Newt got his ass kicked, but he's not going down without blood spilled.

Brit Hume on Fox appeared exercised by Ron Paul's relatively strong showing. He said that he stands as much chance as winning the nomination as Ru Paul. He also criticized Newt Gingrich. I think Hume is concerned that Paul and Newt could dampen the Republican presidential election turnout or that Paul could make a 3rd party run resulting in Obama's reelction.

Absolutely.

Weird how a candidate that has the youth fired up (and for a Republican candidate) and won both the Catholic and Independent vote is considered the fringe candidate.

EDIT -

Well, Paul may never win Presidency, BUT even taking 2nd the media seems to skim over him. LOL I'm hearing Paul's speech right now and he sure sounds happy and IS going to continue on. Gingrich & Santorum can't be feeling too good right now, doing way worse the Paul. Then again, it was pretty much expected Romney would win NH.

I think the GOP would really fear an Independent run on Paul's part, though most don't think that will happen.


TIS

"Make a profit. That's what it's all about, right?" - Mitt Romney

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-10...hless-rich.html

Nate Silver:

And we kept hearing the Republicans talking about an enthusiasm gap on the Democrat side.

Man, I heard Romney, then Paul than Huntsman now we got Santorum/Gingrich. Will last place Perry speak as well?

I am guessing Perry will drop out but I don't get that impression from any of the others.


TIS

CNN reports a record turnout.

Although I don't remember numbers, I heard the same report RR posted listening to MSNBC. They said the turnout was half of what it was in 08.


TIS

Weren't they a tad optimistic? Anyway I'll up the numbers in the morning, after Fox News is done calling Paul a fluke.

John Huntsman's speech" "I say 3rd place is a "ticket to ride" ladies and gentlemen." He was very upbeat for 3rd place.




TIS

"The Iranians come back in and take over that country."
What is Rick Perry talking about? 1983-87 when Iran fought back the Saddam's troups?

Recently Romney kidnapped Rick Perry to ensure that Perry carried a proposal to the other Republicans. We now have a short transcript.

Perry: "Gingrich is going to come after you with everything he's got!"

Romney: "That will be his first move, sure. I want you to talk to them, Rick. Talk to all the other candidates, that weirdo Paul, my co-religionist Huntsman, wacky Santorum, even that fat Gingrich. Tell them nobody wants a war. The Republican elected officials won't allow it. And the PACS stand behind me with all of their money. It's 2012 for Christ's sake. I'm a businessman, Rick. Blood is a BIG expense. And now, you can go."

Talk about a Manchurian Candidate:

On the campaign trail, Santorum often touts his grandfather’s flight from Italy “to escape fascism,” but he has neglected to publicly mention their close ties with the Italian Communist Party. “Rick’s grandfather Pietro was a liberal man and he understood right away what was happening in Italy,” Mrs. Santorum told Oggi. “He was anti-fascist to the extreme, and the political climate in 1925 was stifling so he left for America. After a few years he returned to Italy with his wife and children, including Aldo, Rick’s father, who passed away late last year. It’s a shame he won’t have the joy to see his son’s success in his bid for the White House.” She goes on to explain how the family then became pillars of the Communist Party in Italy.

http://news.yahoo.com/santorum-communist-clan-113600418.html

Golden Shower's are over !

Considering that alleged Marines tape floating around, that sentence really came about from bad timing.

I haven't seen the source video for this, so maybe it was taken out of context like that (stupid) "I like to fire people" gaffe. But either way, how tone deaf this will be interpreted.

Romney: Income Inequality Should Only be Talked About in "Quiet Rooms"



http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/0...ms.html#045668a

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/01/romney-quiet-rooms.html

Mitt’s support: deeper than you think

By MICHAEL BARONE

To win just under 40 percent of the vote in a primary of six candidates is pretty impressive, even for a candidate like Mitt Romney, who started off with significant advantages in New Hampshire.

Yes, he is well-known there because he was governor of next-door Massachusetts, had run before and owns a house on Lake Winnipesaukee. But the exit poll indicates Romney held his own among independents, Tea Party supporters and late deciders.

He didn’t lose ground in the heat of the campaign, despite his ragged performance in Sunday’s debate and his Monday statement (instantly regretted if I read the videotape right) that “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.”

Romney easily exceeded the 25 percent ceiling that many critics perceived, and he’s running at least a bit above that in polls in the next primary states, South Carolina and Florida.

Reporters covering New Hampshire had a hard time getting a feel for why people supported Romney. Polling indicated that his voters were more firm in their support than backers for other candidates. But while Romney had no trouble filling the venues of his relatively few late campaign events, you didn’t encounter many Romney fans at other candidates’ events.

What you did encounter was many voters who said they were undecided and, in the last week, many who said they’d narrowed their choice down to Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum.

My sense is that these were tactical voters, waiting to see which candidate had momentum and gauging their mettle at campaign appearances. In relatively secular New Hampshire, they clearly broke more for Huntsman, who lived in the state and held more events there than anyone else, than for Santorum, who delighted in taking hostile questions on such issues as same-sex marriage, or Newt Gingrich, who alternated between events on such issues as brain science and attacks on Romney’s business career.

The exit poll makes it clear that Romney has connected with many self-described conservative and Tea Party Republicans. His standard speech includes encomiums of the Founding Fathers and quotations from the Declaration of Independence.

As best-seller lists testify, Americans in recent years have a growing interest in the Founders, and one Tea Party movement achievement is that voters are measuring candidates’ policies against the Founders’ principles.

All six candidates have obtained tickets to South Carolina, some first class and some wangled with the political equivalent of frequent-flier miles. Rick Perry flew into New Hampshire for the two debates at which he pitched his appeal to South Carolinians and then flew right back south.

Santorum got his ticket from his tied-for-first finish in Iowa. Gingrich, suspiciously specific about the contents of his supposedly independent super-PAC’s 27-minute anti-Romney film, also is headed down there.

Huntsman did well enough in New Hampshire to get the chance to make his case in South Carolina. Ron Paul, who finished second, was going to keep on keeping on no matter what.

South Carolina Republicans have a tradition of backing winners, going back to Strom Thurmond’s backing of Richard Nixon over Ronald Reagan at the 1968 national convention. In 1988, Thurmond protegé Lee Atwater engineered South Carolina’s early primary to help his candidate, George H.W. Bush.

Ever since, the state, which voted from 88 percent to 99 percent Democratic in Franklin Roosevelt’s days, has clinched the GOP nomination — and not for the candidates deemed most conservative: Bush in 1988 and 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 and John McCain in 2008.

Romney’s flight path to the nomination seems clear. But he’s going to have competition, which is good for him and for the Republican Party, and victory is not assured. He still must earn it.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/ope...K#ixzz1jGWVgs3L

Apparently, there is some buzz developing about Romney's Mexico family roots. What will that come to?

It shouldn't mean any more than his Mormon roots. Which is to say it shouldn't matter at all. But with certain xenophopic conservatives, it probably will.

Well, I'm getting concerned. A President maybe born in Kenya; Huntsman's affection for China; Santorum's allegience to the Pope; Romney's Mexico roots; and, last but not least, Paul is from Pittsburgh!

Well, if a guy with five daughters can overlook the fact that his Pittsburgh quarterback is a rapist because he won two Super Bowls, then voting for Paul isn't much of a stretch .

Be easy now.

You know I'm kidding .

Well, I've never been good at judging the intentions of people from Throggs Neck.

oli shoots and scores!!

"Go on encourage him. I want -- I want you to get me a drink -- go on."

It ain't Pop's birthday.