On Wednesday, White House officials summoned dozens of leaders of nonprofit organizations that strongly back the health law to help them coordinate plans for a prayer vigil, press conferences and other events outside the court when justices hear arguments for three days beginning March 26. ...NYT
Which may or may not match similar efforts on the part of the law's opponents on the right. Or which may not counter "significant opposition among Republicans and independent voters in battleground states..."
Nonetheless, the administration has an impressive group of allies supporting the bill and the effort to defend it. They're up against the Kochs.
On its Web site, the Obama re-election campaign describes Americans for Prosperity as a “special-interest front group run by the oil billionaire Koch brothers.” In a recent fund-raising appeal, Jim Messina, the campaign manager, said that the oilmen, Charles and David Koch, were “obsessed with making Barack Obama a one-term president.”...NYT
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CNN reports this morning on the quiet, effective campaigning that Obama is doing even as the Republican primaries dance on, revealing doubts and splits within the Republican party.
As the GOP primary race goes into its third official month, the biggest winner appears to be the president.
Referring to rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, a Romney campaign staffer said, "The only person's odds of winning are increasing are President Barack Obama's," arguing it was time for Gingrich and Santorum to depart the race.
Several leading Republicans have publicly echoed that sentiment in recent days, confronted with poll numbers showing the president's job approval rating above 50% for the first time in months -- a far cry from last fall when he was mired in the low 40s.
The ongoing Republican infighting has dragged down Romney's favorability rating among swing voters, forced him to awkwardly pivot right from stances that otherwise would have resonated with a broader electorate in the fall and led to a series of gaffes that could have been avoided had the former Massachusetts governor sewed up the nomination weeks ago.
All the while, Obama's own campaign machinations have largely skated under the radar, allowing him to appear to be the adult in the room as the Republican candidates fight over contraception, illegal immigration, the minimum wage and each others' pasts. ...CNN
The numbers reveal the shift.
In the process, Obama's favorability among key voting blocs such as women and Latinos has jumped significantly. And most important, recent surveys suggest the president has rebounded among independent voters, a swath of the electorate that catapulted him to victory four years ago but had abandoned him during his presidency. ...CNN
