Perry Target Of Attacks, Still Leads

13 September 2011 |permalink | email article

Monday night’s Tea Party Republican debate in Florida, co-sponsored by CNN, was far more interesting than the one at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley early this month co-sponsored by NBC and Politico – the most spirited clash of the 2012 campaign.

Exchanges over Social Security, the HPV vaccine and immigration and the back-and-forth over Afghanistan occupied a larger part of the debate. As predicted, Rick Perry drew substantial fire on the HPV vaccine issue, notably from Michelle Bachmann, and generally as he sought to explain his decision to support in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants – two instances when the crowd which cheered him suddenly seemed turned off.

Bachmann, with a poor showing in the first debate, seemed to regain some of her mojo. Jon Huntsman’s performance, while better, was insufficient to suggest he can recover. This race looks like an ultimate showdown between a more aggressive Mitt Romney and Perry who, while roughed up, showed a command presence which will keep him ahead in the polls as the Tea Party favorite.

Democratic Fundraising Scandal
. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif), up for reelection in 2012, as reported by Politico, had just over $5 million in the bank as of June 30. The exact extent of her losses in her campaign fundraising account, she said, “has been wiped out.” Popular Democratic campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee, who has done Feinstein’s campaigns going back to 1992, has been charged by the FBI with mail fraud, released on bond and has not yet entered a plea or addressed allegations of theft from many Democratic officeholders who have lost hundreds of thousands. FBI agent told federal judge she had access to more than 400 bank accounts.

What They Said

“Rick Perry has none of Reagan’s grace, none of his disarming manner, none of his pragmatism” – Democratic strategist Robert Shrum, suggesting that the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination “is no Ronald Reagan.”

At least 57 prominent business executives and former government officials, led by President Obama, signed a petition urging the new Congressional committee to “go big” – beyond its mandate to shave at least $1.5 trillion from budget shortfalls over 10 years.

In an oral history to be released Wednesday there are tapes and candid talk by young Jacqueline Kennedy, JFK’s widow. She suggests that the couple never really had a fight. She insists she got her opinions from her husband. On that last point, at least, Michael Beschloss, the historian, who was asked to write an introduction and annotations to the book, said in a New York Times interview, “I would take that with a warehouse of salt.”

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