(MSNBC) As libertarian Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul looks for a state he can win, some of his supporters have turned to a new theme: voting fraud.

A Super PAC supporting Paul has pledged to monitor the vote in all the remaining states, using an army of exit pollsters to fight what it calls results that are “outrageous, unacceptable and patently un-American.” The group, called Revolution PAC, has spent half a million dollars supporting Paul with videos, webcasts, online ads, direct mail, billboards and radio ads in primary and caucus states.

The leader of the group, its founder, chairman and treasurer, is Gary Franchi, a promoter of conspiracy theories and sophisticated social-media entrepreneur in the resurgent movement known as the Patriots.

Some of what MSNBC writes about is

Franchi has supported the 9/11 Truth Movement, which supports the idea that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, werean inside job to create a pretext for a reduction in American liberty, or at least involved a cover-up, with the World Trade Center brought down by a planned U.S. demolition, instead of terrorist-controlled airplanes. Franchi founded the Lone Lantern Society (a reference to Paul Revere indicating that foreign enemies are on American soil). The group supports “the birth of freedom and the death of the New World Order,” a secretive elite that is supposedly trying to set up a world government. Lone Lantern has held street demonstrations on the 11th of every month in Chicago and elsewhere, demanding an investigation of 9/11. In New Hampshire in 2008, a video shows Franchi asking Tom Ridge, the former secretary of Homeland Security, who was campaigning for Sen. John McCain, whether Ridge would support an investigation of the “controlled demolition” of the World Trade Center. Ridge was having none of it, saying, “I just don’t buy into that. That’s a conspiracy theory that has no basis in fact. It’s almost out of the Twilight Zone.”

Obviously, Revolution PAC is an outside group which can support who they want. But, Paul could finally come out and say “I do not support the 9/11 Truth movement, they’re out of their minds. He won’t. He seems to enjoy hanging with Truthers/conspiracy nuts like Alex Jones, and going on their radio programs.

Like Ron Paul, Franchi has a few good ideas, then turns them up to Ludicrous Speed, perhaps even going plaid. Ron Paul has won none of the beauty contests, er, primaries/caucuses, and will, mostly likely, win none in the future. He has a great core group, but no broader appeal, especially when people find out about his background.

(IBD) The American public’s dependence on the federal government shot up 23% in just two years under President Obama, with 67 million now relying on some federal program, according to a newly released study by the Heritage Foundation.

The conservative think tank’s annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks money spent on housing, health, welfare, education subsidies and other federal programs that were “traditionally provided to needy people by local organizations and families.”

The two-year increase under Obama is the biggest two-year jump since Jimmy Carter was president, the data show.

The rise was driven mainly by increases in housing subsidies, an expansion in Medicaid and changes to the welfare system, along with a sharp rise in food stamps, the study found.

“You can’t get around the fact that policy decisions made over the past two years, on top of those made over the past several decades, are having a large effect on the pace of growth of the index,” said William Beach, who authored the Heritage study.

Lest one think I am solely blaming Obama and Democrats, this is a problem with all parties. While dependency was slow in rising during the Reagan years, it was also slow during the second half of the Clinton years. And rose during Bush 43. And Nixon. The elected political aristocracy in both parties continue to pass legislation that makes people more dependent on government, especially the federal government. All to get re-elected. This is one of the reasons we need congressional term limits. That way, legislators have to go home and live under the laws they created. And dependency breeds a loss of personal freedom.

Of course, Democrats want Americans dependent on the Central Government, because they want control over people. Hence, a Dem President and Congress increasing dependency 23%. 1 in 5 Americans are now dependent on government (not including government employees). Dependency jumped 13.84% in 2009. The highest jumps have mostly come under Democrat presidents. Heritage concludes

Perhaps the greatest danger is that the swelling ranks of Americans who enjoy government services and benefits for which they pay few or no taxes will lead to a spreading sense of entitlement that is simply incompatible with self-government. Are Americans completely indifferent to history’s many examples of republican government collapsing under the weight of just such populations? Are Americans near a tipping point in the nature of their government and the principles that tie it to civil life?

49.5% of Americans pay no federal income tax. And, yes, we can, in fact, Blame Bush for part of that. We can also Blame Obama.

(Washington Post) Rick Santorum had a breakthrough night Tuesday, winning GOP presidential contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado, all of which is expected to breathe life into his struggling campaign and slow Mitt Romney’s march to the Republican presidential nomination.

The Santorum triumphs promise to, at least temporarily, alter the face of the campaign going into the crucial “Super Tuesday” contests, as the caustic tone of the primaries is expected to continue and intensify. Romney and his allies have signaled that they will use their financial advantage to launch stepped-up attacks on Santorum and on former House speaker Newt Gingrich, the other main challenger.

Santorum solidly defeated Romney in Minnesota and Missouri, and he narrowly edged the former Massachusetts governor in Colorado, according to state GOP officials.

The breakdowns

• Colorado: Santorum 40.2%, Mitt 34.9%, Gingrich 12.8%, Paul 11.8%
• Minnesota: S 44.8%, P 27.2%, R 16.9%, G 10.7%
• Missouri: S 55.2, R 25.3%, P 12.2%

In Missouri, Gingrich wasn’t on the ballot, and, interestingly, received no write in votes. Even K. Drummond received 162 write ins. That creates an interesting situation: Without Newt, Santorum apparently jumps high in support, and if Newt can’t even get some write in votes, how deep is his campaign enthusiasm?

Maggie Haberman offers up 7 takeaways from last nights beauty contest, most focusing on Romney. She also notices that Gingrich is pretty much out of money, and has only the South Carolina primary to Santorum’s 4 wins. She mentions that Ron Paul is “in it for the delegates.” Apparently, Ron Paul no longer wants to be president, just mess the whole nomination process up, helping the GOP lose in 2012.

One thing that surely helped Rick was coming out strong against ObamaCare forcing Catholics, and other religious groups, to offer insurance that includes free contraceptives, sterilizations, and morning after pills.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

• Romney – 47.6%
• Gingrich – 22.7%
• Santorum – 11.1%
• Paul – 18.6%

And

(Politico) Network entrance polling showed Romney accomplished a powerful near sweep of most voter groups, winning 57 percent of white voters, 57 percent of women and 53 percent of men. Romney was the strong favorite in every age bracket except voters under 30, among whom Ron Paul drew 41 percent to Romney’s 39 percent, according to CNN.

Team Mitt emailed out some bulletin points on the win, highlighting that it wasn’t just about getting the Mormon vote. One of those points is

Mitt Romney won a majority of “very conservative” voters (51%). He defeated Newt Gingrich (40-31%) among strong Tea Party voters. He won 48% of the vote among evangelicals (48 – 27%) over Newt Gingrich.

Is Mitt a conservative? No. He’s a typical Republican who holds some conservative values. This win did not make Gingrich happy, and brought out Sore Loser Syndrome

Newt Gingrich, speaking to reporters at a Las Vegas press conference as tonight’s results came in, vowed to continue his campaign into the summer and blasted Romney as a “pro-gun control, pro-abortion, … George Soros-approved” candidate.

Someone needs to remind Newt, as well as Paul, Santorum, and Romney, that the ultimate goal is to put a Republican in the White House, displacing The Guy Who Makes People Think Better Of Jimmy Carter.

Finally, Maggie Haberman has 5 takeaways

1) Mitt Romney has medium ‘mo’ – It’ll become “big mo” if Romney strings together three wins in a row. But for now, in a Mormon-heavy state where he’d been organizing for almost five years, it’s just medium-level momentum.

2) Romney is banking on pessimism – There’s a very fine line for a candidate between speaking candidly and sounding like they’re rooting for the nation to hit harder times. (hey, that’s what the Democrats did from 2002 on. Hope and Change was based on telling Americans how bad things sucked)

3) Gingrich keeps going – And yet he hasn’t settled on a message. The lead-up to the former House Speaker taking the stage Saturday night was studded by news reports about a fresh, “positive” message that Gingrich will be adopting. It would be at least the third or fourth time that Gingrich has gone positive since he saw his lead evaporate in Iowa. (and that didn’t last long)

4) Ron Paul’s operation fell short – The only candidate with an actual operation in Nevada, aside from Romney, was Ron Paul. But Paul, with 43 percent of the vote in, was in third place, at 18 percent of the vote. (aww, bummer /sarc off)

5) Conservatives need to seize the moment or live with Romney – Romney’s campaign highlighted to reporters his numbers with conservatives, but he won a plurality victory with “very conservative” voters, and the same was true with tea party voters. All of this was in a state where his Mormon faith bolstered him — in other states, conservatives and tea party voters have yet to coalesce strongly around a single candidate. (the fact is, there is no real conservative in the race. Santorum comes closest, but he tends to be more of a social conservative than a fiscal conservative. Newt holds some conservative positions, but also many progressive positions. Ron Paul, well, he’s just Ron Paul)

And now we’re on to the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses, along with the Missouri primary, which doesn’t actually count, on the 7th, followed by Maine on the 11th. Then a big break till the 28th, when we head to Arizona and Michigan.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

(Rasmussen) The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 26% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14 (see trends).

In a potential Election 2012 matchup, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is at 45% while President Obama earns 44%. This is the first time in any poll that Santorum has led the president.

I guess people just like the sweater vest. Or it could be that he attempts to stay out of the nastiness that has plagued the GOP primary since Rick Perry jumped in. And then there’s this

We might be able to infer that quite a few “undecideds” are independents. And, a lot can happen between now and November. But, things are not looking good for Emperor Palpatine, er, Obama. Make sure to read Ed’s breakdown at Hot Air.

(The Politico) Ron Paul dropped his standard stump speech on Wednesday and aggressively courted Latino voters.

At a senior center in East Las Vegas, the Texas congressman told about 100 Hispanics that they have been unfairly made “scapegoats” for the country’s economic troubles. He said it’s “part of human nature” for newcomers to be shunned, but that prejudice toward outsiders worsens when unemployment is high. He said that illegal immigrants were being scapegoated in a manner similar to Jews in Nazi Germany because of tough economic times.

“When things go badly, individuals look for scapegoats,” he said.

“I just do not believe that barbed-wire fences or guns on our border will solve any of our problems,” he added.

I actually heard that last part on the radio during a newsbreak yesterday. And lest you think this is the Politico making things up with the Nazi reference, the same is reported in many outlets, including here and here. He also whines about requiring immigrants to carry any ID. I guess in Ron Paul’s world, I have no need to carry my drivers license, and can refuse to show ID for anything. Also, in the link in the second “here”, we learn

He also said the nation “overreacted” to the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as far as immigration goes, and that there is too much red tape for immigrants and others to contend with. He does not favor issuing national identification cards, either, he said.

Yes, there is too much red tape for legal immigration, but, this highlights yet another case where Ron is saying the US overreacted to 9/11. This all adds up to more reasons why Ron should simply go away, and there is no way he could ever be POTUS. Conservatives might hold their noses and vote for Romney, Newt, or Santorum (less so with Santorum), but they will simply avoid voting for Paul. He’s as dangerous for America as Obama is.

(Fox News) Romney received 46 percent of the Florida vote. Gingrich had 32 percent, followed by Rick Santorum with 13 percent and Ron Paul with 7 percent.

Romney won all 50 of Florida’s convention delegates.

The Politico’s Maggie Haberman, who has done a pretty good job in covering the GOP primaries, even for a liberal, I have to admit, provides 5 takeaways

1. Mitt Romney is once again running two campaigns – Romney’s election night speech, in which he mentioned Newt Gingrich only to congratulate him, left no doubt that Team Mitt is now heading into general election mode after a commanding victory in Florida.

The focus was almost entirely on President Barack Obama, whom Romney excoriated repeatedly.

2. February is uncharted territory – Newt Gingrich is not giving up. Neither is Rick Santorum. And Ron Paul is continuing with his delegate slog. (Gingrich will need a few big wins in Southern states, or at least strong showings)

3. Conservatives are still resisting Romney – No matter how heavily he won certain portions of Florida, the restored front-runner is still unable to lock down certain swaths of the GOP electorate.

4. Hispanic voters gave Romney a boost – Despite Gingrich’s potential appeal among Florida’s Hispanic immigrants, it was Romney who won more than half of the crucial voting bloc’s support.

5. There is no ‘new normal’ for campaigns – Gingrich has focused on running a nontraditional campaign, as he has put it, but certain time-honored rules still apply.

Which rules? Negative campaigning works. Ground games are important. And so is money.

And what of Santorum and RON PAUL!!!!11!!? Santorum is going to keep going, as well he should. There is still time for him to catch fire. As for Ron Paul, 7% is a pretty poor showing, considering he said he does great with seasoned citizens and all the military folks in Florida.

Takeaway #6 is that all four candidates, but, especially Newt and Mitt, need to dial back the negative ads and talk. They need to stop it, and ask the groups that support them to stop it. 92% of the ads were negative. The idea here, as all of them will tell you, is to defeat Obama and turn this country around. Repeal ObamaCare. Fix the economy. Get people working again. And create the atmosphere where people once again have disposable income. We’re almost 5 years out from the start of the recession. We’re well over 2 years out from the official end of the recession. Yet, there is complete stagnation in the economy. All the negativity may get one of these gents over the primary finish line, but will only help Obama come the general election.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

(The Hill) The White House and Democrats have seized on legislation barring lawmakers from making insider stock trades as a political weapon to use against House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and his GOP colleagues.

The Senate voted 93-2 on Monday evening to advance the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which prohibits lawmakers from using non-public information for financial advantage.

The overwhelming vote came after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) charged behind-the-scenes GOP opposition was holding up the debate. A senior GOP aide denied the allegation.

This raises the issue that it was done for purely partisan political purposes, not for any notion that it is wrong and distasteful for elected officials and government workers to engage in stock trades based on non-public information.

Because the House has yet to schedule a vote on a similar bill, Democrats in the Senate hope their quick action will suggest Republicans are resistant to the popular bill, which gained national attention after a November report on “60 Minutes.”

The Dems are crowing that the STOCK act was removed from markup last fall, but, um, wait a second

The STOCK Act was originally introduced in the 109th session of the House of Representatives on Mar. 28, 2006 by Brian Baird (D-WA) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) where it died in committee. It was reintroduced in the 110th (May 16, 2007) and 111th (Jan. 26, 2009) House sessions where it also died in committee.

On Mar. 17, 2011, Tim Walz (D-MN) introduced the STOCK Act into the 112th House session where it gained one co-sponsor and was referred to various committees. Eight more co-sponsors joined by Nov. 4, 2011.

So, it died multiple times while Democrats controlled the House? And couldn’t get more than a few co-sponsors in 2011? And Dingy Harry never bothered with it previously, despite the legislation being out there? And that this looks more like a political stunt? Though, this stunt does have real teeth. S.2038 does say, in Sec. 605

A Member of Congress or an employee of Congress who violates the prohibition under section 602 shall be subject to appropriate punitive, disciplinary, and other remedial action in accordance with any applicable laws, resolutions, rules, or regulations.

At least until the Senate quietly passes legislation that invalidates that section, or the whole bill. Of course, in order for most criminal penalties to be assessed, a member of Congress has to be kicked out, and we’ve seen how well that has worked with tax cheats like Charlie Rangle.

That said, the GOP needs to get off their butts in the House and pass this. They also need to proactively pass legislation extending the payroll tax break for at least one year. Perhaps pushing a 2 year extension, put Democrats on the defensive.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

(PPP) PPP’s tracking of the Florida Republican primary wraps up with Mitt Romney at 39%, Newt Gingrich at 31%, Rick Santorum at 15%, and Ron Paul at 11%. Our three days of tracking found very little movement in the race: Romney was at 39-40% every day, Gingrich was at 31-32% every day, Santorum was at 14-15% every day, and Paul was at 9-11% every day.

(Washington Post) A new Quinnipiac University poll released Monday on the final full day of campaigning in Florida shows Romney with a 14-point lead over Gingrich, 43 percent to 29 percent, among likely GOP primary voters. That compares to a lead of 38 percent to 29 percent at the end of last week, Quinnipiac said.

Florida is a winner take all state for the primary delegates, and The Politico has 5 things to watch

1) Mitt’s margin – Gingrich needs a close race more than Romney needs a blowout victory. (especially with no debates till Feb 22)

2) Newt and women – Gingrich did well in S.C. with women, despite, as the say, the affairs and divorces. Can he do the same in Florida?

3) Hispanic Republicans – Mitt was blown out in Florida in 2008 by McCain with Hispanic voters. What happens this go-around?

4) The Panhandle and Northeast Florida – In the Panhandle and in Florida’s rural north, GOP voters are demographically similar to the South Carolinians who propelled Gingrich to victory.

5) Rick Santorum’s performance – The former Pennsylvania senator didn’t do any campaigning in the state over the weekend and then spent Monday in Missouri and Minnesota. He’s largely written off Florida, despite winning rave reviews for his debate performances last week and continuing to win some local endorsements.

That’s weird, they don’t even mention Ron Paul. Perhaps the Jewish Florida retirees don’t care for his anti-Semitism and potential abandonment of Israel while he would ignore Iran moving forward to becoming a nuclear weapons nation. Maybe people in Florida aren’t into racist writings and conspiracy theories.

Back to the PPP article

The hubbub over Romney’s tax returns early last week may have enhanced his chances in the state. The truth is that being wealthy and successful is not a liability with Republican voters- it’s a selling point. We find that 66% of primary voters have a favorable opinion of ‘rich people’ to only 8% with a negative opinion of them. All the awareness of how rich Romney is may have sent Florida Republicans a message that Romney is someone who knows what he’s doing.

and

Gingrich erred with his proposal last week for a ‘moon colony.’ Only 21% of voters support his idea while 53% are opposed and more importantly it made Gingrich look like a flake. At the beginning of last week Gingrich and Romney were seen as equally electable against Barack Obama. Now 49% see Romney as the party’s strongest candidate in the fall to 25% for Gingrich.

Gingrich has stated multiple times that he is in it for the long haul. He’s also stated multiple times that Santorum should drop out.

Truth is, both Newt and Mitt need to put the negativity aside, stop beating on each other, and push their own positives, for the most part. Stop getting into pissing matches, especially during the debates with Liberal moderators from liberal TV stations, who push them to virtual blows on purpose. Santorum should stay in, if he wants. What’s your guess regarding Florida?

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

(Washington Times) Fighting to curry favor with Florida’s large pool of Hispanic voters, Newt Gingrich on Wednesday called for a guest-worker program for most illegal immigrants, but his campaign could not say whether those people would be on a path to citizenship – the key question in the immigration debate.

Under close questioning by Univision’s political host, Jorge Ramos, Mr. Gingrich said he would grant quick citizenship rights to illegal immigrants who join the military or to those who have been in the U.S. between 20 and 25 years. He said the rest of the estimated 11 million should be given access to a guest-worker program.

“With most of them? I would urge them to get a guest-worker permit,” he said, calling for a substantial rewrite of immigration laws that would cancel existing penalties and instead let illegal immigrants stay.

But his campaign said it was unclear whether at the end of that guest-worker period the immigrants would be allowed to stay and gain citizenship, essentially jumping the legal immigration line, or whether they would be required to return home.

On one hand, Gingrich is correct in that he previously said that it is unrealistic to deport every illegal, nor stop them fully from coming, and, yes, we could show some compassion to those who came to this country and attempted to be a part of America and do things like joining the military. It’s not like people didn’t just come to America in the past, without any sort of immigration programs and such. If someone is putting their life on the line to join the military to protect America, perhaps some accommodations could be made.

On the other hand, why pander to Hispanics who can’t vote because they are here illegally? Why pander to Hispanics who are here legally, but still can’t vote because they aren’t citizens? And a good chunk of Hispanics who are legal citizens tend to get a little ticked off when politicians want to give illegals who did it wrong a pathway to citizenship when they themselves followed the onerous and burdensome rules.

Do we want guest workers? Yes, we do. But it is a bad idea to suddenly give people who came to this country illegally guest worker visas after doing the illegal thing with no penalties. Let them leave the country and apply for a worker program that should be expanded. What Gingrich is doing is telling people who are thinking of coming to America illegally to just come on in, no problem, we’ll take care of you. He might want to rethink this line of thought.