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When does campaigning become stalking?: Democrats putting videos of Republican Congressional candidates' homes online

From Politico:

. . . While most serious campaigns on both sides use campaign trackers — staffers whose job is to record on video every public appearance and statement by an opponent — House Democrats are taking it to another level. They’re now recording video of the homes of GOP congressmen and candidates and posting the raw footage on the Internet for all to see. . . .Wisconsin GOP Rep. Reid Ribble, who said he’s also been followed by a cameraman when shopping for groceries, said the home videos cross a line. . . .Republicans whose homes have been videotaped say they understand that politics is a contact sport and that every public utterance they make is fair game. But, they argue, filming a home — and posting actual addresses— ought to be off-limits, if only out of respect for their families and neighbors. . . .Trackers assigned to California GOP candidate Ricky Gill, a highly touted challenger to Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney, pushed the edge of the envelope even further. In May, a clip of Gill’s parents’ Lodi, Calif., mansion appeared online. . . .Democrats, on the other hand, insist the videos are fair game — and are unapologetic about the hardball tactics. . . .

Dem Pollsters warn Obama on economy

James Carville and Stan Greenberg have a strongly worded memo for the Obama campaign:

We will face an impossible headwind in November if we do not move to a new narrative, one that contextualizes the recovery but, more importantly, focuses on what we will do to make a better future for the middle class. . . .

Obama has been quietly having a hard time in more primaries than almost anyone has realized

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Do you see a pattern here? From Real Clear Politics:

Tuesday night, President Obama continued his streak of poor primary performances in culturally Southern states. He received 58.4 percent of the vote in the Arkansas Democratic primary against token opposition, and 57.9 percent of the vote in the Kentucky primary against no opposition (42.1 percent of the vote went to "uncommitted"). In the latter state's Harlan County, in the heart of coal country, Obama received 26.2 percent of the vote.
This comes on the heels of losing 40.6 percent of the vote in West Virginia to a Texas prison inmate, 21 percent of the vote to “uncommitted” in North Carolina, 24 percent of the vote to token opposition in Louisiana, 19 percent of the vote to “uncommitted” in Alabama, and 43 percent of the vote to various candidates in Oklahoma. . . .
There are only seven sitting presidents who have ever received less than 60 percent of the vote in any primary: Taft in ’12; Coolidge, ’24; Hoover, ’32; LBJ, ’68; Ford '76; Carter, ’80; and Bush ’92. All of these presidents, with the exception of Coolidge, were not re-elected . . . .

Can vulnerable Democrat Senators really separate themselves from Obama on gay marriage?

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According to The Hill newspaper, many Democratic Senators in swing states are distancing themselves from Obama on gay marriage. But here is the problem. This issue is going to be decided by the Supreme Court. Does anyone doubt that Obama won't appoint another very liberal member of the court who would rule that there is "no rational basis" for ruling that marriage must be between a man and a woman?

UPDATE: Federal Inmate Keith Judd ends up getting 43% of

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43% to a federal inmate, amazing! To put it in perspective, Keith Judd got almost as many votes in the Democrat primary as the winner of the Republican primary, Mitt Romney, got. From the West Virginia Secretary of State:

Prison Inmate in Texas takes 40 percent of the Democrat Presidential Primary Vote in West Virginia?

2012election DemocratsturningonObama Obama2012

Why isn't this getting huge coverage in the US? From the UK Daily Mail:

Just how unpopular is President Obama in some parts of the country? Enough that a man in a Texas prison received four out of 10 votes in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary.Inmate Keith Judd, 53, is serving 17 years for extortion at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution. He was sentenced in 1999 for making threats against the University of New Mexico and is due to be released on June 24 next year.With 93 per cent of precincts reporting, Obama was receiving just under 60 per cent of the vote to Judd's 40 per cent. . . .

In Oklahoma, anti-abortion protester Randall Terry got 18 percent of the primary vote. A lawyer from Tennessee, John Wolfe, pulled nearly 18,000 votes in the Louisiana primary. In Alabama, 18 percent of Democratic voters chose "uncommitted" in the primary rather than vote for Obama. In Tuesday's North Carolina primary, 21 percent of Democratic voters marked "no preference." . . .

After going continually since the last election, the Obama campaign officially starts

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Despite all the rhetoric about the "War on Women," Obama chooses to start his campaign with Senator Sherrod Brown who had a restraining order in 1986 against him from his then wife for “physical and emotional harassment."

Obama starts his campaign with a rally to a half filled auditorium.

UK Daily Mail: "Obama has held more re-election fundraisers than previous five Presidents combined"

2012election CampaignFinanceRegulation Obama2012

In addition to the fundraising, Obama's permanent campaign has largely been on the taxpayer dime, with his constant visits to swing states. From the UK Daily Mail:

Barack Obama has already held more re-election fundraising events than every elected president since Richard Nixon combined, according to figures to be published in a new book.Obama is also the only president in the past 35 years to visit every electoral battleground state in his first year of office. . . .
Obama had held 104 fundraisers by March 6th this year, compared to 94 held by Presidents Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush combined.Since then, Obama has held another 20 fundraisers, bringing his total to 124. Carter held four re-election fundraisers in the 1980 campaign, Reagan zero in 1984, Bush Snr 19 in 1992, Clinton 14 in 1996 and Bush Jnr 57 in 2004. . . .

In their first years in office, Carter visited eight out of 18 battleground states and Reagan seven out of 17. Bush Snr, Clinton and Bush Jnr all visited around three-quarters of battleground states while Obama went to all 15 within his first 12 months. . . .

Real Median Household income falling under Obama

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From Fox News.

Obama continues blaming speculators

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I have tried several times to explain how speculation works, but Democrats can't pass up a chance to bash businesses.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST: Let's talk a little bit more about the economy. Gas prices are starting to come down this week, but the president wanted to show he's on top of it, saying he's prepared to crack down on speculators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: My administration will take new executive actions to better analyze and investigate trading activities in energy markets and more quickly implement the tough consumer protections under Wall Street reform. None of these steps by themselves will bring gas prices down overnight, but it will prevent market manipulation and make sure we're looking out for American consumers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Keith, the president did made a concession there. The problem is they actually hadn't been able to come up with any evidence that speculation was driving up the price. There's a lot of hunches, no hard evidence.

KEITH OLBERMANN: Yeah. One of the -- one of the things I turned to, to try to establish that was to look at the average gas price at various key moments, and the lowest price in the last six years, the nadir of gas prices at the pump, was the day of this president's inauguration in 2009. There has to be some connection between that being the least busy political moment of a president's career, where you're not going to -- you're not going to hurt them, you're not going to harm him that way, and the price of gas. There has to be an almost deliberate or at least a side effect quality to that. There must be.

The rambling here about conspiracy theories is crazy. Speculators make money my arbitraging away price differences. To sell gas when you think that it will rise in the future is a sure way to lose money. The same is true if you buy it up when you think that it will be lower in the future is another way to lose money. For a massive market like oil where this conspiracy trading increases the profits of other speculators to go in the other direction.

Could Romney really pick Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno (R) as his running mate?

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While Gov. Luis Fortuno isn't polished, he comes across as honest and sincere. Being from poor, poverty stricken Puerto Rico would give him an authenticity that few Democrats could match. I don't think that Romney is enough of a risk taker to pick him, but it would be pretty neat. A Hispanic would be awesome. There are basically three others: Rubio and the governors of NV and NM. The governor of NV, while very popular, would cause a revolt among conservatives as he broke his no tax increase pledge. Rubio claims that he isn't interested and he has only been in office for less than two years. The governor of NM is a woman, popular, and dealing with a heavily Democratic legislature so she has strong bipartisan credentials. But she also has only been governor for two years. In many ways, the governor of Puerto Rico would be a good pick, but again I don't see Romney picking him. From The Hill newspaper:

Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno (R) is a sleeper pick for the No. 2 spot on the 2012 presidential ticket, according to GOP strategists. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has kept his cards close to his chest on vice presidential prospects, saying that it would be “presumptuous” to think about it before winning the nomination. But in a recent interview with Newsmax, he described Fortuno as “a solid conservative and a firm leader.” He also dubbed Fortuno “one of the great leaders of our party.” Republican strategists say that whomever Romney picks, the selection has to resonate with Hispanic voters. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is by far and away the leading Hispanic candidate for Romney, but there are others. They include New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Fortuno. In January, Grover Norquist, the influential head of Americans for Tax Reform, said Fortuno would “be a great vice presidential candidate.” . . .

As the prospects of Obama winning re-election rise, gun sales explode

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Concealed handgun permits and gun sales are both rising dramatically. From Fox News:

Sales of handguns and ammunition are booming across the country, and retailers say it’s all about the November election.
Gun shop owners around the nation told FoxNews.com that sales, brisk ever since President Obama was elected, have spiked upward in recent months. And manufacturers are having so much trouble keeping up with the demand that one, Sturm, Ruger & Co., can’t keep up with demand. The Southport, Conn.-based company has had to suspend new orders after taking orders for more than 1 million guns in the first three months of the year. Smith & Wesson sales are way up, as well.
Gunmakers' stock soars
“Sales usually increase this time of year with tax returns, but this year has been higher than most,” Mike Weeks, owner of Georgia Gun Store in Gainesville told FoxNews.com. “People are scared their gun rights are going to be curtailed after the election." . . .

Obama's "reelection campaign doesn’t want to share financial resources with congressional Democrats"

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From the National Journal:

In fact, Obama’s reelection campaign has a split personality when it comes to the general election. One side is confident and growing more so about the turbulent GOP primary, an improving U.S. economy, and better numbers for Obama in swing states. The other side harbors fears bordering on paranoia about massive spending by the GOP and outside super PACs for the party’s nominee.
“There is already unprecedented super-PAC spending going on,” Messina said. “There will be super-PAC spending in key states against us. We have to be prepared for that.”
To prepare for it, Obama’s campaign has put the rest of the Democratic Party on a starvation diet. Messina and senior White House adviser David Plouffe (Obama’s 2008 campaign manager) have told top Democrats that they won’t receive any cash transfers from Obama’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sought commitments for $30 million, the amount distributed to them in the 2008 and 2010 election cycles. Not this time.
Messina said that the campaign fears outside groups will devote upward of $500 million to anti-Obama super-PAC TV ads as soon as the GOP nominee (likely to be Romney) is decided. By comparison, GOP nominee John McCain spent $333 million on his campaign, and outside groups spent $26 million supporting him. Obama spent $730 million in that campaign, and outside groups spent $88 million attacking him. . . .
Reid and Pelosi, according to Democrats aware of the sit-down with Plouffe and Messina, took their medicine without complaint. Democrats close to the situation said that the leaders emerged feeling that Team Obama was in full-blown panic mode about the need for campaign cash this fall. “They are just freaked out about super-PAC spending,” said one of Pelosi’s top allies. . . .

Unions plan on spending more than $450 million this election year

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Of course, this amount of money isn't directly comparable to other campaign donations because unions provide huge in kind donations through "volunteer" work. From Politico:

. . . Top labor leaders say they expect to spend more than ever before on both state and federal contests this year. And if recent elections are any indicator, unions could drop more than $450 million, which they reportedly doled out in the 2008 election.
Even in an age of billionaire-backed super PACs, that’s the kind of money that could have a major impact on a fight, particularly at the state and local-level, where unions plan to focus their attention.
The union playbook: safeguard Democratic governors’ seats, flip state legislatures and hamstring anti-union ballot initiatives.
“I think that the labor movement as a whole will be stepping up, and that will mean in this post-Citizens United world, having to spend more resources in this cycle,” said AFL-CIO political director Michael Podhorzer. But more cash going to state and local elections won’t come at the expense of federal races, he added. “This is a period of crisis for workers and the labor movement has to step up and be present at all levels of government to protect workers.” . . .
Enemy No. 1: Scott Walker . . .
Unions are also hoping to elect more labor backers to state legislatures throughout the country, but with a heavy focus on the Midwest . . .

Bob Kerrey's Senate Campaign already dogged by "backroom deal"

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From Politico:

Harry Reid made Democrat Bob Kerrey a special promise if he’d jump into the Nebraska race for his old Senate seat. So what was it: a chance to reclaim his senatorial seniority? A plum committee gavel? Campaign cash for his race?
Nobody will say, but one thing is certain: Questions swirling around Kerrey’s arrangement will dog the two-term former senator until he or the majority leader come clean.
Republican critics are hammering Kerrey from Washington to Lincoln for cutting a “backroom deal” with Reid. . . .

Obama does poorly in Oklahoma Democratic Primary

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This is pretty amazing. At about 11:30 PM on Tuesday, March 6th, the WSJ reports that in the Democratic primary, Obama has lost 15 out of the 77 counties in Oklahoma.

. . . But with 93% of the Democratic vote counted – and President Barack Obama ahead with 56.4% of the vote – AP hasn’t called it. Randall Terry, who has pushed an antiabortion message, has 18.2% of the vote, followed by Jim Rogers, who has run for other offices in Oklahoma, with 14.2% and a couple others in the single digits.

AP did report that it appears Mr. Obama will lose a delegate in Oklahoma to Mr. Terry, founder of Operation Rescue. It also noted that the president was bested in 15 counties.

Is this a real bombshell for Obama to deal with?: "terrorist defender to head of Gitmo policy at Justice"

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You really have to wonder how insensitive the Obama administration is to appearances. The media should go nuts over this if it were a Republican doing something remotely similar. From Fox News:

A former Justice Department attorney who blew the whistle on his department's policies is now questioning the promotion of a former defense attorney for an American terrorist to the No. 3 spot at the Justice Department -- specifically charged with crafting U.S. policy on Guantanamo detainees.
J. Christian Adams, once an elections lawyer who accused the Justice Department of racial bias in its decision to not prosecute a voter intimidation case involving the New Black Panther Party, said Tony West's promotion from assistant attorney general for the Civil Division to acting associate attorney general is one more step toward letting radicals run the Justice Department.
"The most dangerous thing is that West is overseeing Gitmo policy. It's not that he's just some guy at the Justice Department licking envelopes," Adams told Fox News on Sunday. . . .

This is a gift to the Republicans.

Democrats threaten donors with retaliation if they give money to Republicans

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This seems like a pretty good reason why donors should be anonymous. From Politico:

Democrats on K Street are warning their corporate clients: Give to Republican challengers in the 2012 election, and you’ll regret it come tax reform time.
Lobbyists are getting that message from allies of powerful Democrats such as Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who is closely watching support for Rep. Denny Rehberg, a Republican challenging Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Baucus supporters fear that if Rehberg ousts Tester, Baucus could be next to face a serious Republican challenge in the state.
One K-Streeter close to the Baucus operation said the senator considers a gift to Rehberg a contribution against him. Another Democratic lobbyist told a client to take his name off a Rehberg fundraising event because it would be hurtful to his company, according to sources.
The case K-Streeters are making to their clients: It will be a hard sell next year to get Baucus’s support on business-friendly tax perks set to expire or the Bush-era tax cuts that must get through his committee.
The game of hardball is a bold example of a powerful chairman willing to leverage his power to protect his party’s majority, his home-state colleague and potentially his own seat.
“We all know how this particular game is played: A chairman of a committee has his allies downtown quietly put out the word that folks with business before that committee may want to think twice about contributing to a candidate opposing one favored by the chairman,” said a Democratic oil industry executive. “Getting the message out this way provides deniability to the chairman yet ensures that everyone in the lobbying community gets the joke.” . . .

Unions continue spending lots of money to damage Romney in primaries