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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: calgal who wrote (23243)10/11/2007 10:16:46 AM
From: Peter Dierks  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 71588
 
If Gore had occupied the Whitehouse in 2001, he would not have been reelected in 2004. If a populist Republican were to be elected in 2004 against an incumbent Gore they would probably hold it in 2008. Hillary would have to decide to run for either President of the Moynahan seat in 2012.

Hillary intended to torpedo Gore.



To: calgal who wrote (23243)10/17/2007 8:36:24 PM
From: calgal  Respond to of 71588
 
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Rick Perry, Fiscally Dreamy Endorsement
Posted by: Mary Katharine Ham at 3:47 PM

Some are warning that Rudy shouldn't be touting his Perry endorsement too highly to socially conservative audiences, but maybe Perry's meant to woo someone else entirely. Perry announced his endorsement the morning of the Club for Growth conference-- fiscal cons-- not the Values Voter Summit-- social cons.

Why?

Check out Perry's grade on the challenging Cato 2006 report card for governors. Only Matt Blunt of Missouri beats him out, and famously fiscal Mark Sanford of South Carolina ranks just below him.

The details, below. There's a downside, but the generally unforgiving Cato folks give him very good marks:

Both Rick Perry of Texas and Mark Sanford of South Carolina have shown a solid commitment to keeping taxes and spending burdens low in their states over their entire terms...

Texas governor Rick Perry has kept spending under control better than most governors in this report card...

On fiscal issues, Rick Perry has been a better governor than George W. Bush. Having inherited the office when Bush became president in 2000, he was elected in his own right in a 2002 landslide on a pledge to oppose any new or increased taxes. He has been very disciplined on the spending side: The budget has stayed mainly flat in real per capita terms.

In 2004 Perry proposed a $6 billion property tax cut, with a large cigarette tax hike of $1 per pack to offset the revenue loss. Over the next two years, he also tacked on a brand-new gross receipts tax, which has the potential to discourage business growth in Texas—indeed, gross receipts taxes are widely reviled by economists as an economy-sapping levy.

It was an unnecessary move, too, since the state was rolling in a $4 billion budget surplus. The saving grace is that the tax plan that Perry finally signed into law will result in a net tax cut of nearly $1.5 billion in the first year alone—quite a substantial achievement. Still, some Texans have rightly been questioning why Perry insisted on tainting his plan with an unneeded tax shift—especially onto the backs of businesses and smokers—when it could have instead been a much larger net tax cut.
Very solid, especially in a big state.

townhall.com