Financials...

Interesting CNN article covering some business and fundraising history.

Weighing...

I would rather have the CEO over the lobbyist.

BCRA (McCain's Law)...

The Supreme Court has struck down part of the so-called Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (Otherwise known as McCain-Feingold. Slip opinion here). Romney had this to say:

"Score one for free speech. Today the Supreme Court reaffirmed the First Amendment by rejecting a key feature of McCain-Feingold. The law trampled the basic right of the American people to participate in their democracy. It also purported to reduce the influence of money in politics, but we now know that influence is greater than ever. McCain-Feingold was a poorly-crafted bill. Today's decision restores, in part, to the American people a right critical to their freedom of political participation and expression."

The law limited "issue ads" that name a candidate for office within a time period before the election for the named candidate. The specific ads in this case attack filibustering of judicial nominees and ask citizens to contact certain federal officials to express their displeasure.

McCain and Appellants contended that the folks who want to run these ads should have the burden of showing their speech is burdened, the court should use a subjective test in determining if these ads are the functional equivalent of express advocacy, and that in any event, these ads were the equivalent of express advocacy because they asked voters to contact an incumbent candidate for office. In rejecting McCain et al.'s arguments across the board, the court declared the following objective rule,

"[A] court should find that an ad is the functional equivalent of express advocacy only if the ad is susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate."

This should go a long way to protecting issue ads from those who would suppress political speech because, "Given the standard we have adopted for determining whether an ad is the 'functional equivalent' of express advocacy, contextual factors ... should seldom play a significant role in the inquiry."

Because the court has never recognized a compelling state interest in regulating speech that is not the functional equivalent of express advocacy for a candidate, McCain-Feingold, as applied to issue ads is Unconstitutional.

It should be noted that the opinion was by C.J. Roberts, joined by A.J. Alito, and Concurred in by A.J.'s Scalia, Thomas, and Kennedy. Scalia and Co. wanted to trash the law in its entirety. Of course, the rest of the court like restrictions on political speech.

Fundraisers who are Sued...

There is an article about one of Romney's finance Co-Chairs in Utah (basically a fundraiser) being sued in federal court over boarding houses he owned or operated for troubled teens. The implication that there is something wrong is ridiculous. Money legitimately raised in individual contributions from legal citizens of the country with the right to donate by someone who happens to be sued is just as good as any other money. There should not be a "Have you ever been sued?" requirement before donating or raising money.

New iAd...

Mitt Romney's Presidential Website has a new iAd on it today. Basically, when you go to the home page Romney walks in from the side and talks to you about the website, including the Five Brothers Blog and Mitt TV. He also used an iAd when we were elisting 24,000 new supporters after the second debate. It is a nice way to make the site more interactive.

Nevada Primary...

While recent news has focused in on Romney's lead in Iowa and New Hampshire, Romney is announcing his Nevada Campaign Leadership Team. You may not have heard much about Nevada yet, but it is currently third in the presidential primary schedule, behind D.C. and New Hampshire. The last Zogby poll of Nevada showed Romney tied for second with McCain (with Giuliani in a double digit lead). A poll released today though has Romney at 20%, Giuliani at 26% and Thompson at 29% (I, of course, think Fred is just riding Tommy's name recognition). McCain was posting 11%. This is pretty good for Romney and I think he has room to improve. So, while other major candidates eschew New Hampshire and Iowa in hopes of running a "super tuesday" campaign, you may see Romney also pick up Nevada along the way to winning the primary.

Mitt Report...

Since the Mitt Report linked to the following endorsement of their website, I fell obliged to confess, I read the Mitt Report as much as the Drudge Report, which is multiple times a day.

California Poll...

I continue to be blown away at this poll. Romney is showing a double digit lead in California. At first I thought the polling technique must be suspect but the numbers for Giuliani from their last poll, February 15, are consistent with what other polls were saying at the time. I still want to wait and see if this number is born out in other polls, but the mere fact that any poll shows Romney ahead, let alone with a sizeable lead, should be serious cause for other campaigns to, shall we say, freak out! Maybe that is why the guns are suddenly drawing and some candidates seem so trigger happy at the moment.

Good Quote Today...

A Co-Worker who I have been trying to convince to support Romney told me today, "Our whole country is quickly becoming the Utah Olympics. We need Romney as president." I thought that was an apt way of putting it.

The View...

I am informed by my wife that there was an exchange on The View today about the Republican contender's wives. I haven't found anything related to that online, but apparently, they discussed Thompson's well endowed trophy wife as well as Giuliani's wife and asked whether they would have the same public role they sort of expect the first lady to fulfill. In the end, they concluded that the candidate's wives don't matter as much anymore since Mitt Romney, who has been married so long to his childhood sweatheart isn't polling that high nationally.

Virtual Town Hall...

Now this is cool. Romney held a virtual town hall meeting with South Carolina voters today.

"The trick? A new technology from the Washington-based company Tele Town Hall. The firm uses patented technology to allow a candidate to speak directly to thousands of voters at once. In this case, the Romney campaign provided the firm with more than 35,000 phone numbers of likely Republican primary voters."

"Romney spokesman Terry Sullivan said the campaign did not screen the numbers to include only Romney supporters. Sullivan said that more than 8,500 South Carolinians were on the call over the course of an hour."

"Romney spoke for a few minutes at the beginning, Sullivan said, and than took 10-15 questions from callers. The technology allows callers to press a button if they wish to ask a question and they get placed into a queue. The questions were not screened, Sullivan said."

The Five Brothers...

There has been a recent spate of news coverage on The Five Brothers blog featured on Mitt Romney's Presidential Website. This has not been lost on Tagg who pointed out:

"The [Washington Post] column claims we are more Brady Bunch than Simpsons, obviously oblivious to the fact that I get most of my expressions from Ned Flanders, that Ben named his high school band (he was a drummer) after Milhouse (who in turn was named after Richard Milhouse Nixon, in whose cabinet my grandfather served as Secretary of HUD), that my son Thomas is as mischevious as Bart and my daughter Allie as smart as Lisa, or that my son Joe has an appetite for jelly doughnuts.…"

That is the fun part about the blog. It is a very unique feature and window into the family and campaign life of Mitt Romney.

I wrote sometime back on Mitt's greatest asset, Ann Romney. In a similar way, Romney's sons give a personal connection to the candidate in a way that normally only the candidates themselves can do. In this way, it is as though there are 6 Mitt Romney's campaigning across the country.

Exit Strategy...

Thanks to Mitt Romney - Road to the White House.

UltiMitt...

Check out the new Romney information hub at UltiMitt. It has a news center with polls, endorsements, press releases, latest news and latest videos. If they can keep the information up, it should be a great source for one stop Romney information shopping. They also have a networking portion that bears some resemblance to Facebook groups but promises to be less chaotic. So far, the forums at MittSpaces and elsewhere haven't been that active so, it will be interesting to see if this catches on. To encourage this, they have come up with "awards" for the best communicators.

Stem Cells and Cloning in MA...

Gov. Patrick of MA once again demonstrates Romney's pro-life credentials by replacing a Romney Science Board Appointment.

Long Term Plans in Iraq

Romney said some very interesting comments recently about the war in Iraq. This seems to continue Romney's flexible and results oriented approach:

"'Our objective would not be a Korea-type setting with 25-50,000 troops on a near permanent basis remaining in bases in Iraq,' the former Massachusetts governor told the Associated Press."

"'We have communicated to the people in the region and the country that we're not looking to have a permanent presence in Iraq and I don't think we want to communicate that we were just kidding about that,' he said."

"'This is a time when it would be helpful for the American people and the people of Iraq to see that we are actually making progress if that's what's happening,' Romney said."

"Helpful measurements could include power-sharing with the Sunnis, division of oil revenues, the status of certain militias, as well as the numbers and training levels of Iraqi military and security forces, he said."

"'If you don't publish any kind of milestone or benchmark,' Romney said, you leave people thinking 'you're only telling us the things that you wanted to tell us.'"

Read the whole AP article here.

Romney Getting Play...

Romney is on the top headlines of the Yahoo! home page tonight:
"Mitt Romney bemoans damage to U.S. image overseas."

I am glad Mitt is pointing out that we can do better with our foreign relations because the next President will need to build relationships with countries that have decided they just don't like Bush. Romney is a pure diplomat. He is a very refined and polished individual who will do a good job representing us abroad.

Immigration Follow-Up...

Romney took part in an interview after the debate last night. His position on immigration is dead on:

"Romney repeated his criticism of an immigration compromise brokered by one of his rivals, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Romney said the bill, as currently drafted, would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the country indefinitely."

"Asked how he would eliminate that group, estimated at 12 million, without a roundup, Romney said there were two alternatives: make a registration visa proposed in McCain's bill temporary instead of permanent, or wait for attrition created by efforts to secure U.S. borders and new efforts to force employers to verify the legality of their workers."

"'No loss of workers necessary,' the former governor said. 'The idea is a gradual and humane replacement of illegal workers with either U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.'"

Romney is 100% correct here. What no one has pointed out other than Romney is if we secure our border, the problem of illegal immigration does go away on its own. That's because if there are not new illegal immigrants coming, there eventually won't be any illegal immigrants. In addition, those that are here illegaly often can be sponsored for a family based green card under the current system anyway. So, they don't stay illegal forever. The one answer to illegal immigration: secure the border.

Iowa

Word today in the Des Moines Register is that Giuliani has snubbed the Iowa Ames Straw Poll and will opt to run on his celebrity status as opposed to grassroots support (my interpretation; AKA why compete when you are going to lose?).

Some of the commenters seemed to support this move which engendered this interesting response from the Flying Dutchman (I assume of this blog) as to the importance of the straw poll, which I wholeheartedly endorse:

"Rick, Your post is puzzling. Due to the frontloading of the Presidential Primary process, the candidate whom wins the early states of Iowa and NH will go into Tsunami Tuesday with a groundswell of support."

"Look at the case of Kerry in 04. He won Iowa..took that momentum..won New Hampshire big, and from there it was a fait accompli that he would win the nomination."

"The Iowa Straw Poll this year is limited to voting ONLY from Iowans...the only year that the Straw Poll was open to anyone was 1995...so you're wrong on that assertion."

"The Straw Poll is a test of organizational strength. If a campaign can get people there..get them to vote for them..its pretty indicative of the grassroots level of support that a candidate has built in Iowa."

"As I stated earlier..Giuliani has only visited the state 6 times since November 04...some of his opponents have been here nearly 5 times as much as Giuliani has in the same period. He has no Iowa office..He has very few Iowa staffers."

"Giuliani is starting to make the same mistakes that McCain did in 2000. He alienated Iowans..and as a result..Iowans decided not to support him..and doomed McCain's chances in 2000."

"Rick, I'm going to bet that you're not an Iowan. Otherwise, you'd understand what the caucuses mean. We're the testing ground for those who seek to be President. If someone can't come here..face people, look em in the eye and tell them what they believe in...nine times out of ten..they've failed to become President."

Romney's Polling Holds Steady...

I recently hypothesized at My Man Mitt that Romney's supporters are more loyal than Giuliani's and McCain's. Rasmussen is now tracking that exact prediction as Thompson enters the race and catches a bump.

"With former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson taking his first formal steps towards a Presidential run and the immigration debate creating challenges for Arizona Senator John McCain, the race for the Republican Presidential nomination has an entirely different look this week."

"Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) remains on top, but his support has slipped to 23%. That’s down two points from a week ago and is his lowest level of support all year. Earlier, Giuliani had consistently enjoyed support in the mid-30s. That was before Thompson’s name was added to the mix and before Giuliani stumbled on the abortion issue in the first GOP debate of the season."

"Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the top choice for 15% of those likely to vote in a GOP primary. That’s little changed from the last couple of weeks and keeps him a single-point ahead of Arizona Senator John McCain who is preferred by 14%."

Return of the Romney: Episode III

Yes, it is debate numero tres tonight on CNN! The lead-up CNN article is here. What they failed to mention is that the Granite State is Romney country.

Immigration and the MSM...

There is a pathetic article in the San Francisco Chronicle today that seeks to support McCain's Z-Visa Amnesty plan by claiming Romney, one of its biggest critics, has supported the plan in the past because he has previously said illegal immigrants should register so we know who they are. Nothing is further from the truth. The article states...

"In his March interview with The Chronicle, Romney offered some views on the problem, stressing 'there should be no special pathway for illegal immigrants here' -- but saying that as president he would want such immigrants to register with the government."

Get ready for the big change in position...

"Romney, who has been highly critical [sic] McCain's support for the immigration proposal now being debated in the Senate, highlighted three immigration reform priorities this week: securing the U.S. border, putting in place an 'enforceable employment verification system' to ensure that employers hire only legal workers, and allowing 'no special pathway or privilege to citizenship for those here illegally.'"

Did you catch the big flip? Neither did I. Registering and tracking illegal immigrants better is part and parcel to both the first and second priorities; securing the border and putting in place an employment verification system.

Either way, supporting registering of illegal aliens to learn more about them is not the same as giving them a visa to stay here on!

The difference between Romney and McCain: Romney wants to fix illegal immigration by decreasing incentives for people to come here illegally. McCain thinks giving them all visas to stay here legally will decrease illegal immigration. It will decrease illegal immigration, because McCain will have made everyone who comes here illegally into legal residents; AKA Amnesty.

Romney's Business Experience...

The NY Times has an interesting read on Romney's business experience (further on, they discuss how Romney may be attacked over it):

"Bill Bain, founder of the Boston consulting firm Bain & Company, called Mr. Romney into his corner office to say that the partners had picked him to start an investment fund to cash in on the huge gains their clients were making in the stock market."

"To Mr. Bain’s surprise, Mr. Romney, then 36, seemed wary. He worried about giving up his comfortable salary for a venture that might fail and, later, that investing would pose conflicts for a consulting firm."

"Mr. Bain had been determined not to cede any control of the investment fund, but over months of talks Mr. Romney persuaded him to do just that. Mr. Romney emerged as head of an independent sister company, Bain Capital. And Mr. Bain protected him financially while assuming the most risk."

"Two decades later, Bain Capital is one of the nation’s five largest private equity firms, and Mr. Romney, who left its management eight years ago, is making his success there a cornerstone of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination."

Read the whole article here.