The big Republican names were all at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., last week: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Sarah Palin. The three-day conference, known as CPAC and hosted by the American Conservative Union, drew about 11,000 participants and 1,300 journalists, who crammed into the Marriott’s ballroom for the big speeches.

While most attention focused on Republican presidential hopefuls and other party luminaries, we opted to take a spin around panels and events devoted to fundraising. They were a window into how money might be raised this election cycle, through new-fangled super PACs and their even more opaque nonprofit sidekicks, as well as through more old-fashioned tactics.

One conference panel — “What’s Up With Campaign Finance?” — featured some of the lawyers who helped win the recent court decisions, such as Citizens United, that cleared the way for the new, more free-wheeling campaign-finance landscape.

At one point, moderator and lawyer Dan Backer predicted the eventual overhaul of the Federal Election Campaign Act of the 1970s, which he crowed “has been brutalized and made Swiss cheese by the courts, thanks to the folks on this panel.”

At another point, panelist Benjamin Barr, a constitutional lawyer, joked about the hoopla over Citizens United and the worry that it would lead to a campaign-finance “apocalypse.” ”If there’s an apocalypse upon us, I suppose we have the four horsemen of the apocalypse right here,” he said, as a few audience members laughed.

Election lawyer Stephen Hoersting, vice-president and co-founder of the nonprofit Center for Competitive Politics, who has recently joined Backer’s firm, told the audience about the various ways for grassroots groups to be involved in the upcoming election. If they want to be directly involved in a campaign, they can start a traditional political action committee, which puts strict limits on how much they can raise or donate.

If activists want to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, they can form a super PAC, as long as they don’t technically coordinate with a candidate — and as long as their donors are willing to be disclosed.

But to have both unlimited and undisclosed donations, Hoersting noted, activists can form a so-called 501(c)4, named for the section of the Internal Revenue Service code on social-welfare nonprofits. They must convince the IRS that their organization’s primary purpose is social welfare, not politics. And they also must not run afoul of the perpetually paralyzed FEC.

“If you absolutely cannot have any of your donors disclosed, there’s still a way to get an organization up off the ground, by say, April, to get money into it and to run ads that will influence…the election, but isn’t technically something that the FEC gets its hooks into,” Hoersting told the audience of about 75 people. “New organizations that don’t want to disclose, there is a way—but you have to run your ads in a certain way.”

Also at the panel, Bradley Smith, a former FEC commissioner and the co-founder and chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, which advocates eliminating campaign-finance restrictions, told the room that he wasn’t particularly worried about foreign money coming into U.S. campaigns. Foreign contributions are illegal in the U.S.

“If the Colombian Chamber of Commerce wants to spend a little bit of money to run some ads saying, ‘Vote for this guy because he supports the Colombian-American free-trade pact,’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, that sounds good to me,’” Smith said. “I’m just not frightened that some English citizens are going to run some ads in the country, and I’m not really terribly concerned that the Syrians run their ads saying, ‘We need stronger terrorist organizations,’ and that that’s going to be just a real winner for anybody. It doesn’t worry me.”

Hoersting tripped up the audience by playing a kind of super PAC quiz game. In doing so, he was highlighting how similar all the groups sounded. He said he wanted a group—and a name—that actually stood for ideological values.

“Right now we have Winning Our Future,” Hoersting reminded the crowd, some of whom were so devoted to the conservative conference, they traveled from across the country. “Whose PAC is Winning Our Future?”

“Mitt Romney,” a few suggested. “Gingrich,” said others.

“Gingrich, OK,” Hoersting confirmed. “Who’s Restore Our Future?”

“Romney,” a few said, correctly. “Ron Paul,” one man announced, wrongly.

“OK,” Hoersting said, without naming the winner. (To see which candidate the super PAC supports, just look at the photos on their front page.)

One super PAC was unveiled at the conference, Hispanicvote.com. About 40 people crammed into a side room for the kick-off party, which featured a tower of cupcakes and a cash bar that may have been a fundraising tactic. A can of soda ran $5.

American Crossroads, a super PAC that has been referred to as the “shadow” Republican National Committee and hopes to raise $300 million with its nonprofit partner this election cycle, threw a cocktail party for bloggers, where president Steven Law made a joke about the group being a “little super PAC.” Here, the bar was open.

The conference, which meandered through the sprawling lobbies and meeting rooms of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, was no place for so-called RINOs, or Republicans In Name Only. It was a place where Reagan was invoked like a verb, where there was a party called “Reaganpalooza;” where booths sold pink tank tops with the black outline of a pistol and the phrase “I Don’t Dial 911;” where The Great American Tea Party board game asked the question: “Who Says Politics Can’t Be Fun?”

Supporters of Gingrich, Romney and Santorum vied for space, along with a man dressed up in a fat suit and a green T-shirt proclaiming, “Big Govt Gary.” Instead of the Sierra Club, there was the Safari Club, which advocated for accommodating laws for hunters. There was also the Resourceful Earth, which promises to fight “for the right to develop the natural resources that create jobs and prosperity in America.”

Bruce Eberle, wearing a Ronald Reagan lapel button for his panel, “Fundraising Secrets from the Billion $ Man,” said many aspects of persuading donors to give big hadn’t changed post-Citizen United. Fundraisers still have to summon up the nerve to ask for a bit more than is comfortable.

“Donors actually like to be challenged,” he said. “Make them stretch a little bit.”

Eberle has raised money for everyone from Reagan to recent Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain. He described how he might ask a prospective contributor for a big check.

“I would like to ask you, ‘Would you make a gift of $250,000?” Eberle said to his imaginary donor. “And then, this is one of the very hardest things…You make the ask, and then you shut up.”

 by Kim Barker, ProPublica, Feb. 13, 2012, 5:34 p.m.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/n3tel/

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The road to the White House has come to an end for Michele Bachmann after her last-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. Speaking to reporters, she said that “last night, the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside.”

“I believe that if we are going to repeal Obamacare, turn our country around, and take back our country, we must do so united; and I believe that we must rally around the person that our country, and our party, and our people select to be that standard bearer,” she said. “But make no mistake: I will continue to be a strong voice. I’ll continue to stand and fight for the country and for the American people, and for our freedom,” she continued.

Bachmann went on to call the forthcoming election “the last chance to turn our country around, before we go down the road of socialism.”

The Minnesota congresswoman has long been a darling of the conservative movement and she founded the Tea Party caucus in the House of Representatives. Last summer, she announced her bid for the Republican nomination in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, and in August the voters of the state seemed to smile on her when she won the Ames Straw Poll, briefly catapulting her into the lead position in the GOP race.

Bachmann ran a family-oriented, socially-conservative campaign designed to appeal to the evangelical Christians who provide much of the GOP’s support. She opposes abortion in all instances, and has spoken out in favor of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. She and her husband own a Christian counseling center which has been accused of advocating ‘reparative theraphy’ to ‘cure’ homosexuality, despite the fact that many leading medical groups condemn the practice. While taking a swipe at rival Rick Perry, Bachmann claimed that the HPV vaccine caused mental retardation in girls, a claim that was swiftly debunked by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Yet despite her fervent attempts to burnish her conservative credentials, the voters of Iowa ultimately dealt her a humiliating blow. She received only five percent of the votes, coming in dead last in the caucus. To add insult to injury, she also lost her hometown of Waterloo.

Image Courtesy of  Cheryl Casey / Shutterstock.com

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2012 Presidential Candidates are answering the calls from thousands of Alzheimer’s disease advocates around the country asking leaders how they would stop Alzheimer’s, a disease that affects 5.4 million Americans and cost the nation $187 billion last year.

Three presidential candidates – Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Michele Bachmann – are the first to release videos discussing how they would address the Alzheimer’s crisis and lead a national effort to stop the disease. The videos represent the first indication that the fight against Alzheimer’s will be an issue in the 2012 Presidential race. To view all three videos, please visit:http://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/alz2012/.

“Alzheimer’s disease will cost our nation $2 trillion over the next decade if we don’t act,” said George Vradenburg, co-founder and chair of USAgainstAlzheimer’s, who led the effort to gather comments from all 2012 candidates. “These three candidates emphasize that a strategy of curing Alzheimer’s disease can be a critical driver in reducing health care costs, with the proper regulatory environment and private and philanthropic partnerships and investment. We look forward to hearing from the other candidates, including President Obama, on how they would address Alzheimer’s.”

In the past month, USAgainstAlzheimer’s reached out to the campaigns of all 2012 presidential hopefuls, including President Obama, seeking a video response to how they would address the Alzheimer’s crisis. The following are excerpts from the videos received thus far:

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has long made Alzheimer’s disease one of the centerpieces of his campaign, outlining a series of proposals in his new “21st Century Contract with America” that emphasize the need for greater brain science research, medical innovation and a more agile Federal Drug Administration. “Alzheimer’s affects millions of people, and it affects the families of millions of people because an Alzheimer’s caregiver is twice as likely to have a health problem as somebody who’s not a caregiver. Alzheimer’s is going to cost us between now and 2050, as much as 20 trillion dollars, and that’s why it’s very important that we take steps such as I’m proposing in my brain science initiative,” Gingrich said. To see Gingrich’s video, click here: http://bit.ly/snq9k7.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman aims to increase funding for research and bolster public-private partnerships to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. “[Alzheimer's] carries a tremendous human toll, but also a financial toll, driving up health care costs by hundreds of billions of dollars a year. It is a disease with no treatment and no cure, but that doesn’t mean there is no hope. Experts believe a cure is possible by the end of this decade, but only with a sustained, targeted, and national commitment,” said Huntsman. “Now it is time for us to declare a War on Alzheimer’s, and rally the American people around the belief that this disease is beatable.” To see Huntsman’s video, click here: http://bit.ly/tQuvTf.

In her message, Rep. Michele Bachmann referenced the development of the polio vaccine and how this cure gives hope to those seeking a cure for Alzheimer’s. She said, “It was once predicted we would spend$1 billion a year on polio, maybe even more. Today, polio costs us virtually nothing, because Jonas Salk found a vaccine — a cure — and I’d like to see that same thing happen with Alzheimer’s. Because I believe a cure is always better — and cheaper — than more care.” To see Bachmann’s video, click here:http://bit.ly/v1WAHN.
Currently, 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s and the disease impacts 14.9 million caregivers nationwide. In the coming decades, the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s will triple. Without a cure, over 10 million baby boomers will die from the disease.

Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S. and remains the only disease in the top ten with no means of prevention, treatment or cure. It is a disease that destroys not only one’s memory and shortens one’s life, but disables one’s physical capacities as well. Despite the personal and financial toll Alzheimer’s inflicts, the National Institutes of Health invests only about $450 million per year toward Alzheimer’s research — less than $90 per person living with the disease.

USAgainstAlzheimer’s is a national advocacy campaign and advocacy network committed to stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020. An independent non-profit organization working in partnership with the Alzheimer’s community, USAgainstAlzheimer’s works to advance policies and elect candidates dedicated to stopping the disease by supporting research for a cure.

For more information about USAgainstAlzheimer’s, visit http://www.usagainstalzheimers.org/.

Image Courtesy of  Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

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As the Republican primaries near, Zoosk, a romantic social network, recently surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. singles to gather their thoughts on the presidential candidates.  Questions ranged from which candidate has the best hairdo, to which contending couple would make for the best double date, and to who has the best sense of humor.  The survey findings resulted in the following:

Singles say the Obamas would be their first choice couple for a double date.

• 38% of singles say they would choose a double date with the Obamas over any of the other presidential candidate couples.
• 16% of singles would choose to enjoy an evening out with the Bachmanns for a double date.
• 9% of singles would pick the Pauls.  The Gingrichs, Perrys, and Romneys each received 8% of singles’ vote for double date companions.

Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney have the “best hairdos” among the Republican candidates.

• 35% of singles give Michele Bachmann their vote for best hairstyle. She is followed by Mitt Romney (21%) and Rick Perry (15%).
• Rick Santorum received the fewest votes for his “do,” nabbing just 4% of the vote.

Republican men prefer Newt Gingrich, while Republican women prefer Mitt Romney for the GOP nominee. When asked, “If you were to vote today, who would receive your vote?”…

• Republican men gravitated towards Newt Gingrich with 33% of men saying the former Speaker of the House is their top choice compared to 18% of men who would choose Romney.
• Republican women have a slight preference for Mitt Romney with the former Governor of Massachusetts gathering 25% of the Republican female votes compared to 24% of women who would chose Gingrich.

Who is the “sexiest” candidate?

• Clearly, Michele Bachmann gets the sexiest female candidate vote, but 41% of single women say President Obama is the sexiest candidate among the 2012 contenders.

Singles vote President Barack Obama as having the “best sense of humor” among the candidates.

• 30% of singles say President Obama has the best sense of humor among all the presidential candidates.
• 15% of singles prefer Newt Gingrich’s humor.
• Tied for third place with 12% each of the “best sense of humor” vote are Rick Perry and Ron Paul.

Singles wish Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were on the ballot.

• When asked who they wish were on the ballot in 2012, 57% of singles who identify themselves as Democrats and 30% of singles who identify themselves as Independents say Hillary Clinton.
• 30% of single Republicans say they wish Donald Trump were running for president in 2012.

More singles than ever plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election.

• Compared to 64% of Americans who voted in the 2008 presidential election, singles are a politically active group. An equal percentage of single men and women (87%) say they plan to vote next year.

The data for this report was conducted online in December 2011 and fielded 4,218 responses from singles in the U.S. who use Zoosk.  Respondents were equally divided among political parties with 30% being Democrat, 34% being Republican, and 36% being Independent.

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This January, the Republican Party will choose their nominee for the Presidential candidacy of the United States for the 2012 elections. The battle is getting stiffer, deeper, and more fierce within the GOP for front place in the primaries.

The battle to bypass the on-field verbal attacks among candidates with their so-called campaign related flip-flops, finger pointing and mind-wavering comments along with loads of unhealthy criticism has been going on between the Republican candidates as they struggle to reach the height of US politics.

These are the brave individuals who are ready to step in and potentially navigate the country through the rough tides that the Republican Party has been experiencing. One candidate who has entered the foray is former speaker of the house, Newton Leroy Gingrich, who announced his candidacy for Republican Presidential nomination for 2012 in May of this year.

Michele Bachmann, another Republican Presidential candidate who is a three-term Minnesota Congresswomen, is the current chair of the congress Tea Party caucus.

Ron Paul, US Representative from the State of Texas and a former medical doctor, is also a candidate for the Republican Presidential elections. Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, is a serious contender and a clear favorite for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination.

Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and their fellow contenders for the presidential nomination will be facing state-by-state battles that will eventually decide their fate and mark an end to the intra-party race. As the Iowa Caucus approaches, Republican Presidential nomination hopefuls are getting desperate to out-smart each other.

Linda Upmeyer, Mr. Gingrich’s Caucus co-chair women, denounced the Romney campaign for buying 3 million dollars’ worth of ad buys in Iowa intended for negative ads against the Georgia Republican. She further said that it is Romney’s desperation and panic and she believed that it is not going to be comfortable for those who want to move forward.

Recently at the latest Presidential debate hosted in Des Moines, Iowa, Newt Gingrich received character-based aggression from his Republican opponents. Bachmann and Paul criticized Mr. Gingrich as “hypocrite” who profited from his contacts. Mr Gingrich shot back at Mr. Romney and said “the only reason you didn’t become a career politician is because you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994”.

Gingrich rose to the top of the polls largely because of how he performed in the other debates this year. However, a few days ago Gingrich’s criticism of Paul Ryan’s plan as “right-wing social engineering” and then his denial of his own attack, is typical of Washington politics, and has led his competitors to question some of his platforms.

Politics has been the center-stage for this type of verbal war and an instrument to prove self-worth from a very long time. Perhaps what matters the most, keeping aside all of the “va-va voom”, is the articulation of promises made during the campaigns.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/iowapolitics/

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Health care was a major issue at the November 9 Republican presidential debate hosted by CNBC titled, “Your Money, Your Vote: The Republican Presidential Debate.” With each Republican presidential candidate stating that they would repeal ObamaCare, the debate gave them the opportunity to address the steps to reform health care once elected to office.

Ron Paul, who has had previous experience in the medical field as a doctor, addressed the issue by stating that the solution to heath care was to get the government out of the business altogether. He stated that there should be the right to “opt out of ObamaCare,” as well as any health care program to bring health care back to patient-doctor relationships.

Paul also discussed the need for patients to have medical savings accounts, which would drive down the prices on major medicines. Rick Perry believes that Medicare should allow more options for people to choose from. He also said that the best solution was to send money to the states and have them decide on what program fits best for their state.

Mitt Romney, who is currently taking the lead in recent polls, has received criticism in the past on his stance on health care. His plan is often referred to as “RomneyCare” because of its similarities with ObamaCare. During the debates, he responded that he would appeal ObamaCare and the solution would also be to send money to the states and allow them decide which health care plans are best for their state.

Romney also stated that Americans should be allowed to purchase their own insurance, instead of being forced to receive it through their company. He also agreed with Paul, saying that health care should work like a market so that Americans have a stake in the quality of their insurance. Michele Bachmann also held the same stance. She also maintained her true “malpractice liability reform” stance.

Newt Gingrich stated that there was a need to restore patient-doctor relationships, as well as turn over the funds to the state level so that they can craft a plan, similar to what John Huntsman indicated. Gingrich then stated that there has to be more concentration and funding for research on brain science.

By finding cures for many leading diseases and illnesses, people wouldn’t have to pay for such federal programs. Senator Rick Santorum thought that many other candidates lacked his experience in the health care field, and that other candidates such as Romney were not consistent in their plans.

He stated, “I was always for having the government out of the health care business and for a bottom-up, consumer-driven health care, which is different than Governor Romney and some of the other people on this panel.” Though each candidate has different plans for repealing ObamaCare, health care will continue be a hotly debated topic in future debates.

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A new Gallup Poll reveals that the country approves of President Obama’s decision to remove troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Polls showed a 75% backing in total, but many Republican GOP candidates disagreed with the president’s decision. In his 2008 campaign, President Obama made the promise to withdrawal troops from Iraq and transition to full Iraq responsibility.

With re-election just around the corner; this decision could be beneficial for his support. The troops are planned to be back in the United States by December 31, 2011, bringing an end to the war that has been fought since 2003.

In his speech Obama stated, “The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.” Even with the majority of the country supporting his decision, it has received criticism from almost all of the Republican GOP candidates.

One of them being Mitt Romney, who is now tied with the president for support in a recent Gallup Poll. Romney, along with many other republicans discussed the abrupt end to the war in Iraq would throw away any progress made in the several years we have been in that country.

At a campaign stop at Granite State, a day after the announcement of the withdrawal of troops, Romney stated, “The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq.”

Another GOP hopeful, Michele Bachmann voiced her opposition to the president’s decision stating, “Today’s announcement that we will remove all of our forces from Iraq is a political decision and not a military one; it represents the complete failure of President Obama to secure an agreement with Iraq for our troops to remain there to preserve the peace and demonstrates how far our foreign policy leadership has fallen.”

Another GOP hopeful, Herman Cain, criticized the president’s public announcement to have the troop’s home by December 31^st, saying it wasn’t common sense to reveal the details and dates of the Unites States’ decisions to the enemy. He also said, “I happen to think that Iran is just sitting back and waiting for us to leave and then they’re going to go back in and they’re going to try to control the whole country.

Even though the county shows a strong approval of President Obama’s decision, the GOP candidates fear the repercussions of an abrupt and unfinished end to the seven year war with Iraq.

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Rick Perry’s campaign strategy is looking for new ways to continue his campaign by focusing on interaction with voters instead of participating in debates. With disappointing performances in the past few debates, this may be the best alternative to boost his support.

Perry’s communication director, Ray Sullivan, has discussed Perry’s weakness in debating. “It’s not his preferred venue,” Sullivan said. He continued to say, “But we respect the process and intend to participate and are confident that he will have a solid performance.”

Sullivan also said that the debates take away valuable campaign time, especially because candidates only have a meek 30 seconds for a response, which is not as effective as alternative campaign tactics. He said it was important for Perry to concentrate on spending time in the town hall in Iowa with voters since the primaries are only a few months away.

Dana Loesch of the St. Louis Tea Party thought that it would not be wise for Perry to skip the future debates because it is the best opportunity to unleash many of his plans, which the public wants to see. Perry is already playing catch-up because he started late in the debates, making it to the last five out of eight debates.

According to CNN, over 5 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate in Las Vegas sponsored by CNN and YouTube, breaking the record in cable news history. The debates are probably the most important time for the candidates to get their messages out, but it also has brought criticism to some candidates, such as Perry.

These debates have significantly helped and hurt candidates, as seen with Herman Cain, who has risen to the top of the leader board most certainly because of his ease and likeability during the debates. Mitt Romney has also gained a spot in the lead because of his debate techniques and strategies. With Cain on top and Romney not far behind, it’s not too late for Perry to make it back into the top two.

If Perry does not show up at the next debate, it could hurt his image. Ed Rollins, the former campaign manager for Michele Bachmann said, “It makes him look like he’s not ready to be president.”

Perry will be at the next debate held on November 9 at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. It will be sponsored by CNBC, the Michigan Republican Party, and Oakland University. However, it has not be confirmed if Perry will appear at the debates before the primaries in January.

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Another intense GOP debate took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, that aimed at giving the nation another opportunity to get to know the candidates and their positions on certain topics. Throughout the night, finger-pointing was prevalent, especially surrounding the topic of illegal immigration.

As in past debates, illegal immigration was a significant topic of focus, but it was not only directed at Rick Perry.  Instead, every candidate got a chance to voice their opinion.  Perry has faced criticism over his previous policies on immigration, such as putting in place “magnets” that attract illegal immigrants.

During the Las Vegas debate, Perry turned the attention over to Romney’s lack of enforcement on illegal immigration.  He started quite a quarrel when he brought up Romney’s personal record on the subject. He stated, “Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home, and you knew about it for a year.

And the idea that you stand here before us and talk about how you’re strong on immigration is, on its face, the height of hypocrisy.”  Romney responded that his lawn care service had illegal immigrants working for them, but were let go once he found out. Romney also proposed, as president, to set up an E-Verify System in which employers must check if their workers are legal and if their documents are real.

The other candidates have also had responses to immigration that have been voiced over the past few weeks, one being Herman Cain’s “electric fence” idea.  Herman Cain, who is now taking the lead in many polls, was asked about his idea of building an electric fence along the entire border of Mexico.

While receiving a few laughs, he responded, “Allow me to give a serious answer. Yes, I believe we should secure the border for real, and it would be a combination of a fence, technology, as well as possibly boots on the ground, for some of the more dangerous areas.”

Michele Bachmann also agreed with the idea of a fence and was the first candidate to sign a pledge that would build a double-wedged fence across the border. Rick Perry is opposed to building a fence in his home state of Texas, because he has explained that it would take 10-15 years as well as $30 billion.

Bachmann pointed out the long-term solution of spending money to build a fence now, instead of continuing to have an open border, by stating, “Every year, it costs this country $113 billion in the costs that we put out to pay for illegal aliens. It costs the state and local government of that amount $82 billion.”

Ron Paul also responded to border patrol and illegal immigration by saying that the border lacks resources because they are instead being utilized overseas. “We worry more about the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.  We need to bring the guard units home and the units back here, so we can have more personnel on our borders.”

Immigration continues to be a topic of debate as well as an issue the entire country faces, but what the nation thinks about each candidate’s plans is still to come.

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Rick Perry, the governor of Texas and one of the current GOP presidential candidates, has the most experience when it comes to finding solutions to illegal immigration, border patrol, and drug cartels in Mexico. Drug cartels are a rapidly growing threat to Mexico as a whole and also have the potential to spew over the border into the United States if something is not done, and done soon.

Perry is trying to come up with some solutions to solve the crisis that has not been effectively addressed by Washington. Perry’s potential plan of action to solve the ongoing threat of drug cartels in Mexico was presented in New Hampshire this past week. He stated, “It may require our military in Mexico working in concert with them to kill these drug cartels and to keep them off of our border.”

Although the idea seems sufficient for dealing with crimes in Mexico, the Mexican government has not responded with open arms to the hypothetical idea. Arturo Sarukhan, the Ambassador to Mexico stated, “The matter of the participation or presence of U.S. troops on Mexican soil is not on the table.”

This is not the first time Perry has been faced with concerns involving Mexico. Being along the border, Perry has had his hands full and dug deep into the pockets of the constituents in his state to control illegal immigrants from crossing the border.

Perry has spent more than  $230 million dollars in securing the Texas-Mexico border from his office’s budget, including putting more Texas police on the ground near the border, surveillance cameras, and hiring additional law enforcement. He also believes it is the job of the Federal government, and not the state, to deal with the problem of border patrol.

Another issue facing Perry is how to handle the immigrants that are already in the state of Texas that have successfully crossed the border. One of his policies allows in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, saving them close to $100,000 in schooling over four years. He stated, “In 2001, we had this choice: Are we going to kick these children over to the curb and say you cannot have access to college? Because the fact of the matter is there’s no way they could pay the out-of-state tuition.”

This plan quickly backfired in the most recent debate and several  candidates challenged him on this topic, including Rick Santorum referring to him as “soft” on immigration. Santorum also pointed out  problems with Perry’s stance on illegal immigration in a Newsmax  interview. He concludes that Perry is doing three things wrong in dealing with illegal immigrants.

First he thinks Perry’s opposition to a fence along the border and using  troops on the ground instead to defend the border has been ineffective. Secondly he believes that Perry has promoted incentive programs that attract immigrants to come to the country illegally such as the in-state tuition policy.

Lastly, Santorum thinks Perry isn’t doing enough about illegal immigrants as far as locating and  deporting them. From illegal immigration, border patrol, and drug cartels it seems as if Rick Perry has been faced with them all. Whether other candidates agree with Perry or not, he has probably spent more time and money on the issue than any other candidate running for election in 2012.

He may be the best qualified in providing  solutions regarding these issues.

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The 3^rd primary Republican presidential debate of the month took place in Orlando and may have been the first debate to really change up the race. For one thing, there were no longer just eight contenders on stage, but there was a ninth addition, Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico who joined the race.

Of course there was the same battle between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney that the audience has seen in past debates, but Romney came out stronger then Perry did in this particular debate. It seems as if some of Rick Perry’s policies have backfired on him.

What he believed originally was a vaccine to save young girls lives, turned out to be a controversial issue and one brought up repeatedly by Michele Bachmann. Perry admitted he was wrong about the mandatory HPV vaccines as in prior debates, but this time around he made a well-designed approach at justifying his actions with a story about a woman who was dying of HPV, who lobbied him for support.

Another instance was when Perry was called “soft” on border patrol and immigration. Perry thought it was a good idea to promote and educate illegal immigrants at Texas colleges by giving them in-state tuition, a total of $100,000 dollars in savings in some cases. This came off to the other candidates as a free pass for people who don’t necessarily deserve it and is rejected by many.

Santorum has been a main critic of this action and questioned Perry during the first half of the debate on it. John Huntsman got some speaking time in the debate and has shown to be picking up in polls in New Hampshire. People are now wondering if he can he pick up support nationally.

Other highlights throughout the night included Gary Johnson’s dog comment, which is making headlines throughout the nation. “My next door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this administration.” This quote was made popular the next day especially for supposedly copying it from Rush Limbaugh.

A moving moment in the debate was presented by Herman Cain when he told his story of when he had cancer and explaining how he “would be dead on ObamaCare.” The story clearly connected him with the audience. Bachmann still didn’t get as much time as she probably would have hoped, but has been consistent in answering questions well.

The interactive aspects added by Google also contributed to shaking up the debate and put each candidate on the spot and added some pressure to the night. Some questions that were added to the debate were “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the education system. The number of viwers alsmot doubled from previous debates and had 6.1 million viewers tuning in.

This debate not only introduced a new candidate as well as a new way of interacting with candidates, but also presented a new outlook for the election.
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Shockingly, I think almost every GOP presidential candidate has now won a straw poll or two. The former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza won a Republican straw poll over the weekend in Florida. Herman Cain won 37 percent of the vote on Saturday. Texas governor Rick Perry came in second with 15 percent of the vote and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had 14 percent of the vote.

Although straw polls actually mean so little, the candidates believe that straw polls are indicators on how they are doing in the race. “This is a sign of our growing momentum and my candidacy that cannot be ignored,” Cain said in a statement addressing the results.

“I will continue to share my message of ‘common sense solutions’ across this country and look forward to spending more time in Florida, a critical state for both the nomination and the general election.”

Perry, who was expected by many to win the straw poll, signaled his belief earlier in the day that it was a “big mistake” for rival candidates like Romney and Bachmann to opt against campaigning for support in the event. Perry said, “I’ve got all my hopes on Florida.”

The loss for Perry is just the latest in a series of bumps for the frontrunner. His performance in last week’s debate has left many Republicans scratching their head. Bachmann has also been plummeting. Although, she did not actively campaign in Florida, her 8^th place finish in the poll is still bad news for the Minnesota Congresswoman.

However, last week Bachmann said she’s “in it for the long haul” despite many people believing that the race will be a match-up between Perry and Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.

 
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Just weeks after Rep. Michele Bachmann won the Ames Iowa straw poll, her campaign has seemed to fallen apart. The latest Power Outsiders poll conducted by The Huffington Post and Patch found that Bachmann is losing credibility.

Nearly half of the influential local Republicans were surveyed in the early primary states, including New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina, report a negative impression of Bachmann, and more than two thirds see little or no chance that Bachmann can either beat Barack Obama or win the Republican nomination.

This week, the HuffPost-Patch Power Outsiders poll of 160 political activists, party officials and officeholders in the early primary and caucus states focuses on Bachmann. The poll does not survey all Republican voters, but focused on influential local activists and political insiders that have historically driven the outcome of party nomination campaigns.

This week, we heard from 38 Power Outsiders in Iowa, 57 in New Hampshire and 65 in South Carolina. The poll first asked respondents to use one word to describe their impression of Bachmann. Unlike with the two frontrunners, nearly half the words (48 percent) to describe Bachmann were negative, including “inexperienced,” “crazy,” “lightweight” and “scary.”

Fewer words (43 percent) were unambiguously positive, including “passionate,” “energetic,” “principled,” “determined” and “feisty.” Although we classified 8 percent of the comments as neutral, these included words like “conservative” (mentioned by 4 percent) that could have either a positive or negative connotation for the respondent.

The comparison between the one-word reaction to Bachmann and the two front-runners is stark. The influential local Republican activists we talked to were nearly twice as likely to use a negative word to describe Bachmann (48 percent) as Romney (28 percent) or Perry (24 percent) on previous surveys.

The Power Outsiders do express affinity for Bachmann’s issue positions. Nearly four out of five (78 percent) describe her as someone who “takes stands on issues you agree with,” although less than a third (29 percent) say that phrase describes Bachmann “very well.”

Respondents gave far more negative reactions to Bachmann when asked about other characteristics. Only 40 percent describe her as someone who “would make a good president,” and her ratings plunge on matters of viability. Only 29 percent describe her as someone “who can beat Barack Obama in the general election,” and even fewer (26 percent) say she can win the Republican nomination.

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The rift between Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Rick Perry seems to widen. The Romney campaign stated on Wednesday that they have considered Perry’s idea about allowing states to run social security. “We reject turning the program over to the states,” Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told The Huffington Post in an email.

The Romney campaign issued six detailed questions for the Perry campaign about how a state level social security program would run. Gail Gitcho, communications director for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, said Perry wants to “dismantle” Social Security.

“He has refused to answer questions on what the Social Security program would look like at the state level,” Gitcho said in the campaign’s release. “Governor Perry has the opportunity to clarify his proposal while he is in Florida — a state with an extraordinarily high number of retirees and near retirees.” The six questions take Perry’s idea seriously, raising logistical issues about the change.

Some of the questions include,  ”Would individuals retain national Social Security numbers or would each state administer its own system?”  or “What would happen to the Trust Fund that accrued while the [federal] system was in surplus? … How would those funds be equitably allocated to the states?”

A Perry campaign spokesman has not yet responded to a request for comment Wednesday. Although Romney also does not have any specific plan for social security, he has offered more details than Perry. In his 2010 book, “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” Romney said he would consider raising the retirement age at which Americans become eligible for Social Security, with exceptions for those physically unable to work.

He also said he would be willing to reduce benefits for “high-income individuals” by using the consumer price index rather than the wage index to determine payouts, and to give younger workers the option to “direct a portion of their Social Security tax to a private account.”

Perry has called social security a “Ponzi scheme” and a “monstrous lie.” These bold statements have won him some fans with members of the conservative grassroots. But, these statements have also opened him up for criticism nationally.

Romney’s campaign has tried to go after the substance of Perry’s past comments about moving the program to the state level and the questions about Social Security’s constitutionality that Perry raised in his 2010 book, “Fed Up.” The two will meet again in a scheduled GOP debate on Thursday in Florida.

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The GOP debate on Thursday night was, once again, an attack on Texas governor Rick Perry. In the past, candidates have gone after the governor for his HPV vaccination in the state. On Thursday, it was about immigration.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum first attacked Perry over immigration. “I would say that he is soft on illegal immigration,” Santorum said. “He doesn’t want to build a fence. He gave a speech in 2001 where he talked about binational health insurance between Mexico and Texas. I mean, I don’t even think Barack Obama would be for binational health insurance.”

Santorum called Perry “very weak on this issue of American sovereignty and protecting our borders and not being a magnet for illegal immigration.” Perry defended his stance on immigration, especially a policy where he allows children of undocumented workers to receive in-state tuition costs at public colleges.

He said that the other Republicans who opposed in-state tuition for children of illegals were heartless. “If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart,” Perry said.

Romney pointed out that students from states outside Texas have to pay full tuition, putting holes in Perry’s logic. “If you’re a United States citizen from any one of the other 49 states, you have to pay $100,000 more. That doesn’t make sense to me,” Romney said. Perry had some awkward moments throughout the debate and seemed to be off his game.

Pausing and struggling to answer some questions. And the polls reflect that performance. A focus group run by Fox News said after the debate that Romney was the clear winner, and that Perry lost a large degree of support. Romney’s poise, confidence and specificity is beginning to impress voters.  Surprisingly, Santorum is also gaining support.

He had another strong performance during the debate. Rep. Michele Bachmann is already fading to obscurity as Republican voters are starting to see the electability problems she has.

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Another intense night unfolded as the GOP presidential candidates continued to battle for the lead — which means knocking Rick Perry out of first place. The candidates might not agree on anything, but they seemed to have the same opinion on the President’s performance. In Tampa, Florida on Monday night the eight presidential candidates showed similar behavior as they did the previous week.

Perry continues as the front-runner in the race thus far and it was obvious that all other contenders were relentlessly trying to shake him. Michele Bachmann targeted Perry on his bill that requires teen girls to have the HPV shot in the state of Texas. She questioned if the drug company’s donations were the initiative behind the mandatory vaccinations or if it was actually about “protecting life.”

Mitt Romney challenged Perry by telling him how he really felt about his job creation, saying, “look I think governor Perry would agree with me that if your dealt four aces, that doesn’t make you necessarily a great poker player.” Romney and Perry continued their one-on-one battle throughout the night, as seen the week before. They still remain the top two candidates in the race.

Ron Paul also chimed in on Rick Perry’s job record and mentioned that as a taxpayer in Texas, and with Rick Perry as his governor, his taxes have doubled alongside spending since he came to office. Rick Perry was not the only candidate faced with criticism. Ron Paul also dealt with confrontation from Santorum and sustained booing from the audience.

The cause was an article posted on Paul’s website that stated the 9/11 attacks were America’s fault. Michele Bachmann had a strong night and was seen as a bit more aggressive in Tampa than she was the week before in California. This was essential for her position as one of the top three front-runners and secured her stay in the race.

Many viewers believe that Bachman performed the best out of every candidate. Bachmann said she had “wonderful positive feedback and comments from it, so we’re delighted.” Candidate Herman Cain chimed in from time to time with his policies and said, “he would bring a sense of humor to the white house, because America is too uptight,” which added some humor to the debate.

No matter what stance each candidate took throughout the night, it was made clear across the stage that President Obama had to be replaced in 2012, amid a sense of humor. Newt Gringrich said, “I’m not particularly worried about Governor Perry and Governor Romney frightening the American people when President Obama scares them everyday.”

Santorum stated, “Some people say that Barack Obama’s economy is a disaster, my feeling is it would have to make a dramatic improvement just to be a disaster.” With a few more debates left to go, it will be interesting to see if Perry will continue to be the target for other candidates and if candidates will continue to clobber the President in hope of republican support.

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The debate that took place at the infamous Ronald Reagan Library gave those who tuned in the opportunity to formally see where the eight GOP presidential candidates stand on some of the most burning issues facing the country. It was clear that two candidates carried the spotlight throughout the night. Romney and Perry didn’t waste any time and began their heated battle right from the start.

Each dealt with tough questions, and both were confronted on issues of job creation in their state and their plan for the economy. Romney, who was bumped down by Perry in recent polls to a second place, showed an adequate performance at last week’s debate. Romney was able to stay composed and focused even when faced with questions regarding some of his weak spots, such as healthcare.

Romney’s health care plan, often referred to as “Romney Care,” was one topic that Romney couldn’t avoid answering — the main reason being that all other candidates oppose Romney’s healthcare bill because it resembles that of President Obama. He will have to expand on the difference between his and the President’s in future debates.

Romney was also confronted with his ideas for job creation when questioned about his poor ranking as the 47^th state for job creation within his ten years as governor. Romney responded, “We were able to turn around the job losses and at the end of four years we had the unemployment rate down to 4.7%. That’s a record I think the president would like to see. As a matter of fact we created more jobs in Massachusetts than this president has created in this entire country.”

He also used his experience in the private sector to promote his foundation for forming jobs. Rick Perry, who is now in the lead in the GOP presidential election, is known to be inexperienced in live debates compared to the other candidates. However, this didn’t show and Perry was able to answer many questions, with only a few fumbles.

Perry was also faced with the topic of job creation and economy. He was asked about economic issues that surround Texas such as having the lowest minimum wage in the country and being one of eight states with the highest level of poverty.

Perry responded, “What Americans are looking for is someone who can get this country working again, and we put the model in place in the state of Texas. When you look at what we have done over the last decade we have created one million jobs in the state of Texas, the same time Americans lost 2 1/2 million.”

Although a good answer, Perry dodged many of the questions being asked and instead responded with his track record of creating jobs. The fact that Mitt Romney and Rick Perry were in the spotlight last at the first debate could indicate the direction of the race for the presidential nomination.

Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to President George W. Bush during his presidential campaign, responded to last week’s debate as, “great theater, good fireworks. Rick Perry is the front-runner and he did nothing last night to knock himself off that status. Mitt Romney was solid as he has been in the recent debates.”

With both candidates showing no signs of giving up, it will be exciting to see if the upcoming debates continue to play out like a boxing match between Romney and Perry, or if other candidates will want to step in for the fight.

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Rick Perry’s decision to mandate HPV vaccines for sixth-grade girls back in 2007 has become a bone of contention on the campaign trail. Under the terms of Perry’s executive order, 12 year old girls in Texas were supposed to receive the Gardasil vaccine, which inoculates them against the human papillomavirus (HPV).

HPV is quite widespread, with approximately 50% of sexually-active adults acquiring it during their lifetime. However, according to the Center for Disease Control, in 90% of cases, the body’s immune system eliminates the virus without any adverse effects. But in the remaining 10% of cases, the virus can have serious side effects, including genital warts or cervical cancer.

It is because of the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases that many medical authorities recommend administering the HPV vaccine to all girls before they become sexually active. Even though the executive order was ultimately overturned by the Texas legislature, Perry’s attempt to impose the HPV vaccine by executive fiat is hard to reconcile with his promise to reduce the government’s role in people’s lives.

Fellow GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann criticized Perry’s decision, saying that “to have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong.” Even Democrats have joined in the criticism. During the 2010 election, they ran attack ads featuring menacing images of a needle poised to strike a young girl’s arm.

Perry’s decision also vexes social conservatives because inoculating girls against sexually-transmitted disease flies in the face of their support for abstinence-only sex education. Conservative Christian leaders were vocal in their opposition to the executive order, and their opposition was instrumental in convincing the legislature to overturn it.

Another issue with Perry’s support for the HPV vaccine is that Merck, the company that makes Gardasil, donated $30,000 to Perry’s campaign. The company also employs Perry’s former chief-of-staff as a lobbyist. Naturally, these close connections have given rise to claims that the Texas governor was acting more for the benefit of a major donor than the general public.

Although Michele Bachmann accused Perry of “crony capitalism,” he claimed that there was nothing untoward about the situation. “”If you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended,” he replied. However, as noted above, Merck’s contribution was actually much greater than the $5,000 quoted by Perry.

Furthermore, Merck and its subsidiaries also contributed $380,000 to the Republican Governors Association once Perry took the helm of that organization in 2006. Now that Perry is coming under fire for his decision, he seems intent on distancing himself from it. During a recent debate, he admitted that, if he had to do it all over again, he would have approached the matter differently.

Meanwhile, his spokesman Mark Milner, accused Bachmann and others of staging histrionics in order to draw attention to themselves. “You have candidates out there that are trying to get attention and will throw outlandish accusations out there just to get their name in the paper,” Milner said. “What drove the governor on this issue was protecting life.”

Despite the Sturm und Drang that this has generated, Perry is still the candidate most likely to appeal to the right wing of the GOP. His social conservative credentials are still stronger than those of Mitt Romney, who is still struggling to overcome grassroots Republican opposition to Massachusetts’ healthcare law.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann attacked Governor Rick Perry during the last debate in Florida. She strongly criticized the Texas governor for his executive order in 2007 that mandated human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for sixth-grade girls. However, after the debate, Bachmann appeared on Fox News and spoke about a woman from the audience.

“There’s a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate. She said her daughter was given that vaccine,” Bachmann said. “She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result. There are very dangerous consequences.”

Perry said Wednesday morning that Bachmann’s comment “had no truth in it, no basis in fact.” Other people have criticized Bachmann’s comments as well, including her former campaign manager, Ed Rollins. “She made a mistake. The quicker she admits she made a mistake and moves on, the better she is,” Rollins said in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday.

“Ms. Bachmann’s an emotional person who basically has great feeling for people. I think that’s what she was trying to project. Obviously it would have been better if she had stayed on the issue,” he said. Rollins admitted to Chris Matthews on MSNBC that Bachmann has taken what was a positive issue for her and at the least tainted it, allowing Perry to escape the full brunt of scrutiny he would have otherwise borne.

“I think the bottom line here is she has made what was a very positive debate and made the issue about Perry to where it’s now an issue about her, and she needs to move on,” Rollins said. After a few days of silence, the Minnesota Congresswoman is on the defensive.

“During the debate, I didn’t make any statements that would indicate that I’m a doctor, I’m a scientist or that I’m making any conclusions about the drug one way or another,” the GOP presidential hopeful told reporters.

Asked whether she would apologize for comments that outraged medical experts say will discourage parents from getting their children immunized, Bachmann said: “Oh, I’m not going to answer that.”

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After two Republican debates, Texas governor Rick Perry is having some difficulty. Other candidates have attacked Perry for his stance on the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Perry issued an executive order in 2007 to mandate HPV vaccination for sixth-grade girls in his state.

He allowed parents to opt-out of the order; however, that hasn’t stopped the other GOP candidates from pouncing on the issue. Other Republican voters and pundits have questioned the governor’s character. Craig Robinson, a former Iowa Republican Party official who is now a full-time political blogger, wrote about the problem on his blog, the Iowa Republican.

“What the debate over Perry’s HPV mandate has really done is brought in to question Perry’s character and convictions,” wrote Robinson on his blog.  ”That is why the HPV issue has gained more traction and attention in recent weeks than Perry’s comments about social security.

Perry may want to put this issue to bed, but by the looks of things, his proposed HPV mandate could haunt him throughout the nominating process.” Perry was defensive during the first two debates but stated his goal was to prevent cancer.

When he first entered the race, Perry stated that he should have provided an opt-in for parents instead of an opt-out. But in both GOP debates over the past week, Perry pointed to the opt-out clause as a positive component of the executive order he signed. “I don’t know what’s more strong for parental rights than having that opt-out,” Perry said at his first debate in Simi Valley, Calif., last week.

Asked directly on Monday night, during his second debate in Tampa, Fla., whether the executive order he signed amounted to a mandate, Perry said it was not — because of the opt-out provision.”No, sir it wasn’t. It was very clear. It had an opt-out,” Perry said. But later in the week, Perry was back to stating that he should have had an opt-in instead of an opt-out.

This proves to be a difficult issue for Perry who, like other Republicans, believes Obama’s health care overhaul is unconstitutional. If Perry can force residents in his state to have a vaccine, then how can making people have health care be unconstitutional?

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After much criticism, Texas governor Rick Perry is attempting to soften his criticism on social security. This marks his fourth flip on the issue. Perry, the current front-runner in the Republican presidential nomination, wrote an op-ed piece on Monday for USA Today. Although he still maintained that social security needs to be overhauled, he refrained from some of the more inciting rhetoric he has favored in the past.

Instead of calling the system a “ponzi scheme,” he wrote of “dire financial challenges facing the nearly 80-year old program” and emphasized the need to protect benefits for current recipients and those “nearing retirement.” In his article, entitled “I am going to be honest with the American people,” Perry stated that older workers would still be protected. “For younger workers, we must consider reforms to make Social Security financially viable.”

“I am going to be honest with the American people. Our elected leaders must have the strength to speak frankly about entitlement reform if we are to right our nation’s financial course and get the USA working again. For too long, politicians have been afraid to speak honestly about Social Security. We must have the guts to talk about its financial condition if we are to fix Social Security and make it financially viable for generations to come,” Perry wrote in his short piece.

Despite the change in tone, it is unclear how long this will last. When he first jumped into the race, Perry attempted to distance himself from his book, “FED UP!” where he first described social security as a “ponzi scheme.” However, last week at the Republican debate, the governor doubled down on his initial assessment, repeating the phrase and calling social security, “a monstrous lie.”

Other presidential candidates have criticized Perry for his remarks; however, the statements have not hurt him in the polls. A new CNN/Tea Party Express poll out Monday showed Perry with the same lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as he had two weeks ago, 30 percent to 18 percent. Perry also is leading Romney over electability.

Forty-two percent of voters believe that Perry could beat President Obama compared to Romney’s 26 percent. Rep. Michele Bachmann continues slipping, dropping to four percent in the poll, down from ten percent just two weeks ago.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has not campaigned on the one thing that sets her apart-her gender. As of now, there is no Sarah Palin in the race and Bachmann represents the lone female in the presidential ring. Bachmann has chosen to downplay her gender, unlike her predecessors, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton.

The presidential candidate does not mention that she would be the first female Republican presidential nominee. Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, said Bachmann’s decision to downplay her gender in her campaign could be a smart electoral strategy to win over the evangelical, conservative base.

“She does not embrace feminist policies or feminist principles,” said Lawless. “For them to portray her as breaking a glass ceiling becomes tricky. I think the campaign has rightly tried not to do that. The counter to that is Sarah Palin, who didn’t embrace feminist principles or feminist policies, but was a self-identified feminist and said she was out there to finish the work that Hillary Clinton started.

That disconnect between what her beliefs were and what her rhetoric said ultimately raised a lot of questions.” Women’s groups such as the National Organization for Women and NARAL Pro-Choice America have expressed concern that Bachmann as the first female president would actually be a setback for women rather than a victory.

“She is so opposed to women’s equality and women’s rights that I suppose it’s appropriate that she’s not touting herself as a woman candidate,” said Terry O’Neill, president of NOW. “Palin at least claims to support Title IX. I’m searching for an issue on which Bachmann and NOW would agree.”

Conservative women groups, however, do not understand why other women groups wouldn’t support Bachmann.. Ciara Matthews, communications director at the Susan B. Anthony List, which works to elect women who oppose abortion rights, said she can’t understand why any women’s group wouldn’t be pleased to see the first woman president elected.

“If we’re trying to send the message that women are as strong as men are, why do we need to highlight the fact that we are women doing something that women are expected to be able to do as well as men?” said Matthews. “And Bachmann has a very pro-woman agenda. She’s pro-life, and I think that the most pro-woman position you can take — wanting to defend women against the horrors of abortion.”

Bachmann’s campaign spokeswoman said the candidate doesn’t need to identify as a feminist or play up the fact that she is the only woman running because she leads by example. “Michele speaks with great pride about being a mother to her five wonderful children, foster mother to 23 children and wife of almost 33 years,” Alice Stewart said.

“She has talked about the many fond memories of raising her children and being a homemaker. She has shared the most personal story a woman can tell — that of losing a child due to a miscarriage. At campaign events across the country, mothers bring their daughters to meet Michele and say she is a tremendous role model to girls and women everywhere.”

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The Republican debate on Wednesday night was all about Rick Perry. Even Rick Perry noticed it, stating he felt like a “piñata.” Almost all of the other candidates gleefully swung at the frontrunner, while the Texan governor decided to support all of his controversial statements in his book “FED UP!”

For all the talk about job creation on the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, the words, “middle class,” was only mentioned two times in two hours. TWICE! It is clearer than ever than Republicans are not the party for the middle class. I am unsure if Democrats are either, but I know for sure that Republicans are not.

The debate was primarily between Rick Perry and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney about who had the better state and who created more jobs. Interesting debate since all of the Republicans claim the government does nothing for job creation and it is left up to the private sector.

The governors were prepared with a number of job-related facts to throw out. “Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt,” said Perry.

Romney countered that Texas created more jobs under Perry’s predecessor, George W. Bush, than under Perry. He also defended his record and minimized Perry’s by noting that Massachusetts and Texas have different political and economic conditions. “States are different,” said Romney.

“Texas has zero income tax. Texas has a right to work state, a Republican legislature, a Republican Supreme Court. Texas has a lot of oil and gas in the ground. Those are wonderful things, but Governor Perry doesn’t believe that he created those things.” Perry continued to assert that social security is a “ponzi scheme” and a “monstrous lie.”

He stated if he was president, he would eliminate social security while reassuring people that depend on that income, they would be okay. Romney stated he believes social security is successful but that it is facing a funding problem, which he would fix. Bachmann barely talked at all and did not deviate from her talking points, even when pressed by moderators.

Every other part of the debate was predictable. Not many social issues were touched on by NBC and Politico moderators, although Brian Williams sort of asked Rick Perry about the death row inmate that was killed who is probably innocent, without mentioning the man’s name.

Williams simply asked in general if Perry had ever struggled with the idea that someone who was killed via capital punishment was innocent. The weak sauce allowed Perry to wriggle off the hook: “No, sir.

I’ve never struggled with that at all. The state of Texas has a very thoughtful, a very clear process in place of which — when someone commits the most heinous of crimes against our citizens, they get a fair hearing, they go through an appellate process, they go up to the Supreme Court of the United States, if that’s required.”

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Rep. Michele Bachmann’s campaign suffered a major shake-up on Monday as her campaign manager and his close deputy, although her aides tried to downplay the changes.

Veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins stepped down as campaign manager for health reasons. The Bachmann campaign stated a strategist is filling in until a replacement is named. Rollins will continue to advise the campaign, according to Bachmann.

“In less than 50 days and with fewer resources than other campaigns, Ed was the architect that led our campaign to a historic victory in Iowa,” Bachmann said in a statement released late Monday, pointing to her win in the Ames Straw Poll last month.

“I am grateful for his guidance and leadership, and fortunate to retain his valuable advice even though his health no longer permits him to oversee the day-to-day operations of the campaign.” Rollins told CNN that the front-runners of the GOP race are Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, stating that Perry’s late entry has affected fundraising for Bachmann.

“I think legitimately it’s a Romney-Perry race,” he said. “I think she’s the third candidate at this point in time – which is way different and better than we’d thought when we started this thing – and she’s very much in this thing.”Rollins suffered a stroke a year ago and doesn’t feel he can carry on as campaign manager.

“I have great affection for her. I’ll do everything I can to help her. It’s still very much the team I put in place. I just don’t have the endurance to go 12-, 14-hour days seven days a week anymore,” he said.

His deputy, David Polyansky, who worked with him when they ran former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid in 2008, also planned to step aside, Rollins told CNN.”David and I have been a team for a long time,” he said. “It’s just a good time to make a change.”

Campaign strategist Keith Nahigian is taking over as campaign manager for the short-term. Prior to the Bachmann campaign, he was a government consultant at the Health and Human Services Department to the Homeland Security Department, as well as to the National Security Council.

“Keith has played a vital role in the success we have had to date and I’m confident he can lead us to a strong finish in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and across the country,” Bachmann said in her statement.

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Texas governor Rick Perry has a target on his back. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s super PAC- Keep Conservatives United, released a 30 second ad earlier in the week said that Perry took spending from $45 billion to $90.4 billion between 2000 and 2010.

“Rick Perry doubled spending in a decade,” says the ad. “And he’s supposed to be the Tea Party guy?” The ad will begin airing Monday in South Carolina.

Perry’s spokesman Ray Sullivan called the ad “patently and provably false,” and cited numbers showing that spending in the state budget that is paid for with state taxes and other state revenues has gone down since Perry took office, if the figures are adjusted for population and inflation. Perry’s campaign explained that general revenue spending was $55.7 billion for the 2000-2001 budget and is $80.5 billion for 2012-2013.

Keep Conservatives United PAC obtained their numbers from a Texas State Comptroller’s report issued one year ago. Perry’s campaign took its numbers from the state legislature’s budget board report in May.

Bachmann is not the only candidate that has begun attacking Perry. Mitt Romney criticized “career politicians” earlier in the week, a clear dig at Perry who has held an elected position since 1984. Fellow Texan Ron Paul also had some sharp words for Perry during an interview on Friday. The Republican congressman was on a stop in New Hampshire when he called Perry the “candidate of the week.”

“He was the one saying, ‘Oh yeah, I’m all for secession,’ and that kind of talk,” Paul told The Associated Press. “The only thing I would advise is looking into him, looking at his record, and not just taking him at face value. Texas has had a lot of changes in these last eight years, not exactly positive either.”

In a 2009 interview, Perry said there was no reason for Texas to secede from the union, but suggested it was a possibility if Washington political leaders continued to “thumb their nose at the American people.”

Paul suggested he was not worried about Perry’s rapid rise. “There are a lot of candidates who climbed real fast and went down real fast,” Paul said. All this is building up to the GOP’s next debate. Next Wednesday will be the first debate since Perry has joined the republican candidates.

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When even an extreme congressman is starting to call you out, you are in trouble.  Rep. Allen West called Rep. Michele Bachmann’s suggestion for drilling oil in the Florida Everglades “an incredible faux pas.”

Over the weekend, Bachmann spoke at a campaign stop in Florida. “The United States needs to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy and more dependent upon American resourcefulness,” Bachmann said. “Whether that is in the Everglades, or whether that is in the eastern Gulf region, or whether that’s in North Dakota, we need to go where the energy is.”

The Republican presidential candidate added, “Of course it needs to be done responsibly. If we can’t responsibly access energy in the Everglades then we shouldn’t do it.”

Rep. Allen West, a strange tea partier known for making his own outlandish statements, pounced on Bachmann’s statement almost instantly. West said during a town hall event in Florida, his home state, “When I see her next week, I’ll straighten her out about that.”

West is not the only person pointing out the potential environmental disaster in Bachmann’s statement. Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, said, “To go in the middle of the Everglades and to spoil the river of grass just because somebody wants to, that’s not a wise thing to do.”

Bachmann, who has previously stated she would abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, said she would rely on experts to determine where to drill. The same experts who thought deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was a good idea? “No one wants to hurt or contaminate the earth. … We don’t want to harm our water, our ecosystems or the air.

That is a minimum bar,” she said, according to the Associated Press. “From there, though, that doesn’t mean that the two have to be mutually exclusive. We can protect the environment and do so responsibly, but we can also protect the environment and not kill jobs in America and not deny ourselves access to the energy resources that America’s been so blessed with.”

A CBS reporter in Miami asked Bachmann about her call for drilling, asking, “Why would you invade that natural resource with gas and oil drilling?” Bachmann responded, “Let’s access this wonderful treasure trove of energy that God has given us in this country. Let’s access it responsibly.”

However, many experts do not know if there is any oil beneath the Everglades. A geologist from University of South Florida told CBS News that it doesn’t seem to harbor any “treasure trove.”

“There is no known evidence that there is a significant hydrocarbon deposit beneath the Everglades,” Dr. Albert Hine said.

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Presidential candidate Mitt Romney put on his boxing gloves on Tuesday and began to swing at top rival, Rick Perry. Romney spoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in San Antonio and seemed to take aim at Perry without mentioning his name. When talking about whether Obama is responsible for the recession, Romney alluded that Perry is a “career politician.”

“I am a conservative businessman. I spent most of my life outside of politics, dealing with real problems in the real economy,” Romney said. “Career politicians got us into this mess and they simply don’t know how to get us out!”

Romney’s advisors state that the “death by a thousand cuts” strategy will target Perry. Romney’s camp doesn’t believe that the Texas governor, who has been in office since 2000, can be defeated by any one thing.

The strategy instead will focus on highlighting the most negative aspects of Perry’s public record. Although Romney is starting to attack Perry, the plan is also to wait on Rep. Michele Bachmann. Romney’s aides believe that she will soon be forced to go on the offensive against Perry.

However, Bachmann’s camp is content to remain on the sidelines for as long as possible and let the first and second place contenders duke it out. Romney’s strategists think she won’t be able to wait long because of Perry’s surge in the poll numbers. “I think given her financial situation she can’t wait that long,” the Romney adviser said.

Jamie Burnett, who was Romney’s political director in New Hampshire in 2008 but is unaffiliated this cycle, said that “every day that goes by there is less oxygen for [Bachmann] in this primary field.” “[Perry's] stealing a lot of her oxygen.

It’s quickly becoming a two-person race,” Burnett stated. Romney’s camp also believes that Perry will hang himself during the three upcoming debates scheduled in September. “We went through Hurricane Palin and Hurricane Huckabee and Hurricane Trump,” the Romney adviser said, referring to the bright light celebrity names that stoked interest earlier this year: former Alaska Gov.

Sarah Palin, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and businessman Donald Trump. Referring to Perry, the adviser said: “This is just one more hurricane, but I think we’re at the end of hurricane season.”

The first debate is scheduled for Wednesday in California.

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Michele Bachmann proves once again she can dominate the news cycle with irrelevant statements and ideas. The representative from Minnesota who is vying for the republican presidential nomination stated that the United States can more energy resources than any other country but “radical environmentalists” won’t allow the government to exploit these resources.

Bachmann told a crowd in Florida that with shale oil, natural gas and coal, the United States shouldn’t be “begging” others for oil and energy supplies. She said “we are the king daddy dogs when it comes to energy,” but that environmentalists are preventing resources from being tapped.

Bachmann specifically pointed out untapped oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off the nation’s coasts along with shale oil in Western states and rich natural gas and coal deposits. Bachmann stated that the U.S. “is sitting on a mother lode of treasure.” Bachmann promises to unlock those resources and disband the Environmental Protection Agency if she was elected president.

“The radical environmentalists have demanded that we lock up all our energy resources,” she said. “President Bachmann will take that key out of the door. I will unlock it.”She added that will eliminate the “job killing” Environmental Protection Agency.

“We will turn out the lights and we’ll lock the doors,” she said. The crowd at a retirement community cheered to those promises. I guess that will happen before she magically lowers gas prices.

Bachmann also spoke in Jacksonville last week. She told supporters there that the corporate income tax should be reduced to prevent more companies from moving jobs overseas. She was later asked by a reporter whether changes to the minimum wage should also be considered to balance the cost of labor here and overseas.”I’m not married to anything. I’m not saying that’s where I’m going to go,” she said.

“I want to bring advisers in from labor and from manufacturers and from the service industry and financial services. I want to know what they know, because that’s what we’ve been missing from President Obama. He has virtually no one in his Cabinet with private sector experience,” Bachmann said. “I want to bring people who know how to create jobs into my administration.”

Bachmann told the crowd she knows Florida will play an important role in the election.”We will be back here many, many, many, many, many times in Jacksonville, and we’re going to be old friends and neighbors by the time this is all done,” she said.

Image Courtesy of  Michele Bachmann

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Obama announced this past week that the Department of Homeland Security will review roughly 300,000 immigration cases to see if these individuals are qualified for citizenship.

Controversy over these changes brings up the topic of what the leading GOP presidential candidates of 2012, Bachmann, Romney, and Perry think about this matter. Immigration reform and border control are vital issues for these candidates. They face losing valuable support from Hispanic voters in fundamental swing states such as New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, and Florida if they do not have a plan that can accommodate them.

Rick Perry, governor of Texas, is no stranger to immigration, living right along the Mexican border. He has already provided in-state tuition to illegal immigrants to offer them the opportunity to gain citizenship through education.

He also supports citizenship through military participation. His primary focus, although dealing with many illegal immigrants already, is to secure the border first and secondly work on immigration reform.

Perry demonstrated his views on Immigration earlier this week in South Carolina, as he discussed the problems the federal government has in handling immigration. His explanation for this was that in Texas alone, he has spent 400 million dollars on border patrol, which is the responsibility of the government and not the state.

His campaign has also focused the issue of border patrol around protecting American citizens against violence spreading north of Mexico, and how securing the borders are the most important way to secure America’s defence. Perry has focused on the importance of border patrol to not only discontinue illegal immigrants but also to prevent gun and drug trafficking as well.

Romney, a candidate who also ran in the 2008 election advocated a different approach to illegal immigration. He took the stance of adopting biometrically-enabled identification cards, so illegal immigrants could be identified and prohibited to work. He also frowned upon McCain’s policy to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants in 2008, stating, “illegal immigration has got to end and any form of citizenship amnesty is troublesome.”

In his campaign in 2012, Romney will focus more on the responsibility of employers who were hiring illegal immigrants. He thinks that punishment directed at the employers of illegal immigrants, would improve job creation being taken away from citizens. When it comes down to the issue of how to handle immigrants who are in America illegally, Romney believes that they are not qualified for citizenship.

Bachmann, another leading GOP presidential candidate, advocates the full and speedy citizenship of immigrants that have entered the United States legally, but is intolerant on those who have come to America illegally.

She refers back to the bill passed in 1986, in which congress granted amnesty to over three million immigrants that entered the country illegally. The government has not made major changes since then and Bachmann proposes that congress should enforce the laws put in place, as well as stricter border patrol.

Bachmann, in 2008, dealt with the death of four children that were killed by an illegal immigrant in Minnesota, her hometown, and it will be fascinating to see how this impacts her position on illegal immigrants with criminal records.

The main focus surrounding Bachmann’s campaign ultimately welcomes legal immigrants, but she follows the laws of the land in making sure that immigrants that have come to the United States illegally are not rewarded or given a free pass.

This difficult and complex issue effecting millions throughout America will play a critical part in gaining support. It will be interesting to see how this taxing issue plays out within the next year throughout each candidates campaign and if policies will be modified to achieve the Hispanic vote in swing states.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) does not like to be out of the news cycle for even a moment. While the national media was focused on potential destruction, in the form of Hurricane Irene and the earthquake, Bachmann was off the radar for a moment.

She didn’t seem to like it. So, she said something wacky and voila, we are back talking about the presidential candidate. Bachmann told a Florida crowd on Sunday that the hurricane and the earthquake were messages from God to warn “politicians” to start listening to divine guidance. It is weird to me that God is worried about that stuff when millions of people go to be hungry and stuff but what do I know.

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’”

Bachmann said in front of approximately 1,000 people. “Listen to the American people, because the American people are roaring right now,” Bachmann continued. “They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

Bachmann, as crazy as her comments were, is not even the first to make the tenuous connection between two natural events and some wrath of God . Glenn Beck, radio personality, stated the events were a warning to the American people. “How many warnings do you think you’re going to get, and how many warnings do you deserve?

This hurricane that is coming through the East Coast, for anyone who’s in the East Coast and has been listening to me say ‘Food storage!’ ‘Be prepared!’” Beck said. “If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it’s God reminding you you’re not in control.”

I find it interesting that people like Bachmann and Beck can link a natural disaster to some politic policies but it is blasphemy to even suggest that our foreign policies may have caused 9/11- a manmade disaster. That seems so much more plausible to me.

Bachmann’s spokesperson, Alice Stewart, said the comments were made in jest and not serious. I am not sure about that though. The very day a hurricane is hitting the northeast and people are losing their lives isn’t really a good time to make a joke about it. Either Bachmann was being serious or she is very insensitive.

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