Romney looks to give Bernanke the boot
“I’d be looking for somebody new.”
Those words from the U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may give Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke some pause – or at least thinking about some other job prospects if the GOP frontrunner wins the Nov. 6 election.
As we report, Romney, a former business executive who’s made the economy the cornerstone of his campaign, has made it clear that if he wins the White House he will try to replace Bernanke. The Fed chief’s term ends in January 2014 – a year after the next president takes office. Although Bernanke was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush, Democratic President Barack Obama give him second term in 2009.
Bernanke, who was back in the spotlight on Wednesday as he defended current U.S. monetary as being on track, has been both vilified and revered for his role amid the Great Recession that began in 2008. Critics contend he is pursuing a reckless money-printing binge that exposes the world’s largest economy to a dangerous inflation risks while his defenders credit him with bold moves to stimulate growth that prevented a repeat of 1929-level depression.
Romney is signaling he wants the Fed – and the economy — to take a different direction. And that means giving Bernanke the boot, he says.
Washington Extra – Moonshot no more
Earth calling Newt: When the biggest news of your presidential campaign is the penguin biting your hand at the zoo, it’s probably time to pack it in.
Even though Newt Gingrich’s odds of winning the Republican nomination were about as long as those of realizing his dream for a moon colony, the 68-year-old seemed to enjoy himself to the end. “I never got the sense that he was quote-unquote down,” said adviser Charlie Gerow. “I got the sense on a couple of occasions that he was tired. Really tired.” And really in debt. His campaign spent $4.3 million more than it brought in.
For all his offbeat ideas, Gingrich did bring a dose of seriousness to this campaign. With some stellar debate performances and a deep knowledge of politics and history, he probably made Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum study more and work harder to win support.
Members of the media, targets of some of his most vicious attacks, may not miss Newt much. But there’s no denying that, for the world of news, Gingrich was the gift that kept on giving, right up to his encounter with a penguin.
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US high court appears to back Arizona on immigration – Conservative justices who hold a majority on the Supreme Court appeared to endorse Arizona’s immigration crackdown, rejecting the Obama administration stance that the federal government has sole power over those who illegally enter the United States. During 80 minutes of oral arguments, the justices suggested by their questions and comments that states have significant latitude to adopt laws that discourage illegal immigrants from moving to and staying in the country. For more of this story by James Vicini and Joan Biskupic, read here.
No privilege for most stay-at-home moms -poll
The recent flap over women voters — especially stay-at-home mothers — has sent both Republican and Democratic pundits scrambling and with good reason: many stay-at-home moms aren’t affiliated with either party and are a ripe target for swing votes, a new poll shows.
The survey from Gallup Inc also finds that moms who don’t work aren’t exactly a pampered lot, despite Ann Romney – the wife of a multi-millionaire businessman – being portrayed as their standard bearer. It found most moms who stay home are more economically disadvantaged than their working peers.
Women with more education and those with higher family incomes are far more likely to work after having children than lower-income women and those who have less schooling, the polling firm found.
“It does appear that stay-at-home mothers are more economically disadvantaged than working mothers, rather than more advantaged. And this may be directly related to education,” Gallup said in its poll released this week.
The dust-up over whether women who don’t work and instead stay home with their children are privileged arose last week when Democratic pundit Hilary Rosen made comments that seemed to criticize Ann Romney, whose husband Mitt is one of the wealthiest people to ever seek the U.S. presidency and who has never been employed outside her home.
According to Gallup, which interviewed more than 45,000 U.S. adult women over three months earlier this year, most mothers with children under age 18 work outside the home — 63 percent. Thirty-seven percent stay home.
The survey found 84 percent of moms with young kids who have postgraduate-level education also have a job along with 75 percent of college graduates and 66 percent of those with just some college coursework. That compares with 48 percent of those who have at most a high school education.
Lawyer behind Super PAC ruling launches his own
The conservative lawyer who helped end political spending limits for corporations has now taken advantage of new campaign finance rules that allow “Super PACs” by launching one of his own.
Republican James Bopp, who advised Citizens United in its case to eliminate restrictions on campaign contributions by companies and unions, filed paper work last week with the U.S. Federal Election Commission to create his USA Super PAC.
The move opens the door for the Republican National Committee vice chairman to help boost Mitt Romney just as he solidifies his lead in the party’s primary fight.
Bopp had been the legal muscle for a Super PAC for Romney’s main rival Rick Santorum, called Leaders for Families, but threw his support behind the wealthy former businessman in February. Santorum suspended his campaign on Tuesday.
The Indiana lawyer represents a number of conservative clients including the National Right to Life Committee and Focus on the Family, so his PAC could help steer donations from the more Evangelical wing of the Republican Party. It might also attract former Santorum supporters.
Still, it’s not clear who will donate to one of the latest PACs to emerged since the 2010 Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United vs. FEC or how Bopp will use its funds. Calls to his law firm were directed to his cell phone, which did not allow a voicemail. He did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Hat tip to Reuters reporter Alexander Cohen.
And so we continue to have the best government money can buy. What ever happened to People who went into politics to serve their country.
Now they simply go into Politics to get rich.
Washington Extra: Sayonara Santorum
It began and ended at a kitchen table in Pennsylvania. Rick Santorum’s improbable and surprisingly long run for the White House is over. But the Republican Party will feel the effects of this game-changing gambit cooked up in a kitchen for some time to come.
Santorum offered disgruntled voters true conservative credentials. He brought social issues and religious freedom to the forefront of the national debate. He made Mitt Romney work much harder for the nomination than expected, and lurch to the right in the process. His supporters may not go away quietly or fall behind Romney in lockstep.
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, already put his demands out there: “If the Republican establishment hopes to generate this same voter intensity in the fall elections, Santorum voters must see it demonstrate a genuine and solid commitment to the core values issues.”
Santo said he was suspending his campaign – which could be interpreted as suspending it until 2015. Surely, he’ll be back. And meanwhile, he needs help covering his campaign debt. He asked today for “one more contribution of $25, $50, or $73.10.”
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Who’s out of touch? Biden takes aim at Romney on economy
Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday accused Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney of disregarding the importance of the manufacturing sector as a source of jobs for middle class Americans and said the former Massachusetts governor had offered “consistently wrong” remedies for the U.S. economy.
In a campaign speech in Davenport, Iowa, a key battleground state in the general election, Biden also said Romney showed a lot of “chutzpah” by suggesting President Barack Obama was “out of touch” with ordinary Americans.
“Out of touch? Romney?” Biden said to laughter from his audience at an Iowa factory. “I mean, pretty remarkable, pretty remarkable.”
Biden zeroed in on Romney’s former role as head of the private equity firm Bain Capital, mentioning U.S. factories that were closed by the company, including one that makes photo albums and picture frames. “I’m tempted to say, Mitt, thanks for the memories. You know what I mean?”
He also took aim at Romney’s opposition to the auto industry bailout – touted by the Obama administration as a measure that saved over a million jobs – saying that the former Massachusetts governor would have “let Detroit go bankrupt.”
While Biden touted the Obama administration’s recently brokered free trade agreements with Korea, Columbia, and Panama, as well as new tax laws that favor clean energy firms that operate on U.S. soil, he criticized Romney’s tax proposals, saying they would reward companies that move jobs overseas.
Biden’s attacks on Romney over the economy come as Romney, becoming more confident that he will clinch the Republican presidential nomination, has sought to rally conservatives by attacking Obama’s record on jobs and growth.
As Obama has done, Romney needs to master the art of communication. http://www.basecandy.com/mitt-romney.htm l
Washington Extra – Gasoline alley
President Obama may have his facts right on what’s behind higher gasoline prices and he might be correct in saying that the causes are largely beyond his control. But even his strong arguments won’t stand a chance with Americans if a gallon of gas heads up to $5 in coming months.
Nevertheless, the president clearly understood the importance of getting his message out there early and his speech today in Florida was well timed. Rising gas prices are leading the nightly news shows this week and Republican presidential candidates are squarely placing the blame on Obama and his energy policies. Last night, right out of the debate gate, Newt Gingrich said he would give Americans $2.50 gas if he won the White House.
“You can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas,” Obama said. “I’ll save you the suspense: Step one is drill, step two is drill and step three is keep drilling.”
Obama contends that there is no silver bullet for the energy crunch and that real change will only come in the long run. But he has asked officials to study options for a short-term fix for consumers’ sake. That could come in the form of alleviating delivery bottlenecks or even a rare tapping of the strategic petroleum reserves. Indeed, when it comes to America’s gas, actions speak louder than words.
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Tending to China-US relations
Valentine’s Day is as good a day as any for China and the United States to work on the kinks in their relationship.
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping signaled beforehand that tending to the state of the “dynamic and promising” U.S.-China connection would be the at the heart of his White House visit on Tuesday.
The economic and trade relationship between the two countries is far too important to be frayed by “frictions and differences,” Xi wrote in a Q&A submitted to the Washington Post and published on the eve of his White House meeting with President Barack Obama.
“What is important is that we properly handle these differences through coordination based on equality, mutual benefit, mutual understanding and mutual accommodation. We must not allow frictions and differences to undermine the larger interests of our business cooperation,” Xi wrote.
The man many see as China’s leader-in-waiting promised to do better and called on the United States to make an effort too — but he might not be feeling any love from the Republicans seeking to upset Obama in the Nov. 6 election.
Tough talk on China has been a recurring theme on the campaign trail — especially for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. He calls China a cheater and says, if elected, he’d work to get Bejing labeled a currency manipulator, something the U.S. Treasury has so far refrained from doing.
In a speech last week, the Republican lumped China with Russia and jihadism. (It didn’t have the same ring of George W. Bush’s axis of evil, but the point was made.) Romney, a leading candidate now tied in recent polls, said that trio threatened to compete with the United States and the West for world leadership.
Santorum courts Texas conservatives
By Judy Wiley
Roughly 1,000 supporters filled the Fairview Farms Corral Barn in Plano, Texas and spilled out the door of the party hall where they’d come to see the man in the day’s political spotlight — Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum.
Those who stood outside in the cold could only hear bits and pieces of Santorum’s talk, but that didn’t stop them from cheering after he raised his voice to declare, “Now is the time for America to rise up and say, “Enough!”
They took up a chant of “We pick Rick,” after he asked, “Are you going to give me the opportunity?”
Santorum’s visit to The Lone Star State opened 14 miles away in McKinney at a forum with local pastors. Between the Bella Donna Chapel and the barn at Fairview Farms, there was a stop at a Plano hotel ballroom where some 300 supporters turned out to “meet-and-greet” Santorum.
The Wednesday night rally at the Corral Barn capped a Texas campaign swing, with an exuberant Santorum buoyed by his three-state sweep in Tuesday’s GOP nominating contests.
Joseph Cabrera and his sister Esperanza Cabrera of Dallas were in Plano with her two daughters — at their first political rally — but never got inside the 8,200 square foot barn behind Mario’s Chiquita Restaurant.
He should do well in texas, after all they elected bush and perry.
Washington Extra – A great gift
At the Bella Donna Chapel in McKinney, Texas today, a resurrected Rick Santorum reveled in his underdog role in this riveting Republican primary season.
“Nobody ever thinks I can win anything,” Santorum told a gathering of pastors. “The gift of being underestimated is a great gift.”
Santorum may not have robbed Mitt Romney of his top dog status with a triple primary win on Tuesday. But days after being dismissed as an also-ran, he now gets some serious consideration from key constituents.
Michael Gamble, a pastor from McKinney, said he was moved by Santorum’s talk to the religious leaders about his family. “Today (Santorum) completely won me over,” he said. “I think he represents the Kingdom of God.”
This Roman Catholic father of seven and social conservative may also have the gift of impeccable timing. Santorum’s second surge – his first coming right before the Iowa caucuses which he won – takes place in the midst of a polarizing debate over religious freedom and access to birth control. Santorum has the gift of the gab when it comes to issues like that.
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Getting rid of Bernanke would be about as clueless as every other portion of Romney’s economic incompetence. He didn’t even move into Bain – with other people doing the investing – until he had a 100% salary guarantee in case he screwed up.
The man has the courage of the average bear – none! He has the competence of today’s Republican Party – none!
Part of the success story of the stimulus package has shown up around the country in basic manufacturing industries and continues. Half the credit goes to the halfway measures Obama was able to force past the Party of No – before it became the Party of Never. The other half goes to Bernanke and the availability of greenbacks for industrial revival.
Ohio steel being the best example. Unemployment down to 7.5% in that state.