure out what to do with Ricky Perry. He runs second in most respected polls today. Romney is going to have to convince the Republican base that he is better qualified than Rick Perry to lead the country back to economic prosperity. Romney's key to winning the nomination will have to come from moderates and independents who are still making up their mind on their vote for 2012.

Mitt Romney Odds for President 25%.

The Republican presidential candidates 2012 primaries will determine who wins the GOP nomination, and it appears that Governor Rick Perry has a huge lead in the race.

Discover what does Rick Perry believe!

Keep up with all the latest political news here!

View article source

Top Senate Republican joins push to stop earmarks - The Associated Press

Top Senate Republican joins push to stop earmarks(AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' most unapologetic fan of big-money politics is backing a ban on pork-barrel earmarks and avoiding an early battle with conservatives in his own party who had threatened to force a vote on the matter.

But the switch by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell may not have averted an effort to put senators on the record for or against earmarks. Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill, long an opponent of earmarks, said Tuesday she would join Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in trying to force a vote on extending the ban on the practice through 2013.

Such a vote would put senators of both parties on the spot. Asked whether she was concerned that Democrats would look out-of-touch if they tried to stand in the way, McCaskill replied, "Yes."

"I'm glad that Republican leadership is coming around to this idea," she said. "Now, it's my Democratic colleagues turn to get on board."

It was unclear whether they would.

The debate over earmarks, intensified by the midterm campaign season, gripped Congress virtually from the moment lawmakers returned this week to finish left-over business.

In his first remarks of the lame-duck session, McConnell long a defender of designating money for home-state projects, said he was heeding the message sent by voters so distrustful of government that they swept Democrats from power in the House. McConnell said the abuse of the earmarking system turned it into a symbol of government waste that Republicans do oppose.

"Old habits aren't easy to break," McConnell, the Senate minority leader, noted.

But he and other earmark proponents were under pressure to acknowledge the tea party-fueled public anger over government spending and "back-room deals" in Congress.

Just hours before McConnell spoke, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., promoted the ban on remarks to tea party activists at a Capitol rally, saying he was forcing a vote to see whether entrenched Senate veterans have "gotten the message."

On Tuesday, he complimented McConnell for changing his position, telling CBS's "The Early Show" that he's pleased McConnell listened not only to other GOP lawmakers but also to the voters.

DeMint called it a "culture change," which he said has long been overdue in Washington.

House Republicans already are moving to extend their moratorium on earmarks, and President Barack Obama has said he supports a crackdown on the practice.

"We can't stop with earmarks as they represent only part of the problem," Obama said in a statement. "I look forward to working with Democrats and Republicans to not only end earmark spending, but to find other ways to bring down our deficits for our children."

Earmarking is the longtime Washington practice in which lawmakers insert money for home-state projects like road and bridge work into spending bills. Critics say that peppering most spending bills with hundreds or even thousands of such projects creates a go-along-get-along mindset that ensures that Washington spending goes unchecked.

McConnell, a 26-year veteran of the Senate and longtime member of the Appropriations Committee, had argued in the past that banning earmarks would shift too much power to Obama and wouldn't save taxpayers any money.

"I know the good that has come from the projects I have helped support throughout my state. I don't apologize for them," he said.

McConnell's move also forestalls a possible fight with the House, where Speaker-to-be John Boehner, R-Ohio, poised to become the most powerful Republican in Washington, had put people on notice that there won't be any earmarks in spending bills.

The developments took Senate Democrats, who remain the majority party in the chamber, by surprise, and top Democrats said they stand by the practice. A spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, freshly re-elected after a campaign in which he boasted of his ability to bring home the bacon to Nevada, said Reid believes it's up to each senator to decide whether he or she will seek earmarks.

"From delivering $100 million in military projects for Nevada to funding education and public transportation projects in the state, Sen. Reid makes no apologies for delivering for the people of Nevada," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. "He will always fight to ensure the state's needs are met."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

View the original article here

New Republican Lawmakers Forced to Declare Loyalties Before Joining Congress - Fox News

WASHINGTON -- The midterm election may be over, but the in-fighting that dominated debate about the differences between Tea Party conservatives and establishment Republicans flared again Sunday as incoming lawmakers arrived in Washington for orientation.

Republican lawmakers-elect began entering town Sunday morning for courses meant to ease their transition from private citizen to public official. They are expected to attend GOP-hosted classes at the Capitol Hill Club designed to go over issues like ethics, House rules, blackberry usage and the bell-ringing system to call House votes, among other mundane functions.

House Republican Leader John Boehner, the presumptive speaker of the next House, welcomed newly elected congressional members with a letter commending them for the initiative to meet ahead of the lame-duck session that will pull the current Congress back to town this week.

"Your class colleagues will be a great source of support, inspiration and friendship in the months ahead as the new majority gets to work on the priorities of the American people," Boehner wrote. "I look forward to the honor of serving with you in the 112th Congress as we begin a new drive for smaller, less costly, more accountable government in Washington. See you Sunday night." 

But in the midst of their arrival, the new class found itself smack in the middle of a series of hostile exchanges by sponsors of other overlapping events, and the incoming group of 60 Republicans is unexpectedly finding its loyalties questioned by other influential parties. 

The Tea Party Patriots, which has the backing of FreedomWorks, the Leadership Institute and other organizations that helped bankroll and campaign for up-and-coming Tea Party candidates, late last week accused GOP leadership and its sponsor, the conservative Claremont Institute, of holding the Capitol Hill Club function to indoctrinate new members into Washington's unhealthy habits. 

TPP then inflamed lawmakers by publishing personal information of the new class. That came about after the TPP, which states it wants to prevent its revolutionaries from being co-opted by establishment Washington, wrote its membership urging them to contact the newly elected members and complain that the Tea Partiers were being manhandled by Beltway insiders. 

"We need you to call & e-mail these incoming Congressmen & tell them you want them to attend YOUR Tea Party Patriots event," reads the e-mail notice to TPP members. "Or would you rather they attend an indoctrination organized by DC insiders and lobbyists, members of The Ruling Class?"

That move angered Rep.-elect Bill Flores, who beat Chet Edwards for the Texas House seat. Flores called the Tea Party Patriots "disruptive" and said he was going to the Capitol Hill Club because it was important to meet fellow freshmen.

"The TPP's tactics were inappropriate -- the posting of our private cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses along with the trashing of the Claremont Foundation's reputation were not professional actions and they were disruptive to our individual efforts to have effective transitions into our elected offices," he said.

But the action also apparently alarmed sponsors of a "Constitutional Congress," hosted by three current lawmakers, retiring Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona and Sens. Tim Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of  South Carolina. They reportedly had planned their event as part of the Tea Party Patriots event, but separated themselves after learning of the conflict. 

To avoid the mess, some new members said they would try to hit all three events. That started when a group of freshmen turned up at the Constitutional Congress to hear Shadegg, a member of the class of 1994, discuss the mistakes those GOP revolutionaries made.

Waves of freshmen, including Reps.-elect Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Tom Graves of Georgia, Billy Long of Missouri and Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young of Indiana, also heard from DeMint, who urged the group to be more than "rhetorical gadflies" and to put their principles into legislation.

"We've got overlapping events, we have got a lot of demands on our time. I'm going to try to be at as much of everything as I can," said Rep.-elect Bill Johnson, R-Ohio., one of the first new lawmakers to arrive in town.

Rep.-elect David Schweikert of Arizona added that none of the organizers need to worry about the new class going astray from its fundamentals because the freshmen are "firebreathers" who are just trying to divvy up their time to be most effective.

"On some evenings there are four or five activities all going on at once. And you're doing your best to choose what fits what you need to learn," he said.

Schweikert, who has offered to abide by term limits and said he doesn't plan on doing the "cocktail game," added that none of the freshmen came to Washington with any interest in making friends with lobbyists. 

"One of the fun things, and my wife keeps commenting on this, is how many new best friends we've had since Election Day," Schweikert said. 

Rep.-elect Tim Walberg, R-Mich., one of several past members who lost their seat and then won re-election this year, said he's not going to attend any of the gatherings because he's technically not a freshman. 

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

As if office politics weren't enough to unsettle the recently elected, they soon could potentially witness the Republican Party go through another upheaval as Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis tries to unseat Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Anuzis, who made the announcement on Friday, released an e-mail on Sunday saying his decision to run against Steele -- as he did unsuccessfully in 2009 -- isn't about "firing someone, it's about hiring a new chairman to run the party under very different circumstances."

"I believe now, more than ever, we need a 'nuts and bolts' kind of chairman who will make sure the trains run on time and can raise the money necessary" to implement the best get-out-the-vote programs nationwide.

While several Republicans have suggested Steele be put out to pasture for gaffes and questionable financial decisions, the chairman has said GOP turnover this election and his work on the campaign trail make him worthy of another two-year term.

View the original article here

Obama and Democrats brace for possible Republican wave - USA Today

President Obama may be the latest Democratic president who has to survive a conservative "wave election."

"It's an election in which conservatives gain enough power in Congress -- even if they don't control it -- to block liberal legislation," said Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University. "They're usually some kind of response or backlash to a president who has put forth a big agenda."

If the polls are right, Obama -- whose presidency has included a landmark health care bill and a major stimulus package --is looking at the same fate that befell Democratic predecessors Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. (It should be noted that three of those presidents -- Roosevelt, Truman, and Clinton -- went on to win the next presidential election.)

A look at those previous conservative waves:

1938 -- Republicans and conservative Democrats increased their numbers, partly in reaction to Roosevelt's Supreme Court "packing" plan and New Deal initiatives, and in defiance of FDR's efforts to purge his party of conservatives. The Republicans picked up 81 House seats. The GOP remained very much in the minority in both the House and the Senate, but combined with conservative Democrats to basically end the New Deal, though Roosevelt's attention was turning to another major project: World War II.

1946 -- A year after Roosevelt's death and the end of World War II, war-weary voters in a bad economy turned against a Democratic Party that had ruled Washington since the 1932 election. The Republicans gained 55 seats in the next U.S. House and 13 in Senate, winning control of Congress. Two year later, however, President Harry Truman would run against the "Do Nothing" Republican Congress, and sweep to an upset election win over Thomas Dewey.

1966 -- Two years before, President Lyndon Johnson won a landslide that swept in huge Democratic majorities that produced such "Great Society" legislation as the Voting Rights Act and Medicare. In this election, however, the shadows of Vietnam, inflation, and race riots helped Republicans win 47 House seats. The Democrats still controlled Congress, but LBJ's ambitions faced new legislative roadblocks. One prominent Republican went across the country in 1966 campaigning for GOP candidates: Richard Nixon, who would be elected president in two years.

1978 -- A slow economy and ratification of the Panama Canal treaties gave Republicans an opening two years into Jimmy Carter's presidency. The Republicans gained 15 House seats and three Senate seats, with many new members from the South, previewing the GOP rise in the region. While Democrats still held Congress, these mid-terms also previewed Ronald Reagan's presidential election -- and a Republican takeover of the Senate -- in 1980.

1994 -- President Bill Clinton's early struggles led to a political earthquake. Under the leadership of Newt Gingrich, the Republicans gains 54 House seats, winning control of the chamber for the first time in four decades. The GOP also wins eight Senate seats to win that chamber. Clashes between Clinton and the conservative Congress led to a government shutdown, but also welfare reform and a balanced budget. Clinton played off the Gingrich Congress to cruise to re-election over Senate Republican leader Bob Dole in 1996.

Democrats have had their "wave" mid-term elections, such as the "Watergate class" of 1974. Their last wave came in 2006, as Democrats rode George W. Bush's unpopularity to re-capture control of the House and Senate -- and pave the way for Barack Obama's election two years later.

Now, Obama, with his health care plan, his stimulus bill, and other big initiatives, faces a counter-wave.

"The ingredients are there," Zelizer said.

(Posted by David Jackson)

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

View the original article here