Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Wyoming Caucuses Tomorrow

Wyoming takes the spotlight tomorrow (Wednesday) in the GOP race for President.

Republican Delegate Count

Mitt Romney now has 165 delegates to the GOP National Convention.  1,144 delegates are needed to win.

Romney Scores a Win for Abortion

Good to see Republicans have come to their senses and are supporting the right to choose.


Mitt Romney has won both Michigan and Arizona, according to the most recent results.  With 93% of the vote in Michigan, Romney has 41% to 38%.  Ron Paul has gathered just 12% while Newt Gingrich is an afterthought with 7%.  Still, less than enthusiastic support for a guy who grew up there.


Romney routed Santorum in Arizona, 47 to 26 with Gingrich getting 16% and Paul 8%.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Obama Increases Lead to Double Digits

This new poll confirms everything I've been saying.  The GOP has no new ideas, no answers, and is in danger of becoming an afterthought.


A Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll released today shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney 53-43% and Rick Santorum 53-42%.  Both Republicans have more negative voters than the president.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Presidential Polls

President Obama currently leads Mitt Romney in a hypothetical matchup 49-44%.  This is bad news for Romney because the general election will always expose the negatives of a new candidate.  We already know all of the negatives for Obama and the negatives for a sitting president don't get worse.  


Worse news for Rick Santorum--Obama leads Santorum 50-44 before we find out the negatives about Santorum.

GDP Growth Rates Under U.S. Presidents

Democrats have occupied the White House in 27 of the 63 years since 1948. Average GDP growth in the country over those 26 years has been 4.01%. 

Republicans have occupied the White House in 36 of the 62 years since 1948. Average GDP growth over those 36 years has been 2.75%. 



Here are the GDP growth rates for each of the U.S. presidents since 1948.  What is particularly noteworthy is that current President Barack Obama in three years already has a larger growth rate than either Bush, even though the Great Recession hit before the younger Bush left office and affected the numbers in the early months of Obama's presidency more than in the Bush presidency.  So in effect, Obama absorbed the mess left behind and still shows better GDP numbers than George W. Bush did in eight years.  Very telling.


1948-1952 (Harry S. Truman, Democrat), +4.82%
1953-1960 (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Republican), +3%
1961-1964 (John F. Kennedy / Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrat), +4.65%
1965-1968 (Lyndon B. Johnson, Democrat), +5.05% 
1969-1972 (Richard Nixon, Republican), +3%
1973-1976 (Richard Nixon / Gerald Ford, Republican), +2.6% 
1977-1980 (Jimmy Carter, Democrat), +3.25% 
1981-1988 (Ronald Reagan, Republican), 3.4%
1989-1992 (George H. W. Bush, Republican), 2.17% 
1993-2000 (Bill Clinton, Democrat), 3.88% 
2001-2008 (George W. Bush, Republican), +2.09% 
2009 (Barack Obama, Democrat), +2.35%

Romney and Santorum in a Virtual Tie in Michigan

So once again Republicans are at a crossroads.


The Michigan primary is coming up Tuesday, a key state not only because of its size but because it was the childhood home of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.  A loss by Romney in Michigan would be the equivalent of a slap in the face and a vote of no confidence by Republicans.  It wouldn't be devastating, but it would be damaging.


But do the Republicans go with Santorum, who has virtually no support among the nation's independents, who basically decide elections?  If Santorum wins Michigan, it would be a continuation of the momentum he began to build a few weeks ago and would carry him into Super Tuesday on a high note.  If he wins Michigan and if he holds his own or wins on Super Tuesday, Santorum would all of a sudden be the guy to beat in the GOP.  Are Republicans OK with losing the race for president, losing the House of Representatives and getting close to a 60-Democrat Senate again?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Obama Leads All Challengers for 2012 Presidential Election

The nation has seen the alternatives and has made the decision that President Obama is the best choice to lead the country over the next four years, according to a new CNN Poll.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/15/cnn-poll-obama-approval-rating-back-to-50-mark/?hpt=hp_t1


Obama leads all of the Republican hopefuls in head-to-head matchups, and his approval rating is rising.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Romney Bounces Back for Maine Win

Last week, Republicans weren't too impressed with their front-runner, as Mitt Romney went 0-for-3. Apparently they aren't impressed with the challengers either as Romney won Maine Saturday, although the vote went much closer than he probably hoped.

Romney received 39% of the caucus vote to 36% for Ron Paul, a candidate who hasn't won a state in nine races so far. And Rick Santorum, who won the three contests last week, was barely a blip on the Maine radar.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Santorum Deals Romney Major Blow

The country may think that Mitt Romney is the best Republican in the field for President, but apparently Republicans don't.  Rick Santorum sent shock waves through the rest of the field and in the Republican ranks themselves by winning all three states yesterday.  In fact, the GOP is painting itself into a corner. 


Given Rick Santorum's three-state sweep on Tuesday, the GOP now has two choices:  1)  Choose Mitt Romney and have a shot at the White House or 2)  take someone else and guarantee a loss of not only the White House, but their majority in the House as well.


Santorum rocked Romney 55 to 25% in the Show-Me State of Missouri where Romney showed nothing.  Ron Paul received just 12% there.  Santorum earned 45% support in Minnesota to 27% for Paul and just 17% for Romney.  That's a progressive state where Romney should have done well.  Colorado gave Santorum 40% of the vote to 35% for Romney and just 13% for Gingrich.


Low turnout in all three states, however, signaled dissatisfaction among Republicans with all the candidates.  Again, that doesn't bode well for the November elections, and there's now just nine months before those.  What can they do to turn the tide?


First of all, realize the importance of a woman's Right to Choose and embrace Romney.  Abortion is wrong in nearly all instances but it is still a woman's right to do what is best for her own situation.  No one can pretend to know what is best for someone else.  Romney is Pro Choice and stands on the right side as far as the country is concerned.  Romney's health care plan in Massachusetts was a model for the rest of the country--in fact the plan that passed the Congress and was signed into law by President Obama patterned itself closely after Romney's plan.  


The longer the GOP tries to divide the country, the more it will be hurt.  We all know that Republicans are the party of the very rich.  The only way they have attracted votes in the last two decades is by promising voters that they will do this or that on moral issues when they have done absolutely nothing.  They haven't cleaned up television, the movies or rap songs.  In fact, Tipper Gore did more on the latter issue than anything Republicans have ever done.  They haven't stopped abortion.  They haven't stopped same-sex marriage or kept any of the other promises they have made.  


The reason?  They don't care anything about so-called moral issues; those are just red herrings the Republicans throw out there to get your votes, all the while making themselves more rich while you--the middle class and the poor, lose your jobs to overseas corporations, lose your houses because you can't afford through-the-roof gas prices brought on by the Iraq war, lose protection from unions at your job because Republicans have weakened them, and lose disposable income.  All so they can supposedly care about family values like marriage, sex and violence in the media, and abortion.  


So if the Republicans truly want to win in November, they'll nominate Romney--he is by far their best candidate and the only one that is going to help them avoid a disastrous defeat.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Romney Wins Nevada

Mitt Romney won the Nevada caucuses tonight, with 43% of the vote, still unable to get a majority.  Newt Gingrich received 25% support with Ron Paul getting 19% and Rick Santorum 12%.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Nasdaq Hits An 11-Year High, Dow Jones At Four-Year High

The NASDAQ Composite stock market index is now at an 11-year high, hitting 2905.66 today.  That's a long way back from the Dot.com crash and Great Recession low of 1,380 and the highest close since December of 2,000.  The index has risen more than 500 points just since August.  The NASDAQ hit an all-time high of 5,047 shortly after 2,000 but collapsed to 1,380 two years after George W. Bush took office as U.S. President. 

The Dow Jones achieved a high of 11,750 shortly before Bush took over and dipped to below 8,000 shortly after he left office eight years later.  Bush is the only president in U.S. history to actually have the stock market drop during his presidency.  Current President Barack Obama has presided over a stock market that has gained over 3,800 points in less than four years, a gain of over 40%.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average now sits at 12,862.23.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Romney Wins Florida

The count got closer as the night went on, but Mitt Romney still scored a double-digit win in Florida.


With 98% of the vote counted, Romney has 46% to 32% for Gingrich, 13% for Rick Santorum and 7% for Ron Paul.  Romney has yet to get the majority of the votes in any state.