Romney working on building wide margin in NH vote

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, campaigns with former Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. Romney accepted an endorsement from McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, as he pushed for an overwhelming victory in next week's New Hampshire primary. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, campaigns with former Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. Romney accepted an endorsement from McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, as he pushed for an overwhelming victory in next week's New Hampshire primary. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney listens as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., campaigns for Romney during a town hall style meeting in Peterborough, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won the Iowa Caucuses by eight votes, campaigns during a town hall style meeting in Peterborough, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Republican presidential candidate,former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won the Iowa Caucuses by eight votes, campaigns during a town hall style meeting in Manchester, N.H. as former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., looks on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ? Barely triumphant in Iowa, Mitt Romney campaigned Wednesday seeking an overwhelming victory in New Hampshire's primary ? and found tough questions even with Sen. John McCain, the locals' beloved war hero, at his side.

Romney returned to New Hampshire the morning after his eight-vote victory in Iowa's caucuses, and McCain joined him on stage as part of his endorsement announcement. But the crowd that greeted Romney asked more hostile questions than any he found in Iowa over the past two weeks ? or those in New Hampshire earlier in December.

"I'm Mark from Occupy Boston, and from Occupy New Hampshire," said the first questioner, who wasn't a fan. "You've said that corporations are people."

The second questioner read from a piece of paper as she asked why Romney defended his Massachusetts health law but thought it was bad for the nation. "Why did you want to hold people who could afford health insurance accountable in Massachusetts, but now you're OK with increasing costs for everyone else?" she asked.

And third, a Chinese American woman rose to challenge Romney's economic policies. When he pointed out America was the wealthiest nation on earth, she said: "I love this country . I hate all this degrading thing about China this, China that."

Her comments were drowned out by other shouts from the crowd, until Romney repeated her: "She said she loves this country, and don't put any Asians down. I hope I don't put any Asians down," he said.

Romney took a few more questions and wasn't visibly rattled, instead pushing back and looking to McCain to help him with his answers

But it was a remarkable start to the last week of a primary that Romney hopes to win by overwhelming margins. A second event, in the ornate Peterborough Town House, was more upbeat, with questions about Pakistan and taxes on the self-employed and a query from a boy who wanted to know just why Romney wanted to go to all the trouble of running for president.

Romney and McCain appeared together at both events, McCain's endorsement timed and clearly designed to maximize the war hero's particularly high standing in New Hampshire. The Arizona Republican had been planning for weeks to endorse Romney and appeared to kick off the final week of campaigning ahead of the primary here.

McCain called Romney "an honest, straight-talking person of experience," high praise from the man whose 2000 campaign bus was nicknamed the "Straight Talk Express" after his reputation for speaking his mind.

Still, Romney and McCain had an uneasy rapport standing on stage together. Instead of having McCain introduce Romney to the crowds, as is typical of most of Romney's other prominent endorsers, McCain was the closer, standing ramrod still during Romney's typical stump speeches.

And during questions, McCain, the 2008 nominee, jumped right in. McCain was holding the microphone when a questioner asked, "What do we do about Pakistan?"

As McCain started to speak, so did Romney.

Romney blinked first. "We'll let him start," Romney said with a laugh, deferring to McCain's experience and knowledge of foreign policy issues.

Romney still faces conservative challenges from former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who barely lost in Iowa, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has already started running newspaper ads declaring Romney too moderate.

Iowa's third-place finisher, Rep. Ron Paul, is also poised to play a significant role in the state.

McCain and Romney haven't always been political allies. McCain beat Romney in the 2008 New Hampshire primary, and there is a history of acrimony between the two. During that race, McCain said, "When he ran for office in Massachusetts being a Republican wasn't much of a priority for him."

In 2008, Romney eventually endorsed McCain ? and now in 2012, McCain has returned the favor.

But their differences were still obvious. The 75-year-old McCain, clearly at ease, showed flashes of the charming former fighter jock who ran here in 2000, bantering about boxing and cracking jokes that drew easy laugher from the crowd.

Romney, smiling and upbeat, hit a few of his usual, slightly awkward moments, at one point trying to acknowledge a questioner seated in the balcony as a staffer handed the microphone to someone seated in the main room.

"When I was in school, the back row was where all the cool kids were," Romney said, looking up. "I never quite made it there, but I tried."

___

Follow Kasie Hunt on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kasie.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-04-Romney/id-77bc7ee54b9541e0911381554f0a9d25

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Monsanto 1Q profit surges on seed sales (AP)

ST. LOUIS ? Monsanto Co. said Thursday its fiscal first-quarter earnings soared on strength of its seed business. The company also brightened its outlook for the full fiscal year.

Its shares rose more than 5 percent in late morning trading.

Monsanto said its net income rose to $126 million, or 23 cents per share, for the three months ended Nov. 30. That's up from $9 million, or 2 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue leaped 33 percent to $2.44 billion from $1.84 billion a year earlier. Monsanto said growth was driven by demand for corn throughout Latin America.

Sales in Monsanto's seeds and genomics segment increased 32 percent to $1.5 billion, reflecting the strength in Latin America and some timing benefits from its Australian cotton business.

Overall, sales of corn seed and traits rose 46 percent, while sales of cotton seeds and traits jumped 73 percent.

"We've seen a very strong start to the year, with real growth in Latin America and early orders in the United States that underscore our sustained momentum carrying into 2012," Chairman, President and CEO Hugh Grant said.

FactSet says analysts expected earnings of 16 cents per share on revenue of $2.05 billion.

For all of fiscal 2012, the St. Louis company expects earnings per share of between $3.39 and $3.44, which is at the high end of its previous expectation of a growth percentage in the "mid-teens." Analysts expect earnings of $3.47 per share.

Its shares rose $4.09, or 5.6 percent, to $76.76 in midday trading. Its 52-week high of $78.71 was set in late October.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_monsanto

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I-70 Baseball Radio Special: Cooperstown Choices - Jan 08,2012

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Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ivieleagueproductions/2012/01/08/i-70-baseball-radio-special-cooperstown-choices

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Jan 3 - Hillary Clinton for vice president

She clearly wants to be President and if she can get in the fold as Vice President on another 4 years of Obama it would set her up to be the next big DEM candidate in 2016, wouldn't be a shock if this happens, Biden is a none figure compared to her.

Hillary Clinton for vice president
By Suzi Parker
Hillary Clinton for vice president - She the People: - The Washington Post
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? ?We need Hillary in the White House in 2016 or on the ticket in 2012,? an elderly man told Bill Clinton at a recent book signing here. The former president smiled, signed a copy of ?Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy,?? and[..]ured the man he?d let his wife know: ?I?ll pass that along to Hillary.?

Arkansas Democrats have been whispering for months that President Barack Obama would be smart to put Secretary of State Hil
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a press conference in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool (Saul Loeb - AP) lary Clinton on the ticket as vice-president.

After all, it?s no secret Hillary is tired of logging miles as the 67th Secretary of State. She racked up 237,597 miles ? as of Dec. 8, the latest date for totals ? while visiting 45 countries and logging 506 hours of travel time in 2011. She has already said she doesn?t want a second term as Secretary of State.

When asked about her plans, the former president said, ?She?s tired and she wants to come home? and ?do the kind of work that I?m doing now.? But, he added, ?It?s up to her to come and know what she intends to do.?

So, does that mean anything in particular about the former senator?s future plans? Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, predicted in ?Business Insider? last week that Obama will pick Hillary as vice president in a switcheroo that makes Biden secretary of state ? ?a position he?s apparently coveted for years,? Reich said. He said his prediction was not, however, based on any insider information.

Past coverage: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in November that she has no plans to run for president again.

This was manna for those Hillary supporters who have never abandoned hope that the former first lady might still become the nation?s first female president. There?s currently a ?Petition to Draft Hillary Clinton for President in 2012? Facebook page. One website, ?Hillary Unleashed,? is urging New Hampshire voters to write-in Hillary?s name on Jan. 10.

And even as her most adamant supporters long for a never-gonna-happen run against Obama, they?d happily support an Obama-Clinton ticket ? and argue that she?d energize a sagging, depressed Democratic base ? women, environmentalists and unions.

By picking Hillary as vice president, Obama would get Bill Clinton, too. This was not always considered such a plus; in 2008, the former president often lashed out at the media and occasionally made inappropriate comments about Obama. Those days seemed long gone, though, as Clinton discussed a recent visit with Obama about retrofitting buildings to put Americans back to work.

The 42nd president, the party?s number one cheerleader, still pulls in big bucks for Democrats. At the Little Rock book signing, hundreds of his fellow Arkansans stood in line to meet the former president.

?Wish you were still up there,? one fan after another lamented.

Hillary has been a first lady, a New York senator and Secretary of State. Will she soon complete the political resume building? Doubtful. Don?t expect her to vanish just yet either, though; her supporters won?t let her.

Suzi Parker is an Arkansas-based political and cultural journalist and author of ?secks in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt.? Follow her on Twitter at @SuziParker

Source: http://slumz.boxden.com/f5/jan-3-hillary-clinton-vice-president-1679570/

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Iowa Predictions (ABC News)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/181969004?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Romney's chief Iowa rivals press electability (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? With time running short, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and other Republican presidential contenders insisted they could beat President Barack Obama as they worked to persuade undecided Iowa Republicans aching to win the White House to choose them over chief rival Mitt Romney.

"I'm the candidate that actually was able to win in states, as a conservative, in getting Democrats and independents to vote for us," Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who is surging in the race and is a favorite among cultural conservatives, said in an interview on CNN. "Mitt Romney has no track history of doing that."

Paul, a libertarian-leaning Texas congressman who Romney has said is outside the GOP mainstream, countered the suggestion that he's a fringe candidate. In an interview with ABC from his home state, where he was spending the weekend, Paul insisted: "I'm electable. I've been elected 12 times in Texas, when people get to know me."

With Romney in a position of strength in Iowa, both Santorum and Paul went directly at the former Massachusetts governor's chief argument ? that he is the most electable Republican in a head-to-head matchup against Obama next fall. They hope they can sway the roughly half of likely caucus-goers who say they are undecided or willing to change their minds two days before the leadoff presidential caucuses.

A Des Moines Register poll released Saturday showed Romney and Paul locked in a close race, with Santorum rising swiftly to challenge them. Nearly half of likely Iowa caucus-goers view Romney as the Republican most likely to win the general election. He was far ahead of Santorum and Paul, who was viewed as the least likely to win.

Those two are fighting against the notion in GOP circles that their bases of support are narrow and neither would be able to cobble together the diverse voting coalition necessary to beat Obama in November. Paul attracts legions of backers who put states' rights above much else, while Santorum ? an anti-abortion crusader ? is popular among Christian conservatives who make up the base of the Republican Party.

In contrast, Romney has styled himself as a Republican able to attract a broad spectrum of voters. As polls showed him in strong standing in Iowa in the past week, he has redoubled his effort to portray himself as the business-savvy executive with national appeal who is best able to defeat Obama on the campaign's most pressing issue, the economy.

Although the race remains fluid, it appeared that Romney's carefully crafted plan to avoid underperforming in Iowa, where he campaigned little until last week, may be working, given a divided GOP electorate torn between several more conservative candidates and Paul's appeal to libertarians.

The issue of what type of candidate to choose cuts to the heart of why the Iowa race is so volatile; an NBC/Marist poll last week showed nearly even percentages of Iowa caucus-goers want a candidate who shares their values as want a candidate who can beat Obama.

"The first thing you see when you talk to any Iowa Republican is that desire to beat Barack Obama," Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said.

Mindful of that, both Romney and Santorum canvassed the state Sunday to make the electability case ? and their schedules illuminated their late-game strategies for rallying their backers to the caucuses.

Romney appeared in Atlantic and Council Bluffs as he works to maximize the edge he holds in critical areas, especially those he won in his second-place finish here four years ago, rather than risk underperforming in places where more ardent conservatives are leery of his Mormon faith and shifting positions on social issues. On Monday, he was heading to his eastern Iowa strongholds, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Dubuque.

He is increasingly projecting confidence that he would be the GOP's nominee, promising to return to Iowa, a general-election swing state, in the fall campaign.

On Sunday, Romney poked at Santorum directly for the first time since his opponent's rise ? though carefully ? saying the ex-senator "has spent his career in the government in Washington."

"Nothing wrong with that, but it's a very different background than I have," Romney said in Atlantic in response to a reporter's question, calling Santorum a good guy who has worked hard and probably will do well Tuesday. He also noted that Santorum endorsed him in 2008. It was a delicate attempt to stoke doubts about Santorum without angering ? and alienating ? his supporters.

Santorum, for his part, was campaigning deep into GOP-rich rural northwest Iowa, with stops in conservative counties won by Mike Huckabee during the former Arkansas governor's victorious campaign here four years ago.

Crowds swelled for a candidate who only recently has moved from afterthought to contender.

"Don't put forward somebody who isn't good enough to do what needs to be done for this country," he implored at a coffee house in Sioux City. He told the crowd that he had more than 1,100 precinct captains to convince undecided voters Tuesday but needs more.

As he met voters, his final ad for Iowa TV called him "a full spectrum conservative" who is most likely to beat Obama and the "trusted conservative who gives us the best chance to take back America."

Their rivals had less aggressive schedules.

Paul, who has slipped somewhat in the wake of attacks on his foreign policy positions, remained out of the state for a second straight day. He was in Texas to celebrate the New Year with his family. But he did a few national TV interviews from Texas, arguing in them that the majority of Americans are with him when it comes to a non-interventionist foreign policy.

"I would say that I'm pretty mainstream," he told CNN and hit his rivals, saying: "People who are attacking me now are the ones who can't defend their records, and they've been all over the place."

Along with Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann ? all of whom are trailing in polls and fighting for the support of Christian evangelicals ? spent the morning in church.

Gingrich went after Romney with abandon, saying he felt like he'd been "Romney-boated" and adding that the multimillionaire would "buy the election if he could."

The nautical attack was a reference to a 2004 TV ad campaign by a group called the "Swiftboat Veterans for Truth" that bloodied Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. This year, Gingrich has faced an onslaught of negative TV advertisements by a group aligned with Romney.

In all, at least $12.5 million in advertising ? much of it negative ? has flooded the Iowa airwaves in the run-up to the caucuses as candidates and outside groups aligned with them, called super PACs, worked to influence the outcome of what has been a remarkably fluid and unpredictable campaign.

Working to make up ground quickly, Bachmann and Perry tried to make the electability argument while assailing Santorum, who suddenly has found himself the target of sharp attacks on his conservative credentials from rivals vying for the same bloc of voters.

Bachmann told ABC, "I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable." On Fox, she lambasted Santorum, noting that he was soundly defeated when he ran for re-election in 2006, losing by a 59-41 margin to Democrat Bob Casey.

"I won four races in the last four years, in the toughest years for Republicans ? in a liberal state like Minnesota, I won," Bachmann said.

Perry, who never lost an election in Texas but has struggled in his first nationwide race, told "Fox News Sunday" of his opponents, "They may do OK in Iowa, but when it comes to running a national campaign, they're going to falter."

Perry also renewed his attack on Santorum, saying: "He's got a spending problem. He's got an earmark problem. He voted eight times to raise the debt ceiling in the United States Senate."

___

Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in West Des Moines, Shannon McCaffrey in Des Moines, Brian Bakst in Oskaloosa and Mike Glover in Sioux City contributed to this report.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Follow Thomas Beaumont on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TomBeaumont

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120101/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Chrome Is Edging Out Firefox

Android isn't the only Google product that gobbled up market share in 2011. ?Its Chrome browser also had an amazing year. By one measure, StatCounter, Chrome went from 15 percent market share a year ago to 27 percent share in December, 2011. Chrome ended the year two points above Firefox's 25 percent share (which is down from 31 percent a year ago). ?Even as Google recently renegotiated its deal to maintain the default search spot n Firefox for the next three years (to the tune of nearly $1 billion), it keeps taking share in the market.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QhpD5vcNl5M/

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