We assumed no debt and we end this campaign with money in the bank. Once again, we ran like we intended to serve. We received contributions averaging less than $50 each from thousands and thousands of Democrats, Republicans and Independents in all 50 states.
We were not included in a single one of the 23 nationally televised GOP debates, and yet received 7% of the popular vote in a national poll conducted just a few weeks ago. My team was amazing and I thank you.
Roemer nearly won ballot access on the Americans Elect ticket, being the lead candidate in their online vote. But Roemer did not reach the minor party’s threshold, and they shut down a couple weeks ago. Wonder if he’ll make a run for it in 2016.
The Associated Press delegate count shows that Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination during Tuesday’s primary. Early returns show Romney posting a big win in Texas.
It’s a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.
In other news, water is still wet. We spent like a year freaking out over this, and it’s the result everyone expected. Remember that.
The man who today occupies the White House and is running for president is a very different person. We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history than we have over the last three and one-half years.Florida Sen. Marco Rubio • Talking smack about Obama at a fundraiser in South Carolina last night. Since we’re talking about divisive figures, is it not worth noting that there are divisive figures all around, on all sides? Wouldn’t we have bipartisanship if people weren’t being so divisive? Here’s our question: Do Rubio’s harsh words make him more or less likely to be Romney’s VP? He’s sort of the top rumored guy at the moment — though the effect of this speech has some speculating he might make a good presidential candidate after 2012.
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Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future.
Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.
This is not a total campaign suspension, because Paul’s actually had some success lately with the state convention strategy, stealing away some of Mitt Romney’s delegates in multiple states. And clearly he has to stay in the race at least until the Ron Paul video game comes out.
“The president recently weighed in on marriage and you know he said his views were evolving on marriage,” the Kentucky Republican said at Iowa’s Faith and Freedom Coalition meeting. “Call me cynical, but I wasn’t sure his views on marriage could get any gayer.
Call us cynical, but we aren’t sure this was the best thing for Rand to say.
» And that’s just the low-end estimates. Analysts estimate that a gradual increase in the Pentagon’s budget to 4% of GDP would cost the United States roughly $2.1 trillion over the next decade. Should Romney win the election, and immediately push spending up to 4%, the subsequent spending could cost an additional $200 billion or more. While Romney is hardly the first to suggest such a plan, with past notable proponents including former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, some have been quick to condemn any plan tying the budget to GDP in any way. “GDP rises and falls. Do you really want your defense budget falling in a recession?” said Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments’ Todd Harrison, adding, “spending should be determined by the security environment — not the size of your economy.”
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Watch this video. Feel good about Scott Brown. Then, after you’re done watching the clip of the Massachusetts senator draining a three pointer from half-court, know that Democrats in the state are using this as evidence that the Senator is improperly using taxpayer money to shoot campaign videos, as this video was shot by one of his staffers. Now the answer to that is “uh, of course not, because the congressional staffer was just lucky enough to catch Scott Brown shoot an underhand three pointer from half-court.” But Democrats in Massachusetts are facing trouble of their own, with Elizabeth Warren continuing to face questions about whether she improperly claimed to be Native American during her educational career. But maybe you don’t care about any of that. In that case, we recommend you just watch the video. source
Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar optimistic despite Tea Party challenge: ”We’ve got a vigorous campaign. I believe in fact that we’re going to win the campaign,” he said this morning about the primary challenge he’s facing Tuesday. Lugar, an 80-year-old moderate Republican who has served six terms, is behind opponent Richard Mourdock by ten points according to some polls, and is barred from running as an independent in the general election by state law. So if he loses tonight, that’s it. Think he’ll win? (photo by James Brosher/AP)
“The Paul folks couldn’t get their people turned out for the caucus,” said veteran Nevada political columnist Jon Ralston. “But they outmaneuvered the Nevada Romney people ever since and dominated the county conventions and this is the inevitable result. The question remains: To what end?”
Nevada delegates are bound by the state’s results on the first convention ballot, so Romney will still get their support. Paul’s Nevada supporters are not challenging that rule, for fear of losing their convention seats altogether. Delegates who abstain will be replaced with alternates.
But some Paul supporters are hoping for a brokered convention, at which they could back Paul on subsequent ballots. Given Romney’s massive delegate lead, that’s highly unlikely. At the very least, they can vocally cheer for their preferred nominee and pressure the party to give Paul a bigger voice.
Paul supporters, which pulled off a trick in Maine, won 22 of Nevada’s 25 delegates, whether or not they actually vote for Paul.
» That’s compared to 1 percent for Romney: While that stat (from a Washington Post poll) doesn’t say everything about the election, the lopsidedness of this one stat is pretty stunning. Overall in the state, Obama is ahead of Romney 51 percent to 44 percent, with the president leading among independents, women and younger voters, and Romney leading among whites and men. (hat tip to The Fix)
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Suspended Campaign of the Day: Newt Gingrich finally, officially, has waved the white flag. At a press conference happening now in Arlington, VA, Gingrich announced the suspension of his campaign for the GOP nomination, calling his run “an amazing year” for himself and his wife, Callista.
More to come.
[bi]
Eh, took so long that by the end it was kind of a non-story.
I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.
An unnecessary turn of events, seemingly caused by the disapproval of the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer. Grenell, who served as President Bush’s UN communications director for eight years, was hired by Romney less than two weeks ago. During his brief tenure, he did make a few headlines over several deleted tweets referencing Newt and Callista Gingrich.