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Subscribe to RSSAfter last night’s sweep, the writing’s on the wall: Romney, unless the extraordinary occurs, is going to be the GOP nominee… And Santorum isn’t going to win… Updated delegate count: Romney 573, Santorum 212, Gingrich 137, Paul 34… Santorum’s no-win situation heading into Pennsylvania… Obama’s speech yesterday achieved one thing: It drove the conservative intelligentsia crowd nuts… Romney, at 11:45 am ET, gets chance to respond to Obama at the very same venue… And Scott Brown embraces Obama.
Jason Cohn / Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum addresses supporters at his Wisconsin and Maryland primary night rally in Mars, Pennsylvania, April 3, 2012.
*** The writing is on the wall: Last night’s GOP primary contests didn’t contain any new revelations: Mitt Romney won a contested state in Wisconsin, but it wasn’t pretty (the margin was just five points, 43%-38%, despite his endorsements and clear financial edge); he racked up a HUGE proportion of the delegates (so far picking up 83 to Rick Santorum’s nine -- that’s right, Santorum couldn’t even win 10% of avail delegates last night); and the demographics told the big story (about 40% in Wisconsin were evangelicals, below the 50% of higher mark in contests that Santorum has won). Given that we didn’t learn anything new in Wisconsin -- or in Maryland or DC -- the writing is on the wall: Romney, unless the extraordinary occurs, is going to be the Republican presidential nominee. And Santorum, unless there’s a miracle, cannot win. Here’s NBC’s delegate count: Romney 573, Santorum 212, Gingrich 137, Paul 34.
The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd recaps Tuesday's primaries and Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
*** Santorum’s no-win situation: So the question is no longer IF Romney is going to be the nominee; rather, it’s WHEN Santorum will bow out. And in his speech last week, the former Pennsylvania senator made it clear that he’s still in this race. “Pennsylvania and half the other people in this country have yet to be heard,” he said in his concession speech last night, per NBC’s Morgan Parmet. “And we're going to go out and campaign here and across this nation to make sure that their voices are heard in the next few months.” Even Romney, in his victory address, acknowledged that the GOP race was moving to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New York (on April 24). Here’s the thing: Had Romney won Wisconsin by 10 points -- instead of five -- Santorum right now might be more open to exiting the race. Nevertheless, in the next 72 hours, he will hear plenty of voices telling him to get out. After all, demographically, Pennsylvania is a state that Santorum should lose if it weren’t his home state: It’s a combination of Illinois (Philly suburbs = Chicago ‘burbs) and Ohio. And even if he does win it, pundits will dismiss the victory because he won his home state. It’s a no-win situation.
*** He drives me crazy … and I can’t help myself: President Obama’s speech assailing the Ryan budget plan achieved one thing for certain yesterday: It drove the conservative intelligentsia crowd nuts. Townhall.com wrote: "Today we witnessed something truly remarkable. Barack Obama managed to out-do himself by uncorking what very well may have been the most dishonest, demagogic, and bitterly partisan speech of his presidency." The responses from the elected Republicans, while not QUITE as vitriolic, were similarly worded and focused. Bottom line: Their reaction seemed to be: How dare the president campaign against us!!!! And as we pointed out yesterday, Obama isn’t necessarily running against Mitt Romney; he’s running against the Republican Party brand -- and making sure that Romney owns that brand. In fact, Romney’s biggest challenge over the next two or three months will be for him to differentiate himself from the brand. There’s been a lot of focus of late on how damaged Romney has become in this process (his high negatives with indies, etc). But we’ve noticed a larger trend: The brand of the GOP is what’s been damaged; Romney may simply be collateral damage. And this is why he has to figure out a way to either improve the GOP’s brand or differentiate himself. Which can he achieve?
*** Romney’s chance to respond: Speaking of Obama’s speech yesterday, Romney today gets to deliver an address at the very same venue -- before newspaper editors in DC -- at 11:45 am ET. And while Romney hit the president during his victory speech last night (“Under this president's watch, more Americans have lost their jobs than during any other period since the Depression”), many political observers will be closely watching to see how he responds to Obama’s remarks from yesterday, as well as how responds to the three questions he’ll get from the audience. Remember, the day after primary wins haven’t always been kind to Romney and his campaign, and this speech before America’s newspaper editors has taken on more importance because of how the president chose to use the venue yesterday…
*** Yesterday’s two extraordinary speeches: Yet as we begin turning to the general election, yesterday was a pretty remarkable day. We saw Obama lay out his party’s indictment of the GOP and its governing philosophy: “Ronald Reagan, who, as I recall, is not accused of being a tax-and-spend socialist, understood repeatedly that when the deficit started to get out of control, that for him to make a deal he would have to propose both spending cuts and tax increases. Did it multiple times. He could not get through a Republican primary today.” And also yesterday, we saw Romney lay out his indictment of Obama and the Democrats: “In Barack Obama’s government-centered society, government spending will always increase because…there’s no reason to stop it. There’s always someone who is entitled to something more, and who will vote for anyone who will give them something more.” So yesterday was a day that people will be able to look back on and see what the two distinct economic visions are for the country.
*** On the trail, per NBC’s Adam Perez: After his speech in DC today, Romney campaigns in Pennsylvania… Santorum also is in the Keystone State, hitting Carnegie, Holidaysburg, and Mechanicsburg… Gingrich is in North Carolina… And Paul remains out in California.
*** Scott Brown embraces Obama: It’s not every day you see this kind of press release from a Republican senator: “Two major pieces of legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) will be signed into law by President Obama at White House ceremonies this week. As the first to introduce both the STOCK Act and crowdfunding legislation in the Senate, Senator Brown was invited and will attend both signing ceremonies. ‘I’m honored to receive these invitations from President Obama and I look forward to standing next to him as he signs these bills into law.’” So we’ve seen likely Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren star in Obama’s campaign documentary. And now Brown is shouting from the mountain top that he’ll be standing next to Obama at signing ceremonies this week. Brown has two major hurdles to overcome if he’s going to win a full term: One, he’s trying to win as a Republican in a blue state during a presidential year. And two, how does he avoid getting defined by Romney? Well, we see what Brown is TRYING to do, have photo-ops with Romney’s opponent. Here’s betting we see Brown use his appearances at these signing ceremonies in TV ads while trying like mad to avoid appearances with Romney.
Countdown to the CT, DE, NY, PA, and RI primaries: 20 days
Countdown to Election Day: 216 days
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Here is a thought and a bit of encouragement. A large portion of the voting population can not openly be a part of the campaign. It could be construde as treason. I do know how a very large of that majority will vote, and they can and will do that.
The military?
Great Bob, and nothing will change as usual.
Regardless of the popular opinion and consensus government policy moves along in the EXACT same direction as it always has no matter who is in office.
We can discuss, debate, and complain about it all we want, but just like our votes in the current system, it means and changes nothing.
We should elect someone who is willing to open up the Federal Reserves and do a budget plan. Now who is willing to do something like that? Oh ya, Ron Paul.
The Federal Reserve is audited constantly, and the chairman is appointed by the President and ratified by Congress. There is a lot of oversight and public transparency. Ron Paul wants to dissolve the Fed (and I suppose replace it with a government agency), and return to the gold standard (an impossibility according to economists.)
Alright the battle lines are drawn and the GOP/TEA/Dumb FUX NEWS party has their candidate that they not only dislike but can't relate to that pompous uber rich guy persona.. Not to mention how they don't trust the Christian cult he belongs to...
But he will do fine at conveying the Party's platform with great themes like;
-The poor have too much and the wealthiest corporations and individuals don't have enough.
- Solve our long term energy dilemma by drilling anywhere and everywhere.
- Women need to succumb to the decisions of rich white men where issues of their reproductive care are concerned.
- Health care is a privilege, if you can't afford it, tough.
- We will deal with international issues by shooting first and asking questions later.
Oh, I can't go on, I have to go and vomit...
Your list is so true and sad, Newbook.
So the news people finally admit, what most of already knew, Romney will win the nomination for the Republicons, no surprise there. Romney had it in the bag from the beginning. The people who run the party, had already hand picked him, and did everything they could to be sure of that. Romney is a liar and a hyprocrite, who will do and say anything he can to get what he wants. He will be what ever the party tells him to. But all he can do is insult Obama and lie about him. Romney is completly out of touch with the average person. He has been rich his whole life and has never had to look for work, or wondering how to wait till the next pay day. He doesn't understand the simple day to day lives of most people. He is a money guy, and the United States is not a business, and cannot be run as one. Business is about the bottom line, profit, and how much more to get, no matter who they have to screw. We don't need some CEO running the country, we need someone who know how to be a diplomat, and run our countries foriegn policy, which is the presidents most important job. Romney would not know how to conduct any foriegn policy, except maybe to give the Military Industrial Complex more wars so they can make their obscene profits, at the expense of our soldiers lives and those of many, civilian. Obama will wipe the floor with Romney at the debates, if the Republicons, will even let him have more than one. I don't always agree with Obama and some of his policies haven't worked out for the best, but the alternative of any Republicon, getting to be president, is truly scary, and would be the downfall of the middle class and poor in this country.
@dragonmar2
I agree with all your points.
I am an independent. The GOP is truly scary this election.
Like Fox and MSN, Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower have absolutely no credibility.
Now for real news: Ron Paul speaks in California yesterday and draws crowd of 6,200 supporters. Irrelevant, huh? Tell that to these folks lol:
youtu.be/d35pQXAZzu8
Yawn...
If you like Marxism, then yawn all you want until November.
The r3VOLution is growing (see above link).
Yikes.....newbook....try a different mouthwash, your current choise just doesn't cut it.
newbook,
If you HATE Freedom, Liberty, the Constitution - vote ObamaMittRickNewt.
If you LOVE HR 347, NDAA, Patriot Act, TSA, EO 13575, etc. - vote ObamaMittRickNewt.
Otherwise, vote for Ron Paul 2012.
Ron Paul is not going to win. You need to accept it.
Sorry to tell you...we have already won, you just don't know it yet. You need to to accept that.
The best example of Libertarian ideals in action is...Somalia...
Romney is a racist and blasphemer. No Born-again Bible believing Christian is going to vote for him Romney believes black men and women are indwelt by pre-existant evil spirits . Romney and his cult also believe that Jesus is the brother of the devil lucifer. We are not even to bid someone like romney God speed nor let him into our house, in this case OUR White House. ( 2 John 1:10,11 )KJB. exmormon.org
Hell Boy, You are a bigot and show your ignorance by getting information on mormons from an anti-mormon website. If you want to know the truth about mormons, go to lds.org and learn how wrongheaded you are.
Good luck, GOP .... you'll need it.
I can't wait to see which version of Romney is going to run in the general election.
Interesting that the GOP couldn NOT come up with at least One person they could be proud of to occupy the White House
WHAT the hell happened to conservatism in America????
Oh yeah....Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, etc .....
@CMG - Which Romney?? Romney The Reaganist .....the one who will put America back on the road to prosperity .......The Reaganist who will defend America from our enemies instead of cowing down and apologizing .......The Reaganist who will win the White House on the issues not some dream of a "different" or "changed" America........
@PValdes I was a young adult when Reagan was President.
He used DIPLOMACY to end the Cold War.
"Cowing down and apologizing" is the rights new word for diplomacy.
Osama is dead no apologizing.
"Which version of Romney?" was spot on.
Reagan wasn't that great a president on the economy. He was a great negotiator and diplomacy was his strong point.
Not great on the economy ????? What ?? Please see "Reaganomics" ..... A consistent growth in the GDP during his Presidency..... Reagan stood up for America and her people .
As a life-long Independent, I wished the Repubs would have nominated Paul. While his veiws are far right, at least he is as honest (for a politician) as they come, and he seems to actually care about the direction this country is heading... which is down the crapper.
Gingrich is a criminal, Santorum can't tell the difference between the Constitution and the Bible, and Romney... I bet, if given a chance, he would eat his own children to become president.
Paul would have given this independent something to think about, but now, it's an easy choice.
Obama 2012
To promote Paul and support Obama? You can't make it more obvious that you are a plant lol.
NoOneButPaul2012!
I find it interesting that in the history of the US, that no president has spent, distributed or bailed out so many organizations or seen more invasion upon the rights of people in this country than the Obama administration. Yet, those of you who support this man are clearly in favor of more and more government invasion upon our lives and think all this deficit is going away by merely printing more money, borrowing more from China or bailing out more institutions.
Did you read Roosevelt's history when he was elected during the GREAT Depression? Nobody wants more invasion upon the rights of the people than the GOP. Just take a good look at their actions against women. Then continue with your drivel about Obama's administration.
By bailing out the auto industry, which has recovered, paid back most of the loans, with interest, and are needing right now 1,000 more engineers and designers, that was the wrong thing to do?
There are three ways to reduce the don't matter deficit. First is to get people back to work, second is to raise taxes, and third is to cut wasted spending. Especially the spending on the military industrial complex machine. And to quit fighting more wars.
Bring our troops home, put them on the border, along with the mental health experts, and you have saved one big bunch of money, plus our borders would be protected.
Romney and Ryan, with his plan to destroy the middle class and give the wealthy more of a break, just don't understand why they are so hell bent of protecting the wealthy, if you make $100,000,000 a year you will get a $250,000 tax break, I don't need that and I'm sure many of us who have made money don't as well, sinfull.
The writing IS on the wall. Obama will get another 4 years because the lame GOP cannot come up with a viable candidate. The GOP is so focused on hating each other they have convinced us to hate them, too. Nice job.
Ron Paul is doing just fine. Hang in there.
NoOneButPaul2012!
So you're telling me that a man who's won an average of only 6% of the votes in the primaries will somehow pull out a win? Where is he going to pull out the win? Out of his a*s? Paul would need to win the GOP nomination first, and unless Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich all decide to drop out and Paul wins the nomination by default, it won't happen.
Actually Michael, Ron Paul won a little bit more than that. Stop listening to the media.
Yep, you believe MSN and Fox with that 6% figure. You may as well vote for ObamaMittRickNewt since the media is right about that too.
You are clueless. And a sheep.
NoOneButPaul2012!
Suds...I believe the GOP knows that it will be difficult - if not impossible - to beat President Obama. Maybe by 2016, the GOP can find someone the voters can take seriously (since 2008, their GOP choices have been a joke!) Until then, President Obama will get a well deserved second term!
I can't believe it's over....
Santorum 2006
Santorum? Listed by CREW as the top "most corrupted Senator"? Voted 5 times for increases and $7.2 Trillion in unfunded liabilities?
Give me a break.
Ron! Paul! 2012!
But but but....Santorum can't quit the race!
He was ordained by God ........the voices in his head told him so
LOL
I think Santorum is going to stay in even if he is humiliated in PA. I wonder if he will still be going at the end of May, so TX can have a chance to see the circus too.
I wanna see Santorum ride a bull in Texas. I think it would be hilarious.
Romney = another 1% republican !
There is no reason for Santorun, Newt or paul to get out. Time for a brokered Convention !!! That is why the heavy weights in the GOP told the everyone to "Get in Line" behind Mitt. Talk about sheep lolololololololol
Santorum is a sore loser. People need to stop giving him money.
@Greg; You accuse us Liberals of not using facts to back up our statement, huh? Refer to my response to post #58. If anyone can be accused of posting statements without facts, it's you guys.
One pathological liar is more then enough & we already have one, his name is Obama.
See how nice I am Feisty? I corrected that for you with no charge.
Of course Santorum-tard won't bow out yet. He still can travel the country with RNC and taxpayer funds, railing against Romney, trying to damage his chances of beating Obama. The Republican party should give this weasel an ultimatum to quit his quixotic campaign or get thrown out. What a loser.
Pennsylvania couldn't wait to get rid of that moron. CREW listed Santorum as one of the top "most corrupted Senators".
Ron! Paul! 2012! For Freedom!
I prefer not to have President Obama for another term, but I truly fear, Mr. Romney has not a chance of winning. He certainly isn't my choice for the republican party to put up against President Obama.
If you don't like it now, wait until the convention. I'm pretty sure Newt and Palin have something up their sleeves. I especially don't trust Palin and her flavor of bat$hit crazy.
BTW, the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" was her pet project.
What a waste of time writing this article ? Everyone knows by now....
Get up in some scholarly scale journalists!
I have to go, pick up my SS, SSI, welfare, housing assistance, unemployment, and foodstamps... see eveyone later....
Silly! Get automatic deposit, like everyone else! Join the 21st century!
Liar. The state and the Social Security Admin. computers talk to each other so you wouldn't be able to draw SS or SSI and unemployment. Foodstamps are usually only available to those with disability or children. Housing assitance has a waiting list that is years long, so is generally also only available to those with dire need (disability, children).
Tell you what, we can cancel all those programs which should save you, personally, about $83/year in taxes. And in exchange you can put them up at your place. Or let them die in the streets, which is what you want, right?
Too bad life is so hard for you, silvercc. Your sarcasm is not funny...too many people are in serious need...and people like you roll your eyes to their misfortunes. Look up the word "compassion."
We (republicans) started off with a bad field and ended up a lesser of the evils. I am very unhappy with our selection.
I hope the dems win....White house, House, & Senate... Let them put into action everything they think will help american. Give em 4 years of control... then lets see where we are at...
1862?
The good news if the Dems win would be that there would be endless fodder for Fox and the likes of Limbaugh and company. If the Republicans are in power and things don't go well, who will they blame?
Thanks for the honesty, Mark.
Yeah - he'll win the nomination - but he'll also lose the election.
We are doomed. I haven't yet heard anything as to what the plan is to help save us from this mess we are in. I want to heard details of what the plan is to recover......The only concern is to get Obama out of office instead of focusing on the real issues. just proves how immature and babyish the politicians are.
Listening to Sarah Palins oafish "anyone but Obama" comment should make your brain melt
By "Anyone" she means Joe The Plummer
Is she sleeping with him too?
Why would Joe The Plumma want to get on Sarah Palins "Kiss Of Death" list
FEAR! HATE! LIES! Cyndi, maybe you shouldn't watch FOX so much. It could ruin your life and happiness - exactly what FOX wants for their viewers.
Some of you folks on here should have been comedians. It amazes me how the media chose Mitt shoved him down our throats, anointed this guy, who cares not about this country or its people, doesnt have any kind of viable plan, gee sounds just like the azz hat in the white house now, 2 criminals, who despise the american people, all these idiots do is waste our time, money and make us the laughing stock of the world. Gee to see them select our next candidate oh it was exciting, they meaning the media selected romney for us, not hard to figure out and see, can we all say fraud ? just like the man in the white house. What does anybody really know about him? is he really who we think he is? why are every record of his life sealed? Things are not getting better other than the fiat money their pumping into the system temporarily propping things up, soon it will crash, and then it will start, the people will hit the streets something we should have done in 2000 when they screwed us and put bush in.
We have been a laughing stock since the verdict of Gore v Bush, when the cowboy won.
I was in Ethiopia during Gore v Bush, and the local people thought that the USA was crazy!
Sanitarium, Gingrich and Paul need to stop wasting the taxpayers hard-earned money on Secret Service protection and get out of the race for the Republican noninee. They are just causing more trouble for the Republicans. Maybe there is a secret O'Bummer supporter out there somewhere that is financing these guys to help the Democrats with O'Bummer's bid for re-election. I wouldn't put it past them to do something like that!!