Associated Press
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) talked up his state's growing economy last night.
In June, the Romney campaign took an unexpected complaint to Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R). Apparently, Florida's economy was improving, and the Republican presidential campaign hoped Scott would downplay the good news, at least until after the election.
It's a problem that came up quite a bit last night in Tampa.
At the Republican National Convention, a number of swing-state GOP governors have boasted of the strength of the economic recovery in their states. But there's a catch: This might actually be great news -- for Obama.
It stands to reason that governors would deliver speeches talking about their own successes, and that's exactly what they did -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) talked about all the economic "progress" his state has seen in recent years; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) stressed his state's falling unemployment rate; and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) said her state's economy is finally "on the right track."
Virginia Gov. Bob "Ultrasound" McDonnell (R), who already credited Obama with boosting his state's economy earlier in the summer, boasted about the state's growing job numbers.
To put it mildly, this isn't exactly consistent with the larger Romney message.
As we discussed in May, many of the nation's key swing states -- Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Iowa, Pennsylvania -- are led by Republican governors, each of whom are eager to tell their constituents that the economy is looking up. They're hoping to boost their own fortunes, but inadvertently, they're also helping President Obama in an election year in which the economy is the nation's top issue.
Obviously, these governors don't want the president to get credit for the fact that the economy improved after his administration and congressional Democrats pulled the nation back from the brink of a catastrophe. But that doesn't change Romney's central challenge: telling voters in these key states not to believe their lying eyes.
"As the governors keep telling you, things are obviously getting better," the Romney argument goes, "though I need you to believe they're getting worse." It's no easy task.
Leave a Comment:
I am still waiting for ANYTHING on the terrible war we are still in and wondering what the repub/repukes will do about that situation.
All they want to talk about it junk. This war is important, just look at the loss of soldiers lives this past few months. What is their plan?
More war! It's good for business, don't you know? And it's not our kids there, so who gives a damn?
/snark
By this point in time, you should know that the only Republican who is going to mention Bush's wars is Ron Paul. When is he speaking at the RNC?
I sure wish there was a way to remove these duplicate posts Newsvine keeps submitting.
Paul will be speaking at 7pm on the 5th of never. If the RNC could quietly kill him and dump his body somewhere it would never be found, they would.
FACTS, like mosquitos, are constant annoyance.
Isn't this the whole reason the Romney campaign decided it was time to start blowing the racist dog whistles in the first place? They know they'll lose if the campaign is based on the economy, and they have nothing else of substance to talk about because their entire platform is deeply unpopular. So, it's time to lie about welfare and hope to God no one is actually paying attention.
It's so, so sad, but thanks to Citizens United and voter suppression, the saddest part is it might actually work.
Don't worry, Freddie. It's not going to work. At least not this time. : )
For each of these states, the Obama campaign needs to air clips of each of these Republican Governors talking about how their state is on the right track economically, then talk about how Obama's policies are contributing to that progress.
They could also mention how Romney's policies would slow or stop that progress, but I don't think we need to go there, at least not yet. Keep it positive and forward-looking whenever possible.
I stopped by this post to make just that comment. Consider yourself upped. I wouldn't want to give any of these particular twits* that Steve mentioned an electoral boost, but I think you could do it in a way that takes a certain amount of credit. "We at the White House are pleased that we've been able to help the Governor achieve this for the people of the GREAT STATE OF (X)"
*All have taken aim at disenfranchising their inconvenient populations, but Ms 2nd Amendment Remedies and the Union Killers that wish to disempower employees' ability to bargain for fair compensation are even causing harm to their base
So the argument these GOP Governors us to believe is that if the unemployment rate in their state is 7%, THEY are responsible or the 93% of people that are employed and Obama is responsible the the 7% of the population that is out of work?
That's choot spa.
Chutzpah is the word you're looking for. It's Yiddish, and Yiddish is basically the best thing ever.
@Patrick That was a reference to Bachman's misprounciation of chutzpah - as choot spa - cause she's all clued in and hooked up and all like such and stuff! ;-/
http://www.salon.com/2011/07/14/bachmann_yiddish_chutzpah/
After Michelle tells the national that she didn't have to go out and "hear about" women's stories to tell her husband, she lived them growing up. After she speaks "from above" comes the voice of her husband singing...I'm so in love with you..."
While other speakers are at the platform, maybe projected behind them could be a copy of Romney's letter asking for a waiver, the biki graph and a ton of other visuals pointed out the Rep BS.
RoMoney has changed course away from speaking of the economy because it reminds folks of making money and paying taxes and then, oh yeah, where the hell are those tax returns and like just how did you get $100M in an IRA?
And we are never going to see those tax returns because we would then know what he is invested in and how his policies are affected by those investments. We might also find out that he has friends and is himself invested in things that would benefit from privatizing things like the post office, medicare, social security and by deregulating other things like oil drilling, coal mining, wall street, hospitals and what have you. So, no, can't be peeking at no tax returns nor talking about them either.
His one and only goal in this point of his life is to add POTUS to his resume PERIOD. He's not doing it because he believes in this country or its people; he's doing it because he wants it. He wants to surpass living in his daddy's shadow. He doesn't get that to step out of daddy's shadow he needs to get some integrity - err make that a lot of integrity - like a whole @!$%# load!
So, yeah, whatever the Guvs say it will be because THEY turned their states around. Just like GuvJustCloseYourEyes fixed PA by increasing the poisoning of the ground water and creating jobs for all those Texans out there in Western PA. People are sick from heavy metal poisoning, but hey you can't prove it's from the fracken water!
Rachel was right. Ann and Christie speech failed to do what they needed to do. Hardly a barn burner. This convention is like a faux celebration at an arranged marriage.
I asked this question last night while watching the GOP Guvs pound their chests. REALLY? And your states did better because of YOU or because the economy is looking up? I especially love Kasich taking credit for the 'balanced budget' under Clinton and 'his state' under Obama...and not one mention of GWBush and how we GOT to the depression. Nothing on the stock market. Oh and to the previous posters saying 'Romney has 'switched' from talking about the economy to social issues' again I say REALLY? The only 'talk' on the economy is how Obama 'failed'. If you try to get specifics on EITHER side 1)Obama's fail or 2)Romney's 'plans' there are NONE. The only 'talking' about the economy has been talking points.