Happy 2012! Thank you to everyone who joined us at today’s Steering Committee Meeting. Please click here for the complete schedule of our future meetings. Also, thank you to everyone who attended our Iowa Caucus Watch Party at Del Frisco’s on Tuesday night. A big congratulation goes to Larry Drake who won first place in our Iowa Caucus Prediction contest!

Election year is underway and we hope you will help us hit the ground running. Please see below for a list of upcoming events and let us know how you would like to be involved.

Talking Points

Talking Points: Romney’s Jobs Claims Debunked

Organizing for America

OFA-MA will be organizing events across MA to support Barack Obama in the January 10^th, 2012 NH primary.

January 7^th and 8^th:  At 10am there will be cars heading from MA to NH to knock on doors.  We will be meeting in Boston in the Bed, Bath and Beyond parking at Fenway Station.
Sign up here for January 7^th: https://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/canvass/gpzw5b
Sign up here for January 8^th:  https://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpzw5b

January 10^th:  There will be events starting at 8am and 11:00am starting in MA and going to NH.  There will also be phonebanks throughout the day.  To meet at the Bed, Bath and Beyond parking in Fenway Station at 8:00am RSVP here:  https://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpzw5b

To look for other event locations, click here: https://my.barackobama.com/page/event/search_simple?source=primary-nav

See you soon,

Kathy, Justin, Ryan and Rachel

———————————
NEW ENGLAND EVENTS CALENDAR
———————————

Chefs for Obama – January 31, 2012
Time: 6:30 PM
Location:  The Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts
Tickets:
$1,000 host (raise/write) – includes pre-reception with Chefs
$500 per individual – includes chef’s cookbook
(Entry to event is automatically entered into a drawing to judge the competition)
$250 per individual – General Admission
RSVP: http://my.barackobama.com/chefsforobamacookingcompetition
For more information please e-mail Ryan Fleury at rfleury@barackobama.com

Save the Date: Roundtable with Vice President Joe Biden – February 13, 2012
Boston, MA
$10,000 per person
Contact Justin Brennan at jbrennan@barackobama.com for more information.

Newton for Obama Reception with Diane Patrick – February 23, 2012
Newton, MA
https://my.barackobama.com/february23newtonreception
Tickets: $1,000 (Host)/$500/$200/$44
Contact Ryan Fleury at Rfleury@barackobama.com to join the host committee.

———————————

———————————
News Articles
———————————
Re-election

Obama Campaign Teams in Early States Dwarf Republican Operations
Bloomberg // Kate Andersen Brower
The biggest presidential primary campaign team in New Hampshire is tucked on a Manchester side street inside a four-story brick building and it belongs to the best-financed candidate seeking nomination: President Barack Obama. The office is one of seven in the state and his re-election campaign has about 20 paid employees. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, the two front-runners in the Republican presidential primary after they emerged first and second in the Iowa caucuses, each have one office. Romney has nine paid staffers in the state and Santorum has eight.

Obama announces new, leaner military approach
The Washington Post // Craig Whitlock and Greg Jaffe
The U.S. military will steadily shrink the Army and Marine Corps, reduce forces in Europe and probably make further cuts to the nation’s nuclear arsenal, the Obama administration said Thursday in a preview of how it intends to reshape the armed forces after a decade of war. The downsizing of the Pentagon, prompted by the country’s dire fiscal problems, means that the military will depend more on coalitions with allies and avoid the large-scale counterinsurgency and nation-building operations that have marked the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Donors, Secrecy and That Loophole
The New York Times // Editorial
The Federal Election Commission ended another abysmal year with its three Republican commissioners blocking an attempt to unmask the secret donors flooding the 2012 hustings with unlimited special-interest money. The three Democratic commissioners favored closing an F.E.C. loophole from 2007 that requires disclosure only if a donor’s stated “purpose” is to electioneer — as if any would-be secret donor would admit that. It has been particularly exploited in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which allows corporations, unions and other heavy hitters to spend unlimited amounts.

Report says global climate deal hinges on Obama reelection
The Hill // Ben Geman
Prospects for striking a binding global climate deal by 2015 are probably toast if President Obama loses in November.  That’s among the conclusions in a wide-ranging new climate and green energy outlook from banking giant HSBC’s research branch.

Positive Signs for Jobs Market
The Wall Street Journal // Eric Morath and Luca Di Leo
Fewer people sought new unemployment benefits in the U.S. last week, further signaling that the labor market began to stabilize as 2011 drew to a close.  Separately, the private sector added a white-hot 325,000 jobs in December, according to Automatic Data Processing’s monthly hiring report.

Globe v. Herald

Caucuses give lift to Obama’s campaign
Boston Globe // Bobby Calvan
Democrats in Iowa delivered President Obama a resounding vote of confidence yesterday, gathering for caucuses that provided an opportunity for Democrats to test their ability to mobilize the party faithful. Overshadowed by caucuses being held by Republicans, Democrats assembled across the state in groups big and small, hoping to rally the troops for Obama as he sows support among Iowa’s 2.1 million voters, including 780,000 independents.

Voters make Obama the real loser in Iowa
Boston Herald // Joe Battenfeld
Mitt Romney’s strong showing in the heartland last night is not only a boost for his campaign, but bad news for the man he’s trying to replace: President Obama. Romney may not emerge from the Children of the Corn caucus as the winner, but Iowa was no field of dreams for Obama, either. Obama’s biggest nightmare was a clear victory for the former Massachusetts governor, who early results showed was in a tight, three-way battle with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

GOP

Romney goes to heck
Politico // Roger Simon
For Mitt Romney, it was the event from hell. Or from heck, since Mitt Romney does not use words like hell. Or any of the other bad words that any other candidate might have used after this event on the day following his narrow victory in the Iowa caucuses. Let’s start with the mic check, that part of an event when a staffer comes out, pings his finger against the microphone and says, “Testing. Testing. One, two, three.”

Romney and Santorum demonstrate hugely different bases of support
The Washington Post // Aaron Blake
Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum wound up in a virtual tie in the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday. And they did it from extremely different bases of support. While Santorum relied on very conservative voters, born-again Christians, and social and moral conservatives, Romney relied on voters who were most concerned about the economy, who just want to beat President Obama, and those who don’t identify as born-agains. And the difference, in almost every case, was stark.

Here’s What Romney’s Unreleased Tax Returns Almost Certainly Hide
Talking Points Memo // Brian Beutler
Mitt Romney still says he’s unlikely to publicly release his tax information, even if he clinches the Republican presidential nomination, and Democrats have a pretty good idea why. Romney is a privileged poster child for the “Buffett Rule” — President Obama’s principle that the tax code should make it impossible for a person of great wealth to pay a lower share of their income in taxes as than ordinary people. The DNC knows it, policy wonks know it, Romney certainly knows it. But the reasons why are technical and illustrate just how different Romney is from the vast majority of Americans who will cast votes for him — in either the GOP primary or the general election.

Mitt Romney is stumped on differences between Rick Santorum and him
Boston Globe // Shira Schoenberg
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, after winning the Iowa caucuses last night with just eight votes more than former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, showed today how unexpected an opponent Santorum is.  Asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” for two issues where Romney and Santorum differ, Romney couldn’t name one. “We really haven’t had much opportunity to get to know Rick Santorum on the issues,” Romney said. “Over the past several months, our efforts been focused on comparing and contrasting with Speaker [Newt] Gingrich, with Rick Perry, with Herman Cain. These are the guys who have led in the polls.”

Kamikaze Newt: Trying to Win, or Out for Revenge?
ABC News // Rick Klein
The much-awaited first Newt Gingrich attack ad on Mitt Romney is out, blasting Romney as “timid” when it comes to creating jobs.  But here’s the thing about that ad: It’s timid. It quotes a Wall Street Journal editorial, but uses none of the most damaging details and footage from Romney’s past, parts of Romney’s past he himself has, remarkably, managed not to have to face directly from his rivals this election cycle.