Friday, May 25, 2012
Here’s a question for you: what will be most important during the General Election? Winning the Independent vote or solidifying the base of your party? It’s going to take a little of both but this idea that you have to ONLY court Independents to win elections just isn’t true. Without the base with you, Independents won’t matter.
Mitt Romney cannot make the mistake of consistently tracking to the middle in a quest to appeal to Independent voters. He needs to engage more forcefully with evangelicals and the Tea Party if he has any real shot at winning. Coming across as a common sense businessman is easy for Romney so Independent voters will naturally gravitate to that type of candidate. Romney’s real work is when he has to go a little outside his comfort zone and really engage by showing up at Tea Party events and evangelical pro-family led events. Romney has done a few of these but it’s not necessarily his cup of tea (excuse the pun). Just because he shows up at these events doesn’t mean he has to resort to throwing political red meat and verbal barbs that will rile up the base but possibly turn off Independents. That’s not who he is. But just showing up can cast a nice new narrative for Romney. The media is always looking for the next turn in the soap opera. Romney has an opportunity to give them one.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The fight between the Romney and Obama campaigns over Bain Capital is really a fight over capitalism. President Obama says he has no problem with capitalism and yet in his remarks throughout his first term he seems to destroy the tenets of it.
Let’s be clear: Obama believes it is moral, right and just to spread the wealth and have the federal government be the catalyst to do it. On the other side, Romney believes in a system where the free market is typically the best way to go and let the consequences be what the consequences will be (whether they be positive or negative).
Both of these men envision a vastly different way to solve America’s economic problems. The problem for Romney is that President Obama’s way is the easier message to sell. Who wouldn’t want a few government handouts, help at every turn? Obama’s message of railing against the rich in this country is not a hard sell. It resonates with people. It creates an enemy and it’s always an easier climb when you create a bad guy.
Romney, on the other hand has a tougher proposition. While selling lower taxes is always popular, Romney’s challenge is to sell an economic message that’s coming from a rich guy who essentially is saying let nature (“the invisible hand” as Adam Smith wrote) take its course. If a company goes bankrupt then so be it. Economically a lot of what Romney says makes sense but it’s not necessarily an easier message to sell to the public. Adroit tactics are required.
Americans can simply look at their history books to see the success of true capitalism but voters typically don’t consult history books before voting for a candidate. Instead, they listen to speeches and get sucked into rhetoric.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Watch below as he explains his message to evangelical Christians and stories of his wild and crazy side!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Deb Fischer’s victory in Nebraska’s GOP Senate Primary is a great example of how the Tea Party movement hasn’t quite got its act together and is simply not all on the same page.
Tea Party stalwart Sarah Palin backed Fischer but Tea Partier Jim DeMint backed her challenger Don Stenberg. Meanwhile, Tea Party fan Mike Huckabee backed Jon Bruning along with Tea Party Express. It was a total Tea Party hodgepodge. Everybody was on a different page.
What we saw in Nebraska is one of the big inherent dangers for the Tea Party. How does an organic, bottom-up movement continue to increase in power if they are not all pulling in the same direction? Oh sure, they ALL want more constitutional conservatives elected, but they dilute their effectiveness if they can’t all march to the same beat WITH the same candidate.
This is the big conundrum for the Tea Party. At the national level, you have different factions within the Tea Party movement that don’t see the political landscape the same way. From a utopian standpoint, it would be wonderful to see all these groups (Freedom Works, Tea Party Express, Club For Growth, Americans For Prosperity, Tea Party Patriots, Jim DeMint’s PAC, Mike Huckabee’s PAC, and Sarah Palin’s PAC, and many others) all come together under one banner and get behind one single candidate in the primaries. Imagine the power in that!
The problem is it won't happen because not only do those groups have slightly different goals and priorities but the actual patriotic Americans who make up the Tea Party in the first place wouldn’t take kind to that sort of national consolidation. It would feel like an establishment group and in many ways, that’s exactly what the Tea Party is against.
The folks who make up the Tea Party will be the first to tell you that this type of competition (even among Tea Party backed candidates) is good for the system. And that may well be true but the larger issue remains. How can ALL these national Tea Party groups and PACS pull in one direction to affect systematic change?
The lack of cohesion could lead to a lack of political power.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
From Brody File Executive Producer Dana Ritter on site at Liberty University:
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney gave what could be considered the biggest speech of his political career Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Liberty University is the biggest evangelical Christian university in the world and the crowd was 34,000 people.
After his big speech, Romney sat down with Jennifer Wishon, White House Correspondent for CBN News. David Brody was planning to do the interview but a last second family emergency made that impossible.
She asked him about how he is going to court evangelical voters.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN News/The Brody File
Jennifer Wishon: Governor, we are at the world’s largest evangelical Christian university. How do you plan to actively court evangelical voters and also energize them to get out the vote? Or do you think that you don’t necessarily have to do anything special to make that happen?
Mitt Romney: I think I have to make a real effort to get every voter in this country. Those people who are inclined to my views of the issues of the day, whether they are economic issues, foreign policy issues, social issues, I need to make sure they understand what my views are. Encourage them to get involved in the process, because this president is taking the country in a very different direction than most people would like to see it go. And I need them to understand how we can get it back on track, and how if we work together, we can do that.
From Brody File Executive Producer Dana Ritter on site at Liberty University
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney gave what could be considered the biggest speech of his political career Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Liberty University is the biggest evangelical Christian university in the world and the crowd was 34,000 people.
After his big speech, Romney sat down with Jennifer Wishon, White House Correspondent for CBN News. David Brody was planning to do the interview but a last second family emergency made that impossible.
She asked him what he would say if he could speak directly to American Christians. Video and transcription below.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN News/The Brody File
Jennifer Wishon: I just wonder what you want Christian viewers of this broadcast, and Christians in America in general to know about you that maybe you feel like they don’t know. Or maybe what they can expect from you going forward? Anything that you would like to say directly to American Christians?
Mitt Romney: My view is that this is not a time for us to do what the president says, which is to transform America. I want to restore to America the values and principles that made us the greatest nation in the history of the earth. These values include some of our foundational elements.
I believe that we should respect our first liberty, which is religious liberty. I believe we should protect the family. I stand for traditional marriage. I stand for the sanctity of life. These things I think people understand about me.
At the same time, I believe that when the Declaration of Independence was crafted, the Founders were very careful in saying that we were endowed by our Creator with our rights. Not the state, not the king, but our Creator. And among those rights were life, and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Our nation’s economy is driven by free people pursuing happiness as they choose, not as government directs. And as government becomes larger and larger and more intrusive in the lives of citizens and their enterprises, it makes it harder for America’s economy to work.
I want to bring the values of the Founders, adapted to a 21st century world to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunities that we have in trade, energy, and productivity. We can lead the world again in a very powerful way as a beacon of hope, as a powerful economic engine, making sure that our kids know that the future is brighter than the past.
This is what my campaign presents. It’s what I’m going to campaign on, and I believe that people across the nation will warm to my campaign as they understand those principles.
From Brody File Executive Producer Dana Ritter on site at Liberty University:
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney gave what could be considered the biggest speech of his political career Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Liberty University is the biggest evangelical Christian university in the world and the crowd was 34,000 people.
After his big speech, Romney sat down with Jennifer Wishon, White House Correspondent for CBN News. David Brody was planning to do the interview but a last second family emergency made that impossible.
She asked him about a time he rescued a family in trouble on the water in New Hampshire, a story he doesn't often talk about. Video and transcription below.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN News/The Brody File
Jennifer Wishon: A moment ago, you mentioned pushing people off the boat, you actually helped rescue some folks who were in the water in New Hampshire. It’s not something that you often talk about, but I wonder if you could share a little bit about what happened, and what that meant to you?
Mitt Romney: Well, you know when you’re on the water, things can be a little dangerous. And apparently a family and friends were going across Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire and something happened in the drive shaft of their boat, it was a classic wooden boat, and suddenly it began filling with water. It broke a hole in the bottom, filled with water, sunk quickly.
They had a little dog with them, they were out there yelling, but it was dark and they couldn’t be seen and boats would go by, but the boats were so loud that they couldn’t hear people yelling. But we were by the shore, and we heard some people screaming and we went down to the beach, and I asked my son could he see anything. And he said, you know, I think there’s something out there.
And so we got on a couple of wave runners, these little jet skis that we had, and went out to the center of the lake. It was, I don’t know, a quarter of a mile or so out there, and sure enough there was a group of people that was struggling to take care of their dog and also get to shore, and we were able to load them up with a few trips and take them back and forth to shore, and get them cared for. That’s the sort of thing that happens, of course, we have to watch out for one another.
Wishon: That story, does that experience you had tell voters anything about Mitt Romney?
Romney: Well, I think it tells something about people in this country. Americans are quick to turn to aid someone who has a need, and I don’t think it’s particularly unusual. I think when you see an accident on the side of the road, for instance, people stop in large numbers to see if they can do something to help.
We’re a very caring, very generous nation and I count myself as an American probably no better, and hopefully not a lot worse than the average of this great country.
From Brody File Executive Producer Dana Ritter on site at Liberty University:
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney gave what could be considered the biggest speech of his political career Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Liberty University is the biggest evangelical Christian university in the world and the crowd was 34,000 people.
After his big speech, Romney sat down with Jennifer Wishon, White House Correspondent for CBN News. David Brody was planning to do the interview but a last second family emergency made that impossible.
Ann Romney has said there is a "wild and crazy" side of Mitt Romney. Jennifer asked him about his wild and crazy side. Video and transcription below.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN News/The Brody File
Jennifer Wishon: Your wife says that there is a wild and crazy guy inside of Gov. Mitt Romney. Can you give us some examples of incidents that illustrate that?
Mitt Romney: Well, we have in our family of course, a number of things that we do like pushing people out of a boat, short sheeting their bed, putting corn flakes in their bed, a lot of jokes and tricks that we play among ourselves. But even among some others.
I once had a state trooper who kept on playing jokes on me, and I played tricks back on him. One day he short sheeted my bed. We were at a very fancy hotel. I went to go to bed, and I couldn’t get in, because he had actually come in before I got to the hotel and short sheeted the bed. And the next morning when I came down to breakfast, he of course had a big smile because he was going to see how I reacted.
I pretended not to notice. And I got some stationary from the general manager of the hotel, and I had it typed up, as addressed a letter to me, saying we are so sorry that your bed was improperly made, Mr. Romney, and we have fired the maid who did it. And then that letter arrived in our office.
My secretary picked it up and showed it to him. He was so upset. His boss told him he had to call the hotel and explain to the manager that he was the one that had messed up, not the person that they had fired. He got on the phone all red faced, and then finally, of course, when the manager had no idea what he was talking about, he realized the joke was on him.
So, we play tricks even with the people I work with.
Wishon: Like to have fun.
Romney: You bet.
From Brody File Executive Producer Dana Ritter on site at Liberty University:
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney gave what could be considered the biggest speech of his political career Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Liberty University is the biggest evangelical Christian university in the world and the crowd was 34,000 people.
After his big speech, Romney sat down with Jennifer Wishon, White House Correspondent for CBN News. David Brody was planning to do the interview but a last second family emergency made that impossible.
She asked him about what might be perceived as misconceptions about his Mormon faith. Video and transcription below.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN News/The Brody File
Jennifer Wishon: Your visit here today again to the largest evangelical Christian university in the world. A lot of talk about faith. I’m wondering what do you think is one of the biggest misconceptions about your Mormon faith?
Mitt Romney: I don’t know that I’m qualified to be able to characterize the views of other people with regards to my faith, but I can say that I know that there are very significant differences in creeds and theologies between religions, and certainly between my faith and the faith of people here at Liberty University.
And yet, we find common ground, and common purpose in service, in values that we share, and I think also in our worldview as it relates to what it takes to have a strong America, to preserve our freedoms, to protect the institution of family.
These causes bring us together and allow us to lock arms despite the different theological views that we have. And I think as Dr. Falwell has said today, we care very deeply about finding people who share our values and our views, and work for a person who can become our Commander in Chief but perhaps not our Pastor in Chief.
From Brody File Executive Producer Dana Ritter on site at Liberty University:
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney gave what could be considered the biggest speech of his political career Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Liberty University is the biggest evangelical Christian university in the world and the crowd was 34,000 people.
After his big speech, Romney sat down with Jennifer Wishon, White House Correspondent for CBN News. David Brody was planning to do the interview but a last second family emergency made that impossible.
Jennifer asked him about President Obama's recent change in his stance on same sex marriage. Video and transcription below.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN News/The Brody File
Jennifer Wishon: Regarding President Obama’s recent revelation on his personal feelings on same sex marriage. Tony Perkins, the president of Family Research Council says – quote - It doesn’t need to be the hood ornament of your campaign, but it does need to be in the vehicle, and you need to talk about it. I know you did talk about it at Liberty’s commencement. Is that something that you intend to continue talking about?
Mitt Romney: I think people of different backgrounds have different issues that they find to be the most compelling, and interesting. So I’m asked about social issues as well as foreign policy issues and economic issues. And, of course I’ll describe my views on those issues to people that have interest.
You know, I’ll do my very best to connect with the American people on the issues that they care most about. What I speak about day to day in some respects reflects what I’m being asked about. And so those issues, by virtue of the president’s change of view on this topic, has become more current today.
How important it is to the people a few months from now, time will tell. But my positions are, I think, out there for people to see and hopefully I will attract the kind of support that I need to be successful in November.