From the Drudge Report, aptly titled – The Winners, Round One.
Sen. Clinton – Total $26 million
Gov. Romney – Total $23 million
For first quarter statements, given their respective name recognition, it is remarkable that the totals are so close.
Please share widely!
It will be interesting to see if Mitt’s numbers move from the single digits.
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What’s odd the AP noted the the total includes a $2.35 million loan from himself? Why would he need to loan his campaign money if he raised over 20 million?
It was characterized in the email I received as ‘seed money’, which is not that unusual – and even a mere $21 milllion still puts him $4 million ahead of his closest GOP rival, Rudy.
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I notice McCain has made no announcement at all…..
Forbes quotes Willard as saying “[seeding his campaign with his own money] would be akin to a nightmare” at the time of his big fundraising event National Call Day. So what happened? My guess is that the greater nightmare in this pissing contest would be for him to close out this fundraising reporting period with a total substantially less than his major monetary opponent. As usual, it’s all for show and less than substance.
Mon Ami, Mitt needs to do two, remarkably similar, things:
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1. He needs to get his strict Mormonism past the Democrats.
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2. He needs to get his strict Mormonism past the Republicans.
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If he can pull off this fait accompli, he will, with respect regarding the NATIONAL scene, slay Hillary.
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And there is not much she can do about it, overtly. If she attacks his religion, she will destroy herself, and all that money won’t help. If she ignores it, she will wind up with the hangover of acceptance, and votes will change sides.
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WTF to do?
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Dick Nixon, in 1960, played his piano to the tune of “no Catholic for President.” It destroyed him in the long run, albeit by the thinnest of margins, but a miss is as good as a mile.
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Opinions, including mine, notwithstanding, Mitt will attract a LOT of national support. Some of that support will NOT be Republican; rather it will be Libertarian and it will be (GASP!) Democratic. (Some of that will, most probably, be bought with campaign money, from the lesser, uh, intelligent, sectors of the labelled groups. Mitt seems to have purchased insurance, here.)
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Hillary seems not to be paying the requisite attention to how to solidify a base at this early juncture in the campaign. She is preoccupied with agendae.
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For her, this is not good. It’s gonna cost her — IF Mitt pulls off the first two points above.
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And do not, for a SECOND, believe, that the Republicans do not have spinmeisters every bit as good as the Dems!
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Best,
Chuck
I don’t think most Americans care about Willard’s Mormonism. I think they will care a great deal about his flip-floppery. Mt Integrity is the hill he must climb. And besides, no other candidate need ever question his religion – the great James Dobson has already done that for them. He’s already declared Willard unelectible because of mormonism.
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These two things are not at all similar. They are, in fact, not even different sides of the same dice. In many ways they are in opposition and addressing both will require wildly differing strategies,tactics and momentums: that is to say; spine unlocking contortions not even seen at Cirque Du Soleil; elastic collisions that will open new vistas in theoretical physics; and a cognitive dissonance that will come to seem like the bastard offspring of a drunken argument between Milt Friedman, Sigmund Freud and an schizophrenic to be named later — that is to say, an unthreaded and decohered plotline that would rapidly blow past the narrative powers of any journalist now alive.
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Or, put another way, it just ain’t gonna happen.
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As for Hillary, (well, I already know I ain’t gonna vote for her, but) don’t count out her not-so-secret-weapon, the big dawg. He dunnit already -twice- and seems happy to do it again. There ain’t a politician alive can touch him and that’s a fact. (Gore didn’t ask him, and he had heart surgery before 2004, so out of the game. More’s the pity.)
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Oh dear… I understand where you are coming from so much better now. Never mind…
familiar with Mitt, his traditional family values and just plain “makes sense” approach without catering to the extremes on either side, he’s going to move to national prominence and the Presidency. He has it all… intelligence,good looks, successful business man, ex Governor ( statistically “Senators” don’t win Presidential elections JFK excepted). Perhaps his biggest single strength is that he “looks” like the President of the United States and his wife could easily carry on with the same grace and charm as Laura Bush.
Mitt is gaining momentum. His fund raising has surprised even the political “talking heads” and will enable him to spend the millions on media commercials required to endear him to the average American and to win. When the left and dems play the “mormon card” it will easily be neutralized by pointing to their Senatorial hero, Harry Reid, a “heavy duty” mormon himself. The Obama contender is easily neutralized by his “muslim” connection… Osama “Husein” Obama? and Hilary’s problem is that over 50% of the people in the country despise the woman.
Mitt romney will be the next President of the United States. The only thing that could make it better is that Newt Gingrich is VP. Go Mitt!
I want a president that I know will, as you say, use the “makes sense approach” and change his stance on important issues should the wind blow strongly enough. I just hope that that wind never blows so strongly as to muss that beautiful hair of his. Good thing he tames it’s natural tendancies with pomade, and so can part it on whichever side seems the most expedient.
Why? He hates the legal profession. He does not believe in innocent until proven guilty. He showed what I consider to be a total lack of understanding of the doctrine of separation of powers. When selecting judges, almost every pick was a former prosecutor. Family law practitioners, solo attorneys, and the defense bar need not apply under Mitt.
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In addition, his executive style was such that he required an entire suite with a hair stylist to be constructed in the basement of the State House – 13 rooms for his advance men, his hairstylist, and I am told, manicurist. I did see the suite – my son and I went to the State House and looked for it, and could see the hair salon in it. I did not actually see the manicurist set up. What I wonder is, comparatively speaking, even if Mitt could afford to waive the salary, what the whole “make me look good” suite cost.
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Further, from what I saw and heard, there was a distinct “anger management” issue, from Majority Leader Frederick Berry reporting that “Mitt was so angry his lacquered hair shook”, to public footage in the long hot summer of 2004 where the spit was visible when Governor Romney screamed that court appointed work was “gravy” at the then-rate of $30.00 an hour. YOU try paying malpractice insurance, renting an office, and having a staff at the rate of $30.00 an hour as an independent contractor [Hint – that isn’t even “oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner” let alone meat to make gravy!!!]
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Of all the candidates running for either party, former Governor Romney, while a fine father and husband, would not even be my #7 choice.
if this alters primary voters into thinking if he’s a front runner.
Phil Graham of 2008!
And has a tribute-to-Willard strip up.
“Hey Dilbert…what’s it called when a person from middle management moves to upper management?”
“I dunno, what?”
“A promotion.”
All of Romney’s fundraising is designated for the Primary instead of both the Primary and General elections. Hillary’s? Well, she’s not saying.
As the race moves on, you will hear more from Mitt about economic experience and the national debt. In fact, I bet that’s a centerpiece in the May 9 debate.
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stop throwing all our cash into the iraq hole. there, done! glad to hear romeny is on the get-out-or-iraq bandwagon. it’ll be interesting to see how he tries making the obvious sound like a brilliant idea all his lonesome.
I’m more annoyed by the Bridge to Nowhere hole, myself.