The pairing of two powerhouses…

Governor Mitt Romney and Governor Chris Christie joined forces for an interview with Jamie Gangel (National Correspondent for the Today Show) in Lebanon, NH. The interview aired yesterday morning (10/12/11).

Gangel asked Christie why he endorsed Romney, their opinions on Rick Perry’s Pastor problem, and if Christie had been offered the VP title.

Gov. Christie on why he endorsed The Gov:

“He is the best person for the job. It’s simply on the merits. And the fact is that we need to make sure that Barack Obama’s a one-term president for America’s future. There’s no question in my mind that Gov. Romney’s the person who gives us the best chance of winning back the White House in November 2012. And I want to do everything I can to help him.”

Gangel: “What do you give his [Romney's] chances against Barack Obama?

Christie: “He’s gonna win.”

Gangel: “No questions about it…?”

Christie: “I wouldn’t be with him – if he wasn’t gonna win. He’s gonna win.”

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush isn’t quite ready to endorse a presidential candidate yet, but after the Bloomberg/Washington Post debate, he voiced praise for Romney:

Former Florida Gov Jeb Bush

“I continue to be impressed with Mitt Romney’s performance in these debates. He’s cool, calm, collected. He’s quick, he’s agile,” the former Florida governor told CNN’s Piers Morgan Wednesday. “I think he could do well going up against President Obama in the fall if he’s the nominee.“

► Jayde Wyatt

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe (MSNBC) invited Mitt Romney to sit down for a chat this morning:

GOP ’12 candidate and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., sits down with Morning Joe to discuss why he’s not bothered by “flavor-of-the-week” candidates, his campaign strategy, and why a vote for the Democrats means punishing “highly-successful people.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

“I know I can get a quick bump in the polls by saying some outrageous and incendiary things which would draw a lot of attention. But, in the final analysis, I think people will move to the person who they think will get the economy going again and who understands the challenges America faces and knows how to deal with them.” ~ Mitt Romney

(emphasis added)

H/t Frank, video

► Jayde Wyatt

We’ve got a couple of Romney interviews to share with you today, plus a Dick Morris LUNCH ALERT! video on Rick Perry…

On September 15, Mitt Romney was interviewed by Charlie Rose, host of the nightly PBS television program Charlie Rose:

The Republican Presidential hopeful stacks his job creation plan up against Obama’s—and talks about trade, taxes, and China.

What’s the essential difference between your approach and President Obama’s jobs plan?
The President’s plan is another short-term stimulus effort, akin to throwing a cup of gasoline on embers. What America needs is a more fundamental reform of the foundation of our economy to stimulate growth, investment, and hiring. The plan I’ve proposed is far more fundamental and far-reaching than a mere stimulus.
[...]
Do tax cuts create jobs?
When we tax people—the word tax means to burden—we take away part of their earnings. And if we spend that money on things that are not essential, we make it more difficult for the economy to grow and for people to have good jobs and rising disposable income. So tax cuts, which encourage investment and growth, ultimately lead to more jobs and higher revenues for the government. That’s why I propose a zero income tax for middle-income earners on their savings, meaning there would be no tax on interest, dividends, or capital gains for people earning $200,000 a year or less.

How would you attack the housing market’s problems?
The best way to encourage an increase in housing values is to have more Americans earning better wages and salaries so they can afford to buy houses. An economy with over 9 percent of her people unemployed and with stagnated wages is almost by definition going to have a troubled housing sector. And the best focus is not on bailing people out of housing problems but growing our economy and creating the conditions that lead businesses and entrepreneurs to invest.

Like Obama, you’re calling for more free-trade agreements. Unlike him, you’re calling for sanctions against China. Does that risk a trade war?
Trade is good for America if the trade agreements are created in a way that is mutually beneficial. … [But] if people, as in China, steal our intellectual property, hack into our computer systems, and manipulate their currency to artificially depress the prices of their goods, then we can’t simply sit by and pretend that’s not happening. We must take action against cheaters, or the agreements themselves will work to harm America’s industry and workers.

Full transcript may be found here.

Click here for AUDIO of the Rose/Romney interview.

Yesterday, The Gov was interviewed by Brian Kilmeade on his FOX News radio show Kilmeade and Friends. Kilmeade also co-hosts the weekday morning program Fox & Friends:

Dick Morris’ LUNCH ALERT! video series:

In this video commentary, I discuss Rick Perry’s chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination. He was way out ahead. Then he took some tough shots. Will Rick Perry make it?

Morris discusses five major Perry liabilities; video here.

H/T Crystal, Morris video

► Jayde Wyatt

Air Force One Pavilion is where it’s happening this evening!

Located at the magnificent Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, the pavilion will be the setting for the presidential debate at 8:00 PM ET. Eight Republican presidential candidates will battle it out as they kick off a busy month of debating. The debate is sponsored by NBC News, Politico, and the Reagan Library Foundation; NBC News Anchor Brian Williams and Politico Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris will moderate.

Eyes will be on the Romney/Perry/Bachmann trio. Perry’s debut on the national debate stage will afford us the opportunity to see if his reputation of employing smiling deflections on significant matters of controversy in his record is true. Bachmann is on the line to win back ground she has lost to Perry since he overshadowed her Iowa Straw Poll win. It goes without saying that the other candidates will be poised to create breakout moments for themselves, as well.

Romney has already had a stellar week with his strong performance at Senator Jim DeMint’s Palmetto Freedom Forum and his grand jobs creation speech yesterday in Nevada (“Your pay phone strategy doesn’t work in a smart phone world, Mr. President!“).

We are looking forward to seeing The Gov at tonight’s show down!

Participants:
Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum

Options to view the debate (starting time 8:00 PM ET, 5:00 PM PT):

TV
MSNBC cable channel

Livefeed
Politico.com

Cell phone livestream – Politico Mobile apps ● MSNBC iPhone and iPad app and Droid app, Blackberry app

Romney supporters are invited to join the fun here at MRC chat throughout the debate!

Knock it out of the pavilion, Mitt!

► Jayde Wyatt

After eight GOP hopefuls spent two hours of their evening debating in Iowa last night, doing their best to impress voters, the day after reviews are bringing high praise for Mitt Romney.

In a post-debate interview last night, political pollster Frank Luntz said Newt Gingrich “won the battle’ but “Mitt Romney won the war.” Stating that Romney was ‘presidential’, Luntz also pointed out that Governor Romney’s specific ideas on the economy are exactly what voters want to hear.

John Gibson (former FOX News TV host, now FOX News radio host) proclaimed today “Admit it’s Mitt!”

Dick Morris tweeted last night that Gov Romney has a Reaganesque communciation style.

When asked about the debate this afternoon, moderator Chris Wallace (FOX News) replied that Mitt Romney entered the debate as the frontrunner and left the debate as the frontrunner.

Rush Limbaugh weighed in as evidenced in this re-tweet from Byron York (FOX News contributor/debate panelist):

From MittRomney.com

Mitt was honored to share the stage with his fellow Republicans to debate the issues that are important to the people of Iowa and all Americans.

Mitt clearly won the debate by remaining focused on his message of creating jobs and getting the economy back on track by reversing President Obama’s failed economic policies. His strong record of creating jobs in the private sector, and when he was Governor, makes him the best candidate to defeat President Obama and lead the country toward an economic recovery.

Iowa State Representative Renee Schulte offers her opinion on the Iowa GOP debate:

Tweet from Mitt this morning:

● Note: Unsurprisingly, prior to the debate last night, Democrats were poised to let the poison arrows fly. The GOP called them out and made an inferred reference to the Obama Scheme Team’s plan:

RNC Spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski tells Fox, “While the headlines scream about Obama’s failed economy, it’s no wonder Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Democrats are desperately trying to change the conversation. The same president and party that prided themselves on changing the tone in politics are now resorting to negative attacks against Republicans because they don’t have any accomplishments of their own to tout. Just ask Team Obama – they laid out their negative attack strategy just this week.”

(italics added)

Schultz (D-FL), National Democrat Party Chair, rushed to the Iowa State Fair today (first time attending) to promote Obama’s liberal agenda. While stumping, she specifically mentioned Mitt and called on Iowans to reject the notion that Mitt Romney mentioned on ‘this very same stage’ – that corporations are people.

Schultz should spend a few moments watching this.

Glenn Beck cheered The Gov on his radio program this morning for the way he handled the liberal hecklers at the fair yesterday. Neil Cavuto gave kudos to Romney yesterday. They both voiced high praise for Romney’s remarks on social security tax caps, the manner in which successful Americans are vilified, and corporations.

UPDATE – More from Rush Limbaugh (H/t Frank)


► Jayde Wyatt

Thanks Ross for finding these. The entire debate is split into 8 parts, all embedded below.

PART 1 of 8

..more after the fold…
Read more…

Chat party for Romney supporters!

Best of luck to Governor Romney tonight! (Debate is live on FOX News at 9PM ET.)

(Thanks to the many people who joined the chat for an enjoyable debate. The chatbox has been returned to the sidebar, or you can view it full page in the chatroom.)

One of the best moments of the debate

First, we have a video from yesterday where Romney walks up behind Carl Cameron while he’s on air for an impromptu one minute interview. Carl’s surprise is enjoyable to watch, as is Mitt’s calm and pleasant demeanor. He seems to realize that he’s stepping in unannounced, so he doesn’t try to take over the microphone and push campaign slogans. He acknowledges that there will be many candidates at the debate tonight, that there will be many people there who want to hear from all of the candidates… and then he politely excuses himself.

I’d put this video in the “instant classic” category:

Second, we have a portion of Romney at the Iowa State Fair on the soapbox dealing with some hecklers very near the stage. You’ll notice the video has the Think Progress logo on it, and the Dems seem to love it, but for my part I think Romney handled them rather well, and number of tweeters live on location seemed to thing so as well.

The man that confronts Romney on social security has a very legitimate concern, but his outrage is awfully misguided. He’s obviously been drinking deeply from the liberal talking points fountain that tells him that GOP are going to slash SS and Medicare payments to seniors – such is just not the case. But that doesn’t stop dems from using it as a fear tactic. Romney makes the point that we need to address the promises that we are making to young people now in regards to Social Security, that something needs to change before they come to retirement age. IF not, there will be no money for anyone. It’s that simple.

UPDATE by Jayde- The heckling group has been identified as a liberal think tank calling themselves ‘Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement’. C-Span has additional video here. This is a defining moment for Romney.

UPDATE 2 by Nate – Gail Gitcho posted to twitter this great photo of Mitt Romney vs. the Lib Heckler (click on pic to enlarge):

Mike Huckabee went out of his way to praise Mitt Romney for this event which was great to see. Also, check out a little extra reading to explain why the liberals making a big deal about Gov. Romney’s statement on corporations, Why Romney’s right that ‘companies are people’.

~Nate G.

“The anointed one calls for an all-out assault on Mitt Romney.”

Thus spoke Sean Hannity on the lead-in to his TV program tonight. The FOX News host was referring to Obama and his Scheme Team’s strategy to to ‘kill Romney’ which was revealed this week. Hannity also said the issue wasn’t receiving enough attention.

Hannity devoted the first 20 minutes of his show to a fast-paced twenty minute interview with Gov Romney:

Obama Camp Plans to ‘Destroy Romney’ Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

► Jayde Wyatt

Reminder! Mitt Romney will be on Hannity tonight at 9:00 PM ET. From his FOX News website:

Wednesday on Hannity: Obama camp plans a new smear campaign. The target: GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney. 2012 candidate and former Massachusetts governor reacts tonight on ‘Hannity’.

Hannity is also featuring this article on his personal website, so you know The Gov will be talking about the latest from the Obama Scheme Team. FOX News has been advertising the Romney/Hannity interview as ‘exclusive’ and are running this talk line: All eyes on Iowa – Mitt will talk strategy!


Tonight’s timely interview is taking place on the night before the FOX News presidential debate at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Romney supporters are invited to join us on our chat forum this evening during his appearance on Hannity!

Update – Headline on FOX News this afternoon:

► Jayde Wyatt