US Politics: Romney's "Decisive Victory" in Florida Primary (Balz)

FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY: MITT ROMNEY 771,842 (46.4%); NEWT GINGRICH 531,294 (31.9%); RICK SANTORUM 222,248 (13.4%); RON PAUL 116,776 (7.0%); OTHER 21,538 (1.3%)

Bolstered by superior resources and a relentlessly aggressive style, Mitt Romney won a decisive victory in the Florida primary Tuesday night, dealing a major setback to principal rival Newt Gingrich while putting himself back into a commanding position in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney’s win came after a bitter and almost wholly negative campaign by both leading candidates. The victory, his second of the year to go along with two defeats, gives the former Massachusetts governor much-needed momentum as the GOP contest moves west for Saturday’s Nevada caucuses. Romney is strongly favored to repeat his 2008 victory there.

Click to read more ...

US Elections Analysis: How Protests Over Campaign Finance and Ron Paul Could Change The Race

Campaign finance reform would need to be the central plank of any third-party run. However, when you have judges in Montana and Occupiers outside the Supreme Court, you may have the issue that can unite Americans who feel that the two political parties are ignoring their concerns.

Will Ron Paul now seize the campaign finance reform issue in a Presidential run as an Independent candidate?

Click to read more ...

US Elections Opinion: Taking Apart Rick Santorum and "Compassionate Conservatism"

Rick Santorum (Adam Hunger, Reuters)Whether Rick Santorum and his supporters acknowledge it or not, their ideology is authoritarian, just not as dictatorial as the Hobbesian model. A child tax credit is a perfectly defensible proposition --- and Santorum would triple it --- but at heart it is the taking of property from some people to give to other people in the name of morality and the common good.

Click to read more ...

US Politics Feature: Ron Paul, the Youth Vote, and the Legalisation of Marijuana

Before and after the Iowa caucuses, one of the curious stories to emerge was the extraordinary support 76-year-old Paul was garnering among the youth of that state. Most of the commentary credited it to his followers in the anti-war brigade and associated it with the growing disillusionment with America's conflicts abroad.

A natural conclusion; and with some merit. But that alone does not explain why he appealed, according to CIRCLE (the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) to 48% of voters under the age of 30.

One possibility is that many young Paul supporters are not voting for him, first and foremost, because of his views on foreign policy. Instead, they are considering their personal lifestyles and deciding that Paul, with his calls for the legalisation of marijuana, is the candidate who best represents their interests.

Click to read more ...

US Elections Audio & Analysis: Scott Lucas with the BBC "A 4-Point Guide to the Iowa Result"

A Fading Candidate: Newt Gingrich1. The Republican contest is probably already down to two candidates: Mitt Romney v. Anyone Not Named Mitt.

2. Rick Santorum, in a victory of timing, got to be "Anyone Not Named Mitt" yesterday, with previous "Anyones" --- Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich --- fading to the point of departure without a surprise boost in the next few weeks. 

3. Even with a limited share of the vote, this is good news for Romney. Iowa, with its distinction as town-meeting caucuses rather than a primary in the voting booth, usually throws up surprise victors --- anyone remember Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in 2008? The challenge for a front-runner is to avoid embarrassment, and Romney has accomplished that.

Click to read more ...

Happy New Year: 10 Predictions for 2012 --- From US Election to Syria to No War With Iran to EA WorldView

A Reliable Prediction? Right to Left: Tunisia's Ben Ali, Egypt's Mubarak, Libya's Qaddafi, Yemen's Saleh, Syria's Assad, Iran's Khamenei

See also A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict
Happy New Year: Rap News Presents #Occupy2012

---

President Obama will call on the international community to intervene in Syria. He may not be the loudest public voice, but he and his team will be working the diplomatic backchannels in Europe and the Middle East hard. He wants to avoid war in Iran, but not so secretly, he is rooting for the domino theory to hold with the fall of the regime in Tehran. He will sell more arms to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to pacify their unease with his policies, while preparing a backup plan if there is no movement in the Islamic Republic.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (30 December): We're Tough, All is Well, We're Tough, Repeat

See also Iran Feature: The Bluster That Hides Human Rights
The Latest from Iran (29 December): Ahmadinejad on the Campaign Trail

---

A Hovercraft in This Week's Naval Exercises2055 GMT: Sedition Watch. Mohammad Reza Khatami, a prominent reformist and the brother of the former President, has issued a public statement challenging the "false, baseless, and repetitive claims" in the report sent to Parliament, claiming a foreign-backed plot at "velvet revolution" after the 2009 Presidential election.

2045 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Lawyers for Iran’s Central Bank are preparing to file a motion in a New York federal court to release nearly $2 billion of frozen funds at Citigroup Inc.’s Citibank unit.

The assets were frozen in 2008 after a group of 1,000 victims of international terrorism sought the money as partial payment for a $2.7 billion judgement made against Tehran for its alleged role in the 1983 bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 people.

Click to read more ...

US Politics Opinion: Republican Candidate Muddle Their Way Through Foreign Policy

Let's be blunt: if you are inclined to look for disappointments in your life, Saturday night’s Republican debate, held in Spartanburg, South Carolina, met expectations.

The problem was not preparation --- unlike previous encounters, no candidate had failed to set up their position. Each held/his ground vigorously. The problem was that those territories were indistinguishable from one another.  In a debate that was a showcase to make a move on front-runner Mitt Romney, that was good news for the former Governor of Massachusetts, but it did not do much for anyone else.

Click to read more ...

US Politics Analysis: GOP Debate --- Romney Wins, Cain Survives, Perry Dies

---

Before last night’s Republican debate in Michigan, there were two questions on every viewer’s mind.

Neither of them were answered satisfactorily. Instead, we got a surprise ending: the final nail in the political coffin of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s political coffin, driven home with the force of a Craftsman 12-volt Hammerhead

Click to read more ...

US Politics Analysis: Obama and the Democrats Launch Their Populist Campaign

Right now, there is an even chance President Obama could become another Jimmy Carter-style loser, or another Bill Clinton-like resurgent winner, but there is little doubt he will be going before the electorate without the aid of any positive policy achievements in his final year, and, if the IMF is correct, with the country in another recession. No wonder he is taking the fight to Republicans.

Click to read more ...