Mitt outpaces Rudy, McCain in trouble

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Irvine511

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[q]Romney Outpaces GOP Pack in Fundraising

Tuesday, April 3, 2007; A01

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney provided a jolt to the Republican presidential contest yesterday, reporting a haul of $21 million in the first three months of the year, as Sen. John McCain of Arizona posted a lackluster third-place finish that even his campaign manager called a disappointment.

As campaigns release their first meaningful fundraising figures in what appears certain to become the most expensive presidential campaign in history, McCain's $12.5 million total also put him behind former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who leads the Republican field in public polls and reported taking in $15 million in the first quarter.

Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) has set the pace for the field so far, reporting Sunday that she had raised $26 million in combined primary and general election funds and transferred an additional $10 million from her Senate campaign account. Her total was followed by that of former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who raised $14 million. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has so far declined to release figures for his campaign.

The totals of the major contenders easily surpassed the record $8.9 million raised by Al Gore in the first three months of 1999.

Romney has labored in single digits in polling but has been an aggressive fundraiser. He launched his campaign with a "National Call Day" at the convention center in Boston in January, where nearly 400 of his supporters, including Meg Whitman, the chief executive of eBay, and Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt called friends to ask them to back Romney. The event raised a whopping $6.5 million in a single day.

But the showing by McCain, who had been ordained the front-runner in the GOP contest from Day One and had worked to win over many of the fundraising Pioneers and Rangers who helped fill President Bush's coffers in 2000 and 2004, was a surprise to both analysts and rival campaigns. Most characterized the numbers as an unexpected sign of distress for a campaign that has been building its machinery for eight years and was one of the first to set up a fundraising committee.

"By any historical measure, $12.5 million is a lot of money," said Alex Vogel, a Republican strategist not affiliated with any candidate. "But McCain was the front-runner for so long, the expectation was he would not come in third."

McCain campaign manager Terry Nelson acknowledged as much yesterday, coupling his release of the dollar figure with the gloomy admission that "we had hoped to do better."

Nelson said the campaign has begun to aggressively revamp its fundraising operations and insisted in an interview that the showing does not reflect a lack of support for the Arizona senator.

"While we wish we would have done better in this quarter, certainly we did well enough to fight an effective campaign, which is what we're going to do," he said.

Nelson added that a new system of accountability, including targets for individual fundraisers, has been established for the members of McCain's finance team. The campaign also announced that its general co-chairman, former Texas congressman Tom Loeffler, recently was put in charge of fundraising and began a review of fundraising operations.

In interviews yesterday, key 2008 fundraisers blamed McCain's lackluster quarter on a host of shortcomings, most notably his difficulty summoning support from traditional Republican donors who were unhappy about his campaign finance reform agenda in the Senate and his earlier clashes with Bush.

"I think there are a lot of people out there who got turned off during the South Carolina primary eight years ago and never returned," said Richard Hug, who won Ranger designation because he raised more than $200,000 for Bush's campaign efforts.

"It was very bitter," said Hug, who is assisting Giuliani. "I don't think [McCain] has a whole lot of support among the Bush people in general."

Wayne Berman, a Washington lobbyist and Bush Pioneer who is backing McCain, said yesterday that the disappointing figures stem from a failure to organize large donor events earlier in the year. He said the campaign held just a handful of events in January and February, and started to pick up the pace in March, with 23 fundraisers.

"The opportunities simply weren't there for people to give," Berman said.

But Berman discounted the impact the numbers would have on the campaign moving forward. He said McCain already has two dozen events scheduled for April and a similar number on the books for May.

A large fundraising take at this stage "is hugely important if you have to prove you are a credible candidate," Berman said. "McCain is an enormously credible candidate already. He is extremely visible, and is the most visible on the most difficult and defining issue of the day. He's in Iraq, he's on TV, he's talking about the broader war on terror."

In the first quarter, the candidate who benefited the most was Romney. In addition to announcing his formidable total, his campaign also pointed out that all the money he raised can be spent in the primaries. Romney also lent his campaign about $2 million, putting his total figure closer to $23 million.

Scott Reed, a Republican strategist who is not affiliated with a 2008 campaign, said Romney "cemented his position as a first-tier candidate."

"This reinforces the notion that he can go the distance," Reed said.

Ronald C. Kaufman, a lobbyist who has been advising Romney on his fundraising effort, said the candidate built on a range of connections he has made over his lifetime. He said donors included supporters from Michigan, where Romney's father served as governor; contacts from his career as a management consultant, running the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 and serving as Massachusetts governor; as well as fellow Mormons.

"I think he did a really good job of tapping into all those worlds," Kaufman said.

Romney's showing rivaled the almost $30 million that then-candidate Bush raised in the second quarter of 1999.

Early success in fundraising is no guarantee of results at the ballot box. In 1995, then-Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas raised more than $8 million and had $13.5 million on hand at the end of the first quarter of campaigning, but he did not stay in the Republican contest beyond a fifth-place finish in Iowa.

Fergus Cullen, a former Gramm staffer who is now the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, said experience taught him that McCain, a candidate with a formidable campaign organization in the state, should not be counted out.

"I know firsthand that money isn't everything," said Cullen, who is not backing a candidate in the Republican primary. Gramm "had all the money and none of the votes."

Because full campaign finance reports will not be available until April 15, it is unclear just how much of a financial handicap McCain will face. None of the candidates have released figures on how much they spent during the first quarter, and among the Republicans, only Giuliani announced how much money remained in his account when March ended.

Giuliani aides announced that he had raised $15 million overall, $14 million of which is eligible to be spent in the primaries, and had $11 million in cash on hand.

Jack Oliver, who headed Bush's finance effort, said it is "critical to look at what the burn rate is." He said, "If it cost you a lot of money to raise these amounts, they aren't nearly as much help."[/q]
 
a Dukakis moment for McCain?

it'd be funny if it weren't so tragic, on so many levels. still, i suppose we can't be surprised when karma forces you to eat your own shit.



[q]McCain Wrong on Iraq Security, Merchants Say

By KIRK SEMPLE
BAGHDAD, April 2 — A day after members of an American Congressional delegation led by Senator John McCain pointed to their brief visit to Baghdad’s central market as evidence that the new security plan for the city was working, the merchants there were incredulous about the Americans’ conclusions.

“What are they talking about?” Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market, said Monday. “The security procedures were abnormal!”

The delegation arrived at the market, which is called Shorja, on Sunday with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees — the equivalent of an entire company — and attack helicopters circled overhead, a senior American military official in Baghdad said. The soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans, witnesses said, and sharpshooters were posted on the roofs. The congressmen wore bulletproof vests throughout their hourlong visit.

“They paralyzed the market when they came,” Mr. Faiyad said during an interview in his shop on Monday. “This was only for the media.”

He added, “This will not change anything.”

At a news conference shortly after their outing, Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, and his three Congressional colleagues described Shorja as a safe, bustling place full of hopeful and warmly welcoming Iraqis — “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime,” offered Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican who was a member of the delegation.

But the market that the congressmen said they saw is fundamentally different from the market Iraqis know.

Merchants and customers say that a campaign by insurgents to attack Baghdad’s markets has put many shop owners out of business and forced radical changes in the way people shop. Shorja, the city’s oldest and largest market, set in a sprawling labyrinth of narrow streets and alleyways, has been bombed at least a half-dozen times since last summer.

At least 61 people were killed and many more wounded in a three-pronged attack there on Feb. 12 involving two vehicle bombs and a roadside bomb.

American and Iraqi security forces have tried to protect Shorja and other markets against car bombs by restricting vehicular traffic in some shopping areas and erecting blast walls around the markets’ perimeters. But those measures, while making the markets safer, have not made them safe.

In the latest large-scale attack on a Baghdad market, at least 60 people, most of them women and children, were killed last Thursday when a man wrapped in an explosives belt walked around such barriers into a crowded street market in the Shaab neighborhood and blew himself up.

In recent weeks, snipers hidden in Shorja’s bazaar have killed several people, merchants and the police say, and gunfights have erupted between militants and the Iraqi security forces in the area.

During their visit on Sunday, the Americans were buttonholed by merchants and customers who wanted to talk about how unsafe they felt and the urgent need for more security in the markets and throughout the city, witnesses said.

“They asked about our conditions, and we told them the situation was bad,” said Aboud Sharif Kadhoury, 63, who peddles prayer rugs at a sidewalk stand. He said he sold a small prayer rug worth less than $1 to a member of the Congressional delegation. (The official paid $20 and told Mr. Kadhoury to keep the change, the vendor said.)

Mr. Kadhoury said he lost more than $2,000 worth of merchandise in the triple bombing in February. “I was hit in the head and back with shrapnel,” he recalled.

Ali Youssef, 39, who sells glassware from a sidewalk stand down the block from Mr. Kadhoury, recalled: “Everybody complained to them. We told them we were harmed.”

He and other merchants used to keep their shops open until dusk, but with the dropoff in customers as a result of the attacks, and a nightly curfew, most shop owners close their businesses in the early afternoon.

“This area here is very dangerous,” continued Mr. Youssef, who lost his shop in the February attack. “They cannot secure it.”

But those conversations were not reflected in the congressmen’s comments at the news conference on Sunday.

Instead, the politicians spoke of strolling through the marketplace, haggling with merchants and drinking tea. “The most deeply moving thing for me was to mix and mingle unfettered,” Mr. Pence said.

Mr. McCain was asked about a comment he made on a radio program in which he said that he could walk freely through certain areas of Baghdad.

“I just came from one,” he replied sharply. “Things are better and there are encouraging signs.”

He added, “Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today.”

Told about Mr. McCain’s assessment of the market, Abu Samer, a kitchenware and clothing wholesaler, scoffed: “He is just using this visit for publicity. He is just using it for himself. They’ll just take a photo of him at our market and they will just show it in the United States. He will win in America and we will have nothing.”

A Senate spokeswoman for Mr. McCain said he left Iraq on Monday and was unavailable for comment because he was traveling.

Several merchants said Monday that the Americans’ visit might have only made the market a more inviting target for insurgents.

“Every time the government announces anything — that the electricity is good or the water supply is good — the insurgents come to attack it immediately,” said Abu Samer, 49, who would give only his nickname out of concern for his safety.

But even though he was fearful of a revenge attack, he said, he could not afford to stay away from the market. This was his livelihood. “We can never anticipate when they will attack,” he said, his voice heavy with gloomy resignation. “This is not a new worry.”[/q]
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
that mormon money's rolling in i see

Exactly. That's why I don't think this has as much weight to it as anyone else. I don't think it's going to translate to votes or broad support like other candidates. Plus, the further in the process, the more Mormonism is going to be put under the microscope. I don't see this being a good thing for him.
 
Irvine511 said:
a Dukakis moment for McCain?


03mccain-600.jpg


Representative Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican, said the Shorja market was “like a normal outdoor market in Indiana.”
 
You have interesting markets in Indiana.
I would love to do a trip there.

Remember: 676,000 will go down with a bullet in the next twenty years.

This figure has to come from somewhere.
 
coemgen said:


Exactly. That's why I don't think this has as much weight to it as anyone else. I don't think it's going to translate to votes or broad support like other candidates. Plus, the further in the process, the more Mormonism is going to be put under the microscope. I don't see this being a good thing for him.

You really do look foolish here,
and a bit obsessed

Romney will rise or fall on own
based on flip-flops
credibility
and things like that
(I don't think he will get my vote)


Has Harry Reid in the Senate or Orin Hatch in the Senate had any real Mormon agenda?

and like or hate Romney
give me some examples how his religion came into play when he was Governor of Mass
 
deep said:


You really do look foolish here,
and a bit obsessed

Romney will rise or fall on own

But to be fair, the preconceptions of Mormonism and the baggage it comes with in many eyes of Americans, I think will play a part in many of Americans votes.

Not that it should, but I think it will. The fact that we've only had one Catholic president speaks volumes.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:


But to be fair, the preconceptions of Mormonism and the baggage it comes with in many eyes of Americans, I think will play a part in many of Americans votes.

Not that it should, but I think it will. The fact that we've only had one Catholic president speaks volumes.

I do accept that premise
and it very well may come into play


I also think the polls that state that over 50% say they will not vote for Hillary
very well may not be correct come Nov 2008.


I wonder what the polls were for a Mormon being elected Governor of Mass were?

Unless a politician uses his faith to influence his appointments and affect policy
merely being a member of a certain "faith" should not prejudice one's vote


I think one reason Obama is getting so much traction is because he is perceived as a candidate that just happens to be black

instead of a black candidate

like many perceived Jesse Jackson, for example
 
deep said:


You really do look foolish here,
and a bit obsessed

Romney will rise or fall on own
based on flip-flops
credibility
and things like that
(I don't think he will get my vote)


Has Harry Reid in the Senate or Orin Hatch in the Senate had any real Mormon agenda?

and like or hate Romney
give me some examples how his religion came into play when he was Governor of Mass


No, the foolish thing is making personal attacks in trying to argue somebody else's point.

And I don't see how it looks obsessed. It's just a line of logic. Reid and Hatch aren't running for president — that's not a fair comparison. When it comes time for the country as a whole to decide whether they like Romney, that will be a factor. It's already been proven in polls. People would rather vote for a Muslim than a Mormon. I didn't say it — the polls did.
And, logically, it's fair to say that a lot of his money probably comes from Mormon backers. The Mormons have money, in case you didn't know. However, I don't think the money is going to pay off. If the polls are right, it won't. If I'm wrong, so be it.

Also, did I say anything about a Mormon agenda?
 
coemgen said:



No, the foolish thing is making personal attacks in trying to argue somebody else's point.

And I don't see how it looks obsessed. It's just a line of logic. Reid and Hatch aren't running for president — that's not a fair comparison. When it comes time for the country as a whole to decide whether they like Romney, that will be a factor. It's already been proven in polls. People would rather vote for a Muslim than a Mormon. I didn't say it — the polls did.
And, logically, it's fair to say that a lot of his money probably comes from Mormon backers. The Mormons have money, in case you didn't know. However, I don't think the money is going to pay off. If the polls are right, it won't. If I'm wrong, so be it.

Also, did I say anything about a Mormon agenda?

Harry Reid was elected to lead the Senate by the elected Democratic Senators of the 50 states.

Romney has been to Newport Beach, CA collecting large sums from Republican donors. Giuliani has been here, too and so has McCain.

It is surprising how much money and support Romney is getting from money-power brokers (not Mormon) many of the same that backed Bush and Dole in 96.

Again what people say they would do
and what they do is often two different things.

Are you confident that Hillary can not get 50% of the vote?
 
all this Mormonism talk reminds me of that episode of South Park......

Prediction:

The Bushies, the wingnuts, the hardcore conservatives and maybe even the neocons will throw their money behind Fred Thompson and the machine behind him will destroy Romney from the ground up just like all the rest who don't fit the mold.

I think the gameplan could be a head to head with Rudy.
Then, drag out the social liberalism of Giuliani and play up the protestant religous base, the Southerners in general, hardcore immigration stances in the West and Southwest and he walks away with the nomination.

Fred Thompson is your Republican nominee folks.



or not :wink:
 
Last edited:
deep said:

Harry Reid was elected to lead the Senate by the elected Democratic Senators of the 50 states.

Romney has been to Newport Beach, CA collecting large sums from Republican donors. Giuliani has been here, too and so has McCain.

It is surprising how much money and support Romney is getting from money-power brokers (not Mormon) many of the same that backed Bush and Dole in 96.

Again what people say they would do
and what they do is often two different things.

Are you confident that Hillary can not get 50% of the vote?

Reid still isn't running for president. It's apples to oranges. What percentage of the country knows who Reid is, could identify him in a picture and/or name what state he serves as senator? Romney's probably in a similar boat now, but he's obviously gaining more and more exposure as a presidential candidate. And compare a senate race to a presidential race. There's a difference in national exposure and certainly a difference in the attention paid to each race by general public. National news media recognize this.

I know Romney has been wooing the Right Wing Republican/Christian base. He has to if he's going to win. I find it hard to believe that's his only source of funding though. Again, if I'm wrong, fine.
 
McCain is DOA. What a sad, pathetic ending, honestly. And he has nobody to blame but himself. The man stands for absolutely nothing anymore.

Romney is a flip flopper and comes across as smarmy - both of which will have a bigger impact in a general election than his Mormonism (which will definitely play a role).
 
anitram said:
McCain is DOA. What a sad, pathetic ending, honestly. And he has nobody to blame but himself. The man stands for absolutely nothing anymore.

Romney is a flip flopper and comes across as smarmy - both of which will have a bigger impact in a general election than his Mormonism (which will definitely play a role).



agreed on both points.

Romney is about the oiliest politician i've ever seen.

that said, at least he has the reputation of being a competent executive -- i'm talking more about the 2002 Olympics than the state of MA, and i'm sure all those from the state of MA can and will correct me -- and he's not a rhesus monkey like the current occupant of the Oval Office.

and i'm sorry for insulting rhesus monkies.
 
I dated a Romney girl in my past, and she wasn't oily nor frigid.
When she discovered the size of my wallet, our fling quickly evaporated.

I was stunned for about a week or so.:angry:

dbs
 
What happened to John McCain? I used to admire him so much. I still do for his service and for his POW experience-but it's as if he's not even the same person anymore :(
 
diamond said:
I dated a Romney girl in my past, and she wasn't oily nor frigid.
When she discovered the size of my wallet, our fling quickly evaporated.

I was stunned for about a week or so.:angry:

dbs



:hug:

i'm so sorry diamond. that must have been terrible.

:hug:
 
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