REPUBLICAN DEBATE

REPUBLICAN DEBATE
REPUBLICAN DEBATE

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REPUBLICAN DEBATE TONIGHT

Republican debate tonight
republican debate tonight

More about → REPUBLICAN DEBATE TONIGHT

Ralph Reed: Obama Campaign 'Coming With A Knife In An Alley'

President Barack Obama's campaign will do anything to get him elected, GOP political operative Ralph Reed told Florida Republicans Feb. 16.

"So if you can't run on your economic record, you can't run on your foreign policy record, there's only one kind of campaign to run," Reed said. "And that is a scorched earth, negative, 'tear down the Republican nominee' campaign. And that's all this is going to be. And they're coming, and they're coming with a knife in an alley. That's what this fight is going to be like."

Reed told his audience not to underestimate Obama or his campaign team.

"There is nothing they will not do to win an election," Reed said. "This guy is as tough and as mean and as cynical as any politician you'll ever see. There is nothing he's not willing to do."

Reed is the founder of the Faith and Freedom Foundation and former head of the Christian Coalition. In 2006, he ran for lieutenant governor of Georgia but lost in the primary, partially due to the disclosure of business ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The remarks were originally taped by Conservative New Media and picked up by Right Wing Watch.

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Arizona Debate: Republican Candidates Facing Off

        

      Republican Candidates Facing Off Struggling for an edge, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum campaigned Wednesday into the 20th and possibly final debate of the roller-coaster race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul rounded out the debate roster six days before primaries in Arizona and Michigan.

In the hours leading to the event, Romney called for a 20 percent across-the-board cut in personal income taxes as part of a program he said would revitalize the economy and help create jobs. The top tax rate would drop from 35 percent to 28 percent, and some popular breaks would be scaled back for upper-income taxpayers. However, aides provided scant details.

"We've got to have more jobs, less debt and smaller government, they go together," Romney said in an appearance in nearby Chandler. "By lowering those marginal rates, we help businesses that pay at the individual tax rate to have more money so they can hire more people."

Romney's proposal sharpened his differences with President Barack Obama, who favors allowing tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush to expire on higher incomes.

Santorum, who has emerged as Romney's leading challenger in the Republican race, campaigned at a tea party gathering in Tucson, where he said his rival's new tax proposal largely mirrored one he had had already made

"Welcome to the party, governor, it's great to have you along," he said.

The debate came as yet another pivot point approached in a campaign that already has had more than its share of them. With a decision by Romney, Santorum and Paul to pull out of another joint event that had been set for Atlanta, there were indications this debate could be the last.

While some public polls show a close race in Arizona, Romney's campaign seems confident of winning the state's primary next week, so much so that it hasn't aired any television commercials to date.

But the former Massachusetts governor faces an unexpectedly strong challenge in his home state of Michigan, where Santorum is hoping to spring an upset. Santorum's candidacy has rebounded in the two weeks since he won caucuses in Minnesota, Colorado and a non-binding primary in Missouri on the same day.

The result is a multi-million-dollar barrage of television commercials in Michigan in which the candidates and their allies swap accusations in hopes of tipping the race.

A victory in Michigan – no matter who claims it – would also provide momentum for the 10 primaries and caucuses a week later on Super Tuesday. In all, 518 Republican National Convention delegates are at stake between Feb. 28 and March 6, three times the number awarded in the states that have voted since the beginning of the year. It takes 1,144 to win the nomination.

Romney's decision to unveil elements of a new economic program during the day coincided with a fresh call for a corporate tax cut from the Obama administration.

In a statement, Obama said he was presenting "a framework that lowers the corporate tax rate and broadens the tax base in order to increase competitiveness for companies across the nation" in the name of fairness.

Corporations would have to give up dozens of breaks and corporations with overseas operations would also face an unspecified minimum tax on their foreign earnings.

Romney, like other Republicans, said that was a tax hike in reality.

"We have a very different course set out," he said. "The president will take us in one direction. He wants to raise taxes. That will kill jobs in this country."

But in fact, according to Romney's aides, the Republican's proposal for personal income tax cuts would include reductions in existing tax breaks to avoid raising federal deficits, the same claim that the administration made for its corporate tax recommendations.

Santorum's rise in the race has left Gingrich and Paul on the outside looking for a way in.

The former House speaker has yet to recover from a campaign nosedive that began after he won the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21, and he is pinning his hopes on his home state of Georgia to begin a comeback on March 6.

His campaign announced plans Wednesday to buy 30-minute blocks of television time in upcoming primary and caucus states for an infomercial on reducing energy prices.

Gingrich's decision not to campaign in Michigan so far has allowed Santorum to compete against Romney without also having to fend off a rival for the votes of conservatives.

Paul has yet to win any primaries or caucuses.

He has weighed in against Santorum, though, airing an ad in Michigan that challenges the former senator's claim of taking a conservative line against federal spending. The ad says Santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times, and also supported legislation that created a prescription drug benefit under Medicare.

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Video: Watch the full CNN Florida Republican debate

The four remaining GOP candidates battled for the last time before the Florida primary in a debate sponsored by CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network. This debate took place at the University of North Florida located in Jacksonville.

Here is the entire debate video via YouTube:

Alternate full debate video link: ElectAd.com

Front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich got the most attention and Romney appeared to get the better of his opponent on a couple of occasions during the final debate before Tuesday's critical Florida primary.

While his attacks Thursday night on his rival weren't sharp, Romney was forceful and had Gingrich on his heels when he brushed accusations aside and turned them back on Gingrich at the CNN/Republican Party of Florida debate in Jacksonville.

"Romney won two ways tonight," said CNN contributor and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos. "One, by having a good debate and two by having [Rick] Santorum have his best debate yet."

Romney appeals to the more moderate wing of the Republican Party while Santorum and Gingrich are competing for the conservative vote.

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Live Chat: Florida Republican Primary, January 31 at 7:30pm

January 31, 2011–As Florida's primary votes come in, the writers and political pundits of the Communities @WashingtonTimes.com will be watching and commenting while monitoring the returns of the 2012 Florida Republican primary.

Tonight's primary is a winner-take-all contest with fifty Electoral College delegates at stake. Florida lost 50 of their delegates when they moved the primary date prior to Tuesday, March 6th. Moving the the primary to an earlier date is seen as Florida attempting to gain influence on the Presidential nomination, ergo the penalty. 

Delegates for a state are determined by a number of factors, the top three being (thank you to Green Paper for this information): 

For Jurisdictions with Constitutionally Elected Members of Congress:

10 At-Large delegates from each state, that is, 5 at-large delegates for each U.S. Senator. 

3 District delegates for each U.S. Representative as established by the 2010 census [Rule 13(a)(3)].

For all Jurisdictions - 3 party leaders: the national committeeman, the national committeewoman, and the chairman of the state Republican Party.

Visit Green Paper to see a delegate number breakdown chart by state and that shows how the entire 2,429 at-large, district, party leader, president, governor, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and Chamber delegates break down.

To be the Republican nominee, be it Mitt Romney, Newt Gringrich, Ron Paul, or Rick Santorum, the candidate must be the first to accumulate 1141 delegates. CNN estimates that Romney has earned 34 delegates; Gingrich 27; ten, and Santorum eight.  Florida’s 50 delegates equal about four percent of the total needed to win the nomination.

The Florida primary is a closed primary meaning that only registered Republican Party members may vote.

Florida represents about four percent of the votes needed to win the nomination – the most of any single state so far. Its winner-take-all status will give the victor a temporary lead over the other candidates, however states like Texas with 155 delegates and California with 172 are states where a candidate has the most to lose. Both California and Texas are proportional states; so one Candidate will not win all delegates, therefore it is even more important to win “big” in these states.

The Communities will open the chat around 7:30 EST so choose your favorite broadcast pundits, from CNN, Fox or MSNBC and fire up your computer and join us to discuss the results and candidate speeches as they come in.

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In Iowa, British-Accented Radio Host Draws G.O.P. Hopefuls

 If you’re competing in the Iowa caucuses, there’s a new obligatory stop on the campaign trail this year, and it’s not a greasy spoon or an evangelical church.

It’s the WHO-AM radio show ofSimon Conway. Mr. Conway, while cutting and often brash, does not fit the conservative talk radio mold. For one, he is British by birth, and his thick English accent can be somewhat disorienting as it booms from stereos here in the heartland. He also happens to be Jewish, a fact that seems lost on many listeners, especially those who are wishing him Merry Christmas these days.

“Rick Perry. Had him in last Friday for an hour,” Mr. Conway said in an interview this week.

Newt Gingrich? “I’ve looked him in the eye. Twice had him in.”

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum, who stopped in for an hour-long interview on Wednesday, have all been on his afternoon show several times on WHO. Mitt Romney has yet to agree to come on, though Mr. Conway said his campaign was mulling a request.

“If you want to reach Iowans, pretty much you’ve got to sit in WHO,” Mr. Conway noted.

On the national stage, Fox News is the media outlet of choice for Republican candidates, who are sitting for continuous rounds of interviews and spending considerable sums on advertising, because the network is a surefire way to reach large numbers of conservatives.

But in Iowa, WHO-AM (1040) plays that role, as the most listened-to and widely broadcast news radio station in the state.

WHO’s 50,000-watt signal carries easily across Iowa’s mostly flat terrain, making it available to just about any Iowan with a radio. Unlike the state’s segmented television markets — which are split into several regions from Sioux City in the West to Des Moines in the center to Cedar Rapids in the East — WHO offers the only truly statewide broadcast.

“It’s a 50,000-watt blowtorch,” said Matthew Strawn, chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. According to Arbitron, nearly 65,000 people across Iowa tune in during the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. afternoon drive period at any given point during the average week when Mr. Conway’s show is broadcast — a small audience but still the largest in Iowa for talk radio. And given the demographics of talk radio — the audience tends to skew toward the politically attuned, conservative type that Republican candidates want to reach — WHO offers a highly targeted way for campaigns to convey their messages, through interviews or advertising.

Mr. Conway was named in April to WHO’s storied roster of hosts — the station is where Ronald Reagan made a name for himself as a sportscaster in the 1930s — replacing Steve Deace, a firebrand religious conservative whose 4 p.m. program was another must-visit destination for Republican candidates. (Mr. Deace now hosts a syndicated radio program.) The choice to hire Mr. Conway was a bold one for the Des Moines station, an institution that has always prided itself on its Hawkeye heritage. But minus the accent, he seems right at home here.

“He is very good at stirring the pot, and I have some admiration for how quickly he was able to figure Iowa out,” said Stephen Winzenburg, a professor of communications at Grand View University here who studies the intersection of media and politics. “He’s good at working the system, figuring out who the key players are and inviting them on his show.”

Mr. Strawn of the state Republican Party said that Mr. Conway set sights on him early. Shortly after Mr. Conway started at WHO, the Republican leader said he got a text message from him proposing that they meet.

Mr. Conway, who has a broad chest, blue eyes and swept-back brown hair that is graying slightly around the temples, wears an American flag pin on his lapel, a gold necklace with a Hebrew letter chai pendant and cowboy boots. He cast his first ballot in an American election in 2008. “That was for McCain,” he said, wincing and plugging his nose. His dog, a rescued chocolate Labrador retriever, is named Reagan.

His interviews, which tend to be free-wheeling and nonconfrontational, have produced some of memorable moments in the presidential campaign. He prompted Representative Ron Paul of Texas to acknowledge that his noninterventionist foreign policy would have precluded him from carrying out the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. And in comments that grabbed headlines, Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, told Mr. Conway that he would fire Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke.

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