Thank you to everyone who came to the Steering Committee on Monday with Director of Opinion Research, David Simas. David gave an inspiring presentation and analysis of the Republican field and current polling trends.

This Week – President Obama gave a defining speech on the economy at Osawatomie High School in Kansas this week. If you have not already seen it, please click HERE  for the full video.

Our next Steering Committee Meeting will be on Friday, December 16^th at 8:30 a.m.  The meeting will be held at the Law Offices of Foley Hoag located at 155 Seaport Blvd, World Trade Center West, Room 16A, Boston, MA.

Please see below for a list of all upcoming regional events.

See you soon,

Kathy, Justin, Ryan and Rachel

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Strong Start
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Please use the links below to find out more about Strong Start and how to get involved:

One pager

Strong Start PowerPoint

Strong Start Talking Points

To contribute to building a Strong Start for the field operations in New Hampshire, please use this link http://my.barackobama.com/StrongStart-NESC
If you would like to have a personalized fundraising page set up please contact Justin Brennan at jbrennan@barackobama.com.

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NEW ENGLAND EVENTS CALENDAR
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Dinner with Debbie Wasserman Schultz -  December 13, 2011
Boston, MA
Tickets: $2,500
Contact Ryan Fleury at rfleury@barackobama.com for more information.

Reception and Diner with Governor Deval Patrick and President Barack Obama – December 14
Washington, DC
$17,900 per person – SOLD OUT
Contact Kathy Gasperine at kgasperine@barackobama.comfor more information.

Chefs for Obama – January 31, 2012
Boston, MA
Click here to purchase tickets
Contact Ryan Fleury at rfleury@barackobama.com for more information.

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THIS WEEKS POLITICAL ADS
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Priorities USA  – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YYP3pqrGcQ&feature=youtu.be

Newt Gingrich – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=brdrjLavTzU

Rick Perry – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA

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News Articles
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In race for campaign funds from billionaires, Romney outpaces Obama
Washington Post // T.W. Farnam
The Republican presidential primary contest isn’t over, but in the race to line up the richest donors, it’s Mitt Romney vs. President Obama. Romney has drawn the most support from billionaires, with at least 42 donating to his campaign. Obama is not far behind, with at least 30 billionaire supporters. Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman Jr. follow with 20 and 12, respectively, according to donor rolls and the current Forbes magazine list of 412 American billionaires. Very wealthy donors are likely to play a greater role in this election cycle in the wake of recent court decisions that have loosened rules for campaign contributions.

Fight for Senate Hinges on Six White House Battlegrounds
Roll Call // Stuart Rothenberg
With 11 months to go until the 2012 elections, the fight for control of the Senate already seems to boil down to a dozen states. If, as many believe, we have entered a new era of parliamentary-type voting, when ticket-splitting becomes increasingly rare and the top of the ticket defines downballot choices for most voters, six of those 12 contests start to take on a more partisan tinge. President Barack Obama is likely to carry Hawaii and Massachusetts comfortably, giving a leg up for his party’s Senate nominees in each state.

President Obama’s road to reelection runs through Pennsylvania
The Los Angeles Times //  Peter Nicholas
In his first run for president, Barack Obama won every state he was expected to win and carried a few more he didn’t need to get comfortably over the top. This time, amid a sluggish economic recovery and high unemployment, the race is shaping up to be much closer — so close that Obama’s showing in one state might foretell his chances across the electoral map. That would be Pennsylvania. Strategists say a loss in Pennsylvania would all but doom the president’s reelection hopes.

The Perception Dilemma
National Journal // Reid Wilson
President Obama is embarking on the campaign trail alongside his best friend and his worst enemy: good economic news. Positive reports like the administration received last week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics hint at an economy that is turning the corner. But the pace of that recovery is painfully slow, and perceptions of a course correction have been slow to take hold among the very voters Obama needs to win reelection. In the next 11 months, the White House will aim to convince voters that the administration’s policies are working.

Romney Attacks Obama For Being A Socialist Without Calling Him A Socialist
Talking Points Memo // Evan Santoro
Mitt Romney has promised not to call President Obama a socialist on the campaign trail. But in a speech in Washington Wednesday, Romney got about as close to suggesting the current president wants to bring pure socialism to America as one can without actually saying the word. “He seeks to replace our merit-based society with an entitlement society,” Romney told an audience at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s candidate forum.

GOP
Gay half-sister of Republican Gingrich backs Obama
Reuters // Alex Alper
The gay half-sister of Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich slammed his position on gay rights on Wednesday and said she will support President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the 2012 election. Candace Gingrich-Jones, a gay rights activist, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that she and her older half-brother, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, were “mutually respectful” but disagree on gay rights. “He is definitely on the wrong side of history when it comes to those issues,” Gingrich-Jones said.

Mitt Versus Newt Won’t Be Like Hillary Versus Barack
The Atlantic // Elspeth Reeve
The 2012 Republican primary probably won’t be much like the 2008 Democratic primary, but Mitt Romney’s campaign is organizing just in case the nomination fight against Newt Gingrich lasts all the way into the spring. The New York Times’ Trip Gabriel and Jeff Zeleny report that if neither Romney or Gingrich have decisive victories in the early voting states, “Gingrich could be faced with the ultimate challenge to his campaign: the need to survive a war of attrition of the sort for which he is unprepared at the moment.” Romney is organized in Alabama, Indiana, Delaware, and lots of other later-voting states, while Gingrich’s campaign didn’t file the paperwork in time to get on the Missouri caucus ballot.

The Gingrich Tragedy
The New York Times // David Brooks
Of all the major Republicans, the one who comes closest to my worldview is Newt Gingrich. Despite his erratically shifting views and odd phases, he continually returns to this core political refrain: He talks about using government in energetic but limited ways to increase growth, dynamism and social mobility. As he said in 2007, “It’s not a point of view libertarians would embrace, but I am more in the Alexander Hamilton-Teddy Roosevelt tradition of conservatism.”