High Ground Underground

In this post: 1. Polls 2. “The 47%” 3.  “Bengazi-gate” & “Bumps in the Road” 4. Harry Reid & “the Face of Mormonism” 5. DNC Part 2 Polls While we do need to keep working on the election, I’ve read a number of articles about how biased (oversampling Democrats) some of the recent polling (& media) is, how the undecided historically always break for the non-incumbent, how Romney's continuing to grow his lead over Obama among middle-class & Catholics -- both decisive demographics.  Sept. 23 – one poll commentator said that “the only area Romney is beating Obama is the economy & deficit.”  Isn’t that only the most important issue before us (“it’s the economy, stupid”)? For the first time this week (Sept. 28), Romney is now polling higher than Obama on handling foreign affairs.  And enthusiasm among Obama's 2008 supporters is waning.  So we don't need to be overly distraught.  The Romney campaign internal polling shows ...

On this Halloween, I can’t think of anything scarier than the thought of another Obama term. But the GOP race is lately a bit scary, as well, with mud flying. Following up on my last blog, regarding Romneycare, I now feel vindicated for my intuition. Perry is scaring people by running an ad with clips of Romney that show him apparently endorsing Romneycare for the nation like Obamacare. But when interviewed on the Russert program, Romney said that Perry’s ad misleadingly left out the explicit qualification he gave at the same time of “not at the federal level.” Sometimes you have to suspend judgment or use common sense until you have the facts. As the saying goes, a lie (or half-truth) goes halfway around the world before the truth gets out the door. To raise an accusation is always easier and less time-consuming than to answer it. But to prove I can be objective and reasonably fair, I was disappointed at an ad I saw run by the Romney campaign showing Perry bumbling in the debate...

My personal Nevada Poll On Oct. 15 I volunteered for Mitt Romney’s campaign, making survey phone calls for 3 hours to GOP voters in the Las Vegas area (N. Las Vegas, Boulder City, Henderson, Pahrump, Alamo, Searchlight (Harry Reid country), Beatty, Tonopah, Overton, Panaca, Pioche & Round Mountain) just days before the CNN debate there. Questions included: what’s the next most important issue besides the economy & jobs, which candidate do you support, whether they planned on participating in the Nevada caucuses, and if they support Romney, whether they’d be willing to help and/or receive emails. I made 93 calls, and got 18 to go thru the survey. Of those 18, 5 ½ for Romney (halves were split w. another candidate), 3 + two halves for Cain, 1 for Newt & ½ for Ron Paul. 7 undecided. A small sample, but seems consistent w. national polls, except Perry. I also left 39 voice messages (expected on a Sat. afternoon), 12 were unavailable (someone else answered), 10 not intere...

Pastor Jeffress and the C-word At the Values Voters Summit in Washington where the GOP candidates & some supporters spoke, First Baptist Church of Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress introduced Gov. Perry, calling him a “genuine follower of Jesus Christ & born again, and that’s what we want.” This is unmistakable code among especially Evangelicals who apparently call every self-proclaimed Christian creed except Mormons Christians. Just think back to Huckabee’s “Christian candidate” signs & TV ads in 2008. We’re savvy to that subterfuge. But Perry-supporting callers to shows continue to use it. “He later told reporters that Christians have a “duty” to vote for a “competent Christian” over an equally-competent person of another faith. Specifically, he said Evangelicals should pull the lever for Perry over Mitt Romney because of Romney’s Mormonism, which Jeffress said is “a cult”. And now, we have a media-hyped brouhaha over religious bigotry in the Republican Party.” [from “Th...