Something concerned me last night. I live in CO and as I watched the football game last night (Go Broncos!). I saw roughly 5 Obama adds to every 1 Romney add. Is Romney giving up on CO? The few Romney adds I saw were good and did remind voters about the economy but I just didn’t see enough of them. The one Obama ad I kept seeing is Romney’s plan is a $2,000 tax increase on the middle class and a $250,000 tax cut for millionaire’s. An out and out lie of course right out of the liberal play book the Dems have used for decades. I hope Team Romney starts spening more money here soon. I think CO is in play. Most polls right now are still way over sampling Dems in my opionion.

Just calm down and send money to Romney? What happened to RS grass roots mission and getting involved?

I still think this race is a toss up. It did appear over this past weekend that the mainstream media received their barking orders from the Obama Campaign to basically announce that the race was over and Obama was heading to victory in November.

I’m as big a supporter of Mitt Romney as you can find but even I have to admit that I am baffled regarding the lack of ads out there. Even during a VERY conservative show like ‘The Five’ on Fox News do we see a pro-Obama add. Odd that with this huge war chest now at his disposal that the Romney campaign is lagging behind in TV ads. This was the ONE area that Romney was to have an advantage over Obama and it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Is the Romney / RNC plan to ‘carpet bomb’ the swing states with ads just before the election trying to get the ‘last word’ right before the undecideds make a decision??

The Romney campaign should hire Charles Krauthammer to make their case on TV ads against Obama. Charles is one smart dude!!

Agreed. Recognizing a current situation and then focus on how to change it. Obama got a bump in the polls? So? This was their high point. (Convention) Downhill for team Obama from here if Romney/Ryan fight back. Lets get busy and get everyone to the polls in November.

You really think Romney will go after Obama the way he went after Newt? You’re dreaming. RINOs relish attacking conservatives. When it comes time to attack liberals, kid gloves come out.

I think ignoring polls is perilous. They are probably a good snapshot of the race.

However it’s too early for polls to be meaningful. Romney ran a smart primary and didn’t try to peak until the right time. I expect he’s doing the same thing in the general – keep it reasonably close until it’s crunch time then fight like there’s no tomorrow.

I think that is a very accurate assessment. Polls aren’t predictive, they are a snapshot in time.

Erick how about this message to Obama voters: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. This idiom may work in reaching out to Obama voters from 2008. (or some form in a commercial) I beleive this can be very powerful if presented in the right way. Many voters who voted for Obama in 2008 are skeptical about voting for him in 2012

I’d count the Wisconsin Recall as being a *definite* success for polling. Final result was 53-46-1 and every poll in the last month had Walker between 50 and 54 and had Barrett between 42 and 47.

Romney hinted during his Meet the Press interview that he was holding back some of his responses for a better time. (Specifically during the GM bankrupcy discussion.) Now forward to a great article on NRO http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316379/democrats-gm-fiction-editors
that dismantles Obama’s claims of hirings and rescuing of the auto industry.
I don’t know if Romney has a “wait until you see the whites of their eyes” strategy, ie…for the debates…but with the Media’s obsession with polls and fact checking BS…I am concerned that he isn’t framing the issues better. ( ie Ross Perot’s charts) I wish he had some kind of “truth squad” that holds a press conference everyday to correct the crap coming from the other side.
I agree with Byron York that all the squishes need to be coddled, and not insulted for being morons who 4 years ago didn’t see what was obvious to anyone with a brain. That is why I think Romney is holding back, not wanting to be too aggressive lest he alienate squishes. Surrogates need to step it up.
Finally, the movies…The Hope and the Change ( Bossie and Bannon) and 2016 (D’Souza) are having an effect.
Sorry for the ramblng….I’ll go back to lurking…

I knew he was shooting himself in the foot when he said he would repeal Obamacare. The reason is that as soon as the law was signed the wheels started rolling on this bill. Many changes have taken place in many states. An example is Oregon. Starting Sept 1 the schools there well provide students 15 years of age and over the ability to be sterilized without the consent of parents. All they have to do is say I do not want to have babies. Now how does a child at age 15 know if they want to have children or not. What I’m hoping well happen is that they well not have the money to provide the service. Too much water has passed under the bridge to repeal it. All that can be done is to modify it. Repealing it well cause more problems they can be imagined and I’m thinking the modifications are also going to be a nightmare that each state well have to deal with. Team Romney please wake up!! You are our last hope against this mess.

Your accusing Romney of running a horrible campaign doesn’t explain the fact that in an absolute sense, Obama’s approval rating is now at 50% or thereabouts. Not whether voters prefer Obama to Romney, just whether they approve of Obama’s job performance. And half the country does.

No one expected that. It’s long been conventional wisdom that no incumbent President gets re-elected with an unemployment rate at or above 8%. What Obama is doing is unprecedented–he’s got a decent approval rating despite the disastrous numbers.

And that in itself calls for analysis and explanation: Why do so many Americans approve of Obama’s job performance? Because if a majority approve of his job performance, he’ll win re-election. It won’t matter what Romney says or does.

Bingo

I agree with you generally but conservatives should still have a huge enthusiasm advantage over the population segments that BHO is pandering to (think college graduates staring up at their fading Obama posters…). A lot of 2008 voters were engaging in politics for the first time. If they’re still out of work (assuming they are willing to work) then this election should be an easy decision (or they can just roll over and go back to bed on election day). Unfortunately one thing Obama has done successfully in this campaign it to focus this election on being a choice instead of allowing it to be a referendum. Romney is getting sucked into that and appears to be playing defense more than he should. When liberals make it a choice but routinely engage in lies, it’s difficult for average voters to filter through that. Romney needs to keep it a referendum on Obama and, continue to show how conservative policies translate into better lives for all americans.

I’m a Democrat, voted for Obama four years ago, and will again this year. I have never thought Mitt Romney was a good option for Republicans. Rick Santorum was right. He just didn’t have the bank account to make his case, I guess. As much as Obama unifies some folks against him, he unifies a bunch of folks behind him. You may not like him or where he’s coming from, but he gets support from those who are supposed to support him. Romney will have a very tough time replicating that on the right between now and November. Heck, I’m still trying to figure out where he stands on issues and I follow this stuff every day.

Agreed!! Many of my friends are professing Christians. I also know several Mormons and have no disagreement with their political views as they are very similar to mine. So, I would presume the same with Mr. Romney with no reason to think otherwise.

Another point is that the person who holds the office of the Presidency is sworn to represent ALL the citizens in this nation and not just a small elite handful. I DO know where the President stands on that and I look forward using my vote to make him the *former* President Obama.

Amateur staff or not, as Erick said, there is no reason to look at current polling and think that it’s not skewed in some way or another. Things will look closer to *real life* in a few weeks.

Patience is still a virtue, right?

Romney has to take a stand on something. It’s obvious that the campaign thought that they could win by virtue of just not being Barack Obama, but it’s pretty clear at this point that that’s not going to cut it. He needs to stop dodging all of the questions and have an agenda. Outside of repealing Obamacare (which, in my opinion, has zero chance of happening) I honestly can’t name even a single, concrete Romney policy initiative. Hearing Ryan on TV this weekend talking about closing tax ‘loopholes’ but refusing to name even a single example was painful.

Very frustrating. The only bright side is that the debates haven’t happened yet. He can still win this in the debates.

Another problem is that early voting is going to begin as early as September 21 in some states. Personally, I’ve always thought of early voting as unconstitutional, since that document clearly outlines a specific date on which elections are held.

The worst idea along these lines was the call by democrats for a “revote” in Florida in 2000. Thankfully that went nowhere.

Either way, early voting is what it is, and if this Obama bounce is a lasting one, it’s another hurdle for Romney.

Romney is a Christian; good grief. His best friends and fellow church members were my next-door neighbors, and they were the most Christian people I ever knew.

If someone follows Jesus Christ, they are Christian by definition. You are only going to cause more issues for him by saying otherwise. Attack democrats, not fellow republicans, please.

Problem is, its true. That comment is spot-on. The proof is everywhere.

I can think of SIX TRILLION reasons why you’re making a mistake. I guess you are willing to sacrifice our once-great republic. Like him or not, Romney is infinitely more capable and qualified to deal with our fiscal crisis than Obama. And we and the world are careening into a fiscal crisis, make no mistake.

Don’t want to derail this thread but the GOP is not going to do a full repeal which would include the preexisting condition stuff. They’re just not. Maybe the chance isn’t zero, but it’s very close.

I don’t think Romney has written off Michigan and Pennsylvania. Romney is sitting on a huge pot of money. Do you think he’s not going to spend it all? He’s waiting until the last two to three weeks, and will do a media blitz in all those states. Obama will not have spent a lot of money, thinking Romney has conceded them, and will not have enough time to react.

It’s fourth quarter politics, that’s all.

Thank you for being the voice of sanity and honesty at the same time. To echo Nolte over at Breitbart, as of Saturday afternoon I was feeling really good about Romney/ Ryan and their chances of winning. I open RS Monday morning and there are a bunch of posters acting like Chicken Little.

The only poll that has me concerned is the Rasmussen poll. They tend to be fairly accurate with sound methodology. But at best it represents a bounce from the convention. It remains to be seen if it lasts. Honestly polls do not usually swing that much and stay there. I am also skeptical regarding the amount of bounce, given the three-ring circus the DNC turned out to be. Time will tell.

R & R just need to keep campaigning hard, stay on message, and do well in debates.

It got lost in the site “upgrade”…

While I generally agree with the article, you cant ignore the CNN poll that has Romney up 14 with Indies but still losing by 6…that makes no sense.

And if there’s any state in the Union where the auto bailout helps Obama, it’s gotta be Michigan.

My good Lord, this place has become so infested with concern trolls and scrawny schoolboys frightened of the playground bully, it’s exhausting.

Just stop the whining and start talking to real folks.

I called a vendor today about having an appliance repaired. He mentioned something about the poor quality of appliance parts being shipped into this country. I told him that if things “change” in November, maybe American companies will go back to manufacturing parts. He told me he wasn’t sure if his vote mattered. I spent 10 minutes convincing him that it did, that it will. Little by little, conversations like this will change the Electoral College vote (hint: the one that will matter this time.)

You are correct and he is hiking even as I type this.

555 vangoghssister. Too many naysayers and mopers around here. Liked everything you said and agree with all of it.

Keep on dreaming guys old willard is going down. He is as fake as a three dollar bill. His mama and papa must be turning in their graves, looking at their worthless child without any moral compass whatsoever.

First, you do not speak for Christians. Got to set that little matter straight. Second, if Santorum is the example of a Christian leader, I and many many others will stick to the unbelievers as leaders.

Lastly, Again, since you do not speak for the Christian right, you do not get to decide for us who we vote for, when we retract our support, and whether or not we will support Romney if he puts his faith on the forefront. Most of us know what Mormons believe and we are still going to chose him over the very dangerous and incompetent Obama. There are a few kinds of people I do not like in this world and they are racists, bigots, liars, democrats, and stupid people. So far you have shown yourself to be at least two of those things, so I am going to move on to other subjects before I end up crossing a line in here. I would strongly suggest you can the BS bigot attitude, stop acting as if you know a thing about the Christian right and how they will vote, and go debate with someone willing to put up with your idiocy. It will serve you well.

Very good sir, you have been on the ball.

Ok but does anyone think that is even close to realistic? If the poll isnt based in reality, why should we accept its result as reality? I accept the principal of the general trends being in O’s favor at the moment, but I also believe there are some awfully fishy polls out there

OMG The Sky is Falling, we are ALL DOOMED or so the polls say, the polls said we didn’t have a chance when I started on the Brown41 campaign but we won. In this State there is a left and a right contrary to whet some believe, most on the right here have developed an innate argument to win against the left here and it has nothing to do with popularity. Unfortunately too many Republicans only fight the popularity contest, “play it safe” and not fight required fight. Fortunately, in the Brown41 campaign the established Republicans took a back seat and the front lines were manned by those known as the Tea Party types, those who know how and what we are fighting.

The truth about polls or popularity contests is you are not going to win with the other side playing populism and you are an ignorant loser if you think popularity is the same as populism. Populism is like an addictive drug, it ranges from a false sense of belonging to false wealth. Populism is welfare, class warfare, it pits the Proletarians against the Bourgeoisie, it is a war on self reliance and religion, and more. These are mostly considered too divisive, too many Republicans have ridden this populist bandwagon to take sides and too many Republicans consider this not so politically correct to fight in this arena. There should be no doubt the Tea Party types are willing to fight in this arena and the question now becomes whether or not the established Republicans will fight in this arena or again role over and quit.

You gogh, sister. Okay, I know that was really, really bad. LOL.

I find it amusing what with the “War on Women” and everything, that you, proudmarinemom, runner12, lineholder, wcp, and I, among others – all strong women – are sounding the call to arms (not literally, of course) to stop the whining and get to work.

Sometimes a convention bump is just a convention bump.
my one concern is not polls. backing out the DNC bump and poll bias, the real state of the race is close to even-steven.

My one concern is that there are two templates for this election – 1980 and 1948. The Republicans lost 1948 by running a squish northeast Republican who sat back and thought the unpopularity of the incumbent and weak economy would do the heavy lifting; the incumbent Democrat ripped the Republican to shreds in a nasty populist way. Guess who won?

Instead of the Romney camp telling us to calm down, they
should listen to those of us who say they should ramp it up, as in, quit
being so nice about Obama, listen to Trump; go hammer and tong; bring
out more content that connect’s Obama bad policies with bad economic
results. For example, instead of falling into the trap of discussing what is right with obamacare, go into the Obamacare medical device tax and the
jobs that kills and the harm that does.

When we see the Romney side roll out ads and make speeches that get under Obama’s skin, force him to respond, and really gin up the energy on our side … THEN we know we will win. Until then, we are seeing the Romney campaign making the same mistake squish candidates generally make, of pursuing in vain a few scattered swing voters wtih eak messaging and then wondering why more of their base didnt show up.

The economy is still key. While the effect of recent poll trending is irritating, the voters must remember that the source of their frustration is the terrible economic malaise and the policies that continue to stifle it. Everything else is political hocus pocus.

Stop freaking complaining.
This is OUR vote coming up and it is time to help get those votes out!
We are voting FOR the United States of America in order to save it, and will take whatever incremental steps it will take to do it!
WE are the ones who are to save America!
They work for us, and need to be reminded of this on a continuous basis.
We got ourselves into this mess.

barb,one clue why so many voters stick with Obama may lie in a Fox news poll released yesterday. It shows Obama is winning how the race is framed.
Is the presidential race between two men with their vision: 64%
or,
is the race a referendum on Obama: 31%
That poll explains much on voter support 2012.
Whatever voters said in 2010 in a backlash vote, 2012 is a calmer electorate, less fearful of economic ruin despite a poor economy; The safety nets obama hands out have soothed many for life. Romney has what McCain had plus Indiana and works to win back Republican voters in swing states like Hamilton county , Ohio.
Obama supporters see deficit spending as no problem, favor raising taxes on some and want to grow government and entitlements.

TIPP/Investors Business Daily Poll had Obama up 46-44% yesterday.
Romney will be reminding everyone about the economy from here on out. As Erick stated he now has access to his campaign money–tons of it.
Everything Obama could throw at Romney he has. So are all the things he mentioned going to discourage people from voting Romney, or will the Depressionesque economy discourage people from voting Obama.

I’ll just say two things.
One, Romney was my governor, and he was outstanding considering he had a 145-15 Democrat House and 35-5 Democrat Senate from 2005-2007 fighting against liberalism.
Two, like the primaries the voters are still kicking the tires and want to see how Mitt does on the campaign and debates. The voters don’t have to buy yet–that’s not till November 6.

Buchanan won Wisconisn, Iowa and NM by more votes than Bush lost them by 2000. Gore carried them. Kerry won Wisconsin with about 7,000 votes in a state with 5.5 mil people 2004. I think Bush won Iowa and NM. Iowa he did win 2004 over Kerry.
In 2006 Democrats picked up seats in upper midwest and grew their lead in 2008. Obama won Wisconsin by 14 pts and carried Ohio with 51.4% 2008. Both Wisconisn and Ohio are close 2012 but Wisconisn has trended Democrat since 1984. Ohio is the Mr Republican state. Ohio should be back in the Republican camp by now. WSJ says today Romney is working Hamilton county a once GOP stronghold that went Obama 2008.

ren, Much of Obama approval is with ‘registered voters’. Romney scores higher with ‘likely voters’, according to a new WaPo poll.
To help Romney we can volunteer in a campaign to GOTV, post yard signs and bumper stickers for all to see as a reminder,
ROMNEY- RYAN 2012.

1. He had nothing to offer to the discussion.

2. This is not a forum to debate Democrats. This is a forum to organize to beat them.

3. What a Democrat thinks about Romney is completely relevant. If he is stupid enough to vote for Obama twice he probably shouldn’t be allowed to have cutlery much less use a computer.

I posted this yesterday to my blog, I don’t have a lot of followers but it also goes out to twitter which might help a little. http://texasjq2.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/the-plan/

Romney has tried to avoid taking a stand on larger issues as constitutional freedoms, on the values of this country. I dont know why he seems to be as afraid of a Reagan message on that topic as Superman is of kryptonite. The larger picture of what America has been and can return to and the values that are being destroyed everyday by this oaf in the WH are things that should be trumpeted–maybe the superpac can do it for him but i am not at all impressed y the snoozer ads i saw on Dick Morris site, ads released by R’s campaign

It makes it harder to win an election in economic bad times when Obama and the democrats are touting to the citizens that they can get on Welfare, Food Stamps, Unemployment for 40+ years and now we have 49% of the population getting some kind of assistance from the Government, and about 40% of the population that doesn’t pay taxes. How to you compete against the ‘gravy train?’ I think there should be a law that if you’re not paying taxes and you are on some sort of government assistance, you can’t vote. Why? Because they don’t have any ‘skin’ in the game.

I don’t know about that. Romney said yesterday that there were some things in Obamacare that he liked and wouldn’t get rid of. Some concern there.

Yes. But they will repeal it. Obamacare history. Then they can replace it with something that makes sense.

Larry Sabato in a Newsmax piece attributes the current poll numbers to a DNC convention bounce, and claims it will settle in a week or so. He also says Clinton was Obama’s biggest “help” in Charlotte, and that the current undecideds in the race are only about three percent — about what they were in ’96 with Clinton-Dole. Sabato is saying the key will be getting the base out to the polls. We in the Tea Party have been saying this right along.

Except there are several components of Obamacare he wants to keep exactly as-is! How is keeping the “stay on your parent’s insurance until you’re 26″ and “no pre-existing conditions denials” replacing anything? It’s called KEEPING.

those are two minor provisions. I hope you know that.

“People aren’t stupid…”? What about all the lefties who say they are going vote for Obama? Now that crowd does need some serious medical care like a brain implant. Brain implants for liberals might peel off a couple of conservative votes eh?

Not sure what you mean. Let me explain what I understand pre-existing to mean which should clarify the above example, and you correct me as you see issues.

Pre-existing would mean, in the terms of an insurance company, a person who has a serious medical condition prior to applying or receiving insurance coverage. These conditions will usually cause the premium to increase massively or cause coverage to be denied.

Life limits would be the dollar amount set by the plan of which payments for care are deducted from. It can also include a capped spending on certain conditions even though customer has not actually reached lifetime spending limit.

So back to AIDS patients although you could put any devastating and expensive condition in that sentence. 40 year old male develops HIV/AIDS yet never had any insurance plan prior to the diagnosis. Under current insurance plans, most would deny him a plan due to the immense cost of caring for an AIDS patient versus amount received via long time payments of premium and split cost between all customers or he would have to pay an enormous premium cost or join a high risk pool which would also cost a fortune. This would be denial due to a pre-existing condition prior to applying for coverage. Again, you could put cancer in there, shot knees (although coverage would be granted but would exclude treatment coverage of knees) extreme weight, heart disease, etc.

Under Obamacare, no insurance company could deny him coverage, premiums would have to be average cost as the plan sets a low cap on the allowed cost a company can charge due to pre-existing problems, insurance company would have to pay for AIDS treatment from day one, resulting in huge losses to the insurance company. Multiple that time however many of the 40 plus uninsured Americans with major illness, the losses will drive most if not all the insurance companies out of that business or out of business entirely.

Yep, Romney’s campaign is in free fall so much that Obama’s 50-45 lead on Rasmussen daily polling is down to 46-45 as of today, with Romney leading 48-47 when leaners are included.

The replacements will be in new bills that stand on their own after the CommieCare is repealed