Thursday, December 30, 2010

Andy Martin: Birther Announces Candidacy For President

Republican Andy Martin, the self described father of the birther movement, formally announced his candidacy for president in New Hampshire on Wednesday during a
live interview with conservative radio talk show host Brian Tilton. The move makes Martin the first presidential candidate from either major party to announce his candidacy.

You can listen to audio of Martin's announcement online, courtesy of  WTPL 107.7 FM:

Part one

Part two

This isn't the first time that Martin has run for federal office. He was one of six U.S. Senate candidates who competed in Illinois' 2010 Republican primary election. Martin only received 5% of the vote in that race. The winner, Mark Kirk, went on to capture the seat once held by President Barack Obama in a symbolic victory for Republicans.

Martin has also launched a new campaign website:

www.andymartinforpresident.com/

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Mike Pence for President 2012?

Representative Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is said to be mulling over the idea of running for president in 2012. He plans to announce his decision in January, according to Politico. Pence would face an uphill battle if he does decides to run.

For one thing, history is not on his side. Only one sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives had been elected president, according to Wikipedia. Others have managed to make a splash within their own parties. Ron Paul's (R-TX) rankled the Republican establishment during his 2008 run for president. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) heckled John Kerry all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. In all likelihood, neither expected to win. Instead, each used the primary process to build a nationwide network of supporters and donors. Maybe that's why Kucinich likes to call himself "America's Congressman".

Whether or not Pence could duplicate that kind of success remains open to debate. If he does run, expect his campaign message to focused on fiscal conservancy. After all, this is they same guy who wants to create a Spending Limit Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Picture 107-1

Photo of Representative Mike Pence from his official congressional website

Monday, December 20, 2010

Poll: Obama leads Hillary Clinton in 2012 Matchup

A new poll by Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies shows President Barack Obama enjoying a significant lead over his 2008 rival Hillary Clinton among voters likely to participate in the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary election. Obama leads Clinton in the hypothetical matchup by a margin of 58-28 percent. The poll also showed Obama beating Howard Dean 78-10 percent and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) 79-8 percent.

Hillary Clinton is currently serving as President Obama's Secretary of State and has told reporters that she will not run for president in 2012 or 2016, according to CBS News. Dean recently made similar comments on Meet the Press, saying he does not expect President Obama to face a primary challenge.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Mike Pence's Tax Cut Revolt - Video

Representative Mike Pence(R-IN) is joining other House Republicans in launching a mini-revolt against the GOP party line on the tax cut deal passed by the U.S. Senate yesterday. Pence, who may run for president in 2012, says he will vote against the tax cut deal. A recent Pew poll showed strong bipartisan support for the compromise among voters. So what's the deal here?

Pence explains his opposition to the tax cut deal negotiated by President Obama and the Republican leadership in a new video:

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

First Presidential Primary Debate Set For June 13, 2011

Update:


The first New Hampshire presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle will now air live on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 8:00 PM on CNN. 

Republicans competing in New Hampshire's first in the nation presidential primary will face off at a debate in Manchester on June 7, 2011. WMUR-TV broke the news this morning. The local ABC affiliate will co-host the debate with CNN and The Union Leader.

Due to its early scheduling, the event should mark the first time that the Republican candidates for president meet to debate in New Hampshire. Politico and NBC News hope to host the first Republican debate of the 2012 presidential primary season at the Ronald Reagan Library in California next spring. 

With twelve or more Republicans considering a run for president in 2012, WMUR and friends better have a pretty big state lined up!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Gary Johnson for POTUSA in 2012?

If were lucky enough to be a kid during the 1990's era, you probably remember a band called Presidents of the United States of America or "POTUSA" for short. Aside from having a name that constituted a drug reference when abbreviated, the band is best known for its hit songs "Lump", "Kitty", and "Peaches". Now, a high profile "pot usa" is considering running to become the real President of the United States of America! Meet Gary Johnson.

The former Republican governor of New Mexico admitted to smoking marijuana for medical purposes from 2005 to 2008 during an interview with the Weekly Standard. At the time pot was illegal in New Mexico, but Johnson said the drug provided relief from pain caused by multiple bone fractures sustained during a paragliding accident in Hawaii. He's also been known to quip that he "did not exhale" in his younger days.

Johnson has been testing the waters for a possible presidential run for some time now. He visited New Hampshire several times in 2010, a state where lawmakers came close to legalizing medical marijuana, but were unable to overcome a veto by Governor John Lynch. As an advocate for legalizing marijuana, Johnson may be able to tap into the state's network of pot activists. But will the pot heads remember to vote on election day?

You can learn more about Johnson and his libertarian style of politics by visiting the website of his nonprofit, Our America - The Gary Johnson Initiative. More importantly, The Presidents of the United States of America are alive and still touring! Check out their website!


Picture of Gary "I did not exhale" Johnson by Steve Terrell

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Granite Oath PAC House Party With Rick Santorum

Ovide Lamontagne's Granite Oath PAC will kick off 2011 by hosting a house party featuring former Senator and 2012 presidential hopeful Rick Santorum in early January. Santorum has been putting in some serious ground time in New Hampshire of late, visiting the state a total of seven times in 2010. He is openly considering a run for president in 2012.

Lamontagne will host the house party at his own home on January 11th. He told The Union Leader that his new PAC will be hosting similar events featuring some of Santorum's potential rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. In other words, he won't be endorsing Santorum's any time soon.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Ovide Lamontagne's PAC will endorse presidential candidate in 2012

In September, Ovide Lamontagne made nationwide headlines when he came close to beating Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire's 2010 Republican Senate primary. Now Lamontagne has a new PAC called the Granite Oath. The Union Leader reports that Lamontagne will put his newfound clout to work in 2012 by endorsing one of the Republican candidates running in the state's first in the nation primary.

Lamontage received 51,397 votes to Ayottes 53,056, according to records maintained by the Secretary of State. That's an impressive for a candidate who raised a total of $678,184 in a race that saw rivals raising and spending millions. Still, Lamontagne's low fundraising numbers suggest that the new PAC's primary strength may lie in its grassroots organizing ability.

So far, there doesn't seem to be much infrastructure behind Granite Oath PAC, aside from a Twitter account dubbed @graniteoathpac. Still, Lamontagne maintains a pretty solid network on the social media front. He has 2,050 followers on Facebook and 1,010 on Twitter.

Lamontage backed Mitt Romney in the 2008 New Hampshire Primary, according to the Union Leader.



Friday, December 3, 2010

2012 Missouri poll bad news for Palin

Public Policy Polling has released a new poll examining the key 2012 battleground state of .... Missouri? John McCain won the state in 2008 by less than 1 percent of the vote, leading pollsters to think that the Show Me State is worth a closer look in 2012.

The new poll asked voters to choose between President Barack Obama and several of the Republicans who may run for president in 2012. It turns out that Sarah Palin is currently the only potential GOP candidate named in the poll who would lose Missouri's 11 electoral votes to Obama if the election were held today:

Mike Huckabee 49% Barack Obama 42%

Mitt Romney 47% Barack Obama 41%

New Gingrich 45% Barack Obama 44%

Barack Obama 46% Sarah Palin 43%

Given that McCain won Missouri in 2008, a decidedly Democratic year, is shouldn't be too surprising to see most of the Republicans leading Obama in the survey. What is surprising, and maybe shouldn't be, is Palin's inability to generate the same level support as the other major contenders for the GOP nomination.

What impact will the new poll have on the 2012 New Hampshire Primary? Probably very little. The consensus among most pundits is that Palin should skip New Hampshire altogether and focus on the most conservative of the early voting states, namely Iowa. So far, Palin appears to be to be heeding this sound piece of advice. The closest she's come to stepping foot in the Granite State since 2008 is a Facebook endorsement of Kelly Ayotte's successful campaign for U.S. Senate posted back in July of this year.





In this picture by Ryan McFarland, Sarah Palin demonstrates one attribute key to winning the New Hampshire Primary: Owning a winter coat.

P.S. In the process of writing this post, I learned that Missouri has three nicknames: The Show Me State, The Cave State, and The Lead State. Amazing!