Evening eats

a. Huck will headline a Sept 19 fundraiser for the Arkansas GOP.

b. Pawlenty: "The era of education policy written for and by teachers' unions is drawing to a close."

c. Levi Johnston and flame shop for Tripp.

d. And in the interest of fairness, here's Bristol, out-and-about.

e. It's still a dead-heat in California.

f. Rubio gets hit for not signing Beck's 9/12 pledge.

g. Schundler's staying home.

h. An old classic, though don't expect the AFI to recognize it anytime soon.

Romney: "Keep the good, drop the bad"

Mitt Romney releases a statement, applauding Barack Obama for proposing a new round of tax cuts for businesses, and warning against a second "spending stimulus" (he doesn't explicitly identify, but it's assumed he's talking about the injection of infrastructure spending).

“For two years we've listened to President Obama say that Republicans have no ideas to boost the economy as he pursued his reckless spending policies. Now he's finally adopting some of the job-creating incentives for which I and other Republicans have been calling. Making the R&D tax credit permanent and letting businesses immediately write off capital expenditures will make a real difference for jobs and the economy. It's unfortunate that it has taken the President so long to listen.

“It would be a mistake, however, to attach another spending stimulus, paid for with higher taxes, to the ideas that will actually work. Keep the good, and drop the bad."

Jindal might still endorse

Over the weekend, Bobby Jindal indicated he wouldn't get involved in the Louisiana Senate race between David Vitter and Charlie Melancon, saying "voters can make up their own minds."

Yet now, he appears to be hedging, via his chief spokeswoman, Melissa Sellers.

"The governor hasn't gotten involved in the Senate race yet."

The Times-Picayune notes that she declined to elaborate.

Values Voter Summit Straw Poll Ballot

A weird list -- Jan Brewer and Marco Rubio make it, but not Haley Barbour or John Thune.

Next week, Family Research Council Action will hold its 2012 presidential straw poll during its fifth annual Values Voter Summit.

The ballot will feature 17 possible presidential candidates, several of whom will be speaking at the Summit – Michele Bachmann, Jan Brewer, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Bob McDonnell, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Rick Santorum.

Neither Barbour nor Thune are speaking, but a speaking role can't be the criteria for making the list because Palin and Brewer don't seem to be speaking, either (much less, attending).

So maybe putting Brewer on the list gives folks angry at illegal immigration the chance to vent?

[Hat tip: Carrie Dann]

Poizner endorses Whitman

Meg Whitman's erstwhile foe for the CA Republican gubernatorial nomination, Steve Poizner, announces his endorsement of eMeg and the GOP ticket.

Highlight:

"The choice between our Republican ticket and the Democrat ticket could not be more clear. From Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina to Damon Dunn and Mike Villines, our ticket offers a clear contrast to candidates nominated by the Democratic Party.

"Our ticket is led by successful business women who know that if there is to be a viable public sector, there must be a vibrant private sector. They know that the best, most reliable job is one created by the private sector. They understand that governments, like families and businesses, must live within their means.

"I know the Palin people are aware of us"

Benyamin Korn, the founder of the website Jews for Sarah Palin, says he hasn't quite seen his project take off, but remains undaunted.

Korn tells The Report that he is busy “assembling the components” of his new organization for which he hopes to have 50 board members and several chapters formed around the country.

As of mid-August, he still had less than two dozen board members and was not ready to announce any chapters.

.... Korn would not reveal the details of the national chapter network he hopes to establish because, he says, the organization is still in the planning stages.

But he does divulge that his group will have an “energizing public gathering” in northern New Jersey in the fall.

Another way of saying he has a tall order comes from Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of the left-wing Jewish group, J Street.

“If ‘Buddy’ Korn is able to pull together enough Jews who are publicly willing to support Sarah Palin that he could form a minyan (prayer quorum of ten), more power to him,” Ben-Ami writes in an e-mail to The Jerusalem Report.

“There hasn’t been anyone in American politics that I can remember attracting higher negative ratings among Jewish Americans than Sarah Palin.

“I guess that’s the beauty of democracy – even the 14 percent of American Jews who have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin deserve a political home,” he quips.

Still, Korn seems satisfied by what he views are steps in the right direction.

Noting that his goal is to “create space for Sarah Palin in Jewish communication” and to support her “in whatever she does, whether she becomes a candidate or not,” Korn obviously feels that American Jews for Sarah Palin has achieved that goal.

“I know the Palin people are aware of us.”

The author also notes that disenchantment with the Obama's Administration's policy toward Israel makes the climate a bit riper for an organization like Jews for Sarah Palin, although -- of course -- there are lots of other options for critical Jews than joining a Palin fan club.

Crist opposes burning Qurans (we think)

It might be curtains if Charlie Crist reverses himself and ends up lighting the first match.

Crist, on the Florida church that plans on burning Qurans to mark 9/11.

"I certainly wouldn't advise that.

I don't think that's a productive use of time. As we know the First Amendment gives people the right to express themselves, but I think I'd agree with Gen. Patreaus. He indicated he did not think it would be the right thing to do."

[Hat tip: Adam Smith]

Romney to Iowa

Tom Beaumont reports that Mitt Romney is planning an October 26 visit to Iowa, where he'll stump for Republican gubernatorial candidate, Terry Branstad, as well as congressional and state-house candidates.

It would be Romney’s first visit to Iowa since March, when he held a book-signing in Des Moines and gave a speech at Iowa State University in Ames.

The trip (if not the details) were foretold last month when Romney spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, explained his absence from the Iowa state fair -- long a watering hole for Presidential prospects.

"He was spending August with his family on vacation. He was in Iowa in March on his book tour, and he will return to Iowa in the fall to campaign with Terry Branstad."

Interestingly, in a March 2010 interview with Politico, Terry Brandstad echoed the conventional wisdom that Romney doesn't have to knock-'em-dead in Iowa.

Terry Branstad.... suggested that Romney wouldn’t be punished were he to not go all-in here again.

“I think he should play in Iowa, but he maybe overplayed in the last go-round,” said Branstad, who will play an influential role in the 2012 presidential caucus should he win in November.

He added: “I don’t think you want to run against Iowa, [but] I’m not saying you’ve got to make Iowa the be all to end all.”

Obviously, Iowa voters demand a lot from their candidates, but the fact that Branstad seems to be quite alright if Romney doesn't put everything possible into Iowa shows Mitt might have something of a free hall pass from an important leader in the state.

Embracing "refudiate"

The AP reports that users of Merriam-Webster's online dictionary searched for "refudiate" more than any other non-word or word this summer.

Of course, in summer Sarah Palin tweeted out the term, a hybrid that Webster's president and publisher called "an interesting blend" of "refute" and "repudiate".

Miller tbd on Palin/Beck rally

According to the National Review, AK Senate candidate, Joe Miller, is undecided on attending the 9/11 rally in Alaska, which will reportedly feature Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.

“There has been some contact [between camps],” he says, but he tells us that for the moment, he is unsure whether he will attend.

Their celestial souls

Over the past 2 years, I've written over 10,000 posts on the '12 candidates, but for all that, I've never thought about what their celestial souls might look like.

Until now. Check out artist Erial Ali's conceptualizations.

Personal fav: Sarah Palin, although they're all good, though Huck's is fairly middling (looks like Ali checked that celestial soul in).

[Hat tip: AllahPundit]

Not exactly M. Night Shyamalan

The Palm Beach Post describes Charlie Crist's fairly predictable TV spot.

Crist comes out for ‘people,’ against ‘politics’ in new TV ad

Santorum's Google Problem

I guess you could call it "Google-gate" or "Man-on-dog-Gate" or something like that, but Mother Jones highlights a problem Rick Santorum might have to deal with should he run -- how to make bad google links disappear (or at least, disappear to the 13th or 14th page).

Stephanie Mencimer gives some background.

Santorum's problem got its start back in 2003, when the then-senator from Pennsylvania compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia, saying the "definition of marriage" has never included "man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

The ensuing controversy prompted syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage, who's gay, to start a contest, soliciting reader suggestions for slang terms to "memorialize the scandal."

The winner came up with the "frothy mixture" idea, Savage launched a website, and a meme was born. Even though mainstream news outlets would never link to it, Savage's site rose in the Google rankings, thanks in part to bloggers who posted Santorum-related news on the site or linked to it from their blogs.

Eventually it eclipsed Santorum's own campaign site in search results.

When Mencimer asked Santorum how he's planning to deal with the problem, the ex-Senator wouldn't reply, but one expert (CEO of Reputation Defender, Michael Fertik) offers a few solutions -- one of which Barack Obama used as candidate Obama.

[Fertik] notes that more than anything, Santorum needs to act quickly. Once the campaign starts to make headlines again, an increase in search traffic will likely help maintain Savage's high spot in the rankings: "It's going to be very hard to move."

To at least make a dent, Santorum could try a concerted push to generate links to his domain on prominent sites and blogs, ginning its Google ranking; Mark Skidmore, an expert in search-engine marketing at the online strategy firm Blue State Digital, says Santorum should also consider buying paid search results for his name. He says the Obama campaign successfully used this strategy to help bury sites that claimed Obama was a Muslim or not an American citizen.

Btw, Gerald Seib has a break-down of 2012 prospects this morning. Included in the mix: Rick Santorum.

An unlikely battleground in Texas

Texas Dem. gubernatorial candidate, Bill White, is starting to hit incumbent, Rick Perry, on a surprising issue -- the state budget for tourism.

April Castro:

"There are certain things we ought to take a machete to," he said when asked which programs could be eliminated. "The advertising budget right out of the governor's office has gone up from about $6,000 in 2001 to $22 million-plus today.

"We can't afford that."

Perry's response:

"He actually said those words? There is no governor's advertising budget."

The AP notes that the tourism office is housed under the governor's office and that it spent over $22 million last year on TV and print ads, featuring slogans like "Texas, it's a whole other country".

(You know how you played the state capitol game to prove your intellectual chops as a 4th grader? Here's a new idea: The state motto game).

As for that $22 million, Perry says he's already reduced spending in the dept, but he's not going to go too far.

Perry's spokesman, Mark Miner:

"I think there are many people in the travel industry in this state that would be very offended by Bill White's call to get rid of that fund."

[Hat tip: Texas Tribune]

The Newlywed Game

As last week's joint fundraiser for the Mississippi GOP proved, Haley Barbour and Mitch Daniels are good friends -- so much so that Mark Halperin introduces his questioning of Daniels by alluding to the "NewlyWed Game".

"Governor Daniels, I want to ask you a question I asked Governor Barbour the other day.

It's kind of like The Newlywed Game, see if you give the same answer he gave, since you all are friends and like-minded on a lot of things."

And from there, they're off.

Highlights:

Halperin: What are things your party has done affirmatively to put yourself in a position to be doing well at least right now?"

Daniels: "Not too darn much. That comes next. I would say this, I think the party, and Haley's closer to this, but has recruited some very good people to run in our little corner of the country we worked very hard on this, this is of no interest to folks elsewhere, but we have very high hopes of success in our state that will allow us to move forward.

This is a good point. Three months ago, Mary Beth Schneider highlighted just how hard Daniels has recruited candidates in his own state to help put the state house back into Republican hands.

Gov. Mitch Daniels’ political future may depend on Kim Builta in Anderson.

And on Kurt Webber in Indianapolis, Kevin Mahan in Hartford City and a couple dozen other Republicans running this fall, with Daniels’ backing, for seats in the Indiana House.

With two years left as governor and barred by law from seeking a third term, Daniels is making an all-out effort to put the Statehouse back under Republican control.

At stake is the agenda he hopes to pursue in his final years as Indiana’s chief executive, from education reforms to changes in local and state government. And winning the House could only burnish his national credentials, proving he has coattails and increasing his buzz as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

.... In 2006, he formed a political action committee, Mitch for a Majority. It raised about $300,000 that year, with all of the money going to the Indiana Republican Party.

In 2008, as he turned his attention to his own re-election, the PAC was dormant. But in 2009, the PAC was renamed Aiming Higher, and Daniels began an intensive effort to find candidates and raise the dollars to help them be successful. As of April 9, the end of the most recent reporting period, the PAC had $728,000.

And the continued kudos from Barbour's colleagues that speak to the devotion many in the GOP feel for him.

Halperin: "If Governor Barbour is successful with the RGA you'll have a lot more Republican colleagues. You have a lot of confidence in him?"

Daniels: "Absolutely, he's the best that our team's had and has been for 20 years and we're so lucky he's willing to do this and he's got a day job here in Mississippi that I know a little bit about and it's a great great thing. Every Republican ought to be grateful that he made time somehow to take on this extra job. But he's so good at it, I guess he can do it in his spare time."

[Hat tip: Ben Smith]

T-Paw to Asia this week

The AP on what will likely be Tim Pawlenty's last overseas trade mission as governor of Minnesota.

The Pawlenty contingent departs Thursday and will spend more than a week in China and Japan. It will be the Republican governor's second trade trip to China, with the first coming in 2005.

....The visit includes stops in major cities in both countries and meetings with business leaders and government officials.

[Hat tip: Minnesota Public Radio]

Jindal won't endorse Vitter

Some big news out of Louisiana -- Gov. Bobby Jindal says he'll stay out of the Senate race pitting Republican incumbent, David Vitter, against Democrat, Rep. Charlie Melancon.

Jindal:

"Voters can make up their own minds."

The Gov's been undecided on this one for quite awhile.

From a September, 2009 interview with Politico:

“We’ll make a decision whether we’ll get involved in that race once we get closer. We haven’t made that decision yet."

This could be a telling decision. If you remember, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins flirted with a primary challenge to Vitter last year, but ended up endorsing him.

If there were any prominent state-wide Republican name to hold off on endorsing Vitter, you'd think it would have been the head of a family organization, but it's Jindal who's been cautious.

Why? If he were to branch out into national politics, it might be a troubling association, so this could be with an eye toward national; not state things (of course, there's the other option: that Jindal genuinely didn't want to endorse a guy who was caught up in a prostitution scandal).

Obama approval dips in Illinois

A new Chicago Tribune poll shows Barack Obama's approval rating dipping -8% in the past year, from 59% to 51%.

It's not hard to see what's largely behind the drop in Obama's ratings.

Approval of Obama's handling of the economy and jobs has plummeted 16 percentage points from last year's survey.... Statewide, 47 percent of voters now say they disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, compared with 42 percent who approve.

And here's a tough demographic trend as the midterms approach.

White suburban women, who came out strong for Obama in 2004 and 2008, now just barely give his job performance positive marks — 41 percent say they approve while 39 percent say they don't, and 20 percent said they couldn't venture an opinion.

[Photo: PrPhots]

Newt prepping for decision

On her show last night, Greta Van Susteren asked Newt Gingrich why he won't just announce already that he's running for Prez.

Newt's answer: a) the rules don't look kindly on that and b) it's an "enormous challenge" to run.

Having said that, he acknowledged that "we're doing all the research, we're laying out all the planning, we know in general terms what it would take just to get to a 'yes'."

Love his hat tip to the FEC, btw. Don't hear this too often from prospective candidates, even though it guides every decision on timing (emphasis added).

GRETA: Why don't you admit you are running?

GINGRICH: Well, Callista and I will make a decision next February..

VAN SUSTEREN: Blah, blah, blah

GINGRICH: No, look -- as you know -- because you're an attorney and I'm not.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is that an insult or a compliment?

GINGRICH: Well, it's a compliment, in this case. I mean, there are times it's insulting, but this is a compliment. There are very profound reasons under the Federal Election Commission rules to not become a candidate.

'Cause there's all sorts of immediate consequences. And so you are going to find that there are a lot of people who are looking at running, none of whom who are going to make a decision to run for a long time.

SUSTEREN: Because that triggers...

GINGRICH: ... all sorts of legal implications.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Why wouldn't you?

GINGRICH: Why wouldn't I what?

VAN SUSTEREN: Why wouldn't you run?

GINGRICH: First of all, it's an enormous challenge.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are you not, like, up for a challenge?

GINGRICH: Look, it's something that Callista and I and our family really do have to talk through over the next couple of months. I suspect we'll spend a fair amount of Christmas and New Year's talking about it.

I mean, we're doing all the research, we're laying out all the planning, we know in general terms what it would take just to get to a "yes".

UPDATE: Vid, exchange comes near end.

Halperin: Palin did initiate it

Four-point review:

1. This week, The Des Moines Register reported that after ignoring an invitation for a year or more, Sarah Palin recently asked the Iowa state GOP if she could speak at a party event this September.

2. The Register and CQ Politics took it as an example of a new, more aggressive approach to positioning herself as a candidate.

3. Sarah Palin's team did not like the characterization and pushed back, with Palin herself calling a reporter "an idiot" and the report "way whacked."

4. Mark Halperin says a source with "intimate knowledge of Palin's decision to speak" reached out "several weeks ago" to see if she could appear, which further bolsters the Register's original report.

So what's the big deal?

I think the main reason Palin reacted so angrily to the story is because it undermines her efforts to portray herself as a reluctant candidate, who's only called to duty because she's literally called to duty by an army of activists.

Besides her pretty heated response this week, the clearest hint she's headed down the path comes from an exchange between her and Glenn Beck earlier this year.

BECK: I am waiting for George Washington to appear, someone who doesn't want to serve but will because he must, and someone who's so beyond question, he can bring people together and say 'look, we gotta do this. This is gonna be hard'.

PALIN: That's exactly what we need to seek in a candidate, someone -- I'll repeat this -- almost reluctant to serve, someone who will not prostitute themselves and say what they believe the voter wants to hear at that point in time in order to get elected.

Someone who the people find and ask "Will you sacrifice, will you do this for our country to get us back on the right track?"

BECK: That is why I think you're on the most admired list [of women]. Some people find you to be that. You came out of the blue, and you did serve. You were asked to serve, and you got butchered and you continually get butchered and yet you're still going?

PALIN: Well, let me tell you one thing in that vein. I would be perfectly happy to go back to Wasilla, Alaska with my five children and my grandson and raise a happy, health family, loving our great outdoors, doing the things we do in Alaska, but if I believe that in some capacity, I can help this great nation, I'm gonna be willing to sacrifice and to change some things in my lifestyle in order to serve.

No one -- barring Kevin Kline -- becomes President without wanting it really, really badly.

Bristol: "He needs to get his GED"

Jay Leno asks Bristol Palin about Levi Johnston's run for mayor.

LENO: Let me ask you a question: would you vote for him?

BRISTOL: Well, he needs to move to Wasilla -- to the city limits, and he needs to get his GED.

Couple more funny moments. Apparently, there was a spotlight in Wasilla (italics for emphasis mine).

LENO: Let's see. It's been two years since your life has changed, right?

BRISTOL: Yeah.

LENO: So how does it -- is it weird for you? Does it seem bizarre?

BRISTOL: Yeah, a little bit bizarre.

LENO: What's the strangest part?

BRISTOL: Well, I've been in the spotlight my whole life. My mom was mayor of Wasilla; then governor for a long time.

She also said she wasn't disappointed her heartbroken over her split with Levi.

LENO: Why not?

BRISTOL: I tried to make it work for my son -- didn't work -- I realized we're not meant to be, and I'm just focused on being a good Mom.

[Vid via HuffPo, and in a roundabout way, Conan O'Brien]

Vanity Fair reporter acknowledges error

Doug McMarlin, a spokesman for Sarah Palin's political action committee, said today that a controversial profile of his boss for VF is a "collection of lies."

Now its author, Michael Joseph Gross, admits to one mistake, though he stresses it was a mistake; not a lie.

In the article, he claims someone -- "perhaps a nanny" -- whisked Trig Palin away before his Mom took the podium at a rally. Turns out Trig Palin wasn't Trig Palin, but another child with Down Syndrome.

That child's mother told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I told him that. And he ignored it. It's not even like he didn't fact check - he just ignored facts."

The error has led quite a few people to question some material in the story -- particularly, material that hasn't quite passed the smell test.

Flashback Friday

For a slow news day, let's dig into the gop12 vault for some of the more obscure and (more or less) relevant things that have happened in the past few years.

December 2008 -- Charlie Crist gets married and puts out a... well, not a press release, but it's about as romantic as one.

"She's a beautiful first lady. I couldn't be more excited.... it's a great night for Florida and it's a great night for us."

February 2009: In an interview with Politico, Haley Barbour doesn't want to play favorites.

Q: So who are the John Englers, the Christie Whitmans, the Bill Welds of this moment for the Republican Party?

A: There are a lot of them, but you know, it doesn't serve any purpose for me to try and rate my colleagues against each other. I'm not stupid enough to do it.

March 2010: Jim DeMint likes Jeb.

"He would be a great president. He'd probably be the best on the list, if he didn't have the Bush name.... If he is interested, I'd sure be interested in talking to him."

June 2009 (aka better times) John Ensign sends three tweets while in Iowa.

a. Just toured an embryo transfer facility which helps make our milk and beef industries more productive.

b. It was great to get back to some of my roots as a veterinarian -- even had a calf suck on my finger.

c. Now off to Le Mars Blue Bunny ice cream. Big decision. What flavor or flavors to choose?

February 2009: Mitch Daniels pushes the Legislature to adopt rules designed to give teachers more immunity on issues of classroom discipline.

"It is time Indiana said to its children, sit down and hush up.

To their parents: if your child is causing trouble and harming some other student’s education, take it up with your kid, not the teacher or principal.

And to the lawyers, butt out."

August 2010: Bristol Palin defends her Mom's decision to resign by telling a protester that, sure, her Mom isn't representing Alaska anymore, but that's because "she's representing the United States."



April 2009: Jeb Bush chides those in the GOP who keep pining for the good old days.

"There's been a nostalgic look back by conservatives reminiscing about the good old days, which is nice but entirely irrelevant for the concerns of everyday Americans living in a 21st century that is radically different than life was even 20 years ago."

December 2009: Sarah Palin slams Mike Huckabee for having commuted Maurice Clemmons' sentence many years ago:

“It’s absolutely tragic and just unfathomable what has happened there, and I do feel bad for Huckabee.

But it was a horrible decision that he made.”

December 2008: Newt Gingrich begins his run for President.

"I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it."

April 2009: Stuart Rothenberg is mortal.

.... there are no signs of a dramatic rebound for the party, and the chance of Republicans winning control of either chamber in the 2010 midterm elections is zero.

Not “close to zero.” Not “slight” or “small.” Zero.”

September 2009: Rick Santorum's media consultant, John Brabender, says there's a Santorum-shaped hole in the 2012 field.

"You get the sense that there is this longing for someone to emerge. It is amazing to me the encouragement that he is getting."

October 29: Bernie Quigley compares Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin's book titles.

There is hubris and a kind of conspicuous arrogance to it [Romney's book title: No Apology: The Case for American Greatness], which he asks us to wear with our chests out.

.... Going Rogue, however, suggests a new direction, a new adventure, something just ahead there in the great unknown. It is a very good title and speaks in essence to the frontier spirit of those who venture beyond the Hudson River or the Beltway. Rugged individualism; going alone — Emerson and Goldwater — is suggested. It opens to the future.

Jindal to help Minnesota GOP raise money

The AP reports that Bobby Jindal will travel to Minnesota for a September 13 fundraiser with Tim Pawlenty.

Jindal is the main draw for a Republican Party of Minnesota reception that starts at $1,000 a person.

Pawlenty and state GOP Chairman Tony Sutton are heading the event, with U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann and Erik Paulsen also listed on the invitation.

[Hat tip: Rachel Stassen-Berger]

Intrade update

Been awhile since we've done of these, but Yahoo notes today that John Thune has moved into 3rd on Intrade betting, just below Sarah Palin.

1. Mitt Romney 28.5

2. Sarah Palin 18.5

3. John Thune 18.0

4. Tim Pawlenty 11.1

5. Newt Gingrich 9.5