What to watch for at CPAC 2012
The annual Conservative Political Action Conference kicks off Thursday, with thousands of conservative activists descending on Washington.
In between panel discussions (and a conservative dating seminar), top Republican pundits and politicians, including all of the presidential candidates (save Texas Rep. Ron Paul) will make their pitches to the crowd.
Here’s what you should watch for:
Congress finds a new home in the doghouse
President Obama may be getting a little bump from some improved economic numbers.
Congress? Not so much. It’s still setting records for how unpopular it is.
A new Gallup poll shows Congress’s approval rating has actually hit a new low of 10 percent, despite some positive signs for the economy recently.
That’s down from the previous record of 11 percent, set just two months ago. Meanwhile, a record-high 86 percent of Americans continue to say they disapprove of Congress’s job performance.
So what gives? Are Americans going to stay bitter at Congress even if the economy turns around?
Quite possibly.
Mitt Romney allies attack Newt Gingrich in Ohio
Romney hits Gingrich in Ohio, a bunch of Florida lawmakers are changing races, Americans for Prosperity is helping Scott Walker and Ron Paul has a plan.
Make sure to sign up to get “Afternoon Fix” in your e-mail inbox every day by 5 (ish) p.m!
A hyper-regional GOP delegate race? Here’s how
Rick Santorum’s trio of victories in Tuesday’s contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri virtually assures that the Republican presidential race will, on some level, be a delegate race.
And if that delegate race drags on for a while, it could very well pit different regions of the country against one another.
The culture war is back
One unintended consequence of the improving economy: The culture war is back.
Last night, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum proved that social issues can still pack a punch.
For months, the Republican presidential candidates have hammered away on the economy — and only the economy — as they crisscrossed the campaign trail. But over the past few days, longtime social issues -- contraception, abortion and gay marriage -- have taken the stage in the campaign.
Santorum downplays contraception in victory
In his Missouri victory speech Tuesday night, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum devoted a substantial chunk of his remarks to the Obama administration’s decision to mandate birth control coverage with very limited exceptions for Catholic employers.
On Fox News Wednesday morning, however, Santorum downplayed the role the contraception issue had in his three wins.
Winners and losers from Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri
A supposedly less-important Election Day on Tuesday got pretty interesting by the time it was all said and done.
We’ve combed through all the results so we can lay it all out for you — as usual — in the form of winners and losers.
WINNERS
* Rick Santorum: This is a guy who was left for dead just a few days ago. Not only did he not get a bump from his performance in Iowa in early January; he actually fared pretty poorly even after the Iowa GOP declared him a winner two weeks later.
After Tuesday, he’s got a lot to hang his hat on, winning all three contests, and beating the polls by a large margin. It’s up to him now to prove his appeal isn’t just a Midwest thing or a one-time deal, and that he can raise enough money to be the true anti-Mitt Romney candidate.
He also has yet to prove that he can beat a fully engaged Romney machine. But Tuesday was a great start.
Colorado caucus results: Rick Santorum scores hat trick
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum won Colorado’s Republican presidential caucuses Tuesday night, the state GOP chairman announced in an interview on CNN.
Santorum led the race by 3 percent with more than three-fourths of the vote reported by AP, but state GOP Chairman Ryan Call said Santorum was the winner based on 98 percent of precincts having reported their results to the state party.
Minnesota deals Mitt Romney his biggest blow
Tuesday was an embarrassing night for Mitt Romney, and nowhere was that more true than in Minnesota.
This was a state where the former Massachusetts governor had nearly everything going for him:
* He won the state in the 2008 presidential race by 18 points.
* He had the backing of the state’s two most high-profile Republicans, former governor Tim Pawlenty and former senator Norm Coleman. This is in contrast to his last two wins in Florida and Nevada, where the most high-profile Republicans kept their powder dry.
* And unlike the Missouri primary, which he also lost on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich was on the ballot in Minnesota, potentially stealing votes from Rick Santorum.
But despite all that, with nearly half of the vote in, Romney is in a distant third place, far behind even second-place Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and taking only about one in every six votes in tonight’s Minnesota caucuses.
Santorum, meanwhile, is flirting with taking 50 percent of the vote.
Minnesota caucus results: Rick Santorum wins
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum won Minnesota’s caucuses Tuesday night — his second victory of the night, in the most hotly contested race of the day.
With 40 percent of precincts reporting, Santorum took 45.5 percent of the vote.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul also competed seriously in Minnesota, following his strategy of focusing on caucuses and states that allocate delegates proprotionally. He came in second with 26.8 percent of the vote.
Latest Tweets
Our preview of CPAC 2012 from @FixRachel. Read this. http://t.co/djySc0rN
Asian-American GOP official in Ohio switches from Hoekstra to Durant over Super Bowl ad
.@Fix Rachel tells you what to watch for at CPAC 2012 - The Fix http://t.co/PCEO82jq
Post Most: Politics
Campaign 2012