Romney and Ryan on 60 minutes

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Romney will announce VP pick Saturday at 9am

Fox News is reporting the GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney will announce his choice of running mate Saturday morning at 9am in Norfolk, Virginia.

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan is thought to be the choice.

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Pretraeus for Veep?

President Obama has been whispering that Mitt Romney wants CIA Director, General David Petraeus to be his running mate, according to Drudge.

The pick could be a shrewd Romney choice. A cross-party pull. The Obama administration hailed Petraeus as one of history’s greatest military strategists. Petraeus was unanimously confirmed as the Director of the CIA by the US Senate 94-0.

But Petraeus has categorically asserted that he has NO political ambitions. And Team Obama stands prepared to tie one of their own to “Bush wars.” A Petraeus pick could been seen as simply shuffling the decks of power in DC.

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Christie still on Romney’s short list

Governor Chris Christie is still on Mitt Romney’s VP short list, if we can believe FoxNew’s extrapolation from a list of speakers announced for the Republican National Convention.

Fox speculates that it is “safe to say” that the vice presidential candidate will not be one of the headline speakers announced by the Romney campaign. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, Florida Gov.  Rick Scott, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Arizona Sen. John  McCain, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, are those speakers.

That leaves Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, former Minnesota Gov. Tim  Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New Hampshire  Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for Romney to choose from for VP and the keynote speaker.

New short list same as the old short list, with the exception of Rice and Bush trading places.

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Dirty Harry, the Godfather’s consigliere and a porn star endorse Romney

Mitt Romney seems to be putting a dent in the Democratic Party’s support coming from Hollywood.

Clint Eastwood made Romney’s day with an endorsement at an Idaho fundraiser on Friday.  Robert Duvall is holding a fund raiser for Romney at his home next month where Anne Romney will be in attendance.   Neither Gov or Mrs. Romney were present when retired porn star Jenna Jameson announced her support for the Republican presidential candidate at a San Francisco strip club, but Jameson’s remarks to a CBS reporter covering the strip club’s anniversary party have garnered more media coverage than Eastwood’s and Duvall’s endorsements combined.

Eastwood’s endorsement is notable because many in the media spun his Halftime in America Super Bowl commerical for Chrysler as a tacit nod to Obama.

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GQ: Dear Mitt: Please Pick Chris Christie

GQ columnist Reid Cherlin says Mitt Romney should pick Governor Chris Christie as his running mate over the “milkiest of milquetoast options,” Ohio Senator Rob Portman or former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty.  Hat tip to Bob Ingle.

Yes, I know the criticisms. Chris Christie is a hot-head and a showboat. He’s overweight. He doesn’t represent a key swing state.  He’d be uncontrollable, in the way that Sarah Palin was uncontrollable. He’d  suck up all the oxygen and leave Romney fiddling in the wings, or worse,  cleaning up his messes. All that is true, to a degree.

But let’s remember the other key truism here: people vote for the top of the  ticket, not the would-be VP. As you’ve read countless times, the real virtue of  the running mate pick is that he can be nastier on the attack, he doubles your  capacity for in-person campaigning, and your selection of him says something  essential about your judgment. I think Christie would be a win for Romney on all  three fronts. He is an excellent attack dog. He lives for town-hall campaigning.  And his pick would make loud and clear—to Romney’s still-unenthused Republican  critics, and to swing voters who love moderate East Coast Republicans—that he’s  serious about kicking ass. Most of all, though, Christie is damn entertaining.  He is disarmingly blunt. He’s a ham,  he takes tough questions head-on,  and he loves the parry-and-thrust that is weaker pols’ undoing. There’s a reason  he remains so popular.

The campaign so far has been an utter grind, and Romney’s VP announcement is  our last, best chance for an infusion of something fresh, interesting, and new.  Please, Governor Romney: I know you’re a businessman above all else. But can’t  we all just have some fun for once?

I have to agree. Portman or Pawlenty will put voters to sleep.

I would love Romney to make an “out of the box” VP choice like Condie Rice, Allen West or Marco Rubio.   But Rice doesn’t want to do it and probably would not perform well on the campaign trail.  West is a patriotic hero but comes across as angry.  Angry scares voters.  I don’t think Rubio is ready, for the office or for the glare of negative media attention that would come down on him.

No one articulates the case against Obama better than Christie.  Christie has a Reaganesque optimism and ability to communicate it in a way that inspires like no one else on the national scene.

Christie will bring an excitement, and fun, to the race that no one else can bring.

If the presidential race keeps going the way its going, voters will tire of the campaign before Halloween.  Christie will engage voters more than any VP candidate since Thomas Jefferson and the media won’t get the better of him like they did of Sarah Palin.  ( I can’t believe I just put Thomas Jefferson and Sarah Palin in the same sentence.)

Most importantly, with Chris Christie as his running mate, Mitt Romney can win.

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Quinnipiac: Obama leading in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

90% of likely voters have made up their minds in the crucial swing states

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Mitt Romney wants you to see this video

Matt Rhoades, Mitt Romney’s campaign manager, says,

President Obama claims his “you didn’t build that” quote has been taken out of context, but as you can see in this video — released by his own campaign — the quote in question is insulting and the context is even worse.

Clearly this President’s whole philosophy on the American Dream is upside down. It’s time to make a change.

Mitt Romney understands success is not the result of government, it is the result of hardworking people who take risks, create dreams, and build lives for themselves and their families.

So if you watch only one video during this election, watch this one. And if you share one video on Facebook, Twitter or email during this election, share this one.

Watch the video, judge President Obama’s mixed-up ideology for yourself, and spread the word:

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Quinnipiac: Menendez and Obama leading in NJ by double digits

72 % of New Jersey voters still do not know enough about Joe Kyrillos, thus Bob Menendez has slightly widened his lead in the U.S. Senate race, according to a Qunnipiac poll released this morning.

Menendez favorablity rating remains weak, especially for an incumbent, at 37%-25% with 36% not knowing enough about him to form an opinion.

Barack Obama is leading Mitt Romney in New Jersey by 49%-38%.  Romney’s favorability rating is upside down, 35%-43%.

New Jersey voters are split over ObamaCare.  47% favor keeping it, 45% favor repealing it.

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