Politics

A little pre-GOP debate politics roundup for this Thursday -with the national GOP contest focused on Florida this week, today’s edition is all about the pres race, starting with about 300 people earlier today for a Mitt Romney rally in Jacksonville, where the candidates will debate tonight:

http://bit.ly/Ax49z3

From Politico

“Resurgent Republic today (releases) the results of a new Florida survey among 500 Hispanic registered voters (conducted Jan. 16-19). The survey, conducted in conjunction with the Hispanic Leadership Network, finds that President Obama falls short of his 2008 performance by double digits. The survey also delves into President Obama’s standing on the economy, how Florida Hispanics view his leadership, and whether they believe President Obama’s policies have made things better or worse.  http://bit.ly/xo5I2O

National Journal: Mitt Romney’s Florida strategy

http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/romneys-florida-formula-return.php

From up nawth: The Boston Globe’s Brian Mooney reports Romney’s cash edge in Florida is dwindling: “It’s not just wealthy GOP donors that have Romney in an unexpectedly close contest. Two labor groups and a pro-Obama super PAC have poured in more than $1 million to attack Romney. The two-front assault has the onetime front-runner from Massachusetts fighting to stave off a devastating defeat in next week’s Florida primary. … Until now, the Romney campaign and an allied super PAC, Restore Our Future, had dominated the Florida airwaves, outspending the Gingrich campaign and its friendly super PAC by a more than 20-to-1 ratio dating back to December.” http://b.globe.com/xNVFEa

Politico’s Morning Score was pretty much all about Hispanic voters in Florida this morning

http://www.politico.com/morningscore/

To the moon, to the moon

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=6A563DF7-8BEA-4E22-8BDC-6347FB306836

But Rick Santorum isn’t over the moon about the idea

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/01/santorum-moon-base-idea-is-crass-politics-112383.html

National Journal: Where’s Rick Scott been this week?

http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/floridas-missing-governor.php

The Tampa Bay Times’ Adam Smith on RPOF winner-take-all rule and possible consequences

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/if-gop-fight-drags-on-so-could-argument-over-floridas-delegates/1212342

The Miami Herald’s Marc Caputo makes a case this morning that Mitt Romney has essentially already locked up the state’s primary.

Also, he notes Romney announced Wednesday that he’s advertising on Spanish language television — “a must to win the Republican vote in the largest, and most Hispanic Republican county in Florida, Miami-Dade. By contrast, his opponents have barely sent voters any mail.”

Read the Herald’s storyhere: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/11/2585175/romney-surge-could-spell-cakewalk.html#storylink=twt#storylink=cpy

Morning political read

There’s a new presidential poll out on the presidential race in Florida from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.

From National Journal’s Hotline On Call:

“Florida holds its primary ten days after South Carolina, and the NBC News-Marist poll shows that Cain and Romney are — at this moment — leading the rest of the field by a significant margin. Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, is at 32 percent, leading the former Massachusetts governor by just a point. Perry is back at eight percent, followed by Paul and Gingrich at six percent. Eleven percent of Sunshine State primary voters are undecided.

In Florida, which will award 29 electoral votes to its winner, Obama has just a two-point lead on Romney, 45 percent to 43 percent, among registered voters. He posts larger leads on Cain (six percent) and Perry (eight percent).”

The Marist poll was done Oct. 10-12 and surveyed 2,225 registered voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.1 percent.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/10/polls-cain-romn.php

ATWATER BACKING ROMNEY: The St. Petersburg Times’ Adam Smith reports this morning that Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater is supporting Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential primary.

“From his time working in business, Mitt Romney understands that our country can’t continue spending more than we take in,” Atwater said. “As governor of Massachusetts, he balanced the budget with a Democratic legislature and without raising taxes. He will offer the critical leadership our country needs in the White House. I am proud to support Mitt in his campaign.”

BUCHANAN PROBE AGAIN

An investigation into campaign fundraising for U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan won’t go away. Now, the Department of Justice is investigating whether the Sarasota Republican directed a former business partner at a Jacksonville car dealership to have workers make campaign contributions and then paid them back. Buchanan was just recently cleared by the Federal Election Commission, which looked into the same thing. Buchanan’s campaign said it is confident he will again be cleared.

AP: http://www2.tbo.com/news/politics/2011/oct/18/feds-investigate-vern-buchanan-campaign-contributi-ar-272923/

Bradenton Herald

http://www.bradenton.com/2011/10/18/3577267/feds-open-campaign-finance-investigation.html

Also

U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw is one of four congressmen who took a trip to Africa earlier this year that’s under scrutiny by Roll Call.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_44/Africa-Trip-Blurs-Lines-On-Travel-Propriety-209590-1.html?pos=htmbtxt

Debbie does deep South

Or more politely, how will DWS play in Mississippi

http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday announced Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has endorsed the former Massachusetts governor.

“Throughout his career, Adam’s leadership on difficult issues has served Floridians well,” Romney said in a statement put out by his campaign. “Adam’s support and counsel will be important in the upcoming election, as we work to defeat President Obama and restore the American economy.”

Putnam, elected agriculture commissioner last year, called Romney a “tested conservative and proven leader.” Before his election to the Cabinet, Putnam served five terms in Congress, where he rose to a top Republican leadership post as chairman of the House Republican Conference.

The next three House speakers are expected to announce today they’re supporting Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential primary. Romney is in Tallahassee today for a campaing appearance at a restaurant and meetings at the Capitol. Speaker-designate Will Weatherford, and the next two expedcted speakers, Chris Dorworth and Richard Corcoran, had all previously backed candidate Tim Pawlenty, who has now dropped out. Pawlenty’s Florida state chair Phil Handy announced earlier this week he’s supporting Romney. Politico cites a statement to be released later today by Romney: “They are the current and future leaders of the Republican Party in Florida.”

MORE ON PRIMARY DATE KERFUFFLE

POLITICO: PRIMARY CALENDAR TEED UP FOR ROMNEY: Politico’s Ben Smith looks at the half-dozen possible scenarios for how the primaries play out: “Rick Perry needs an early knockout win. A long, drawn-out primary slog favors Mitt Romney. The very blue Northeast could play a key role in determining the GOP presidential nominee…party leaders set the stage for an extended, complex presidential campaign that almost seems designed to play to Mitt Romney’s strengths and compensate for his weaknesses.” http://politi.co/orBSkJ

PAUL SENFT: IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE

Republican National Committeeman Paul Senft says it doesn’t make sense to “blow up the Presidential Primary calendar.” http://bit.ly/p4xTdy

REMEMBRANCES OF THOMAS DEWEY: And Al Cardenas warns about the possibility of a brokered convention:http://bit.ly/oflbBe

Also:

POLITICO: NEW LABOR-BACKED I.E. WILL TARGET 20-25 HISPANIC, UNION-HEAVY DISTRICTS: A new independent expenditure committee, called The American Worker, launches today. The group plans to target 20-25 congressional districts in 11 states, including high-density Latino districts in the Sunbelt (AZ, CA, CO, FL, NM, NV, TX) and high-density union districts around the Midwest (IL, OH, PA, WI). In partnership with local and international unions to elect pro-labor Democrats, leaders of The American Worker say they will spend as much as $1 million per race on advertising, polling, media, phones, mail, research, and new media. Chuck Rocha will be president of the IE. Causes the group will advertise on could include opposing outsourcing and promoting infrastructure spending. The group’s web site, built around a 4.5-minute welcome video from Rocha, makes clear they won’t be afraid to attack Republicans: http://bit.ly/n6uLdQ.

OBAMA PLANS FLA CASH TRIP: http://bit.ly/o8Atpu

WSJ: HISPANIC VOTE MAY SWING KEY STATES: This seems like an obvious statement, but the Wall Street Journal today has a reminder that there are lots of Hispanic voters in key states like Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. http://on.wsj.com/naolxG

PPP POLL: Democratic leaning pollster PPP says Romney ahead in Florida:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/09/28/romney_grabs_lead_in_florida.html

ALLEN WEST TALKS ABOUT A LOT OF STUFF IN THE PB POST:

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2011/09/allen-west-discusses-cain-bachmann-paul-perry-crist-floridas-primary-date-and-more/

REMEMBRANCES OF THOMAS DEWEY: And Al Cardenas warns about the possibility of a brokered convention:

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has a small lead over the Republican presidential field in Florida with 28 percent, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 22 percent, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows. Perry tops Romney 31 – 22 percent if Sarah Palin doesn’t run and leads Romney 46 – 38 percent in a two- man race.

There’s more here: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1297.xml?ReleaseID=1650

MONDAY MORNING POLITICAL READ

The look-ahead to Monday night’s GOP presidential primary debate in Tampa – and to the for-real Florida campaign:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/sns-ap-us-republicans-floridas-turn,0,6235684.story
The Wall Street Journal reports on how the focus for both Rick Perry and Mitt Romney is now shifting firmly to Florida. The cliché remains true: the state is the critical battleground in the presidential race. The Journal (subscription) story is here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903532804576564781995009022.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

And the Tampa Trib’s take:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/politics/2011/sep/11/florida-is-focus-of-gop-presidential-race-ar-256575/
Some highlights from the weekend:

Hopes are high for a perfect storm that will allow expanded gambling in Florida, the Miami Herald’s Mary Ellen Klas reports
http://ht.ly/6rgvO
Will Scott, lawmakers reject new federal jobs money?

Gov. Rick Scott and top legislative leaders like House Speaker Dean Cannon don’t like government spending, they’ve never been unclear about that. With President Obama last week unveiling a jobs plan that relies in part on new government spending for additional government projects to boost the economy, it’s no surprise that there are rumblings Florida may refuse to take some of that help. The AP considered that question this weekend.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110910/NEWS01/109100315/Fla-GOP-seems-scoff-jobs-plan?odyssey=nav|head
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll’s office has one less staffer after a woman who worked there went public with her perception that staff in the office have been “conspiring against” each other and that it was like a “juvenile school.” The woman, Carletha Cole, mentioned the problems in the office to the Florida Times-Union, which wrote a story. Cole is no longer in the office, according to a spokesman for Scott.

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/matt-dixon/2011-09-09/staffer-jennifer-carrolls-office-juvenile-school

Tracking presidential campaigns:
Romney will hold Fla. fundraiser in Miami Sept. 21 http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/09/mitt-romneys-bargain-four-seasons-lunch-2500-a-head.html
In congressional races, the Democratic in Florida’s 22 nd Congressional district between Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy gets a nod from Politico as one of five primaries to watch across the country. The two are competing to take on U.S. Rep. Allen West.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63196_Page2.html

Gov. Rick Scott ran an 8K for the “Wounded Warrior” project in Jacksonville over the weekend
http://twitpic.com/6jedo8
Lastly, the Right Stuff:
Republicans have been complaining for some time that President Obama is too much of an LBJ repeat. Now there’s proof we’re back to the mid-60s: NASA launched a moon shot this weekend.
http://nationaljournal.com/tech/nasa-launches-mission-to-the-moon-20110911

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