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Two top surrogates said Sunday that Mitt Romney cannot defeat President Obama in November simply by attacking him, and needs to run on a strong vision of his own.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) agreed when asked if his partys presidential nominee needs to offer a bold, affirmative agenda in order to win.
The American people will rightly, I think, demand to know something more than hes not President Obama, Daniels said. Hes got to use this fall as an opportunity to build a consensus across, I hope, a broad spectrum of Americans to make the big changes we need. He better have an affirmative, constructive message, and one of hope.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who comfortably won his recall race last week, made a similar point Sunday.
On CBS Face The Nation, he said voters want leaders who are willing to take on the tough issues, not only here in Wisconsin but across the country. And I think Gov. Romneys got a shot if the R next to his name doesnt just stand for Republican, it stands for reformer if he shows my state and he shows Americans that hes got a plan.
Romney cannot win a landslide, but he can still winbut to do so he must win Florida. Right now, Nate Silver gives President Obama a 56 percent chance of winning the state again this year.
A Republican has not won the presidency without winning Florida since Calvin Coolidge. Yes, Democrats generallyand President Obama specificallycan win without Florida. But Republicans generally and Romney specifically simply cannot. Think of Florida as the closer: If on election night Florida is called for President Obama, the election is over (as it should have been in 2000).
In 2008, President Obama won Florida by 185,000 votes. And he won Miami-Dade by 140,000 votes (of 800,000 total votes cast in Florida's most populous county). Without a big win in Miami-Dade County, and the rest of South Florida, Barack Obama would not have won Florida. This is true for 2012 as well.
Romney Cant Win Simply By Being Anti-Obama
Among Confederate Republicans he can.
Sure. he doesnt have a plan. Keep saying that. Maybe youll actually believe it.
Romney Cant Win Simply By Being Anti-Obama
Among Confederate Republicans he can.
The Confederates were Democrats.
Romney Can’t Win Simply By Being Anti-Obama
Among Confederate Republicans he can.
The Confederates were Democrats.
In the Middle 60's, the conservatives fled the Democratic Party and swelled the ranks of the Republican Party. The confederates are now the Republicans. How can you not know that?
This is why education should be mandatory. So people like you are forced to learn "something". "Anything".
Yeah that energy plan sure lacks details.
The Confederates were Democrats.
In the Middle 60's, the conservatives fled the Democratic Party and swelled the ranks of the Republican Party. The confederates are now the Republicans. How can you not know that?
This is why education should be mandatory. So people like you are forced to learn "something". "Anything".
No the didn't. They just decided to enslave people through handouts.
Yeah that energy plan sure lacks details.
You mean the one that skips education and nuclear energy. The one that includes subsidies for oil companies. The one that relies solely on digging and expanding the role of "Foreign oil"? That one? That's the one you are talking about?
In the Middle 60's, the conservatives fled the Democratic Party and swelled the ranks of the Republican Party. The confederates are now the Republicans. How can you not know that?
This is why education should be mandatory. So people like you are forced to learn "something". "Anything".
No the didn't. They just decided to enslave people through handouts.
Wait a second. Are you saying you didn't know the conservatives left the Democratic Party and joined the Republican Party? Really? Is this a "joke"?
Yeah that energy plan sure lacks details.
"I will set a national goal of ... North American energy independence by 2020."
The Romney white paper cites a study by Citibank showing that is possible provided there are sharp efforts to reduce energy demand. But energy conservation is not part of the Romney plan.
Mitt Romneys promise to restore $716 billion that he says President Obama robbed from Medicare has some health care experts puzzled, and not just because his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, included the same savings in his House budgets. [...]
One can only wonder whats going on inside their headquarters in Boston and among their policy people, said John McDonough, the director of the Center for Public Health Leadership at Harvard. But there are only two explanations: Either they dont understand how the program works, which is hard to imagine, or there is some deliberate misrepresentation here because they know how politically potent this charge is. [...]
The Romney campaign adamantly disputes the critics assertions.
The idea that restoring funding to Medicare could somehow hasten its bankruptcy is on its face absurd, said Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign. [...] What Mr. Romney proposes to restore to Medicare, however, is not money but additional costs, for higher payments to hospitals, insurers and other care providers.
The cuts for high-income earners are so large that eliminating every feasible tax deduction and loophole and exemption for people making more than $200,000 would not pay for tax cuts they would receive, the study finds. So among people who earn more than $200,000 per year, it would not be possible to pay for Romney's proposed tax cuts by reducing the exemptions and deductions that group receives.
"Turns out there are not enough of those tax breaks that benefit high income taxpayers to make it rev neutral just within that group," Looney said. "That's not a judgment, it's a mathematical fact of life."
So in order to make sure his plan would not add to the deficit, Romney would have to pay for $86 billion worth of high-income tax cuts by cutting deductions that benefit middle- and low-income earners, according the Tax Policy Center study.
If his plan is to be revenue neutral, as Romney has said it would be, the study shows he would have to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans - families earning less than $200,000 - by an average of $500 per year. Millionaires will still get an $87,000 tax cut.
Romney Cant Win Simply By Being Anti-Obama
Among Confederate Republicans he can.
The Confederates were Democrats.
In the Middle 60's, the conservatives fled the Democratic Party and swelled the ranks of the Republican Party. The confederates are now the Republicans. How can you not know that?
This is why education should be mandatory. So people like you are forced to learn "something". "Anything".
Yeah that energy plan sure lacks details.
You mean the one that skips education and nuclear energy. The one that includes subsidies for oil companies. The one that relies solely on digging and expanding the role of "Foreign oil"? That one? That's the one you are talking about?
Sure. he doesnt have a plan. Keep saying that. Maybe youll actually believe it.
I believe it. Unlike you, I listen to what Mitt is actually saying.
Mitt: I Wont Detail Plans, Because Then Id Lose
One of the things I have found in previous elections is that announcing my plans makes people want to vote against me!
Mitt: I Won't release my plans
Florida Obama 49 Romney 46
Ohio 50 44
Virginia 50 45
Colorado 49 46
Nevada 49 45
Wisconsin 50 45
MI 44 47
PA 48 42
Sure. he doesnt have a plan. Keep saying that. Maybe youll actually believe it.
I believe it. Unlike you, I listen to what Mitt is actually saying.
Mitt: I Wont Detail Plans, Because Then Id Lose
One of the things I have found in previous elections is that announcing my plans makes people want to vote against me!
Mitt: I Won't release my plans
WOW!! That should be a political ad!
Florida Obama 49 Romney 46
Ohio 50 44
Virginia 50 45
Colorado 49 46
Nevada 49 45
Wisconsin 50 45
MI 44 47
PA 48 42
One of the things I found in a short campaign against Ted Kennedy was that when I said, for instance, that I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, that was used to suggest I dont care about education, Romney recalled.
So I think its important for me to point out that I anticipate that there will be departments and agencies that will either be eliminated or combined with other agencies. So for instance, I anticipate that housing vouchers will be turned over to the states rather than be administered at the federal level, and so at this point I think of the programs to be eliminated or to be returned to the states, and well see what consolidation opportunities exist as a result of those program eliminations.
So will there be some that get eliminated or combined? The answer is yes, but Im not going to give you a list right now.
