2012

sábado, 3 de diciembre de 2011

Herman Cain suspende su campaña (video)

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Herman Cain suspende su campaña

HERMAN CAIN: "Esas falsas y no demostradas acusaciones continúan... para crear la duda sobre mí, sobre esta campaña, y sobre mi familia. Esa espiral hace daño. Hace daño a mi mujer, hace daño a mi familia, me hace daño a mí y hace daño al pueblo americano porque se os están negando soluciones a los problemas... Estoy en paz con Dios. Estoy en paz con mi mujer y ella está en paz conmigo... Hoy, con mucha oración e introspección, suspendo mi campaña presidencial, por la continuada distracción y el continuado dolor sobre mí y mi familia."

Descartado el Plan A (convertirse en Presidente), el ya ex candidato ha anunciado un Plan B que consiste en intentar cambiar Washington DC desde fuera. Ha anunciado la creación del sitio web TheCainSolutions.com para seguir promoviendo sus recetas fiscales, y ha dicho que próximamente dará su apoyo a uno de los candidatos republicanos.

En vivo: comparecencia de Herman Cain

Está previsto que Herman Cain anuncie su decisión de continuar o suspender su campaña a las 12 pm. Lo darán en directo en C-SPAN.

Mike Huckabee Presidential Forum

El ex Gobernador de Arkansas y ex candidato presidencial Mike Huckabee conducirá esta noche un foro presidencial desde los estudios de la Fox News en Nueva York. Estará acompañado por un panel de fiscales generales de tres estados: Ken Cuccinelli (Virginia), Scott Pruitt (Oklahoma) y Pam Bondi (Florida), que formularán preguntas a los candidatos sobre economía, sanidad, educación, trabajo, sindicatos, inmigración, regulaciones medioambientales, y asuntos sociales.

Seis candidatos han confirmado su participación: Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, y Rick Santorum.

El evento empezará a las 8 pm (hora de la Costa Este) y durará dos horas en Fox News.

Huckabee adelanta algunos detalles.

El hándicap de Gingrich en Iowa: la falta de organización

National Journal:

A smart Republican operative in Iowa, unaligned with any campaign, brings up an interesting way to characterize the lack of organization Newt Gingrich has established in the Hawkeye State: Gingrich, like other candidates without traditional constituencies in Iowa, has largely eschewed the traditional town hall format for his events.

That's because he doesn't have the on-the-ground organization required to actually build a crowd.

Consider his four events in Iowa this week: He visited a meeting at a Council Bluffs pizza joint headlined by Strong America Now. He stopped by a meeting at Nationwide Insurance, where he spoke with employees. He spoke at a meeting of the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives. And he attended a party fundraiser in Johnston, just outside Des Moines.

All four events had built-in crowds generated not by Gingrich's campaign, but by the outside groups themselves.

That hints at both Gingrich's promise and his pitfalls. The excitement around Gingrich's candidacy appears real, and several observers said they expect he will lead two Iowa polls scheduled to be released this weekend by the Des Moines Register and NBC News. But it takes real organization to round up captains and supporters in Iowa's 1,774 precincts -- organization that, at the moment, Gingrich doesn't have.

"Nailed It"

Este web ad de Jon Huntsman compara los cambios de postura de Mitt Romney con los ejercicios de gimnastas sobre una barra de equilibrio.

Ron Paul en The Situation Room (CNN)

viernes, 2 de diciembre de 2011

(Parece que) Cain anunciará su decisión mañana

The Washington Post:

Embattled presidential candidate Herman Cain is inviting his top supporters and donors to Atlanta on Saturday for a meeting in which he will give them advance word of whether he intends to continue his campaign, sources close to the campaign said Friday.

One supporter who has been summoned to the private session said he believes that Cain is likely to announce he is ending his candidacy.

Another who has been invited to the morning meeting says attendees have been told he has made no decision, but wanted to meet with some of the supporters to express his gratitude.

Several sources indicated that Cain is likely to announce his plans publicly at a news conference after the meeting. Cain had already scheduled an event on Saturday — the grand opening of his national headquarters in his hometown of Atlanta, as well as the announcement of his campaign’s freshly minted senior leadership team for the state of Georgia.

Donald Trump moderará un debate

The New York Times:

It’s officially a reality television Republican primary now.

Donald Trump is pairing up with Newsmax, the conservative magazine and news Web site, to moderate a presidential debate in Des Moines on Dec. 27.

“Our readers and the grass roots really love Trump,” said Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media. “They may not agree with him on everything, but they don’t see him as owned by the Washington establishment, the media establishment.”

Mr. Trump’s role in the debate, which will be broadcast on the cable network Ion Television, is sure to be one of the more memorable moments in a primary season that has already delivered its fair share of circus-like spectacle.

"Faith"

Rick Perry se fija como objetivo el voto evangélico de Iowa en su nuevo anuncio de tv.

GOBERNADOR PERRY: "Cuando te presentas a Presidente, recibes un montón de preguntas sobre tu fe. La gente quiere saber qué te mueve, cómo tomas decisiones. Ahora algunos liberales dicen que la fe es un indicio de debilidad. Se equivocan. Creo que todos necesitamos la ayuda de Dios. Los más grandes líderes americanos han sido personas de una profunda fe, de valores fuertes. Eso conlleva una América fuerte.

Soy Rick Perry, no me avergüenza hablar de mi fe, y apruebo este mensaje."

Romney en Fox & Friends

Ha descrito a Gingrich como un insider de Washington DC, tanto en su época de representante público como en su última etapa como profesional privado:

"Debo admitir que Newt ha tenido un largo y extenso historial de trabajo en Washington con varias agencias gubernamentales y no gubernamentales, y no creo que esos sean los antecedentes más adecuados para, en primer lugar, reemplazar a Barack Obama, y en segundo lugar, liderar el país. No es cuestión de que América necesite mejores lobbyistas, mejores negociadores, o mejores insiders. Creo que América necesita un líder."

Y ha impugnado la afirmación de Gingrich de que él será el nominado:

"Durante el último año, ha habido mucha gente muy arriba en las encuestas que ya no están ahí. Ya sabes, existe esta divertida cosa en América que se llama 'elecciones', y para lograr la victoria en la elección tienes que ganártela. Estoy confiado en que esta será una campaña exitosa. Las declaraciones de auto-enaltecimiento sobre las encuestas no van a ganar las elecciones."

Gloria Cain quiere que su marido se retire

The Daily Beast:

Sources close to the campaign say Gloria Cain wants her husband to leave the race and has no desire to do additional interviews about their marriage or the constant accusations. They describe a woman angry that her life has been turned upside down by her husband’s need for attention and power by any means.

“She hated doing that interview defending him on Fox but felt pressured to do it by him and the campaign,’’ says a campaign worker. “She doesn’t want to be forced to do that again because she knows he’s had girlfriends for many years. She just looked the other way. But if he won’t get out of the race, she may have to.’’

Several of the people interviewed for this story said they believe Cain will do what’s best for him and not his family in deciding whether he’ll leave the race.

“What he says about concern for his wife and family sounds good,” said one family friend, “but if he meant it, he wouldn’t have gotten in the race in the first place.”

Dudas sobre Romney, oportunidad para Huntsman

The Huffington Post:

Take a look at the latest polls coming out of New Hampshire. After months of barely registering there or anywhere else, Huntsman's suddenly broken into double-digits. At 11%, he's nearly tied with libertarian stalwart Ron Paul for third place behind Mitt Romney, whose candidacy has largely stalled, and Newt Gingrich, who's surging just about everywhere, sending the Romney campaign into panic mode.

Gingrich's extraordinary rise -- he's pulling away in Iowa and South Carolina, and most of the Deep South -- seems to have masked the equally remarkable rise from obscurity of Huntsman. Why, after all this time, is Huntsman suddenly making real headway, and could he actually win somewhere?

One possibility is that Gingrich's rise is part of a more generalized fall from grace of the leading Tea party candidates that seems to have re-focused the GOP campaign on practical ideas and solutions - -and away from tea party placards and bumper-stickers. Gingrich may not be the super-deep intellectual he so often projects himself to be, but his battery of thoughtful debate points have turned him into the Republican equivalent of E.F. Hutton: when he talks, people listen, even his fellow candidates.

And that dynamic clearly favors the cerebral Huntsman.

(...) But Huntsman's sudden rise in New Hampshire also rests on the patient, and nearly invisible, base work he's conducted in the state -- in fact, only Romney has spent more time there than the former Utah governor.

Huntsman also has a secret weapon: his leading campaign director in New Hampshire, Wally Stickney, is the same man who nearly delivered the state to Romney in 2008. Stickney helped Romney focus on a key concentration of voters in and around Salem, who turned out heavily for the former Massachusetts governor, allowing him to finish a close second, and to continue his campaign. Romney, of course, has gone back to these voters -- but so has Huntsman, and apparently, with doubts about Romney growing everywhere, it's finally paying off.

Make no mistake: Huntsman's road to the GOP nomination, let alone the White House, is barely discernible. He supports cap-and-trade, and like Gingrich, has long favored a nationwide "guest worker" program as a solution to the illegal immigration crisis -- even working closely with then-Arizona Governor and current Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to fashion one in 2006. However, there's also a major sea-change occurring, with Gingrich, especially, helping to redefine who a "moderate" and a "conservative" Republican is.

And with so many conservative challengers to Romney having fallen by the wayside, and now Romney, himself, apparently fading, just about everyone left standing, including Ron Paul, is getting a serious second look.

Huntsman, it turns out, is decidedly pro-life and has an impeccable record of cutting taxes and creating jobs in Utah, where he was once rated the nation's top governor. Sure he's a Mormon, but so is Romney, and Huntsman's a decidedly unorthodox one, expressing admiration for Buddhism and sending his kids to Catholic schools, and as an adult, generally steering clear of the Mormon institutions he grew up in (unlike Romney, who turns out to be a distant cousin, he refused to attend Brigham Young University).

It's a "two-man race," say the pollsters, meaning Gingrich and Romney. But of course, that's what they said about Romney and Perry and Romney and Cain -- and look where we are now. Gingrich is devouring Romney from the right, but Huntsman's surge is coming from the left, and in both New Hampshire and South Carolina, which hold "open" primaries in 2012, many Democrats who openly admire Huntsman -- and who despise Gingrich -- are expected to vote also, and that could easily lead to unexpected consequences for the two men at the top.

Perry prepara una operación masiva en Iowa

The Dallas Morning News:

Rick Perry’s presidential campaign plans to bring more than 600 influential Texans to Iowa this month as part of a major blitz for a strong finish in the first state to vote.

The massive Perry posse will include Republican elected officials such as Attorney General Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs, party stalwarts, consultants, lobbyists, business supporters and friends who will reach out to Republicans in the Hawkeye State and ask them to take a fresh look at the Texas governor.

Campaign director Joe Allbaugh confirmed the move Wednesday, saying the campaign will stagger the visits but has booked 200 Iowa hotel rooms. “We know for sure when 600 are coming and when they’re going,” he said.

Another widespread email to the Texas Federation of Republican Women might produce more volunteers, but the campaign is hoping about 700 will spend part of December and their New Year’s in Iowa, Allbaugh said.

In addition, to push for even more volunteer foot soldiers, the campaign appealed to thousands of followers on Twitter Wednesday, saying: “Come to Iowa in January as part of @GovernorPerry’s Strike Force! Will you join us?” and listing an email response address.

Una semana complicada para Romney

The Hill:

Mitt Romney’s campaign showed signs of strain this week as Newt Gingrich rose in the polls, Democrats increased their attacks and the former Massachusetts governor stumbled in a national interview.

Romney’s strength lies in his ability to stay focused on his economic message and avoid being sucked into other fights.

But a series of rare hiccups this week — including a contentious interview with Fox News host Bret Baier and an over-the-top response to Democratic attacks — have shown some cracks in his operation.

“It certainly hasn’t been a good week,” said Al Cardenas, who worked for Romney in 2008 but has remained officially neutral in the race because he now runs the American Conservative Union.

Strategists say no long-term damage has been done, but caution that Romney needs to get back on message soon — especially with the early-nominating contests approaching (the Iowa caucus is Jan. 3 and the New Hampshire primary is Jan. 10).

“He’s run an almost flawless race up to this point, and this week for the first time you saw a series of missteps by the campaign and the candidate,” said one unaffiliated senior Republican strategist. “What led him to have the bad interview is what’s dangerous — getting concerned about Gingrich, not being as disciplined and getting agitated. If these are a pattern that continues over the upcoming weeks, he could have a problem. His strength is his [message] discipline and being able to talk about the economy. If he gets undisciplined and talks about other things that’s going to be a problem.”

(...) Romney had some high points this week: He secured endorsements from a key trio of Cuban-American Florida legislators and a top New Hampshire Republican. But the Fox interview and the back-and-forth with Democrats dominated most conversations about the candidate.

“The question is, is this just a bad week or the onset of a tough period, a new phase of the campaign in which he’s increasingly on the attack, off his game a little bit and unable to deliver the consistent message he has been saying?” asked the unaffiliated Republican strategist. “People for the first time are seeing the campaign go through a bit of a rough patch. If that rough week becomes a rough month you’ve got a problem.”

Noche electoral de 1972 (ABC News, de 7 pm a 8:30 pm)

Conducen Howard K. Smith y Harry Reasoner.

La contundente victoria del Presidente Nixon sobre el Senador McGovern supuso la primera vez que tres estados antagónicos como Alabama/Mississippi y Vermont votaban al mismo candidato en 100 años. La reelección de Ulysses Grant en 1872 fue la anterior vez que esos tres estados votaron lo mismo.

7:00-7:30

7:30-8:00

8:00-8:30