Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R), who vetoed a bill last week that would have required presidential candidates to prove they were born in the U.S. to get on the state's ballot, implored members of her party Monday to move on.
In an interview with CNN's John King, Brewer called the issue a "huge distraction" and said that doubters have failed to offer any proof that President Obama was born outside the country.
"It's just something I believe is leading our country down a path of destruction, and it just is not serving any good purpose," Brewer said, calling it a distraction from the much more pressing issue of the economy.
"I think we really just need to move on," Brewer continued. "Everybody's had two years to prove, if they wanted to, that he was not born in Hawaii. They haven't come up with any of that kind of proof."
Real estate mogul Donald Trump, who is weighing a 2012 bid for president, has reignited the 'birther' sentiment in recent weeks, repeatedly questioning President Obama's birthplace and demanding he offer more complete proof.
A recent poll found 45 percent of Republican voters believe the president was born outside of the United States.
Brewer said the Arizona bill she vetoed last week was directed at Obama and that she thinks similar bills in states across the country are also directly squarely at the president.
Sponsors of so-called 'birther' bills in other state legislatures have denied Obama is a target of any proposed legislation.
Likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty on Monday sharpened his argument about why he has a better chance of defeating President Obama than other potential GOP candidates.
When asked by Fox News's Greta Van Susteren to make his case, the former Minnesota governor said he achieved some major accomplishments in a traditionally blue state. Declining to name names, Pawlenty suggested he is more compelling than others who prefer "giving a speech or offering a failed amendment in Congress."
"I was able to move the needle on spending, on taxes, on healthcare reform and many other things. So it's not only about giving a speech or offering a failed amendment in Congress," he said. "I actually got this stuff done in a very difficult environment."
Pawlenty is looking to boost his low name recognition and sagging position in the polls as the 2012 campaign season begins to heat up. His comments Monday were a bit edgier than his previous electability pitches.
He made his pitch on the same day that libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was to become the fifth potential GOP candidate to announce he is forming a presidential exploratory committee. Paul is known for proposing long-shot pieces of legislation, though his "audit the Fed" amendment gained traction in the last Congress — a modified version of it was included in the financial reform law.
Pawlenty's fellow Minnesotan, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R), a Tea Party favorite who has clashed with the House GOP leadership, has also expressed serious interest in running for president. And billionaire businessman Donald Trump, whom Pawlenty has publicly welcomed into the race, has rocketed to the top of several polls after flirting with a run for weeks.
The former governor has annoyed congressional Republican leaders before, opposing the 2011 budget deal, which Paul and Bachmann voted against.
Both Bachmann and Paul have made several visits to the key caucus state of Iowa, where Pawlenty is looking to make a strong showing to build a foundation for his expected presidential bid. Paul will make his exploratory committee announcement in Des Moines on Tuesday.
Asked by Van Susteren how he would rise above candidates such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), Bachmann and Paul in Iowa and other early primary states, Pawlenty said that he would hammer home his jobs message all across the country in order to boost his standing in the polls, where he is only averaging 3 to 4 percent support.
"These early polls don't mean much, as you know. They're mostly name ID polls — only about half the people who are Republicans in the country even know who I am. And if these early polls were an indicator of future success, our friend [former New York City mayor and failed 2008 GOP presidential candidate] Rudy Giuliani would be president today," he said. "Of course, as name ID increases, these will change and a lot will shake out."
President Obama's campaign manager stressed Monday that Democrats couldn't rely on their 2008 game plan to win a second term for Obama in 2012.
Jim Messina, Obama's former deputy chief of staff-turned-campaign manager, released a strategy video to supporters outlining the campaign's initial steps toward securing victory next fall.
And the key takeaway from Messina was that he intended to throw out the 2008 model and rethink Obama's strategy for 2012.
"The 2008 campaign was the most special thing a lot of us have ever been a part of," Messina said in a Web video. "But if we just run that same campaign, we stand a good chance of losing. We've got to run a new campaign."
Messina laid out five steps to winning in 2012, "Expand the electorate;" "Build something new;" "Grow the grassroots in the states;" "Measure our progress;" and "Work for every vote."
Under that rubric, Messina encouraged supporters to begin building voter outreach efforts, and he said the campaign would engage in a good degree of listening to its supporters as it shifts into higher gears.
But much of the video was intended to keep fire in the bellies of supporters of Obama, guarding against a sense of complacency that can overtake reelection campaigns.
"This is not 2008. We've got to assume every single day that we've got to build something new, better, faster and sleeker," Messina said. "Republicans are going to be fired up to take on President Obama, and so we all and all of you out there have to take the reins and help build this thing."
"We ought not act like an incumbent, we've got to act like an insurgent campaign that wakes up every single day, trying to get every single vote we can," Messina adds in the video.
Likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty is using rising gas prices to poke holes in President Obama's energy policy.
The former Minnesota governor, like other GOP hopefuls, said Monday that the Obama administration should ramp up domestic oil drilling to reduce prices at the pump, which are approaching $4 per gallon on average nationally.
"This is a president who has sat on his hands as it relates to drilling," he said on WLS Radio in Chicago. "You know, we've got a country that's got some enormous energy assets that are not being exploited or leveraged to the benefit of our country and to our people."
Meanwhile, the White House has announced it is taking action to help tamp down prices — Obama on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to probe whether speculation in oil markets is contributing to rising prices.
Press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that high profits by oil-and-gas companies expected to be announced this week will make the case for ending federal subsidies for the industry.
But Pawlenty accused Obama and Democrats of being "mostly beholden to what I would consider militant or unreasonable environmentalists," expressing doubt they would expand drilling.
"This is a country that needs to get much more serious about Americanizing our energy sources and doing everything we can to develop our own energy here and add more supply, and that would help," he said.
The Rev. Franklin Graham, a politically-influential evangelical leader, said Friday he is open to backing billionaire businessman Donald Trump for president should he run in 2012.
Graham, who along with his father the Rev. Billy Graham have advised multiple presidents, told ABC News that he likes what Trump has been saying while flirting with a presidential bid.
"Donald Trump, when I first saw that he was getting in, I thought, well, this has got to be a joke," he said. "But the more you listen to him, the more you say to yourself, you know, maybe this guy's right."
Asked if Trump might be his candidate of choice, Graham replied "Sure, yes."
The real estate mogul has garnered headlines not only for flirting with a presidential bid, but for repeatedly questioning President Obama's birthplace.
Critics of The Donald have also pointed to the facts that he has been divorced twice and expressed pro-abortion rights views before saying he is opposed to abortion rights as evidence social conservatives should not back him.
But Trump has sought to clear the air in a series of interviews, explaining how his views on abortions evolved and that his marriages ended because he was consumed by his work.
Others have suggested that Trump's populist missives against China have strong appeal amid a weak economy.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
