Iowa determined to go first in GOP presidential nomination race

  

Herman Cain upset the Republican presidential apple cart with an impressive win Saturday in the Florida straw poll. Now it looks like the Sunshine State could once again disrupt the march toward picking an opponent for President Obama.

According to published reports, Florida's presidential primary could move to Jan. 31, more than a month ahead of schedule. A panel named by Gov. Rick Scott and GOP legislative leaders is expected to complete the move Friday, and that could put the state in hot water with the Republican National Committee.

(UPDATE: And the panel indeed did move the primary to Jan. 31)

According to RNC rules designed to prevent a chaotic rush during primary season, only Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina can hold elections before March 6.

But Florida, which will play host to the 2012 Republican National Convention, in Tampa, wants to have a more central role in picking the nominee. To achieve that, it would run afoul of the RNC, which will dock it about half of its 116 convention delegates.

Speaking to the Miami Herald, Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos (R-Merritt Island) said: "That's the price we have to pay. I feel bad for those folks who might not be able to be delegates. But ... we'd love to give the entire Republican Party membership in Florida the ability to have an influence on who the nominee would be."

Florida also pulled a similar move in 2008, moving its primary to Jan. 29, and helping to lock up the nomination for Sen. John McCain. Though all the Florida delegates made it to the convention floor in Minneapolis-St. Paul -- with about half being characterized as "honored guests" -- the RNC seems in no mood to make a deal this time.

Also speaking to the Herald, RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said: "Any state that violates the rules will lose half their delegates. This is not a negotiation. These are the rules."

The current schedule has the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 6, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 14, the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 18, and the South Carolina primary on Feb. 28.

Determined not to be knocked off its perch as the first-in-the-nation caucuses, Iowa will do what it takes to keep its place of honor.

In a statement, Iowa Republican Party Chairman Matt Strawn said: "The four sanctioned, early states have been very clear that we will move together, if necessary, to ensure order as outlined in RNC rules. If we are forced to change our dates together, we will."

In a Sept. 29 interview on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren," GOP candidate Sen. Rick Santorum (obviously not a disinterested observer), said: "For the life of me, I don't understand what Florida's trying to accomplish, because whatever they're going to accomplish, they're going to fail. ... All you've effectively done is cut off one month of the lead-up time to this primary process."

He also defended the role of the smaller states, saying: "They've had a pretty good track record of taking the responsibility very seriously. ... These states are smaller states. It's manageable for them to meet the candidates, to kick the tires, to find out who these people really are."

Theoretically, Iowa could go as early as the first week of the year.

Democrats avoid all this hullabaloo by having their incumbent run unopposed (at least so far). But if former Clinton advisor Dick Morris is to be believed, the Democratic race could become as complicated as the GOP's.

In a Sept. 21 article on his website, DickMorris.com, the former Democrat strategist writes: "As bad news piles up for the Democrats, I asked a top Democratic strategist if it were possible that President Obama might 'pull a Lyndon Johnson' and soberly face the cameras, telling America that he has decided that the demands of partisan politics are interfering with his efforts to right our economy and that he has decided to withdraw to devote full time to our recovery.

"His answer: 'Yes. It’s possible. If things continue as they are and have not turned around by January, it is certainly possible.' "

Though Morris is leaning toward prediction territory, he's not the first person to publicly suggest the same thing.

On Sept. 18, Steve Chapman, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune (a sister paper of the Los Angeles Times, under the Tribune Co. umbrella), wrote a piece called "Why Obama Should Withdraw."

He wrote: "In the event he wins, Obama could find himself with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress. Then he will long for the good old days of 2011. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner will bound out of bed each day eager to make his life miserable.

"Besides avoiding this indignity, Obama might do his party a big favor. In hard times, voters have a powerful urge to punish incumbents. He could slake this thirst by stepping aside and taking the blame. Then someone less reviled could replace him at the top of the ticket."

And who did he think that someone should be? The answer can be found in the picture at the top of this post, a shot from the New Hampshire primaries of 2008.

RELATED:

Herman Cain handily wins Florida GOP straw poll

Chris Christie won't run but doesn't mind being asked

Herman Cain: 'I'm the president of the United States of America!'

-- Kate O'Hare

Photo: Hillary Rodham Clinton and daughter Chelsea visit Democratic supporters in Nashua, N.H., on primary day, Jan. 8, 2008. Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

New gaffe: Obama confuses Jews with janitors

President Obama spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus awards banquet over the weekend.

Those folks will stick with him in 2012, of course.

But they've been somewhat miffed in recent months that the first post-partisan president is doing too many deals with those Republicans and seeming to give in.

So, Obama needed to give the crowd some presidential love. He even brought his wife along. As with virtually all of Obama's speeches recently, the Democrat's remarks dealt with selling his jobs legislation, as if it wasn't DOA on Capitol Hill.

The first black president got to reminiscing about some other struggles in the past familiar to African Americans.

His 28 minutes of remarks had a strange tone to them, as if somehow Obama was equating support for his jobs program legislation with the far more important and historic civil rights movement.

He got into the usual yada-yada about rich people paying their fair share of taxes.

And then, deep into the speech, according to the White House transcript, the president said:

When you start saying, at a time when the top one-tenth of 1 percent has seen their incomes go up four or five times over the last 20 years, and folks at the bottom have seen their incomes decline -- and your response is that you want poor folks to pay more? 

Give me a break. 

If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor. I have no problem with that.

That's what the transcript says he said.

Now, watch the C-SPAN video below, and listen especially to the phrase "the same tax rate as a janitor..."

Here is what the president actually said, catching himself almost in time but not quite:

If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor. I have no problem with that.

The president has been muffing lines all over the place recently. Last week, also peddling his jobs plan at a bridge that won't qualify, he hailed America's building of "the Intercontinental Railroad." You don't seem to hear much about these gaffes in the media for some reason.

Maybe in Saturday night's speech Obama was thinking about all those talks on Israel in New York.

Video of the president's full CBC speech, via C-SPAN, of course, is available right here.

Obama is on the West Coast now, harvesting money again and closing roads in Los Angeles after doing the same in Seattle and San Jose Sunday.

RELATED:

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Obama touts jobs plan at Ohio bridge that won't qualify

Obama's jobs speech: Right now actually means much later

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press (Obama addresses the Congressional Black Caucus awards banquet, Sept. 24).              Video: Courtesy of C-SPAN.

Sarah Palin is running in Iowa

 

 
Is Sarah Palin running?

Why, yes, she is ... in a half-marathon. (She's the one in red above.)

As reported by Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren on her GretaWire blog, as well as by the Iowans4Palin blog, Palin -- as of this moment, still a non-candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential contest -- and husband Todd Palin headed to the LakeTrail in Storm Lake, Iowa.

There, Palin took part in the "Jump Right In and Run" race, which was sponsored by the Storm Lake Running Club and included a half-marathon, two-runner half-marathon relay and 5K run/walk.

Although Palin doesn't show up in the official results, Van Susteren reported that her time was 1:45 for the 13.1-mile race.

(UPDATE: According to a report in the Des Moines Register's 2012 Iowa Caucuses blog, Palin ran under her maiden name of Sarah Heath. She was the second-place finisher among women 40-49, with an official time of 1:46:10.)

On Saturday, Palin spoke at a Tea Party of America event in Indianola, Iowa -- as The Ticket reported (link below, with video).

But the avid road warrior and daughter of a track coach was up bright and early Sunday morning (the races were scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. local time) to shake the kinks out before getting back on the non-campaign trail.

Iowans4Palin reported:

This was not a campaign event, this was some personal time for Governor Palin to get in a good run in a beautiful setting, and they didn't want anyone to know they had slipped in. Very low profile. Amazing they can pull this off.

After running her race in Iowa, Palin took time to pose for a photograph with Iowans4Palin's "teledude" and his wife.

Palin also tweeted a thank you to the town.

SarahPalinUSA 

Thank you, Storm Lake, Iowa. You put on a great event & we loved meeting some great folks in your beautiful town today!

Now Palin's off to speak at the Tea Party Express event Monday (Labor Day) in Manchester, N.H.

Coincidentally -- or not -- Iowa is the first presidential caucus state in the nation, and New Hampshire is the first presidential primary state.

Still no word from Palin on the other kind of running.

RELATED:

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Sarah Palin thrills Iowa crowd, stays mum on presidential plans

Sarah Palin gives a rousing non-campaign campaign speech in Iowa

-- Kate O'Hare

Media critic Kate O’Hare is a regular Ticket contributor. She also blogs about TV at Hot Cuppa TV and is a frequent contributor at entertainment news site Zap2it. Also follow O'Hare on Twitter @KateOH.

Speaking of 2012, follow The Ticket via Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or click this: @latimestot. Our Facebook Like page is over here. We're also available on Kindle. Use the retweet buttons above to share any item with family and friends.

Photos: Sarah Palin running a half-marathon in Storm Lake, Iowa; Palin posing with Iowans4Palin blogger "teledude." Credits: GretaWire.com; Iowans4Palin/Joni Wulfekuhler (Palin posing)

Ron Paul: Could he win the Iowa caucuses?

Could the guy from Texas possibly win the Republican Iowa caucuses come January? And kick off the actual GOP nomination race with a surprising big bang?

By 'the guy from Texas' we don't mean Gov. Rick Perry, who announced his own candidacy before a gathering of conservative writers in South Carolina Saturday. He could well win it too.

But we're talking now about the other Texan in the Republican race, the elderly 11-term congressman named Ron Paul.

Once upon a time the libertarian-like Paul was considered a fringe candidate.

He still is.

The trouble for mainstream Republicans is that Paul's devoted disciples just keep on carving out apparent victories for the kindly old guy, whose son Rand is now a U.S. senator from Kentucky. The senior Paul is an Air Force vet and retired ob-gyn. He's now five years older than John McCain was when everyone said John McCain was too old to move into the White House.

History would suggest he has little or no chance of becoming the nominee, let alone the president. But history also suggests that a dedicated band of hardcore believers could in a crowded field produce an upset win for Paul come that chilled caucus night in January. It worked for Huckabee, who won the caucuses in 2008 after finishing second in the 2007 straw poll.

Most of the attention from Saturday's Ames Straw Poll has focused on another House member, Michele Bachmann of Minnesota via Iowa. With a gritty determination and fresh appeal, Bachmann captured the straw poll win, which is meaningless except from a PR point of view.

It thrust her onto five of the Sunday blab shows making rare forays outside the Beltway, giving her a national podium to reach millions of Americans. This week she's in South Carolina.

But less noticed was Paul's showing, second place, only 152 votes behind the media starlette. Think he would have been invited onto all five Sunday shows?

Uh, no.

But it's interesting to speculate on Paul's outlook. Since 2008, the issues and the electorate have moved in his direction.

Everyone agrees Tim Pawlenty is a really decent guy, accomplished as Minnesota's governor and well organized in Iowa. But he badly trailed Paul Saturday and dropped out Sunday. Why?

One good reason is Pawlenty's calm, reasoned demeanor did not reflect the high-octane....

GOP debate scores big ratings for Fox News

 

The Thursday, August 11, GOP debate at Iowa State University not only saw fireworks on the stage but also generated some heat in the ratings for host network Fox News Channel.

After getting praise from such unlikely sources as the Washington Post and Time magazine for the aggressive, informed performances of anchors Bret Baier and Chris Wallace, Fox also got a lot of attention from TV viewers, as tracked by Nielsen.

The two-hour debate, which began at 6 p.m. Pacific time only on Fox News, attracted nearly 5.1 million viewers -- with a healthy 1.4 million of those in the advertiser-approved 25-54 demographic -- making it the most-watched debate of 2011.

It not only outscored Fox News' previous debate on May 5 in South Carolina (67% higher in the target demographic), it also well outpaced CNN's New Hampshire debate on June 13, which attracted just over 3.1 million viewers, with 918,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Working in Fox News' favor was the huge amount of chatter about the GOP race heading....

Vice president's reference to opponents as 'terrorists' deserves condemnation

Outrage flooding in now even from overseas over former Vice President Dick Cheney likening some opponents of President Bush's policies and administration to "terrorists."

Terrorists? Really? With the 10th anniversary of real terrorism coming next month. Pathetic, even for Repugnicans.

It's the kind of over-the-top rhetorical retribution that only inflames political passions and hard feelings at a highly partisan time in the nation's capitol. You have to expect it from the veteran Washington insider and no-holds-barred Republican enforcer who once worked for an oil industry company.

During a meeting with his party's House caucus earlier this week several members reportedly expressed outrage over parts of the pending debt agreement with opponents, likening the other side to terrorists holding the plan hostage to gain an advantage.

At one point the vice president is said to have acknowledged, "They have acted like terrorists."  Seriously, that guy's been out of office for -- what? -- 30 months now. His party lost. Let it go, Mr. Cheney!

The Democratic team of Barack Obama and Joe Biden arrived in Washington in 2009 sincerely determined to change the city's crony culture, to overcome the harsh partisan tone that had infested the former swamp during the first eight years of this century. How can such gentlemen possibly make progress for America when the response from the GOP side invokes terrorism during what should be a simple policy debate?

Oh, wait. What? Oh, that's right. It was Vice President Joe Biden who said that. And it happened during a caucus of his party's angry Democratic House members, not Republicans.

Well, nevermind then.

Forget we brought it up. No condemnation needed. Biden's not the kind of partisan guy to shoot from the lip. He obviously didn't mean it. Or he was misunderstood. Or caught up in the moment. Could happen to anybody who isn't Republican. If, in fact, Biden even uttered it. Lighten up!

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Emily Riley / Reuters (Cheney and Biden, file).

Social media wrap: Obama, McConnell, Palin speak out on healthcare bill 6 months on

Barack Obama: "I refuse to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny a child healthcare due to a preexisting condition or impose a lifetime limit on care for a cancer patient. Those days are over."

Senate_GOPs: Mitch McConnell: "Americans never wanted this massive government-driven intrusion into their health care" http://bit.ly/bvBZLc

RepDianaDeGette of Colorado: New reforms take effect today, putting patients and drs back in control of health care. Learn more here: http://nyti.ms/cGrKde

MaryBonoMack (California): 6 Month Anniversary of ObamaCare...It is "even worse than critics thought" http://ow.ly/2ISNw ^RM

Senate_GOPs  Happy 6 month #hcr anniversary! "Rarely have so many political strategists been so wrong about something so big." http://bit.ly/ajdVOZ

WaysMeansCmte  WHAT A DIFFERENCE 6 MONTHS MAKE #1: Starting today your health insurance ...

Social media wrap: Langevin to take over from Pelosi in historic day for Disabilities Act

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to hand over the speaker’s rostrum (and it’s not even November yet).

Rep. Jim Langevin posted on Facebook Thursday that he will take the rostrum as speaker pro tempore on Monday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, becoming the first member in a wheelchair to preside over the House.

Langevin, who is a quadriplegic, a five-term Democrat from Rhode Island and co-chairman of the Bipartisan Disabilities Caucus, wrote: "Was just with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer announcing that the rostrum on the House Floor is now accessible – just in time for the 20th Anniversary of the ADA. Now voting on extending unemployment benefits, then to Judiciary for an ADA hearing with Hoyer. Busy, exciting day!"

Langevin will show that the speaker's rostrum has recently been made wheelchair accessible. Before a series of mechanical lifts was installed, the podium was accessible only by two flights of stairs. ...

Social media wrap: Bachmann rallies support in D.C. for Tea Party Caucus

 

In or out? That’s the question Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann effectively posed to every member of the GOP -- and indeed the Democrats -- with her founding of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress.  

Pols on Tuesday took to the social-media networks to say whether they’ll join or not, but in keeping with the “tea party" ideological perspective, no overriding consensus was apparent.

Georgia Rep. Paul Broun, a Republican, tweeted that he’s definitely in. As did John Carter, a Texas congressman -- and secretary of the House Republican Conference -- who tweeted that he’d become a “charter member.”  

Outside of social media, Republican Mike Pence of Indiana affirmed he’d be joining, as did Pete Sessions of Texas, although House Minority Leader John A. Boehner demurred. Somewhat mischievously, Bachmann even asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to join -- to a deafening silence.

Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who is considered a tea party enthusiast, tweeted that he’s out because ...

Social nets rundown: Sarah Palin, Huckabee, Dobson and the Chuck Norris on Iowa's GOP governor race

 

If Chuck Norris is late, time had better slow down.

So goes one of hundreds of jokes about the martial-arts master and Torrance native who, our social networks tell us,  this weekend is campaigning in Iowa for Republican gubernatorial challenger and Christian conservative, Bob Vander Plaats. The primary is on Tuesday.

Vander Plaats, who is running against former four-term governor Terry Branstad for the right to challenge incumbent Democrat Chet Culver, has secured the backing of Mike Huckabee and, as announced Thursday, of the Rev. James Dobson of Focus on the Family fame.

Of course,  Vander Plaats has his own version of the Norris spiel.

"When Chuck Norris comes to Iowa, even Chet Culver attends the rallies."

Vander Plaats trails Branstad by 15 points in the latest polls, but it remains to be seen how....