RandySF
RandySF's JournalRomney hires Bachmann's debate coach.
TAMPA, Fla. — With another potentially crucial debate on Monday night, Mitt Romney has apparently recruited a top debate coach to help out.
Brett O’Donnell, who served as one of Michele Bachmann’s top strategists, was standing quietly at the back of the room Monday morning as Mr. Romney held his first event, a round table with Florida residents and small-business owners.
He quietly slipped out again with other top advisers to Mr. Romney, who is holding debate prep sessions in the Sheraton hotel where the morning event took place.
“Brett’s been working with us for some time, since Michele Bachmann got out of the race,” said Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Mr. Romney.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/romney-adds-a-top-debate-coach/?smid=tw-thecaucus&seid=auto
Tips on teaching a kindergartner to spell?
My munchkin will be taking part in a kindergarten-level spelling bee through his after school program. He probably will not win, but he's determined to try and it's great incentive for him to learn. I wonder if anyone out there has a good technique. Right now we're doing it the old fashioned way (repetition), but I that it will become tedious after a while.
Ann Coulter throws a fit over Gingrich victory.
On a Sunday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends,” conservative columnist Ann Coulter explained why Romney fell short in the South Carolina GOP presidential primary, blaming the priorities of South Carolina voters for Gingrich’s success.
“Apparently, South Carolinians would rather have the emotional satisfaction of a snotty remark toward the president than to beat Obama in the fall,” Coulter, the author of “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America,” said. “We saw it in the debates when Gingrich would say things that didn’t really make sense. That is what you usually associate with Democrats, which I described in my last book, ‘Demonic,’ how mobs behave.”
Some of what Gingrich has said might appear to make sense, she said, but should be analyzed more closely.
“Something that sounds like it makes sense like, ‘Mitt Romney doesn’t have influence over his super PAC — that makes you wonder if he’ll have influence as president,’” she continued. “How many times does Mitt Romney have to say it is illegal for a candidate to have influence on the super PAC. It is not, interestingly, though, for a president to have influence. So it makes no sense if you think about it for all of three seconds, but it sounds like it makes sense. It is just like what you get from liberals most of the time and the cheers and yahoos, and that is what we kept getting from this audience.”
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/22/coulter-with-newt-gingrich-you-throw-out-the-baby-and-keep-the-bath-water-video/#ixzz1kEERxui0
Giffords to step down from Congress
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will step down from Congress this week to focus on her recovery, her staff announced Sunday.
"I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week," Giffords said in a video message.
Giffords, a third-generation Arizonan who served five years in the state Legislature before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2006, will not seek re-election this fall.
Giffords vowed to return public service.
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/giffords-to-step-down-from-congress/article_638da002-4526-11e1-ba27-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1kDdYlSMQ
Mitt will win in FL, but will it be his "firewall"?
30% of primary voters cast absentee and early votes, so Mitt is assured of first place. But will it be his "firewall" and how big does he have to win to get full credit for the win?
Notorious GOP hatchet man warns Romney to back off Newt.
David Bossie, a longtime friend of Newt Gingrich who’s worked closely with him in recent years as president of Citizens United, says that Mitt Romney needs to consider whether his attacks on Gingrich could cost the GOP in the general election.
“Mitt Romney’s nasty, negative. derisive campaign threw everything they had at Newt Gingrich this week and it didn’t work,” Bossie told TPM. “They need to consider whether they’re harming the eventual nominee as they’re making these attacks.”
Bossie said that Rick Santorum may have to consider soon, perhaps after Florida, whether he might be better served dropping out to allow Gingrich a shot at consolidating the anti-Romney vote.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/4451?ref=fpb
You know why I want Newt to win the nomination?
I want to see all those side-by-side photos of Michelle Obama and Callista Gingrich. Then people would have to decide who they want on their television as First Lady for the next four years.
Nate Silver: Georgetown County Shows Trouble for Romney
In 2008, Georgetown County, which is just southwest of Myrtle Beach, was one of Mr. Romney's best in South Carolina. He won 20 percent of the vote there, more than in all but two other counties in the state.
Tonight, Georgetown County is ahead of most others in the state, with about 1,500 votes already having been reported between 8 precincts. Mr. Romney got 34 percent of those votes, an improvement from his showing in 2008. But Mr. Gingrich is doing better than Mr. Romney there, with 43 percent.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/live-coverage-of-the-south-carolina-primary/
Mitt did not do well enough in moderate precincts.
Chuck Todd said that while Newt racked up 20+ margins in conservative counties, moderate areas were only dead even for Mitt. Wow.
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