Romney's out too: Now what?

Well, after a very eventful time in Maine last weeknd, Gov. Mitt Romney call's it quits today. I really must admit I was a little shocked at the timing, however, his reasons were very admirable. His speech today at the Conservative Political Action Convention said it all.

“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I
would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that
Sen. Clinton or Obama would win,” he said. "And in this time of war, I simply
cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

So the question comes, what now? Who is left to battle Sen. John McCain? My friend Tim commented on my previous post about Having a Huckabee / Paul ticket would bring out the conservative voters due to Huckabee being a social conservative and Paul being a fiscal conservative. He may be right, however, who will bring out the moderates to win the election? That seems to be the key to winning the election time after time.



We have never seen a president become more conservative on issues as his presidency has moved on. President Bush seemed pretty conservative to many of us when he was elected. Time has shown that his fiscal side is anything but conservative. With John McCain all but clinching the Republican nomination, if he were elected President, who would he chose for a running mate? How conservative will he be or better yet, how liberal will he act? We already know that he is for amnesty for illegals and against waterboarding of prisoners to gain information. Can he be that strong on defense with those items? I'm not sure. I hope for America's sake he is. I truly hope he understands what is at stake here...Our Freedom! Unitl the General Election I'll keep asking...Now What?



God Bless America!

Romney wins in my home state of Maine!

Well, my vote counted today in the Maine Caucus and Presidential Preference as Gov. Mitt Romney won the state by very convincing numbers. In my county of Somerset, Romney garnered about 51% to McCains nearly 26% and surprising Ron Paul got about 13% to Mike Huckabee's 9% where additionally 1% of voters were undecided. It was a great day for Maine Republicans that participated in the process.

As the poll numbers come in from around the state, Romney's lead is staying consistant with my county. My major concern of the week leading up to this was of all the support that Ron Paul was gaining. I'm not saying I am bothered by his stances and such, just that I believe him to be a low level tier candidate that cannot gain the same amount of support in other parts of the country. I did not want to see a Paul victory in Maine for the very reason of not supporting a major candidate. Now if Paul had won a primary by now I may be OK with it. However, even with Huckabee only winning a few states, he is still in my eyes a lower tier candidate.

I honestly thought that McCain would give more of a fight to Romney in Maine. McCain had the support of our ranking members of the party with Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Olympia Snowe as well as Maine House Minority Leader Josh Tardy. I really looked at it like with that much fire power, how could he not win in a moderate state? Well, that is why I do not get paid to make predictions about politics.

I did get up and say a few words on behalf of Sen. Collins and try to gain some support for her. I was asked if i would do that by her office and I accepted because I think she has a done a wonderful job representing Maine while she has been in Washington. Additionally, I also spoke of my upcoming election as a Town Selectman that is in March. I encouraged all the voters that to take part in that process of a Town Meeting. I like seeing people be involved, even if I do always agree with their view. This allows for more opinions and viewpoints to be heard as well as ideas being floated around during trying times. That is what our country was built of from ...ideas!

I will close with saying that it was very nice seeing all the people come out to my local caucus and the ones located across my county to participate in the very unique voting process. I hope those individuals continue to support the Somerset County Republican Committee and the Maine Republican Party as well as all our local candidates as they are the reason I do all the volunteer work that I do. I love politics and I truly love my State of Maine and the passion in wanting it to prosper for the future generations of Mainers.

God Bless America!

Could Giuliani's run be done? / Ron Paul: Hang it up!

Giuliani: Out of the Race?

We should find out real soon who will win in today's Florida's Presidential Primary.candidates. In recent reports, it has been stated that if Rudy Giuliani loses, he'll likely drop out of the presidential race. At that point, an endorsement is likely to come for one of the remaining candidates. I'm wondering that whoever he does endorse, could it it be the end of that candidates campaign? How much support could Giuliani drum up for another when he barely mustered up enough for himself among moderate Republicans? I don't see him endorsing Ron Paul or Mike Huckabee. I'm thinking that he is more likely to endorse John McCain over Mitt Romney, at that point, give the edge for the nomination to Romney.

As the early poll numbers continue to come in, Many voters feel like I do in that Giuliani is not presidential material (merely 15% support). I guess at this point you have to ask why, considering just a few short months ago he was leading national polls everywhere. I'm thinking that his strategy of pulling out of Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan hit his campaign real hard. To put it another way, would you want to support someone who never campaigned in your state or thought other states were more important than yours? I wouldn't.

Ron Paul Give it up!

OK, I'll admit it, I'm not a Ron Paul supporter nor am I fond of having to get all of this mail from him and the phone calls. I may be critical here but please, think about how much time and peoples money you are wasting on your campaign? Think about what those supporters could be doing rather than all of the grunt work for you? I take nothing away from them, but you need to make a decision as to whether or not you really think you have a shot at winning the nomination from the other top candidates. I'm not sure what your strategy is, maybe you are aligning yourself up for a potential VP slot or even an "Independent" run at the President. Regardless, you are not garnering the support from a majority of Americans and that is a fact. I hope for your supporters sake, you hang it up.

To all the volunteers helping the campaigns, you are Great Americans and truly patriots in the field of politics. I'm sure all the candidates truly value your contributions. Remember, please help out the local races in your own state as well.

As always...God Bless America!

The Media's Lost Story: Romney Wins Wyoming!

NEWSFLASH! "Mitt Romney wins Wyoming Caucus. Romney on verge of Comeback"

OK, so that wasn't the headline, but who do we blame? Fox News? CNN? CSPAN? MSNBC? Well I blame ALL of the media. What was missed over the weekend was the fact that Romney had a comeback from his disappointing loss in Iowa. No it wasn't New Hampshire, nor South Carolina but Wyoming. By winning with 67% of the voter (14 Delegates) over Fred Thompson (6 Delegates) and Duncan Hunter (1 Delegate). So why did the media miss this or better yet, why did they DECIDE to miss this? The simple fact is 2 reasons: 1. Wyoming is small and 2. They do not want a Republican to have any media attention.

The media neglected Romney's victory in Wyoming for fear of what I'm not sure. Maybe a momentum shift and also possibly for the fact that the Democratic Party did not participate in Wyoming. They are scheduled to be in Wyoming on March 8th. Is that reason enough to hide the news from the public? Absolutely not.

With all the attention going to New Hampshire and whether or not Barack Obama can take off as the Democratic Party's great "Hope for Change", will the Republicans get enough attention directed to any of their candidates. Many of the news themes from New Hampshire are along the lines as will Hillary Clinton implode? Can Romney catch John McCain. Also there is a vibe going around whether or not Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani can gain any ground on Mike Huckabee and McCain.

Now back to Wyoming. I've said it before, unless we hold the media accountable, and speak with our voices and actions, America will be lost. The media has a job, not just to themselves but to the American citizen. The First Amendment was not made just for them. It was put there so that the American citizens can have a voice and exercise their rights as Americans. The media is, in my eyes, whether they like it or not, responsible for informing the American Public about the genuine news stories and important information that should be relayed to the public, especially with something of this magnitude such as a candidate winning a presidential caucus, regardless of which state it is in. When things are reported accordingly and factual, the public becomes informed and opinions are shaped.

I can't reiterate that enough; the media needs to be held accountable. We as American need to utilize our own resources and either write blogs, letters to the editor or any other means necessary that helps get the public informed with the correct information. I'm just one source as are my friends that I have listed on my website. We all take writing very seriously as well as providing the supporting information for our columns. I believe that takes care of that topic.

As for New Hampshire, we'll find out in a few days who wins, drops out, who gains momentum and so on. Until then, enjoy the American political process and rely on your own intuition regarding factual information. Keep the media held accountable in this time of necessity. It is your right as Americans!

As always with me....God Bless America!

Iowa Down and New Hampshire Next: Who's in, Who's out?

Well, the first test for the 2008 Presidential campaign is complete. Iowa had some drama and when we woke up this morning, some of us might have been surprised. The questions now are: Who Stays? Who Goes? Who drops out to support who?

For the Democratic Party, in what I feel is a surprising victory,Sen. Barack Obama won by 7%. I'm surprised because it was by that many percentage points. Obama's win came at 37%, John Edwards came in 2nd with 30% and Sen. Hillary Clinton came in third with 29%. With 97 % the rest of the Democratic field (Sen. Dodd, Sen. Biden, etc...) was irrelevant and should all drop out in a week or so. The questions comes, who do they support when they drop out of the race?

For the Republicans, it was a surging Gov. Mike Huckabee winning with 34% that overcame Gov. Mitt Romney with 25% of the vote. Sen. Fred Thompson and Sen. John McCain had a third place tie with only 13% of the vote. In what I feel is the surprise of the race, Rep. Ron Paul nearly doubled New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 10% to 3 % respectively. Duncan Hunter nearly achieved a .5%. It's safe to say that Hunter will drop out shortly.

The surprising part about the Republicans is that Giuliani had the lead just a short time ago and then to get smacked around like a fly at a picnic makes you wonder, are polls that accurate? We saw Huckabee surging in recent weeks, but like that? I listened to Giuliani on an interview yesterday with Mike Gallagher you would have thought that he had a huge lead in the polls in New Hampshire when asked about his upcoming schedule. I'm beginning to think that the socially moderate Republicans are losing ground now in politics, at least in my eyes.

On the Democratic party side, I still think that Edwards will win the nomination once he gets to the Southern States. Obama will have to answer questions about his religion and his link to Islam and Hillary will not drum up that much support being from New York. But who am I to give a prediction?

In closing, the next week is going to be even more brutal than before. New Hampshire sits close to Mass and all the other New England states that will help put some delegates in the corner of the winner. I'm thinking that Clinton and Romney will win in New Hampshire. For the GOP, McCain will gain more support as will Ron Paul. Giuliani will again be disappointed after the results come out.

Let us remember that this process is so interesting and very American. Enjoy that process but filter out the rhetoric. We live in America where we have a voice to be heard and this is the time to use it.

God Bless America!