Media Barred From Photographing Romney With Cheney At Fundraiser

By Ben Armbruster/Think Progress


Dick Cheney hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney last night at his home in Wyoming. Donors paid $1,000 to attend a reception, $10,000 for a picture with Romney and $30,000 to eat dinner with Romney and Cheney in the former vice president’s home. While reporters were on hand to cover some of the events, media were not allowed to take photos of Cheney and Romney together. The Los Angeles Times explains:

Because of the unpopularity of Bush and Cheney, Romney has kept his distance — never appearing publicly with either man during his 2012 campaign. Though both leaders are admired by many in the Republican Party base, any perception of closeness with Romney could be harmful as the unofficial Republican nominee seeks to draw in independent and moderate voters.

Indeed, it seems that Romney has been playing a double game this campaign season in an effort to draw away any attention to his neocon-inspired foreign policy. In public, he eitherchooses to ignore national security issues or he and his advisers don’t distinguish the presumptive GOP nominee’s foreign policy from President Obama’s too much.

Behind the scenes, however, it’s quite a different story. As Bush administration Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell noted recently, Romney’s foreign policy advisers “are quite far to the right.” Many of them advocated for the Iraq war and now want war with Iran.

And the ones who want war reportedly have Romney’s ear as one top Republican operativetold Reuters recently that the moderate camp inside Romney’s foreign policy team “are very concerned about the fact that if Romney needs to call anyone, his instinct is to call the Cheney-ites.” Another Romney aide, Vin Weber — who has received scrutiny for lobbying for countries with poor human rights records — told the Washington Post that “it’s inevitable” that the Bush-Cheney alumni advising Romney on foreign policy are going to “have some influence.”

Cheney praised Romney last night as the “only” candidate to make what he thinks are the right foreign policy decisions as commander-in-chief. In fact, Romney shares Cheney’s views on a number of national security issues, as Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) observed in an article in Foreign Policy yesterday: “A Romney presidency promises to take us back to something all too familiar: a Bush-Cheney doctrine — equal parts naïve and cavalier — which eagerly embraces military force without fully considering the consequences.”

Bill Burton: Romney a ‘clown’ who can only beat Obama with money

By Eric W. Dolan/Raw Story

Bill Burton, the head of the pro-Obama Super PAC called Priorities USA, on Monday blasted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, saying he won elections by drowning his opponents in money.

“I think Mitt Romney counts on the fact that he can win elections by vastly outspending his opponents,” Burton said on MSNBC.

He denied that recent fundraising solicitations by the Obama campaign threatened to alienate voters.

“I think the smart folks who are sending those things out know what they’re doing,” Burton said.

“What they’re trying to do, I imagine, is engage, you know, a large number of the folks who support President Obama but have been sitting on the sidelines,” he said. “They look at Mitt Romney and say, ‘Is this clown really going to beat President Obama?’ and the answer is ‘Well, maybe, if he has four or five times as much money as the president, then yes, he may well have a chance at winning in November.’”

Politico has reported that pro-Republican groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Crossroads GPS and Americans For Prosperity plan to spend approximately $1 billion on November’s elections. The Romney campaign and Republican National Committee plan to raise an additional $800 million.

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Stabenow's best quarter ever

By DAVID CATANESE/Politico

Maybe they should start calling her "Debbie-Raise-It-Now."

Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow has turned her best fundraising quarter ever, taking in close to $1.5 million during the first three months of the year, POLITICO has learned.

The record haul for the second-term Democrat came during the blow-up surrounding acontroversial Superbowl ad aired by GOP opponent Pete Hoekstra, which featured a young Asian woman talking in broken English. "Thank you Michigan Sen. Debbie Spend-It-Now.  Debbie spends so much American money, you borrow more and more from us," said an actress on a bicycle, who later apologized for participating.

A campaign aide said the quarter was "fueled in part by a large influx of online and small donations in the wake of Hoekstra's Superbowl ad."

The advertisement was widely panned as derogatory and tone-deaf, even by Republicans who were uncomfortable with the stereotypes it fomented.

Stabenow now has $7 million on hand to spend for her reelection.

"Debbie Stabenow is on the side of Michigan's middle class families, so groups like the drug companies and big oil are trying to replace her with someone who will work for them instead," said Stabenow spokesman Nate Byer.  "But when Hoekstra and out-of-state interest groups launched ridiculous negative attacks, people in Michigan responded forcefully with an outpouring of support that gave Debbie her best fundraising quarter ever."