Also,
this EMAIL from Obama for America
January 3, 2011
These Republican candidates spent in some cases more than a year -- in
Mitt Romney's case seven years -- campaigning in Iowa to be the next
president.
But tonight, GOP voters there couldn't decisively get behind anyone.
Who exactly leads the Republican race going forward isn't clear, but we
do know two things:
1) The extremist Tea Party agenda won a clear victory. No matter who
the Republicans nominate, we'll be running against someone who has
embraced that agenda in order to win -- vowing to let Wall Street write
its own rules, end Medicare as we know it, roll back gay rights, leave
the troops in Iraq indefinitely, restrict a woman's right to choose,
and gut Social Security to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and
corporations.
2) We'll be facing an onslaught of unprecedented spending from outside
groups funded by corporations and anonymous donors. In Iowa alone,
so-called "super PACs" spent $12.9 million on almost exclusively
negative ads. These groups will turn their fire even more directly on
us in the weeks ahead to prove that their candidate is the most
anti-Obama.
This race is officially on -- and if we want to win, the only
way is to out-organize them on the ground.
Sign
up to volunteer your time now, and one of our organizers in your
community will give you a call by the end of next week to talk about
how you can help.
Many observers still think Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee.
If he is, we will be prepared. But it's curious that no one can really
explain how, when or why the 70-plus percent of Republicans saying in
polls and in Iowa that Mitt Romney's not their candidate will suddenly
come around.
So the path ahead for Romney -- or whichever of the Republican
candidates is going to emerge from this process -- is sadly and starkly
very clear: to run even further to the extreme right, and make even
more dangerous promises that threaten not only the progress we've made
but the fundamental fabric of American society.
We also know that candidates who take these extreme positions can, in
the right circumstances, win not only a primary but also a general
election in just about any state.
Just ask the Tea Party senators from Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and the
Tea Party governors in Florida and Wisconsin.
Watching the circus on TV, it's tempting to think it's almost funny --
but this is not a joke.
We've got to be ready.
What you decide to do next will determine which kind of
politics wins this election:
http://my.barackobama.com/After-Iowa
More soon.
Messina
Jim Messina
Campaign Manager
Obama for America