Afternoon Fix: Conservatives blast Gingrich for Bain attack
Newt Gingrich isn’t feeling the love, American Crossroads is defending Mitt Romney, the origins of the Bain documentary are revealed and Dave Spence explains majoring in Home Economics.
Make sure to sign up to get “Afternoon Fix” in your e-mail inbox every day by 5 (ish) p.m!
EARLIER ON THE FIX:
5 storylines to watch in the New Hampshire primary
Mitt Romney’s New Hampshire scorecard: primary results by town
Why South Carolina matters more than New Hampshire
New Hampshire primary: Discuss results, exit polls with The Fix (#FixChat)
New Hampshire primary: The Fix prediction contest!
New Hampshire primary: Mitt Romney and the expectations game
California Republican Rep. Wally Herger retiring
Why Ron Paul is Mitt Romney’s best friend, part two
Newt Gingrich hits Mitt Romney on abortion in South Carolina ad
Is Jon Huntsman a one-state wonder?
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:
* Conservatives are not pleased with former House speaker Newt Gingrich’s and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s attacks on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital record. This line of attack is already being used by Democrats; Gingrich and Perry are giving it bipartisan legitimacy. Rush Limbaugh is the latest conservative pundit to criticize Gingrich for going down this path.
* Texas Rep. Ron Paul today defended Romney for saying “I like to be able to fire people who provide services to me.” Paul told ABC News, “I think they’re unfairly attacking him on that issue because he never really literally said that … He wants to fire companies.” Paul also defended Romney’s Bain record, saying “They are either just demagoguing or they don’t have the vaguest idea how the market works.”
* The Republican super PAC American Crossroads defended Romney today against Democratic attacks over his approval rating, with spokesman Jonathan Collegio calling 25 percent "a floor, not a ceiling." The memo fueled speculation that Crossroads leans towards Romney. Collegio quickly followed up with a statement: "American Crossroads is, and remains, neutral in the Republican presidential primary.”
* President Obama named longtime civil rights activist Cecilia Munoz as the new director of the Domestic Policy Council. Formerly the White House director of intergovernmental affairs, Munoz has been a key liason for the administration on Latino issues, and her appointment might help shore up his support with dissatisfied Hispanic voters.
* Former Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) raised $1.1 million in the last quarter of 2011 in his bid to win his old Senate seat back. He has a little over $2 million on hand at the end of the year. Allen had $1.8 million in his pocket at the end of the third quarter, meaning that he netted $200,000 over the past three months — spending almost as much as he took in.
WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T MISS:
* Virginia Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) is “taking prudent steps that anyone would to be a candidate” in the GOP Senate primary, he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch Monday night. As we wrote last week, Marshall came close to winning the 2008 nominating convention but would likely have difficulty winning a conventional primary.
* How did the super PAC supporting Gingrich put together that anti-Romney documentary so quickly? They didn’t. Republican operative Barry Bennett put the film together and shopped it around to various super PACs, using opposition research gathered on Romney during the 2008 campaign.
* Missouri Senate candidate Dave Spence was caught embellishing his resume a little. He says on his website that he has a degree in Economics from the University of Missouri; Spence’s degree is actually in home economics. The former plastics company owner told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he didn’t get into the business school and needed to graduate on time.
* Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who likes to bring in guest stars for his town halls, will host Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Saturday, Jan. 14th in Myrtle Beach. If you have a question for McDonnell, you can submit it here.
* What are you doing tonight? Obsessively following the results out of New Hampshire? Good, us too. We’ll be liveblogging starting at 8 p.m. eastern time; until then here’s five things to watch for and a town-by-town scorecard.
THE FIX MIX:
Tonight’s soundtrack:
With Rachel Weiner and Aaron Blake
- Spam
- Obscene
- Duplicate
Blog Contributors
Chris Cillizza
Chris Cillizza is founder and editor of The Fix, a leading blog on state and national politics. He is the author of The Gospel According to the Fix: An Insider’s Guide to a Less than Holy World of Politics and an MSNBC contributor and political analyst. He also regularly appears on NBC and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show. He joined The Post in 2005 and was named one of the top 50 journalists by Washingtonian in 2009.
Juliet Eilperin
Juliet Eilperin covers the White House for the Washington Post. She served as the Post's House of Representatives reporter from 1998-2004, covering the impeachment of Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation, and five national congressional campaigns. Since 2004 she has been one of the country’s leading reporters covering the environment, reporting on science, policy and politics in areas including climate change, oceans, and air quality. She is the author of two books, "Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives," and "Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks." Follow her on Twitter.
Ed O’Keefe
Ed O’Keefe covers Congress and politics for the Washington Post. He previously covered the 2008 and 2012 campaigns and reported on federal agencies and federal employees as author of The Federal Eye blog. Follow Ed on Twitter.
Aaron Blake
Aaron Blake covers national politics at the Washington Post, where he writes regularly for “The Fix,” the Post’s top political blog. A Minnesota native and summa cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota, Aaron has also written about politics for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and The Hill newspaper. Aaron and his wife, Danielle, live in Annandale, Va. Follow him on Twitter.
Sean Sullivan
Sean Sullivan covers national politics for “The Fix.” Prior to joining the Washington Post in the summer of 2012, Sean was the editor of Hotline On Call, National Journal Hotline’s politics blog. He has also worked for NHK Japan Public Broadcasting and ABC News. Sean is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he received a degree in Philosophy. He lives in Washington, D.C. Follow Sean on Twitter.
Scott Clement
Scott Clement is a survey research analyst for Capital Insight, the independent polling group of Washington Post Media. Scott specializes in public opinion about politics, election campaigns and public policy. He helps design and analyze all Washington Post polls, including the Washington Post-ABC News poll. Follow Scott on Twitter.
Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner covers national politics for Post Politics and The Fix. She came to the Washington Post in 2010 as a political web editor and anchored the Post's 2012 election blog. She was previously a web editor at The Huffington Post. Follow her on Twitter.
Latest Tweets
Ray Manzarek, RIP. http://t.co/nNWiW3X4MM
Live Streaming of KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City: http://t.co/5u1b17ApVy
Barbara Buono’s sneaky new ad, per @AaronBlakeWP: http://t.co/00xjVOWSZZ
Loading...
Comments