http://www.juancole.com/2012/08/top-ten-pieces-of-bad-news-for-romney-on-eve-of-convention.html
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Top Ten Pieces of Bad News for Romney on Eve of Convention
Posted on 08/27/2012 by Juan
1. Ron Paul declined the opportunity to speak at the Republican Convention because he does not “fully support” Mr. Romney. Paul as the leader of the Libertarian wing of the party and as someone who appeals to youth may just have done some damage, fomenting division at Tampa in Republican ranks.
2. Romney staffers were hoping for a bounce in Florida because the GOP convention is being held in Tampa. But former Republican governor of Florida Charlie Crist has come out for President Obama.
3. Some 60% of likely voters say Obama is in tune with the problems of women. Only 30% say that about Romney.
4. Romney is so tone deaf that he keeps talking about his Swiss and Cayman Islands secret bank accounts. His complaint that he is not going to manipulate his life by closing them reminds me of the BP chairman’s complaint that the Gulf oil spill was making his life miserable.
5. A new poll of likely voters gives Obama a 9-point lead in Pennsylvania. Romney is way behind in electoral college delegates and would need to shift a major state like Pennsylvania into the red column if he is going to win. But that strategy may not be feasible for him.
6. Romney’s relationship to Bain Capital and the continued tax benefits he received from it at a time he says he had already left, may reemerge as campaign issues.
7. The specter of Todd Akin of “legitimate rape” notoriety haunts Tampa. Mike Huckabee, who will address the convention, may be planning to defend the Missouri senate candidate who said women can’t get pregnant from being raped. Romney has been running hard away from Akin even as the GOP platform has adopted the “no exceptions” Akin plank in opposition to abortion. See number 3 above.
8. 53% of voters say that Obama “cares about the needs of people; ”Romney? Only 39% say that about him.
9. The American public likes Federal services and does not want to give them up for the sake of tax cuts for billionaires. Romney’s plan? Cut Federal services so as to give his rich cronies tax breaks.
10. Romney had hoped for the undivided attention of the press and the public at Tampa, so as to launch himself into the last phase of the campaign. But he may well have to compete with Hurricane Isaac, especially if it gathers strength in the Gulf and slams into the coast.
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As the storm taketh ay , it also may have given Romney a break as well ( Mike Huckabee won't be speaking so the spectacle of Huck defending Akin won't occur . )
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/27/republicans-disruption-isaac-new-orleans
Republicans braced for more disruption as Isaac heads for New Orleans
GOP officials admit they would find it difficult to push on with their convention in the event of severe flooding in Louisiana
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The convention officially opened, but then was adjourned almost immediately. A full day of events is planned for Tuesday. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Republicans are working on emergency plans to salvage their convention as tropical storm Isaac hurtles towards New Orleans, with party officials acknowledging that their carefully-choreographed event could face further disruption.
The Republicans, still haunted by the fatal delays of President Bush in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina exactly seven years ago, would find it difficult to push ahead with their convention in Tampa in the event of serious flooding.
Organisers said for the first time that the remaining days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – may also be disrupted by Isaac hitting the Gulf coast. They expressed hope that the convention, with a reshaped schedule, would go ahead, but conceded that in a worst-case scenario the whole thing might have to be cancelled.
Under that scenario, Romney would express regret over events in New Orleans and say that human life takes precedence over politics.
Senior Republicans, including Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal andFlorida governor Rick Scott, have pulled out of the convention to focus on leading the Isaac response in their states.
Isaac has already affected the Republican convention, an event intended as a launchpad for Mitt Romney's bid for the White House and an occasion normally attracting guaranteed primetime television spots.
It should have kicked off on Monday, but the Republican national committee cancelled the first day amid severe weather warnings for Florida. However, as delegates gathered for the convention's formal opening followed by its immediate adjournment, the National Hurricane Center lifted the tropical storm warning for Tampa.
Romney, who remains in New Hampshire rehearsing his conference speech, expressed surprised when asked about the convention being cancelled. "Got a great convention ahead," he told the Washington Post.
The Republicans intended to use the event to criticise Barack Obama's economic record and build up Romney's profile. But television networks are now sending teams to New Orleans, and focus on the imminent storm will almost certainly deflect attention from the convention.
RNC chairman Reince Priebus admitted that the convention would have to compete with the weather story. "It's a terrible thing. We certainly hope it doesn't develop into something stronger. We have to tell the Mitt Romney story and prosecute the president on what he promised, what he delivered. And at the same time you have to report on this storm, because it is something that people need to know about," he told NBC.
The convention was officially opened on Monday but went into recess again after less than 10 minutes, and was postponed until Tuesday. Priebus, speaking at the podium in front of mainly journalists, expressed hope that those in the path of Isaac will be kept out off harm's way.
Priebus also launched a political gimmick, a clock ticking for the duration of the convention that will total the amount of federal debt accumulated during that time. There was also a prayer and a short video of Romney expressing his love of America.
Isaac could also give Barack Obama an opportunity to make a high-profile intervention. Having learned the lessons from Bush, Obama would almost certainly head directly for New Orleans in the event of serious damage.
Obama called the governors of the states in the path of the storm to offer government assistance.
The compressed convention schedule caused another high-profile cancellation: entrepreneur and Romney backer Donald Trump was due to have a speaking slot on Monday, but was bumped from the schedule.
The conservative talk show host Mike Huckabee has also pulled out. The former Arkansas governor had been due to speak Monday and has not been rescheduled for later in the week.
Huckabee's non-appearance, though, could prove a blessing for the convention organisers, because he has been one of the few high-profile Republicans to speak out on behalf of the party's senatorial candidate Todd Akin, who is at the centre of the rape/abortion row. If Huckabee had spoken, it would have renewed a controversy the party has been trying to shove to the sidelines.
The seventh anniversary of Katrina will fall on Wednesday. New Orleans has a special resonance for Republicans because of Bush and because of ideological arguments about the level of federal intervention, and this would make it difficult for the party to continue with a raucous convention gathering.
Rich Galen, a Republican strategist, said the tone of the conference might have to be changed. "You can tone down the happy-days-are-here-again a bit," he told AP.
Russ Schriefer, who is organising the convention schedule, told a press conference on Monday the party is not yet seriously looking at extending into Friday. "We are planning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If the weather changes in a way that we have to make some changes … it's a hypothetical question, so I don't want to answer it in that way."
Schriefer said that the schedule was being reorganised to accommodate speakers who had been dropped. Speakers had been asked to shorten their speeches.
"There's a weather event. We all know that," Schriefer said, responding to a question about the impact of the storm heading towards New Orleans.
Various parties and events on the sidelines of the convention were cancelled on Monday, though Tampa was experiencing little more than heavy rain.
A protest organised for Monday was among the events to suffer. Only a few hundred protesters turned up out of a predicted 5,000, and the organisers blamed the warnings about Isaac.
The focus on the storm had one positive for the Republicans, distracting attention from a report that New Jersey governor Chris Christie had turned down the vice-presidential slot because he thought Obama was likely to win the election.
Christie is lined up to be the keynote speaker, with the primetime television slot, on Tuesday night. According to the New York Post, Christie refused to give up his governorship to be Romney's running mate.
Christie, though a popular figure, would have annoyed the conservative wing of the party because he is less hardline than many Republicans over guns and abortion.
Romney campaign officials denied the story.
and.....
http://nj1015.com/the-reason-christie-wasnt-romneys-vice-presidential-nominee/
Romney Campaign Denies The Reason Christie Wasn’t Romney’s Vice Presidential Nominee
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The reason Chris Christie was not Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential nominee was he did not believe Mitt Romney could win in November and did not want to step down as Governor of New Jersey in order to run according to a report in theNew York Post and denied by the Romney campaign and Christie.
New York Post front page story about Christie and VP nomination (NY Post)
“It’s just completely false,” Christie told PolitickerNJ.com. “They both have my phone number and neither one ever called me. I was never offered the vice presidency so a factor in me not taking it was never thinking he could not win. Both (reporters Josh Margolin and Beth DeFalco) have long-term relationships with me. If they picked up the phone” (he would have tried to persuade them not to write the story).
“From my perspective, the story is inaccurate,” Bill Palatucci, Christie’s closest adviser told the Star Ledger and called it “crazy” that Christie didn’t believe all along that Romney would win.
Russ Schriefer told Fox News that he personally spoke with Christie, who called the story “totally untrue.”
According to the Post story, if Romney were to name Christie as the Vice Presidential nominee, the Romney campaign demanded that he give up his office so that pay-to-play laws would not be an issue for banks that do business with the Garden State to contribute to Romney.
and.....
http://www.infowars.com/ron-paul-just-made-the-last-speech-of-his-political-career-heres-what-he-said/
Ron Paul Just Made The Last Speech Of His Political Career — Here’s What He Said
TAMPA, FLA. — Speaking on the eve of the Republican National Convention, Ron Paulreassured hundreds of ecstatic supporters at a rally here Sunday that the revolution he began is far from over.
“Let me tell you, I was a little afraid to come down here,” Paul told the crowd at his Sun Dome rally. “I wasn’t afraid of Hurricane Isaac. But there have been a lot of news headlines that say the Revolution is over….They’re saying the Revolution isn’t happening — they wish!”
It was likely to be one of the last speeches of Paul’s political career — the Texas Congressman’s presidential campaign will officially end when the Republican Party nominates Mitt Romney this week, and Paul is retiring from Congress at the end of this year. But he promised his legions of fans on Sunday that the movement will move forward, even in his absence.
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