Tag Archives: surrogates

Rand Paul to Stump for Romney in New Hampshire

October 11, 2012 – 11:52 am

This should be a good surrogate in the “Give me Liberty or Give me Death“ “Live Free or Die” state (love that motto):

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul will make a campaign trip to New Hampshire later this month to stump for Mitt Romney, a source familiar with the plans told POLITICO. The trip to New Hampshire is scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 20, the source said. Paul has appeared at Romney-Ryan events recently in Ohio and is scheduled to visit that state again for the GOP ticket over the next week. Paul is one of several Republican up-and-comers who have made the trek to New Hampshire recently, along with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. They’re all there on behalf of Romney, but visits like these are also bound to stoke speculation about 2016 (or 2020.)

By keithbacker | Posted in New Hampshire | Also tagged | Comments (8)

Ohio Economists Form Independent Group in Support of Romney

September 10, 2012 – 9:16 pm

649 Economists nationwide have embraced Mitt Romney’s economic reforms and now a group of Ohio economists have independently formed a group in support of the Romney Plan:

Economists for Romney (E4R) Monday announced the support of 20 economists from 10 different universities across the state. The 20 included two international finance experts from Miami University, five Ohio State professors, two from the University of Dayton and one from Wright State. E4R – an independent, voluntary group of economists who support Mitt Romney’s plans for economic reform – has received 649 signatures for its statement of support nationwide since its conception in mid-August, according to an E4R spokesman.

Among them is Ohio State’s Douglas Southgate, an agricultural, environmental and development economics professor. “I’m appalled at the macroeconomic policy and elevated stratospheric spending (under the Obama Administration), that is way in excess of tax revenues, which eventually must lead to higher interest rates and inflation,” explains Southgate. Southgate’s sentiments are largely reflected in the portion of the statement that goes on to list E4R’s view of the policies implemented by the Obama Administration. The statement, which can be found in its entirety at http://www.economistsforRomney.com, begins, “We enthusiastically endorse Governor Mitt Romney’s economic plan to create jobs and restore economic growth while returning America to its tradition of economic freedom.”

Limiting federal spending to 20 percent of the economy, reducing marginal tax rates, and improving credit availability to small businesses and entrepreneurs – while ensuring all regulations pass rigorous benefit-costs tests – are just a few of the policies this group of economists would like to see Romney implement come February.

The two Miami University professors who signed the statement were Steve B. Wyatt, chair of the finance faculty in the Farmer School of Business, and David Leonard, who specializes in international portfolio management.

By keithbacker | Posted in Ohio | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Romney Surrogates Canvas the Battlegrounds

July 26, 2012 – 12:01 am

Building  on our previous post reporting Bobby Jindal and Bob McDonnell stumping in Iowa Thursday, MSNBC’s “First Read” provides a comprehensive rundown on an impressive array of surrogates storming the Battleground states while Romney is overseas:

NBC News has learned at least eight surrogates will make campaign stops in the key battleground states over the next six days.  Some of those names are believed to be under heavy consideration to be named Romney’s vice presidential running mate in the coming weeks. While speculation was rampant last week that the former Massachusetts governor could make his VP pick before heading off to London, at least one benefit of delaying his pick will be on display this weekend. Instead of having just one running mate to campaign in the states while Romney is abroad, he’ll instead have a team spread throughout the country, most of which will be getting attention as the potential next vice president of the United States. Voters in six battleground states — Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin — will see Romney campaign buses traveling the state and hearing the politicians on the stump.

  • Thursday Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal head to Iowa
  • Thursday and Friday, South Dakota Sen. John Thune will be in Virginia where he will bracket President Barack Obama’s visit to the Old Dominion state on Friday
  • Friday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani heads to Florida, where during his 2008 presidential run, he spent the majority of his time and campaign resources in the Sunshine State.  He’ll even host a “Cafe Con Rudy” to reach out to Hispanic voters
  • Saturday, former Minnesota governor and one-time presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty will make an appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Saturday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will spend in Las Vegas, Nevada, the city where he spent a majority of his youth. There he will hold a rally in the elementary school he attended as a child, marking his first solo public appearance on Romney’s behalf
  • Saturday, Jindal hopscotches to Florida to hold an event for the presumptive nominee
  • Sunday, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus will be traveling on a bus through Wisconsin.  Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin may also join
  • Monday, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman will take his act on the road to campaign in Pennsylvania.  It will mark the second time Portman will hit the Keystone State in hopes of turning the traditionally blue state to red.
  • South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has not campaigned for the GOP nominee for months, will also hit the trail in the coming days.  She will travel to Michigan on Romney’s behalf
By keithbacker | Posted in Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Flooding the Zone: Ohio Wednesday

July 17, 2012 – 9:21 pm

Mitt Romney stumps in Ohio tomorrow with a few friends:

In addition to Mitt Romney and John Kasich, the following Republican shoguns will be campaigning in Ohio Wednesday:

  • Bobby Jindal (Columbus)
  • Jeb Bush (Hamilton)
By keithbacker | Posted in Ohio | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

John McCain Heads to Michigan for Romney

July 13, 2012 – 10:41 am

More heavy-weight surrogates hit the Battlegrounds for Mitt Romney.  This time John McCain will stump in Michigan to appeal to the veterans vote:

U.S. Sen. John McCain — the Arizona Republican whose presidential campaign left Michigan four years ago after initially believing it could be an electoral battleground — will return to the state Monday to stump for presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney as he courts the votes of veterans. McCain and U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, a Republican from Harrison Township, are set to hold a roundtable discussion with 10-15 invited veterans at the American Legion in Utica at 10 a.m. According to the campaign, the event is intended to give veterans a chance to discuss their concerns with members of Romney’s policy team.

The event is open to invited guests only, which include some local veterans groups. McCain — whom Romney beat in the 2008 Republican primary in Michigan — is a former Navy pilot who was shot down over Hanoi during the Vietnam War and was held as a prisoner for years. “Mitt Romney believes our country must live up to the sacred trust we have with those who have defended our freedoms and with the men and women currently serving,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, a Michigan spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

The visit comes as Romney makes a push to secure the veteran vote. This week, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke on Romney’s behalf at a rally at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Hampton Roads, Va. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell — an early Romney supporter — said defense cuts proposed by Democratic President Barack Obama could hurt national security.

By keithbacker | Posted in Michigan | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

The Battle for Virginia

June 13, 2012 – 1:17 pm

Scott Conroy at real Clear Politics takes a look at one of the election’s most important states: Virginia.

In what both sides regard as one of the election’s three or four most critical swing states, Obama has opened up a slim yet significant three-point lead in the latest RCP average of Virginia polls.  Though he shows strength in other regions of the state, the president largely has the expansive D.C. suburbs to thank for that advantage.

Where the votes are: Fairfax, County:

In Fairfax, the Old Dominion’s most populous county, Obama bested John McCain by 61 percent to 39 percent in his seven-point Virginia victory in 2008. While he may not have to win the county by that wide a margin this time around, he is counting on Northern Virginia’s increasing diversity and its large federal workforce to provide a critical edge once again. “The economic influence of the federal government is probably outsized here,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who represents Virginia’s suburban 11th District, where residents are among the wealthiest in the nation. “We [also] look a lot more like the face of the country as a whole than ever before, and what’s interesting about that is it tends to favor Democratic candidates.”

The changing face of Virginia:

Read More »

By keithbacker | Posted in The Battle for ..., Virginia | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Campaign Surrogates Come Out in Virginia

June 12, 2012 – 7:25 pm

The Associated Press takes a stab at the supremely important Battleground state across the Potomac:

The fight for Virginia is heating up between presidential contenders Barack Obama and Mitt Romney — with a little help from their friends.

GOP Governor’s shake the money tree:

In the Republican corner, according to the National Journal, is Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has been instrumental in helping the Republican Governors Association more than double their fundraising for the 2008 McCain campaign, raking in an impressive $44 million. Friend and potential VP pick, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, hit the campaign trial for Romney on Friday, with fundraising events in Virginia and Chicago. It wasn’t enough to match contributions by Obama’s Virginia supporters in April, according to NBC Washington. The Obama campaign posted $483,000 in donations to Romney’s $332,000.

Dueling First Ladies:

Obama brought out his big guns in Virginia last week, his most trusted advisor, wife Michelle. ABC reports that the first lady attended a rally at a VFW post in Dale City on Thursday, followed by a side trip to Mom’s Apple Pie Co. in Occoquan. Putting aside her normally health conscious attitude toward nutrition, Obama exclaimed in delight at the selection of wines in the family-owned bakery, then purchased two pies for the first family…Mitt Romney kicked off his push for Virginia earlier this month with a fundraiser held at Exhibit Edge, a female-run business. In her introduction Ann Romney left little doubt that the venue was selected specifically to appeal to women voters. “We appreciate all these women being here,” she declared, “We know…how women actually do make the world go round.”

Read More »

By keithbacker | Posted in Virginia | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

New Hampshire Gaining Focus

June 9, 2012 – 8:24 pm

Mitt Romney will be returning to New Hampshire this week to visit an old stomping ground and spend some time with a lady gaining a lot of buzz in political circles:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney plans to return for a campaign visit to the New Hampshire farm where he announced his candidacy a year ago. The presumptive GOP nominee will visit the Scamman Farm in Stratham next Friday for a mid-morning event. The farm, owned by former New Hampshire House Speaker Doug Scamman and his wife, former state Rep. Stella Scamman, is where Romney formally declared his candidacy to challenge President Barack Obama in June 2011. A campaign official tells Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover that Romney will attend an event Stratham with supporters June 15.

In addition to the stumping, you can expect Romney to spend some serious quality time with a rising star in the Republican party:

In less than two years’ time, Kelly Ayotte has gone from obscure New Hampshirite to one of the more visible figures in national politics. The freshman senator is often photographed alongside Mitt Romney as one of his leading surrogates on the campaign trail (and the most high-profile female surrogate other than his wife), and the Senate Republican leadership trots her out frequently to go before cameras and drive their message on whatever legislation they’re pushing. No wonder Romney has named her publicly as one of about 15 people who might be on his list of potential running mates.

In the parlor game of Veep-stakes Ayotte is an unquestioned dark horse but her credentials are impeccable and she shines in every public appearance.  I doubt she ultimately gets the nod but she is an unquestioned asset in the Battleground state of New Hampshire.

By keithbacker | Posted in New Hampshire | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Pennsylvania ‘Definitely In Play’ — Former Pennsylvania Governor Democrat Ed Rendell

June 7, 2012 – 6:15 am

When you hear about a campaign surrogate “going off-message” know that simply means the surrogate committed the political crime of telling the truth. This applies whether it was Cory Booker and the truth about private equity, Bill Clinton on Mitt Romney’s stellar business credentials or now former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell advocating extending the tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. But thankfully for us, a guy who knows the Keystone State probably better than anyone in the country, was asked whether Barack Obama would win Pennsylvania:

The election will be determined by basically the four Philadelphia suburban counties … I tell people Governor Romney’s biggest liability in the primaries was that people really didn’t believe he was a conservative. His biggest asset in the general election is people really don’t believe he is a conservative. So will those moderate Republicans, conservative Democrats, independents in the Philadelphia suburbs vote for him because he is really a moderate who is going to govern in a moderate fashion? I don’t know. But I will tell you what I think in the end will determine how those people vote: one convention speech and maybe the first two debates. All the rest of it is noise.

The reporter, Sam Stein, asked again: “So bottom line, is Pennsylvania is in play?”

“Oh, it is definitely in play,” Rendell replied. He went on about how bizarre it was to read reports that Republicans weren’t making investments in the state. “Can’t be right. I mean why would you do that?” … “I think it is definitely in play,” he said again. “I said from the beginning, Mitt Romney is the only candidate who had a chance to do well enough in the Philadelphia suburbs to carry the state.

The suburban counties Rendell is referring to are: Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County and Montgomery County

After the above sequence, Stein (an avowed Democrat who often has trouble hiding his disdain for Republicans) writes:

If Pennsylvania does indeed come down to the debates, the Obama campaign is in more political trouble than anyone envisions.

As we saw in the early posts regarding the divide between working class voters in Pennsylvania and Obama’s job killing policies on Keystone Pipeline and his war on coal, the state is ripe for a flip to the GOP so long as the Romney campaign turns it into a Battleground.

By keithbacker | Posted in Pennsylvania | Also tagged , , , | Comments (6)

Romney Unleashes Diverse Surrogates in Battleground States

June 1, 2012 – 11:48 pm

A candidate cannot be in all places at all times and it is important to have a stable of articulate supporters to amplify the campaign’s message to various audiences. Considering the narrow Battleground state focus and an even more narrow swath of persuadable voters in those states, it is increasingly important to inspire and employ surrogates who can bring a unique appeal to those targeted voters. Mitt Romney is wasting no time rolling out a line-up of heavy-hitters to carry his message:

Mitt Romney is mobilizing a fast-growing network of surrogates to help make his case with voters as his campaign begins to exert greater control over the GOP messaging operation. He is relying on a diverse cast of politicians, business leaders, athletes and celebrities to court key groups of voters, including social conservatives, Hispanics and suburban women.

National names include:

  • Sen. John Thune (S.D.)
  • Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty
  • Former ambassador John Bolton
  • Former New Hampshire governor John Sununu.

[A]ides are trying to build a more disciplined surrogate operation, distributing talking points to politicians and pundits whom they call upon to spread his message. Romney aides are now picking guests to appear on the Sunday political talk shows and holding Saturday conference calls to rehearse answers to likely questions, according to a campaign adviser. Other surrogates are booked for targeted television, radio and newspaper interviews to help build support among demographic groups with which Romney has struggled.

Women:
[T]he candidate’s wife, Ann, [looks] to be his most powerful surrogate and [aides] are developing a robust schedule of solo visits for her to help close the gender gap with Obama. they are considering having her campaign in nursing homes, schools and medical research facilities in suburban areas outside Philadelphia, Denver, Milwaukee and Charlotte, as well as in Northern Virginia and along Florida’s I-4 corridor. Other female surrogates are making similar pitches, including:

  • Sen. Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire)
  • South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
  • Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.)

Read More »

By keithbacker | Posted in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin | Also tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 217 other followers