Voter Guides

Well needless to say this blog has slowed down the last couple of months. Sorry about that. I have been pretty busy with work and some family related stuff. But I am now able to write more often and hopefully bring you some high quality content. Hopefully this week Illinoisans for Mitt will move to it's new location. I will inform you when it does.

Here is some info on Voter Guides from the Illinois Legacy Website:


The voter guide from Culture Campaign will both help you identify the candidates who will appear on your district's ballot as well as help you understand the candidates' stand on key family values issues. Furthermore, if the candidate did not respond to the survey, but is an incumbent, information on their voting record on that issue is provided. http://www2.vgt2004.org/a-culturecampaign/

The voter guide from the Illinois Family Institute includes a question on whether the candidate supports the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
As the ERA will most likely come back up for a vote in the Illinois Legislative Assembly this spring, this question helps us choose candidates who will support our opposition against the ERA. Please note that the questions (and question numbers) for the national level candidates are different from the questions for the state level candidates.

Click Here. If you find the print difficult to read, try the larger print special break out versions of this voter guide for each congressional district. Click Here.

Summary of Romneys activites with LDS Church

A good summary of the LDS church/Romney controversy can be detailed here.

Apparantly emails were published over the weekend by the Boston Globe between Romney Consultant Don Stirling and Deseret Book Publisher CEO Sheri Dew. On the surface these e-mails appear incriminating but a further analysis show they are nothing but an over zealous supporter. The church has emphatically denied any such collaboration with Romney.

Even if everything the Globe has reported was true, would it damage Romney? Probably not. Two points to remember:

1. Romney is not an official candidate so it would be impossible for the church to be breaking anysort of IRS laws concerning their support of a political candidate.

2. What potential candidate would not use his social networks?

In the aformentioned Tribune article quoted Pollster John Zogby:

As for political ramifications of the story, veteran pollster John Zogby said Sunday the revelation so far probably doesn't carry much weight with potential voters.

"The polling that we've done indicates a very strong national consensus on separation of church and state," Zogby said. "This is seen as more of a social network than a church network. Everyone who runs for office calls upon their social network."

In my mind I can't help but wonder why a newspaper would be willing to carry a story with such major ramifications with only a couple 3rd party emails. The follow up question would be how in the world did the Globe obtain these private emails? I am sure that neither Dew nor Stirling would have handed them over so one is left questioning the tactics of the Globe. The Globe seemed to eager to play this up from the start. The original articles with black and white mugshots on the side of Jeffrey Holland, Kem Gartner and Josh Romney were something worthy of The Onion.

I have a feeling that from here there is not much more room for the story though, unless they find Jimmy Hoffa in the Commonwealth PAC meatlocker (I am sure they have looked.)

Lastly the LDS church released (as does prior to every major election) it's statement on political neutrality:

"In this election year church members are again reminded to exercise their right to study the issues and candidates, and then vote for those they believe will most nearly carry out their ideas of good government.

"While affirming its constitutional right of expression on political and social issues, the church reaffirms its long-standing policy of neutrality and does not endorse candidates for political office. Church facilities and membership data are not to be used for political purposes.

"Members who hold public office should not imply or give the impression they represent the church as they work for solutions to social problems."

Mehlman, McSweeney, Roskam

I just got back from a great rally with Ken Mehlman- chair of the RNC and two congress hopefuls, Dave McSweeney and Peter Roskam. Also in atte4ndance was IL state party chair Andrew McKenna.

Mehlman did a wonderful job outlining the differences of Dems and Repubs on key issues such as taxes and the war on terrror. He was a very spririted speaker and very knowledgable. Mehlman gave an interesting time line of terrorists attacks on the US putting into perspective Bush's efforts and the need to keep pounding on the terrorists. Afterward I went up and shook his hand and introduced myself to him. I told him I did some online blogging for Romney he gave nice smile and said, "He's a good man." I guess I can't expect to get much more out of the head of the RNC.

Both McSweeney and Peter Roskam were very good speakers. Roskam brought up that the other night he had a debate with his opponent. Afterward the producer told him Al Jazeera was covering the debate! What in the world? That blew me away. It really shows the interest this midterm election has to our enemies in the Arab world. Something tells me Osama is not voting for Roskam or any conservative.

When I was leaving I ran into Roskam in the parking lot and spoke to him for a moment. A very amiable person. He could have been someone you run into at the super market, a very down to earth person.

Ingraham and Buchanan

Yesterday I was listening to Laura Ingraham while she intervewed Pat Buchanan. After asking him a couple questions about his employer MSNBC laying off employees (more people watch the Japanese Language Station) the topic turned to midterm elections. From there the two started talking about Romney. Laura stated that Romney was someone who could lead the party. Buchanan expressed some reservations about Romney but finally agreed that Romney will probably be the Dark Horse candidate.

Buchanan said he wasn't too sure about the Mormon in the South thing but basically said that Guiliani has no chance having done nothing yet, and that he would be killed if he were to try and run. It seemed that while Buchanan has some reservations about Romney he is open and waiting to see.


Two thoughts:

1. As long as people like Ingraham, Medved, O'reilly, Rush, Hewitt, Prager and others continue to speak well of Romney I think the Mormon thing will go away with the base. Most of the base listen to these guys and will be swayed. Actually these voices might be Romney's best bet in the South.

2. Buchanan is going to be embracing Romney soon, because in 2 words: McCain stinks.


After this the conversation turned to Santorum. Both of them agreed that Santorum will likely be the Republican wonder if he gets through this current election in tact. They were hinting at a possible run, when Laura said he would make a great VP. Romney-Santorum?

Ken Mehlman in IL for McSweeney

Ken Mehlman will be in Rolling Meadows tomorow at Dave McSweeney's victory office tomorow at 11:30am. Mehlman is head of the RNC and will be there to support McSweeney's bid for congress against Mellissa Bean, a liberal.

I am going to try to make it.

Commonwealth Hires on some Talent

A press release from the commmonwealth announces new additions to the commonwealth staff. There names and bios can be seen here.

Pics from Romney in Chicago

Here are a couple pics from the event here in Chicago last week. I would have more, but since I have no idea how to get a camera to work indoors I had to rely on someone else for their photos.







Romney with Julie Johnson (My Man Mitt) and me with the new super cool "Vote for Mitt" Napolean Dynamite T-shirt. Apparantly Mitt has mastered the art of keeping his eyes open for photographs. I guess that's another qualification for our nations top office. We also gave Mitt an official "MittHead" pin. What else do you get for the man who has everything?







Ade, Mitt and Paul. Ade and Paul are Buisness School students at the University of Chicago and Romney supporters. Thanks to Ade for the tip off on the event and for the photos.

ROMNEY AT THE CAPITOL CLUB IN D.C.

This post is brought to us by Justin Hart, a blogger who lives in D.C.


Timing in comedy is everything. Timing in politics doubly so. If you can master both mediums... the world is yours.

Today the Commonwealth PAC hosted a luncheon with Mitt Romney at The Capitol Club in Washington, D.C. About 500 people turned out (donations in hand) including myself to hear the Mass. Governor give a few words.

The Capitol Club is a block south of Capitol Hill and shares a building with GOP headquarters (if these walls could talk!). I've been down there several times for briefings from the Republican pollsters strategies and leaders but this is the first time I paid for the opportunity.

Actually, I was glad to make the donation... it's a relatively small PAC with a decent contribution record. Romney is the key affiliate of the PAC.

The original plan was a sit down luncheon for about 100 people. There was no public notice of the event just word of mouth but that was enough to change the format to standing room only for 500 people.

After about a half-an-hour of carousing Ken Mehlman, chairman of the National Republican Committee, offered the introduction to Romney who spoke for about 15 minutes.

The crowd was full of dignitaries, former governors, congressmen, lobbyists, lawyers, staffers and interested crazy right-wing bloggers like myself. The event organizers told me afterward that 29 ambassadors were present. I won't say it was the who's who of Washington but it wasn't short of power.

"Be careful what you wish for..." Romney opened with good joke pointing out the huge and unexpected turnout for the event. The Governor was quick with the one-liners throughout the speech which flowed naturally from one topic to the other. From SLC Olympic musings to a touching tribute to 9/11 Romney didn't miss a beat.

Romney's grasp of the modern day subjects was spot on. Discussing his trip to Afghanistan he recalled a conversation with his wife. She asked if he was adjusting to the time change. He responded: "The 11 and a half hours are not bad, it's the 800 years that are difficult." He pulled no punches pointing out this "challenging times" for the nation. He described with pretty good deftness the Jihadist threat to install a caliphate everywhere in the world.

Romney stayed afterward to take pictures and greet people until almost everyone had left.

At one point he declared: "I am not a full-time politician, this hasn't been my life." It may not have been his life, but I doubt it can remain that way, not if the crowd today has anything to say about it.

But hey... you didn't have to pay the money, you can be there too. See here.

Do you like Cheese? Romney does.

Romney will be a short hop skip and a jump from Illinois this saturday. He will be at a fundraiser in Milwaukee, a short drive from Chicago. From the Journal-Sentinel:

Madison -- Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is coming to Milwaukee on Saturday.

Romney, a Republican eyeing a run for president, has twice had to cancel recent plans to come to Wisconsin. He put off a July visit after a ceiling collapsed in a highway tunnel. Then, in August, he decided to stay in Boston when news broke of a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights.

Now, Republicans say Romney really is coming to Wisconsin. He is scheduled to appear from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the Milwaukee Athletic Club for a fund-raiser to help the state party get out the vote in the Nov. 7 gubernatorial election.

Romney Giving Money to Topinka

On his trip here to Chicago Romney said that the RGA will be giving more money to Topinka's efforts, especially after the news of Blagojevich's findraisor being indicted.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, was in Chicago Wednesday and said before the indictment was unsealed that the group had given Topinka $250,000 and that the number would grow.

LaHood said after Romney heard about the indictment, he said he would try to bring in another $700,000.

Topinka, meanwhile, offered herself as the choice for voters fed up with corruption in Illinois.

"If you've got a constituency that once again wants to believe in government and the governor, they've got a choice, a good choice," she said at a fundraiser in Lincoln.

For more information regarding this read here.

Chicago Event

I had a chance to hear Romney Speak yesterday at a lunchtime meeting for students at the University of Chicago School of Business. Needless to say it was very impressive. Romney gave a different talk geared towards business students rather than the usual stump speech.

The room was full of attentive students, probably about 100-200 people were there. Needless to say Romney made a very strong impression on the students and faculty in attendance. Julie Johnson who helps with My Man Mitt was in attendance. I was also able to make some contact with some new Romney supporters who were won over there at the event.

I couldn't help but think that if I was supporting another candidate (read McCain) I would have been very worried to here such an intelligent speech with good delivery from another candidate.

Here are some details about Romney speech.

He was introduced by who I presumed was the Dean of the school. He gave a short Bio of Romney and quoted briefly from the Economist that deemed Romney “a scarily perfect presidential Candidate.” Then he turned it over to Romney.

Romney outlined the four steps he used in the business world to turn companies and enterprises around.

1.Throw out Conventional Wisdom.

2.“I Love Data” Read all Data that can possibly be found.

3.Rigorous Analysis of the Data.

4.Assemble people who think different then yourself, the more different the better.


This is the approach that Romney has taken into the public sector. He then gave an interesting story of when he was first governor and tried to gather some data reports. There were none, no one looked at Data, most officials just acted on what they thought was the best idea not on statistics and facts. This was interesting to Romney since this type of leadership would never compete in the business world. Which is were the fundamental difference with government and business lies, government has no competition. If the voters of Massachusetts don't like there government, there isn't another one they can go to.

Romney gave several examples of streamlining government in Massachusetts. One such was court houses. He did a study after being asked for $250 million for a court house. He found out if strategically placed he could have 6 court house in MA and all citizens would be within an hours drive, 12 if you want 30 min drive. How many are there? 112. Why? All the staffers and friends of politicians need jobs in the off-season.

Another example was of the highway commission. Most states have one, MA had three. He has nearly condensed it to one. Government is wasteful Romney says, because it does not apply the basic rudimentary skills business students learn in there first 3 weeks of business school.

Romney than talked about the 4 problems he sees facing the US, and his solutions:

1.Under attack from Jihad-ist. These are not some wackos in the hills, these are a real enemy who we could face for the next 20-30 years.
2.Emergence of Asia as a super power.
3.Too much governmental waste in Washington D.C.
4.Dependence on Oil.

Lastly he spoke on his healthcare plan and how he applied those four esteps mentioned earlier in its creation. He ended with a quote by Abigail Adams, “Great necessities call out great virtues.” It was a great ending to his speech and I think made a great impact.

He then opened the time up to some questions. Two which I will write about.

Q: I couldn't hear
A: We need to continue growing the economy. We need to reign in the entitlements and use that money for military and technology.

Q: Asked about his energy ideas
A: Out energy problem is a supply and demand issue.

Supply: We need more. We should support things like off shore drilling and ANWR. He also supports finding alternative sources for energy such as bio-fuels etc.

Demand: We are way too inefficient. We should have incentives for Hybrid technology and energy saving solutions.

Romney in Chicago

Romney will be at the University of Chicago today speaking at a lunchtime forum. I will be there along with some others. I will be easy to find, look for me in the Napolean Dynamite style "Vote for Mitt" T-shirt.

Romney Speaks at Summit on Race

Rommney was the keynote speaker at the summit on race in Detroit. Read about it here.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the keynote speaker at today's luncheon, said Metro Detroiters and others across the nation are up to the task. Romney's father George Romney is a former Michigan governor and a co-founder of New Detroit.

"America will always solve the problems it faces if it owns up to them," he said. "You can work as I will on the answers."

Romney in Chicago

Here is some more info on Romney in Chicago.

http://www.chicagogsb-dss.org/

If you are intersted let me know. It's a free lunch time event to my understanding. There are so far about four of us going to be there. It should be great.

Romney and the Religous Right

James Dobson makes the pronouncment that Christians won't vote for Romney. It is truly sad, but wrong. Dobson making these remarks are no surprise when you consider it was Dobson's wife who refused to allow a Mormon to pray at the National Day of Prayer event in Washington D.C. a couple years back.

But in other ways it is surprising since a simple googling of "James Dobson Mormon" will give you many articles of Chrsitians complaining that Dobson is bed with the mormons and selling out. Could this have anything to do with his recent comments? I don't know.

So where will this go? Probably no where.

A Secure Article

Family Security Matters writes a glowing article of Romney. PRaising Romney's recent decisions with the Iranian Khatami editor Charles Mitchell had this to say,

Those are some actions. But in this war, words are also extremely important. During a global war on Islamic fascism that will likely last decades, the president must be able to rally the nation (and sometimes even the world) to the cause. He must be able to explain exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it. At this point, most reasonable people will probably admit that for all his virtues, President Bush often struggles in this regard.

But Gov. Romney does not. Nor does he fall into the trap of saying this war is just against terror. “They are terrorists, yes, but more directly they are jihadists,” he told ABC recently. Basically, he is just as security-minded as Bush—noting that Iraq is the central front in the war—but just says it better. (For example, he criticized the decision to rely so completely on WMD justifications to go into Iraq in favor of a broader and more positive case.) He also does not fall into the trap of saying the war is about one man, be it Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, or whoever. Here is what he said on TV when Sen. John Kerry (remember him?) made that error:

I think it shows a complete lack of understanding of the kind of enemy that we’re facing. This is not a small group of wackos in the hills that all we have to do is go find one person and it suddenly goes away.

He also had this to say:

More recently, he has endorsed (unlike Sen. John McCain, who led a Republican revolt) President Bush’s plan to interrogate detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

Romney in Chicago

Mitt Romney will be speaking at the University of Chicago Buisness school next Wednesday at lunchtime. More details will come soon.

Romney announces New Hampshire Commonwealth steering Commitee

Governor Mitt Romney’s Commonwealth PAC Announces
New Hampshire Steering Committee
October 4, 2006 – Governor Mitt Romney’s New Hampshire Commonwealth PAC unveiled a Steering Committee today consisting of prominent Republicans and business leaders in all ten New Hampshire counties, from Coos to the sea. The Steering Committee will provide guidance to the Commonwealth PAC as it continues to provide financial and political support to New Hampshire Republican candidates in 2006.

“I am honored that so many prominent Granite Staters have joined the Commonwealth PAC’s Steering Committee,” Governor Romney said. “These people are statewide and community leaders who are committed to New Hampshire’s future and I’m proud to have them on the team.”

“This is a critically important election year for New Hampshire,” said Bruce Keough, Chairman of the New Hampshire Commonwealth PAC Steering Committee. “The Commonwealth PAC will continue to be a source of support for our candidates, local organizations and the grassroots leaders who are committed to ensuring the New Hampshire Advantage and our unparalleled quality of life remain intact.”

The New Hampshire Commonwealth PAC Steering Committee

Title
First Name
Last Name
Town
Association

Mr.
Tom
Boucher
Bedford
Former Chairman, N.H. Lodging & Restaurant Association

Sheriff
Dan
Collis
Laconia
Sheriff, Belknap County; Chairman, Law Enforcement for Bush 2004

Mr.
Bryson
Cook
Bedford
Branch Manager, Smith Barney

Atty.
Wayne
Coull
Laconia
Acting County Attorney, Belknap County

Atty.
Craig
Donais
Bedford
Former N.H. Assistant Attorney General

Mrs.
Nancy
Dwight
Lyme
Former Executive Director, Republican National Congressional Committee

Hon.
Don
Dwight
Lyme
Former Lt. Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Mr.
Scott
Earnshaw
Bedford
President, New Hampshire Traditional Marriage and Family Institute

Mrs.
Liz
Feren
Hooksett
Former Hooksett GOP Chair

Hon.
Kevin
Gage
Nashua
Former Alderman, City of Nashua

Hon.
Mary
Griffin
Windham
State Representative, Deputy Majority Whip

Hon.
Tony
Giunta
Franklin
Former Mayor, City of Franklin

Hon.
Peter
Heed
Westmoreland
Former N.H. Attorney General

Hon.
Will
Infantine
Manchester
State Representative

Hon.
Bing
Judd
Pittsburg
County Commissioner, Coos County

Mr.
George
Kassas
Derry
Founder & Exec. V.P., Cedar Point Communications

Hon.
Bruce
Keough
Dublin
Steering Committee Chairman, Former State Senator & 2002 GOP gubernatorial candidate

Mr.
Doug
Kruse
Manchester
School Board, City of Manchester

Mr.
Beno
Lamontagne
Colebrook
Chairman, Coos County Economic Development Corp.

Atty.
Tom
Laporte
Chester
Chair, Attorneys for Bush-Cheney 2004 & Member, Chester Budget Committee

Mr.
Eric
Letendre
Tuftonboro
Principal, Shannon Investments

Mr.
Gary
Levy
Portsmouth
COMMPAC-NH Finance Chairman; President, State Street Discount

Sheriff
Dan
Linehan
Danville
Sheriff, Rockingham County

Hon.
George
Lovejoy
Barrington
Former State Senator & Co-Founder, Granite State Taxpayers

Atty.
Gordon
MacDonald
Concord
Former Campaign Director, Gordon Humphrey for Governor

Ms.
Patricia
Mahoney
Rye
NH GOP Chair, Town of Rye

Mrs.
Betty
Maiola
Newport
Select Board member, Town of Newport

Mr.
Shane
McKinney
Conway
Carroll County co-chairman, Bush 2004

Hon.
Ken
Merrifield
Franklin
City Councilor, City of Franklin

Atty.
Jim
Merrill
Manchester
Chairman, COMMPAC-NH; Grassroots Co-chair, NH Bush-Cheney 2004

Lt. Col.
Mike
Moffett
Concord
Lt. Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves; Professor, N.H. Technical Institute

Hon.
Claira
Monier
Goffstown
Executive Director, N.H, Housing Finance Authority

Hon.
Paul
Needham
Derry
Former Chairman, Derry Town Council

Mr.
Kent
Nolan
Goffstown
School Board member, Town of Goffstown

Mr.
Karl
Norwood
Bedford
Principal, Norwood Realty Group

Mr.
German
Ortiz
Bedford
Member, Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs

Hon.
Steve
Panagoulis
Plymouth
Former County Commissioner, Grafton County

Hon.
Betsey
Patten
Moultonborough
State Representative; Former Carroll County GOP Chair

Mr.
Ray
Pinard
Deerfield
Principal, Monticello Group; Former Chairman, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce; 2004 Bush-Cheney Small Business Chairman

Hon.
Pam
Price
Nashua
State Representative; House Majority Whip

Hon.
Jim
Reams
Hampton
County Attorney, Rockingham County

Mr.
Jim
Rivers
Concord
Senior Aide to NH House Speaker; Former Press Secretary, Governor Stephen Merrill

Mrs.
Barbara
Russell
Dover
NH Bush-Cheney Campaign Co-Chair 2000; Former Vice Chair, NH Republican Party

Mr.
John
Sangenario
Hampton
Town Chair, Bush-Cheney 2004

Mrs.
Jeanne
Sangenario
Hampton
Town Chair, Bush-Cheney 2004

Mr.
Gene
Savage
Barrington
Former Vice Chancellor, Univ. System of New Hampshire (USNH)

Hon.
Paul
Smith
Farmington
Former State Representative

Mr.
Mark
Sykas
Stratham
Town Chair, Bush-Cheney 2004

Mrs.
Sharon
Sykas
Stratham
Past President, Seacoast Federation of Republican Women

Mrs.
Siobhan
Tautkus
Manchester
Former Staff Member, Office of Governor Steve Merrill & Alderman Candidate, Manchester

Hon.
Jim
Tollner
Nashua
Alderman At-Large, City of Nashua