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Subscribe to RSSRepublican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney tells TODAY's Matt Lauer that the "relatively modest heat" coming from his GOP rivals is a "good warm-up" for the general election.
A super PAC backing Mitt Romney has just made nearly $6 million in new ad buys in South Carolina and Florida in an apparent attempt to blow away the GOP frontrunner's opponents by the end of the month.
A source close to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC, confirmed that in the last few days it has bought up $2.3 million of media time in South Carolina and another $3.6 million in Florida to run ads in those states.
Read more reporting from Michael Isikoff in 'The Isikoff Files'
These buys show the powerful financial muscle behind the Romney group - flush with big donations from wealthy Wall Street investors and others. They also exceed the reported $3.4 million ad buy that Winning Our Future, the pro-Gingrich super PAC, made in South Carolina this week after receiving a $5 million infusion from billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
In his victory speech after winning the New Hampshire primary, Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama and contrasts his agenda with characterizations of Obama's time in office.
The clash of the rival super PACs that can take unlimited donations from wealthy contributors and corporations - is increasingingly dominating the GOP presidential race. A firm that tracks media buys for NBC News has found that, even before these buys, the Romey super PAC had already spent $7 million on ads in the primaries, exceeding the $5.5 million that was spent by the official Romney presidential campaign.
The super PAC ads are also far more nasty than those being run by the campaigns. In his victory speech tonight, Mitt Romney took a pointed shot at other Republicans who he said were "dividing" the country - a clear shot at blistering ads that the Gingrich super PAC has vowed to run attacking Romney for costing thousands of workers their jobs when he ran the private equity firm Bain Capital.
NBC’s Chuck Todd explains how the outcome of New Hampshire’s primary plays into the plans and strategies of the Republican competitors, particularly with regard to preventing Mitt Romney from becoming the nominee.
Rick Tyler, a spokesman for the Gingrich super PAC, said that Romney should stop "whining" about his group's ads - and said they will begin running on South Carolina TV and radio stations by Thursday morning.
"It’s amazing that he would take the opportunity of his victory speech to allow us to get under his skin," Tyler said.
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Money talks, Feces walks - Yoo-oooo!
$6MILLION? How many Children could be clothed and fed with that ridiculous size expenditure? This campaign financing needs to be reformed. Educated people do not need Dirt Ads and Gooey sickening ads about Family and Church to pick a candidate.
The Answer I say is to limit the campaign season to 6 months - not 18. Exposure through Town Hall Meetings and debates on TV is sufficient to see them in action, under pressure and challenged. Give each $5m from Tax funds and let them travel to major cities once, TV Debates will be free from the Networks. Staff not larger than Campaign Mgr., Press Secretary, Finance Mgr. and 2 advance men. 3 months primary - 3 months general election campaigning by the final candidates - THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
Mitt laying the smack down. No one in the Republican Primary wanted to win (other than Ron Paul). This is how it's done right. If Mitt takes SC it's over. This is what they get for letting Mitt fly under the radar. I am shocked that the Tea Party didn't have a stronger candidate after how they stormed the house in Nov. 2010. Funny how the GOP/TPers could end up with a moderate candidate. That is not a slam, because it is the best bet for the GOP to take back the white house. Game on Mitt...game on.
Listen, whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or in the middle, if you are anything less than a multimillionaire, you should literally want to throw our government out of office JUST because of the Supreme Court and SuperPACs. Your voice is going to get drowned out (as if it wasn't hard enough to hear the American people already) from the few (literally about 1000 people) who fund these.
The irresponsible of the wealthy, the 'filthy' in other words, do not want people to vote. They do everything they can to stop it. They fear what happened to Bush in 2008 and Congress in 2010 the MOST. They lose all their political money making schemes when their friends get thrown out of their political offices. DO something. DO NOT vote for ANY establishment rep. NONE.
Why don't you ask Obama. He spent 730 Million getting elected...
Derek, you are right.
Skup: $730 million is going to be child's play. You wait for this year's general election. It's going to be obscene.
Gotta love "Restore our Future".
From wikipedia, "large donations from approximately 90 wealthy individuals and corporations."
"the largest individual contributor to Restore Our Future was John Paulson, a billionaire and hedge fund manager who is, according to Politico, "famous for [having enriched] himself by betting on the collapse of the housing industry."
"Edward Conard, a former top executive at Bain Capital and longtime Romney supporter, came forward to state that he had formed W Spann LLC and funded and authorized the $1 million contribution."
Romney is owned by Bain capital, and wall street. Of course corporate greed is "envy" in Romney's eyes.
LOL
And you don't think that record will be crushed by this GOP?
Let me inject this too, into the mix:
"On June 19, 2008, Obama was the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing for a general election campaign since the system was created in the aftermath of Watergate."
The economy will be well stimulated by the election leading to further economic growth and less unemployment.
Sauce for Obama.
This guy, Mitt Romney, is the worst phony politician Republican party could put forward. In his victory speech yesterday, after the NH primaries, he ridiculed that President Obama hasn't brought various parties together since his election as President and that he hasn't looked for common man. What a bunch of crocodile tears this guy was shedding. Ever since Obama became President, our country has lost valuable time in healing the wounds caused by the Great Recession, because of sheer non-cooperation from the Teapublicans, in every facet (be it taxation, stimulus, infrastructure spending, getting the rich to pay their fair share, etc.) and thus he was unable to people back to work as he had intended.
Now, this guy, Mitt Romney, born in a rich family, never ever operated a cash register in the super market, thinks his policies will uplift the middle class people who are struggling every day and folks who are out of job and looking for job. His Superpacs totally funded by his rich Wallstreet brethren are out to make sure one of their own blood occupies the White House so that the filthy rich people continue to hold the sway in the halls of Congress and the White House. This guy should be defeated at all cause, if we want a President who can look after the middle Class and not the rich guys Charlie Koch and John Paulson.
@Tea Sucks... So much wrong with your post. I dont have time and wont spend the time going over it all but just one thing.
He has been a successful business man, he went to BYU and Harvard. Why would he work in a cash register.
Jari A Valladares, If you don't have time, don't make any off the cuff comments here.
To the first part of your quote, he was a Private Equity guy from Bain Capital, essentially buying companies like Dunkin Dounts, etc. leveraging them up to their neck, pay off the LPs from the cash coffers of the companies and exit the companies with a ton of debt. Go look at all the companies that Bain Capital bought and sold during his tenure there and come back and comment.
I specialized in Private Equity during my MBA program (from an Ivy league school) and wrote a paper on PE. So, I know how it works and I work in Wall Street for a living. By design, PE firms are there to make money for their investors, and they are not in there for any community services. So, I don't blame Mitt Romney for what he did when he was in Bain Capital. But don't freaking come to me and say that he has Business Management experience. He was a Professional Flipper (buys and sells Assets or companies for a profit). He has zero experience in managing companies or creating jobs.
As for his Harvard degree, anybody with money and a last name "Romney" should be able to get into Harvard.
Lastly, you didn't understand the quote about "Cash Register". Go Google, "George W Bush"AND "Cash Register."
All these fools will be outspent by the Obama super PAC.
There is an election system, I believe in Europe, that provides free, equal time to all candidates that post a bond. No outside money is allowed and if you don't get at least 1% of the vote, you lose your bond. It may not be perfect, but it is a lot better than what we have now. The US Supreme Court needs to be recalled and replaced with sane individuals. Corporations are not and never were people with constitutional rights. Removing the restrictions on billionaires in political campaigns is so obviously partisan the court has ruined its credibility completely.
The buying of Florida by the corporations begins. That is what this is, pure and simple. Romney is a corporate lackey who will do whatever he is told to do by the corporate check writers, and here you see the physical action of the checks being written. I'll bet you $10 on it, my proportionate bet to Mitt's 10k. To extend their power into the vote, to get the masses to work for what little wage they want to trickle upon them, to ensure nobody can rock the boat because they are so happy they have a job. Meanwhile, the corporate lucky few, that is, the rich to begin with, continue to see their incomes swell by the dollars they squeeze from the masses.
Fetch, Mitt, now, roll over, good boy, now, no corporate regulation, Mitt, good BOY!!!
Here's hoping the people of Florida aren't dumb enough again to be media bought and fall for it again - wasn't Rick Scott dumb enough for one state for one century? But then, hey, it's Florida.
But but but.... isn't this just.... free speach???? Corporations are people too..... Citizens United (and Mitt) said sooooo..... Who says ya can't buy love......
Mitt also said yesterday that what he did at Bain was acceptable because it is capitalism. I guess capitalism at its dirtiest is equal to America in his mind. Mom, apple pie and Big Business!! Yipee!!
And don't say anything against me or you're un-American. Sick.
No question that the super pacs will buy the election. My question is what will they want when their candidate wins? No money is free, there's always payback.
DE-REGULATION is what they want by continuing to take the boots to the middle class. Kings and servants is their goal, how does 3 dollars an hour sound Teabaggers?
Mitt Romney Quote: "Obama is out of IDEAS . . . Obama is almost out of EXCUSES and soon . . . Obama will be out of TIME."
He's a flip flopping, job killing, idiot, & this is typical Romney hyperbole! Don't much believe the majority of the Republicans will vote for a Mormon...This is gonna be lots of fun watching Obama destroy him....WooooHOO
Obama/Biden 2012
Great, now we have paid Romney staffers disseminating his tripe.
Oh, okay, well what Romney said has deep meaning. What are your ideas, Mitt? Same old, same old, cut taxes for the rich and cut the budget. Dereguate so the rich can do whatever they want and if that doesn't work get into a war. We are all tired of the republicans and their party of "no".
Negative ads are not what they once were. We now have the internet to reasearch the facts and financials. I can honestly say that negative ads will only work for the lazy, uninformed and myopic supporters.
That seems to be the problem with these ads. There are a lot of people who don't bother checking the facts on these ads, and believe everything that is said in them.
Unfortunately, Shane Ownbey, there are way too many of those around, especially in my state.
The field is set: The only Anti-Romney is Obama!
I Romney should stop whinning against Newt. His superpac drew the first blood at Iowa and he did not complain. He did not consider the negative adds as dividing the republican party. He considers himself as republican untouchable prince; but so desparate and arrogant in allowing those negative adds. He lied that he did not see those adds; yet he was able to enumerate what was correct about the adds. I believe it is a fair game for Newt superpac to attack him too. I can see he felt it and that is good. If you live in a glass house do not throw stones. He should answer and defend those allegations soundly if he should get my vote. Otherwise my vote is mine.
The unintended consequence of Gingritch and Perry attacking Romney on his record at Bain Capital places them to the left of Romney on the political spectrum, using arguments that would make Obama proud. He thus becomes a more conservative choice than he would otherwise. Good job helping Mitt move to the right! It should help his chances immensely.
This guy is a crook you can see it in his eyes and his smile. He's hiding something dark and deceitful. I'm surprised so many people cannot see past his horse manure rhetoric. Even more appalled that so many people share enough of his 1950's views that he is a frontrunner for the GOP.
Then again why should i be surprised, hes a Rethuglican.
- OBAMA 2012 -
Romney is the same book as P.Obama with a different cover.
P.Obama gets his policires from the Romney camp.
Vote for Romney or P.Obama if you want to be a slave in the New World Order.
Don't think we'll have any other choice!!!
There are always other choices. Check the ballot for your state. I can't in good conscience vote for Obama, or Romney, if he is the republican nominee. It won't be so much a vote for this other person, as much as it will be a vote against these other two. We definitely can use a decent independent candidate in this election.
Obama gets His policies from Romney? Their policies are like night and day jeffrey. What about 2/29/2012? LOL
tweet: I'm sure Obama would support you. A third party just helps give him another four years. The democrats need to select another candidate to get my vote. If Obama remains the candidate, then whoever the main opponent gets my vote. Obama had his chance and failed. It is time for someone else to have a shot at getting the federal financial house in order and get some cooperation in congress on the issues.
CKSM - In order to say President Obama had his chance, Congress would have had to enact his policies. Can't really remember any of his policies that Congress passed without ripping them apart. Saying things that are not true will not change facts.
The only thing Obama failed on was stopping the Republican blockade in congress. Of course no Democrat could have done that since the Republicans made a mess of the economy and refused to allow any bills to pass congress that would have helped get the country back on track sooner. Now that the economy is picking up on it's own what's the Republicans going to run on? They did absolutely nothing last year but make complete fools of themselves by being unwilling to compromise with their my way or the highway attitude.
I wrote my congressman in Florida and his response looked like a form letter from Grover Norquist. Pathetic. He's not getting my vote if he's not going to do as the majority want so I'm sending his letter by email to all I know and point out his position of supporting the wealthy.
Maybe ron paul is right & bin laden did not blow up the wtc but it was somebody else. Did you read about the 1933 double eagle gold coin recently sold for $8M. Then another went on sale but was confiscated. Soon another 9 coins were found. All thought destroyed on 911.
How about the 1793 penny that sold for 1 million last week?
Marshal,
OMG! No, I hadn't heard about all this intrigue and shadowy DaVinci code stuff trying to cover up .......... what? I HEARD they weren't really planes that hit the towers, but shoulder-fired missiles fired from a grassy knoll in the Bronx! And Ron Paul is right! It wasn't bin Laden, it was a partnership between the Kennedy family and the Koch brothers. How's that for deep cover?
Some of you people need to find a worthwhile hobby to occupy what's left of your minds.
Thanks to our crooked Supreme Court, such obscene spending is possible!
Maybe not crooked, but certainly very pro-business, that's for sure.
What is the difference, these days, between being crooked and pro-business?
It's sad to admit that these days you're right Paul.
The whole agenda of the business world is to break the labor in this country and get the wages down to poverty level. In order to do that they have to buy the election for politicians that will break the unions by passing unconstitutional laws that take away the rights of the workers to lobby. When the threat of unions are removed, the need to pay competitive wages is removed also.
In the 80s and 90s, jobs were plentiful so businesses had to pay a fair wage to keep their workers whether they were union or not. Now jobs are scarce so they can pick the best workers and set the wages low, even go as far as reducing the wages of the workers they have. The workers now have no choice but to accept or do without which is just the way big businesses like it.
When at least 2 Justices take money and gifts from individuals and groups that support certain "conservative" causes, then rules in favor of such causes, Id say there were crooked. Scalia has done so, and even went up to Capitol Hill to advise GOP staffers on political strategy! Clarence Thomas neglected to reports almost $700K of his wife's salary from the Heritage Foundation over 7 years, and had to amend 13 years worth of financial disaclosures ( signed under penalty of perjury) bEcause it was "an oversight" , Id say they are CROOKED! IT SURE LOOKS LIKE QUID PRO QUO!!
I wonder why media news never mention the 2nd place winners. All of them mentioned the 1st, 3rd, and 4th and so forth?? what's going on?
Ron Paul 2012!
Pretty sad when the winner is the guy who spends the most money advertising and creating ill founded positive perception of himself, (ego diddling?). Sadder still that perception, to the mindless consumers of television pap, magically becomes reality. Even sadder is that PACs are funded by fat cats who became fat cats by only spending money for an expected personal return often cheating the public for the gain. An earlier post said it correctly: money talks, bullsh!t walks. As the primary season continues there will be a lot of money to be made selling $5.00 bullsh!t shovels to the public for $5000.00-shovels made in China.
Does seem like a movie production more than anything else, very loosely based on reality but with lots of discretionary departures from the truth.
I can see it now... Obama and Bush seated across from Santorum and Gingrich inside an old Western stagecoach heading into the sunset with Mitt Romney holding the reigns attached to six white, four black, and two brown Middle Class Americans.
Yes! The strongboxes are filled with the townsfolks money.
all romney has to point out about newt is : newt is from Pennsylvania, he is bi-sexual and has paid for many hos abortions....that will show how really "christian" the bible belt is....
OBAMA 2012!!!!!!!!!
obama = superpac
Obama's first broken promise was to run a campaign from public financing and limit the influence of 527s. Now he is expected to spend a billion dollars on the next election and yet people still complain about the influence of money in the GOP campaign.
WOMEN STILL LEFT BEHIND
I become concerned with people that throw everything into the ring of one candidate with such passion during presidential elections. These are usually the first to attack them later in accusations.
Better to use caution.
I still say that we do not have anyone representative of women's issues - which should be first priority in 2012.
Here we are, about 250 years later and women are still demeaned, denigrated, lower wages, primarily welfare recipients.
This is the most advanced nation on earth?
Why doesn't the supreme court (no cap deserved) just eliminate the elections and have a bid for president. Then we can skip all the adds, skip all the primaries and just let the highest bidder buy the election. Seems to be a shorter process, same result, without all the crap. People don't matter, corporations matter.
people must be stupid to be influenced by the superpac, and in fact they are...
How much does it cost to buy the Presidency these days?,..
'bout 6 Million bucks.
Actually, he has spent over $46 Million of his own money so far, apparently in an effort to demonstrate how he is a regular, blue collar worker.
Romney is already President of Super-Pacistan.
Hey, what happened to THE BY-PRODUCT OF ANAL SEX?
If Mitt wins in November, will he take the oath of office with his hand on the Bible or The Golden Tablets?