With Obama Girl’s crush on the president fading since her provocative 2008 YouTube video, another scantily clad YouTube lover has stepped up to fill the candidate-crush void, this time mocking Mitt Romney as “fantastic.”

Obama Girl was infatuated, but Romney Girl is satirically infuriated by her candidate of choice. In a parody music video set to the tune of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl,” Romney Girl portrays a Swiss woman taking advantage of the perks that come with Romney’s wealth, like fur coats, hot tubs and shiny red convertibles, all while not-so-subtly criticizing the candidate for his $255 million net worth.

“I’m a Romney girl, in a Romney world. Life is taxless. It’s fantastic,” Romney Girl sings in the video, produced by progressive activist group the Agenda Project. “Silver-tip your hair, tax shelters everywhere, outsource nation, Bain is his creation.”

The three-minute video goes on to criticize Romney satirically for founding the investment firm Bain Capital, having offshore bank accounts and not releasing his tax returns. A condensed one-minute version of the music video is part of an Agenda Project ad buy running in New York, Washington, D.C., Denver, Wisconsin and Raleigh, N.C.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/%E2%80%98romney-girl%E2%80%99-mocks-life-in-his-world-as-taxless-fantastic/

London Olympics: Leo Manzano rallies for silver in men's 1,500

LONDON — The U.S. is becoming a middle-distance and distance force at the Olympic track and field competition.
Leo Manzano of Marble Falls, Texas, surged from sixth at the top of the stretch to finish second in the men’s 1,500 meters Tuesday night, the first American man to win a medal in that event since Jim Ryun in 1968.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/olympicsnow/la-sp-on-manzano-symmonds-solomon-20120807,0,2229194.story

One example tells the story, as in the case of runner Leo Manzano, son of an undocumented immigrant worker. Manzano was crazy about sports from the time he was a toddler, and at high school in Marble Falls, Texas, he won nine state championships.
This year his victory in a 1,500-meter race earned him a place on the team going to London.


Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/31/us-olympic-team-shows-diversity-immigrant-community/#ixzz22ugAKpdx

South’s One-Two Punch a Heavy Blow to Gingrich

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Hoping for one more rebirth, Newt Gingrich was bitterly disappointed on Tuesday, losing two primaries in the South, where he had staked his claim, and he will find it increasingly difficult to argue that he is the candidate Republicans are seeking in 2012.

With Rick Santorum triumphant in Alabama and Mississippi, Mr. Gingrich is likely to be further marginalized and face rising calls from conservatives to step aside and give Mr. Santorum an unimpeded shot at Mitt Romney.

<snip>

“He can either be a kingmaker or a spoiler,” he added. “If Gingrich were to withdraw, then I think the odds strongly favor Santorum to get the nomination, because the Republican Party is a conservative party.”

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/us/politics/alabama-and-mississippi-deal-blow-to-gingrich.html

Gingrich opens door to teaming up with Santorum?

(CNN) - As Newt Gingrich competes with Rick Santorum for the conservative vote in the Deep South this week, the former House speaker said Tuesday he wouldn't be surprised if the two forces eventually paired up.

"There's a certain advantage I think right now in having both of us tag-team Romney, because neither one of us by ourselves can raise the money to match Romney," Gingrich said on the "Rick and Bubba" radio show.

Gingrich made the comments hours before polls close in Alabama and Mississippi, two states in which the former House speaker is statistically tied with rival Mitt Romney, with Santorum following not far behind in third place.

On the radio show, Gingrich credited Romney's strong delegate advantage to major fundraising hauls.

"With Rick and me together, we are really slowing (Romney) down and with some help, frankly, from Ron Paul," he said. "I think the country is sort of saying, the majority are saying 'not Romney.' The biggest block is saying Romney, but it's not a big enough block to be the majority."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/13/gingrich-opens-door-to-santorum-gingrich-ticket/

Democratic pollster Geoff Garin conducted a focus group during last night’s State of the Union address with voters in Columbus, Ohio (a key swing state). The group was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans/Independents - and, according to a memo by Garin, the overall reaction to the speech was extremely positive.

A few highlights from the memo:

In a before-and-after test, the proportion of participants describing Obama as “a strong leader” rose from 39% to 71%.

Fully 78% said after the speech that Obama “looks out for the middle class,” up from 59% before the speech.

The share of participants who said Obama has good ideas for improving the economy rose from 39% before the speech to 79% after the speech.

More at link: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0125/State-of-the-Union-gets-high-marks-from-Ohio-voters-says-poll

But homeless families and troubled children were not the biggest beneficiaries of “Operation Good Neighbor.” Instead, the foundation spent most of its money to run itself, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees for fundraising, administration and office rental paid to Santorum’s political allies.

The charity also had significant overlap with the senator’s campaigns and his work on Capitol Hill. Among the leading donors to the foundation were Pennsylvania development and finance firms that had donated to his election efforts and had interests that Santorum had supported in the Senate.

Santorum, whose last-minute surge in the Iowa caucuses has brought new attention to his presidential bid, portrays himself as a common man concerned about the gap between the nation’s rich and poor. But in the case of his charity, his efforts ended up mostly helping his cadre of political friends.

Before it folded in 2007, the foundation raised $2.58 million, with 39 percent of that donated directly to groups helping the needy. By industry standards, such philanthropic groups should be donating nearly twice that, from 75 to 85 percent of their funds.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/santorum-charity-for-the-poor-spent-most-of-its-money-on-management-political-friends/2012/01/11/gIQAGDKVwP_story.html

Newt Gingrich has called on the super-PAC funding a series of ads critical of Mitt Romney's job-creation record at Bain Capital to fix inaccuracies in the ads or remove them from the air.



“I am calling for the Winning Our Future Super-PAC supporting me to either edit its 'King of Bain' advertisement and movie to remove its inaccuracies, or to pull it off the air and off the internet entirely," Gingrich said in a statement released Friday.



“Furthermore, I am once again calling on Governor Romney to issue a similar call for the Super-PAC supporting him to edit or remove its ads which have been shown to contain gross inaccuracies, something the Governor has thus far refused to do."

Gingrich hopes that the call will help him regain the high road in what has become a blistering battle in South Carolina — and preempt a set of looming attack ads from pro-Romney groups upset by the Speaker's criticism of the presumptive Republican front-runner.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/204057-gingrich-calls-on-his-super-pac-to-correct-inaccuracies-or-pull-anti-bain-ads