By: Matt Towery
| Posted: November 3, 2012 3:55 AM
Sometime after Tuesday's election, we will learn who won the presidency for the next four years and just what led to the result. But in the meantime, here are some general issues related to the 2012 presidential cycle that deserve consideration.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: October 18, 2012 3:55 AM
Most political pundits know that presidential debates, particularly these absurd "town hall" debacles, are more about who makes a gaffe or has an "oops moment" than about who brings the better policy to the table.
Mitt Romney, as was clear to all who watched the first presidential debate, channeled Ronald Reagan right down to the glistening hair and respectful smiling face that listened as his opponent tap-danced and stutter-stepped his way to a resounding thumping in the contest.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: September 20, 2012 3:55 AM
Perhaps the most significant and disappointing theme that has run through not only my decades in politics, but my years afterward as a pollster and analyst, has been the GOP's increasing tendency to shy away from anyone or anything that is bold or unique.
No one would believe it, but a combined effort by tea party activists and the NAACP helped defeat a proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation on the 10 main counties that make up some 6 million people living in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
As one who polled the 2008 presidential race extensively, it dawned on me, looking at the various "swing state" surveys taken recently, that many pollsters might be making a significant error that results in President Barack Obama with a lead, when perhaps the lead in reality belongs to Mitt Romney.
Oh, yes, I have seen Republican presidential campaigns ... far too many. Make no mistake, in my judgment, Mitt Romney has everything it takes to be a great president.
They are at it again. Following what can only be described as a butt-kicking win for Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin's recall election, many media pundits were trying to "split the baby" by acknowledging Walker's win, but pointing to exit polls that show President Obama with a 7-point lead against Mitt Romney in that state.
Yes, this column is based out of Florida, so it would seem that an opinion piece suggesting that Marco Rubio makes the most sense for vice president on the Republican side would normally appear to be "home cooking."
Many decades ago as a young punk working in Washington, I was given the job of teaching public speaking and debate at the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee's candidate's school.
Unless something unexpected takes place, Florida can already claim the top spot in deciding recent presidential nominations, both for Republicans and Democrats, and is poised to be, along with a handful of states, a pivotal swing state in the November elections.
Considering Rick Santorum's sudden departure from the race, it's time to quit dancing around and bluntly state what the problem is for the man likely to become the Republican nominee for president.
When I was a kid, we dreamt about someday owning a "flying car" like the ones we saw in cartoons. Back in those days, I also heard my dad warn that "someday we will have another Depression, where the financial world just collapses overnight."
It was unbelievable: As soon as Newt Gingrich failed to win both Alabama and Mississippi in the GOP race for president, most members of the mainstream media and political strategists with whom I talked readily admitted, off the record, that he was the most qualified among the Republican candidates to serve as president.
After the not so "Super" Tuesday results, pundits and experts predicted a much longer march to the Republican National Convention to be held in Tampa. Many experts believe Mitt Romney will ultimately gain the required delegates to win the nomination prior to the convention.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: February 23, 2012 3:55 AM
We knew this was coming. In fact, in the first year of the Obama administration, I focused on this very issue. Now it has risen to the level of potential reality.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: February 16, 2012 3:55 AM
Just three weeks earlier, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was sailing high. He won the South Carolina primary and seemed headed for Florida with the wind at his back.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: December 8, 2011 3:55 AM
The GOP race for president is coming to a head very quickly. Yes, Newt Gingrich had a terrible launch. But that was, in political time, eons ago. Now, Gingrich is the last man standing. And if he keeps his mouth shut, he will be the GOP nominee.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: September 22, 2011 3:55 AM
If anyone ever believed that the more conservative Bill Clinton really thought the more liberal Barack Obama was prepared to be president in 2008, let them wonder no longer.
By: Matt Towery
| Posted: September 15, 2011 3:55 AM
Let's get this straight once and for all: The vast -- and I mean vast -- majority of those who identify themselves as Republican voters, or as independents who likely will vote in Republican primaries in 2012, have no problems with the tenets and beliefs of the tea party movement.
So many want to put the entire blame on President Barack Obama for the reckless spending and huge debt that America suffers from. But it took an entire village of idiots to get us here.
About a year before he made his first run for the presidency, I had a chance to sit down and talk extensively with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
