Tag: 2012 presidential campaign

Obama Campaign Offers Preview Of Fall Slugfest With Mitt Romney

The Obama campaign has started to act as if the Republican presidential primary is over and Mitt Romney, who has been racking up endorsements from establishment Republicans and columns from liberals touting his relative moderation, is already their general election opponent.

At 11:40 Wednesday morning, the president’s re-election team blasted an email announcement that David Axelrod — the former presidential adviser who has kept a low profile since he left D.C. last year to become the chief strategist at campaign headquarters in Chicago — would be imminently holding a press conference call to respond to Romney’s “Comments About Middle Class Tax Cuts.”

The urgent call was nominally about Romney’s suggestion at the debate Tuesday evening that the proposed extension of last year’s payroll tax cut, which would mostly help Americans making less than $100,000 a year, was a “band aid.” In reality, it was a chance to explicitly lay out the message that Romney was a career flip-flopper who could not be trusted by middle-class voters of either party.

“We’re having this call because Governor Romney has been so brazen in his switches of position,” Axelrod said. “You have to do more than recite the words middle class to persuade people that you’re advocating for them.”

It was, in fact, jarring to hear “middle class” so much at a Republican primary debate — Axelrod called Romney’s repetition of the term “robotic” — because Republicans typically save such theatrics for the general election forums in the fall, when working-class swing voters are up for grabs.

The former Massachusetts governor’s opposition to an extension of the payroll tax cut enacted by Barack Obama “certainly isn’t consistent with a guy who presents himself these days a champion of the middle class, although consistency has not been the hallmark of his career,” Axelrod jabbed, calling the change of position alternately “stunning” and “appalling.”

He jumped on the most common conservative critique of Romney: that his healthcare plan passed in Massachusetts bears a striking resemblance to the Affordable Care Act signed last year by President Obama.

“On health care, [Romney] continued to assert that his program, which was, in fact, a model for much of what we did in our health program, was simply for the state of Massachusetts and that every state has to develop its own program,” he said. “But in 2007, he told Newsweek that the Massachusetts plan would be a ‘model for the nation.'”

Axelrod would later cite another common conservative gripe with the candidate: He ran twice (unsuccessfully for Senate against Ted Kennedy, and for governor in 2002) as a pro-choice moderate Republican who supported civil unions for same-sex couples.

“One of his problems has been that he hasn’t inspired a whole lot of confidence or enthusiasm among Republicans. I think across the political spectrum, people have the same question: If you are willing to change positions on fundamental issues of principle, how can we know what you would do as president, how can we trust who you would be?”

And so the Obama campaign appears to be engaged in a two-prong strategy: discredit Romney as a career politician who can’t be trusted, while depressing the conservative base with constant reminders of his breaks with party orthodoxy.

The tactic bears a striking resemblance to the George W. Bush re-election campaign’s successful effort in 2004 to define another Massachusetts politician as effete and prone to flip-flopping before he had the chance to describe himself, all while ensuring (via public attacks) that the candidate’s party would rush to coalesce around him.

Will Paul Ryan Run?

He apparently is being urged from all directions to join the race and bring “substance” to the primary.

Having Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush personally encourage him makes Ryan a more likely candidate. But the same things they like about him — his specificity when it comes to cutting entitlements — seem to make the congressman toxic in a general election. We saw that in New York’s 26th congressional district’s special election this May, when running against Ryan’s Medicare plan allowed a Dem to win the conservative territory, and it’s evident in polls showing the Ryan plan is very unpopular.

Pawlenty Brags About Government Shutdown In Latest TV Spot

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose campaign remains mired in the single digits as the charismatic congresswoman from the Minneapolis suburbs continues to suck up all the air in the room, released a new TV spot yesterday continuing his contrast of “rhetoric” (Bachmann) with “results” (him). He also bragged about shutting down his state’s government:

Pawlenty will need a strong showing at the Ames Straw Poll next month to shake up the narrative of his weak campaign and give him some momentum heading into the caucuses early in 2012.

Party of Banks and Wall Street Struggling to Raise Money

Despite intense anti-Obama sentiment and the conservative wave of last fall’s midterms, Republican presidential contenders are struggling in the fundraising battle, even as they do the bidding of bankers and lobbyists for Wall Street.

After taking the House last November in a wave of conservative opposition to President Obama, Republicans now appear to be struggling to match the financial muscle of Democrats heading into the contentious 2012 elections.

The six GOP presidential candidates who have announced results raised a combined $35 million through June 30, including about $18 million by presumed front-runner Mitt Romney. In 2007, Republican candidates had raised more than $118 million by the same stage of the race, according to a new analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics.

The sluggish pace poses a serious complication in Republican efforts to unseat Obama, and suggests GOP donors simply might be less enthusiastic than their Democratic rivals. The Obama campaign, which has not disclosed numbers yet, is expected to report raising at least $60 million — and perhaps as much as $80 million — in conjunction with the national party.

Republican strategists and donors attribute the depressed fundraising to a combination of factors, including a weak economy . But many GOP advisers also acknowledge that the numbers show a remarkable lack of excitement for the current Republican field, which includes two candidates — Romney and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty — who have effectively been running for president since Obama was elected. Pawlenty in particular has struggled to raise money, finishing behind Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) with $4.3 million.

Many wealthy GOP donors, meanwhile, have remained on the sidelines waiting to see whether another candidate such as Texas Gov. Rick Perry might enter the fray.

“Everyone is looking for Superman,” said Brian Ballard, a Florida donor who was a national finance co-chairman for McCain’s 2008 run but has not yet committed to any of the 2012 candidates. “I don’t think there is any other candidate who is going to come in and change the ultimate result, although Governor Perry could raise money.”

Too bad the earnest, unabashed protection of corporate profits and the rich isn’t earning the GOP presidential candidates much love in return.

Of course, outside advocacy groups like Karl Rove-backed Crossroads GPS, which can raise unlimited sums from undisclosed donors and corporations, help to balance things in favor of the GOP, even if Dem outside groups, Labor among them, are ramping up as well.