Early Voting Begins

Voting in the primaries is underway. Get out there and support your guy.

Playing Well in California

Gov. Romney was in California over the weekend and made a great impression (as he always does).

"I'm a little concerned about the challenges we face," Mr. Romney said. "But I want you to know as I go through this list of challenges, I'm going to end up telling you why I am the most optimistic person in this room."
After the speech, the audience of nearly 700 erupted in chants of "Run, Mitt, Run" and the governor was surrounded by adoring fans hoping to snap a picture of the grinning, salt-and-pepper-haired politician. He worked the room for nearly an hour as chattering Republicans said things like "What a realist."

He also said something about immigration that I believe is spot on:

“It is wrong for us to build an absolute concrete wall against those with skills and enterprise,” he said, referring to foreign students who come here for advanced study, “and have a wide open door for people with no education and no skills.”

Darn tootin'! Importing an underclass for companies to exploit isn't the most wise way of choosing who gets to enter the country.

Sen. Hatch on Romney

Longtime Utah Senator (and former presidential candidate) Orrin Hatch made some comments about Gov. Romney:

Hatch reeled of the names of several potential Republican candidates for president. "Mitt Romney would be the best candidate. He's the best manager, he's been a terrific governor working in a liberal state, he's charismatic, handsome and wealthy, and he made it on his own," Hatch said. "The Mormon issue could hurt him because people don't know a lot about Mormons. They still think Mormons practice polygamy and have other ideas. John F. Kennedy was able to break through though as the first Catholic president."

"I think Hillary (Clinton) could be the Democratic candidate if she wants it. I call her 'Hill.' I don't think women will vote for her."

Tax relief for veterans

Click

Property tax benefits for disabled veterans now range from $250 to $950 per year depending on the disability. Under the new law, those property tax exemptions will range from $400 up to $1,500 annually.

The new law also gives the surviving spouses of veterans killed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a full exemption from property taxes for five years. After that, a $2,500 exemption will be granted each year.

Reality

Today some of us (sadly few from looking around the internet) are reminded that the War on Terror is a serious thing and not just a political football. Analysts are saying that we stopped "The Big One". Al Qaeda's long expected follow-up to 9/11. My thanks to everyone, from intelligence analyst to law enforcement agencies, for unraveling this plot.

Gov. Romney is doing his part by activating the National Guard for Logan Airport.

Television Appearances

Via Electromneyin2008.com

Tonight, Governor Romney will be on Hardball at 7PM on MSNBC and Hannity and Colmes
at 9:30PM on Foxnews. Tomorrow at 8:45AM, he'll be on Fox and Friends

The Romney Effect?

A post at the Corner today mentioned that Gov. Romney's health care plans are starting to spur innovation in other states as well.

They mention that there's a split in the party about this from those that think government should just butt out. I have sympathy for the position, but we have to face reality. Sen. Clinton's disaster in '93 put the genie on the socialized medicine bottle for over a decade, but it won't last forever as long as insurance premiums keep going up. Eventually we've got to deal with it. And we can either take some of the pressure off by attempting some good market based solutions, or we can face the possibility of a complete government takeover.

Which would be a disaster.

Novak on Romney

Robert Novak has some tidbits on Gov. Romney's performance so far in early primary states:

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, trailing in national polls of Republican voters, has the lead in organizing early primary states for the 2008 presidential run, in the opinion of neutral GOP politicians.

Romney is particularly strong in Iowa, where caucuses begin the presidential hunt. A win there would swell Romney's now anemic identification among Republican voters.

Interesting that Novak was one of the biggest proponents of the Mormon Issue™ a scant 3 months ago. Looks like we're already changing many a mind.

Governor Race Update:

Rasmussen has released some new figures on the Florida governor. Crist retains his lead in all polls, though his margin has narrowed a bit. Crist holds a 47-42 lead over Democrat Jim Davis.

In other news Katherine Harris continues to struggle.

We have our first faux controversy!

Gov. Romney has made Time because he used the word "Tar Baby" to describe the Big Dig. Here's the definition of the word from dictionary.com:

tar baby
n.

A situation or problem from which it is virtually impossible to disentangle oneself.

A pretty apt description of the Big Dig, wouldn't you say? But, since there are those that enjoy taking offense when none is clearly meant, we have controversy.

Ah well. We're bound to hear more sillyness over the next 2 years.

Minimum Wage Update

As expected, Gov. Romney vetoed and was .

Moving forward with the Big Dig

The latest here.