Your essential (and hopefully humourous) guide to the American presidential election all in one place. Beginning in the invisible primary, throughout the GOP primary season and into the general election proper
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum officially declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination on Monday. He told followers: "President Obama took that faith that America gave him and wrecked our economy and centralized power in Washington, D.C., and robbed people of their freedom."
Well know for his conservative positions both socially and fiscally he is no stranger to controversy. His views on the Lawrence v. Texas Supreme Court case in 2003 drew the ire of the LGBT community to the extent where he became the subject of a rather amusing neologism; which you can find here. Find the rest of his speech below and expect a full profile to come shortly as well as a development of the website on the whole (in the coming months). Enjoy!
We all knew it was coming and now the day has come when Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, has declared his intention to run for the Presidency - or, more specifically, to be the Republican nominee for President.
In front of supporters the multi-millionaire businessman, 64, said: "We know we can bring this country back. I'm Mitt Romney, I believe in America and I'm running for President of the United States."
To cheers and whistles he declared: "Barack Obama has failed America." Then, in what will most likely be the central cannon of his campaign he took shots and Obama's handling of the economy saying: "Over 16 million Americans are out of work." He added: "It breaks my heart to see what is happening to this great country."
Expect a full profile of Mitt Romney in the next couple of days as well as an updated candidates page. Until then you can watch the full speech below.
Rolling in on the back of a Harley the former Vice-Presidential nominee has been travelling throughout the East Coast appearing at several events but seemingly without talking anything political. She joined thousands of other leather-clad Harley-riding Americans in tribute to war veterans on Memorial Day as they rode from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Historically Republicans have always fared well with military veterans and on the day, with Palin surrounded by many who looked upon her favourably, many encouraged her to run. When one asked if she was going to run she replied: "Don't know."
Palin remains a question mark as to whether she would be willing run and the smart money says she won't when she can spend the next 4 years preparing and honing her skills without missing her window given age is on her side. Whilst this tour has certainly caused a stir in these early days of the Republican primary season it does not look or feel like she is teeing up an announcement of her candidacy for the nomination. Instead it would seem she is taking advantage of the circumstances and suspense surrounding her decision by broadcasting herself a bit more and getting her book out there. She isn't in Iowa which is where she should be if she is seriously considering a run so spending time in D.C is really a waste of her time; unless it's a book tour.
The former Governor of Minnesota, 50, declared via YouTube that he has decided to seek the Republican nomination for President. Echoing the style of a previous video, in which he announced that he was forming a presidential exploratory committee, he said: "I believe with all my heart that the challenges we face can be overcome."
Making direct attacks at the Obama administration he said: "The truth is; our country is in big trouble. We have far too much debt, too much government spending and too few jobs." He then moved to personally criticise the sitting President saying: "We need a President who understands that our problems our deep and who has the courage to face them. President Obama doesn't. I do."
He continued his speech by attempting to identify himself with the average working American (a proud label) saying: "I grew up in a blue collar town. My Dad worked as a truck driver, my Mom died when I was a teenager and I was the first in our family to graduate from college." He then pronounced his continued belief in the American dream adding: "I know the American dream because I lived it and I know for it to be there for the next generation."
After which he took another shot at Obama's style of politics: "We're going to have to do more than give fancy speeches. We've had 3 years of that and it's not working."
Pawlenty's video announcements are remarkably different in style to the ones we have seen so far from Newt Gingrich et al as they don't take the approach of looking at the camera and speaking for 2 minutes. (You can find these in the video tab at the top.) Instead the Pawlenty campaign - and their PR guys - are adopting the approach of mixing stills, videos of a skyline, home videos and other types to create a montage which, for some, puts them head and shoulders above anything we have seen so far. In terms of the backing music, over which the candidate speak, Pawlenty's music was more sober and moving rather than Gingrich's more sombre and placid piano backing.
Like his close friend Haley Barbour, the Governor of Mississippi, Mitch Daniels, the Governor of Indiana, has decided not to pursue the Republican nomination for President in 2012. He joins an increasingly large list of Republican politicians who have surprisingly declined the opportunity to run. Mike Huckabee, in particular, looked like a lock and possibly the race's biggest heavyweight given the relative success of his attempt in 2008 and his activities since then including a TV show on the Fox News Channel and books he has written.
Daniels is widely seen as a rising star in the GOP having been re-elected by an 18 point margin in 2008 and has made his name as a potent cost-cutter, budget-balancer and, to a lesser degree, as a limiter of abortion. David Brooks of the New York times described the Governor as the "Party's strongest [would be] candidate," adding that he "couldn't match Obama in grace and elegance, but he could on substance."
In an e-mail sent out in the early hours of Sunday morning to his supporters he told them: "I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one, but that, the interests and wishes of my family, is the most important consideration of all." Daniels expressed concern at the strain a national campaign, and the glare of the national media it entails, could have on his wife and 4 daughters.
In finishing his e-mail he wrote: "If I have disappointed you, I will always be sorry. If you feel that this was a non-courageous or unpatriotic decision, I understand and will not attempt to persuade you otherwise. I only hope that you will accept my sincerity in the judgment I reached."
The first political attack ad of sorts has been released by pressure group Priorities USA. Although not formally linked to the White House or the Obama re-election campaign it does have links to the White House through former deputy press secretary Bill Burton. The ad latches onto possible Republican nominee Mitt Romney's position on Medicare, which he has yet to clearly define, and it is suggested that he is flip-flopping on the issue given his background. He is the former Governor of Massachusetts and during his tenure he instituted widely acclaimed healthcare reforms that became the basis of 'Obamacare.' The ad levels criticism at Romney for saying that he is on "the same page" as Congressman Paul Ryan who composed the plan to essentially abolish Medicare; a programme hugely popular amongst the country's elderly beneficiaries.
Romney's campaign team dismissed the ad as part of a "smear campaign." Romney is now off to South Carolina for a visit and is likely to make a decision on his candidacy in the next couple of weeks although it seems virtually certain that he will run.
With an announcement on Twitter and a video on YouTube the former Speaker of the House and Congressman from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, has declared his candidacy to be the Republican nominee for President in 2012. In the video he told viewers: "There's a much better American future ahead with more jobs, more prosperity, a better health system, longer lives, greater independent living and a country that is decentralized under the 10th Amendment with power once again back with the American people and away from the Washington bureaucracy."
In a not-so-veiled shot at the Obama administration and the Democratic Party he said: "there are some people who don't mind if America becomes a wreck as long as they dominate the wreckage." The author and historian, 67, is most famed for regularly locking horns with then President Bill Clinton and engineering the 1994 Contract with America which gave the Republican party control of the House for the first time in 40 years. However, just 4 years later after a disastrous performance by the GOP in the mid-term elections Gingrich resigned and has been working as a campaigner, as well as author, ever since. With his long career in Washington politics he has developed strong ties with several big GOP donors and party operatives; so a strong well-structured and well-funded campaign is expected.
Gingrich does however face questions about his family values and fidelity as he is already onto his third wife, Callista, who was a Congressional aide that he had an affair with whilst still married to his second wife. He blamed his aberration on his love of country and the stresses of congress. He has also recently converted to Catholicism and now has to work hard to win the religious, and protestant, socially conservative base. To do so he has associated himself with a rather controversial pastor the rather evangelical John Hagee who said on radio in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that New Orleans suffered the "judgement of God" due to its "level of sin." (No doubt a dig at the perceived culture around Bourbon Street in New Orleans although Hagee later retracted his words.)
Gingrich's campaign has however got off to a bit of a rocky start with the right of the party with his approach to the possible reformation of Medicare. In an interview on NBC's 'Meet the Press' he labelled a GOP plan to overhaul the long-standing legislation as "right-wing extremism." The comments were seen as a rebuke to the orchestrator of the plan, the party's conservative rising star, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. A lot of the criticism levelled at Gingrich has come from the socially conservative and Tea Party embraced members of the GOP. South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley commented: "Here you’ve got Representative Ryan trying to bring common sense to this world of insanity, and Newt absolutely cut him off at the knees." Haley's endorsement is very much sought after as she governs the state that holds the primary season's third contest.
Later, Gingrich mentioned that he felt somewhat blind-sided by 'Meet the Press' presenter David Gregory's line of questioning despite appearing on the show 35 times. He has also drawn fire for his position on Obama's healthcare legislation as he didn't completely denounce it, initially, which is something widely expected of GOP members as not a single Republican in either House or Senate voted in favour of the bill. Regarding the individual mandate to take out health insurance, whether government or private, a key tenant of 'Obamacare' and opposed by Republicans he said: "I agree that all of us have a responsibility to pay — help pay for health care." He later tried back-tracking on this by stating that he flatly opposed the law and backed it up signing a pledge to repeal it.
Photo by ajagendorf25 via Wikimedia Commons.
On top of this, Gingrich then encountered the latest hiccup regarding his personal life. A report by Politico stated that he previosuly owed approximately $500,000 to iconic jewellery store Tiffany and Co. The accounts were apparently filed by his latest wife Callista and when ever pressed for details about them Gingrich has continually declined to comment.
As it stands, Gingrich's support amongst GOP voters has been somewhat weak. In recently published polling; CNN showed only 10% support amongst GOP voters and 5% in a Quinnipiac poll. This once Republican heavyweight may not wield the power he once did just over a decade ago but his access to the party's largest financial backers is unmatched and the envy of his competitors except for maybe Mitt Romney who has of course the many millions in his pockets he could dig into should his fundraising river dry up.
