Election Day

I couldn't think of a more fitting song for the day than Alice Cooper's Elected.

I voted this morning. It took 29 minutes. How long you had to wait to vote is the new finding a great parking spot. Everyone I've seen talking about voting - the first thing they mention is how long it took.

By the way - Alice Cooper supports Mitt Romney. Go Romney 2012!!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Pitt lost to Notre Dame last night and the key play came in OT when all Pitt needed was a field goal to win. The play before the FG try - Pitt for some reason ran the ball right which put the ball on right hash mark. If they ran the ball to the middle then the kicker would have had a straight down the middle kick and we probably would be talking a bout a huge upset this morning... My prediction for what the election Tuesday will look like... After World War I - France banned the word "Verdun" from many new history textbooks. Today the MSM seem to be doing the same with the word "Benghazi"... 147 days till Opening Day... Remember Joe Biden always means what he says... Some day I will die in large part because I eat too much bacon. I am completely at peace with that scenario. Hmmmm bacon.... This is a tremendous story - a MUST READ...

Presidential Election Prediction

Mitt Romney is going to win by a landslide on November 6th. He is going to win for 3 main reasons:

1. He has the Republican base energized. They not only will come out in large numbers but are also acting now doing the ground-game get out the vote grunt work.
2. Romney is winning the independent vote mainly based upon his economic arguments and plans. People aren't stupid. They see that the policies of the past 4 years are not working.
3. The above two reasons would give Romney a win but not a landslide. What will give Romney a landslide will be Democrats refusing to vote for Obama. Again some of this will be based upon economic policies but I think many will refuse to pull the lever because of the way the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi was handled. I think the revulsion shown by Democrat pollster Pat Caddell in this video clip is shared by many informed Democratic voters.

When the post election postmortem is done I think the numbers will show that in state after state many more Democrats voted for the federal offices of Senator or Congressman than voted for the Democrat at the top of the ticket. These folks may not vote for Mitt Romney but by not voting for Barack Obama they will be widening the gap which will be the difference between a slim victory and a landslide.

Presidential Debate Round Two

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner famously said, "We don't have a plan. We just don't like yours." That single sentiment seems to encapsulate the entire Obama Campaign strategy. That's the sort of strategy you run when you don't have any ideas of your own and your record isn't exactly something to be proud of.

Mitt Romney wants to make the US more competitive for companies by lowering the corporate tax rate. President Obama says he too wants to lower the corporate tax rate to which the natural follow up question becomes, "Well why haven't you done that already?"

Mitt Romney says he wants cut tax rates by 20% across the board while at the same time eliminating or reducing some deductions. The reduction in revenue would be paid for with the elimination of these deductions (capping deductions at $25,000 would be a place to start) and through growth in the economy. President Obama says the math doesn't add up because he never counts the growth in the economy - almost like he doesn't believe in it.

Mitt Romney says he believes in something called "self-deportation" which at first blush seems ridiculous. But when you think of it illegal immigrants come to this country because it is the land of opportunity. If state benefits like healthcare, welfare or in-state tuition are denied and if employer e-verification was enforced then the illegal immigrant would probably decide to go back home or to get a green card. The question last night was asked to paint Mitt Romney as a person Latinos should be afraid of but instead Romney turned it around. He asked why the President did not keep his promise to enact comprehensive immigration reform his first year in office. That was something he pledged to do and has no excuse for not doing.

The people out of a job know the President's job policies haven't worked. The people paying double at the pump for gas know his energy policies haven't worked. Middle class families who have seen their disposable income shrink by an average of $4300 while facing rising costs everywhere know Obama hasn't been good for them.The people paying attention know that the President blamed the deaths in Benghazi on a YouTube video for two weeks before coming clean to the American people. The failures of this Presidency are staring everyone right in the face.

Last night Mitt Romney was asked to describe how he isn't like George W. Bush. It was unfair that the natural follow-up question of the President explaining why he isn't like Jimmy Carter never got asked.

Why You Should Vote for Mitt Romney

Perhaps the best argument I have seen for why Mitt Romney should be the next President comes from of all places - the New York Observer.

Read the whole thing. I'm note in advance that The New York Observer endorsed Barack Obama in 2008.

Thoughts on the Election

I have a couple of thoughts on the 2012 Presidential Election to get off my chest.

1. President Obama made perhaps the biggest gaffe of the campaign so far when he said, "If you've got a business, you didn't build that." He said that at a speech in Roanoke - a speech where the President did not use his teleprompter. This is significant. Mitt Romney had to go through numerous unscripted, no-teleprompter debates to get his nomination. The President did not and hasn't done debate style speaking for years now. How is the President going to hold up in debates with Romney? Will he make even bigger gaffes than he did in Roanoke? His supporters say he is a great orator but I have not seen any evidence for that claim - especially in situations where he does not have access to a working teleprompter. The debates will be huge this election and my guess is that at this point Romney is better equipped for off-the-cuff speaking than the President (but will the President's ego allow him to recognize this?).

2. The "you didn't build that" comment is bound to hurt the President in his fund-raising efforts. The President  claims he's falling behind Romney but I'm guessing the message of "give me that money that I say you didn't earn so I can be re-elected and redistribute more of your wealth in the next four years" won't resonate with the people he wants to be donating. It may resonate with the true-believers but they are already maxed out in their contributions. This may hurt the President much worse than anyone seems to be saying.

3. Romney has the momentum. In Virginia Romney is now tied with the President. Obama was ahead 50-42 in March. Then Obama was ahead 47-42 in June. Now the two candidates are tied. Would anyone be surprised if Romney pulled ahead in August? This is despite the Obama Campaign's onslaught of negative advertising against Romney. Virginia is not a unique case. Michigan is now in play and Obama's lead has been shrinking in many other states.

4. I think Mitt Romney should not fall trap to doing just negative ads. I think an ad that spells out his resume would be very successful. Just 30 seconds of pointing out he was a great success in business helping launch companies like Staples, the Sports Authority and Bright Horizons. Point out he was a great success turning the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics from a financial and public relations disaster into a profitable venture that the country was proud of. Point out that as Governor of Massachusetts he kept the unemployment rate under 5% while changing the State from having a deficit to having a surplus for the rainy-day fund. Don't run away from the accomplishments the way President Obama is running away from the Stimulus and Obamacare. Run the resume ad into the ground. make it at least 50% of the ad buy in every battle-ground state.