The Republican National Committee has gone from rags to riches, from “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and irrelevance” to building its reserves and adding $22 million to Romney’s campaign.
With the divisive and drawn-out Republican primary season moving toward a close, the committee reported more money in the bank at the start of last month than the Democratic National Committee, which raised about $137 million during the same period but also spent far more. …
… The committee’s unexpected turnaround is a case study in how Republicans are chipping away at Mr. Obama’s advantage in traditional fund-raising — and of the rapid evolution of old-fashioned party institutions in the post-Citizens United landscape of “super PACs” and the unlimited money they can raise and spend….NYT
Remember Karl Rove’s technique of getting detailed information on every possible voter, an effort that helped nullify John Kerry’s efforts to deny Bush a second term? Well, the RNC is back at it again.
The party has also revamped its voter database, known as Voter Vault, which was built during Mr. Bush’s tenure but fell into disrepair after he left office. The new system will allow what committee officials there call “nano-targeting,” collecting far more detailed demographic and consumer data on Republican voters than the earlier version.
“We will be the gold standard of Republican get-out-the-vote efforts,” Mr. Priebus said in a statement. “We are at least 90 days ahead of where the R.N.C. has ever been in history.” ...NYT
President Obama is still well ahead financially. But I wouldn’t wish him a second term with Republicans running both houses on the Hill.
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In Florida, Republican governor Rick Scott and state legislators are doing what they can to suppress voter turnout. Florida is a key state in the presidential vote, a state that has become a must-win for candidates. But now we could see a repeat of 2000.
There are over 11 million registered voters in the state. But after the changes put in place last spring, there may be far fewer Floridians going to the polls in 2012. President Obama and the Republican nominee will be fighting for every last one of those votes. The state is so critical to the race that there’s early talk of Floridian political stars like Senator Marco Rubio or former Governor Jeb Bush joining the Republican ticket. In 2008, Obama defeated Senator John McCain in Florida by a little more than 200,000 votes, out of more than 8 million cast.
The changes enacted last spring include severe restrictions on groups that register new voters, cutting the early voting period nearly in half and rolling back voting rights for those with criminal convictions in their past. ...NYT
There are clear-cut examples of voter suppression.
… The League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote have shut down their voter registration efforts in the state. There has already been a significant drop-off in new voter registration. Last week, The Times reported that in the months since the new law took effect, 81,471 fewer Floridians have registered to vote than in the same period in 2008.
In January, the Okaloosa County Branch of the Florida N.A.A.C.P. registered several new voters on Sunday of Martin Luther King weekend. According to the Times, the group submitted the forms on Tuesday, Jan. 17, when the local elections office reopened. Soon after, the group was copied on an e-mail from the county supervisor of elections reporting that the forms were turned in an hour past the 48-hour deadline.
The official rationale for these changes remains vague. Legislators who supported the new law said the tighter restrictions would combat fraud, but they have yet to identify a specific problem that will be addressed by these changes. ...NYT
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Meanwhile, Romney is doing whatever he can to hide his resources, according to Tom Hamburger, writing in the Washington Post, “tak[ing] advantage of an obscure exception in federal ethics laws to avoid disclosing the nature and extent of his holdings.”
By offering a limited description of his assets, Romney has made it difficult to know precisely where his money is invested, whether it is offshore or in controversial companies, or whether those holdings could affect his policies or present any conflicts of interest.
In 48 accounts from Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded in Boston, Romney declined on his financial disclosure forms to identify the underlying assets, including his holdings in a company that moved U.S. jobs to China and a California firm once owned by Bain that filed for bankruptcy years ago and laid off more than 1,000 workers. …WaPo
Romney and his advisors have made some fancy moves in their end-run around the ethics statute.
Several outside experts across the political spectrum … say Romney’s disclosure is the most opaque they have encountered, with some suggesting the filing effectively defeats the spirit of disclosure requirements.
“His approach turns the whole purpose of the ethics statute on its ear,” said Cleta Mitchell, a Republican lawyer who has represented dozens of candidates and officials in the disclosure process, including Romney’s leading challenger for the GOP nomination, Rick Santorum. …WaPo
One aspect of this is Bain Capital’s own confidentiality requirements. John Kerry ran into problems during his 2006 campaign because his wife’s investments include Bain and “Office of Government Ethics has permitted nominees and presidential candidates to postpone revealing underlying assets in investment accounts that have a legally binding confidentiality agreement.” But this isn’t about a second wife. This is about the candidate himself, a candidate with ties to Bain.
Romney is not the first presidential candidate to say he is unable to list underlying holdings in a private equity account. But he is the first to do so for such a large portion of his overall assets.
“I have never seen anything like this,” said Joe Sandler, a Democratic Party lawyer who has shepherded candidates and nominees through the disclosure process for 26 years. “Romney’s approach frustrates the very purpose of the ethics and disclosure laws,” he said. …WaPo
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The Obama campaign is all over Mitt Romney’s case.
“Mitt Romney has put his personal financial assets in a black box and hid the key attempting to play by a different set of rules than any candidate in recent history,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement. “In fact, Mitt Romney’s own father released 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president. President Bush released his tax returns dating back to 1991. And President Obama released his returns dating back to 2000 when he ran for president.” …The Hill
Their statement links to the Hamburger report in the Post.
“Mitt Romney has asked Americans to elect him President based on his experience as a corporate buyout specialist,” Messina’s statement continued. “Each week, new questions are raised about whether he took unusual steps to avoid paying his fair share in taxes. Today’s report suggests that Governor Romney is exploiting a loophole in order to shield his assets and investments from public review.” ...The Hill