Communications

SHOT: Steny Hoyer: Gas prices could hurt Obama

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer says he’s concerned that rising gas prices will hurt President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats politically.The House’s No. 2 Democrat said Tuesday that much like former President George W. Bush was blamed for high gas prices during the last administration, Obama could face political pain as consumers continue doling out more cash to fill up their cars. “They’re not at historic high levels at this point in time,” Hoyer, referring to current gas prices, told reporters on Tuesday. “But they are high, and yes I’m concerned, and yes I’m concerned about the impact it has on the administration.” The average gas price is $3.72 per gallon, according to the AAA. Republicans have pounced, trying to pin escalating prices on the Democratic White House and its energy policies.

CHASER: Obama’s approval rating falls sharply

President Obama’s approval rating has fallen sharply this week, hitting its worst margin since ... more

Good morning, with today's contests in Arizona and Michigan we wanted to get everyone on the same page on the delegate count.

• Arizona is a winner-take-all primary in which 29 delegates will be awarded based on the statewide vote per the state party’s filing.
• Michigan is a proportional primary in which 30 delegates will be awarded –  2 delegates per each of the 14 congressional districts allocated winner-take-all by the CD vote (total of 28) and the remaining 2 delegates will be at-large.

See full details for Arizona and Michigan below.

DELEGATE COUNT AS REPORTED BY STATE PARTIES

*These numbers do not reflect any potential delegate disputes and this information may change based on the results that come in after the initial vote that may affect the delegate count. 

Total Bound Delegates To Date: 113

MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend Messaging Memo

In an interview this week, a presumptuous President Obama said he has “another five years coming up” in the White House. That, of course, would be news to voters.

Obama really shouldn’t start making plans for another inaugural ball. While he is out making promises for his second term, voters are still waiting for him to fulfill the promises of his first.

For the last three years, the president has failed to lead on the important issues of the day. Now, instead of admitting failure, he’s promising he’ll deal with it all in a second term.

If everything has to wait for a second term, what was the first term for?

Obama has followed a striking pattern on issue after issue. First, make a campaign promise to solve an urgent problem. Next, spend three years ignoring the problem. Finally, make an election year promise to solve the same urgent problem.

On jobs, housing, student loans, ... more

Good afternoon, President Obama just wrapped up his event in Miami where he continued to take credit for policies that aren’t his, attempted to make long-term promises he has no intention of keeping and managed expectations by telling University of Miami students there isn’t a silver bullet to solving our energy and gas price problem. Sounds an awful lot like a president without a solution.

“This is the same election year political rhetoric we’ve been hearing in photo-op after photo-op as Obama campaigns across the country. President Obama has failed to put forward a comprehensive energy plan and Americans are feeling it at the gas pump. Gas prices are one of the most visible economic indicators for Americans and it’s clear Team Obama knows they have a problem because their candidate has failed to lead on energy.” – RNC spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski

82 Percentage Point Increase In Miami.  After acknowledging his energy policy was a “hodgepodge” in Miami in 2011. The average ... more

Good afternoon, Team Obama is up with an ad in Michigan showing they are a little nervous about their reelection prospects in a traditionally blue state that Obama won by nearly 17 points in 2008. Please see the following comment from the RNC:

“It’s clear President Obama is worried about his reelection chances in Michigan and key battleground states across the country as Republicans continue to offer solutions to his failed policies on energy, jobs and the economy. In 2008 Barack Obama sold us a bill of goods he simply hasn’t lived up to and America knows it’s time to change direction. A quick look at recent polls shows 50 percent of the country doesn’t think the president deserves reelection.” – RNC spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski

New Quinnipiac Poll Shows 50% Of Voters Say Obama Doesn’t Deserve Re-Election, Up From November

The improved voter confidence does not help President Barack Obama who gets a negative 45 - 49 percent job approval rating, compared to negative 44 - 50 percent ... more

MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Weekend Messaging Memo

At an L.A. fundraiser Wednesday, President Obama channeled Mario Cuomo: “Campaigning is poetry and governance is prose.” America has “been slogging through ‘prose’ for the last three years,” he said “and sometimes that gets people discouraged. Because people, they like poetry.”

To be sure, the “prose” that is the Obama presidency reads like a bad novel whose end cannot come soon enough. But this election, even his “poetry” is uninspiring. And donors aren’t buying it: fundraising has been lackluster when you consider the number of Obama fundraisers. 

Maybe that’s why Democrats, led by Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, are backpedaling so furiously on the “billion dollar campaign” narrative. In early 2011, though, Democratic operatives were eagerly pushing the story that the Obama campaign would raise $1 billion.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the fundraisers. Obama ... more

Good evening, I wanted to make sure that you saw that Democrats like Jim Messina and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continue to use the same unacceptable rhetoric when speaking about the Hispanic community.

TODAY:

Politico: GOP piles on Harry Reid for Rubio comment: The RNC and a bevy of conservative Hispanic groups are pouncing on Harry Reid’s comment to me in today’s story on the Marco Rubio-White House skirmish over the stalled nomination of Mari Carmen Aponte as ambassador to El Salvador… “Only a day after Jim Messina’s insensitive chimichanga comment, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid makes an inflammatory remark regarding one of the Republican’s rising stars Senator Marco Rubio from Florida,” RNC spokeswoman Alexandra Franceschi told Univision. “By implying that Senator Rubio represents ‘Hispanic issues,’ Senator Reid is creating an unnecessary separation between the Hispanic community and the general population. Hispanics in the United States care about the same issues ... more

Good Morning – Newspapers from around the state today are reporting on rising foreclosures in Florida. It’s clear that President Obama has failed to fix the housing market in Florida and even his latest plan still falls short. Please see below for a roundup of today’s most recent numbers:

RISE IN FLORIDA FORECLOSURES HIGHLIGHTS OBAMA’S FAILURE TO FIX THE HOUSING MARKET

Today, The Palm Beach Post Reports That Florida’s Statewide Foreclosure Rates Rose 14 Percent Last Month Compared To Last Year. “Statewide, foreclosure filings were made on 24,783 homes, a 14 percent jump from January 2011 and the first year-over-year increase in overall activity in more than a year, according to a report to be released today by the Irvine, Calif.-based firm RealtyTrac.” (Kimberly Miller, “Palm Beach County Foreclosure Filings Soar 52 Percent In Past Year,” Palm Beach Post, 2/16/12)

• Florida Foreclosure Rates Rose In Metropolitan Orlando By 33 Percent Since Last Year. “Central Florida's new year ... more
  
  

Good morning, a day after President Obama released his FY2013 campaign plan, Obama is getting bad reviews from all over the country—especially battleground states like Ohio that are crucial to his reelection. After promising to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, yet running a trillion dollar deficit every year he’s been in office, the American people can see right through Obama’s latest budget gimmicks for what they are—a strategy to get reelected.

Bad Budget Headlines Coming from Ohio

MEMO

FROM: Sean Spicer, RNC Communications Director

TO: Interested Parties

RE: Obama’s Trust Deficit

Tomorrow, President Obama will unveil his new budget, revealing a $1.33 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2012 and a severe leadership deficit in the White House.  

In 2009, President Obama promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his term. But the last three years have produced three annual deficits over $1 trillion each, and this year’s deficit will exceed last year’s. As such, the president has broken one of the most important promises of his administration.

Five years ago, when Obama announced his candidacy for president, he attacked the “chronic avoidance of tough decisions” in Washington. The budget is a perfect example of how the president has done exactly that—repeatedly avoided tough decisions.

He’s had a partner in his budget woes: the Democratic Senate. They have failed to pass a budget for over 1000 days. “Avoidance of tough decisions” is indeed a chronic ... more