It’s day two of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Follow TPM for live updates and reports. Here are ten things you need to know.
- Romney, Gingrich and Santorum speak at CPAC today: Three of the Republican presidential candidates will speak at CPAC today. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum will take the podium at 10:30AM, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be up at 12:55PM, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is slotted for 4:10PM. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), a libertarian that often bucks traditional conservative orthodoxy, will not be speaking at the event.
- Obama hits 49 percent in Gallup tracking: President Obama’s approval rating has been ticking up, having been positive in Rasmussen’s tracking poll for four days in a row. Now he may be verging into that territory in the Gallup nightly numbers as well — he hit 49 percent yesterday. The last time Obama was at 50 percent in Gallup’s tracking poll was early June, but he’s also snapped back quickly after short bursts in their numbers over the last few months, so we’ll know which at 1 p.m. eastern when the polling organization releases its numbers.
- Romney keeps hitting Santorum on earmarks: The theme for Romney after Santorum reshaped the race for the GOP nomination by winning the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses has been the DC insider–outsider comparsion, and specifically Santorum’s pursuit of earmarks when he was the Senator from Pennsylvania. Romney continues to send reporters lists of earmarks that Santorum supported, including $500,000 For A “Luxurious Polar-Bear Exhibit” at the Pittsburgh Zoo, $900,000 For “Hides And Leather Research” at the Eastern Regional Research Center in Wyndmoor, PA and just for good measure, the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska.
- DCCC goes after Rep. Allen West (R-FL) on the STOCK Act: Democrats clearly think they have a political winner in the STOCK Act, which attempts to bar DC insiders from trading on stocks in companies that are affected by legislation they are working on. “Despite a national demand to pass tough accountability and transparency measures to protect the public, West let crucial reforms get stripped out. Sadly, West and his Republican leaders blocked bipartisan common-sense reforms to remove insider information or public corruption,” said Jesse Ferguson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in a release, referring to a watered down version of the legislation passed Thursday by the House. A tougher version sailed through the Senate.
- Cook Political Report: Democrats may need 40 seats to retake the House: In an article blasted out by the House Republican campaign arm, the Cook Political Report states that Democrats actually need 40 seats to retake the House, due to redistricting in various states, rather than the simple 25 to make up the current deficit. “Compared to the average net House swing of 38 seats in the last three wave elections (2006, 2008, and 2010), the 25 seats Democrats need doesn’t sound like a lot,” David Wasserman wrote for Cook. “But thanks to redistricting and retirements, Democrats enter 2012 with far more “liability” seats of their own than they had in 2006 and 2008 or than Republicans had in 2010. In 2010, Republicans lost just three seats of their own and picked up 66 Democratic seats. In 2008, Democrats lost just four seats of their own and picked up 25 GOP seats. In 2006, Democrats didn’t lose any of their own seats, but picked up 30 GOP seats. These unilateral shifts aren’t going to repeat in 2012.”
- DNC goes after Romney on Washington donations: Romney may be pushing the fact that he’s the only Republican candidate without time in Washington, but Democrats aren’t letting him get away on that count — the Democratic National Committee is out with a new web ad compiling all the donations he’s received from DC special interest groups in an attempt to connect the dots, called “Web Of Influence.”
- Romney picks up Rossi endorsement: Romney has been endorsed by former Washington Gubernatorial and US Senate candidate Dino Rossi, well ahead of Washington’s March 3rd caucuses. “I urge my fellow Washingtonians to support Mitt Romney because our economy can’t afford four more years of failure from the White House. The most important issue facing the federal government is to create a sustainable budget that doesn’t continue to drain resources away from private employers and innovative entrepreneurs. Mitt Romney is uniquely qualified to lead this effort,” Rossi said in a release from the Romney campaign.
- Obama touts gay rights record at DC fundraiser: President Obama spoke about his views on gays rights issues at a fundraiser in Washington last night, and after speaking about his accomplishments on repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and increasing hospital visitation rights through federal rules. “For all the other stuff going on, one thing every American understands is you should be treated fairly; you should be judged on the merits. If you work hard, if you do a good job, if you’re responsible in your community, if you’re looking after you family, if you’re caring for other people, then that’s how you should be judged. Not by what you look like, not by how you worship, not by where you come from, not by who you love,” the President said.
- Tester decrys negative ads in Montana: The US Chamber of Commerce is out with a huge ad buy across the country, and one of their targets is Montana Sen. Jon Tester. Tester pushed back Thursday by again asking his opponent, Rep. Denny Rehberg, to sign a pledge rejecting all third party advertising. “This is exactly the kind of dirty attack ad–secretly funded by out-of-state special interests and big corporations–that Montanans don’t want polluting this election,” Montanans for Tester campaign manager Preston Elliott said in a release.
- Maine caucus results released Saturday: The final tallies from Maine’s week long caucuses will be announced Saturday evening, and Romney is hoping to halt his losing streak after Tuesday’s disappointing finishes in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. He’ll be in the state friday, and the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future has been running ads in an attempt to beat back a push from Rep. Ron Paul for Maine’s delegates.
