Author: Jake Gibson

Dan Senor, the republican and former Bush administration official confirms today he will not run for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Kathleen Gillibrand (D-NY).

 “Over the past few weeks, I took a very serious look at running for the Senate seat in New York.” Said Senor, adding, “I ultimately decided this wasn’t the right time in my family and business life for me to run.”

Senor would have been an interesting candidate –  well spoken, media savvy and the name recognition necessary to raise some money.

However Senor was a highly recognizable face of the tough early years of the Iraq war. From there he went on to work at a hedge fund, so there might have been plenty to attack there as well.

Polls suggest that although Gillibrand enjoys the support of the White House and the democratic establishment, she would be vulnerable to a strong challenger.  Yet, the GOP has had trouble attracting a high value candidate –  several potential candidates have considered a run before ultimately backing out.

Array
(
    [0] => [youtube I3cSGY-mkzQ]
    [1] => I3cSGY-mkzQ
)

The Charlie Crist for Senate campaign is going up on the air today, releasing its first TV ad.

The campaign says they have made a “significant buy” in Florida for the ad, which is titled “Different.”

The Crist campaign has previously released radio and web ads, but this is the first television buy.

While Governor Crist has raised millions of dollars, he’s running behind in the polls to former speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio (R).

A TV ad this early in the election cycle is a measure of that weakness in the polls, however it is also a testament to the Crist warchest.

Here’s the script of the ad:

CRIST:I’m Charlie Crist and I approve this message.

ANNOUNCER:We thought he was different. Ideologically pure.Marco Rubio shot to national stardom.

Called “The Republican Obama.”

Now, comes the truth. Rubio was a registered lobbyist. His income skyrocketed while his power increased …

He looks awfully like a veteran insider who manipulated the system”

Rubio used Republican political donations on his lavish lifestyle.

Then, failed to properly disclose it, violating the law…Marco Rubio, How Disappointing.

The dust is still settling after last night’s historic action on Capitol Hill, but some of the key players in the 2012 GOP presidential field are reacting to the newly passed health care legislation. As you might expect, the reviews are not positive.

Former Alaska Governor and Fox News contributor Sarah Palin (R) wrote on her facebook page, “We’ve been reminded many times that elections have consequences. Yesterday we saw the consequence of voting for those who believe in “fundamentally transforming” America whether we want it or not… Yesterday they voted. In November we get to vote.”

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) sent a letter to Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson Monday asking her to review legal issues associated with the legislation. Pawlenty wrote, “It appears Congress may be overstepping its bounds by forcing individuals or businesses to buy insurance. I respectfully request that you review the legal issues being raised by this unprecedented federal mandate and join other attorneys general to protect the constitutional rights of our citizens.”

At least 12 attorneys general across the country have indicated they plan to file lawsuits to block implementation of the federal health care reform legislation on constitutional grounds.

Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) called it an “unconscionable abuse of power.” The 2008 GOP Presidential candidate added, “President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation – rather than bringing us together, ushering in a new kind of politics, and rising above raw partisanship, he has succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends.”

Healthcare reform may turn out to be a crucial issue for Romney. In 2006, then Governor of the Bay State, Romney supported and signed the Massachusetts Health Care plan which some critics and analysts have pointed to as a model for President Obama’s health care reform plan.

California Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown spoke to a labor group Tuesday, suggesting they go on the attack. “We’re going to attack whenever we can, but I’d rather have you attack.”

Brown made his remarks at a gathering of the California delegation of Laborer’s International Union of North America in Sacramento, “I’d rather be the nice guy in this race. We’ll leave [the attacks] to… the Democratic Party and others.”

Brown has been a well known politician in California since he was the governor of the golden state (1975-1983), but he may find himself in need of all the financial help he can get this fall if Republican billionaire Meg Whitman turns out to be his opponent in the general election. The latest polls suggest that as the most likely scenario.

Meg Whitman released a statement calling Brown’s comments to union members, “a troubling example of the cynical style of politics that helped create the terrible crisis California now faces. In his announcement for governor, Jerry Brown promised us an ‘insider’s knowledge but an outsider’s mind’. Clearly, the insider and the labor unions are in full control.”

Brown Campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford says Brown was talking about the Democratic Party, not unions and added, “Meg Whitman’s hypocritical attack on Jerry Brown is just more evidence that Whitman will say anything in her attempt to crown herself the Republican nominee and buy the general election.”

Whitman, formerly the CEO of EBay, has already put $39 million of her own money into her campaign and is leading her gubernatorial GOP primary opponent Steve Poizner by over 30 percentage points according to a real clear politics average of polls.

Real Clear Politics also has Whitman very competetive with Brown, trailing by less than two points.

Click here to see the video of Brown talking to the labor group in Sacramento on Tuesday.

In a new television ad running state-wide, Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln (D) hits labor unions for backing her Democratic primary opponent, Lt. Governor Bill Halter.

“Who’s the ‘us’ that I’m not working for?” Lincoln says, referring to an attack ad by the independent group, Arkansas for Change, “That ad is paid for by a bunch of Washington, D.C. unions. And they’re right. I’m not working for them — I work for you.”

Lincoln is widely considered to be one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election this fall and her poll numbers have been low in Arkansas where health care reform is overwhelmingly unpopular.

Lincoln voted for health care reform in the senate.

Republicans in Arkansas are literally lining up to run against her and recently Halter announced his late entrance to the race.

Lincoln also went directly after her democratic primary opponent in the ad, saying, “I approve this message because Bill Halter gave me his word that this would be a positive campaign. That didn’t take long.”

Mitt Romney is endorsing conservative underdog Nikki Haley for Governor of South Carolina, and will participate in a campaign event with Representative Haley in South Carolina on April 1st.

Romney’s PAC, Free and Strong America, also announced it will send Representative Haley’s campaign a maximum $3,500 primary election contribution

Romney is widely considered to be one of the front runners for the 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination.

This is just the latest in a series of trips Romney has lined up to the crucial ‘early states’ in presidential politics.

The former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate has also scheduled visits to Iowa and New Hampshire during his upcoming book tour.

Former Republican vice presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be in Arizona the last weekend of March as part of Senator John McCain’s re-election campaign. Details of that trip are now starting to come into focus.

McCain and his 2008 running mate will host a campaign rally in Tucson on the afternoon of Friday March 26th, before holding a high dollar fundraiser at the Arizona Biltmore later that evening. On Saturday the 27th they will hold another rally in Phoenix.

For the fundraiser, $2500 gets you into the dinner as well as an hour-long pre-dinner VIP reception, including a photo opportunity with McCain and Palin.

Tickets to the dinner alone run for $500, or $1000 for preferred seating.

The fundraiser will be at the same hotel resort where the McCain campaign spent the 2008 Super Tuesday. Ultimately the McCain-Palin campaign also chose as The Biltmore as the site for election night in 2008.

Palin is just one of many big name endorsements McCain has received lately in his GOP senatorial primary race against former Arizona congressman J.D. Hayworth.

Just this past weekend McCain barnstormed across Arizona with newly minted Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. McCain has also been endorsed by former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 GOP Presidential rival Mitt Romney, Minnesota Governor and 2012 hopeful Tim Pawlenty, as well as the new Republican Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell.

More than a thousand pro-health care reform advocates gathered in Washington, DC Tuesday morning to protest deadlock on the current state of the bill on Capitol Hill.

Howard Dean, the former Governor of Vermont and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, told the crowd, “We deserve a vote! Are you for the insurance companies or are you for the American people?”

The protesters then marched to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel where a large group of health insurance executives and lobbyists were meeting. Protest organizers announced over a mega-phone they planned to “surround and blockade the hotel, go inside and arrest lobbyists for their crimes against healthcare.”

Police closed streets and maintained a strong presence, blocking the protesters from entering the Ritz-Carlton.

Inside health insurance executives and lobbyists successfully conducted their meeting, some could be heard remarking about the large protest outside.

Police led a few protest leaders away in what looked like an arrest but within minutes those same people were back in the crowd. One of them was Anna Berger, the Secretary Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, “We came down here to deliver citizen arrest forms.” Berger said. “They won’t even talk to us.”

Hundreds of pro-health care reform advocates gathered at Dupont Circle in Washington, DC Tuesday morning to protest deadlock on the current state of the bill on Capitol Hill.

Howard Dean, the former Governor of Vermont and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, told the crowd, “We deserve a vote! Are you for the insurance companies or are you for the American people?”

The protesters are now marching to the Dupont Ritz-Carlton where they plan to “surround and blockade the hotel, go inside and arrest lobbyists for their crimes against healthcare.” An association of health insurance companies, America’s Health Insurance Plans, is meeting for a conference at the hotel.

Streets have been closed and police presence is heavy.

Police are blocking the crowd, which is now over a thousand strong, from entering the Ritz-Carlton premises.

So far there have been no arrests or physical confrontations with the police, but the crowd has been chanting and playing drums.

Outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) will be the keynote speaker at the 2010 Iowa Taxpayers’ Day in Des Moines on April 17.

The Hawkeye State is home to the crucial Iowa Presidential caucuses and many will see this is as another sign Pawlenty is preparing for a 2012 presidential run.

Pawlenty is a fixture on the conservative speaking circuit and also has been making the key hires needed to make a serious presidential run.

The Florida Senate race is red hot, with leaks, accusations and counter-accusations.

Former Florida Speaker of the House, Marco Rubio, is under fire for charging personal expenses to his Republican Party of Florida American Express card. The Miami Herald reports Rubio charged personal expenses such as grocery bills and repairs to the family minivan to the card.

A Senior Rubio campaign official disputes the validity of the story, telling Fox News, “Marco never charged personal items to the party. He charged them on his card and paid for them directly to AmEx.”

The Rubio camp also went on the offensive immediately, accusing their opponent in the GOP Senatorial Primary race, Governor Charlie Crist, of leaking the story to the press.

Rubio lashed out at the Crist campaign in a letter to the current Speaker of the Florida House, saying it is clear the documents “were leaked to the media by the Crist Campaign. These actions are an appalling act of political desperation.”

The Crist campaign has steadfastly denied any involvement in the leak. The governor himself spoke to reporters about the story today, seeming to welcome the younger Rubio to hardball politics, “The people have a right to know how people spend their money, how they comport themselves, how they conduct themselves before they put themselves up for public office. That’s happened to The Speaker [Rubio]. He apparently doesn’t like it. That’s too bad. Welcome to the NFL.”

Crist backers claim Rubio has a long history of using his public office for private gain and say his loud protests and accusations are just part of an effort to obscure an embarressing story

Mitt Romney has announced his endorsement of Republican Senator John McCain this morning. Sound familiar?

Romney last endorsed the Arizona senator, for commander in chief, in 2008. This after the two fought it out in a bruising GOP presidential primary. Now Senator John McCain is facing a Senatorial GOP primary challenge from conservative radio host and former Arizona congressman J.D. Hayworth.

Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts released a statement today, saying it would be “hard to imagine the United States Senate without John McCain, especially in the critical times we find ourselves in, with double-digit unemployment, a mountain of debt imperiling future generations and a global terrorist threat from jihadists bent on destroying our way of life.”

“Governor Romney is among the brightest and most dynamic leaders in our Party, and I am proud to have his support.” Said McCain.

Romney is the second potential 2012 presidential candidate to endorse McCain. Sarah Palin, McCain’s 2008 running mate has also announced her endorsement and will campaign with McCain in Arizona on March 26th.

From the NGA Winter Meeting in Washington-

Republican governors returning from meetings at the White House told us President Obama isn’t negotiating, but rather just trying to cajole them.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R) told us, “It felt like he wants us to come his way without making any concessions of his own.”

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) said it was a very cordial meeting but, “The first rule when you’re in a dead end is to stop, backup and find a better way, and I think we have to do that in American health care.”

One other Republican governor complained, “Just because we don’t agree with his ideas doesn’t make us partisan.”

Many of the governors say there are a few points of agreement and that’s where the negotiations should be centered.

White House officials point to an online list of Republican initiatives included in the president’s health care proposal, including:

Comprehensive Sanctions Database.

Registration and Background Checks of Billing Agencies and Individuals.

Expanded Access to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank.

Liability of Medicare Administrative Contractors for Claims Submitted by Excluded Providers.

Community Mental Health Centers.

Limiting Debt Discharge in Bankruptcies of Fraudulent Health Care Providers or Suppliers.

Use of Technology for Real-Time Data Review.

Illegal Distribution of a Medicare or Medicaid Beneficiary Identification or Billing Privileges.

Study of Universal Product Numbers Claims Forms for Selected Items and Services Under the Medicare Program.

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) says he told President Obama, “Let’s make a last effort to get universal health care… But if it doesn’t work let’s move into creating jobs and boosting the economy.”

Richardson, a 2008 presidential hopeful, made the comments after leaving a meeting between governors and President Obama at the White House.

Richardson said President Obama laid out some of his new health care plan, which, “focuses on pre-existing conditions, insurance reform, a lot of good measures.”

Richardson also lamented partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill, saying governors would do a better job at running Washington than congress is presently doing, “If we had to run Washington, governors and the president, we’d do great.”

Ron Paul’s surprising win in the 2010 CPAC Presidential Straw Poll spurred audible gasps and boos in the room.

Only about 25 percent of the nearly ten thousand CPAC registrants turned in ballots, but partication was very high among the younger attendees.

Texas Republican congressman and 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul won the 2010 CPAC Presidential Straw Poll, garnering 31 percent of the 2395 votes.

Former Massachusetts Governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney came in secong with 22 percent.

Former Alaska Governor and Fox News Contributor Sarah Palin came in third with 7 percent.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty came in fourth place with 6 percent, while Indiana congressman Mike Pence took 5th place with 5 percent of the vote.

Republican congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) took the stage and proudly called the GOP, “The party of no… No to some health care summit that is nothing more than a photo-op.”

Later Pence, the number three Republican in the House of Representatives, told Fox News, “no decision has been made,” on whether House Republicans will attend the administration’s planned bipartisan healthcare summit at Blairhouse next Thursday.

GOP officials say they need more information, and so far have gotten almost none.

Senior House Republicans tell FOX they have three basic questions;

What is the format?

What is the venue? “Is this one of those deals where he’ll be up at the podium and we’ll be sitting in plastic chairs?”

And “Most importantly, will the Democrats swear off reconciliation, or is this a trap?”

 Without the “right answers” House Republicans sound increasingly skeptical about participating.

UPDATE:

The decision by congressional Republicans to attend next week’s health care summit is not unanimous.

Informed of the GOP’s decision to attend by Fox News at CPAC, where he has been all day, a surprised Indiana Congressman Mike Pence indicated he continues to mull his own participation and still wants answers to the these three questions:

What is the format?

What is the venue?

And “Most importantly, will the Democrats swear off reconciliation, or is this a trap?”

Pence, the number three Republican in the House, says whether he gets the “right answers” or not, will help him make his own decision on attending the health care summit.

Outgoing Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) ramped up the populist, anti-big government, anti-Obama rhetoric with a pop culture reference to the tiger controversy.

“A big event is happening this morning. Tiger woods is holding a press conference.” The 2012 GOP hopeful quipped.

Pawlenty then suggested the country should take a tip from Tiger’s estranged wife Elin, “Take a nine iron and smash the window out of big goernment in our country.”

Early in his speech the crowd gave Pawlenty a warm, if not overwhelming reception, but they warmed up to him as he continued his offensive against President Obama.

“The president of France is lecturing the usa on the dangers of appeasment… I’ve got a message for President Obama; No more apology tours and no more giving miranda rights to terrorists.”

Pawlenty’s CPAC appearance is just the his latest stop on the speaking circuit, he’s already been to the key early presidential political states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Pawlenty has also begun putting together his organization, hiring key operatives, signing up volunteers and working on grassroots activists.

In another surprise development here at CPAC, Fox News has learned that Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) will introduce Mitt Romney at 1:30pm.

There will be a surprise appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) today.

Fox has learned that former Vice President Dick Cheney will accompany his daughter, Liz, who was always scheduled to speak to the group, when she takes the stage at 12:30pm.

The speech will be live on foxnews.com: Watch Now!