Mitt Romney Wins Florida Primary!!

Mitt Romney won the Florida primary by a huge margin: 

Lets take take a look at the results of each county in Florida: 

Let's take a look at election results to see where we were in 2008 and just how big this win was for Mitt Romney tonight.Statewide in 2008, Mitt Romney lost to John McCain by a margin of 36% to 31%, a four-point deficit. In 2012, Romney improved upon his statewide total to win 46% to 32%, a resounding 14-point victory.

With tonight's victory in Florida in which Mitt received 50 delegates, he has a huge lead over all the other candidates in getting the 1,444 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination: 

Mitt Romney's victory is significant because it was a closed primary in which it was only limited to registered Republicans. This fact is important because despite what you hear in the conservative or liberal media, blogs and magazines, Mitt Romney had a lot more conservative/Republican support than they would like you to believe. Mitt Romney received strong support in almost every demographic in Florida with the exception of the "very conservative" vote:

Mitt Romney swept to victory in the Florida primary Tuesday night by winning nearly every income, age, religious, ideological, and ethnic group – falling short only among the one third of Florida Republican voters who called themselves “very conservative” and among the 40 percent who described themselves as white evangelical Christians, although he only narrowly lost among the latter group, according to the network exit polls.

The former Massachusetts governor displayed especially strong appeal to Latino voters – winning 53 percent of them – and to married women, to self-described moderates (winning 62 percent of them), to wealthier voters, and to those who said that the ability to defeat President Obama was the quality that most mattered to them – more so than the candidate’s experience, character or true conservatism. Nearly three out of five the voters who said beating Obama is the top priority voted for Romney.

The exit poll results demonstrate that Mitt Romney has a broad support from a wide spectrum of conservatives. I believe that we see similar polling results in future primaries. 

As far as future primaries go, things are only going to get better for Mitt Romney. He's the only candidate who has the resources, finances, and organization to compete in multiple states at a time. He's also made the ballot on every state. 

The most important fact to take away from tonight's victory is that Mitt Romney demonstrated that he's a fighter and that he can bounce back from a loss in South Carolina and deliver a hard punch back to Newt in Florida. Democrats are preparing give Mitt Romney a taste of his own medicine by going after him the same way Romney has gone after Gingrich. However, Mitt Romney is excited and eager to use all of his political firepower that he possesses to blast Obama out of office. 

Mitt Romney Is Not Behind The Redistricting Of FL-22

A lot of conservative blogs are up in arms today about the current redistricting plans for Florida which must be done in order to conform to Florida's new redistricting laws. This new law, Florida Congressional District Boundaries Amendment, known as Amendment 6 on the on the ballot during the 2010 midterm election, was a constitutional amendment to Florida's state Constitution. The proposed constitutional amendment was approved by the majority of voters.

There are false rumors that Mitt Romney and/or his surrogates in Florida are trying to push Represenative Allen West out of action: 

Conservatives pointed out that a major player in the process, Florida Speaker Designate Will Weatherford, has been a surrogate for Mitt Romney in the past. Some used this fact to suggest that Romney was involved in a campaign against Allen West.

This claim is bullshit. 

I can prove it.

Let's look at the language of the Florida Congressional District Boundaries Amendment: 

In establishing Congressional district boundaries:

(1) No apportionment plan or individual district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice; and districts shall consist of contiguous territory.

(2) Unless compliance with the standards in this subsection conflicts with the standards in subsection (1) or with federal law, districts shall be as nearly equal in population as is practicable; districts shall be compact; and districts shall, where feasible, utilize existing political and geographical boundaries.

(3) The order in which the standards within sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section are set forth shall not be read to establish any priority of one standard over the other within that subsection.

Now, lets look at Representative Allen West's district:   

Lets take an ever closer look at FL-22: 

Looking at these maps, its pretty clear that FL-22 is a blatantly gerrymandered district with all those squiggly line reaching inland to very specific regions. Those stretched and distended shapes were done to make that district Republican and competitive in a region that is well known to be heavily populated by Democrats. 

Its obviously clear that under the new anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative, FL-22 cannot remain as it is and be legal. It has to change in order to comply or conform to the Florida Congressional District Boundaries Amendment which the voters of Florida overwhelmingly supported. As a result, the GOP leadership's hands are tied. They must follow the law. 

As a result, any legal redrawing of FL-22 is going to be naturally be filled with more Democrats since the district as it currently stands is artificially a Republican district due to the obvious carve outs on the map.

Its clear that the Florida GOP did the best they could do under the law to help Representative Allen West since that area covers Palm Beach County which is not known for being a strongly conservative area, Mr. West should be greatful that his district only became 4 points more Democratic than it used to be.  Things could have turned out worse for him but it didn't.

Lets not forget that Allen West isn't the only person to be affected by the proposed redistricting plans for Florida:

Case in point are Reps. Tom Rooney and Allen West. Both of their South Florida districts got about four points more Democratic, which should make life significantly tougher for each of them. Rooney now has a more compact swing seat (the 18th) north of West Palm Beach, while West’s already Democratic-leaning 22nd district just south of Rooney’s became even more Democratic and will be tough for him to hold.

West has been a very outspoken tea party freshman and has raised huge money, but line-drawers don’t appear to have done him many favors. His district, as constructed, would have gone about 43 percent for the last two Republican presidential nominees.

Both men appear to have options, though. Rooney could run in the new 17th, which includes much of his current territory in the Everglades, while there has been some talk of West running across the state in Mack’s district. (Though West has shown no interest in this.)

Other Republicans who see their districts getting slightly less friendly include Reps. Steve Southerland , Vern Buchanan and David Rivera. Buchanan actually gains registered Republicans and retains the vast majority of his current district — both positives for him — but the performance of his district moves about a point towards Democrats.

The evidence is clear. Mitt Romney or his political allies in Florida are a part of some evil, nefarious back room deal to push out Representative Allen West. Its clear that those who were on the committee to redraw the district did as much as they could to help him out. 

Allen West is a soldier and he can fight under tough circumstances. It will make things harder for him but he can do it. Other people may whine and cry about the new district changes, but Allen West won't. He'll just suck it up and fight harder. And he'll win.

My Predictions For Who Will Win The 2012 Florida Primary

With the Florida Primary election taking place tomorrow, I will make my prediction as to who will win. Here they are: 

Mitt Romney: 44

Newt Gingrich:`29

Rick Santorum: 16

Ron Paul: 11

Mitt Romney will most likely win Florida by a huge margin. Many people have said that if Mitt Romney wins Florida, he will most likely have the GOP nomination all wrapped up. The race isn't over yet..I don't foresee Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul dropping out anytime soon. Rick Santorum will probably stay in the race but it really depends on how his daughter is doing.   

However, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have an uphill battle after Florida because the primary elections will becoming fast and hard. Except for Romney, none of the other candidates, with the exception of maybe Ron Paul, have the staff, resources and organization to keep up with the increase in pace of elections.

Let me share with you what the race looks like up until Super Tuesday. The next primary race is in Nevada on February 4th and Mitt Romney will definitely win in that state. After that, on February 7th in which three states will be holding elections: Colorado (caucus), Minnesota (caucus) and Missouri Missouri. A few weeks later on February 28th, Arizona and Michigan will hold their primary Washington will hold their primary on March 3rd and then a few days later will be Super Tuesday in which 10 states will be holding their primaries or caucuses. Those states are: Alaska (caucus), Georgia (primary), Idaho (caucus), Massachusetts (primary), North Dakota (caucus), Ohio (primary), Oklahoma (primary), Tennessee (primary), Vermont (primary) and Virginia (primary). 

Its hard to predict how well each of the candidates will do after Florida but I can tell you that Mitt Romney will win most of the primaries up until Super Tuesday. I expect all of the candidates to stay in until Super Tuesday.  I do think Rick Santorum will drop out after that and it will be down to Romney, Paul and Gingrich after Super Tuesday. 

Is Ron Paul A Racist Or Not?

I get a lot of e-mails and comments on my blog from Ron Paul supporters who argue that Ron Paul is not a racist and provide me YouTube clips and news articles to prove it. 

However, Ron Paul's newsletters raise some serious doubts as to whether or not he is a racist. First, lets review the facts.

Its been established by witnesses and public records that Ron Paul was heavily involved in his newsletter published under his own name: 

"...the officers of Ron Paul & Associates included Paul's wife Carol, Paul's daughter Lori Pyeatt, Paul staffer Penny Langford-Freeman, and longtime campaign manager Mark Elam (who has managed every Paul congressional campaign since 1996 and is currently the Texas coordinator for the presidential run), according to tax records from 1993 and 2001."

Its clear that he was intimately and deeply involved with the magazine in terms of editing, publishing, financing, advertising, and staffing his newsletter.We don't know exactly how much money Ron Paul made from these newsletters but from all the available evidence, he profited nicely from it. We also know that Ron Paul let Lew Rockwell or Murray Rothbard ghost write many of these racist articles. Both of these men are known for spouting racist and anti-Semitic views in other forums. We know that Ron Paul started publishing these articles in the 1990s. 

Now that we've established the basic facts, lets review why his newsletters raises some serious doubts as to whether or not he is a racist.

First, if Ron Paul isn't a racist, why publish the trash in his newsletter in the first place? Yet, those articles are there for all to see. 

Initially, Ron Paul absolutely denied he penned those newsletters. Then we get a half admission that he did write articles but we're to believe he only focused on economic issues. But given all the lies Ron Paul has said about his own newsletters, its difficult to believe that he only wrote the economic articles. Can we really believe Ron Paul didn't write them?

Even we are to believe that he's being honest that he only wrote the economic articles, he allows well known racists to write the articles. Why hire these men in the first place? Why didn't he reject the articles when these men submitted it for publication? Why didn't he issue a retraction and apology after they were published? Why didn't he fire these men after the article were published? The fact that he let racist men write racist articles with his approval and never once objected to it before or after these articles were published is troubling. 

There's the additional question of why even try to use racism as a strategy to increase his business? Its such a horrible business and public relations idea unless you know your articles are being read by the racists in America who have no qualms or objections with the content of the newsletters. Then there is no problem. 

If a magazine or newsletter was found to have published racist material, they would have issued an apology and retraction immediately. Moreover, they would not have purposely used racism as business strategy to increase circulation and profits.

Ron Paul never did this. Instead, the let these articles stand as they for more than a full decade since the 1990s without any corrections, retractions or apologies. Only when he's running for President in 2008 and 2012 does he try to distance himself from his own newsletters that were published under his name. 

How convenient. 

I think the evidence is overwhelming that raises serious questions about Ron Paul's bigoted views towards minorities. I don't like accusing people of racism and I don't do it lightly. 

Yet, its very clear that there's strong evidence that he is. There's no denying that there are serious questions about Ron Paul's bigotry. Even if we are to view all the evidence in a way that is most favorable to Ron Paul, his actions and words strongly raises doubts that's not a racist.

Whether Ron Paul is a racist or not is a matter of legitimate debate since we're deciding which man we want to live in the White House and be President. With all the available evidence and the troubling questions they raise before you, I'll let you decide if Ron Paul is a racist or not. 

Herman Cain Finally Endorses Newt Gingrich

When Herman Cain dropped out of the 2012 race about a month ago, there were rumors that he would be endorsing Newt Gingrich. Now, Herman Cain has given his endorsement to Newt Gingrich which he has wanted to do for quite sometime now: 

Just over a week ago, Cain addressed a gathering of Republicans in South Carolina and said he had held off from endorsing a candidate because he didn’t want an endorsement to “split my support.”

He said Saturday that the decision to back Gingrich had been in his heart for some time.

“There are several reasons, many reasons as to why I have reached this public decision,” he said. “I had it in my heart and mind a long time ago.”

“One of the biggest reasons is the fact that I know that speaker Gingrich is a patriot,” Cain said. “Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas. And I also know that Speaker Gingrich is running for president, and going through this sausage grinder -- I know what this sausage grinder is all about -- I know that he’s going through this sausage grinder because he cares about the future of the United States of America. We all do.”

The endorsement isn't surprising given that one lying adulterer is endorsing another adulterer. I don't think his endorsement will help Newt Gingrich at all.

Actor Jon Voight Endorses Mitt Romney

To be honest, I almost fell out of my chair when I found out that Jon Voight endorsed Mitt Romney at a rally at the Fish House in Pensacola, Florida today:

Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight threw his support behind Mitt Romney today, telling a crowd of hundreds at a local restaurant that Newt Gingrich “falls short” of having the characteristics needed to run the White House.

“Governor Romney is a man of faith, honor, love, and truth,” said Voight. “These are the first very important qualities a president must have. He is strong, honest, and wants to bring the country back to its exceptional place, where we have been for hundreds and hundreds of years, until President Obama decided to follow his father’s footsteps and take us to socialism.”

“I’m sorry to say Speaker Gingrich may fall short in many ways,” said Voight. “Please join me to bring in Gov. Mitt Romney as the next President of the United States.”

The reason why I am surprised by this endorsement is because Jon Voight acted in the controversial cinematic disaster called, September Dawn, in which he played the role of fictional bishop Jacob Samuelson. The movie was released during the midst of the 2008 Presidential primary when Mitt Romney was making his first attempt to become President of the United States.

The film was not a success because it received strong negative reviews from movie critics like Roger Ebert and Eric Snider. The movie also flopped because the film mixed too much fiction for it to be called a historical movie. It was a horribly written script with bad acting, bad dialogue and shoddy filming. Some people called the film massacre porn. Many Mormons and non-Mormons were upset with the film since it viciously attacked the LDS Church by falsely conflating the Mountain Meadows Massacre with modern day Islamic terrorism

Jon Voight defended the film by describing it as a warning against religious fanaticism and denied that the film was not intended as a direct criticism of Mitt Romney.

I understand that Jon Voight was just doing his job as an actor. Its good to see that he can separate his work from reality and politics.  I am surprised but happy to hear that he had endorsed Mitt Romney.

2012: What The GOP Race Looks Like Right Now

When the 2012 campaign first started, there were a lot of Republicans that were thinking about throwing thier hat into the ring. As time went on, the field started to shape up as candidates were announcing that they were either in the race or not.

This is what the 2012 GOP race looks like right now:

Currently Running

Mitt Rommey, former Governor of Massachusetts 

Rick Santorum, former Senator for Pennsylvania 

Newt Gingrich, former Reprsenative of Georgia's 6th district

Ron Paul, current Reprsenative of Texas' 14th district

Buddy Roemer, former Governor of Louisiana 

Fred Karger, Gay Rights activist

Dropped Out 

Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota

Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico

Herman Cain, business executive and talk radio show host

Michelle Bachmann, U.S. Representative Minnesota's 6th district

Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China

Rick Perry, current Governor of Texas 

Decided Not To Run

Donald Trump, real estate magnate

Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor

Haley Barbour, current Governor of Mississippi.

Mitch Daniels, current Indiana Governor

Chris Christie, current New Jersey Governor

Paul Ryan, U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district

Mike Pence, U.S. Representative for Indiana's 6^th district

John Thune,  U.S. Senator, South Dakota

Jim DeMint,  U.S. Senator, South Carolina

Sarah Palin, Former Governor of Alaska

Donald Trump, business executive