Tag: Mitt Romney

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Mitt Romney supported Proposition 8 repealing marriage equality

In 2008, Mitt Romney’s political action committee made a $10,000 donation to the National Organization of Marriage at a time when the anti-gay rights organization was seeking repeal of a California law legalizing marriage equality.

But when Romney eventually made his donation, he did so quietly, and through an unusual channel. Records filed by Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC with the Federal Election Commission did not include details of that $10,000 donation. Nor did NOM’s public 990 form. In fact, record of the payment was only uncovered Friday when the pro-gay rights Human Rights Campaign was sent a private IRS filing from NOM via a whistleblower. The Human Rights Campaign shared the filing with The Huffington Post.

Asked for comment, an aide to Romney said that the donation was made through the Alabama chapter of the Free and Strong America PAC. State records confirm this. However, the 990 NOM filed lists the donation as having come from PO Box 79226 in Belmont, Massachusetts.

The secretive nature of the donation raised the eyebrows of Human Rights Campaign officials. Romney, after all, didn’t have to send his check to NOM through the Alabama chapter of his PAC.

“It’s clear now that Romney was a major financial donor to Prop. 8,” said Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president for communications. “But it’s also clear that his campaign very cleverly hid this contribution in an obscure Alabama PAC.”

Read more at Huffington Post.

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New CNN/ORC poll: Obama leads Romney 54%-43%

According to a new CNN/ORC poll:

• President Obama leads Romney 54%-43%
• President Obama leads Santorum 55%-42%
• 56% of the public have a favorable view of President Obama as a person
• 37% have a favorable view of Romney
• President Obama has a solid lead among independents
• Only 35 percent of independents now have a favorable view of Romney
• Santorum’ unfavorables outweigh his favorable rating by a 42%-35% margin
• 56% of Americans continue to blame former President George W. Bush and the Republicans for the country’s current economic problems
• 29% blaming Obama and the Democrats.

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Rick Santorum: “The unemployment rate doesn’t matter to me”

Santorum has made this argument many times, as Dave Weigel points out at Slate, but the soundbite and the message convey his campaign’s lesser focus on the economy.

Perhaps this is because Santorum’s focus is on the social issues?

Mitt Romney in Peria, Ill. later same day: “I do care about the unemployment rate, it does bother me. I want to put people back to work.”

Infighting is fun…

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Obama leads all GOP candidates in head-to-head contests

President Barack Obama is leading all of the Republican presidential candidates in head-to-head match-ups, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

• A national survey taken March 7-11 showed Obama leading Romney by 12 percentage points (54-42) and even further ahead of Santorum with 57 percent of support to Santorum’s 29 percent.

• For the first time since shortly after Osama bin Laden was killed, half of all Americans (50 percent) say they approve of Barack Obama’s job performance.

• Mitt Romney currently holds a 33-24 lead over Santorum among registered Republican and Republican-leaning independent voters, with 20 percent backing Newt Gingrich and 14 percent favoring Ron Paul.

• By a 59-32 margin, most Americans think Barack Obama will win the election if Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee. That margin is far wider if Rick Santorum is the GOP nominee: 68 percent think Obama would win, while just 24 percent predict a Santorum presidency.

• In the current survey, just 29 percent of Americans say they have a favorable view of Romney, while 51 percent say they have an unfavorable impression.

• Women favor Obama over Romney by 20 points—virtually unchanged from a month ago.
(source)

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Wealthy GOP voters like Mitt Romney best

Among individuals making more than $100,000, Mitt Romney regularly wins more votes than his competitors.  The wealthy really like Mitt Romney.  The less fortunate?  Not so much.

In Alabama, Romney took home 36% of top earners, which is 5 points more than Santorum, and 11 points more than Newt Gingrich.

The story was much the same in Mississippi, where the former Massachusetts governor won votes from 34% of individuals who reported incomes above $100,000. Santorum won among voters making between $50,000 and $100,000, while Gingrich had his best showing with those making less than $50,000.

The contrast is even more striking in states like Michigan and Ohio, where Romney did well enough to win the primaries.

In his home state of Michigan, Romney won 48% of primary voters making more than $100,000. Santorum was second with 34%.

In Georgia, where every candidate in the field was trounced by Gingrich, Romney still won among voters making more than $200,000 (Gingrich won when the limit was extended down to $100,000.)
(source)

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New Pew Poll shows Romney leading nationally but losing to Obama

A new Pew Research poll shows that Romney is, again, the favorite nationally among Republicans and GOP-leaning independents for the nomination, leading Rick Santorum 33 to 24 percent in a poll that was in the field through Sunday.

A month ago, Santorum and Romney were in a statistical tie, with the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania slightly ahead.

However, a large percentage of voters surveyed by Pew, 59 percent, see Romney losing to President Obama.