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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Rick Perry</title>
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		<title>Rick Perry: Restore the 10th Amendment, Restore Freedom</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/frontpagemag-com/rick-perry-restore-the-10th-amendment-restore-freedom/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=rick-perry-restore-the-10th-amendment-restore-freedom</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2014 05:54:47 +0000</pubDate>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=247758</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Former governor of the Lone Star State sheds light on the path to liberty at Restoration Weekend. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong style="color: #232323;">Below are the video and transcript to Gov. Rick Perry’s keynote speech at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s 20th Anniversary Restoration Weekend. The event took place Nov. 13th-16th at the Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, Florida. </strong></p>
<p><iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/114532350" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>David, as we gather here for this 20th anniversary celebration of the Freedom Center, it was similar circumstances that this country found itself in when you had the first Restoration weekend in 1994. Two decades ago Republicans had swept into power in both of the Houses, a revolution that changed the balance of power for the first time, Cleta, in 40 years. Twenty years later, Republicans again have won historic victories in the midterm elections and once again we are controlling both houses of Congress. In addition to picking up eight seats in the U.S. Senate, we picked up at least a dozen House seats, three governorships, several state legislative chambers. Today, Republicans control 68 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers. That is the most in the history of our party. And we stunned the pollsters. It was a beautiful thing. We stunned the pollsters even more than we stunned President Barack Obama, who apparently doesn&#8217;t realize that November 4 even happened. He&#8217;s too busy representing those who didn&#8217;t vote to listen to those who did vote. But even if he didn&#8217;t hear the message, the American people delivered one. They said enough of the slow growth tax policies, enough of the smothering debt, they said enough to this colossal bureaucracy that we&#8217;ve seen, and these agencies of government that all too often are unaccountable to the people. They rebelled against government-run healthcare schemes, against a President who refuses to secure the border, and against bureaucracies that are broken, arrogant and abusive of power. That&#8217;s what the American people said Tuesday. The American people made it clear. They want a clean break from the economic policies that have slowed our recovery at home, and the foreign policies that Jim did an incredible job of laying out that have weakened our standing abroad.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m here to say that a congressional majority is a terrible thing to waste. The power that has been newly granted by the people must be used wisely to serve the people, that it&#8217;s not good enough to state what we are against. We must articulate what we are for. The election results leave us with a truly once in a generation opportunity to usher in an era of renewal and reform. You are here tonight through your commitment to the Freedom Center, and you&#8217;re going to be on the front lines of this battle. One of the ideas that has returned to the fore of the conversation, to the forefront of people&#8217;s minds, if you will, is the proper place of states within our constitutional system. Indeed, we have spent the last six years challenging edicts out of Washington that amount to federal control of our classrooms, our healthcare, and our environment and our economy. Washington&#8217;s assault on state sovereignty and individual freedom is a well-documented assault on the Constitution and, in particular, the Tenth Amendment. Some have ridiculed the binding power of the Tenth Amendment, but, of course, Jay, without that amendment, the Bill of Rights would have been incomplete, and the Constitution would never have been ratified. The question is whether Republicans in Washington, now in control, will pursue Washington-centric solutions to the problems that plague us, or will they look to and empower the states.</p>
<p>It was the liberal Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who called the states laboratories of democracy which &#8220;tried novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.&#8221; Yet Brandeis&#8217;s political descendants have forgotten that lesson. In fact, they flipped it around trying these grand experiments in federal power, ostensibly for the common good. I like that Tocqueville observed that in the American system the actions of the federal government would be rare, but the reality is the federal government is involved in all kinds of things the Constitution doesn&#8217;t empower it to do, while ignoring basic responsibilities like securing our border. And it&#8217;s the states that are pushing back against federal overreach and the courts are starting to take notice.</p>
<p>In the infamous Obamacare case of 2012, Chief Justice Roberts upheld the law, but the Supreme Court also struck down the mandatory Medicaid expansion as a violation of the Tenth Amendment. Now a new Obamacare case is about to be heard. It uses the letter of the law to challenge the federal government&#8217;s use of subsidies on many of these healthcare insurance exchanges. Now we know that the federal government overstepped its powers. We know that, partly because we know there is now a new smoking gun: One Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare. In less than a week&#8217;s period of time the Washington sin of prevarication has come to be known as &#8220;Gruber-ing.&#8221; He said repeatedly, I think, what is there now, six videos that we have, that the federal government had to lie to the voters because we are too stupid to know what&#8217;s good for us. That shows exactly why the states are so important to defending individual freedom; because the states have stood up to the abuses of federal power in Obamacare. The law, as a matter of fact, it may collapse upon its own weight.</p>
<p>So if the states are these laboratories of democracy, I would suggest to you that Texas has found the formula for success. You know, it&#8217;s interesting, some people call it the Texas miracle, and I tell them, I said it&#8217;s not a miracle. I can&#8217;t explain a miracle. This I can explain. This is really pretty simple. This is not rocket science. You don&#8217;t spend all the money. Keep the taxes low, a regulatory climate that is fair and predictable, a legal system that doesn&#8217;t allow for over-suing, and accountable public schools so you&#8217;ve got a skilled workforce. This will work. It&#8217;ll work anywhere. Jay, it&#8217;ll even work in California, I swear to God, I&#8217;m telling you it will. And the results have been rather stunning. When you look at job creation, one-third, one-third of all the jobs created in the United States in the last 13 plus years have been in the Lone Star State. Over the last ten years, we have created four times more jobs than the state of New York, we have created nine times more jobs than the state of California. And some would say well it&#8217;s because you have all of that energy, and I will suggest to you we are glad we have that energy. America is glad we have that energy. But it&#8217;s not singularly the energy boom, that&#8217;s only part of the reason for our success. We&#8217;ve added jobs across the spectrum – 228,000 workers in education and healthcare, 156,000 in professional services, 162,000 in hospitality services, 130,000 in trade and transportation, according to the Texas Public Policy Foundation. I am particularly proud of the fact that as of January of this year, Texas became the number one high-tech exporting state in the nation, passing up California and the famed Silicon Valley. And we&#8217;ve been continuing to reach out to give California companies the opportunity to relocate to the great state of Texas, companies like Toyota, who moved their North American headquarters to Plano this last year, companies like Space-X, and we&#8217;re going to keep doing it.</p>
<p>And my point is, I want the Golden State to succeed. We need California to be a powerful, successful country. That was a Freudian slip. We would really like to bring them into the United States and be a part of this country. You know, for ten consecutive years now, Chief Executive Officer magazine has chosen Texas as the number one state to do business, and, thanks to the governor of this state, Rick Scott, they are doing a good job to push us. Rick Scott is an extraordinary governor, and Floridians were really wise to put this man back into office again because he really understands what the future of our nation, the future of this state is all about, and the focus on creating that environment, where the citizens of this state will be free.</p>
<p>Freedom is what this is all about. It is in the pursuit of freedom, and, on average, there is a thousand people every day moving to the state of Texas because they are in pursuit of freedom. Freedom from over-taxation, freedom from over-litigation, freedom from over-regulation. That is what needs to be the powerful Republican message as we go forward inside the boundaries of this country. And here are some of the results of those policies. Our crime rate is now the lowest that it&#8217;s been since 1968. We&#8217;re shutting prisons down in the state of Texas, not building them.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s the result of good, thoughtful public policy? There are those that would stand up and say you cannot have a growing economy and take care of your environment. That is an absolute false lie. Nitrogen oxide levels are down 63 percent in the state of Texas in the last decade, ozone levels are down by 23 percent during that same period of time, our carbon footprint which, by the way, is not a pollutant, but is down by 11 percent during that period of time because we understand that, even if it is, we want to make sure that we&#8217;re doing everything that we can to make that environment as pleasing as it can be for the future generations, and that&#8217;s what we&#8217;ve done in the state of Texas. Part of that&#8217;s been because of policies that we&#8217;ve put into place to move old polluting types of engines, diesel engines, out of the fleets. Part of it&#8217;s been moving to that natural gas. That&#8217;s what can happen all across this country. This isn&#8217;t a miracle. It&#8217;s a model and it&#8217;s a model that will work anywhere. We are an increasingly diverse state. We got a little of something for everybody. We have Austin, Texas. As I told you, we are a diverse state. I refer to it as the blueberry in the tomato soup. And, David, I encourage you to visit from time to time. You can talk philosophy and tenure to the professors at the University of Texas. They would love to have you.</p>
<p>But, in all seriousness, can we do more? Yes. Should we try to do more? Absolutely. But what Texas shows is that with a rapidly growing economy all else becomes possible. Clearly Texas is a model that works, but we&#8217;re not alone. America has just experienced a great test of governing principles. In the days leading up to the 2014 mid-term elections, we were told that Republican governors were in trouble. You read it everywhere. You saw it on multiple outlets. Scott Walker&#8217;s public union reforms in Wisconsin, Sam Brownback&#8217;s tax-cutting in Kansas, Rick Scott&#8217;s pro-growth policies in Florida, all were going to be punished by the voters. For example, the campaign for America&#8217;s future said that seven Republican governors were now &#8220;being judged harshly by voters now that their right-wing policies had failed to deliver.&#8221; It went on to say that these states were laboratories for the kind of small government trickle-down economics that Senate candidates hoped to bring to Washington, impose on the nation, and there is a real danger that the failed experiments in these seven states will be brought to Washington by a Senate Republican majority. But the experiment wasn&#8217;t quite over, and the voters decided in a very powerful conclusion on November 4. Not only did six of those seven governors win re-election, but Republicans picked up governorships in solid states for Democrats like Massachusetts, Illinois, and even Maryland. And there were a lot of people, a lot of people that were responsible for those Republican victories including a number of you, if not all of you, in this audience tonight. Yet in the end it was the people who decided. They told fellow Americans that the experiment and conservative governance is a resounding success and they want more of it.</p>
<p>There were a few places that bucked the trend though. Jay, your California being one of them. See, I tell people, I say California, for example, is as liberal as Texas is conservative. But that is not an argument against federalism. In fact, California is an example of how the state&#8217;s Tenth Amendment powers work for liberals too. You think about this. California has some policies that no other state in the union have tried, and in most other states, don&#8217;t want to try. Take cap and trade, for instance. I mean, not even Barack Obama, in those heady early days of his first administration, could pass cap and trade, but California has it. And it&#8217;s making new companies like Tesla a lot of money, even as it is at the same time forcing a lot of companies out of that state.</p>
<p>Nearly 20 years ago, California also became the first state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. In 2012, Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana entirely. This year Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia followed suit. The governor of Colorado said that he regrets it. Most conservatives oppose it. The federal government&#8217;s still fighting it, and the United Nations said this week that legalizing marijuana violates international law. But that is the beauty of the Tenth Amendment. I&#8217;m telling you, that is the beauty of federalism. If states can make their own decisions on matters of general policy, then we can have the kind of political diversity among the states that gives meaning to the pursuit of happiness. People can vote with their feet, they can vote with their pocketbooks, they can invest their dollars where they want, and that gives states an incentive to attract them, and to innovate. The reason welfare reform became so popular nationwide was because it succeeded in Wisconsin. The reason state provided healthcare is unpopular nationwide is they proved that it was costly in Massachusetts.</p>
<p>Some states want to cling to policies for various reasons. California is addicted to spending. Therefore, it&#8217;s addicted to debt and taxes. So, there&#8217;s a result. It&#8217;s losing people, and entrepreneurs, and homeowners, and that is another benefit of federalism. You can do what you want in your state. But you are forced at some point to pay the costs.</p>
<p>So, how do we ensure that the states protect and, I might say, regain their Tenth Amendment rights? One way is by continuing to fight the encroachments of the federal government. Whether bad laws like Obamacare, bad spending like the stimulus of 2009, or bad faith in immigration policy, but beyond that we can take political action. We can show the American people concrete results, how states work better, how states compete against each other, and, I might add, better than the federal government could do. And that&#8217;s exactly how Governor-elect Larry Hogan over in Maryland, that was the point that he made. He laid out the data. He showed people in that state how many people had left the state, how many billions of dollars it was costing the state because of the bad policies. If we show people the difference between conservative policies and liberal policies, I happen to think they&#8217;re going to demand conservative policies almost every time just as they did last Tuesday. And when people understand, when people understand that they have the power to choose these policies, they&#8217;ll resist. They&#8217;ll resist any attempt by the federal government to take that power away. There is a reason that people and states are included together in that Tenth Amendment. Individual liberty has shone brightest when it&#8217;s been protected from big government. Only successful states are strong enough to protect our freedom from those in Washington who think they know better. States are the essence of our national motto e pluribus unum, from many one. That is the common creed of the David Horowitz Freedom Center that defends it every day. They defend it now and I will suggest to you they will defend it 20 years from now. And that is what each of us must fight for every day.</p>
<p>God bless you, and thank you all for coming and being a part of this.</p>
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		<title>Gov. Rick Perry: Why Texas Works</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/frontpagemag-com/gov-rick-perry-why-texas-works/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=gov-rick-perry-why-texas-works</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 04:50:31 +0000</pubDate>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=189660</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The governor describes the keys to the Lone Star State's success at the Freedom Center's Texas Weekend. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Editor’s note: Below is the video and transcript of Gov. Rick Perry&#8217;s speech at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s Texas Weekend. The inaugural event took place May 3rd-5th at the Las Colinas Resort in Dallas, Texas.</em></p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/65718340" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/65718340">Governor Rick Perry</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user15333690">DHFC</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none;"><strong>Rick Perry: </strong> And, David, it&#8217;s an honor to get to see you again and be in your presence.  And we&#8217;re certainly glad to have you here in Texas.  And even if your mailing address does continue to be in California.  (laughter)  I mean, really, California?  It &#8212; all the cool kids are moving to Texas, David.  (laughter)</span></p>
<p>But I&#8217;m just kidding because, I mean, God knows, if there is a place that needs David Horowitz, it is California.  (laughter) So, you know, the basic question I love to ask folks when I talk to people in California or Illinois or overseas, for that matter, is that, you know, what makes Texas so special?</p>
<p>And there&#8217;s a number of ways to go about that answer.  We are a unique culture.  We&#8217;re proud.  We are patriotic.  Fiercely dedicated to the values of individual freedom and responsibility.  We are a mix of backgrounds.</p>
<p>We are incredibly diverse state, culturally, ethically, philosophically.  No matter where you come from or what you believe, you can feel right at home in Texas.  Granted, if you&#8217;re a liberal, Austin&#8217;s probably about the only place that you&#8217;re going to feel really at home.  (laughter)</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s a great place and they love it there.  If you enjoy the finer things in life from world class orchestras to world class food, you can find it in Texas.  Same if you enjoy camping, fishing, hunting, hiking or even surfing, we have it all.</p>
<p>Of course, that&#8217;s what truly sets us apart over the last decade has been our economic climate.  And that&#8217;s something that we&#8217;ve worked very hard to develop, to cultivate.  It&#8217;s a climate built upon the fiscally conservative principles that have served us well through good economic times and throughout major national recessions.</p>
<p>CEOs are looking for something simple.  And that simplicity is predictability.  And in Texas, they know that they&#8217;re going to get just that.  They know they won&#8217;t be taxed into bankruptcy.  They know that they &#8212; that we have a low tax burden here.  That&#8217;s the foundation of this state&#8217;s tax philosophy.</p>
<p>We do that because we realize that more money in the hands of Texans is how you create more jobs in this state.  We realize that more jobs for hard working Texas tax payers means more options, more freedom, healthier Texas families.</p>
<p>People have gotten that message, too.  Our population continues to grow at somewhere north of 1,000 people every day move into this state.  Employers also know that they can put down roots in Texas.  That they won&#8217;t be tied up in miles and miles of government red tape.</p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean that we don&#8217;t take care of our own.  That we don&#8217;t have appropriate regulatory climates.  As a matter fact, we&#8217;ve cleaned up our air in the last decade more than any other state in the nation during that same period of time.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s proof that you can have thoughtful regulation and at the same time lift your environmental quality as well.  What it means is that we&#8217;re reasonable.  We&#8217;re efficient when it comes to the regulatory process.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t a &#8212; just take my word for it.  Ask people like Andy Puzder.  Andy was the CEO of Carl&#8217;s Jr.&#8217;s, headquartered out in California.  He said that opening a new restaurant in California takes eight months.</p>
<p>Eight months before you can even break ground to start the construction.  In Texas, it takes about six weeks.  That&#8217;s a big reason you&#8217;re seeing more Carl&#8217;s Jr.&#8217;s as you drive around, Pat.  I don&#8217;t know if you use that establishment or not but you&#8217;re going to see a lot more of them in Texas.</p>
<p>Employers know that the Texas court system, for instance, won&#8217;t allow for over suing.  Someone in the audience said a thank you as I walked in for &#8212; in 2003 we passed the most sweeping tort reform in the nation.  And there &#8212; and in 2011 we passed loser pay.</p>
<p>And again, sending the message (applause) that you can come to the State of Texas and you won&#8217;t be over sued.  The more time and money that&#8217;s spent in courtrooms is less time that you&#8217;re creating jobs in this state.</p>
<p>And then finally employers know that we have cultivated a work force that stands ready to fill any need as &#8212; that that employer may have.  Whether it&#8217;s on an assembly line, whether it&#8217;s on a sales line or whether it&#8217;s in a laboratory.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re about a decade into these efforts to improve our economic climate.  And I think the results speak for themselves.  <i>Foreign Direct Investment</i> magazine recently awarded Texas the 2012 Governor&#8217;s Award for being the most successful state in the nation in attracting foreign investment. And that publication is far alone in its praise for the Lone Star state.</p>
<p><i>Chief Executive</i> Magazine named Texas the country&#8217;s best state for doing business for the eighth consecutive year.  We&#8217;ve committed to making that nine, I would suggest to you, in the very short future.  (laughter)  Texas also received accolades from media outlets like <i>USA Today</i> and CNBC, <i>Wall Street Journal</i>, <i>Forbes,</i> <i>Site Selector</i> magazine.</p>
<p>More importantly than good press, though, is the fact that Texas continues to be the nation&#8217;s epicenter for job creation.  Texas employers have added more than a half million private sector jobs over the last two years alone.  A total of nearly 1.4 million jobs in the last ten years.</p>
<p>And as exciting as our present is, our future, I will suggest, is holding even more promise.  We remain very proud of our status as a national home to energy production.  Now, Mr. Hanley and I were talking about the energy industry in the State of Texas.</p>
<p>And we&#8217;re likely to find even more of that in the near future, I would suggest to you.  Though our healthy economy and strategic investment in research and young, innovative companies is what I want you to focus on just a bit.</p>
<p>There &#8212; I think during the presidential race someone made the comment that, &#8220;Gosh, come on, it&#8217;s easy being governor of the State of Texas.  I mean, that&#8217;s like going, playing poker and drawing four aces, right?&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not quite that easy, sir,&#8221; as I told him.  (laughter)  I said, &#8220;It&#8217;s not quite that easy in the State of Texas.&#8221;  The point they were making is you&#8217;ve got all that oil and gas so obviously your economy&#8217;s going to be good.</p>
<p>In 1984, right before Texas teetering on the brink and going down on a long, long journey downward economically, oil and gas made up approximately 14% of our Gross State Product.</p>
<p>Today, after all of the massive amounts of gas and oil that have been discovered over the course of the last five and six years in particular with George Mitchell&#8217;s extraordinary innovation of hydraulic fracturing and the hor &#8212; or the directional drilling that&#8217;s going on.</p>
<p>All of the shale gas that has been found, the Eagle Ford and the Barnett shale, the Haynesville and even in the old Permian Basin, renov &#8212; rejuvenated.  Even with all of that, and oil at close to $100 a barrel, oil and gas industry makes up less than 10% of the Gross State Product in the State of Texas today.</p>
<p>This state has exploded in a very diverse way.  In biotechnology and medical technology and manufacturing.  And after today at the N.R.A. I&#8217;m pretty sure we&#8217;re going to get some more weapons manufacturers moving into the State of Texas.  (applause)</p>
<p>Last year Batelle reached a study &#8212; released a study that said that Texas was the top job creator in biotech.  That trend will only increase as we go into the future.</p>
<p>Just a couple of months ago GlaxoSmithKline announced that they were going to join up with Texas A&amp;M University in a private sector effort there and public &#8212; profit partnership, expending $91 million to create a new vaccine facility at that university that is going to be able to address issues not only of terroristic threats but also pandemic events that can occur in the world.</p>
<p>So in Texas you&#8217;re going to see the ability to address.  Historically it took nine months to go from one strain to another strain because it was an egg-based concept.  An egg-based process.  And they have developed a process of which it&#8217;s cell-based.  And now they can go from one strain to another strain in 45 days.</p>
<p>Soon in Texas there will be a process in place to create vaccines so that half a world away where Third World countries are being decimated by diseases or viruses and to save literally the potential of millions of lives, that&#8217;s what we&#8217;re about in this state.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s what we&#8217;ve created here because we&#8217;ve been innovative and we created an environment where entrepreneurs know that they can risk their capital and have a chance to have a return on their investment.  We&#8217;ve helped start-up companies keep their discoveries that are made here in Texas, instead of going to either coast.</p>
<p>That was historically when our universities came up with a great innovation it took off for the coast because that&#8217;s where the money was.  That&#8217;s where the technology and the researchers to take it to the next step, the gap funders, if you will.</p>
<p>That is truly changing and has changed where those companies are staying in Texas.  As a matter of fact, we are recruiting those mature companies from either coast to the State of Texas now.  (applause)</p>
<p>You think about, historically Texas has been a place where innovation did occur, whether it was the integrated circuit at T.I., whether it was during the space race of the &#8217;60s at Johnson Space Center, whether it was &#8212; again, I mentioned George Mitchell and that unlocking of the vast energy resources around the world.  That came from Texas technology.</p>
<p>And whether we&#8217;re on the cutting edge of energy or biotech or communications or commerce or privatized efforts to get our world back into space, Texas is going to be at the forefront of that movement.</p>
<p>The question before us now is how do we preserve and improve our economic health in the years to come?  Probably the biggest obstacle that we have, and this is part of human nature, is our own success.  With our economy surging, our revenues our collections are on a very steep upward trajectory primarily based on sales tax here in the State of Texas.</p>
<p>And that&#8217;s led a lot of people, whether it was in the media, the newspaper, the television and our own legislature, to make the case that the time for fiscal conservatism is over.  They all talk about how much extra money we have floating around these days.</p>
<p>Of course, they&#8217;re ignoring that it&#8217;s our policies of restraining spending and limiting taxes that have led to that economic success.  They&#8217;re also ignoring the fact that there is no such thing as extra money.</p>
<p>And the tough decisions that we will make this session are no different than the tough decisions that we made in previous legislative sessions.  We still have to prioritize, we have to separate wants from needs.  We still have to think about what&#8217;s in the best interest, the long-term best interest of our communities and our state.</p>
<p>We still need to make good decisions now to ensure that we remain the economic power that we have grown to be.  And other states aren’t going to make it easy.  I saw Bobby Jindal today as we were passing.  And Bobby&#8217;s in the process of trying to do away with the personal income tax in Louisiana.</p>
<p>And I told him, I said, &#8220;You&#8217;re going to make me really uncomfortable if you do that.&#8221;  (laughter)  He said, &#8220;Good.&#8221;  And I said, &#8220;Awesome.&#8221;  I said, &#8220;That&#8217;s what we&#8217;re about to compete against each other.&#8221;</p>
<p>That&#8217;s the future of this country, I will suggest to you.  To Washington to recognize these laboratories of innovation that we have in this country, to allow these states to compete against each other, to get away from this one-size-fits-all whether it&#8217;s on social issues or whether it&#8217;s financial decisions and economic decisions.</p>
<p>Allow the states to come up with the answers that they need, that they want for their people.  That&#8217;s the way that we make America strong again.  (applause)  This administration, and frankly this Congress, is &#8212; will continue to try to force these foolish, costly mandates down our throats.</p>
<p>And when we don&#8217;t go along with them is really, they&#8217;ll chide us and they will say that we&#8217;re not being properly cooperative, was the words that the President used this last week.  That&#8217;s how President Obama described it.</p>
<p>He said that we were not properly cooperative.  And I know that he did not mean that as a compliment but I took it as one.  (laughter)  I actually took it as a compliment.  I am not properly cooperative with them on that issue of Obamacare.</p>
<p>We said no to setting up a state exchange.  (applause)  And it&#8217;s only a state exchange.  It&#8217;s only a state exchange in name only.  They call it a state exchange but here are all the rules and this is what you have to &#8212; it has to look like this.  It&#8217;s totally and absolutely mandated by Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>We also refused on multiple occasions the idea of expanding Medicaid in the State of Texas.  (applause)  Medicaid expansion, simply put, is just misguided.  It is ultimately a doomed attempt to mask the shortcomings of Obamacare.</p>
<p>Just this week we started seeing warning signs across this country of insurance companies, insurance premiums going to skyrocket.  We&#8217;re hearing rumblings about a lot of people losing their jobs, Pat, because of Obamacare.</p>
<p>We realized early on that pouring millions of dollars into this broken system was foolish.  I made the example, David, that putting more people into Medicaid was no different than putting more people on the Titanic knowing how that was going to end up.  I mean, it truly is a place that is going to bankrupt your state if you participate in that.</p>
<p>Think about what&#8217;ll happen when the case loads explode.  It will be a massive disaster across this Texas.  I mean, across this country.  Excuse me.  And we are our own country, so to speak.  (laughter) We have a marketing campaign, David, that&#8217;s called Texas:  A Whole Other Country.  (laughter)  And some people get disturbed about that.  But it&#8217;s a fun thing.  So.</p>
<p>But anyway, I want to share with you in wrapping up what fiscally conservative, thoughtful policies, what having freedom, for me, and I think freedom for our founding fathers was about freedom from over taxation, freedom from over regulation, freedom from over litigation.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s the pillars of a powerful economy.  For a little over a decade now we have put those into place in this state.  And let me share with you one of the byproducts that&#8217;s powerful.  And I want to share it with you in a bit of a &#8212; not in an anecdotal way but in just a story that reflects the point.</p>
<p>In 2001, in the spring of 2001 I&#8217;d been governor for six months.  And we got the call that one of the great names in the corporate world was considering relocating their corporate headquarters either in Chicago or Dallas-Fort Worth.  Boeing.</p>
<p>Boeing was moving out of the Pacific Northwest.  We became ecstatic.  We gathered up all of our staff and the economic development division, the Department of Economic Development and said, &#8220;We must go win this.&#8221;</p>
<p>Was only a hundred and &#8212; I think 135 jobs total.  But it was just the cache, it was the name of getting Boeing to come to Texas.  What a powerful message that would&#8217;ve been.  Well, we made a lot of smoke and not much fire and we found that we weren&#8217;t very good at economic development.  And Chicago was the winner.</p>
<p>But we came back and sometimes in defeat is how you become stronger.  I&#8217;m hoping that&#8217;s the case, anyway, Pat.  (laughter)  Sometimes in defeat it is how you become stronger.  We came back to Austin, Texas, and we analyzed our economic development effort in this state and realized that we weren&#8217;t very good at it.  And that we were cumbersome, we were not flexible, we didn&#8217;t have the ability to attract, we didn&#8217;t have incentive programs.</p>
<p>And that next legislative session in 2003 we created the Texas Enterprise Fund which is an incentive program to be able to lure these companies into the State of Texas.</p>
<p>We collapsed the Department of Economic Development into a trusteed agency and moved it into the governor&#8217;s office so it could very quickly move and be flexible without a board to have to go through.  And to work directly with the governor&#8217;s office.</p>
<p>We put into place the most sweeping tort reform in the nation during that legislative session and we filled a $10 billion budget shortfall without raising taxes to send the message that we truly were going to be responsive to businessmen and -women and not just say, &#8220;Oh, we can&#8217;t make the hard decisions.  We&#8217;re going to have to raise your taxes.&#8221;</p>
<p>And over the course of the next years we stayed, adhered to those principles.  Oh, and as an aside, about a year after that Boeing thing went down, we heard through very well placed sources that one of the reasons, a strong reason that the decision makers at Boeing chose Chicago was because the spouses of the decision makers felt that the cultural arts were more expansive in Chicago to their liking than in Dallas-Fort Worth.</p>
<p>Now, I&#8217;m not going to make that argument today whether that&#8217;s true or not.  But that was the perception.  And so much in this business perception is reality.  Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;m going to fast forward with you in just a moment and go to 2011, a short decade later.</p>
<p>In Texas, Fort Worth has built a new museum of modern art.  The Kimbell has expanded greatly.  The Basses have built one of the great symphony halls in the world.  Dallas has finished two performing arts facilities.</p>
<p>The AT&amp;T, the Meyerson.  Nasher moved their sculpture gardens to Dallas.  The American Film Institute now is headquartered in Dallas.  Austin, Texas, the little government and university town, has a new museum of modern art.</p>
<p>They have the ba &#8212; the Long Center of Performing Arts.  The Topfers built a new wing onto the Zachary Theater.  San Antonio is building a new performing arts facility.  And Houston tonight has more theater seats available than any other city in America outside of New York City.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s happened in a decade.  And it&#8217;s happened, I will suggest strongly, because we&#8217;ve allowed the private sector to keep more of what they earn.  And they made the right decisions about putting that money into those charitable causes, into the cultural arts.</p>
<p>Today I can assure you as we recruit from New York or from the Silicon Valley or from Illinois.  As a matter of fact, I was in Chicago just ten days ago inviting those people to come.  That our cultural arts today are expansive and they get to keep more of what they work for.</p>
<p>That is a powerful message.  It&#8217;s what America needs to be talking about.  We need to have this great discussion across this country about red state policies and blue state policies.  (applause)</p>
<p>And if we do that, if we will stand up and unabashedly and when &#8212; courageously stand up and say, &#8220;These are the policies that will allow you to live free.  These are the policies that will allow your family to be secure.  This is the way that your family will have a better future.&#8221;  We will have an America for the next generation that we are proud of and that truly is a beacon for all the world.</p>
<p>Thank you and God bless you.  (applause)</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
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		<title>Tea Party Staying Power: The Ted Cruz Victory</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/arnold-ahlert/ted-cruz-and-tea-party-staying-power/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=ted-cruz-and-tea-party-staying-power</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/arnold-ahlert/ted-cruz-and-tea-party-staying-power/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Aug 2012 04:10:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Arnold Ahlert]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Dewhurst]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Grassroots]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kay Bailey Hutchison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[primary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tea Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ted Cruz]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=139310</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What the Republican candidate's primary win tells us about the grassroots movement.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TedCruz-Gage.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-139324" title="TedCruz-Gage" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/TedCruz-Gage.gif" alt="" width="375" height="240" /></a>Apparently the mainstream media&#8217;s efforts to portray the Tea Party as <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=tea+party+irrelevant&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&amp;aq=t&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;client=firefox-a">irrelevant</a> have fallen on deaf ears in Texas. A Tuesday night<a href="http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/01/cruz-wins-in-texas-as-the-gop-establishment-cracks/"> runoff</a> between establishment Republican candidate Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and lawyer Ted Cruz was no contest. Tea Party favorite Cruz romped to a 13-point victory, and will represent the GOP for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Kay Bailey Hutchison. &#8220;This is a victory for the grassroots,&#8221; Cruz <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Early-returns-put-Cruz-ahead-3750759.php">told</a> his supporters at the J.W. Marriot Hotel in Houston. &#8220;We should take it as a providential sign that today would be the 100th birthday of Milton Friedman.&#8221;</p>
<p>At one point in the campaign, Cruz was considered a long shot to beat Dewhurst, who had the backing of most elected state Republicans, including Governor Rick Perry. Despite his own dalliance with the Tea Party, Perry opted to back Dewhurst, offering the candidate his support, and part of his political apparatus as well, including consultant David Carney. The governor “is now the big loser,” wrote Paul Burka, longtime political analyst at <em>Texas Monthly</em>. “I think his political career may be over.”</p>
<p>Burka may not be exaggerating. A Public Polling Policy (PPP) <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/07/tonights-second-biggest-loser.html">piece</a> entitled &#8220;Tonight&#8217;s Second Biggest Loser&#8221; noted that &#8220;two times more Texas Republicans considered an endorsement from Rick Perry to be a <em>negative</em> than a positive. 35% said they were less likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Perry, 15% said they were more likely to, and 50% said they didn&#8217;t care either way. PPP further contended that &#8220;Perry&#8217;s standing has been significantly diminished in Texas after his failed White House bid and that he could be in serious trouble if he tries for another term in 2014,&#8221; with 29 percent of voters thinking he should pursue another term as Governor and 64 percent saying he should not.</p>
<p>Yet Perry aside, Cruz&#8217;s victory represented a stunning turnaround in the space of two months. In May, Dewhurst had a commanding 46-29 lead over Cruz, with three other candidates picking up the other 20 percent of the vote total, and the remaining 5 percent undecided. Head to head, Dewhurst&#8217;s lead was even greater at 59-34. Unfortunately the three additional candidates in the race made a critical difference: they prevented Dewhurst from picking up the 50 percent total in the first round of primaries that would have made a runoff with Cruz unnecessary.</p>
<p>But in a campaign described as bare-knuckles brawl, Cruz began to steadily gain on Dewhurst aided by a host of conservatives, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), as well as national conservative groups such as the Club for Growth, which contributed $5.5 million to Cruz&#8217;s campaign, and FreedomWorks, a Tea Party SuperPac. Freedom Works claimed Cruz&#8217;s victory signals that their particular brand of conservatism&#8211;highlighted by a desire to shrink the size of government, re-introduce fiscal integrity in congressional budget-making and re-invigorate constitutional principles&#8211;is gaining acceptance. &#8220;When Ted gets to Washington, he&#8217;s going to be seen correctly as a giant-killer,&#8221; <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-01/news/sns-rt-us-usa-campaign-texas-concedesbre87004i-20120731_1_lieutenant-governor-david-dewhurst-texas-senate-cruz-voters">said</a> Sal Russo, co-founder and chief strategist of Tea Party Express, the nation&#8217;s largest Tea Party political action committee. &#8220;The big thing that I think this demonstrates is that the Tea Party is far from gone&#8211;it&#8217;s truly alive and well,&#8221; he added.</p>
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		<title>Fact Check: Why Rick Perry Is Right About Turkey</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/fact-check-why-rick-perry-is-right-about-turkey/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=fact-check-why-rick-perry-is-right-about-turkey</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/fact-check-why-rick-perry-is-right-about-turkey/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:47:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eu]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[islamism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=119776</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Does a brutal regime that occupies the territory of an EU member state and supports terrorists really belong in NATO?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/rpt.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-119777" title="rpt" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/rpt.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="559" /></a></p>
<p>Fact checkers and truth squads are the media&#8217;s latest tool for blurring the line between the editorial page and the new page. The ubiquitous fact checks are editorializing dressed up as verification. While on some occasions there are actual facts to verify, for the most part the fact checks defend a partisan liberal viewpoint on a particular issue.</p>
<p>So no sooner did Rick Perry suggest that Turkey had no place in NATO and that some perceive its government to be run by Islamic terrorists than the media rolled out its fact checks. In the spirit of fact checking the fact checkers, let&#8217;s have a fact check of our own.</p>
<p><strong>CNN Statement: </strong>&#8220;Turkey is not ruled by Islamic terrorists. It is led by a party with Islamist roots, the Justice and Freedom Party, or AKP.&#8221;</p>
<p>Those are the facts according to CNN&#8217;s Truth Squad, which took its name from a certain book by George Orwell. But let&#8217;s look at the actual facts.</p>
<p><strong>The Facts:</strong> The AKP emerged out of a series of banned Islamist political movements. CNN&#8217;s Lie Squad mentions that the AKP&#8217;s current leader of Turkey Erdogan was banned for reading an Islamic poem in public. It neglects to mention the <a href="http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2003-10-16-senyener-en.html">content of the poem</a>.</p>
<p>&#8220;The minarets are our bayonets; the domes are our helmets. Mosques are our barracks, the believers are soldiers. This holy army guards my religion. Almighty, Our journey is our destiny, the end is martyrdom.&#8221;</p>
<p>It also neglects to mention the context in which it was read, at protests that were being conducted by Islamists after their Welfare Party was disqualified. Erdogan was not jailed for reading an Islamic poem, he was jailed for reading a poem calling for a violent Islamic overthrow of the government.</p>
<p>Erdogan was specifically convicted of &#8220;inciting hatred based on religious differences.&#8221; There&#8217;s quite a difference between noting that Erdogan was convicted of Islamic bigotry and just writing that he was convicted for reading an Islamic poem. Would CNN write equally vaguely that David Irving was put on trial for writing a book?</p>
<p>What exactly was the Welfare Party? It was an Islamist party under <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/08/israeli_ambassador_confirms_erdogan_hates_us_religiously.html">Prime Minister Erbakan,</a> Erdogan&#8217;s Islamist predecessor.<a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/263/0/2356.htm"> Erbakan</a> <a href="http://europenews.dk/en/node/1262">gave some of his thoughts</a> to the press a few years ago in which he explained that the Jews run the world, organized the Crusades, control all the money and created the Protestant Church.</p>
<p>The AKP&#8217;s leaders emerged out of Erbakan&#8217;s Milli Görüs based movements. Another group that emerged out of Milli Görü is IHH which has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States government and <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e105.htm">has ties to Al Qaeda</a>. Erdogan maintains close ties to IHH and <a href="http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2011/05/erdogans-son-joins-ihh.html">his son is a member</a>.</p>
<p>Erdogan has his own Al Qaeda connections. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/24/turkey-yasin-al-qadi-biz-cz_rm_0124alqadi.html">Yasin Al-Qadi</a>, who funneled millions to Al Qaeda<a href="http://arsiv.ntvmsnbc.com/news/379581.asp"> is a close friend</a> and though his assets have been frozen worldwide, he enjoys a safe haven in Turkey. The co-founder of the AKP party, Erdogan&#8217;s senior and advisor and right hand man, Cuneyt Zapsu gave Al Qaeda <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080608215525/http:/akpwatch.org/wsj-reveals-qadi-erdogan-connection/">a mere 300,000 dollars.</a></p>
<p>Mohammed Fatih al-Hassanein, the head of an Al Qaeda front charity who helped shelter Bin Laden, <a href="../2010/06/09/jihadi-turkey-rising/print/#comments_controls">met privately with Erdoga</a>n and the local Al Qaeda franchise <a href="http://www.jihadwatch.org/2005/08/al-qaeda-magazine-published-openly-in-turkey----idolizes-bin-laden.html">has an office in Turkey</a> where it puts out its propaganda magazine.</p>
<p>So while technically Erdogan and Gul are not going out and planting bombs, they have close ties to those who do and they support them. Islamist parties have gone two routes. They have infiltrated the political system when possible and when impossible they have turned to terrorism. Erdogan&#8217;s poem made it quite clear that he was contemplating the latter. Had the AKP not succeeded then Erdogan might be giving orders to plant bombs in public places. Since it didn&#8217;t he instead supports terrorist groups like Hamas.</p>
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		<title>Battleground South Carolina</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/earl-capps/battleground-south-carolina/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=battleground-south-carolina</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/earl-capps/battleground-south-carolina/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:00:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Earl Capps]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gop primary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jon huntsman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newt Gingrich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[president]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Santorum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ron Paul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Carolina]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=119156</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Prepare for a wild ride until the last votes are counted. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/south_carolina_candidates_120111_620x350.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-119163" title="south_carolina_candidates_120111_620x350" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/south_carolina_candidates_120111_620x350.gif" alt="" width="375" height="248" /></a></p>
<p>Slated for Saturday, January 21, the South Carolina “First in the South&#8221; Republican Presidential Primary is the third major stop in the road to the GOP nomination. In a contest known for mobilizing a half-million or more voters, the South Carolina primary has become known as a freewheeling contest where anything goes. Given this history, the fluid nature of its elections, and recent polling trends, South Carolina&#8217;s is a race that has been watched closely.</p>
<p>Since its inception in 1980, the South Carolina primary has been a key milestone on the path to the Republican nomination. While some candidates who won the earlier Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary have gone on to lose their nomination bids, each nominee since 1980 has won South Carolina. The state’s Republicans are proud of this “gatekeeper” role, as demonstrated by the “We Pick Presidents” bumper sticker the state GOP has distributed by the thousands, as well as the hundreds – and sometimes thousands – who turn out at events, even for lesser-known candidates.</p>
<p>Every election year, the race takes a major turn in South Carolina. Struggling candidates end up making the state’s primary their final stand and quit shortly thereafter while others tout successful showings as evidence their campaigns are gathering momentum.  Those whose campaigns ended after South Carolina have included some political heavyweights, including Texas Governor John Connally (1980), 1996 GOP VP candidate Jack Kemp (1988), former Education Secretary and Senator Lamar Alexander (1996) and Senator Fred Thompson (2008). Both Bushes used strong showings in the state to recover after surprises in earlier contests.</p>
<p>But it’s not just the candidates who take the state seriously – the locals play hardball as well. Campaigns here are short, due to the short amount of time between other contests, and sometimes turn nasty. The all-out battle between George W. Bush and John McCain in 2000 is still talked about as the most negative ever seen in the state, with negative ads and dirty tricks being waged by both campaigns and their supporters by the truckload. These races are often characterized as battles between the state’s powerful GOP circles for whom the outcomes of these primaries give them leverage for in-state political battles, as well as helping them gain friends at the national level (assuming the nominees go on to win the White House).</p>
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		<title>A Razor-Thin Victory for Romney</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/rick-moran/a-razor-thin-victory-for-romney/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-razor-thin-victory-for-romney</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:50:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Rick Moran]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iowa caucus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newt Gingrich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Santorum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ron Paul]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=118075</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While Ron Paul's chances of winning may have disappeared. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/g-cvr-120103-romney-iowa-5p.grid-6x2.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-118082" title="g-cvr-120103-romney-iowa-5p.grid-6x2" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/g-cvr-120103-romney-iowa-5p.grid-6x2.gif" alt="" width="375" height="252" /></a></p>
<p>In the end, the numbers didn&#8217;t matter. Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum slugged it out precinct by precinct in the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday night and when the dust settled, Mitt Romney came away with a razor thin victory.</p>
<p>But the winner in Iowa was evident even before the caucuses began. Rick Santorum came from single digits less than 10 days ago to challenge Mitt Romney and Ron Paul for Iowa supremacy. The former Pennsylvania senator&#8217;s performance &#8212; fueled by a herculean work ethic that saw him visit every county in the state and hold hundreds of town hall meetings &#8212; was confirmation of the efficacy of retail politics in an age that places a premium on money to buy advertising and organization.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Ron Paul&#8217;s strong third place finish was still a blow to his campaign as the Texas congressman failed in the &#8220;expectations game.&#8221; He was expected to win or place second to Mitt Romney, but Santorum&#8217;s surge in the final hours probably hurt his chances for him to realize that result.</p>
<p>The also-rans in the race &#8212; Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Jon Huntsman &#8212; can take little comfort from their weak showings. It is likely that one or two of those candidates will drop out &#8212; perhaps as early as Wednesday.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney didn&#8217;t hurt himself in Iowa but he didn&#8217;t help himself either. <a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/03/9930868-three-major-storylines-from-the-entrance-polls-so-far">Entrance polls</a> taken as attendees were walking into the caucus sites gave him some heartening news, however. By far the most important issue among caucus goers was finding a candidate who could beat President Barack Obama. Nearly 1/3 of attendees said that electability was their primary concern and Romney won nearly half of those votes. Romney also scored well with those who believe the economy was most important to them. He now moves on to New Hampshire where he holds a commanding lead over Ron Paul 47-17, with Santorum at 10% according to a<a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/04/cnn-poll-iowa-didnt-change-many-n-h-minds/"> CNN &#8220;flash poll&#8221;</a> taken on Tuesday night of New Hampshire residents.</p>
<p>Every four years we hear the same complaints about Iowa being &#8220;First in the Nation&#8221; to register an opinion on the presidential candidates for both parties. It&#8217;s too white, or it&#8217;s too rural, or Evangelical Christians are too plentiful. It doesn&#8217;t matter. The state jealously guards its status as the initial test for the candidates and the Republican National Committee appears to be in no mood to change its privileged position.</p>
<p>That said, the caucuses can be seen as a rudimentary test of strength and popularity with GOP voters and as such, it begins the winnowing process that usually claims one or two candidates who decide not to move on to New Hampshire. The most <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/01/03/campaign_manager_says_bachmann_may_drop_out/">likely casualty</a> from Tuesday night&#8217;s festivities could be Michele Bachmann who told <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71003.html">pre-caucus audiences</a> that she had already &#8220;bought our tickets to go to South Carolina&#8221; in order to compete in that state&#8217;s primary on January 21. But a sixth place finish in Iowa and with little money and not much of an organization in the Palmetto State, it seems a quixotic quest for her to hope that lightening would strike and bring her victory there.</p>
<p>Rick Perry&#8217;s weak 5th place finish has dealt a body blow to his campaign. But the candidate swears he will move on to South Carolina, skipping New Hampshire to concentrate on the far friendlier climes of the Palmetto State. But in his speech after the caucuses ended, Perry hinted that he may drop out after all. He is returning to Texas to <a href="http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2012/01/03/rick-perry-heading-home-reassessing-bid-after-iowa-caucuses/">&#8220;reassess&#8221; </a>his campaign.</p>
<p>Newt Gingrich finished a distant 4th, but will soldier on, at least through the South Carolina primary and perhaps all the way to Florida which holds its contest on January 31. For the former speaker of the House, it&#8217;s gotten personal. The barrage of negative ads from Romney independent groups tore him down and severely damaged his candidacy. Newt has already demonstrated that he is taking off the gloves and will go after Romney hard wherever they are competing. Whether that is a winning strategy for him remains to be seen.</p>
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		<title>The GOP’s Search for Perfection</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/alan-w-dowd/the-gop%e2%80%99s-search-for-perfection/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-gop%25e2%2580%2599s-search-for-perfection</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:07:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Alan W. Dowd]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2012 Presidential Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Newt Gingrich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[republican primary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ronald Reagan]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=114490</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How does the 2012 primary field stack up against other years? ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/e8b31a6d78406d2922_i0m6b54lx.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-114563" title="e8b31a6d78406d2922_i0m6b54lx" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/e8b31a6d78406d2922_i0m6b54lx.gif" alt="" width="375" height="251" /></a></p>
<p>Forty percent of Republican voters say they are dissatisfied with the GOP presidential field. Perhaps the reason for this, as Ross Douthat observed in a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/opinion/sunday/douthat-mitt-romney-the-inevitable-nominee.html?_r=2&amp;ref=rossdouthat">piece</a>, is that it’s difficult to imagine any of the current crop of candidates as the Republican nominee—perhaps aside from Mitt Romney. And yet many conservatives have concerns about Romney, who can’t seem to break 25 percent in the polls. Thus, a carousel of candidates has taken turns matching Romney’s poll numbers, each keeping pace with the former Massachusetts governor for a couple weeks before falling back in the pack. In Douthat’s estimation, the problem is that many of the contestants don’t come across as particularly presidential. Some lack eloquence. Others lack experience. Still others are so one-dimensional or issue-specific that the prospect that they could win the nomination and challenge Obama for the presidency is beyond remote. Douthat may be onto something.</p>
<p>Just compare the current GOP field—and their resumes—to that of past contested primaries.</p>
<p>The leading names in today’s field include Romney, whose resume is certainly of presidential caliber but whose record of “evolving” on key issues—health care and abortion top the list—is unsettling to GOP conservatives. There’s former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, whose big ideas triggered a political revolution in 1994 but whose <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/28/3290934/gingrich-im-not-perfect-yet-better.html">personal baggage</a> is unsettling to GOP evangelicals. There’s Herman Cain, a restaurant CEO with perhaps more personal baggage than Gingrich and far less political experience than any other candidate; in fact, Cain has never been elected to office, which is unsettling to GOP establishment types. At the other end of the spectrum is Jon Huntsman, who knows all about the world, has a weighty political resume, lacks any personal baggage but served as Barack Obama’s ambassador to China, which is beyond unsettling to the GOP’s base. There’s Rick Perry, a popular governor with lots of question marks about his discipline, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/analysis-rick-perry-s-debate-gaffe-par-gerald-ford-s-blunder-realized-article-1.977308?localLinksEnabled=false">capacity to wage and win</a> a national campaign and ability to attract independents next fall, all of which is unsettling to the GOP’s anybody-but-Obama caucus. And then there’s Ron Paul, a maverick congressman who seems more eager to criticize his party than carry its standard in a general election, and Michele Bachmann, a three-term congresswoman.</p>
<p>Some of those resumes are as thin as, well, the 2008 Democratic nominee’s resume—and some of those candidates are carrying enough baggage to sink any head-to-head matchup with the current president.</p>
<p>Now, consider the resumes of the main Republican candidates from previous years.</p>
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		<title>GOP Debate a Death Knell for Perry?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/ryan-mauro/gop-debate-a-death-knell-for-perry/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=gop-debate-a-death-knell-for-perry</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:50:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Mauro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GOP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[presidential primary debate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ron Paul]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=111969</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A gaffe that may not be recoverable.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/1109_GOPoops_full_600.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-111971" title="1109_GOPoops_full_600" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/1109_GOPoops_full_600.gif" alt="" width="375" height="256" /></a></p>
<p>The two big takeaways from last night’s Republican presidential debate are universally-acknowledged: Rick Perry’s <a href="http://youtu.be/6an4zSj8LhU">embarrassing gaffe</a> probably puts the last nail in the coffin of his campaign and the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain have earned him huge sympathy from primary voters. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney also shined, but Perry’s forgetting of the third agency he’d scrap will dominate the news coverage of the race.</p>
<p>The allegations against Herman Cain were the media’s obsession going into the debate. It was clear from the audience’s booing of the moderators for bringing it up and intense applause to his answer that the allegations have actually brought him sympathy. In fact, Cain’s seen a <a href="http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-03/politics/30350480_1_herman-cain-attack-story-cain-communications-director">huge fundraising boost.</a></p>
<p>Primary voters don’t seem to be buying into the credibility of the women alleging that Cain harassed them. It has <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-accuser-filed-complaint-next-job-080946066.html">come out</a> that one of the accusers has a history of accusing her bosses of misconduct. CBS Atlanta asked a private investigator to <a href="http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/16002149/investigator-herman-cain-innocent-of-sexual-advances">use voice analysis software</a> to detect deceit in the addresses by Cain and his public accuser, Sharon Bialek. The operator, who said the software has an accuracy rate of 95% and is used by nearly 70 law enforcement agencies, was confident that Cain was telling the truth and Bialek was not. It’s possible that the drama of Bialek’s press conference has yet to register in the polls, but as of right now, he remains the front-runner nationally and in Iowa and South Carolina.</p>
<p>The moment everyone is talking about and will continue to talk about is Rick Perry’s <a href="http://youtu.be/6an4zSj8LhU">huge slip-up.</a> He had some strong moments in the debate, like when he talked about planting a flag that says, “America is open for business again.” That was instantly forgotten when he passionately talked about cutting government and said he’d cut three agencies, naming the Education and Commerce Departments as his targets and forgetting the third on his list. It made for an incredibly awkward minute. He later said that the agency he forgot was the Energy Department.</p>
<p>Political science expert Larry Sabato <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/larrysabato">tweeted</a> that it was “the most devastating moment of any modern primary debate.” Nate Silver <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/fivethirtyeight">tweeted</a> that Perry’s stock on Intrade fell from 8% to 4% in just a few minutes. When Perry entered the spin room, he <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68033.html">said</a>, “I’m sure glad I had my boots on because I sure stepped in it out there.” Polls show him in <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2011/InsiderAdvantage_Iowa_1103.pdf">sixth place</a> in Iowa and in <a href="http://www.clemson.edu/media-relations/files/articles/2011/3957_1359_novemberpalmettopoll.pdf">fourth place</a> in South Carolina. This is simply a mistake that his campaign could not afford and it is likely fatal to his chances of a comeback.</p>
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		<title>The Gloves Are Off</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/ryan-mauro/the-gloves-are-off/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-gloves-are-off</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:18:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Mauro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2012 Presidential Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GOP Presidential Debate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Herman Cain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=109325</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Angry exchanges at the latest GOP debate. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Picture-411.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-109329" title="Picture-41" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Picture-411.gif" alt="" width="375" height="248" /></a></p>
<p>Last night’s Republican presidential debate was the most substantive and the most confrontational. Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan was attacked by every one of his competitors, and aggressive attacks on Mitt Romney by Rick Perry and Rick Santorum were not received well by the audience. The polls will probably change significantly in the coming days as a result of the event.</p>
<p>Herman Cain was target number one. Every single person on stage ridiculed his 9-9-9 plan in a pile-on that must take a toll on his poll numbers. He repeatedly told viewers to go to his website and evaluate the math themselves. Rick Santorum claimed that 9-9-9 would raise taxes on 84% of taxpayers and criticized its elimination of tax breaks for families. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney said it would raise taxes, hurt the middle class, and unwisely give the government the power to enforce a national sales tax. Ron Paul called 9-9-9 “dangerous” and “regressive.” Newt Gingrich said it isn’t as simple as portrayed.</p>
<p>Cain had some good moments in defending his plan, such as when he said that Americans currently have to pay five invisible taxes on a loaf of bread, and 9-9-9 would replace it with one visible tax. His comment that it would throw out a “10 million word mess” was well-received, as was his criticism of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters. He said his critics were confusing apples and oranges, particularly when Romney asked him if it would add a sales tax on top of a state tax. Audience members enjoyed it when Romney said it would therefore force Americans to pay for apples <em>and</em> oranges.</p>
<p>Cain again stumbled on foreign policy. Anderson Cooper mentioned his <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2011/10/18/cain_i_could_see_myself_freeing_all_gitmo_detainees_for_one_american_hostage">statement</a> in an interview that he’d potentially support an exchange of Guantanamo Bay prisoners for an American hostage. He <a href="http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/10/18/breaking-cain-tells-pjtv-that-he-misspoke-on-the-gitmo-terrorist-question/">says</a> he misspoke. He did not give an answer about the Israeli prisoner exchange with Hamas for Gilad Shalit, opining that we shouldn’t judge it because we are not in the Israeli Prime Minister’s position. Altogether, it was a rough night for Herman Cain and he is likely to lose some of his support to one of the second-tier candidates.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney was the second most-attacked candidate, but performed better than Cain. None of the criticisms were new, and they have already been part of Republican voters’ evaluations for a long time. In fact, the audience reaction to attacks on him seemed to work in his favor. First, Rick Santorum went after him on health care and when Romney tried to answer, he was incessantly interrupted by Santorum, who then said, “your time is up” before Romney even had time to reply.</p>
<p>Second, Rick Perry was booed when he mentioned Romney’s accidental hiring of a lawn service that employed illegal immigrants, saying he was at the “height of hypocrisy.”  Romney tried to defend himself but Perry repeatedly jumped in. Romney lost his cool and with a red face, raised his voice and put his hand on Perry’s shoulder. In his reply, he knocked Perry for approving in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and the crowd went wild. The audience reaction showed that Romney won the exchange, aided by sympathy caused by the rudeness towards him.</p>
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		<title>Cain’s Economic Plan Dominates GOP Debate</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/frontpagemag-com/cain%e2%80%99s-economic-plan-dominates-gop-debate/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=cain%25e2%2580%2599s-economic-plan-dominates-gop-debate</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:44:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Frontpagemag.com]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Herman Cain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[michele bachmann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republican presidential debate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=108498</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Businessman now firmly in the top tier.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Picture-28.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-108520" title="Picture-28" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Picture-28.gif" alt="" width="375" height="253" /></a></p>
<p>Businessman Herman Cain catapulted to the top tier in the race for the GOP presidential nomination after his surprise Florida straw poll victory, and he is now feeling the heat. His economic plan, dubbed “9-9-9,” received the most attention in last night’s debate, with former Senator Rick Santorum and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann leading the charge against it.</p>
<p>There were no major stumbles by any of the candidates in this last debate, and there were few fireworks as they sat around a circular table to discuss the economy. Herman Cain received the most attention and aptly handled criticism of his 9-9-9 plan, which calls for a 9% national sales tax, 9% corporate income tax and 9% personal income tax. Cain had serious momentum going into the race, with most polls showing him a close second to Mitt Romney or even slightly ahead. One poll shows him with an <a href="http://race42012.com/2011/10/11/poll-watch-ppp-2012-iowa-caucus-poll/">eight-point lead</a> in Iowa, and another has him <a href="http://race42012.com/2011/10/11/poll-watch-cain-romney-lead-south-carolina/">ahead</a> of Romney by one point in South Carolina.</p>
<p>When a moderator from Bloomberg said that the news service doubted whether 9-9-9 would raise revenue, he humorously responded, &#8220;The problem with that analysis is that it&#8217;s wrong.&#8221; He also joked about the complexity of Mitt Romney’s 59-point economic plan. His plan was challenged by Santorum and Bachmann, with the former saying it won’t pass Congress and the latter having a stand-out moment when she said, “Turn 9-9-9 upside-down. The devil is in the details.” Both cautioned against giving the federal government the power to implement a national sales tax, and that concern will resonate with voters.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney performed well and spoke smoothly about the economy and his record. Leading up to the debate, he had <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/mitt-romney-vote-herman-cain-business-experience-141304493.html">kind words</a> for Herman Cain, probably because his ascent helps split the field that is trying to become Romney’s alternative. One poll shows Romney with a <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44850577#.TpUT4d4g_lZ">three-point lead</a> in Iowa because of this division. He was also <a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/11/8273706-christie-romneys-the-man-we-need-to-lead-america">endorsed</a> by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, inarguably one of the most coveted endorsements a candidate could win. Overall, Romney probably did not gain or lose from the event. There were no big moments, but he did earn an applause when he said, “If you’re not willing to stand up to China, you’ll get run over by China.”</p>
<p>There is no reason to believe that Rick Perry stopped his slide in the polls. He spoke without passion and failed to have a stand-out moment. He is trying to own the issue of energy independence, calling it a “new Declaration of Independence,” and urged domestic production. His comment about the need for a balanced budget amendment was well-received, but this does not differentiate him from the field. He struck Romney hard on his health care plan in Massachusetts, but Romney came prepared to highlight differences between his plan and President Obama’s. It is unlikely that Perry won any new supporters during this debate, and the ascent of other candidates will continue to take a toll on his numbers. He remains in the second-tier.</p>
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		<title>Christie Says No, but Plans Next Move</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/ryan-mauro/christie-says-no-but-plans-next-move/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=christie-says-no-but-plans-next-move</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:45:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Mauro]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Chistie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Herman Cain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rep. Michele Bachmann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Other doors are left open. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/165376-republican-new-jersey-governor-chris-christie-speaks-at-the-ronald-rea.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-107621" title="165376-republican-new-jersey-governor-chris-christie-speaks-at-the-ronald-rea" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/165376-republican-new-jersey-governor-chris-christie-speaks-at-the-ronald-rea.gif" alt="" width="375" height="251" /></a></p>
<p>The Republican candidates for president in 2012 have let go a sigh of relief as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65094.html">announced</a> that he won’t take the plunge. Absent a late entry by Sarah Palin, the field is set, but quickly changing. This doesn’t mean Christie’s ambitions are limited to his state. In his announcement, he left open the possibilities of being vice president, not running for re-election in 2013, and running for president in the future.</p>
<p>“It didn’t feel right in my gut,” said Governor Christie on Tuesday. He couldn’t get himself to leave his job unfinished in New Jersey, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t planning on having a big future. “Now is not my time,” he said, leaving the door open to being vice president or president.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to preclude any employment in the future,” Christie stated. He ducked a question about being the 2012 nominee’s running mate, saying, “I just don’t think I have the personality to be asked.”</p>
<p>In several ways, being the 2012 vice presidential candidate would be ideal for Christie. The N.J. legislative elections are this November, potentially allowing Christie to advance his agenda at accelerated speed. By the time of the Republican National Convention on August 12, 2012, he can safely argue that he is satisfied with what he has achieved in N.J. and has the necessary experience to be commander-in-chief if need be. By being the vice presidential nominee, he stops another running mate from coming to the forefront in 2016 if President Obama is re-elected. It also leaves the option open of seeking re-election or not, depending on the outcome of the race, and gives him experience in running a national campaign.</p>
<p>Christie knows he will be on any nominee’s short-list as a running mate. He is an incredible attack dog and will fire up the base. He is immensely popular and would be a dynamic fundraiser. He has a <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/05/31/how-gov-christie-makes-deep-blue-friends/">remarkable record of bi-partisanship</a>, as his close friendship with Democratic Mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, shows. The two have productively worked together and talk nearly every day. Some mayors in Hudson County, a Democratic bastion, openly praise him. Union City Mayor Brian Stack, a Democrat, calls him the best governor in the history of the state.</p>
<p>The major disadvantage in picking Christie is that he isn’t from a battleground state and he isn’t a minority. For those reasons, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Florida Congressman Allen West, Herman Cain and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell are strong competitors. However, it is possible that by picking Christie, President Obama will be forced to spend time and money in a state he should have locked up. It is also possible that Christie’s popularity in N.J. could have some <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/28/news/la-pn-quinnipiac-ohio-pennsylvania-20110928">impact on Pennsylvania,</a> a battleground state where 51% say Obama doesn’t deserve re-election and only 43% approve of his performance.</p>
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