CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Mitt Romney wins Nevada caucuses

Mitt Romney was projected to be the winner of the Nevada Republican caucuses as soon as the polls closed. Like the Florida primary, this was not a just a win, but it looks like it will be an even bigger thumpin. 

With 70% of the Nevada caucus results in, Romney's margin was even larger than his 15% Florida margin:

• Romney 47.6%
• Gingrich 22.6%
• Paul 18.6%
• Santorum 11.1%

Based on entrance polling Romney won key groups including:

• Conservatives -- including 51% of "very conservative" voters
• TEA Party supporters
• Born-again and evangelical Christians 
• Protestants
• Catholics

Romney also won among voters who wanted a candidate who can defeat President Obama and among voters seeking a candidate  with the right experience and with strong moral character.

The one group Romney lost was Independents. Ron Paul carried that group 46% to Romney's 30%.

In his victory speech, Romney took it to President Obama saying Obama should be apologizing to America, not for America.

Gingrich, the campaign's true "grumpy old man," promises to remain in the race.

In the meantime, the Republican presidential nomination campaign continues. Tuesday there are caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a non-binding primary in Missouri --which will also hold a caucus on March 17. The Maine caucuses got under way Saturday and will continue this coming week. The Maine results won’t be announced until February 11, and delegates won’t actually be awarded until the state convention in May.

Sen. Rubio delivers weekly address - Americans have always believed that all of us can succeed

In the weekly GOP address, Florida's U.S. Senator Marco Rubio talks about why President Obama didn't talk about his accomplishments -- because there isn’t much that Obama has accomplished and Obama made everything worse:

The bottom line is this President inherited a country with serious problems. He asked the Congress to give him the stimulus and Obamacare to fix it. The Democrats in Congress gave it to him. And not only did it not work, it made everything worse.

In the second part of the weekly address, Senator Rubio takes Obama to task for asking us to abandon our economic heritage and accept Obama's devise class warfare:

He tells all of us that the only way for some of us to climb up the economic ladder is for others to be pulled down.

This divisive rhetoric, this effort to gain political support by convincing some that they will be better off if we punish others, this stuff has never worked anywhere it’s been tried.

Rubio continues with an optimistic call to embrace the American Free Enterprise system.

Americans have always believed that all of us can succeed.

[. . .]

This is what has made us different. This is what has made us prosperous. This is what makes us exceptional.

Watch Rubio's outstanding address:

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Full transcript of Senator Rubio’s Address:

"Hello, I’m Marco Rubio, a Senator from Florida. Right now all eyes are focused on my home state ahead of next week’s Republican presidential primary. It’s an exciting contest and I know that passions are high. So I wanted to take a moment to explain to the rest of the country why Republicans in Florida are so excited about this primary: Because we believe our country is in big trouble.

As you know, earlier this week, President Obama delivered his fourth annual address to Congress. It was an opportunity for the President to talk about his accomplishments over the last three years and to lay out his plans for the year ahead.

And he missed on both counts.

You didn’t hear much talk about the success of his Administration—and that’s because there isn’t much.

Yes, this President inherited a significant national debt, but over the last three years he’s made it worse. Our national debt has grown by nearly 50 percent since he took over, and now, for the first time since World War II, our national debt is larger than our country’s economy.

Yes, this President inherited an economy where unemployment was too high, but over the last three years he’s made it worse. Today our unemployment rate is higher than the day he took office. In fact, since he took over, it’s been stuck over 8 percent every single month.

This President didn’t talk about his record for one simple reason; he doesn’t want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because you feel the failure of his leadership every single day of your life.

The bottom line is this President inherited a country with serious problems. He asked the Congress to give him the stimulus and Obamacare to fix it. The Democrats in Congress gave it to him. And not only did it not work, it made everything worse.

President Obama has a year left in the White House. So what are his plans now to make things better? What does he plan to do now, that he didn’t do before? Well we got our answer Tuesday night. He plans to divide us against each other. To pit Americans against other Americans in the hopes of generating enough votes to get re-elected.

He tells Americans worried about their jobs that the way to help them is to raise their bosses’ taxes.

He tells those who are hurting that the only way they can be better off, is for others to be worse off.

He tells all of us that the only way for some of us to climb up the economic ladder is for others to be pulled down.

This divisive rhetoric, this effort to gain political support by convincing some that they will be better off if we punish others, this stuff has never worked anywhere it’s been tried.

People end up fleeing countries who adopt economic policies based on these flawed principles. And more often than not, they come here.

They come here because this is not who we are.

Americans have always believed that all of us can succeed.

That those who have made it fairly, can stay there. And those who are trying to make it will have a real chance to join them.

This is what has made us different. This is what has made us prosperous. This is what makes us exceptional.

And now, for the first time in my adult life, we have a President who’s asking us to abandon our economic heritage.

To become like the countries people come here to get away from.

To become like everybody else.

Yes, people are hurting. Yes, there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor.

But the way to solve it is not to embrace the ‘trickle up poverty’ economics of other nations.

The way to solve it is to embrace the American Free Enterprise system.

No economic system is perfect. But the American Free Enterprise system has empowered millions of people in the past. I know, because I saw it with my own eyes. 

My father was a bartender. And I thank God every night that there was someone willing to risk their money to build a hotel on Miami Beach and later in Las Vegas where he could work.

I thank God that there was enough prosperity in America so people could go on vacation to Miami or Las Vegas. Where people felt prosperous enough to have weddings or Bar Mitzvahs and, by the way, could leave tips in my Dad’s little tip jar. Because with that money he raised us. And he gave me the opportunity to do things he never had a chance to do.

Now, we had help along the way. I had student loans and grants from the government to help me get my education. And I went to our public school system.

That’s an important role for government to play. And so I also thank God that we had an economy prosperous enough to afford to pay for these things as well.

So, I’ll just close by saying, I hope this year will be the beginning of our work towards a new and prosperous American century.

Because I know that this idea of a nation where anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything, it’s not just something I read about in history books. I’ve seen it in my own life. And there’s no reason why we cannot continue it here, if only we do the right things.

May God bless all of you, and may God continue to bless the United States of America."

Obama caves on tax increases

Obama accepts the new political reality and capitulates on his long campaign to sell what may call the largest tax increase in American history.

Senior Presidential Advisor David Axelrod tells the Huffington Post President Obama will accept an across-the-board continuation of Bush-era tax cuts. According to Axelrod, "We have to deal with the world as we find it."

Yes, elections have consequences. After making  "well over 100 calls" -- reaching out to every new Republican senator-elect and many of the incoming GOP House members, Obama "accepts" the political imperative, even if he doesn't get the policy imperatives for maintaining rather than increasing the current tax rates.

This is a huge victory for the campaign waged by the TEA Party Movement and many in the GOP, including Senators-Elect Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey to stop the huge Obama tax increase. Credit is also due to the post-election campaign wage by the GOP/TEA Party Movement victors to listen to the people, put the people back in charge and realize enough is enough.

The TEA Party Movement proved to be such a powerful force even Axelrod is wondering how Obama can work with the "new breed of conservatives."

Preventing the huge Obama tax increases is only the first step, now we must continue the fight to reduce spending and deficits and undo the Democrats' ObamaCare government takeover of health care.

Senator-Elect Marco Rubio delivers Weekly Republican Address: enough is enough

This election the American people said enough is enough. That message was loud and clear. -- Senator-elect Marco Rubio

Senator-Elect Marco Rubio gets it. In today's Weekly Republican Address, Senator-Elect Rubio talks about what the Republicans must do to get the country headed back in the right direction:

• Govern as public servants who understand that re-election is simply a byproduct of good public service and good ideas;

• Stand up and offer an alternative to the policies coming out of Washington for the past two years;

• Put forward bold ideas and have the courage to fight for them;

• Prevent the massive Obama tax increase scheduled to hit every American taxpayer at the end of the year;

• Repealing and replacing ObamaCare;

• Simplifying the tax code; and

• Reducing the national debt.

Rubio understands better than many of us why America is exceptional:

I know about the unique exceptionalism of our country. Not because I read about it in a book, I’ve seen it through my own eyes. You see, I was raised in a community of exiles, by people who lost their country, people who once had dreams like we do today, but had to come to a foreign shore to find them.

Unlike many of our political leaders, Rubio asks us to hold the Republicans accountable to the ideas and principles they campaigned on.

Rubio is going to be a great U.S. Senator.

Watch the video of former Representative Rubio's address:

You can read the full transcript of Senator-Elect Rubio's address below:

"Hi, I’m Marco Rubio.

With Election Day now behind us, it’s an honor to talk to you about the opportunity before us – an opportunity to put America back on track.

For too long, Washington has taken our country in the wrong direction: bigger government, reckless spending, and run away debt. And though I’m a proud Republican, here’s the truth, both parties have been to blame.

This election the American people said enough is enough. That message was loud and clear. We Republicans would be mistaken if we misread these results as simply an embrace of the Republican party. This Election is a second chance. A second chance for Republicans to be what we said we were going to be.

America is the single greatest nation on earth, a place without equal in the history of all mankind. A place built on free enterprise, where the employee can become the employer. Where small businesses are started every day in a spare bedroom and where someone like me, the son of a bartender and a maid, can become a United States Senator.

I know about the unique exceptionalism of our country. Not because I read about it in a book, I’ve seen it through my own eyes. You see, I was raised in a community of exiles, by people who lost their country, people who once had dreams like we do today, but had to come to a foreign shore to find them.

For some their dreams were answered here in America, but many others found a new dream. To leave their children with the kinds of opportunities they themselves never had. And that is what we must do as a nation. To fulfill our sacred obligation to leave the next generation of Americans a better America than the one we inherited. And that is what this election was about.

In the past two years, Republicans listened to the American people and what they said is that it was time for a course correction.

The past two years provided a frightening glimpse at what could become of our great nation if we continue down the current path: wasteful spending, a growing debt and a government reaching ever further into our lives, even into our health care decisions.

It is nothing short of a path to ruin, a path that threatens to diminish us as a nation and a people.  One that makes America not exceptional, not unique, but more like the rest of the world.

As Republicans, here is what our commitment should be to you. Our focus must not be simply winning elections. It must be to ensure the next generation inherits a strong, free and prosperous America.

We will govern as public servants who understand that re-election is simply a byproduct of good public service and good ideas. And most importantly, we will stand up and offer an alternative to the policies coming out of Washington for the past two years.

The challenges are too great, too generational in scope for us to be merely opponents of bad policies. Instead, we will put forward bold ideas and have the courage to fight for them. This means preventing a massive tax increase scheduled to hit every American taxpayer at the end of the year. It means repealing and replacing the disastrous health care bill. It means simplifying our tax code, and tackling a debt that is pushing us to the brink of our own Greece-like day of reckoning.

For many of us coming to Washington for the first time and others returning to serve, it’s a long way from home.  A long way from the people whose eyes we looked into at town halls, at diners or roundtables, and promised that this time it would be different. That if you elected Republicans to office again, we would not squander the chance you gave us, and we must not. Because nothing less than the identity of our country and what kind of future we will leave our children is at stake.

That is our commitment and from you we ask this: hold us accountable to the ideas and principles we campaigned on.

This is our second chance to get this right.  To make the right decisions and the tough calls and to leave our children what they deserve – the freest and most exceptional society in all of human history.

Thank you for listening, God bless you and your family, and may God continue to bless the United States of America."

'The Final Act' - elections have consequences

It's election day. Elections have consequences. VOTE!

Watch the latest video in the terrific series from the Republican Governors Association -- "Remember November: The Final Act." The video tells the story of why every American should Remember November!

Vote, do it now.

Put the people back in charge

"We’ve tried it President Obama’s way.  We’ve tried it Washington’s way.  It hasn’t worked.  It’s time to put the people back in charge" - House Republican Leader John Boehner

In today's Weekly Republican address, House Republican Leader John Boehner calls for a "New Way Forward" focused on creating jobs, cutting spending and reforming congress:

1. Start with cutting spending instead of increasing it; making government smaller and more accountable; and helping small businesses get back to creating jobs again.
2. Stop the coming tax hike
3. Change Congress.

You can watch Leader Boehner's speech in the video below:

Here's the complete transcript of Leader Boehner's speech:

Hello. I’m John Boehner.

Before I served in Congress, I ran a small business here in Ohio, and I saw first-hand how politicians in Washington can make it harder for small employers to meet a payroll and create jobs.

In the final days of the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama promised to "change this country and change the world."

Well I don’t know about the world, but here at home, Americans haven’t experienced the change President Obama promised.  One in ten of our fellow citizens is out of work. Our national debt has grown by $3 trillion.  Trust in government has fallen to an all-time low.

These problems didn’t start under President Obama. But instead of fixing them, his policies have made them worse.  A "stimulus" spending spree that created jobs in China and El Salvador, while millions of Americans lost their jobs here.  A job-killing national energy tax. A government takeover of health care.

All these things have combined to create massive uncertainty for small businesses, the engine of job creation in America, while our children face a future clouded by debt.

Americans are demanding a new way forward in Washington – an approach that neither party has tried.

It starts with cutting spending instead of increasing it; making government smaller and more accountable; and helping small businesses get back to creating jobs again.

That’s what Republicans are offering with our Pledge to America, a governing agenda built by listening to the people.

A generation of fiscal recklessness in Washington has pushed us to the brink. Just to stay afloat, we’re now borrowing 41 cents of every dollars we spend from our kids and grandkids.

This spending spree threatens our children’s future.  It’s also hurting our economy. Americans know it has to stop, and our Pledge to America puts forth a plan to do just that. We’re ready to cut spending to pre-‘stimulus,’ pre-bailout levels, saving taxpayers $100 billion almost immediately.  And we’re ready to put in place strict budget caps that limit spending from here on out, to ensure that Washington is no longer on this spending binge.

We need to stop the coming tax hike. We can’t balance the budget without cutting spending and achieving real economic growth – and we won’t have real economic growth if we raise taxes on small businesses and families.

There’s a third thing we need to do to help our economy, and that’s change Congress itself. The American people are in charge of this country, and they deserve a Congress that acts like it. Americans should have three days to read all bills before Congress votes on them – something they didn’t get when the "stimulus" was rushed into law. We should put an end to so-called "comprehensive" bills that make it easy to hide wasteful spending projects and job-killing policies. Bills should be written by legislators in committee in plain public view – not written in the Speaker’s office, behind closed doors.

Across our nation, Americans are looking at President Obama’s policies and asking – "where are the jobs?" To help our economy get back on track, we have to stop all of the coming tax hikes and cut spending – and to cut spending, we need to change Congress itself.

This is a new way forward that hasn’t been tried in Washington yet. It’s a break from the direction in which President Obama has taken our country.  And frankly, it’s also a break from the direction in which Republicans were headed when Americans last entrusted us with the reins of government. The American people are in charge, and they deserve nothing less.

Together, we can do these things. And in doing so, we can begin the drive for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government that honors our Constitution and respects the will of the people.

These ideas are at the core of our Pledge to America.

We’ve tried it President Obama’s way. We’ve tried it Washington’s way. It hasn’t worked. It’s time to put the people back in charge.

Thank you for your time and may God bless the United States of America. 

Gov. Tim Pawlenty welcomes President Obama back to Minnesota

The Associated Press reports Governor Tim Pawlenty welcomes President Obama back to Minnesota with a snarky Minnesotan vocabulary lesson.

Using local expressions like "uffdah," "eh" and "yikes," the likely Republican presidential contender hits Obama for broken promise to keep unemployment under eight percent, the federal take over of health care, and more and more spending:

• "You said unemployment would stay below 8 percent and now it's almost ten -- uffdah!"
• "Do you like the federal take over of health care? They might say eh, not so much."
• "The ederal deficit was over a trillion dollars the last two years, and will be next year, too -- Yikes!"

Watch the video:

You can read the transcript of Pawlenty's welcoming message at Right Side Politics.

Senator Thune: the Obama experiment has failed

Giving Democrats more opportunities to manage the economy and spend taxpayer dollars ... will only lead to more growth of government bureaucracy, and to national bankruptcy. -- Senator John Thune

In today's In this Weekly Republican address, Senator John Thune hits a home run. His speech hits the Obama/Democrats again and again:

• For campaigning to save the jobs of Democrat politicians instead of spending more time trying ti create jobs for the American People.
• For their grow government, raise taxes, and take over health care experiment.
• For their broken promise to keep unemployment under eight percent.
• For their broken promise to reduce every family's health insurance premiums by up to $2,500.
• For their failure to pass a budget.
• For passing more burdensome regulations.

Thune sums it all up with a slight variation  of Reagan's famous closing to the 1980 presidential campaign:

Are you better off today than you were two years ago?

You can watch Senator Thune's speech in the video below:

Here's the complete transcript of Thune's speech;

Hello, I’m Senator John Thune of South Dakota.  As you’ve probably noticed, we have an election coming up in a little over a week.

President Obama has been running around the country trying to reelect Democrat members of Congress.

But if the conversations I’ve had with voters are any indication, the president should spend less time campaigning to save the jobs of Democrats in Congress, and more time trying to create jobs for the American people. 

All across South Dakota and the country, I've heard from people who aren’t fooled by President Obama's well-written speeches.  They have serious concerns about our economy, and they are all too familiar with the Administration’s failed policies.

One of the Democrats' main responsibilities over the past two years was to improve the economy.  Instead, they decided to try an experiment to grow government, raise taxes, and take over health care.  After two years, the American people are left asking, ‘Why have the Democrats’ priorities been so different from ours?’

The Obama Experiment has failed.

When the president and his Democrat allies in Congress pushed through their $814 billion stimulus bill, they promised it would create millions of jobs, and keep unemployment under eight percent.  But their approach didn’t work, and they failed to deliver on their promises.

Unemployment has climbed to nearly 10 percent.  Rather than create jobs, the Democrats expanded government, and now the American people are stuck with another bill for nearly a trillion dollars. 

When the president was introducing his big government health care plan, he promised to reduce every family’s health insurance premiums by as much as $2,500.  But premiums keep going up.  Families in some states are seeing increases in the double digits.  Here again, Democrats promised but didn’t deliver, and the American people are stuck with rising health care costs and another tab; this one for two-and-a-half trillion dollars.

The Democrats have controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress for nearly two years, and have proven that more government is not the answer.  This year they were not even capable of passing a budget.  Instead, they spent their time passing more and more burdensome regulations, like their so-called Financial Reform bill that failed to address the main cause of our economic mess.

Despite a dangerously high national debt that is closing in on $14 trillion, the president wants to spend even more money on these kinds of failed policies.  And he appears intent on raising taxes to do it.  

Giving Democrats more opportunities to manage the economy and spend taxpayer dollars will not give us the economic growth that we need.  It will only lead to more growth of government bureaucracy, and to national bankruptcy.
 
There is a reason unemployment is stuck near ten percent.

There is a reason jobs are not being created.

There is a reason too many Americans who want a job can’t find one.

There is a reason the dollar is weak and our economy is not growing as it should.

The reason is that President Obama and Congressional Democrats have led this country in the wrong direction.

Government cannot be openly hostile to American businesses, and expect them to grow and create jobs.

Government cannot raise taxes during tough economic times, and expect small businesses to grow and create jobs.

A new direction is needed.

The president likes to say that when you want to drive forward you put your car in D, and when you want to go in reverse you put it in R.  It’s a clever line, but when you’re speeding toward a cliff, you don’t want to keep the car in drive.  

Republicans want to reverse the dangerous course the Democrats have us on.

Republicans want to reverse Democrats’ plan to raise taxes on the 750,000 small businesses in this country that employ 25 percent of all workers.  So employers have more money to create new jobs.

Republicans support policies that will grow the economy, not the government.

Republicans want to repeal the flawed health care law that has been rejected by the American public, and replace it with a new plan that actually reduces costs.  We want to reverse the uncertainty in the marketplace so that small businesses have the confidence to grow and invest and create jobs.

And Republicans want to reverse this nonsense of government bailouts and takeovers of private businesses. 

Republicans have proposed real, concrete solutions to the challenges we face as a country. 

We have learned the lessons not only of what hasn’t worked over the past two years, but what didn’t work the last time Republicans controlled Congress.  Republicans are listening to the frustration being expressed by Americans all across this country, and we are determined to take this country in the right direction.

The choice could not be more clear. Democrats are driving more of the same failed policies they have pushed for the past two years.  Republicans are proposing to take this country in a different direction.

So I would like to suggest a simple question people should ask themselves to help cut through all the talk: Are you better off today than you were two years ago? I’m Senator John Thune. Thank you for listening

Putting the power back into the hands of We the People

The Republican Study Committee has launched a terrific ad, "Putting the Power Back in Your Hands."

The ad notes America was founded on certain  fundamental truths:

People derive their power and liberty from their creator, not the state.

People know best how to run their lives and their country.

The ad also notes that many people in Washington have stopped listening to the American people, and the people have lost faith in their elected officials.

In the ad, the Republican Study Committee acknowledges Republicans must earn back our trust by respecting the consent of the governed and staying true to constitutional conservative principles.

You can watch the ad below:

McCain unloads on Boxer - 'bitterly partisan' and 'anti-defense'

Campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina at a rally with San Diego area veterans at the Veterans Memorial and Museum in Balboa Park, Senator John McCain Arizonan called Barbara Boxer the “most bitterly partisan, most anti-defense senator in the United States Senate today." McCain bases his assessment of Boxer on his "unpleasant experience of having served with her."

“When you hear her say that she supports the men and women in the military, my friends, she does not...because she has never supported the mission; she has never supported victory whether it be in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world. Barbara Boxer wants to wave the white flag of surrender and endanger this nation’s national security. It’s time she went back to San Francisco with [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi.”

Watch the video:

I have had my quibbles with Senator McCain, but I have none on this issue.

In addition to upbraiding a general  during a committee hearing last year, Barbara Boxer has voted against funding for such things as body armor, mine-resistant vehicles and communications equipment for troops in times of war. She has also voted against veterans funding for medical facilities, additional funds to treat veterans of the global war on terror and support for the Veterans Administration health care system. Since beginning her service in the Senate, Boxer has voted at least seven times against higher pay for the military, and she was one of only 25 senators who voted against condemning a defamatory ad MoveOn.org ran against General David Petraeus.

Senator McCain also gave Fiorina a strong endorsement:

“As both a veteran and as a senator, I have seen Barbara Boxer put politics ahead of our men and women who have served in uniform.

Carly Fiorina, on the other hand, has been outspoken in her support of our military, and I know she will be a vocal advocate for our troops as a member of the U.S. Senate.

Carly will work tirelessly for our veterans and our armed forces, and I know she is the person I want fighting with me in Washington to help support those who have fought for our country.”