Obama seeing personal effects of shutdown

YAH!!  I'LL BET!! HAD TO CANCEL A USELESS TRIP TO ASIA!!

President Obama on Wednesday said that he is beginning to see the effects of the shutdown at the White House, as he took his case against GOP lawmakers outside the beltway.

"I’ve got young people here who are expecting their first child and aren’t sure whether they’re gonna be able to pay their mortgage," Obama told an ABC affiliate in Philadelphia, in one of four sit-downs with local television stations as he continued to press Republicans to pass a funding bill and raise the nation’s debt ceiling without any restrictions.

"I’ve got folks who get in a car accident but aren't sure whether they can pay the deductible," he added.

Obama also sat down for interviews with WRC in Washington, D.C., WTVR in Richmond, Va., and WFLA in Tampa, Fla.

The interviews came as the federal government shutdown entered its ninth day, with a deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by Oct. 17 rapidly approaching.

Obama sought to take his message that the shutdown, and a possible default if the U.S. fails to extend its borrowing limit, would wreak havoc on the fragile economic recovery and hurt American families to the public.

Republicans are seeking changes to Obamacare, deeper spending cuts or entitlement reforms in exchange for a funding bill and debt ceiling hike.

But Obama says he will only negotiate if they pass a clean continuing resolution and raise the debt ceiling first, even if for only a short extension.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, however, dismissed that as a call for “unconditional surrender” and said Republicans expected Obama to sit down with them first.

“We’re going to do everything we can to get this solved. And there’s a real simple solution. ... The Speaker of the House could solve this today by simply reopening the government. It doesn’t require the Speaker or Republicans to make any concessions,” said Obama to NBC Washington. “The Speaker yesterday said it would be ‘unconditional surrender’ to reopen the government. That doesn’t make sense to a lot of people.

“I mean, if we just go back to the point where the budget was before the shutdown occurred and both parties sit down and negotiate and people are put back on the job ... I don’t think anybody would consider that a concession to me or the Democrats,” he added. “I think that’s just common sense.”

Via: Washington Examiner

Continue Reading...

Romney, Obama camps war over 'state of the race'

(CNN) - Who has the momentum in the race for the White House, President Barack Obama or GOP challenger Mitt Romney?

Each campaign says they do, and are seeking to impress upon reporters that point.

– Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

– Check out the CNN Electoral Map and Calculator and game out your own strategy for November.

"A week from today, we will know hopefully the outcome of the election and we believe that Mitt Romney will be the next president of the United States," Russ Schriefer, a senior adviser to Romney's campaign, said Wednesday afternoon in a conference call with reporters.

Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod cited poll and early voting numbers in a separate call a few hours earlier, saying, "We feel very, very good about the numbers that we're mounting up in those states."

Their efforts come with only six days remaining in the presidential contest and after several days of campaigning were scrapped as Superstorm Sandy battered several eastern states. On Monday,Obama's campaign held a call with the same theme, and earlier on Friday, Romney senior adviser Kevin Madden told reporters traveling with the candidate that Democrats were feeling under pressure.

"I think in many of these states where the Democrats considered those to be locked down, safe states that they weren't going to have to defend, they've now gone up with - they're now pouring resources into those states," he said. "They have to put up ads on the air, and I think that shows that they're playing defense, whereas when we've gone in with resources to many states, it's because we're playing offense, that we have an expanded map now to get to the, our electoral of 270."

Madden's briefing took place on a flight from Miami to Tampa, Florida, and was the first time in several days the campaign has held an on-the-record briefing for reporters.

The Romney campaign described their newly-developing effort in Pennsylvania - where they have announced an ad buy on Monday and Tuesday of next week - which Democrats have said is a bluff to show confidence.

"As you looked at the numbers in Pennsylvania starting to close it became a very interesting place for us to go in," Romney's political director, Rich Beeson, said. "And when you look at the issues in Pennsylvania, when you look at the absentee ballot numbers that are playing out there - and we are significantly over performing in those - Pennsylvania is a place that we decided to wade into as a path to 300 electoral votes."

Only 270 electoral votes are required to win the presidency, and the CNN Electoral Map predicts Romney holds 206 and Obama 237 with 95 among eight toss up states.

Via: CNN

Continue Reading...

Race tightens for swing states

Mitt Romney’s overwhelming debate victory has tightened the presidential race in the dozen or so battleground states that will determine the winner of the election.

To reach the Oval Office, Romney must win back a number of the states won by President Bush in 2004 but President Obama in 2008 —or win back states like Pennsylvania that have been won by Democratic presidential candidates the past several cycles.

Here’s a look at where the swing-state battles stand ahead of Obama and Romney’s second debate showdown on Tuesday night.

Florida (29)

Romney enjoys a two-percentage-point advantage in the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of polls after crushing Obama in their initial debate. He had previously trailed the president by 1.6 percentage points.

But it’s possible Romney’s numbers are being boosted by one poll. The Tampa Bay Times released a survey Thursday that showed him up by 7 percentage points, a finding the looks like an outlier compared to other polls.

The Tampa poll showed Obama’s 11-point lead among independents swing to a 13 point advantage for Romney. In addition, Hispanic voters in the poll favored Romney 46 to 44 percent over Obama, despite the president’s more than 50-percentage point lead among the group nationally.

Obama campaign adviser David Plouffe dismissed the poll, telling the Tampa Bay Times that “it’s impossible for us to be at 44 in Florida,” and arguing that the campaign believes it will outperform its 2008 support among Hispanics. Plouffe said Obama’s campaign expects to take win at least 60 percent of the Hispanic vote.

Florida is must win territory for Romney given the uphill climb he faces in other swing states.

Via: The Hill

Continue Reading...

Romney copying Reagan's 1980 path to victory

TAMPA, Fla. - The Romney campaign has seized on Ronald Reagan's 1980 playbook, hoping to copy the Gipper's transformation during his GOP convention and subsequent debate with Jimmy Carter from a mocked B-tier Hollywood actor to a respected and winning presidential alternative.

Several Republicans including Romney's son Tagg said that Mitt Romney's path to the White House is a carbon copy of Reagan's, who was ridiculed by Carter and his team as they tried to divert attention to their hapless management of the economy.

Former Republican Party boss Haley Barbour said Carter accused Reagan of being a warmonger and loony conservative but when voters saw him perform well at the 1980 convention and debate, they thought, "Reagan doesn't look like a nut to me. He seems like a pretty nice guy."

That's the goal of Team Romney here--use family to show his softer side, highlight his charity and spell out in detail his plans for the presidency. "We don't have to hit it out of the park," said son Tagg Romney. Instead, he said, his father simply needs to show that he's not the ogre the Obama team is making him out to be.

Barbour suggested that Romney is on the verge of a big break out, based on polling numbers. He noted that when Romney became the presumptive nominee, the first Gallup Poll had him up by 2 percent. When Reagan became the presumptive nominee, he added, Gallup had him 14 points behind Carter and nine points behind at the beginning of the GOP convention.

Romney, however, is dead even with Obama.

But Democrats don't buy it and think Romney is moving too late to remake his image. Bill Burton, co-founder of the Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action, told Secrets, "Romney missed a critical opportunity to tell the American people his story this spring and summer. As a result of only attacking President Obama and not introducing himself, voters see Romney as the kind of guy who got rich by rigging the system and profiting from the losses experienced by hard-working middle class families."

And, he added, a softer performance in Tampa might not work. "He can fix that some during the convention but there has been a hardening of Romney's perceived indifference to the middle class that will be difficult to wash away," said Burton.

Via: Washington Examiner

Continue Reading...

REPUBLICAN CONVENTION SET TO ROCK LIKE A HURRICANE

This isn’t 2008 any more. The conservative movement, aware of the dire threat to America’s future, is unifying this time. Their awareness is spreading to independents, as Steve Bannon’s devastating indictment of the Obama presidency, The Hope & The Change, produced by Citizens United, shows. That means that Barack Obama is in trouble.  The bounce the Romney/Ryan team should get from this week’s Republican National Convention should be very real, no matter how the press spins it for Obama.

The RNC isn’t going to waste any time gunning their engine; the second night, the Convention features a screening of Bannon's The Hope & The Change, which features the personal stories of 40 Democrats and independents who supported President Obama in 2008, but now want nothing to do with him. (Monday night, Bannon and Citizens United are slated to show one of the late Andrew Breitbart's great passion projects, Occupy Unmasked, as well.)

Another salient fact to note is that Paul Ryan, who is garnering stunning positives in surveys being conducted, is still largely an unknown to the general citizenry.  Just as Obama was a fresh face in 2008, Ryan has the glow of someone who hasn’t been diminished by excessive exposure to the public. And he’s a politician who grows on people with time.

Via: Breitbart:

Continue Reading...

Mitt Romney: President Obama Has ‘Admitted Defeat’ On The Economy

This hits pretty close to the mark, if you've been listening to what Obama has been saying these past few months.

The Hill:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney accused President Obama on Saturday of giving up on trying to fix the economy, saying he had "admitted defeat."

In his weekly podcast, Romney pounced on a recent government report, which found that the unemployment rate rose in 44 states last month.

He accused Obama of blaming the "stalemate in Washington" instead of working to boost job creation.

With millions of Americans hurting like never before, the President has admitted defeat. With five months to go before his term his up, he's saying he won't even try anymore," Romney claimed.

The presumptive Republican nominee for president argued that he has the executive experience necessary to turn the economy around.

"I've led companies. I've overseen an Olympic Games. And I've governed a great American state," Romney said. "When people are telling you to give up, that's when you find a way to try harder. When others are pointing fingers, that's when you extend an open hand. And when Americans are hurting and families are falling apart, that's when you put politics aside and find a way to get them some help. In a word, you lead."

Romney will accept his party's presidential nomination in Tampa, Fla. next week.

"Look to Tampa. Two days from now, leaders from all across the country will gather to show Americans that help is on the way," Romney said.

Romney's line is reminiscent of the acceptance speech of 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry, who repeatedly said, "America can do better. And help is on the way."

The fact is, President Obama has failed miserably in trying to "stimulate" the economy by pouring hundreds of billions of dollars in "investments" for green energy, infrastructure projects, and other temporary measures that have done nothing except drive up the deficit.

Instead if removing obstacles to job creation, the president has put up more roadblocks to recovery. One simply cannot reconcile Mr. Obama's policies with his whining about a lack of job creation. If he can't realize that you can't have stifling regulations and growing uncertainty in the business community because of the effects of Obamacare, and healthy job creation at the same time, we really need to replace our clueless chief executive with someone who can make the connection -- and address the problem intelligently.

Via: American Thinker