- Biden addresses more than 600 at Virginia Tech
- Crowd cooling for Obama
- CNN: Obama Crowd Half the Size of ’08
- Smaller Crowds For Obama In Ohio
“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.”
Big rallies are expensive, especially given the logistical and security challenges for a president as opposed to a mere United States senator. And Obama campaign operatives, both at the Chicago headquarters and in swing states where Mr. Obama recently has stumped, say the campaign intentionally limits crowds by restricting tickets. The reason is to allow the president to better connect with supporters, aides say.
Mighty nice of him but I don’t think Romney/Ryan need the help:
Democratic Voting Enthusiasm Down Sharply From 2004, 2008 - Republicans more enthusiastic than in 2008
Democrats are significantly less likely now (39%) than they were in the summers of 2004 and 2008 to say they are “more enthusiastic about voting than usual” in the coming presidential election. Republicans are more enthusiastic now than in 2008, and the same as in 2004.
Yes, hat is a huge disparity, wow. I wonder why that is the case. Hmmmm…. I have to think about that one.
I know you do not want Obama to win. I certainly do not want Romney to win. I read the material here but I am loathe to comment because it is so hard to have any discussion because politics is so hyper partisan. And, if you do not toe the party line and act like a Monolith, or buy unsubstantiated party driven talking points, you are considered a sell out by both sides. Sad.
I do not understand why there is this assumption on the Right, which did not exist during the primaries, that Romney will make a good president????. I will certainly support whoever the majority elect after the general elections, but I know that Romney, if elected, will be an awful president!!! He was awful for us, economy wise in MA. He was a horrible Governor and I see no reason to think he will be a good President. He will be worse than Obama could ever be. He is like G.W. Bush.
Just as people irrationally thought that Obama was some sort of Messiah that would turn the 8 ears of TOTAL economic and financial destruction (created under Bush) around, in one term, again, people are doing the Romney is the hope extrapolation from nothing. He is not a Hope. He is a man that just wants to be president because he is rich, entitled and feels he deserves it.
And Conservatives are not a Monolith- so I hope some Conservatives will act like True patriots like me, true patriots who put country before party. Romney was bad in MA and should not be allowed to do the same thing on the National level.
http://blackrepublicanandmyworldview.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/this-is-why-electing-romney-as-president-is-a-really-really-bad-idea/
Your missive is predicated on the proposition that Bush was a bad president and that he was solely responsible for the economic collapse, neither of which is anything more than an opinion. For the first 7 years of the Bush Administration the economy did quite well, with unemployment remaining under 5% for the most of his terms, in spite of coming to office on the heels of the dotcom burst, facing a significant delay in his transition to office due the Florida situation, having 9/11 7 months after his inauguration and the initiation and prosecution of two wars.
As far as Romney’s record in Massachusetts, I noticed that you used primarily Democratic or left leaning analysis to make your points. Googling some of your phrases reveal that they are posted on other Democratic leaning sites, so the post at your site looks more like a cut and paste than a “researched” opinion.
The fact is that the unemployment rate in Massachusetts was 5.6% when he entered office and 4.7% when he left, since most economic texts will state that unemployment in this range represents full employment, it is pretty difficult to “create” jobs. Your citation that 222,000 people migrated out of the state, while true, is also misleading. You treat it as if Romney was personally responsible for that event when the true issue that Massachusetts has had a high tax/hostile business environment for decades – but that is fine if you want to use that as valid assertion, so let us use the U-6 national unemployment rate as a benchmark for Obama – it currently stands at 15% and the labor participation rate is at its lowest rate in 35 years.
It is also true that, based on state data; Romney had guided the state to a $700 million budget surplus in 2006 but the Democrat controlled state government overrode almost every veto that Romney applied and restarted the spending engine that Romney shut down in 2004 and 2005.
Wikipedia actually has a good history of Romney’s governorship with very strong citations, presenting both the good and bad. It is my opinion that his stewardship of the state tends toward the “good” where you indicated a belief otherwise – but your analysis only includes the negative aspects and it also includes issues that you assign Romney sole responsibility for when the Democrat controlled state government was either primarily responsible for them or was complicit in blocking actions by the governor’s office.
I am not particularly a Romney supporter simply for the sake of Romney. I happen have actually personally met the man and witnessed firsthand his handling of the 2002 Salt Lake Games in real time (my wife and I volunteered for the Games) and I find him to be a man of integrity and strong personal conviction. I know him to be a leader but even with that, I am voting for a Romney presidency, not just the man, because I believe that he will appoint, support and work to elect people with similar characteristics as he possesses – like Paul Ryan. I also believe that is better for the country than the current President and administration. I do believe that his understanding of business is important because as Calvin Coolidge was quoted as saying, “After all, the chief business of the American people is business.”
I think you are wrong about a Romney presidency and even though you seem to be indifferent to Obama, the entire message of your blog is in support of his re-election. The issue with that is that we already know what an Obama presidency looks like – and it isn’t something that most people want.
Happy Sunday!!
The economy went to hell under Bush, just as it in MA under Romney. The issue is that in a declining economy the immediate indexes, that would signal a meltdown, at least from what I have read, are not immediately reflected in unemployment numbers. There were quite a number of things going on (under Bush) that were inevitably going to take the country to full blown financial disaster, and those factors eventually did take us to a total meltdown.
But I am sure you know the financial meltdown did not happen in a vacuum or overnight. There was a very detailed analysis of the meltdown by the Wall Street Journal, in 2008. It addressed the entire problem that led America to the precipice of destruction, under Bush. Google it, if you wish. Or I will post it some other time.
I supported Bush for two terms but will admit that he was a really bad president.
Is the issue the Obama Presidency in its entirety, or an economy that people expect would have improved sooner.You made a lot of excuses for Bush, I did not see any about the situation Obama inherited. I am not here to be an Obama advocate but I am sure their page has a list of the achievements of his administration and the media extensively chronicle the disaster he inherited.
The Wikipedia piece you reference piece was re-written, I am sure, by someone from the Romney team, but I will take a look at it. The last time I read it, during the Republican primaries, it did not seem rosy or authentic when compared to other sources. Sources such as MA State Government records.
As for MA not being business friendly, yes, it is common knowledge that was a problem. And was one MAIN reason we elected Romney. When he as running for he governorship of our State, he promised that his business acumen, based on his venture capitalist work, would help transform our State into a more business friendly one, but it never happened. It got worse. He imposed higher taxes and fees on businesses during his term. .
In the article, my sources are not Liberal./Democratic, for example the Cato Institute is Libertarian and certainly is not liberal. The organizations I reference and cite in the piece, describe themselves as Conservative or unaffiliated. The information can easily be corroborated in MA State Government records. In fact the two Republican Governors and their operatives, in the article, that ALL stated that Romney very did a poor job of job creation in MA, were certainly in the same Republican party as he was. Most of the information in the the article was obtained from the long fought Republican primaries.
Romney was extremely unpopular in our State, for the most part because he was detached, disconnected and really made it evident that we were a mere stepping stone to his greater ambition of the presidency. You said he was a decent man, we did not see any evidence of that- especially after his Tax residence misrepresentations, and subsequent flubs. G.W. Bush was, and remains a decent man, a well meaning man.
As for a Romney administration, all I can say is that I felt Bush would pick the right people too. However, as Rove says, Character matters. That is why I do not think your rosy assumptions about Romney are valid. Romney is a weak and ambitious man who just wants to be president. I have been down that route before. That describes Bush, except Bush was straight forward, decent and likeable and well intentioned. His ambition did not overwhelm everything else.
Have to say that you and your wife volunteering at the Salt Lake games, was quite awesome! Great to read stuff like that. We are all American, despite political and ideological differences.