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Decision: Palin will not speak at the GOP Convention in Tampa

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Former U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Sunday said she will not speak at the Republican National Convention in Florida later this month, saying she will instead focus on rallying in support of candidates for the U.S. Congress.

Palin, 48, who previously served as the Governor of Alaska and was U.S. Senator John McCain’s vice presidential nominee during the 2008 presidential elections, said she continues to support Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his newly announced running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.

“This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I’m excited to hear them,” Palin said in a brief statement distributed by Fox News. “As I’ve repeatedly said, I support Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in their efforts to replace President Obama at the ballot box, and I intend to focus on grassroots efforts to rally Independents and the GOP base to elect Senate and House members so a wise Congress is ready to work with our new President to get our country back on the right path.”

She added: “Everything I said at the 2008 convention about then-candidate Obama still stands today, and in fact the predictions made about the very unqualified and inexperienced Community Organizer’s plans to ‘fundamentally transform’ our country are unfortunately coming true.”

The Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa, Florida, between August 27 and August 30 and will feature a number of high-profile Republican figures as speakers. Among those confirmed to be speakers are former presidential candidates John McCain and Rick Santorum. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will also speak.

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Obama’s DOJ retaliates against high profile GOP donor Sheldon Adelson with money laundering investigation?

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The Justice Department is investigating whether Las Vegas Sands Corp., owned by high-profile Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, broke federal law by failing to report millions of dollars of potentially laundered money transferred to its casinos by two high-rolling Las Vegas gamblers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles is investigating deposits made in the mid-2000s by a Mexican pharmaceutical businessman, later indicted for drug trafficking in 2007, and a California executive with Fry’s Electronics, who later pleaded guilty to taking illegal kickbacks, the newspaper said, citing lawyers and federal officials working on the case.

The Journal said there were no indications that the investigation included actions by Adelson, Sands’ chief executive and a major political donor for the Republican Party. Adelson has pledged to spend as much as $100 million to help Republican candidates in this election cycle.

Federal investigators have begun focusing on casinos amid concerns that the industry’s lax financial systems could be used for money laundering and other illegal activities, according to Justice Department officials cited by the Journal.

Sands Corp. did not immediately return calls from the Associated Press on Sunday. A company spokesman, Ron Reese, told the Journal that the company believes “it has acted properly and has not committed any wrongdoing.”

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First speakers for GOP Convention announced; Palin not on list

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Sen. John McCain, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are among the first speakers named for this month’s Republican National Convention in Tampa.

The list, which was first reported by the Tampa Bay Times and later confirmed by the Associated Press, also includes four current GOP governors: Florida’s Rick Scott, South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, Ohio’s John Kasich and New Mexico’s Susana Martinez.

The keynote speaker and other headliners will be announced closer to the Aug. 27-30 convention, where Mitt Romney will officially become the party’s 2012 presidential nominee.

“Ours will be a world-class convention, worthy of the next president of the United States, and these speakers — and those that will be announced later — will help make it a truly memorable and momentous event,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus said.

Noticeably missing from Sunday’s list of announced speakers are the most frequently talked about vice presidential contenders, including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

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Clint Eastwood just made Mitt Romney’s day

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The Dirty Harry star and Oscar-winning director of Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby endorsed the Republican presidential candidate Friday night during a Sun Valley, Idaho fundraiser.

‘I think the country needs a boost,’ Eastwood told The Associated Press as he joined other Romney supporters for the private campaign event.

In February, Eastwood told Fox News that he wasn’t supporting any politician at that time.

Some saw the ‘halftime in America’ ad he made for the Super Bowl as a nod toward President Barack Obama. Eastwood responded then by saying he was not ‘politically affiliated’ with the president.

‘Now more than ever do we need Gov. Romney. I’m going to be voting for him,’ Eastwood told Romney supporters Friday night.

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Romney campaign to announce VP pick via smart phone app

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Mitt Romney’s campaign announced Tuesday that supporters can sign up to be the first to learn of the presumptive Republican nominee’s vice presidential choice by downloading a new smartphone app.

“The first official way to learn the name of the Republican vice presidential candidate is by using our new ‘Mitt’s VP’ app,” said Romney digital director Zac Moffatt in a statement. “Users of the app will be the first to get the news on the biggest political decision of the year through an instantaneous alert on the one device most people carry around the clock — their phone.”

The app will push a notification to supporters’ phones instantly after the name is released from Romney headquarters, and allow users to share and comment on it across a variety of social networks. The application will be free on both the iPhone and Android operating systems, and can be downloaded here.

The approach is the evolution of a 2008 move by the Obama campaign that sent a text message to supporters announcing the selection of now-Vice President Joe Biden. That approach was widely heralded as a way for the Obama campaign team to collect phone numbers for supporters that could later be used for get-out-the-vote and fundraising efforts. The president’s campaign continues to send text messages to users’ phones today.

But depending on how the Romney app works, it could provide even more demographic information to the campaign. Upon installation, the application asks permission to access data about where a user is located, and urges supporters to log in using social networks like Twitter. That could allow the campaign large-scale data harvesting, an invaluable tool for campaign staff looking to tailor advertising and fundraising efforts.

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Gingrich to Romney: You’d better invite Sarah Palin to the Tampa Convention

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Former House Speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich slammed the Romney campaign Tuesday, saying former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney should extend a speaking invitation to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

“Governor Palin motivates and arouses an entire base,” Mr. Gingrich said in an interview with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. “[She] should absolutely have a speaking slot.”

Mr. Gingrich’s comment on the matter comes just days after reports emerged noting that Mr. Romney has yet to invite Ms. Palin to the Republican presidential convention hosted in Tampa, Florida. Mr. Gingrich, who has not been invited to speak at the convention, said that he would be honored to speak at the convention if asked, but the decision is up to Mr. Romney and his team.

Ms. Palin, who responded to reports that the Romney campaign has yet to offer her a speaking invitation, said the circumtances regarding the Romney decision was payback for her outspokenness and criticism of his policy stances.

“What can I say?” Palin told Newsweek when asked about the convention. “I’m sure I’m not the only one accepting consequences for calling out both sides of the aisle for spending too much money, putting us on the road to bankruptcy, and engaging in crony capitalism.”

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Romney’s VP pick narrowed to these pro-lifers

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Speculation about which vice-presidential candidate Republican hopeful Mitt Romney will select to run with him against pro-abortion President Barack Obama has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks.

A new report from Reuters claims three pro-life elected officials top the Romney list, despite the fact that campaign officials say no decision has been made and that political pundits are making cases for other possible selections. As Reuters reports:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appears to be in the final stages of deciding who to pick as his vice presidential running mate, with speculation growing that he has narrowed his choice down to a short-list of three.

Ohio Senator Rob Portman, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal all offer various strengths to Romney should he decide to pick one of them to join his battle to unseat President Barack Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden, in the November 6 election.

“No decision has been made. An announcement could happen any time between now and the convention, but it will only happen after a decision has been made and no decision has been made,” said Romney campaign senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom.

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Obama widens lead over Romney by six points in latest poll of registered voters

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President Barack Obama expanded his lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney to 6 percentage points in the White House race this month as voters became slightly more optimistic about the economy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.

Four months before the November 6 election, Obama leads Romney among registered voters 49 percent to 43 percent. In June, Obama held a slim 1-point lead over the former Massachusetts governor.

Obama’s improved standing was fueled in part by a slight rise in optimism about the future, with the number of Americans who think the country is on the wrong track dropping 5 percentage points to 58 percent.

Obama’s approval ratings ticked up 1 point to 48 percent and the number of Americans who disapprove of his job performance dropped 3 percentage points to 47 percent.

The shift follows a low point for Obama in June as economic worries deepened and Romney consolidated Republican support after clinching the party’s nomination to challenge him in November. Obama had led Romney by 7 points in May’s poll.

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Alaska Tea Party Goes after Leftist Senate Coalition

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As the big field of Republican challengers jostles to get noticed against incumbent state senators, a common target has been emerging for many of them: the bipartisan coalition that has governed the Alaska Senate.

“It’s partially why I’m running,” said Mike Dunleavy, a tea-party backed Republican from Wasilla challenging Sen. Linda Menard, a first-term Republican and a member of the coalition. “I don’t believe the coalition represents the constituents. I think it represents itself.”

“Senate District K deserves to have a senator who stands firm on their principles by refusing to join a coalition that gives the Democrats control,” Jeff Landfield said in May when he announced he was taking on veteran Anchorage Sen. Lesil McGuire in the Republican primary. She’s also a member of the coalition.

And at a recent candidate forum sponsored by the Anchorage Tea Party, two other Republican senate candidates, Liz Vazquez and Bob Roses, signified in a panel question that they wouldn’t join a bipartisan coalition “similar to the one structured in the Senate.” Both are running in districts represented by incumbent Democrats who are part of the coalition — Hollis French and Bill Wielechowski.

To help defeat the “bipartisan” leftist coalition, please visit the Conservative Patriots Group and donate to their efforts.

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GOP holds ‘super-Saturday’ blitz in battleground states

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Thousands of Republican volunteers braved scorching temperatures to knock on doors and canvass voters on Saturday as the party staged its first “Super Saturday” blitz hoping to energize supporters and rival Democrats’ volunteer mobilization.

Republican party officials said volunteers were out in a dozen battleground states expected to see close contests in the November 6 election between Democratic President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Obama captured all 12 – Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Iowa – when he won the White House in 2008, aided by armies of enthusiastic supporters who helped generate the highest voter turnout in 40 years.

Romney will need to swing a number of them back to the Republican column to defeat Obama this year. Drumming up voter enthusiasm could be a key, especially given polls showing Democrats are more enthusiastic about the 2012 contest than Republicans.

“There’s nothing to substitute for face-to-face, eye-to-eye contact,” former Virginia Governor George Allen told volunteers in Fairfax, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.

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