| Palin to embark on East Coast bus tour May 27, 2011, 2:03 a.m. EDT Associated PressJournal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr., Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Selection Poll B.O.Page! JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin will embark this weekend on a campaign-style bus tour along the East Coast, sending a jolt through the now-sleepy Republican presidential contest and thrusting a telegenic but divisive politician back into the nation’s spotlight. Palin’s tour announcement is the strongest signal yet that she is considering a presidential bid, despite her failure to take traditional steps such as organizing a campaign team in early primary states. The former Alaska governor’s approval ratings have fallen across the board — including among Republicans — in recent months. But many conservatives adore her, and she has enough name recognition and charisma to shake up a GOP contest that at this point seems to be focusing on three male former governors. Beginning Sunday, Palin plans to meet with veterans and visit historic sites that her political action committee calls key to the country’s formation, survival and growth. The tour follows reports that Palin has bought a house in Arizona and the disclosure that she’s authorized a feature-length film about her career, which could serve as a campaign centerpiece. She recently said she has “that fire in the belly” for a presidential bid. Palin said on the website for SarahPAC that the nation is at a “critical turning point,” and that her bus tour will serve as a reminder of “who we are and what Americans stand for.” Many Republican Party insiders say that Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, has engaged in too many political spats and soap-opera dramas to win the nomination and challenge President Barack Obama 18 months from now. “I think that pathway is closed,” said GOP pollster Wes Anderson, who is not working for any presidential candidate. Still, Anderson said, it’s not surprising that Palin would look at the current field “and say, ‘Why not me?'” A Gallup poll of Republicans, taken before Palin announced the bus tour, showed former Massachusetts Mitt Romney favored by 17 percent. Palin followed closely at 15 percent. Ron Paul had 10 percent, Newt Gingrich 9 percent, Herman Cain 8 percent, Tim Pawlenty 6 percent, and Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman 5 percent each. Party insiders argue that Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, and Huntsman, a former Utah governor, have the best chances to compete with Romney over the long haul. But a Palin candidacy could affect the contest in unpredictable ways. In Iowa, Palin could appeal to thousands of religious conservatives who participate heavily in the nation’s first presidential caucus. But she lacks, for now at least, the ground organization considered essential to getting supporters to the caucus meetings, held every four years on a winter night. Palin fans are laying the groundwork for such an organization on their own in hopes that she will run. If she does, she might challenge orthodoxy by using her star power and fame, not ground troops, to compete in Iowa. Palin appears regularly on Fox News. She has hosted a reality TV show, and her oldest daughter has a TV show of her own. Palin has written a best-selling book, and draws large crowds when she appears at book stores, rallies and other events. Limited details of Palin’s “One Nation” tour were released on the website of SarahPAC. The tour is to start in Washington and move up the East Coast into New England, perhaps even to the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire. SarahPAC’s treasurer didn’t immediately return messages Thursday seeking details. “It’s imperative that we connect with our founders, our patriots, our challenges and victories to clearly see our way forward,” Palin said on the website. “A good way to do this is to appreciate the significance of our nation’s historic sites, patriotic events and diverse cultures, which we’ll do in the coming weeks on our ‘One Nation’ tour.” Palin said the country doesn’t need fundamental transformation but a “restoration of all that is good and strong and free in America.” As Sen. John McCain‘s running mate in 2008, Palin electrified the Republican nominating convention audience, and brought energy and vigor to a struggling campaign. But she stumbled in news interviews and sometimes seemed out of her depth on national and international issues. Since then, Palin has often depicted herself as the victim of mean-spirited enemies, including some news organizations. Critics said she showed a lack of compassion and political savvy when she delivered a sharp-tongued commentary days after an Arizona congressman was gravely injured in a shooting. Fox News said Thursday it was not changing Palin’s status as a paid commentator, a sign that network officials do not consider a presidential run imminent. ___ Babington reported from Washington. Associated Press Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report. _________________________________________________________ Video Section:
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A no-new-taxes philosophy guided Tim Pawlenty’s budget approach …
| Pawlenty: An economic pro or crafty budget setter? May 25, 2011, 4:25 p.m. EDT Associated Press Journal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr., Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Selection Poll B.O.Page! ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A no-new-taxes philosophy guided Tim Pawlenty‘s budget approach as Minnesota governor. Accounting tricks, a well-timed infusion of stimulus money from Washington and word games kept the Republican mostly on that course. The newly minted presidential candidate hopes Republican primary voters will see him as an economic pro accustomed to dealing with red ink and capable of confronting the nation’s colossal fiscal problems. “We balanced the budget every two years in my state without question,” Pawlenty said Wednesday at a conservative think tank in Washington. “We have a constitutional requirement, as almost every other state does. It must be balanced, it has to be balanced, it always will be balanced. In fact, the last budget that I finished ends this summer, here in about two months. And it’s going to end in the black.” On the campaign trail, the Republican eagerly highlights his many tax-increase vetoes. And he boasts of enduring a partial government shutdown as well as a workers’ strike to contain costs. But his record also carries vulnerabilities for foes to exploit. There’s the carefully crafted “health impact fee” on cigarettes. It’s a euphemism for a tax increase in the eyes of some allies and most opponents. Minnesota lurched from one deficit to another under his eight-year tenure. The state’s books technically balanced when he left office in January, but by then a mammoth deficit was forecast for the first budget his successor would need to craft. When asked about that legacy, Pawlenty said the analysis is off-base: “It’s based on a big increase in projected spending — 20-some percent increase — that I never would’ve allowed.” Pawlenty distances himself from that projected $5 billion shortfall, but it’s partly attributable to temporary fixes he either proposed or consented to. Schools are owed more than $1.4 billion in state IOUs, one-time stimulus dollars used to prop up ongoing state expenses are drying up and short-lived spending curbs Pawlenty first enacted using his executive powers are expiring. His defenders, including former Republican House Speaker Steve Sviggum, say Pawlenty had to work within the confines of a politically split state government and wanted to be more aggressive than Democrats in the Legislature would permit. “It took some patchwork, no doubt,” Sviggum said. “But the fact is, we were able to meet the constitutional charge of balancing the budget without raising taxes.” Taxes did rise in the Pawlenty era, although his fingerprints aren’t on them. His veto of a gas tax increase was overridden and voters raised the sales tax through a ballot measure. Property taxes shot up in the Pawlenty years, mostly those enacted by city, county or school governments as they coped with stagnant or falling state aid. The year he entered the governor’s office, Minnesota land owners paid about $5.1 billion in property taxes; the total take topped $8 billion when he departed. “Tim Pawlenty consistently passed the buck — onto local governments, onto the Legislature, onto anyone he could,” said state Rep. Paul Thissen, the top House Democrat. “His budgets were filled with shifts, tricks and gimmicks that created perpetual state deficits and set Minnesota behind the rest of the nation.” Then there are fees. The state slapped higher surcharges on everything from speeding tickets to marriage licenses. None was more controversial than the 75 cent-per-pack levy on cigarettes, which helped break the stalemate that pushed Minnesota to a government shutdown in 2005. Pawlenty insists the cigarette “fee” is directly linked to health costs attributable to smoking, and the state Supreme Court vouched for that terminology when tobacco companies sued to block it. Anti-tax groups, including the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, regard it as clear blemish on Pawlenty’s record. “I still call it a tax increase even though the Supreme Court blessed it as a fee, not a tax,” said Phil Krinkie, the league’s president and a former Republican legislative colleague of Pawlenty. GOP primary voters looking for a Pawlenty scorecard will find a mixed appraisal from conservative groups. The conservative Club for Growth gave Pawlenty a less-than-flattering review Tuesday, saying his ideological moorings may not be as strong as he’s projecting. “A President Pawlenty, we suspect, would fight for pro-growth policies, but would be susceptible to adopting ‘pragmatic’ policies that grow government,” the group concludes in a report it prepared on him. But the Cato Institute, which advocates for smaller government and hosted him, gave Pawlenty one of four “A” grades for governors in its latest rankings. He wasn’t always in the group’s good graces. Chris Edwards, Cato’s director of tax policy studies, said Pawlenty’s frequent vetoes, ready use of executive budget-cutting powers and advocacy of corporate tax cuts account for his high marks now. “In the last four or five years, he has followed very much of a small-government approach on fiscal policy,” Edwards said. “Perhaps he knew he was going to run for president.” _________________________________________________________ Video Section: PS., Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Make Your Selection Below! _________________________________________________________________
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Tim Pawlenty on Monday cast himself as the Republican candidate willing to tell the country hard truths …
| Pawlenty launches bid, delivers tough talk in Iowa May 23, 2011, 3:26 p.m. EDTAssociated Press Journal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr.,
Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Selection Poll B.O.Page! DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Tim Pawlentyon Monday cast himself as the Republican candidate willing to tell the country hard truths as he seeks the presidency, bluntly announcing in corn-dependent Iowa that its prized federal subsidies for ethanol should be phased out. “The truth about federal energy subsidies, including federal subsidies for ethanol, is that they have to be phased out,” Pawlenty told about 200 Republican activists and supporters in Des Moines in his first public appearance since officially kicking off his White House bid Sunday. “We simply can’t afford them anymore.” The former Minnesota governor is using his first week of campaigning as an announced candidate to try to cast himself as a straight-talking Midwesterner, unafraid to consider drastic changes to sensitive spending programs in order to solve the nation’s fiscal problems. He faces several obstacles in pursuing the GOP nomination; he isn’t well-known nationally, ranks low in popularity polling and has been tagged by comedians and the chattering class as boring. Pawlenty’s announcement came hours after Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ decision against a bid jolted the GOP race and brought the field into clearer focus. Pawlenty made fiscal overhaul the centerpiece of his announcement speech, and planned to not just challenge politically influential Iowans, but swing-voting seniors in Florida and wealthy bank executives on Wall Street. “Conventional wisdom says you can’t talk about ethanol in Iowa or Social Security in Florida or financial reform on Wall Street,” Pawlenty said. “But someone has to say it. Someone has to finally stand up and level with the American people. Someone has to lead.” Pawlenty plans to outline a Social Security plan that raises the retirement age for seniors and requires means-testing for wealthier retirees. The proposals are aimed at establishing Pawlenty as a candidate who levels with the American people, which he said President Barack Obama, whom he hopes to challenge next year, has not done. “President Obama’s policies have failed,” Pawlenty said, delivering a speech and answering questions from the audience but not reporters. “But more than that, he won’t even tell us the truth about what it’s really going to take to get out of the mess that we’re in.” Pawlenty acknowledged the political sensitivity of changing Social Security and eliminating ethanol subsidies. “I’m not some out-of-touch politician from some other part of the country,” he said. “But even in Minnesota, when we faced fiscal challenges, we reduced ethanol subsidies. That’s where we are now in Washington, but on a much, much larger scale.” As governor, Pawlenty played both sides of the ethanol issue. He angered farmers by pushing to trim subsidy payments to ethanol producers early in his first term. But he won their favor later by spearheading a drive to boost the amount of the fuel additive blended into each gallon of gasoline sold in the state. It must be 20 percent by 2013. While the challenge to ethanol was a risk, Pawlenty made clear what Iowa means to his candidacy. The setting for Pawlenty’s appearance — a sun-splashed rooftop terrace overlooking the Iowa Capitol — underscored how important the state’s leadoff presidential caucuses are to his bid as he tries to take advantage of Daniels’ absence to position himself as the principal challenger to Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor lost his first bid in 2008 and again is seeking the nomination of a party that historically has nominated a candidate who had run previously. Given an opportunity to go after Romney in a Monday morning appearance on network television, Pawlenty demurred, saying he’d prefer to talk about his own presidential traits than criticize others. He did acknowledge he probably wouldn’t be able to compete with the former private equity investment firm executive in terms of fundraising. However, while criticizing Obama’s candidness about the depths of the nation’s fiscal crisis, he also subtly called on his would-be GOP rivals to be honest about the problems. “It’s time for America’s president — and anyone who wants to be president — to look you in the eye and tell you the truth,” he said. The appearance was one in a highly scripted, multi-format campaign roll-out that began Sunday evening with an internet video and continued Monday morning with Pawlenty’s appearances on all the network news morning programs. It is part of an 18-month ramp-up that began with Pawlenty’s first Iowa trip as a possible candidate, and is aimed at branding him as the fresh-faced, but tough-minded executive able to take on an incumbent Democratic president. Pawlenty, who must win the party nomination before getting the chance to take on Obama, virtually ignored his GOP rivals in an announcement video, a column published in USA Today and his speech. Pawlenty’s Monday visit was his 14th to Iowa since the 2008 election, more than any candidate except former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. The little-known Midwesterner hopes an Iowa victory will give him a boost into next-up New Hampshire and beyond, a strategy that carries potential benefits and risks. If he wins Iowa, as he says he must, Pawlenty could emerge as the chief rival to Romney, who lost the GOP nomination in 2008 and ranks higher in polls this year. If Pawlenty falls short, however, he’ll have to reevaluate the viability of his bid for the Republican nomination, despite the two years’ groundwork he’s laid in his neighboring state. “In Iowa, he is all in. All his cards are right out on the table,” said Bob Haus, a veteran Iowa GOP strategist who managed Fred Thompson’s 2008 caucus campaign and is uncommitted for 2012. Pawlenty has used his visits to appeal to many of the sometimes fractious segments of Iowa’s GOP base, seeking to compete for all parts of the party. “He fits with the social conservatives, has the background of a budget cutter, and he’s strong with national security conservatives. Plus, he’s a good guy, and he’s here, working it,” said Richard Schwarm, a confidant of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and a former state GOP chairman who so far hasn’t chosen a candidate to back in the caucuses. Pawlenty appeared Monday on NBC’s “Today” show and CBS’s “The Early Show.” ____ Online link to “Today” show interview: http://on.today.com _________________________________________________________ Video Section: PS., Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? 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Tim Pawlenty: A laid-back Midwestern Republican is running for president and will declare his candidacy on …
| APNewsBreak: Aide: Pawlenty running for president May 20, 2011, 2:49 p.m. EDT Associated Press Journal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr., Owner and Founder of: http://www.LedSomeBioMetrics.com Hello Reader, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Selection Poll B.O.Page!
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a laid-back Midwestern Republican who governed a Democratic-leaning state, is running for president and will declare his candidacy on Monday in the leadoff caucus state of Iowa, an adviser told The Associated Press. The adviser, who disclosed the plans on the condition of anonymity in advance of next week’s announcement, said Pawlenty will formally enter the race during a town hall-style event in Des Moines, Iowa. He’s choosing to make his long-expected bid official in a critical state in his path to the GOP nomination. Advisers acknowledge that Pawlenty, 50, must win or turn in a strong showing during next winter’s caucuses in the neighboring state of Iowa to have any chance of becoming the Republican who will challenge President Barack Obama, a Democrat, next November. After Monday’s announcement, he will head to Florida, New Hampshire, New York and Washington, D.C. The move is no surprise. Pawlenty been laying the groundwork for a national campaign since John McCain passed him over in 2008 as his vice presidential nominee. He has worked to boost his national profile, assemble a staff, travel the country and build a fundraising network, all while positioning himself as a Republican with a record of resisting increases in taxes and government spending. He left the governor’s post in January and he took the first step toward the presidency two months later by setting up an exploratory committee. In the early stages of the campaign, he has struggled to raise his standing in polls or attract a niche constituency as Republicans with more star power — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and celebrity businessman Donald Trump — dangled themselves as possible candidates, only to opt out of bids. Pawlenty has some big obstacles as he seeks the GOP nomination in a wide-open field. He is not nearly as well known nationally as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and even libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul. And others with even bigger names — Sarah Palin — still may enter the fray. So too may a fellow Minnesotan, Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is a darling of the tea party and has indicated she’s likely to launch a campaign soon. The low-key Pawlenty also is fighting an impression at least within the GOP establishment that he’s too bland to excite voters. He also has no personal wealth and isn’t uniquely aligned with any one Republican faction — like social conservatives or fiscal Republicans — as are other candidates. But in a GOP field with no clear favorite, Pawlenty hopes that he can cobble together a winning coalition of voters by attracting a wide array of Republicans, from religious conservatives to tea party adherents to establishment figures. As he travels the country, he boasts of reining in state spending and blocking tax hikes during two terms as Minnesota’s governor, as well as stressing his working-class roots and evangelical Christian faith. “I’m the only candidate in the field who can unite the whole Republican Party, not just one part of it, in a genuine and authentic way, and then go out an appeal to the whole country,” Pawlenty said this week before a fundraiser in Minnesota. He points to his record in Minnesota as proof that he can have appeal across the ideological spectrum. Pawlenty, who passed up an opportunity to run for a third term as governor to seek the presidency, won the governors’ office twice without a majority of the vote in races that included third-party candidates. During his tenure, Pawlenty had to contend with a Legislature that was partly or fully controlled by Democrats the eight years he was governor. Minnesota’s divided government led to repeated legislative battles and a partial government shutdown one year. Pawlenty also frequently vetoed tax and spending bills, earning a reputation in the GOP as a fiscal conservative. He pleased social conservatives as well by signing new abortion restrictions and laws favored by pro-gun groups. But some of his past actions also have drawn tea party skepticism. Even some Republicans flinched when he used billions in federal stimulus dollars and once agreed to hike state cigarette charges to balance Minnesota’s budget. And Democrats pound him frequently over the $5 billion deficit his Minnesota successor is coping with for the upcoming state budget, although the state will turn a small surplus this summer when the last fiscal year under Pawlenty’s direct control ends. Pawlenty’s former embrace of energy policies scorned by conservatives — such as a cap-and-trade system to limit emissions of greenhouse gases — have also been problematic. Pawlenty has disavowed his former stance and apologized for the “clunker” in his record. Even so, it’s not his record that’s likely to be his biggest challenge. It’s being heard in a crowded field. Part of the reason: unlike others, he typically shies from the caustic comments and headline-grabbing issues. It’s part of a strategy to come off as a serious-minded candidate in sober times. But his approach has also played into the characterization of him as dull. Advisers hope that Pawlenty’s ability to connect with small crowds in diners and living rooms will help him win over skeptics in the places where he needs to shine — Iowa and New Hampshire, where voters demand their candidates engage in that type of retail politics. He’s somewhat of a natural at it. He’s good with small talk, often makes goofy poses in keepsake photos and sticks around to shake all hands, helping explain why he’s notoriously behind schedule. In those settings, he discusses not just what he’d do for the country but also much about his personal story: his boyhood in a blue-collar household in a meatpacking town, his mother’s death of cancer in his teen years. As an adult, he went on to a white-collar job as a lawyer and set down a political path took him from a suburban city hall to a seat in the state Legislature to, eventually, the governor’s post. “He is doing the soft sell and the soft sell works in the long run,” said Andy Brehm, a Republican strategist in Minnesota. “This is an entirely self-made guy. I don’t think you could ask for a better spokesman for the free market ideas. He’s worked himself up really from nothing.” Pawlenty and his wife, Mary, a former judge, have two teenage daughters, Anna and Mara. _________________________________________________________ Video Section: _________________________________________________________________
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Mike Huckabee’s exit widens an already GOP open field …
| Huckabee’s exit widens an already open field May 15, 2011, 12:46 p.m. EDT Associated Press Journal
By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr., Owner and Founder WASHINGTON(AP) — Mike Huckabee‘s decision to forgo a shot at the U.S. presidency Huckabee on Saturday night became the latest Republican to opt out of By joining Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, South Dakota Sen. John Thune The 55-year-old Baptist minister, who won several state Republican “All the factors say go, but my heart says no,” Huckabee, the winner of He described the decision as a The announcement makes an already wide-open Republican field even more Huckabee is a prominent conservative who would have been a serious And with him out of the race, there is no clear Onetime House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been making a concerted effort Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney must explain Minnesota’s Donald Trump? Highly unlikely. With so many social conservatives looking for a home, the void could Palin has yet to say if she will Several other possible The lack of a clear Republican frontrunner reflects Obama’s perceived Despite uneven economic growth and continued sluggishness in And while events could change dramatically Republican candidates were quick to praise Huckabee after his ”Gov. Pawlenty said he’d work hard to gain the support of millions of Santorum added that he wanted to talk with Huckabee about fighting for That was a slap at Daniels, who is considering a run and has suggested Huckabee praised several potential Republican nominees who, he said, A notable omission from the Had he chosen to run, Huckabee would have been forced to give up the In addition to his TV show, he hosts a nationally “I just somehow believe deep within me that it wasn’t the right time The former governor said that raising the necessary cash to run for One candidate who wouldn’t have that problem is Trump, _________________________________________________________
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IOWA conservative group took $3 million in tax funds, which it has since rejected amid charges of hypocrisy.
Iowa conservatives took $3 million in tax funds
May 13, 2011, 4:44 a.m. EDT
Associated Press
Journal By Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr.,
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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A conservative group that has brought a string of potential presidential candidates to Iowa to lecture about the need to reduce government spending owes some of its past success to generous federal grants, which it has since rejected amid charges of hypocrisy.
The Family Leader has organized multicity forums for Reps. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Sen. Rick Santorum. Each has called for reining in federal spending and talked about family values.
The same group received more than half of its funding from federal grants over a five-year period when it operated under a different structure as The Iowa Family Policy Center.
The group was among those that benefited from former President George Bush‘s faith-based initiative, which made it easier for social and religious organizations involved in community work to win federal funding.
The organization defends taking the grants, the bulk of which helped provide marriage mentoring for couples, but decided last year to turn down the final $550,000 in grant money and operate free of government involvement. In all, the group had accepted more than $3 million in federal grants since 2004.
“We wanted to be consistent in calling for more efficient, smaller government and came to the conclusion that would best be served by not taking funding from the feds on this,” said group spokesman Chris Nitzschke.
The group in November changed its name to the Family Leader under a reorganization that put former Iowa Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats in charge. Its leaders played a key role in the successful campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices last year over a ruling that legalized gay marriage.
The new group is now trying to flex its political muscle in the lead-up to the Iowa Caucuses in January.
Two more potential GOP nominees, former business executive Herman Cain and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, are on the group’s calendar.
“We begin our pro-family policy agenda by cutting spending, and then we cut taxes,” Bachmann said at one event in April. In March, Paul told the group that society had grown too dependent on the federal government and “we’re at a point now where we can no longer afford it.”
Pawlenty said in February that, to the extent government has to be involved in an issue, it must deliver good value for taxpayers.
Edward Failor Jr., the former president of Iowans for Tax Relief, criticized the group’s credibility on tax and spending issues during last year’s gubernatorial campaign because of the millions in federal aid.
He praised its decision to reject the final year of the grant, saying that marriage mentoring is a service that churches and other groups can provide without government aid.
“I think they did it to be intellectually consistent and honest. Good for them for doing that,” Failor said. ”
As soon as you start taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets, you are beholden to the government in one way or another.”
Records show the policy center was awarded a five-year grant worth $550,000 per year from the Health and Human Services Department in 2006 to promote healthy marriages.
The money went to a program it operates called Marriage Matters, which claims to have saved hundreds of marriages through its mentoring and counseling programs.
The policy center on Sept. 30 received its last $12,600 installment from the grant, which came from $150 million Congress set aside in 2005 to promote healthy marriages and responsible fatherhood.
But as criticism of the group for receiving tax funds was mounting among both liberals and conservatives, Center President Chuck Hurley notified the federal agency in August the group was relinquishing the money and would operate with private funding.
Watchdogs, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, had questioned whether federal tax dollars were being spent to further a conservative religious agenda.
One liberal activist had encouraged same-sex couples to seek counseling through the group to find out whether they would be served. Some conservatives, including members of the tea party, were critical of the group’s leaders for taking the federal money.
Nitzschke said the programming offered by Marriage Matters has been scaled back but some services are still being operated privately.
At the same time, he said the grant money was well spent, with more than 1,200 individuals receiving services every year.
He said that none of the tax dollars went to fund anything religious or political in nature.
A 2008 audit by the Government Accountability Office faulted HHS for a lack of oversight in how the marriage and fatherhood grants that went to dozens of groups were awarded and managed.
The policy center’s tax disclosure for the one-year period through Sept. 30, 2009, the most recent available, shows it received $549,443 in government grants out of revenue just over $1 million.
Nitzschke said the Marriage Matters program was directed by former center vice president Mike Hartwig, who earned part of his salary through the grant even as he was a prominent opponent of gay marriage.
Hartwig called the 2009 ruling that legalized the practice in Iowa sickening.
Nitzschke said the bulk of the money was spent on contracts with individuals across the state to deliver services.
At first he promised to release to The Associated Press annual audits of the grant money that he said found no problems, but he later reversed course and said the group considered that information private.
Randall Wilson, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa in Des Moines, said he wanted a more detailed accounting of how the money was spent and how much went to its administration.
He questioned just how much mentoring the grant helped pay for, saying his group’s limited investigation of Marriage Matters found it gave out money to churches and to host some events for couples.
“The danger always is that federal taxpayer money gets diverted to advocacy causes.
I think one could argue that not all taxpayers agree with Iowa Family Policy Center,” Wilson said. “That, of course, is a big concern of ours. The center was instrumental in removing three Iowa justices.”
In addition to the marriage grant, the policy center accepted $800,000 in 2005 to build its organizational capacity under the Compassion Capital Fund, a key part of Bush’s faith-based initiative.
The group received $50,000 the previous year from a related federal grant program to promote marriage.
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GOP insiders embrace Trump’s presidential bid
GOP insiders embrace Trump’s presidential bid
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Out with Sarah. In with The Donald.
President Barack Obama has launched his re-election bid in a low-key manner, but the Republican Party’s search for a challenger seems stranger by the day.
GOP celebrities like Sarah Palin aren’t getting much buzz. Mainstream candidates like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty aren’t getting much traction. It’s people once considered highly unlikely to compete seriously for the party’s nomination who are creating big stirs in early voting states, a reflection of an unformed and uncertain GOP presidential field.
GOP activists in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina appear deeply intrigued by, and open to, a run by Donald Trump, the publicity-loving business tycoon and host of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” even as he perpetuates falsehoods about Obama’s citizenship and questions the legitimacy of his presidency.
“I hear more and more people talking about Donald Trump,” said Glenn McCall, Republican Party chairman in South Carolina’s York County. “He’s got people fired up.”
These Republican officials and activists stopped short of saying they see Trump as the eventual nominee. But they said their party is hungry for forceful, colorful figures to attack Obama and other Democrats on health care, spending and other issues.
In Iowa at least, there’s also widespread talk about two social conservatives: Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who would be the first president elected directly from the House since James Garfield, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lost his 2006 re-election bid by a landslide. Even Herman Cain, the little-known, wealthy former pizza chain executive, gets mentioned by Republican voters who will have the first crack at winnowing the GOP field.
While these people certainly have talents, the party’s establishment does not see them as the likeliest contenders to defeat Obama. Karl Rove, architect of George W. Bush’s two presidential wins, calls Trump “a joke candidate.”
Republicans traditionally pick party veterans who wait their turn and earn their nominations after years spent as governors, senators or vice presidents. But this field lacks a front-runner like Bob Dole in 1996 or George W. Bush in 2000. There’s a political vacuum in the GOP, insiders say, and it’s being filled by an unusually large and diverse number of White House hopefuls.
“It’s probably the most wide open field in 50 years,” said Stephen Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member and head of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. “I’m not sure anyone has caught fire yet.”
South Carolina Republican Party chairwoman Karen Floyd said, “It’s any candidate’s ballgame right now.” Kim Lehman, another RNC member from Iowa, said voters haven’t locked in on any one person. “Everyone is taking their time and seeing who’s who, and what’s what,” she said.
Palin’s apparent fade and Trump’s rise are arguably the most surprising events in recent weeks, as more establishment-oriented contenders, including former governors Romney of Massachusetts and Pawlenty of Minnesota, took formal steps toward full-fledged candidacies.
A CNN nationwide poll of adult Republicans showed Trump tied for the presidential lead with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, at 19 percent each. Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, was third at 12 percent.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, conducted before Trump’s latest TV blitz, showed Huckabee and Trump tied for second, at 17 percent each. Romney led with 22 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 11 percent, and Palin 10 percent.
This early in the race, polls measure name recognition more than anything else. That may help explain strong showings by Trump and Huckabee.
Huckabee won the 2008 Iowa caucus and hosts a TV show, but has done little to signal he will run again. Trump, meanwhile, is turning heads in early voting states.
“He is causing conversations,” said Trudy Caviness, the GOP chairwoman in Iowa’s Wapello County.
McCall said Trump “is saying on the national stage what other people won’t talk about.”
That includes holding forth on trade, China and oil dependency. But Trump’s biggest buzz stems from his embrace of the claim that Obama wasn’t born in the United States, and therefore is constitutionally barred from being president.
Documents, including Obama’s birth certificate, show he was born in Hawaii in 1961.
Several Republican activists said they don’t care much about Obama’s birthplace, but they’re tired of waiting for the more establishment-backed challengers to challenge the president often and fiercely. For some, Trump fills that void.
In New Hampshire, Republican activist Phyllis Woods of Dover said she was surprised by the commotion Trump is causing. “Whether Donald Trump is going to be taken as a serious candidate here is an open question,” she said. What is certain, she said, is that “we’re going to have a huge field.”
Woods said she detects “a growing undercurrent of support” for Bachmann, a comment echoed by several Iowa and South Carolina activists. “She is a fresh face and a fresh voice,” Woods said.
Bachmann seems to have eclipsed Palin as the most discussed, if sometimes gaffe-prone, provocateur among tea party conservatives.
Democratic strategists and Obama supporters watch these developments with bewilderment, and a vague sense that they won’t last. They say they can’t predict who will be the nominee, but more traditional candidates such as Romney, Pawlenty or Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour seem more plausible than, say, Trump. Political insiders would not be stunned if Bachmann won the caucus in her native Iowa, and Gingrich could do well in places, including South Carolina.
Not all GOP insiders embrace Trump.
“You’ve got Donald Trump on TV making a fool of himself,” said Leigh Macneil, the Republican chairman in New Hampshire’s Merrimack County. Macneil said Trump is filling a regretful vacuum because more mainstream candidates are holding back. “We’re looking for people who will step up,” he said. He wishes more outspoken, forceful candidates would jump in, especially New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence.
“My dream ticket would be Christie-Pence,” Macneil said.
Others seem happy with their choices.
“It’s a wide open field,” and that’s fine, said Kathy Pearson, a longtime party activist in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She said Trump is “a TV celebrity and obviously a successful businessman” who is “saying what he thinks.”
“What’s going on right now is very good, very healthy for the process,” said Cindy Costa, South Carolina’s Republican National Committeewoman. Voters want “someone who is a good leader and understands business.” She has long admired Romney, she said, and “I’ve been pleasantly surprised” by Trump. “He’s actually more conservative than I had thought.”
Trump’s three marriages don’t seem to be a major issue among conservatives, for now at least.
“All his ex-wives are happy,” said Joni Scotter, a Republican activist from Marion, Iowa. Ordinarily, she said, GOP caucus voters “are hard on people who are divorced.”
She said she hopes the thrice-married Gingrich receives the same generosity.
President Barack Obama has launched his re-election bid in a low-key manner, but the Republican Party’s search for a challenger seems stranger by the day.
GOP celebrities like Sarah Palin aren’t getting much buzz. Mainstream candidates like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty aren’t getting much traction. It’s people once considered highly unlikely to compete seriously for the party’s nomination who are creating big stirs in early voting states, a reflection of an unformed and uncertain GOP presidential field.
GOP activists in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina appear deeply intrigued by, and open to, a run by Donald Trump, the publicity-loving business tycoon and host of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” even as he perpetuates falsehoods about Obama’s citizenship and questions the legitimacy of his presidency.
“I hear more and more people talking about Donald Trump,” said Glenn McCall, Republican Party chairman in South Carolina’s York County. “He’s got people fired up.”
These Republican officials and activists stopped short of saying they see Trump as the eventual nominee. But they said their party is hungry for forceful, colorful figures to attack Obama and other Democrats on health care, spending and other issues.
In Iowa at least, there’s also widespread talk about two social conservatives: Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who would be the first president elected directly from the House since James Garfield, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lost his 2006 re-election bid by a landslide. Even Herman Cain, the little-known, wealthy former pizza chain executive, gets mentioned by Republican voters who will have the first crack at winnowing the GOP field.
While these people certainly have talents, the party’s establishment does not see them as the likeliest contenders to defeat Obama. Karl Rove, architect of George W. Bush’s two presidential wins, calls Trump “a joke candidate.”
Republicans traditionally pick party veterans who wait their turn and earn their nominations after years spent as governors, senators or vice presidents. But this field lacks a front-runner like Bob Dole in 1996 or George W. Bush in 2000. There’s a political vacuum in the GOP, insiders say, and it’s being filled by an unusually large and diverse number of White House hopefuls.
“It’s probably the most wide open field in 50 years,” said Stephen Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member and head of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition. “I’m not sure anyone has caught fire yet.”
South Carolina Republican Party chairwoman Karen Floyd said, “It’s any candidate’s ballgame right now.” Kim Lehman, another RNC member from Iowa, said voters haven’t locked in on any one person. “Everyone is taking their time and seeing who’s who, and what’s what,” she said.
Palin’s apparent fade and Trump’s rise are arguably the most surprising events in recent weeks, as more establishment-oriented contenders, including former governors Romney of Massachusetts and Pawlenty of Minnesota, took formal steps toward full-fledged candidacies.
A CNN nationwide poll of adult Republicans showed Trump tied for the presidential lead with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, at 19 percent each. Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee, was third at 12 percent.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, conducted before Trump’s latest TV blitz, showed Huckabee and Trump tied for second, at 17 percent each. Romney led with 22 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 11 percent, and Palin 10 percent.
This early in the race, polls measure name recognition more than anything else. That may help explain strong showings by Trump and Huckabee.
Huckabee won the 2008 Iowa caucus and hosts a TV show, but has done little to signal he will run again. Trump, meanwhile, is turning heads in early voting states.
“He is causing conversations,” said Trudy Caviness, the GOP chairwoman in Iowa’s Wapello County.
McCall said Trump “is saying on the national stage what other people won’t talk about.”
That includes holding forth on trade, China and oil dependency. But Trump’s biggest buzz stems from his embrace of the claim that Obama wasn’t born in the United States, and therefore is constitutionally barred from being president.
Documents, including Obama’s birth certificate, show he was born in Hawaii in 1961.
Several Republican activists said they don’t care much about Obama’s birthplace, but they’re tired of waiting for the more establishment-backed challengers to challenge the president often and fiercely. For some, Trump fills that void.
In New Hampshire, Republican activist Phyllis Woods of Dover said she was surprised by the commotion Trump is causing. “Whether Donald Trump is going to be taken as a serious candidate here is an open question,” she said. What is certain, she said, is that “we’re going to have a huge field.”
Woods said she detects “a growing undercurrent of support” for Bachmann, a comment echoed by several Iowa and South Carolina activists. “She is a fresh face and a fresh voice,” Woods said.
Bachmann seems to have eclipsed Palin as the most discussed, if sometimes gaffe-prone, provocateur among tea party conservatives.
Democratic strategists and Obama supporters watch these developments with bewilderment, and a vague sense that they won’t last. They say they can’t predict who will be the nominee, but more traditional candidates such as Romney, Pawlenty or Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour seem more plausible than, say, Trump. Political insiders would not be stunned if Bachmann won the caucus in her native Iowa, and Gingrich could do well in places, including South Carolina.
Not all GOP insiders embrace Trump.
“You’ve got Donald Trump on TV making a fool of himself,” said Leigh Macneil, the Republican chairman in New Hampshire’s Merrimack County. Macneil said Trump is filling a regretful vacuum because more mainstream candidates are holding back. “We’re looking for people who will step up,” he said. He wishes more outspoken, forceful candidates would jump in, especially New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence.
“My dream ticket would be Christie-Pence,” Macneil said.
Others seem happy with their choices.
“It’s a wide open field,” and that’s fine, said Kathy Pearson, a longtime party activist in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She said Trump is “a TV celebrity and obviously a successful businessman” who is “saying what he thinks.”
“What’s going on right now is very good, very healthy for the process,” said Cindy Costa, South Carolina’s Republican National Committeewoman. Voters want “someone who is a good leader and understands business.” She has long admired Romney, she said, and “I’ve been pleasantly surprised” by Trump. “He’s actually more conservative than I had thought.”
Trump’s three marriages don’t seem to be a major issue among conservatives, for now at least.
“All his ex-wives are happy,” said Joni Scotter, a Republican activist from Marion, Iowa. Ordinarily, she said, GOP caucus voters “are hard on people who are divorced.”
She said she hopes the thrice-married Gingrich receives the same generosity.
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Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition!
2012 presidential candidates ‘friend’ social media
Posted by Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr.,
Owner and Founder of: https://usapolitics2012.wordpress.com
Hello, What Party Do You Want Running The US Government 2013? Poll Below!
NEW YORK (AP) — Republican Tim Pawlenty disclosed his 2012 presidential aspirations on Facebook.
Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet.
President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election bid with a digital video emailed to the 13 million online backers who helped power his historic campaign in 2008.
Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition.
The candidates and contenders have embraced the Internet to far greater degrees than previous White House campaigns, communicating directly with voters on platforms where they work and play.
If Obama’s online army helped define the last campaign and Howard Dean’s Internet fundraising revolutionized the Democratic primary in 2004, next year’s race will be the first to reflect the broad cultural migration to the digital world.
“You have to take your message to the places where people are consuming content and spending their time,” said Romney’s online director, Zac Moffatt. “We have to recognize that people have choices and you have to reach them where they are, and on their terms.”
The most influential of those destinations include the video sharing website YouTube; Facebook, the giant social network with 500 million active users; and Twitter, the cacophonous conversational site where news is made and shared in tweets of 140 characters or less.
All the campaigns have a robust Facebook presence, using the site to post videos and messages and to host online discussions. In the latest indication of the site’s reach and influence, Obama plans to visit Facebook headquarters in California this coming Wednesday for a live chat with company founder Mark Zuckerberg and to take questions from users who submit questions on the site.
Candidates have embraced Twitter with an intensity that rivals pop star Justin Bieber’s. Twitter was the Republican hopefuls’ platform of choice last Wednesday, moments after Obama gave a budget speech calling for some tax increases and decrying GOP proposals to cut Medicare.
“President Obama doesn’t get it. The fear of higher taxes tomorrow hurts job creation today,” Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour tweeted.
“The president’s plan will kill jobs and increase the deficit,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned in a tweet, attaching a link to a more detailed statement posted on Facebook.
In the past, candidates would have pointed supporters to their websites for such a response. Now, as Moffatt puts it, “the campaign site may be headquarters, but it needs digital embassies across the web.”
Republicans once seemed slow to harness the power of the web. The party’s 2008 nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, told reporters he didn’t even use email. The 2012 hopefuls have worked hard to prove their Internet savvy, particularly with social media.
Pawlenty “understands the power of new technology and he wants it to be at the forefront. We are going to compete aggressively with President Obama in this space,” spokesman Alex Conant said. Conant pointed to efforts to live stream videos to Facebook and award points and badges to supporters in a way that mirrors Foursquare, the emerging location-based mobile site.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s 2008 running mate and a potential presidential candidate this time, has made Facebook a centerpiece of her communication efforts to supporters.
Palin has been criticized for treating it as a one-way form of communication that allows her to bypass direct questions from reporters and voters. Other Republicans insist they’re willing to wade into the messy digital fray and cede some control of their message.
“We trust our supporters and want to err on the side of giving them more control, not less,” Conant said.
Just as social networking liberates candidates to take their message directly to voters, it offers plenty of pitfalls as well.
It’s prone to mischief, with dozens of fake Twitter accounts and Facebook pages popping up daily that are intended to embarrass the candidates. Also, a candidate’s gaffe or an inconsistency on issues can be counted on to go viral immediately.
Gingrich has gotten ensnared in some online traps. His apparent back-and-forth on whether the U.S. should intervene in the conflict in Libya was discussed widely and amplified online. He first advocated military engagement, then came out against it after Obama ordered airstrikes.
Twitter lit up with the news that a photo on Gingrich’s exploratory website showing people waving flags was a stock photo once used by the late liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
Spokesman Rick Tyler rejected such criticism and said Gingrich has pioneered the use of digital technology.
“Over 1.4 million people follow him on Twitter. He has a very active Facebook. There are eight websites connected to organizations started by Newt (that) use social media platforms to communicate to their coalitions,” Tyler said.
But Josh Dorner, who tracks GOP candidates online for the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, said the Republican presidential hopefuls appear to be unprepared for the unforgiving pace of the digital age.
Obama, who in 2008 had to recover from plenty of web-amplified flubs such as his comment that bitter small town voters “cling” to guns and religion, will probably be more nimble, Dorner said.
“We are moving in a warp speed environment, and none of the Republican candidates understand the media environment in which they’re operating. It puts them at a huge disadvantage to the president,” Dorner said.
Strategists also say the greatest digital innovation in 2012 may not even have surfaced yet, even as campaigns figure out how to do effective microtargeting ads for Facebook and work to develop “apps” for smart phones rather than laptops and traditional TV.
“As with anything, there’s going to be a shiny new cell phone every six months,” said Matt Ortega, a former online organizer for the Democratic National Committee. “You’re going to see both new tools and more sophistication in existing tools.”
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Likely GOP White House hopefuls to try to figure out how to tap the Tea party movement’s energy without alienating voters elsewhere
Likely GOP contenders plot tea party strategies
April 15, 2011, 4:21 a.m. EDT
Posted by Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr.,
Owner and Founder of: http://www.LedSomeBioMetrics.com
Hello, Who Do You Want As The Next USA President? Poll Below!
BOSTON (AP) — It’s a tricky time of courtship.
As the tea party turns 2, the still-gelling field of Republican presidential contenders is the first class of White House hopefuls to try to figure out how to tap the movement’s energy without alienating voters elsewhere on the political spectrum.
Look no further than this weekend’s events marking the tea party’s second anniversary to see how the candidates are employing different strategies. Some will be out front as the tea party stages tax day rallies across the country. Others, not so much.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, an establishment Republican making a play for tea party support and clamoring to be heard over bigger names, is among those jumping in with both feet. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is being more coy.
Pawlenty, for his part, planned to hold court at a gathering on Boston Common — in the city where colonists staged the 1773 Tea Party revolt against the British government — and in neighboring New Hampshire. And he’s headed for Iowa a day later for similar appearances that are likely to include “Don’t Tread on Me” banners and tirades against Washington spending.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, perhaps the Republican most closely identified with the tea party, is slated to attend a weekend tea party rally at the Wisconsin Capitol, the site of recent protests over legislation that would strip union rights for most public workers.
Tea party darling Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachman, all but drafted into the race by tea partyers, plans to share the steps of the South Carolina Statehouse with another of the movement’s favorite daughters, Gov. Nikki Haley.
And little-known businessman Herman Cain, who is hoping tea party backing can make him more than a longshot, plans to hit rallies in New Hampshire, Iowa, Michigan and Texas.
Real estate magnet Donald Trump, who claims he’s serious about running, picked a tea party rally in Boca Raton, Fla., to make his stand.
Other contenders are proceeding with more caution.
Barbour plans weekend stops at county GOP conventions in Charleston, Columbia and Lexington, S.C. But he had no big tax day rallies on his schedule in a state where tea party activists have gained influence. As he weighs a presidential bid, Barbour has been more subtle than others in courting the movement. He talks about issues the tea party cares about, first and foremost the economy.
It’s the same approach that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has been taking. He talks about lower taxes and reduced government and was set to appear at a central Florida anti-tax event. He decries the Internal Revenue Service, a top target of tea partyers. And in his defense of the Massachusetts health care overhaul that he pushed through, he invokes the 10th Amendment that guarantees states’ rights.
In an opinion piece published Friday in the Orlando Sentinel, Romney praised the tea party-style activists: “The growth of government is not some inexorable force. In a democracy, we the people decide. Thanks to the tea party, there’s real hope that we can rein in our profligate federal government.”
But he spends the bulk of the column decrying President Barack Obama on policy, not invoking the Founding Fathers.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has followed a similar model. He had no public events scheduled for anti-tax rallies but has proved eager to criticize Washington spending.
The tentativeness toward becoming a tea party candidate is understandable.
No candidate can afford to ignore these anti-establishment, anti-tax, conservative-libertarian rabble-rousers whose enthusiasm fired up the GOP base and helped Republicans win control of the House in November. But wrapping themselves in the tea party mantle carries risks for candidates.
They could get pushed too far to the right during the primaries if they embrace the tea party’s conservative platform. There’s also the potential stain of being linked to a group that Democratic critics have labeled extremist, if not racist.
Even so, the Republicans must compete in early primary states where tea party activists have made inroads in the GOP establishment and made clear that they intend to have a say in the presidential race.
“We want to find the best candidate and the best vehicle for us to reclaim our republic,” says Jerry DeLemus, a tea party leader from Rochester, N.H. “The Republican Party is a vehicle that we can use to effect positive change.”
Iowa’s tea party leaders, meanwhile, have mapped out a strategy to engage supporters and road-test presidential candidates with hopes of influencing the leadoff nominating caucuses. They are planning a bus tour through the state this summer, featuring at least four GOP presidential prospects, as well as a series of caucus training sessions.
New Hampshire’s tea party activists made gains within the state’s central GOP committee, and elected Jack Kimball as the state GOP chairman over the establishment’s pick in January. And the tea party footprint in South Carolina also has expanded, with activists becoming more influential inside GOP county organizations.
The tea party’s birth can be traced to spring 2009, when libertarians and conservatives rose up in small towns and big cities alike to oppose Obama’s policies, including the $787 billion economic stimulus measure, Wall Street bailouts and Obama’s health care plan.
Some activists point to a CNBC anchor’s televised tirade about taxes as the launching point. Others dispute that.
Whatever its origin, there’s no doubt about the tea party’s power.
“We’ve changed the political landscape in Washington and in statehouses across the country,” says Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the Tea Party Express. “We have to keep going and keep beating the drum.”
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Associated Press deputy polling director Jennifer Agiesta and writers Jim Davenport in Columbia, S.C., and Tom Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
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Tim Pawlenty says “I’m running for President” and comments on Trump as possible opponent
Tim Pawlenty says “I’m running for President” and comments on Trump as possible opponent
Posted by Calvin Lee Ledsome Sr.,
Owner and Founder of: http://www.LedSomeBioMetrics.com
Potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is a guest tonight on “Piers Morgan Tonight” and he responds to today’s poll that puts him at just 2% (compared to Donald Trump at 19%). “Our trajectory is kind of a tortoise and hare strategy,” he tells Piers Morgan. As for Trump: “I think he’s funny, I think he’s exciting, he’s obviously very successful. I think he’d bring a lot to the debate.” (Then, he comments on Trump’s recent “birther” rhetoric and makes a hair joke.)
Would he accept an offer to be Trump’s VP?
“I’m running for President,” said Pawlenty, who has formed an exploratory committee but has yet to formally declare. “I’m not putting my hat in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for Vice President. I’m focused on running for President.” (Pawlenty said he would make a formal announcement in the coming weeks.)
Watch the full interview tonight at 9pmET/PT. Also on the show is Pres. Barack Obama’s sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, who talks Trump as well.
Pawlenty later clarified: “I just hope that the country will take the full measure of all the candidates and make an informed decision, I think they will…I’ve got an exploratory committee up and running and we’ll have a final or full announcement on that in the coming weeks. It won’t be too much longer. But everything is headed in that direction.
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Calvin Ledsome Sr.,
Owner and Founder of:
- http://PublicBlogNewsPostingServices.com
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- http://USAPolitics2012.wordpress.com
- http://LedSomeBioMetrics.com
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USA Presidential Race & Political News 2011 - 2013 