It would be a fun primary season anyway.
"Romney's campaign raises up to $20m
WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney is planning to report that he has raised between $15 million and $20 million during a key fund-raising quarter that ended yesterday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It is a haul that will almost certainly exceed that of all of his Republican rivals, but....
The lower take shows that Republican donors are not giving as much, either because they are unenthusiastic about the field - and its national front-runner - or because the economic downturn is hindering fund-raising....
When the wealthy donors and corporations are the only ones who recovered?
Romney campaign officials in recent days had declined requests from the Globe to detail his fund-raising figures, but released the range on-the-record to the Journal.
That must have annoyed the Globe.
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"Romney camp moved London fundraiser out of Huntsman supporter’s home
WASHINGTON -- The Mitt Romney campaign thought they had the perfect place staked out for their fundraiser in London next week: an elegant home that once belonged to famed American portrait artist John Singer Sargent.
The home now belongs to wealthy financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and his wife, Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a well-connected American lawyer and entrepreneur.
But one major problem got in the way: the Lady joined up with one of Romney’s rivals, Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. She hosted a dinner for him last week at another one of her homes, in New York, and says they raised $1.2 million.
“He’s the real deal,” Forester said of Huntsman in an interview. “He is a genuine fiscal conservative. He’s not doctrinaire. He sticks to what he believes in. He’s just a pragmatic, non-ideological, let’s-roll-up-our-sleeves-and-get-it-done kind of American. I really think he’s fabulous.”
Related: Hunting For a Candidate in the Boston Globe
He's not it.
She said she agreed to allow the campaign to use her home several months ago, mostly as a personal favor to Woody Johnson, who is the owner of the New York Jets and one of Romney’s major fundraisers.
But Forester said she made clear that, while they could use her home, she would not make the maximum $2,500 contribution and she would not be supporting Romney.
“He’s made too many Faustian bargains and we need somebody who stands up for what they believe. I think Obama would roll him.”
Forester was once a prominent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2008, but then drew attention when she later supported Senator John McCain against Obama....
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"Romney under fire; Conservative groups launch campaigns to derail Romney's prominence in GOP primary" July 02, 2011|By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
Three conservative groups within the Republican Party and a conservative radio talk-show host are raising alarms about the former Massachusetts governor, trying to knock him off a pedestal he has built through a campaign network, fund-raising base, and name recognition that exceeds any of his current rivals.
The strongly divergent views of Romney illustrate some of the fissures within the GOP - between the party establishment and the newer Tea Party movement - and they threaten to divide the party in a way that could have larger ramifications. Some are already worried that there would be a third-party candidacy if Romney wins the nomination. The developments demonstrate both why Romney is such a shaky front-runner and why there is still a yearning within some Republican quarters for candidates who might have a better shot at uniting the party to enter the race....
And that would be RON PAUL except for the fact that he is persona non grata to the establishment.
Also see:
Susan B. Anthony Was an Anti-Abortionist
Romney's Remark
For candidates, position pledges can pose unexpected perils
"Right now [our focus] is making sure that Romney, who's very clearly a RINO, doesn't walk away with the nomination," said Joe Miller, a former US Senate candidate from Alaska, using the acronym for Republican In Name Only. "We're trying to save the country. And with Romney at the helm, it's not going to get saved. Romney is just going to be a disaster for this country."
Both war parties have been.
*****************
Michael Graham, a conservative talk radio personality at Boston-based 96.9-FM who several months ago started a website called AnyoneButMitt.com, said that if Romney were the nominee, a third-party candidate would emerge, which could split the conservative vote and make an easier path for President Obama's reelection.
Related: Optimistic Obama: "I Got Five-And-A-Half Years More To Go"
So the fix is in, 'eh?
Others who have had it out with Romney include the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, which is highly influential in Republican politics and has written that Romney might as well be Obama's running mate, given his position on health care.
The fact is you could interchange the tickets and it really wouldn't make a difference.
The antitax Club for Growth has written a blistering summary of Romney's fiscal positions, saying "he has developed an unshakeable reputation as a flip-flopper."
That's a death knell of a charge to a candidacy after what happened to Kerry in 2004.
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So just who could the Republicans choose then?
"Ron Paul collects $4.5m in second quarter
EATON, N.H. -- Texas Representative Ron Paul, a Republican presidential candidate, raised more than $4.5 million in the current fund-raising quarter, his spokesman Brian Early said yesterday.
That is significantly more than the $3 million that Paul had raised at this time during the 2008 election cycle.
So Romney's take was lower than last time but Paul's was UP in during this time of economic downturn?
Paul attributes the growing interest in his campaign to a “dramatic difference” in attitudes between 2007 and today, thanks to the economic crisis and public unease about government bailouts of banks and corporations. Paul said in an interview that he believes his message of spending less money overseas and reexamining monetary policy is drawing more attention.
And it is not because of newspaper coverage, I can tell you that.
“I keep campaigning on what I’ve been campaigning on for 30 years,” Paul said. “Now that there’s a shift in attitude, a country that’s getting in worse shape by the day, all of a sudden the message becomes very appropriate.”
Paul spent the day visiting businesses in Carroll County and the Lakes Region. He stopped in rural Eaton and in Freedom. Paul is hoping for a better showing than he had in the 2008 New Hampshire primary, when he came in fifth.
Oh, I think he'll show better; the only question is how badly the machines will screw him.
A 75-year-old obstetrician and 12-term congressman, Paul has amassed a passionate following as a libertarian icon.
As if his supporters were some sort of cultists and not concerned and thoughtful citizens.
That's where my printed paper cut it:
On the campaign trail, he cites a long list of government’s economic problems. “We’re living beyond our means, spending too much money, the debt is too big, we waste too much money overseas,” he told voters in Eaton. “We need a sound monetary system. We don’t need a Federal Reserve dictating all the stuff they do. We don’t need to be bailing out the rich.”
Paul says he supports limited government and the Constitution. He calls for ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has advocated a return to the gold standard and wants to abolish the Federal Reserve, saying that the Fed distorts a free market by creating money and manipulating interest rates. “I want competing currencies so if the Fed really messes up there will be something else in place,” he told one voter.
I'm not sold on the gold standard because the same people running the Fed own the gold; however, he is spot on regarding the rest.
Asked about social services, Paul said they are not mentioned in the Constitution. “If you need social services, it should be a local issue, a community issue, a family issue, a church issue,” Paul said. “But to get the federal government involved, pretty soon you’ll have the United Nations involved and really complicate things.”
And the "left" in AmeriKa just can't get past that, can they?
Of course, Paul's point about their being a transition so we don't cut off people now is ignored.
Paul’s ideology appeals to some.
Actually, it appeals to a lot of people, not just some.
Jack Hancock, 70, an independent voter from Madison, did not vote for Paul in 2008, but is now interested in learning more about him. “I’m completely fed up and consumed and frightened with regard to the direction of our country,” Hancock said. “Paul is a solid conservative guy who knows how to do math and is not afraid to stand out there alone and speak the truth.”
Well, look, he still buys into the conventional myth surrounding 9/11, but in the context of our current political system is certainly far ahead of any other candidate.
Then there are those like Michael Callis, a liberal Republican stonemason from Conway who held a poster asking Paul, “Do we have to hate our government to be a patriot?” “People like Paul … make it sound like government is some kind of demon,” Callis said.
Yeah, I guess LYING ABOUT WARS, ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, and EVERYTHING ELSE really isn't such a bad government.
Yeah, a GOVERNMENT that has LOOTED THIS NATION is saintly!
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Related: Election 2012: Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41%
I guess the Republican Party doesn't want to win.
