As the first in the nation caucus approaches, a panel of experts from the state to our south rank the Republican candidates for president.
The Minnesota Independent covered a variety of issues this week, from in-depth looks at U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s inner circle to a state Senate special election primary in Minneapolis.
Mitt Romney said Rick Perry’s rhetoric on Social Security was “over-the-top, unnecessary and frightening to people.”
Former U.S. Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota has also thrown his support to Romney following Pawlenty’s withdrawal.
A nationwide poll conducted following the entrance of Texas Gov. Rick Perry into the presidential race knocked Mitt Romney from the top spot and pushed back against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s inertia.
Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney all achieve roughly equal results against Barack Obama in a new Gallup poll of registered voters. When respondents were asked to choose between Obama and one of these four GOP presidential candidates, Romney fared the best, with 48 percent of registered voters saying they would vote for him against Obama. But the difference between his result and the result of Bachmann and Paul, the two candidates who placed first and second in the Ames Straw Poll, was within the poll’s margin of error.
Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Straw Poll victory may be short-lived on a national level, political analysts say, largely due to the close second place finish Texas Rep. Ron Paul secured, and also to the entrance of 2012 candidate who was noticeably absent Saturday — the much-rumored Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who made his White House bid from South Carlina during the straw poll.
While President Obama appeared in Cannon Falls, Minn., on Monday morning to talk job creation, presidential candidate Mitt Romney released an ad criticizing the president. Calling Obama’s trip the “Magical Mystery Tour,” the web-only video features Minnesotans who are critical of Obama.
Tim Pawlenty will become the fourth Republican presidential candidate to sign a pledge by the National Organization for Marriage to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage. Pawlenty had initially declined to sign the pledge, but NOM launched a pressure campaign to single him out. NOM’s Brian Brown said on Friday that Pawlenty’s campaign told him that the candidate would be signing the pledge.
Tim Pawlenty is taking heat from the National Organization for Marriage for not signing the group’s pledge to oppose efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. On Thursday, the group announced that Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum had all signed the pledge. But while Pawlenty has hesitated to take the pledge, he gave the Miami Herald a piece of his mind on gay marriage on Thursday.
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