Maybe it’s better not to get that big endorsement
One staple of the U.S. political scene is the quest for endorsements, and Republican front-runner Mitt Romney seems to be leading in the race for support from the GOP establishment.
He picked up the support of Arizona Senator John McCain, who was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who also was a member of the U.S. presidential field until August.
He may not be part of the party “establishment,” but Romney even got the backing of a high-profile party figure — albeit one who declared himself an independent in December — reality television star and real estate mogul Donald Trump, who called the former Massachusetts governor “tough, sharp and smart.”
But does such support really help?
“At best, so far that’s gotten him mixed results,” Republican strategist Keith Appell said, when asked about Romney’s support by party leaders. “Nikki Haley didn’t help in South Carolina. Tim Pawlenty did not help him in Minnesota.”
Prominent supporters can act as useful surrogates. Backers might pay to attend a fundraiser headlined by a well-known supporter, and voters might turn out to hear one speak.
Haley not ready to pick 2012 Republican favorite
An endorsement from South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a favorite of the Tea Party movement, could give a boost to the Republican presidential candidate of her choice.
But in an interview with CNN on Thursday she said it’s too soon to pick a favorite in the campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
“What I have told everybody is now is the time where we need to weigh in on asking them the hard questions,” she said. “This is the time we really need to be doing a lot of the listening to what their details are and what their specifics are and waiting to weigh in until we can really see what the full platform looks like.”
Asked whether she thinks Sarah Palin should run, Haley said she would welcome the former Alaska governor to the race, just as she has the other Republican contenders. Palin’s endorsement of Haley in South Carolina’s 2010 Republican primary helped raise the future governor’s profile.
Palin is closing in on a self-imposed September deadline for deciding whether to enter the presidential race — and still giving no hint about when she’ll announce her decision. “Still contemplating whether I should jump in there or not,” Palin said on Fox News Thursday night.
Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, confirmed that she will speak at a Tea Party rally in Iowa on Sept. 3. Will she end the suspense or join the Republican field?
“This is a field of rock stars, hands down,” Haley said, of the field that includes Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas congressman Ron Paul. “And what I love is that they all have policy they want to talk about and have a fight in them in a way they know America deserves better,” Haley said.
Who’s afraid of Mitt and T-Paw…
It turns out that Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are the scariest pair of presidential prospects in the GOP field today, judging from a new Democratic ad and remarks by some Democratic Party hierophants.
Priorities USA Action, a political group founded by two former aides to President Barack Obama, targets Romney as a flip-flopper in a South Carolina TV ad that wields Republican Paul Ryan’s Medicare reforms like a political cudgel.
The 30-second black-and-white spot begins with Newt Gingrich’s “Meet the Press” remarks opposing what he called radical right-wing social engineering on Medicare. The ad then recounts Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s defense of Ryan before turning finally to Romney: “Mitt Romney says he’s ‘on the same page’ as Paul Ryan … but with Mitt Romney, you have to wonder: which page is he on today?”
The New York Times says the ad will run this weekend while Romney visits South Carolina.
Pundits view the ad as evidence that Democrats have locked on Romney as the GOP frontrunner, at least for now.
Ed Rendell, a leading Democrat who served as Pennsylvania governor and DNC chairman, put it this way on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”: “What really is instructive here is that this group’s trying to knock out Mitt Romney in the primaries. We don’t want to face Mitt Romney. A Romney-Pawlenty ticket is the most credible general election ticket.”
A monster twosome, perhaps. But that doesn’t mean top Republicans aren’t still baying at the doorsteps of Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie in hopes that one or both will take the plunge.
Glad to see serious (though flawed) GOPers running. The more Palin, Trump and Newt just muddy the waters.
How could a smart guy like Mitt Romney think that the endorsement of a scam artist like Trump could bolster his credibility with anybody. Romney’s ONLY asset is his business acumen, touching Trump is a “tar-baby: that tarnishes that asset.
PS. If phrase “tar-baby” could not conceivably be considered racist, when applied to anyone as “White” as Trump, pc has truly gone too far.