Romney Turns Focus on Trade Policies with China

Gallup Still Has Romney Running Strong

Oct 302012

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Not even a powerful East Coast storm can stave off the momentum of Mitt Romney in Gallup’s daily tracking poll of likely voters.

On Monday, as the large portion of the country was battered by Hurricane Sandy, Romney picked up a point nationally on President Obama, leading 51 percent to 46 percent.

Since Gallup’s tracking poll averages seven days of statistics, it includes the entirety of the October 29 debate on foreign affairs, suggesting that the incumbent got no bounce from his last meeting with Romney, which many pundits said Obama won.

Meanwhile, Romney is now neck-and-neck with Obama in registered voters, 48 percent to 48 percent, which the president’s campaign asserts is a better indicator of how the election is going.

Over the past 12 days, Romney’s lead among likely voters had ranged from five to seven points ahead in nine days, and hasn’t trailed in the other three.

Other national polls see the race much tighter, including an ABC News-Washington Post poll that has Romney up 49 percent to 48 percent.

Romney Talks Convention Speeches, And Not His Own

Aug 252012

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/GettyImages(POWELL, Ohio) — Mitt Romney offered a sarcastic preview of the upcoming convention speeches, though it was President Obama’s speech and not his own that he decided to focus on in Ohio on Saturday morning.

“I know the president’s going to go to that convention he’s going to have all sorts of marvelous things to say,” said Romney at a rally alongside his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan. “I mean I can almost read his speech now.”

“It’ll just be, it’ll be filled with promises and tell people how wonderful things are, of course they’ll have to contrast that with what they know they’re experiencing,” he said. “But as he lays out all of these wonderful things he’s going to do, people are going to stop and say but how are you going to do something different than last time. They’ve experienced the last four years.”

Romney also used protestors who stood nearby screaming “Go Home Romney!” to link President Obama’s speech during the 2008 convention to the economic downfall in Europe.

“I happen to hear this faint sound in the distance,” said Romney, in front of a crowd of thousands in a local park. “And it– It actually — It actually reminds me a bit of the President’s address four years ago, speaking to the convention in Denver because he was speaking in front of those Greek columns, remember that? And this is kind of like the Greek chorus in the background. Everything they do reminds us of Greece and we’re not going to Greece we’re going to get America back to being America!”

Romney also gave a glimpse into his nighttime reading regime, telling the crowd here that he “pulled out [Obama’s] speech last night.”

“I’m not kidding, I pulled out his speech that he gave in Denver,” he said. “It’s really a brilliant speech. He says marvelous things. He just hasn’t done them. My guess is a few weeks from now he’ll be speaking at the Bank of America Arena — he won’t call it that — he’ll be in Charlotte. He probably won’t put Greek columns up behind him. He won’t want to remind us of that either. But he will have all sorts of promises to offer again. He’ll tell you how much better things are now, but you know this time we have more than just the words.”

Romney will address the Republican National Convention on Thursday night.

Dick Cheney: Picking Sarah Palin for VP Was ‘A Mistake’

Jul 292012

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Dick Cheney has some advice for Mitt Romney on choosing a running mate: Don’t pick another Sarah Palin.

In his first interview since receiving a heart transplant in March, Cheney told ABC News, that John McCain’s decision to pick Palin as his running mate in 2008 was “a mistake” — one that it is important from Romney not to repeat.

It’s subject on which Cheney has some unique experience. He helped Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush lead their vice presidential searches and, of course, served as vice president for eight years. He’s also privately offered some advice to both Romney and Beth Myers, who is leading Romney’s search for a running mate, on the process.

Cheney would not comment on what he told Romney and Myers, but he was harsh in his assessment of McCain’s decision to pick Palin.

“That one,” Cheney said, “I don’t think was well handled.”

“The test to get on that small list has to be, ‘Is this person capable of being president of the United States?’”

Cheney believes Sarah Palin failed that test.

“I like Governor Palin. I’ve met her. I know her. She was an attractive candidate. But based on her background, she’d only been governor for, what, two years. I don’t think she passed that test…of being ready to take over. And I think that was a mistake.”

Huntsman Uninvited from GOP Gathering Following Remarks

Mar 022012

Win McNamee/Getty Images(PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Jon Huntsman couldn’t win the Republican nomination, and now he can’t even get into Republican events.

The long-shot presidential candidate won’t be allowed at a gathering of donors in Palm Beach this weekend, sponsored by the Republican National Committee, because he called for a third-party candidate last week.

Huntsman’s daughter Abby confirmed to ABC News that her dad has been uninvited. He was supposed to be a speaker at the event.

The snub was first reported by the social meme and political news website BuzzFeed.

Huntsman dropped out of the race after he did poorly in the New Hampshire primary and quickly endorsed the front-runner establishment candidate, Mitt Romney. But last week, Huntsman said on MSNBC that “I think we’re going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some voice out there that can put forth new ideas.”

“Someone’s going to step up at some point and say we’ve had enough of this,” he said. “The real issues are not being addressed and it’s time that we put forward an alternative vision, a bold thinking. We might not win, but we can certainly influence the debate.”

The former China ambassador and Utah governor had played down speculation that he might run for president in a third party, and his endorsement of Romney appeared to put that idea to rest — while raising the notion that he could mount another bid in 2016 or 2020.

BuzzFeed reported that an RNC staff member told a former member of Huntsman’s campaign staff that his invitation had been revoked.

Romney Turns Focus on Trade Policies with China

Mar 022012

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(BELLEVUE, Wash.) — Trade policies were at the center at Mitt Romney’s events in a suburb outside Seattle, where he continued to assail China for being a “currency manipulator” and accused President Obama of being too easy on the country.

“When this president ran for office, he said he was concerned about how China was not playing fair, not playing by the rules, and he said he’d take them to the mat,” said Romney, speaking to a crowd of hundreds at the Highland Community Center in a suburb just outside Bellevue. “Well, since then, they’ve walked all over him. What China does is cheat when it comes to trade policy.”

“And you can’t blame them for trying; you have to blame us for letting it go on,” he said.

Romney, who has spoken extensively about how he would deal with China differently from the current administration, focused largely on preserving American innovation.

“And then, wait, Boeing, get ready, all right — China wants to start making big aircraft,” said Romney.
“Guess whose designs and technologies they’re going to try to steal? They hacked into the computers in corporate America and the computers in our governmental sites.”

“In addition to all those other things, they also artificially hold down the value of their currency. Why? So their prices are artificially low, so they can take jobs and get business,” he said. “By the way, what does a country do after they’ve wiped out their competitors? Why then of course, they rise it right back up.”

Washington State voters will caucus Saturday.

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