Mediaboss Marketing

BOSTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The governor's race in Massachusetts, one of the most Democratic states in the country, is in a statistical tie between the likely candidates, a new poll found.

The Boston Globe poll released Friday is the first to give Republican Charlie Baker a lead over Attorney General Martha Coakley. While 37 percent of respondents said they plan to vote for Coakley, 38 percent picked Baker.

A Globe poll earlier this month gave Coakley a lead of 7 percentage points.

Coakley faces two opponents in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary, where she has an overwhelming lead.

Baker, the former president and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, served in the cabinets of Republican governors in the 1990s. He lost the governor's race in 2010 to the incumbent, Deval Patrick, and the only elective office he has held is Swampscott selectman.

Coakley, who was elected attorney general in 2006, lost a special election in 2010 for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Edward Kennedy. She was defeated by Scott Brown, who became the first Republican to win a Senate race in Massachusetts in 40 years.

This month, a SuperPAC linked to the Republican Governors Association began running ads in Massachusetts touting Baker's experience in state government and business.

The Globe interviewed 605 likely voters from Aug. 17 to Aug. 19 and Aug. 24 to Aug. 26. The margin of error is 4 points.

2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Read more:
Poll gives Republican slim lead in Mass. governor's race

The most likely Republican presidential candidate for 2016 is . . . Mitt Romney?

The former Massachusetts governor has run and lost two bids for the White House in the 2008 Republican primaries and again in the 2012 general election. Whats more, he proved to be a foot-in-mouth candidate who blew his chances of winning in 2012 by writing off 47% of the electorate and suggesting that illegal immigrants self-deport.

And yet, establishment insiders in the GOP tell me that the third time may be the charm.

The smart folks in the party are not committed to any presidential candidate this early, said Scott Reed, the senior political strategist for the US Chamber of Commerce, the powerful business lobby that has scored a string of establishment victories over Tea Party candidates in this years Republican primaries. But Romney cant be dismissed as the guy who lost last time.

You watch him on TV these days, and hes a new guy with total command of the issues and a real presence, Reed added. He could throw an organization together and get the money.

Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign rally in Nevada in 2012.Photo: Getty Images

A wealthy New York-based Republican with close ties to members of the donor class, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, wholeheartedly agrees.

Most of the people I talk to who are involved in Republican politics as donors want a winner, he told me. And many of these people are talking about Romney because so many of the things he said in 2012 about Russia being a geopolitical foe and people losing their health insurance under ObamaCare have come to pass.

Until a few months ago, the favorite among establishment Republicans was Chris Christie. And there are still those in the GOP, such as Kenneth Langone, the billionaire co-founder of The Home Depot, who support the New Jersey governor.

You watch him on TV these days, and hes a new guy with total command of the issues and a real presence. He could throw an organization together and get the money.-Political strategist Scott Reed

See original here:
Why Mitt Romney may again be the GOPs next great hope

As of 2014, 19 states -- 18 of which are led by Republican governors -- have declined outright to...

The Republican fight against Medicaid expansion is far from over, but there are fewer opponents than there used to be.

The expansion of the government health insurance program was originally supposed to be mandatory under the Affordable Care Act, but the Supreme Court made it optional as part of a landmark decision on the law in June of 2012.

In the wake of the decision, Republican governors flocked to announce they were declining to expand coverage.

As of 2014, 19 states 18 of which are led by Republican governors have declined outright to expand coverage, but some former holdouts are beginning to come to terms with expansion.

This week, Pennsylvania formally agreed to terms with federal regulators, raising the number of states that have expanded coverage for low-income residents under Obamacare to 27. Pennsylvania is the ninth state led by a Republican governor to expand Medicaid.

Another Republican, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, also announced Friday that his state will begin the process of preparing a plan for Medicaid expansion.

The state is expected to pursue a hybrid plan to help lower-income residents enroll in plans on the Obamacare exchanges.

Tennessee joins Utah and Indiana in the pool of states where Republican governors are actively negotiating with the Obama administration to expand coverage, and more states could be joining the pool soon.

Democratic governors in Missouri and Virginia are on record for supporting expansion, but have have failed to persuade their respective legislatures to go along.

Read more here:
Is the Republican fight against Medicaid expansion over?

The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition issued its "Primary Grades" report Saturday and U.S. Senate Republican hopeful Bob Smith earned an A+, which is a mark given to what the group calls a "Second Amendment Leader."

Republican hopefuls Scott Brown received an "F" and Jim Rubens received an "RS," which "indicates a deliberate refusal to accept or respond" to the survey, according to the coalition.

Rubens received an A rating recently from Gun Owners of New Hampshire. Smith was endorsed last week by the Gun Owners of America. Both men were critical of Brown on gun rights during a WGIR-AM radio debate last week. Brown, a gun owner and retired colonel from the Army National Guard, said he had averaged an A- rating from the NRA, which Rubens and Smith challenged.

The New Hampshire Firearms Coalition issued ratings for other candidates with primaries. The ratings included:

- - - -

(A Saturday version of Granite Status is below:)

IT WAS DESIGNED in a "tasteful way," state Sen. David Boutin, R-Hooksett, says about one of his recent campaign fliers. The mailer pictures two babies and then a zinger: "These two babies have lived longer in Hooksett than my opponent," Boutin says.

In an interview, Boutin says he aimed to "let the voters know that my opponent just moved from Alton to Hooksett several weeks ago."

The opponent in question, Jane Cormier, is challenging him in the GOP primary for Senate District 16. The winner faces Democrat Maureen Raiche Manning of Manchester in the general election.District 16 represents Bow, Candia, Dunbarton, Hooksett and Wards 1, 2 and 12 in Manchester.

Boutin says he's received positive response to his baby mailer.

Visit link:
Dan Tuohy's Granite Status Bob Smith gets A from NH Firearms Coalition

Potential Republican presidential candidates paraded before more than 3,000 conservative activists and donors from across the country here for a two-day summit that ended Saturday, touting their records and trying to look like the future of their party.

The eighth annual Defending the American Dream Summit was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, among the most powerful conservative political groups in the country, backed by GOP donors Charles and David Koch, whose family amassed a fortune in the oil business.

It's not clear who the Koch brothers might back, given their support for Republican and libertarian causes.

David Koch attended the summit, at one point addressing the crowd and thanking the speakers, in particular Texas Gov. Rick Perry for hosting the summit.

Both Perry and junior Texas Sen. Ted Cruz received raucous applause when they appeared, with many chanting Saturday, "Run, Ted, run!"

"Oddly enough, that's the same thing my wife, Heidi, says to me when I go to the gym," Cruz quipped, never revealing during his speech or a briefing afterward whether he plans to run though he presented a pretty clear platform.

Cruz vowed to roll back Obamacare and hold the line against "amnesty" for immigrants who entered the country illegally, daring President Obama to "join me at the border." He suggested that the U.S. put more economic pressure on Russia for its actions in Ukraine and attack Islamic State "bomb them back to the Stone Age."

"We need a president who will stand up and use every tool at our disposal," Cruz said to applause and repeated standing ovations.

Greg Danson, 30, a conservative from Houston who works in the oil industry, said he was wowed by Cruz, who he said appears more intellectual than Perry, more like the future of the party than the folksy past of George W. Bush.

"I don't think Perry can win. He's not as good in debates. He's not going to beat Hillary," Danson said, alluding to the presumed candidacy of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Perry, who has been visiting key primary states, emphasized his tough stance on border security.

More here:
Potential GOP presidential hopefuls woo donors, activists at summit