Rick Santorum's tax returns: Will they help him beat Romney?

The conservative Pennsylvanian earned $3.6 million from 2007 to 2010, while super-rich rival Mitt Romney hauled in $21.6 million in 2010 alone GOP presidential frontrunner Rick Santorum is a millionaire, according to the four years of tax documents he released Thursday. Santorum has earned between $659,000 (in 2007) and $1.1 million (in 2009) in every year since he left the Senate, easily putting him in the top 1 percent of U.S. earners. (Much of Santorum's money came from media, consulting, and speaking fees.) But Santorum's income "looks like a rounding error" compared to GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney's $21.6 million haul in 2010, says Bruce Watson at DailyFinance. Santorum, of course, was quick to contrast his income with Romney's: "I don't have wealth. I don't have investments. I don't have capital gains." Will Santorum's tax filings be an asset on the trail?

This hits Romney where it hurts: Santorum "may have finally found a way to soar over Romney," says Dan Rackley at Yahoo News. Releasing four years of tax returns, versus Romney's one year, will be "taken as a sign of good faith by voters." Plus, Santorum forks over 28 percent of his income to Uncle Sam, not-so-subtly reminding everyone of "the paltry 13 percent Romney paid." Whatever you think of Santorum's socially conservative views, "at least he pays what most would consider his fair share."
"Santorum scoring points by releasing tax returns"

But it kills Santorum's blue-collar image: Now that we know Santorum earned a whopping $3.6 million since voters "unceremoniously bounced" him from the Senate in November 2006, can the pundits stop blathering on about "Santorum's bond with the working man"? says Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Daily News. "Clearly, he doesn't feel their pain." And while Santorum is less wealthy than Romney, there's really only one thing "the ex-Pennsylvania senator has in common with the working class: He knows what it's like to lose a job."
"Santorum releases his income taxes"

And reveals his hypocrisy on charity: Santorum has given "a shockingly tiny amount to charity," says Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post. In the last four years, he's never given away more than 3 percent of his income. Romney, by contrast, gave away roughly 16 percent. "Much of Santorum's career and a good deal of his writing focus on faith-based charities. So why did he personally give so little to the groups he lauds?" You can bet Santorum will be scrutinized for this "glaring inconsistency." Apparently, Santorum "believes in church doctrine about contraception, but not about tithing."
"Santorum is wealthy, but stingy with charitable giving"

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Can Mitt Romney win the GOP nomination if he loses Michigan?

If a new polls are any indication, Republican Mitt Romney is headed for a humiliating loss in Michigan's Feb. 28 presidential primary. Democratic pollster PPP, for one, has Romney trailing Rick Santorum by 15 points. Santorum has beaten Romney in every Midwestern contest so far (Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri), and Michigan still hasn't forgiven Romney for opposing Obama's bailout of GM and Chrysler, both now profitable, in a notorious 2009 op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Faced with the prospect of losing in a state where he was born and raised — a state, moreover, where his father was a popular three-term governor — Romney has reserved $1.3 million worth of TV airtime for campaign ads. Would losing Michigan sink his campaign? Romney can't survive a Wolverine State upset: Losing Michigan would likely "put a dagger through the heart of Romney's campaign," says Aaron Goldstein at The American Spectator. It's not just that his father was a popular governor, or that he "convincingly won the state's 2008 primary." Electability is Romney's trump card, and "if Romney can't beat Rick Santorum in Michigan, then how could he expect to beat President Obama" in that critical general-election state — or in any other Rust Belt state, for that matter?
"Could Mitt lose Michigan?"

C'mon. Michigan won't sink Mitt: Romney won't lose in his birth state, says Kyle Melinn in the Lansing City Pulse. He has two weeks to bury Santorum under a heap of TV ads, just as he did with Newt Gingrich in Florida, where Mitt's attacks turned "a seemingly close election into a double-digit blowout." But even if Romney does lose Michigan, it's unlikely that "the resulting national embarrassment" would last more than a week. Mitt is expected to rule Super Tuesday on March 6, when "Santorum isn't even on the ballot in Tennessee or Virginia."
"Santorum can still hope for delegates"

Win or lose, Romney has to improve his ground game: If you look at all eligible Michigan voters, Romney actually beats Santorum, says Nate Silver at The New York Times. But the polls are weighted toward likely voters, and Santorum has all the enthusiasm on his side. Romney needs to use his deep pockets to "build the best turnout operation," bringing more Mitt-friendly Michiganders to the voting booth. If he can't do that, "it becomes harder to see how he finds the building blocks for a national majority."
"Down in Michigan polls, Romney needs to find his base"

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Who is stronger against Obama: Santorum or Romney?

Rick Santorum has overtaken Mitt Romney in several GOP primary polls — but skeptics still aren't sold on the Pennsylvanian's ability to topple Obama in November For months, Mitt Romney has insisted to Republican voters that he's the candidate best equipped to beat President Obama in the fall. The polls backed him up, too, says Public Policy Polling's Tom Jensen, "at least until now." This week, a series of surveys have shown Rick Santorum catching up with Romney, or even passing him, in national and statewide polls of the Republican field. And for the first time, a new survey from PPP finds that Santorum performs slightly better against Obama than Romney does. Which of the GOP's two frontrunners actually has the best shot at the White House?

Santorum edges out Romney: The flurry of new polls "provide solid proof that Santorum and Romney are now in a statistical dead heat" for the GOP nomination, says Jonathan Tobin at Commentary. And after Romney's bruising battle with Newt Gingrich and a series of devastating gaffes, Mitt is losing his "strongest argument for the nomination" — electability — because he's "losing support among the independents who made him more electable" against Obama in the first place. Suddenly, the well-liked Santorum is arguably the stronger candidate.
"New polls give more bad news for Romney"

Romney is still a much safer bet: I'm sticking with the conventional wisdom, says John Cassidy at The New Yorker: "If Santorum were to be nominated, the odds are that Obama would win in a landslide." Romney has his flaws, but "Santorum is essentially an ultra-right-wing protest candidate." Women in particular don't trust him on social issues, and even in this political climate, Americans won't elect "a religious zealot and armchair militarist of Santorum's stripe." Once he faces Romney's attacks and the media's scrutiny, Santorum's numbers should wilt.
"The Santorum surge: How seriously should we take it?"

They're almost evenly matched: "If I were a Republican, I'd still bet on Romney," but it's a toss-up, says Jonathan Chait at New York. In the end, it's a question of whose brand of swing voters are more important. If you think the general election will be decided by "economically conservative, socially liberal swing voters," Romney's your man. But if it's a contest for Reagan Democrats, the "economically populist and socially conservative" Santorum cleans up. And remember, if the economy improves, neither Republican has a great shot at beating Obama.
"Is Romney more electable than Santorum?"

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Romney aides to speak at super PAC events

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior campaign aides to Republican Mitt Romney will begin appearing at fundraising events for an independent political group supporting his White House run, officials said Friday. The decision comes days after President Barack Obama gave his campaign the OK to do the same.

Both moves blur the line between so-called "super" political action committees and their favored candidates. Federal rules prohibit coordination between the committees and the candidates, but that hasn't stopped Republican- and Democratic-leaning groups from blurring the line to raise money.

Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney super PAC, spent more than $15 million on ads through Florida's primary late last month either supporting Romney or attacking his rivals. That was more money than Romney's own campaign spent on ads. Such super PAC ads targeting GOP rival Newt Gingrich were largely credited for cutting into support for the former House speaker before the Iowa caucuses.

Romney's campaign confirmed the arrangement for The Associated Press on Friday.

The campaign's decision to follow Obama's lead in allowing aides to speak at super PAC fundraising events was not surprising. Romney himself spoke at a Restore Our Future event in New York last July.

This week, Obama's campaign said top administration officials would speak at events by Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting his re-election bid.

Obama has voiced support for campaign-finance reform, going so far as to chide the Supreme Court for its 2010 decision opening the doors for corporate and union spending in elections.

But, in explaining his embrace of super PACs, campaign officials said the president wouldn't "unilaterally disarm" and allow each campaign to operate under a different set of rules. Election data show Democratic-leaning groups, including the Democratic National Committee, have more cash on hand than their Republican counterparts. But Obama's team is taking few chances, particularly as billionaires are poised to spend tens of millions of dollars to support the eventual GOP nominee and to go after Obama in the fall.

"Our country is at a crossroads and the stakes could not be higher," Romney campaign spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a statement. "President Obama and his allies will do whatever it takes, and spend whatever it takes, to hold on to power."

Gitcho added that Romney's campaign won't allow Obama to overtake it in fundraising.

The Romney campaign's decision was first reported Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

___

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Santorum plans aggressive strategy against Romney

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A day after Mitt Romney regained some momentum in the Republican presidential contest, his rival Rick Santorum went on the attack, calling the front-runner "desperate" while promising to compete aggressively to win the state where Romney grew up.

Santorum said Sunday he could do "exceptionally well" in Michigan, where Romney's father served as governor. The Midwestern state and Arizona host Republican presidential nominating contests on Feb. 28.

"We're going to spend a lot of time in Michigan and Arizona, and those are up next. And that's where we've really been focusing on," Santorum told ABC's "This Week." He suggested that a strong showing in those contests would make the presidential contest "a two-man race," dismissing current rivals Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Santorum shrugged off his third-place finish Saturday in caucuses in Maine, where he didn't actively compete, as well as his second-place finish in a straw poll of conservative activists.

Romney has been painting Santorum as a long-time Washington insider who pursued home-state projects. Santorum on Sunday described Romney's recent criticism as "desperate."

"You reach a point where desperate people do desperate things," said Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania during his 16 years in Congress, first in the House and then in the Senate.

Maine GOP officials declared Romney the winner of Saturday's caucuses. The results ended a three-state losing streak to Santorum, who swept contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday.

With the next primaries more than two weeks away, the break seems unusually long in the rapid-fire race that's featured six contests in the last 14 days. Romney and his rivals now have 17 days to raise cash and bolster their organizations for what's shaping up to be a slog to the Republican nomination and the right to face President Barack Obama in November.

As Santorum eyes Michigan, Romney turns his attention to extending his huge cash advantage over his rivals.

The Massachusetts governor left Maine before the caucus results were announced to attend a West Coast fundraiser Saturday night. He issued a written statement to mark his victory in the low-turnout contest.

"I'm heartened to have the support of so many good people in this great state," Romney said in the statement. "The voters of Maine have sent a clear message that it is past time to send an outsider to the White House."

Romney is expected to spend much of next week courting donors, while sprinkling in a handful of campaign events. He'll be in Arizona Monday evening.

Romney won a plurality of the Maine vote just hours after winning the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington.

But questions about Romney's durability as his party's presumed front-runner persist. Fully 61 percent of Maine voters selected a candidate other than Massachusetts' former governor in a state practically in his backyard. And Romney's showing was down considerably from 2008, when he won 51 percent of the vote.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a prominent voice among some conservatives, said Romney has work to do to convince GOP voters he's moved beyond his "pretty moderate past ... even in some cases a liberal past."

"I am not convinced, and I do not think the majority of GOP and independent voters are convinced," Palin said on Fox News Sunday.

Romney has focused more on social issues in recent days. He has been particularly aggressive in criticizing Obama's recent decision regarding contraception.

On Friday, after three weeks of controversy that pitted the nation's Catholic bishops against the White House, Obama revised his policy. Instead of requiring church-affiliated nonprofit employers to cover free contraception with the health insurance they offer workers, the policy now requires insurance companies to provide free birth control coverage in separate agreements with workers who want it.

White House chief of staff Jack Lew defended the decision Sunday, noting that there is no longer room for compromise.

"This is our plan," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Santorum said the president's plan doesn't resolve the issue. He says many Catholic institutions are self-insured and those organizations will still be forced to pay for women's contraception despite their religious objections.

"There's no compromise here. They are forcing religious organizations, either directly or indirectly to pay for something that they find is a deeply, morally, you know, wrong thing," Santorum, a Catholic, told NBC's "Meet the Press."

The focus on social issues plays well for Santorum, who has long been considered a staunch cultural conservative. Those credentials helped fuel his success last week.

But he wasn't a factor in Maine, where Romney captured 39 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating Paul's 36 percent, state Republican chairman Charlie Webster said. Santorum and Gingrich, who didn't actively campaign in Maine, won 18 percent and 6 percent respectively.

It was a disappointing showing for Paul, who on Sunday suggested that there was virtually no difference between his rivals.

"All three of them have represented the same system, the same status quo," Paul said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

The Maine vote totals reflected about 84 percent of the state's precincts, with nearly 5,600 Republicans voting out of 258,000 registered. The contests scheduled for the coming days will not be counted, including an entire county that postponed its caucuses because of a snow storm.

"We were a little bit disappointed last night," Paul said, because he's done well in that county in the past and expected to do well Saturday.

Coming off last week's success, Santorum saw a surge in donations. His campaign reports gathering $3 million in the three days immediately following after last week's hat trick, but he's unlikely to catch Romney in the money race.

Santorum reported just $279,000 in the bank at the end of December, compared with Romney's $19.9 million. Gingrich had $2.1 million, but is still carrying substantial debt, while Paul reported $1.9 million.

Romney won 11 delegates and Paul 10, according to an analysis of the Maine results by The Associated Press. Santorum and Gingrich were shut out. That brings the delegate count to 123 for Romney, 72 for Santorum, 32 for Gingrich and 19 for Paul, with 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination.

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The Romney revolt: Has the GOP base turned on him?

This week, Mitt lost states he won four years ago, signalling to some that he has "failed to close the deal with conservatives"

What was behind "Mitt Romney's terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad night on Tuesday"? asks Eric Kleefeld at Talking Points Memo. That's simple: "A deep-seated dissatisfaction among conservative base voters." When Romney won Nevada and Florida last week, he was supported by a broad cross-section of the GOP electorate, including the conservative base. In Tuesday's contests in Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota, conservatives — the same pool of GOP base voters who gave Romney huge 2008 wins in the latter two states — fled en masse. Is Romney really facing a revolt from his party's rank and file?

Mitt has a big base problem: Romney has troublingly "failed to close the deal with conservatives," says John Fund at National Review. Just this week, he "drew the ire of conservative icons Steve Forbes and Dick Armey" for endorsing "inflation-indexed minimum wage increases." Mitt doesn't seem to grasp that the GOP presidential nominee is also the "titular head of the conservative movement." For his sake, and that of his party, he needs to reach out to his base and fire it up, pronto.
"Mitt Romney has reason to be concerned"

His bigger issue is alienating the middle: It's true that Romney has a dangerously "uneasy relationship with the conservative base," says Scott Galupo at U.S. News. But Mitt's bigger problem is the "self-circling death trap" in which he's put himself: Romney's "relentlessly negative campaigning" has helped vanquish many of his GOP rivals, but it's also "killing his standing with independents." GOP base voters will back Mitt in the general election, but if Romney keeps slinging mud to get that far, he'll cede the moderates to Obama.
"What the Rick Santorum sweep means for Mitt Romney"

Everyone is misreading the results: On the surface, Tuesday's drubbing "made Romney look weak and unloved," says Michael Crowley at TIME. But don't be fooled. Between his money, "aura of inevitablity," and flawed rivals, Romney holds "a strategic position of overwhelming superiority," and voters know it. The many conservatives "willing to accept Romney as the nominee" simply "didn't have much incentive to turn out and vote on Tuesday." They know he's "basically a lock" for the nomination.
"Was Tuesday night really so terrible for Mitt Romney?"

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Is Romney 'too perfect' to be president?

On paper and on television, Mitt Romney looks like archetypal presidential material. Maybe that's why so many people don't like him

Super-wealthy GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney is often portrayed as someone who struggles to connect with regular voters. But in fact, he has the opposite problem, says Kathleen Parker at The Washington Post. "People can't connect with him." Americans like slightly flawed politicians — think Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton — who have fallen just like the rest of us. What's flawed about Romney? "Nada." He has a "picture-perfect résumé of skills and accomplishments," a bulging bank account, a "relentlessly handsome face," a beautiful wife he's happily married to, and "he goes to bed the same way he woke up — sober, uncaffeinated, seamless, and smiling." Is Romney, in effect, "too perfect" to win the presidency?

Yes. Mitt's aesthetic perfection works against him: Romney has a robot problem, says Brian Fung at The Atlantic. When people encounter robots that are too human-like, they're unsettled and repulsed by the imperfections. And Romney "looks just enough like the perfect picture of an American president to make us uncomfortable." On TV, Romney "radiates presidential qualities from every patrician pore," so it's jarring when he has awkward moments that a flawless TV president wouldn't. He's "the politician from central casting who is stumbling through an audition for a role of regular human."
"The uncanny valley: What robot theory tells us about Mitt Romney"

No. Romney's problem is that he's a phony: Let's be honest, says Scott Galupo at U.S. News. Romney's problem isn't that people can't relate to him. "Al Gore managed to win the popular vote, after all." Romney suffers because "he's a transparent phony," a "rancid impostor" willing to say or do anything for political gain. Far from being "too perfect," when it comes to "intellectual honesty" Romney is "all too human."
"Mitt Romney isn't too perfect — He's too phony"

He just needs to embrace his perfection: The Gore analogy is apt, says Jacob Weisberg at Slate, because like Gore and "similarly unloved Democratic" nominee John Kerry, Romney is "too handsome, too rich, and too pompous to win the hearts of ordinary Americans." These patrician candidates always try too hard to establish their "plain-folks ordinariness in ways that inevitably backfire" — Gore's "earth tones," Kerry's Philly cheesesteak with Swiss, Romney's hunting "rodents and varmints." Romney isn't like us, and he should stop "running away from his own perfection."
"Romney is Kerry. Or maybe Gore."

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