High Ground Underground

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...

Despite Perry’s early uninformed high poll numbers, Romney remains strong, and Perry’s veneer appears to be fading as he came under attack on various issues in the debates. These included his executive order mandating female child HPV inoculations (& possibly scandalous donations by the benefitting drug company & his persuasive staffer who benefitted), his stance on higher education benefits for illegals, his approach to Social Security dismantling, and the amount of credit he should take for his jobs record. When asked how much credit Perry deserves for Texas’ relatively strong jobs record, Romney replied that being dealt 4 aces doesn’t make you a good poker player. I.e., Perry already had a state w. no state income tax, w. Republican legislature, low corporate taxes, and right-to-work laws (not so union-burdened). And he pointed out that Perry’s 2 predecessors had higher job growth. Perry countered that his terms were in a time of national downturn. Yes, but not as dire ...