Cain’s 9-9-9 Becomes 9.1-9.1-9.1; Vegas Hosted Fight Night; Bachmann’s NH Staff Quits

Pajama's Media ^ | October 21, 2011 | Brian Preston

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Primary Week That Was: Cain’s 9-9-9 Becomes 9.1-9.1-9.1; Vegas Hosted Fight Night; Bachmann’s NH Staff Quits

This past week was, I think, the most interesting of the campaign so far. If we look back to a week from today, Rick Perry introduced his very solid energy plan as the first of three parts of his overall economic plan. He has also begun laying out his flat tax proposal. That rollout showed a campaign finding some new energy and generating some positive headlines, a change in its fortunes from the previous couple of weeks. But Perry came into the week trailing front-runners Mitt Romney and Herman Cain in the polls thanks to some weak debate performances, and he had to take some risks.

Going into Tuesday’s debate, the top three candidates had very different tasks before them. Mitt Romney had to do what he has been doing from the beginning of the cycle. He had to go into the debate and come out of it unscathed and inevitable. The sooner he can appear to have the nomination locked up, the better for him. Cain had to go in a front-runner and, unlike Perry and Bachmann and even Cain himself earlier in the campaign, come out a front-runner and a viable alternative to Romney. He had to take the debate as an opportunity to solidify his credibility by ably defending 9-9-9, his signature tax reform plan. Rick Perry’s task was very different. He had to bring a new energy (not an energy plan, actual energy) to the debate, and he had to dent Romney’s aura of inevitability. The first part of that was risk-free, but the second wasn’t. No one had managed to put a scratch on Romney during any of the previous debates despite his glaring policy and credibility problems. Perry also had to brush back against Romney’s repeated attempts to smear him over a pastor to whose church Perry does not belong. He had to make aggressive campaigning a two-way street. In fact, of the top three, Perry’s task was the most difficult. He had to bring the fight to Romney and damage him significantly without damaging himself.

Romney’s armor showed gaps in the debate’s early going, as Rick Santorum and Rick Perry both went at him over RomneyCare. Romney’s choice to defend his Massachusetts health care reform has been the largest strategic decision he has had to make so far, and it has always been a gamble for him. The base hates it. It is the basis upon which ObamaCare was built. Romney has tried to sell it by touting how popular it is in Massachusetts. To conservative voters outside such a deeply Democratic state, that isn’t much of a selling point. Tuesday’s debate represented the first time RomneyCare became a genuine problem for him. His credibility came under the most direct fire to date. He had to defend RomneyCare directly and didn’t do a very good job of it. Cain also took fire over 9-9-9. That fire has continued, and he has started tweaking it — hence, the 9.1-9.1-9.1 in the post’s headline. We’re likely to see some 9.2′s and 9.3′s before it’s all said and done. The more Cain tweaks the plan, the less coherent both he and his plan appear to be.

I still think that Perry accomplished what he needed to accomplish in Tuesday’s debate, though he may pay a price for it. Romney got rattled and Cain’s plan looks less serious than it did. Romney’s very personal video ad against Perry launched Wednesday (and pulled within hours of its release) may reveal some newfound desperation and disarray within his campaign. If so, that’s big: Romney’s campaign is a national machine composed of seasoned veterans. Some lived through the Michael Steele era at the RNC; nothing should rattle them by now. Romney has continued the negative campaigning against Perry (but no one else) with a “new” website called CareerPolitician.com, but that site has already boomeranged back on Romney: He has owned that domain name since his last losing political run in 2007. Who’s the real career politician now?

Rick Perry’s run in the debate was a risky one, and he may trade some short term poll weakness for long-term gains. Polls a week or three from now will tell us if the risk/reward equation works out for him. I suspect it will; people like a leader and they like a fighter, and as much as we all claim to hate negative campaigning, it’s effective as long as it’s not overly personal. Romney’s “I can’t have illegals here for Pete’s sake, I’m running for office” is going to stick to him. Cain’s twin gaffes this week, on foreign policy and abortion, probably represent long-term problems for him and open him up to questions about his readiness to lead a national campaign to unseat Barack Obama. If he blows easy questions, he is likely to blow harder ones too. At the end of the week, he looks strong in the polls but weak in the soundbites. That’s an opening for Perry to claim some of Cain’s support.

In the midst of all this, possible VP candidate Sen. Marco Rubio sustained a character attack from the Washington Post and ended up punching back hard enough to knock the paper down. Give that man the hero tag and start shadow debates with a faux Joe Biden.

The week that began with one campaign finding some new energy ends with another campaign imploding — Michele Bachmann’s paid New Hampshire staff quit today en masse. Quitting a paying job in the Obama economy? Something must be very very wrong in that shop. Bachmann is barely campaigning outside urban Iowa now and may be the next candidate to leave the race, which brings up a question: Who would get her endorsement? Will it matter?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

..... "Romney has continued the negative campaigning against Perry (but no one else) with a “new” website called CareerPolitician.com, but that site has already boomeranged back on Romney: He has owned that domain name since his last losing political run in 2007. Who’s the real career politician now?

Rick Perry’s run in the debate was a risky one, and he may trade some short term poll weakness for long-term gains. Polls a week or three from now will tell us if the risk/reward equation works out for him. I suspect it will; people like a leader and they like a fighter, and as much as we all claim to hate negative campaigning, it’s effective as long as it’s not overly personal. Romney’s “I can’t have illegals here for Pete’s sake, I’m running for office” is going to stick to him.".....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

That's -- I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals. -- Mitt Romney, GOP presidential debate - October 18, 2011 - Las Vegas, NV

Rudy Giuliani asked Mitt Romney the same question in the 2008 CNN debate that Rick Perry asked him during the CNN 2011 debate -- Mitt lost it both times.

Nov 28, 2008 CNN-YouTube Debate: Sound familiar? [LOOK who interrupts whom!!]

Funny Accent Mitt Romney, discussing reports illegal immigrants did landscaping at his home: It would "not be American" to check workers' papers simply because they have a "funny accent." [acknowledges need for giving health care and education to illegals]

Sound familiar? Mike Huckabee, replying to Romney's criticism of providing college scholarships to children of illegal immigrants: "In all due respect, we are a better country than to punish children for what their parents did."

At the same debate: John McCain: "We must recognize these are God's children as well. ... I will enforce the borders first. But we won't demagogue it."

[PapaNew]

If repealing the 16th Amendment to abolish the income tax isn’t a requirement before creating the sales tax, then 999 could become 911.

[Grunthor]

http://nationaljournal.com/politics/for-perry-a-rapid-fundraising-rise-and-fall-20111020

[Ingtar]

Rick Who?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

“Where’s the beef” to go with that headline?

[shield]

Perry Ping....

IF you'd rather NOT be pinged FReepmail me.

IF you'd like to be added FReepmail me. Thanks.

*****************************************************************************************************************************************************

[perfect_rovian_storm]

Rick Perry. You know, the 3rd tier candidate who’s polling somewhere between Jon Huntsman and the Ebola virus.

[CMAC51]

If repealing the 16th Amendment to abolish the income tax isn’t a requirement before creating the sales tax, then 999 could become 911.

I fully support the concept of the Fair Tax without any income tax. Unfortunately, you can't get there in one jump. There is too much inventory which already has embedded taxes. Business and finance are set up to deal with income tax and will need time to transition fully.

The Cain 9-9-9 plan is actually well thought out in providing a transition to sales tax; incentives for business to adapt, limit the shock to the system and provide a stimulus to production, consumer spending and exports.

Based on history, fears of escalating taxes are unfounded. Since the inception of the income tax Congress has continually attemtped to increase revenue by raising tax rates. They have never succeeded in getting Federal Revenue above 20% of GDP. The market adapts to quickly.

[Talisker]

If repealing the 16th Amendment to abolish the income tax isn’t a requirement before creating the sales tax, then 999 could become 911.

Would.

[Talisker]

Unfortunately, you can't get there in one jump. There is too much inventory which already has embedded taxes. Business and finance are set up to deal with income tax and will need time to transition fully.

Unfortunately, you can't get there in one jump. There are too many bowling balls being held onto to just let them go and pull the ripcord of the parachute. No, the best way is to open the parachute and hang onto the bowling balls at the same time, and then slowly transition to just have the parachute, while leaving bowling-ball collectors in charge of which bowling balls to let go of.

Hey - if you can use nonsensical, bogus, illogical, pseudo-logic to support an absolutely self-contradictory concept, so can I.

[Talisker]

Based on history, fears of escalating taxes are unfounded. Since the inception of the income tax Congress has continually attemtped to increase revenue by raising tax rates.

Self-parody as a technique to deny further argument? I suppose this is the intellectual version of kicking over the table to prevent your opponent from playing his hand.

Taxes won't be raised, because historically, Congress raises taxes.

Yep.

[PapaNew]

I fully support the concept of the Fair Tax without any income tax.

Me too. But until then, change the income tax to around a 10% flat tax and abolish the income tax code.

Repealing the 16th Amendment will be no five-minute job because among other things, doing so would destroy entire industries and bureaucracies dependent on the convoluted tax code that no one understands.

[Hugin]

“Rick Perry. You know, the 3rd tier candidate who’s polling somewhere between Jon Huntsman and the Ebola virus.”

Actually not. The RCP average has Cain 26%, Romeny 25.5%, and Perry 12.5%, the rest in single digits (Huntsman 2%).

[bigbob]

Hot Air lives up to it’s name.

Those bloggers suffer from the “We’re smarter than you are” diseasea as much as the libs.

[Ron C.]

'The Beef' for Perry is in the following graph. He is raising money faster than Romney.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Ron C.]

~grin~

AND - for the Cain supporters - in that graph, look at where Cain is financially - in the fundraising race.

Sad for him, he's just not in the race.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

Well, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

I meant in primary states, not nationally. It takes a while for an imploded campaign to disappear nationally.

You know, states like Iowa, where Ras has Perry at 7%.

Or New Hampshire where Perry is polling at 2% (LOL!) in more than one poll.

Or the very important Florida, where Perry is polling at 3% in at least one poll.

He’s barely hanging on to double digits in SC. My guess is he’ll be down to about 5% within a week or two.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

Well, it was a bit of an exaggeration, but not much.

I meant in primary states, not nationally. It takes a while for an imploded campaign to disappear nationally.

You know, states like Iowa, where Ras has Perry at 7%.

Or New Hampshire where Perry is polling at 2% (LOL!) in more than one poll.

Or the very important Florida, where Perry is polling at 3% in at least one poll.

He’s barely hanging on to double digits in SC. My guess is he’ll be down to about 5% within a week or two.