Gillespie Strategies

Republican leaders will take part in a series of rallies across Virginia this weekend as they try to get out the vote for Tuesday’s legislative elections.

Those attending are: Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, House Speaker Bill Howell, Senate Republican Leader Tommy Norment, House Republican caucus Chairman Tim Hugo, former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie (who now leads the Republican State Leadership Committee) and state party chairman Pat Mullins.

WASHINGTON — Chris Christie never left the column of no-gos, but his courtship this late in the Republican presidential nomination fight says as much about the rest of the GOP field as it does about him.

How much this grass-is-greener phenomenon will affect the outcome of the 2012 election won't be clear until a nominee is chosen. Among the many political axioms is the one about how hard it is to get re-elected in an economy as bad as this one. But another is that you have to beat somebody with somebody. And for Republicans, 2011 has been defined as much by the big-name somebodies who have taken a pass, the latest being Christie.

DEBATE DAY – We’re just hours away from the unofficial kick-off to the fall campaign, as the candidates prepare to take the stage at the Reagan Library for the POLITICO/NBC News debate. “For the 2012 Republican hopefuls, Wednesday night is the first Fall Classic … the first debate that will include Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the new front-runner who has shaken up the slow-forming presidential contest and shifted the landscape for Mitt Romney, who’d been sitting atop the field for months. … Five things to watch for as the candidates take the stage: Does Perry stumble or survive? …. Will Romney go after Perry by name? … Can Bachmann break through? Will Jon Huntsman bring his “truth telling” from the Sunday talk shows to his opponents? … Can Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Herman Cain prove that they’re relevant?” 

Watch it on MSNBC, online at politico.com/reagandebate or on the POLITICO iPad app, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific. POLITICO is also livestreaming the debate with a pre-game show beginning at 7:30pm ET. 


 

Frustration with President Obama’s policies is hurting his chances for reelection, a new poll by the right-leaning organization Resurgent Republic finds. But Congressional Republicans are also losing several key arguments in the debate over taxes and spending.

According to the survey, the president boasts a 50 percent favorability rating — the only public figure to earn a net-positive mark in that category. Nonetheless, 57 percent of Americans disapprove of his handling of the economy, and 50 percent believe his policies have made things worse. (Forty percent, meanwhile, believe they have made things better.) What’s more, 60 percent — including 34 percent of Democrats — believe Obama has proven to be a weaker president than they thought he would be.

(CBS News) 

Chief White House Correspondent Norah O'Donnell guest hosts this Sunday's "Face the Nation" with guests Senator John McCain, Economist Mark Zandi and former party chairs, Ed Gillespie of the Republican National Committee and Terry McAuliffe of the Democratic National Committee.

And they're off! The Republican field for the presidential nomination came into focus in the past week as Texas Governor Rick Perry entered with a splash, wedging himself with Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in the top tier of the race.

WASHINGTON — Crossing a generational divide in politics can be difficult, as former Gov.  Jon M. Huntsman Jr. of Utah, a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, made clear when he referred to “the Google” in a speech to kick off the annual convention of the College Republicans National Committee over the weekend.

(CNN) – Twenty-six million dollars was raised by Super PACs in the first half of 2011, 83 percent of which came from five groups, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

The five groups that accounted for $22 million of the total were: Restore Our Future, American Crossroads, Priorities USA Action, American Bridge 21st Century and Majority PAC, according to the Sunlight Foundation.