Archive: January, 2012
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Well, this is awkward.
Jon Huntsman once called Mitt Romney “a perfectly lubricated weathervane on the important issues of the day,” often said that his rival lacks “a core” and said that he didn’t trust the guy. Not only that, but Romney had changed his positions so much that he had rendered himself “completely unelectable” against President Obama.
So when Huntsman dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Sunday night, he planned to endorse…Romney. Cognitive dissonance!
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign announced Wednesday that it will report having raised $24 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 and that it has $19 million cash on hand for the next phase of the Republican nomination battle in the South Carolina and Florida primaries.
“Mitt Romney’s growing financial support is representative of the growing momentum for our campaign,” said Spencer Zwick, the national finance chairman for RFP.
It’s no coincidence that the Romney folks made the announcement the day after his sweeping victory in the New Hampshire GOP primary, which exit polls show garnered him support from across the demographic and ideological spectrums. Now it’s time for Romney to bring the hammer down in hopes of putting away the nomination against less organized opponents. Conservatives and evangelical conservatives, however, are still seeking to unite around one of the candidates remaining who stands to Romney’s right.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The storylines to watch as the returns come in Tuesday night in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary are pretty straightforward, though when “real people,” also known as the voters, elbow aside the cud-chewing pundits and start sorting things out, strange things can and sometimes do happen.
ROMNEY: Is it big enough?
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney went into Tuesday with a slightly melting but still substantial lead, and seemed poised to win by double digits. If that happens, the talk of Romney as the ultimate nominee should reach a crescendo and Republican establishment-types will continue rallying around him. A win would make Romney the first Republican candidate to win the first two nominating contests since 1976, when Iowa and New Hampshire cemented their places as the leadoff states. That’s impressive no matter what.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
New Hampshire’s primary has, to some extent, felt anticlimactic, with Mitt Romney assumed to be headed to a solid victory here and the real battle over second place. Several candidates have spent at least parts of the past week in South Carolina, the state with the next contest.
Yet, crowds have been huge at retail campaign events, swollen by “primary peepers” from across the nation and the world looking to participate for entertainment and/or educational purposes.
Journalists – who have caused more than a few mob crushes themselves with their notepads, pens, cameras and other paraphernalia, plus their nosiness – have complained to each other that it is sometimes hard to find honest-to-goodness New Hampshire voters to interview at candidate events. People from Massachusetts to California and beyond, however, are everywhere. (They usually have interesting things to say, to be sure, but are irrelevant in terms of trying to go deeper on the thought processes of the primary voter.)
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
In a weird ideological twist, the stretch run of the New Hampshire Republican primary has been dominated by searing attacks on capitalism that would seem right at home in a contemporary Occupy encampment or, perhaps, in the long-ago Socialist presidential campaigns of Eugene V. Debs.
Desperate to knock frontrunner Mitt Romney from his high horse, GOP opponents have gone after his former career as chief executive of corporate raider Bain Capital, focusing on mass layoffs at some of the companies the investment firm purchased, stripped and flipped or reorganized over the years.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was demolished in Iowa by attack ads from a pro-Romney independent “super PAC,” has led the charge. He portrays Romney as an economic grim reaper who destroyed communities and lives.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Mitt Romney is in his own backyard in New Hampshire but getting bashed by his Republican rivals. Will that hurt him in the polls? Can Rick Santorum maintain his Iowa momentum? Inquirer political reporter Tom Fitzgerald is on the ground and tweeting the primary action.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Most presidential candidates go to ground on several hours before a big televised debate. They meet with advisers, get a little rest.
Not former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. He held six events leading up to the 9 p.m. ABC-Yahoo debate, including a rally with a huge crowd in a barn – people were literally sitting in the rafters – in the southern town of Hollis. Hundreds who couldn’t get inside the barn gathered outdoors and Santorum addressed them too.
Standing on the bench seat of a picnic table outside a country store and deli on a warm afternoon in Amherst, N.H., Santorum attacked Mitt Romney as the candidate of the “status quo” and “the establishment.”
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
URBANDALE, Iowa – Just hours before Republicans were to cast their first votes for president in Iowa’s precinct caucuses Tuesday, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum took time to give a discursive civics lesson to several hundred students at the Des Moines Christian School.
It was an interesting stop for a man who, polls show, stood a good chance of winning the caucuses outright or finishing a strong second, a far cry from where he started. Santorum began with the separation of powers, the switch to the direct election of senators early in the 20th century, and so on – earnest, but zzzz - and then veered into a harsh attack on President Obama.
“The Obama administration has a set of values,” Santorum said. “Our values are based on religion, based on the Bible. Their values are based on the religion of self.” Though his base of support is among evangelicals and other religious conservatives, Santorum has balanced cultural issues with his economic plans to revive manufacturing in recent days on the trail, as he has risen in the polls.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
Surging Rick Santorum addressed an overflow crowd in a Pizza Ranch in Boone, IA with an old-school bullhorn last night. He has the momentum - will he unite evangelical voters? Can Mitt Romney take advantage of a fractured field of conservatives to win? How about Ron Paul? Inquirer political reporter Tom Fitzgerald is on the ground and tweeting the caucus action.
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
On the ground, the sense is that Repbulican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum or Ron Paul could win the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night, where committed GOP supporters will cast the first votes of 2012.
A Public Policy Polling survey, conducted over the New Year's holiday weekend, found a three-way tie. Paul, the libertarian congressman from Texas, was the choice of 20 percent of likely caucus participants, according to the poll. Romney had the support of 19 percent, and Santorum, the social conservative and former senator from Pennsylvania, was at 18 percent support.
Newt Gingrich had 14 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 10 percent, Michele Bachmann at 8 percent and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who has not campaigned in Iowa, at 4 percent.
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
