Tampa

Can Mitt Romney Survive A Loss In Michigan Primary? His “Competition” With George Romney’s Image And History!

The biggest crisis in Mitt Romney’s privileged life is coming in Michigan, the state of his birth, the state which elected his father George Romney Governor for three terms in the 1960s, the state which he fundamentally abandoned when he called for the ordered bankruptcy of the auto industry, the state in which there has been a major turn around and drop in unemployment due to the intervention of the federal government to help General Motors and Chrysler survive. General Motors has seen its best growth in 25 years, and Michigan and the Midwest, as bad as they are in economic terms, are far better off because of what Barack Obama did, as opposed to what Romney wished to do for the area–NOTHING!

Romney is about to be paid back in spades, as the odds are now heavy that he will lose his “home state” to Rick Santorum, who can relate to blue collar workers on a fundamental basis, as compared to the filthy rich Romney who has no clue as to the struggles of auto workers or anyone else, and lives off investments but can joke about being “unemployed”!

If Romney loses the Michigan Primary, he is doomed, and will not be able to survive and win the nomination. And even if, by some intervention by “establishment” forces on Wall Street, he gets the nomination, he will have a flaw that will be enough to cause his defeat in November. He is simply too plastic, to stiff, too elitist, for the average American, and by catering to the extreme right in his rhetoric, he is causing the loss of major groups of voters–women, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, labor, the struggling middle class, independents, conservative Democrats, gays, etc. Does anyone NOT get the point?

Mitt Romney is NOT electable; he may have the lifelong desire to be what his father failed to be–President of the United States! But in a way, he is competing with a ghost, as George Romney was a much more genuine candidate, a man who knew what it was like to be poor, a man who really built up the auto industry, rather than live off buying up companies and firing workers, and making money on the resale of those companies.

George Romney was genuine, compassionate, principled, and honest to a set of values! Mitt Romney is none of these attributes of his father!

In a way, this reminds us of the struggle between father and son of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, another case of son trying to overcome the achievements of the father, but never matching up in any way, shape or form.

The difference is THIS time, it is not going to work out that this country has to deal with the psychological effects of the father-son battle for supremacy, as Mitt Romney is NOT going to be President of the United States, and is highly unlikely, as things stand now, to be the GOP nominee chosen at the Tampa Republican National Convention in August.

It is actually humiliating and embarrassing to see Romney trying to pander to Michigan now, talking about his old high school, the height of the trees, loving the lakes of the state, loving cars and Detroit! Such phoniness and catering to voters who know better than to be suckered by a rich guy who does not care about the “very poor”, the middle class, but only the rich, despite his protestations to the contrary!

The Worst Possible News For Mitt Romney: A Donald Trump Endorsement!

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, still reeling from criticism for his remark yesterday about the “very poor”, getting it from all sides including conservative commentators who are furious that Romney “let the cat out of the bag” that they and Republicans don’t give a damn about the poor, now has what can be regarded as the worst possible news imaginable: an endorsement from builder Donald Trump, the total egotist, narcissist, and overall obnoxious businessman, who always is looking for a camera and says things that most normal people would be embarrassed to say publicly!

A wealthy man being endorsed by a much wealthier man, who Romney probably envies, because of his overly materialistic nature and envy of those wealthier than himself, is a total nightmare that will haunt Romney and the Republican Party!

Romney would be better off to repudiate support from Trump, but must fear that Trump might run as an independent if such an event occurred. But the truth about how Romney feels about Trump is that he was the one GOP candidate visiting Trump last year who sneaked in and out of the session, avoiding journalists and cameras completely.

It is not clear why Trump is endorsing Romney, since Trump seemed to have a closer friendship or association with Newt Gingrich, a fellow egotist, narcissist, and overall obnoxious, embarrassing public presence similar to Trump!

Will Trump help Romney in any way by endorsing him? NO, and it will boomerang on Romney, Republicans and conservatives, and maybe finally, intelligent voters will realize that the GOP and conservative talk show hosts, all are very selfish, self centered, greedy, uncaring about anything but their MONEY. As said in an earlier post, the Republicans and conservatives only care about PROPERTY, while Democrats and progressives and liberals care about PEOPLE!

Coming off his Florida victory, Mitt Romney has now has the two WORST days of his quest for the Presidency, and it is NOT going to get better. His candidacy is DOOMED and cannot be recovered, but the GOP has no better alternative unless they become so divided that the Republican National Convention in Tampa in late August chooses to nominate someone who did not compete in the caucuses and primaries, a highly doubtful scenario!

Florida In Many Ways The Major Battleground Of America In 2012

The state of Florida is now the center of attention, with its Presidential primary coming up on Tuesday, and polls indicating that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has a double digit lead over former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, with Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul lagging behind.

Romney, by going on the attack against Gingrich in the two Florida debates this past week, and spending about four times as much on campaign advertising as Gingrich, seems likely to win despite the decision of two popular Floridians, Senator Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush to avoid endorsing anyone.

Without an endorsement, it still seems as if both Rubio and Bush are secretly behind Romney, seeing Gingrich as divisive and likely to cause a disruption in party unity.

Both are potential Vice Presidential candidates for Romney, and both are also potential Presidential candidates in 2016 if the Republicans lose to Barack Obama in 2012.

And being the third largest state, with an increase of two electoral votes, and matching New York in electoral votes, Florida becomes the biggest battleground of all, since California and New York are seen as strongly Democratic and Texas as strongly Republican.

Florida, won by Obama in 2008, is definitely up for grabs with its 29 electoral votes, and it is really three or four states. There is the Panhandle of Florida, likely to go Republican for sure. There is Central Florida, including Tampa and Orlando and other areas, which is the real battleground. There is Broward and Palm Beach Counties, likely to support Obama. And then there is the Miami-Dade County influence of Cuban Americans, traditionally Republican.

Florida is the South (Alabama) in the North; the Midwest in the Central area; and Northeast and Cuba in the South. It is also affected by the Jewish vote in South Florida and the Puerto Rican vote in Central Florida. As one observer summed it up, Florida is the Jews, the Cubans, and the “rednecks”! Of course, this is an oversimplification of the state’s political clout, but it is clear that the Republican nominee and President Obama will spend a lot of time in the state, as it may very well decide who occupies the White House in 2013!

Florida: A Complex State Politically, And Hard To Predict Its Impact

With the Florida Republican Primary just eight days away, and with many Republican voters having already engaged in early voting or absentee mail ballots, the question arises as to what one can expect to happen on January 31.

Mitt Romney has the most money and is seen as the moderate in the race, although he professes to be conservative.

Newt Gingrich, flush off his victory in South Carolina, would seem to have an edge, although Florida is not quite the same as South Carolina electorally, being much more unpredictable.

Florida is really multiple states in electoral behavior, as the Panhandle, particularly west of Tallahassee, the state capital, is very much like South Carolina or “southern Alabama”, strongly evangelical Christian and Tea Party oriented. But central Florida, including Tampa and Orlando, tends to be made up of people from the Midwest, while South Florida has large concentrations of Cubans, but also Northeasterners, including Jews in large numbers. And Puerto Ricans are found in Orlando in large numbers, and liberal strongholds exist in Tallahassee due to Florida State University’s presence, and in Gainesville, home of the University of Florida.

So if Florida comes across in the GOP Primary as too conservative, that can affect the balance among Hispanics, African Americans, and Jews, heavily concentrated in South Florida and portions of Central Florida, when it comes to the Presidential election in November.

Florida has a “split personality”, and being a megastate, more representative of the nation than Iowa, New Hampshire, or South Carolina, it could turn out to be very unpredictable in its impact on the Republican Presidential battle, and in the fall campaign against Barack Obama.

Chinks In The Armor Of Florida Governor Rick Scott Start To Show!

Within just two days, Florida Governor Rick Scott, called by many Floridians “King Rick”, because of his arrogance, stubbornness, and dictatorial manner, which has alienated so many people that there are demands for a recall or impeachment of the Medicare scam Governor, has suddenly changed course!

After protests at his inhumane cuts to Medicaid by executive order, he has now bowed to the protests and is rescinding the cuts with the legislature being expected to provide funding to cover the costs he wanted to save.

Also, we have learned that the evidence and facts used by his counsel to make the case against the high speed rail project from Orlando to Tampa were untrue, although now that Florida has rejected those funds, which would have created thousands of jobs and improved the traffic situation in central Florida, it is unlikely that the federal funds will still be available!

Also, Scott has suddenly reversed on the database for prescription medications that he bitterly opposed as an invasion of privacy, despite the fact that Florida is the leading “pill mill” state, particularly for the dangerous drug Oxycodone. Now he reluctantly agrees to it, just as he was about to be blasted by a fellow Governor of Kentucky before a congressional hearing, who was ready to point out that Florida is the biggest source of pill addiction in the nation, and that 42 states already have data registries to keep track of pill sales and distribution!

Despite these concessions, done very reluctantly on the first and third issues listed above, and the likelihood that the high speed rail project is dead after the lies that were used to destroy the project, the move should still be on to remove Rick Scott from the office that he disgraces every day by his actions and words!

The Outrage Of Rick Scott, John Kasich, And Scott Walker: Rejection of High Speed Rail Train Funds For Future Infrastructure Economic Growth! :(

It is shocking news that Florida Governor Rick Scott has joined Ohio Governor John Kasich and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in the rejection of billions of dollars of high speed rail train funds for future Infrastructure economic growth! 🙁

This all comes after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has rejected the building of new interstate roads between the high traffic states of New Jersey and New York.

Building and expanding transportation infrastructure is crucial for future economic growth and prosperity and the continued rapid growth of our population, and many European countries and Japan and South Korea are way ahead of us in that regard.

And yet these four Republican Governors, already infamous for attempting to crack down on public service employees and destroy labor rights, including collective bargaining, are so short sighted that they will reject federal funding, which will simply go elsewhere.

The Democratic Governors of New York and California has open arms extended to accept money rejected by these other states. Andrew Cuomo and Jerry Brown are not about to reject the chance for further long range economic growth, and it is essential for the future that the nation rely more on trains to cut down automobile traffic and save energy.

Florida could have had $2.4 billion to develop high speed train traffic between Orlando and Tampa, the high traffic corridor of I-4, and even many Republicans in the state, along with Democrats, including Senator Bill Nelson, are going to work to get the project done by working around the state government.

Scott took the lead of his Tea Party supporters, and is rejecting the future. In six weeks in office, Rick Scott has come across as a total “train wreck”, no pun intended, and yet there is no state mechanism to push for his recall, as only 18 states allow recall, and Florida is not one of them! 🙁

It is clear that Scott is going to be a very controversial and divisive Governor, and the question is how much his own party in the Florida legislature will fight him before he destroys the future of the Sunshine State! 🙁

The Choice Of Charlotte, North Carolina As Host Of The 2012 Democratic National Convention

The announcement this week that the Democratic National Convention of 2012 will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, may have surprised some observers, including this blogger, who really thought that St. Louis, Missouri would be chosen from among others including Columbus, Ohio, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After having been correct on the choice of Tampa, Florida by the Republican Party for its 2012 convention, the author was somewhat disappointed that his prediction failed to come to fruition!

It is clear that President Barack Obama made the final choice, and it shows that he intends to make a fight to keep the Southern states that he won in 2008–North Carolina, Virginia and Florida, none of which will be easy to accomplish.

In the mind of the author, keeping the Midwest–Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota–will be more urgent, as the “heartland” of the nation seems the even more significant battleground!

While Obama did not win Missouri in 2008, John McCain only won by a few thousand votes, and that was only the second time since 1900 (the other time being 1956) that the loser of Missouri won the White House. So it is crucial that Missouri be won by Obama if he is to win a second term, the reasoning that made the author think he would choose St. Louis.

However, Charlotte is part of the emerging modern South, and North Carolina, along with Virginia and Florida, will also be crucial in the 2012 election campaign.

Hopefully, the President’s decision to choose the South over the Midwest for the national convention will play out in a resulting win for him in 2012!

The Battle Over The Democratic National Convention Site For 2012

Very soon, there will be an announcement as to where the Democratic National Convention will be held in September 2012.

The author has written about this earlier, and correctly predicted that the Republican National Convention would be held in late August 2012 in Tampa, Florida.

As stated earlier, the author predicts the convention will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, winning over the cities of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Cleveland, Ohio; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

St. Louis has hosted the Democratic National Convention before, with Woodrow Wilson nominated for his second term in that Mississippi River city in 1916.

St. Louis has the Gateway Arch, an iconic symbol of the nation, and is the major city in a state that is a very clear predictor of the presidential election results, as since 1900, only twice–1956 and 2008–did the Presidential winner lose Missouri. And in both losing cases, Adlai Stevenson and John McCain just barely defeated Dwight D. Eisenhower and Barack Obama.

Missouri will be difficult to win for the Democrats, but it is a crucial state, and holding the convention there would be a boost to the chances of winning the state.

However, having said that, the records show that the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party has won the state in which the national convention was held a total of 23 times, and lost it 22 times!

So there is obviously no guarantee of what will happen in the Presidential election, whether the convention is held in Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, or Minnesota. All three of the other states were won by the Democrats in 2008, but all three, along with Missouri, are in play for 2012 at this stage of the campaign, nearly two years out.

Still, it seems to the author that Missouri and St. Louis are the most likely choice, and it will be interesting to see if he is correct on the Democratic convention location, as he was on the Republican convention location. 🙂

Finalists For Republican National Convention In 2012: Tampa The Best Choice

The Republican National Committee has chosen three finalists to compete for the Republican National Convention in 2012.

Two of the three choices seem to make no sense, as the location of the national convention should be designed to gain support in a state which is competitive for the Presidential election.

Under that standard, Phoenix and Salt Lake City, while rapidly growing cities in the Mountain and Desert West, make no sense as hosts, as neither Arizona nor Utah are in contention for the electoral vote. Utah is reliably Republican on a consistent basis, and Arizona, even with a growing Hispanic population, cannot be seen as prime territory for Democratic gains in the future.

On the other hand, Tampa, Florida makes a lot of sense as the host for the GOP convention, in a state that is definitely in play, with President Obama having won it in 2008, but a state that has usually voted Republican in the past, and is likely to be one of the major battlegrounds of the next presidential election. Also, Florida, as the fourth largest state, has a much larger pool of voters to campaign for, than Arizona or Utah.

So if the Republicans are smart, they will choose Tampa as the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention!