February 07, 2012

First Lady Michelle Obama tussles with Jimmy Fallon

First Lady Michelle Obama debuts tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as her Let's Move initiative marks its 2nd anniversary.

The show says Fallon and Obama face-off in several fitness challenges in a skit -- including tug of war and dodgeball.

Obama campaign returns cash from family of Mexican casino czar

President Obama's re-election campaign confirms it will return money tied to the family of Juan Jose Rojas-Cardona, a subject of a McClatchy probe that last fall found deep seated corruption in Mexico's gambling industry.

The campaign confirmed Tuesday it's returning the money -- following a New York Times story that found two American brothers had emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama's re-election campaign.

The campaign said it didn't know about the connection until the story broke: "We have more than 1.3 million contributors and it was very difficult to track down full information on this," a senior campaign official told reporters. "Our vetters don't necessarily have the ability to pursue that with all 1.3 million donors. As soon as the questions were raised, we refunded the contributions."

Today at the White House: Rockets and robots

The big item on President Barack Obama's agenda today: the second White House Science Fair -- "celebrating the student winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering and math competitions from across the country.

The White House says Obama will also announce additional steps the administration and partners are taking to prepare 100,000 effective math and science teachers and to meet the need to train 1 million additional STEM graduates over the next decade.

"When students excel in math and science, they help America compete for the jobs and industries of the future," Obama said.

Romney camp looks ahead

Mitt Romney could be in for a rough night Tuesday, as polls suggest former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has a chance to win the Minnesota caucuses.

Romney's camp put out a memo Tuesday morning that looks ahead, and perhaps tries to lessen the impact of the Tuesday result.

"It is difficult to see what (former Massachusetts) Governor Romney’s opponents can do to change the dynamics of the race in February," said political director Rich Beeson in the memo. "No delegates will be awarded on February 7 -- Colorado and Minnesota hold caucuses with nonbinding preference polls, and the Missouri primary is purely a beauty contest.

"Except for the Maine and Wyoming nonbinding caucuses running through February, the next contests are on February 28 in states where Governor Romney is strong. Arizona’s 29 delegates will be bound in a winner-take-all contest. Michigan, the state where Governor Romney grew up, binds 30 delegates"

Beeson then looked ahead to March, with optimism.

"The rules for the March states offer even less comfort to Governor Romney’s opponents. With so many states and territories voting, organization and resources are key. Ours is the only campaign to be active in all of these states, and we have the resources and organization to maximize delegate totals according to each state’s rules," he said.

Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul all see possibilities in March. Gingrich and Santorum eye southern states holding primaries and caucuses, where GOP voters tend to be more conservative. Paul is pushing hard in caucus states.

Beeson says he's unworried. "Governor Romney is the only candidate prepared to compete in simultaneous contests across the country," he said.

"Speaker Gingrich’s and Senator Santorum’s campaigns have resource challenges. The remaining February states may not be kind to them, and their hopes for a comeback in March may be very difficult and based on an incomplete understanding of the delegate selection rules."

Obama campaign changes course, tells supporters it will now back super PAC

Worried about the flood of unlimited -- and often undisclosed -- dollars streaming into political action committees that are backing Republicans, President Obama's campaign is changing its tune -- which had been to oppose the committees.

In a late night email to supporters, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina says it has decided to back Priorities USA, the super PAC run by former WH spox Bill Burton.

Messina called the Republican super PACs, a "real risk," noting that in 2011 the committee supporting Mitt Romney raised $30 million from less than 200 contributors. "Ninety-six percent of what they've spent so far, more than $18 million, has been on attack ads," he said.

Obama vociferously opposed the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that opened the door to super PACS, but Messina argues that "this cycle, our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it currently stands.

"With so much at stake, we can't allow for two sets of rules in this election whereby the Republican nominee is the beneficiary of unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm."

February 06, 2012

Gay marriage gains big corporate ally: Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs

American corporations, while conservative in their business practices, have long been far ahead of elected officials on gay rights. Companies large and small became early adopters of nondiscrimination policies and domestic partner benefits. Now, many business leaders are voicing their support for the right for same-sex couples to marry.

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein endorsed marriage equality in a video for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization based in Washington. Goldman backed the successful effort last year to legalize same-sex marriage in New York state. This year, Maryland and Washington state could become the seventh and eighth states, plus the District of Columbia, where gays can marry.

"America's corporations learned a long time ago that equality is just good business, and is the right thing to do," Blankfein says in the 30-second video.

Other big corporate backers of same-sex marriage include Starbucks, Google, Microsoft, Nike and Alcoa.

And on Tuesday, a pivotal decision is expected in the court case challenging Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that took away marriage rights for same-sex couples months after they gained them. The Los Angeles Times reports that a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appears to lean toward striking down the ban, but its supporters will almost certainly appeal to the Supreme Court.

Are Chrysler and Clint Eastwood Obama fans?

Some viewers saw Chrysler's "Halftime in America" ad -- narrated by Clint Eastwood and aired during yesterday's Super Bowl -- as a big bonus for President Obama -- who pushed to keep the auto maker afloat.

In the 2-minute spot about the company's comeback, Eastwood notes "It's halftime in America, too. … Detroit's showing us it can be done. …This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. … Yeah, it's halftime America. And, our second half is about to begin."

Former Bush strategist Karl Rove ripped the ad earlier today, calling it a sign of "Chicago-style politics." CEO Sergio Marchionne insisted in an interview on Detroit radio that the ad "has zero political content." 

Asked about the ad at today's White House briefing, spokesman Jay Carney said the White House had no role in the piece.

"It was news to me," Carney said. But, prompted, he went on: "It does point out a simple fact, which is that the automobile industry in this country was on its back and potentially poised to liquidate three years ago."

Continue reading "Are Chrysler and Clint Eastwood Obama fans?"

White House to host dinner for Iraq War veterans

From the White House: "On Wednesday, February 29, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a dinner at the White House to honor our Armed Forces who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn and to honor their families.

"This dinner --- an expression of the nation's gratitude for the achievements and enormous sacrifices of the brave Americans who served in the Iraq War and of the families who supported them --- will include men and women in uniform from all ranks, services, states and backgrounds, representative of the many thousands of Americans who served in Iraq.

"The White House has been working with military and civilian leaders from the Department of Defense on this tribute, and will release more details regarding the dinner when they are available."

President Obama signs new sanctions against Iran, its banking system, due to "unacceptable risk"

President Obama has signed new sanctions blocking property of the government of Iran and Iranian financial institutions.

In a memo to Congress, Obama says he's "determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties, the deficiencies in Iran's anti-money laundering regime and the weaknesses in its implementation, and the continuing and unacceptable risk posed to the international financial system by Iran's activities."

February 04, 2012

President Obama: The Assad regime must come to an end

President Obama is renewing his call for Syria's Bashar al-Assad to step down -- citing the government's massacre Friday in Homs.

"Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now," Obama said in a statement. "He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately."

Continue reading "President Obama: The Assad regime must come to an end"