Quinnipiac has a poll out of Florida this morning which has Mitt Romney up by 2 points. But the internals are key. The poll straddles the South Carolina primary: three days (254 interviews) before and two days (347 interviews) after the results. Before the primary Romney was up by 11 points; after Newt was up by 6 points. So we still have the same basic picture of Newt making dramatic gains in the wake of the Saturday’s results.
The new data brings the TPM Poll Average of Florida is Gingrich 35.8%, Romney 32.3%, Santorum 10.9%, Paul 9%.
Trend chart after the jump … Read More
Walker starts out ahead against Dems in the upcoming recall election.
Evan McMorris-Santoro on how the professional left is reacting to the fundraising prospects of Newt Gingrich winning the GOP nomination. Money quote: “We all think it’s funny as shit, but I don’t see anyone believing it could actually happen.”
Gabby Giffords resigns from Congress today. Watch her entrance into the House chamber for the State of the Union address last night: Read More
President Obama’s State of the Union turns into point-by-point refutation of Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney just said on NBC that President Obama raised corporate tax rates. But that is simply false.
Well, in some respects I have to compliment the president on adopting a whole series of ideas that I’ve been speaking about for the last several years. If you want to get the economy going, lower corporate tax rates. He’s raised them.
In the land of 30 second commercials you could probably fudge and said that parts of health care reform raised fees on corporations. But Romney specifically says rates, which is just demonstrably not true. Our Brian Beutler caught it when he said it.
Has anyone heard Romney say precisely this before?
Read the transcript.
The speech Mitch Daniels is giving is certainly better than what we’re hearing on the primary trail. That said, it’s for a very different audience — the American middle, as opposed to Republican primary voters. Daniel is also an impressive figure in his own way. I mean that. But, My God, not in a running for president kind of way. The idea that Daniels would be seen now by many Republican as a White Knight who could save them from Newt and Mitt is a testament to how weak they see the current field.
9:48 PM: I guess I wasn’t the only to hear that name-check of Romney on letting the housing market bottom out?
9:50 PM: Obama: Willing to be flexible on milk spill regs.
9:55 PM: Great idea for Mitt to release his tax returns today. True stroke of genius. Because who could have predicted President Obama would make the Buffett Rule a centerpiece of his speech?
9:58 PM: Dems are usually really bad at making the simple point that all tax policy involves trade-offs. This passage got it right. Probably the best part of the speech …
We don’t begrudge financial success in this country. We admire it. When Americans talk about folks like me paying my fair share of taxes, it’s not because they envy the rich. It’s because they understand that when I get tax breaks I don’t need and the country can’t afford, it either adds to the deficit, or somebody else has to make up the difference – like a senior on a fixed income; or a student trying to get through school; or a family trying to make ends meet. That’s not right. Americans know it’s not right.
10:02 PM: Email just out from the Speaker’s Office …
Because the president clearly cannot run on his record, he has regrettably turned to the politics of envy and division. The “Buffett Rule” is a gimmick. We need to cut spending, not impose tax hikes that would destroy jobs.
10:09 PM: Shorter Obama: I’m looking at you, Romney