Gingrich hopes for a ballot push from Virginia

December 20, 2012
Katharine Q Seelye


Newt Gingrich is getting a head start on the election ballot, deciding to veer off the campaign trail and head there on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he hastily added two events in Virginia to his schedule, to meet and greet with the volunteers early in the morning.

In order to get on Virgina's Republican presidential primary ballot, he needed a total amount of at least 10,000 signatures. The signature-gathering exercise is where Mr. Gingrich’s lack of field organization shows whereas Mitt Romney had already tackled the challenge.

Mr. Gingrich expresses his worry for not getting the signatures fast enough by Thursday. If he is close to the needed number and reaches it, his last-minute push could serve as a heartening sign of strength.

Bachmann tries to keep her Campaign alive

December 29, 2011, 7:24 PM

By Armando Manatano

Michele compares herself to Margaret Thatcher. She is a conservative British prime minister during the 1980's that was known for her toughness. Bachmann claims that the world needs another person like Thatcher. Bachmann hopes to leave an impressive performance in Iowa but her polls say something different. 

A lady named Monica Mulder commented about Bachmann being a female. She says that she thinks people are scared of voting for a woman. Monica thinks that is surprising because she thought people would want to vote for a strong female leader for our country. Perhaps, the people don't think she is as strong as she thinks she is....

Paul answers some Questions

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/22/paul-rushes-to-iowa-events-takes-few-questions-as-caucus-nears/

Dec 22, 2011
Shannon Travis


Ron Paul is in Iowa going from stop to stop to answer the questions the state has for him. One of the ladies said, "I am actually a Democrat and I am in love with you." She wanted to know how can she help promote Ron's campaign. Paul said she would be a very good ambassador.


Paul said that he does get a lot of support from Democrats and independents. Paul admitted that he is fighting a belief. He says that his ideas and proposals are so out of step within his party that he'd never win the Republican nomination.

People asked him about the criticizing of the National Defense Authorization Act – a measure recently signed by President Obama that outlines defense spending priorities but also contains controversial provisions regarding terror detainees.

"Frequently I have talked over the years about a revolutionary change in this country. Revolutionary in the sense of a change in ideas. Not - I'm trying to prevent the violence," Paul said. "Cause if we continue to do this, there's going to be a lot of difficulties on the street."

Gingrich's Plan to increase his Supporters

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/gingrich-promises-a-44-stop-bus-tour-to-fight-negative-ads/

Dec 19th, 2011
Trip Gabriel

Newt notices that his campaign is suddenly slipping so he thought of a way to gain his popularity back. He promised a 44-stop "jobs and prosperity" tour before the Iowa Caucas. He is going again the negative ads that his rivals present to voters. He says that he is disappointed that some of his friends who are running put so much negative information out the public.

He spoke at a private security company of 100 people and commented on how our country needs a strong defense team due to North Korea's, Kim Jong-il's death. Ron Paul's ads accuses Gingrich of a "serial hypocrisy", Romney's group pointed out Gingrich's "baggage", and Rick Perry keep identifying himself as a Washington insider.
 
A financial advisor, Todd Harris had questions about a $300,000 fine Mr. Gingrich paid for an ethics violation while in the House, and wanted to hear more about the $1.6 million or more that the candidate earned from Freddie Mac.

Bachmann's Thoughts

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/16/bachmann-on-gingrich-i-am-not-a-student-of-his/

Dec 16th, 2011
Peter Hamby

Michelle was speaking to reporters who were on a bus tour with her; she was targeting Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. She said, "They are both moderates and they haven't held conservative positions. All you have to do is look at the fact that Newt has been backing the individual health care mandate for 20 years, as recently as May of this year. This is exactly what I have been fighting, and also with Mitt Romney as well." She also said that Gingrich had the most liberal record on illegal immigration of anyone in the Republican field.

Bachmann said that she is a serious candidate for the presidential election and that she should be treated equal. Bachmann thinks that Gingrich doesnt treat her differently because of her gender.

She also said that Haley is a terrific governor and that she would love to have her endorsement.

Rick Perry

Dec 11, 2011
Dan Balz

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-rapid-fall-of-rick-perry/2011/12/01/gIQAicT2nO_story.html


I learned a lot of Rick Perry in this article. I learned that he was the governor of Texas for 11 years and counting. He was a democrat but then switched to a republican.

Rick Perry went from a front-runner in August and now he is down at the bottom by October. He is hoping to increase his support from the upcoming Iowa Caucus. It has been known that he has been spending a lot of time and money to reach his goal.

There are two assumptions that come out of this. He thinks he is different than Gingrich and Romney by describing himself as the only Washington outsider. In addition, he tries to portray himself as the "faith and values" candidate in hope of winning Iowa's votes.

One thing that really hurt his campaign was when he couldn't remember one of the three federal agencies during a debate. Then he made it worst by appearing on a morning show with David Letterman. That was when voters decided that he wasn't fit to be elected.

Newt comments on Palestinians

December 10th, 2011
Sara Murray


Newt Gingrich said that Palestinians are "invented" people are drawing protest from Palestinian officials and criticism from suporters of rival candidate Mitt Romney. “We have had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs,” is what he said during an interview. Palestinian legislator commented back and said that Newt has lost touch with reality and is trying too hard to try to win the pro-Israel vote. Romney's surrogates also added that Newt is, "A loose cannon who struggles to stay on message." Newt comments at an Jewish Republican Coalition was that if he were to be elected, he would immediately move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Other Than That, Mr. Cain, How Was the Campaign?

December 6th, 2011
Nate Silver

There is the line graph that display's Cain's popularity before the scandal been revealed and after. From September to the end of October, his trend was increasing. When November came around, his trend went downhill. This is because of the sex scandal reporting that he sexually harassed two women. Nate Silver agrees that it is true that a candidate who hasnt had a high-profile race before will run into more problems. But he doesnt agree with the way Cain handled it. Moreover, Nate believes that any candidate that has a sex scandal revealed about him/her would not go very far with the election.