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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

It’s Mitt Romney’s race to lose ... again

???initialComments:true! pubdate:01/27/2012 13:42 EST! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:2/10/12 1:42 EST! currentDate:1/27/12 1:0 EST! allowComments:true! displayComments:true!Posted by Aaron Blake at 01:42 PM ET, 01/27/2012

A lot can happen in four days, but as of today, the Florida primary and the GOP presidential race are again Mitt Romney’s to lose.

After a brief diversion in the South Carolina primary, Romney is once again the clear favorite in Florida, having taken a 9-point lead in the latest Florida poll. And if he wins there, it’s hard to see where he might slip up again.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has taken a lead in the Florida primary. And if he wins, it may be the end for his opponents. (AP Photo)

Nevada’s caucuses are the next contest, held Feb. 4, and Romney won that state by nearly 40 points in 2008. He’s also already up with an ad in the Silver State – further reinforcing that his campaign is just head-and-shoulders above its competitors, both financially and organizationally.

Assuming Romney wins Florida and follows it up by coasting in Nevada, all that’s left before Super Tuesday are a few lower-profile caucuses in early February and the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Feb. 28.

Arizona, like Nevada, has a fair-sized Mormon population and should be a good state for Romney; he lost it by just 12 points in 2008 to home-state senator John McCain and held McCain under 50 percent — a strong showing for Romney given the circumstances. And, of course, Romney has strong ties to Michigan, given that his father was governor of the state.

Early polling has shown Romney leading in both Arizona and Michigan.

In other words, there are scant few opportunities for anyone to gain momentum between Florida and Super Tuesday on March 6, and lots of time for whoever might still be in the race to have to keep the pirate ship afloat.

What’s more, a candidate needs lots of money to really compete on Super Tuesday, and while Arizona and Michigan will be big contests and could provide a bump, there’s only a week between them and Super Tuesday — not exactly a lot of time to raise money.

Given the financial problems experienced by Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, keeping a campaign alive in the five weeks between Tuesday and Super Tuesday is a daunting task without another victory or game-changing event.

Gingrich, of course, has Sheldon Adelson bankrolling his super PAC to the tune of $10 million, but how much will Adelson be willing to chip in if it’s looking like a lost cause? He’s a billionaire, but even billionaires hate to throw good money after bad.

To the line…

4. Ron Paul: The Texas congressman is relegated to this position mostly because he hasn’t put forth any real effort in Florida. Instead, he’s using a more thrifty, delegate-focused strategy keying on the caucus states early next month. A super PAC supporting his campaign has run some ads here, but mostly Paul is skipping the state. Also, given that it’s a closed primary (i.e. independents can’t vote), Paul’s share of the vote will suffer.

3. Rick Santorum: Santorum passed Paul at Thursday’s debate, turning in one of his strongest performances of the presidential race and making his case for becoming the anti-Romney candidate in the field. If Gingrich falls further, Santorum is really the only alternative for conservative voters, who will either have to move to him or embrace Romney. Still, Santorum hasn’t shown much in the way of momentum, even following his after-the-fact win in Iowa. And Florida isn’t yet looking like it will give him much of a bump.

2. Newt Gingrich: The rollercoaster ride that is the Newt Gingrich presidential campaign appears to be on the downslope right now. Gingrich essentially won in South Carolina thanks to his debate performances, but the Gingrich we saw at the two debates in Florida this week was virtually unrecognizable. And today’s Quinnipiac University poll of the state’s primary confirms what we had suspected; he hasn’t been able to sustain the bump he got from South Carolina.

1. Mitt Romney: The frontrunner is the frontrunner again. Romney had some of his best moments of the presidential race early in Thursday’s debate, and even before that, he had reclaimed the lead in Florida. The question now is whether there is anything left to trip him up. He has withstood the Bain Capital situation, gotten past the mistake of not releasing his tax returns, and the attacks on his health care bill and moderate past are old hat at this point. The question is what else is there? If nothing recasts this race in a significant way over the next four days – and there are no more debates until late February – Romney should win.

Jerry Markon; Alice Crites

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Glenn Kessler

Al Kamen

Carol D. Leonnig

David Nakamura

Ed O'keefe

Dan Balz; Amy Gardner

Glenn Kessler

Scott Clement

Amy Gardner; Rosalind S. Helderman

Ed O'keefe

Krissah Thompson

Dan Eggen

Glenn Kessler

View the original article here

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Andray Blatche gets booed again in Wizards’ loss to Nuggets

Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche heard boos for a second straight game from the Verizon Center crowd, and looking at the final box score from the 108-104 loss to Denver, it appeared fans’ displeasure was warranted.

Blatche missed all seven of his field goal attempts and committed five personal fouls and three turnovers in 26 minutes. If it weren’t for a pair of free throws in the first half, he would have gone scoreless for the game.

Still, Wizards Coach Flip Saunders pointed out in his postgame news conference that Blatche’s plus-minus rating was a plus-4. Then he proceeded to defend the most polarizing player on the roster.

“Even though he didn’t score, the team performed better when he was on the court tonight,” Saunders said. “He’s struggling right now, but he is a part of who we are, and the guys are building him up to come back, and I’m sure we’ll see that on Sunday” against Boston.

Blatche bid a hasty retreat from the locker room following the game, but teammates such as John Wall echoed their coach’s comments even after disgruntled fans continued their verbal assault throughout the game.

One fan screamed, “Oh no, don’t give it to him,” when Blatche touched the ball. Another yelled comparisons to Kwame Brown, the Wizards’ failed No. 1 overall pick that still haunts many of the club’s faithful.

“It’s tough, man. It’s tough playing through that situation,” Wall said of Blatche getting booed. “We as teammates, we’re going to keep telling him to take those shots.”

Blatche didn’t seem to be as flustered with the jeers on Wednesday night, when he scored 12 points and had 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals in a 105-102 win against Oklahoma City.

Afer that game, Blatche admitted he heard the taunts but played through the widespread disapproval.

“Booing is not going to help somebody play better. I know that,” Saunders said. “It’s showing displeasure, but I don’t think all of sudden if you’re booing, he’s going to go out and get 20 points and 15 rebounds because we’re booing. If that was the case, everyone would do it.”

More on the Wizards and the NBA:

Wizards can't sustain hot first half in loss

Box score: Nuggets 108, Wizards 104

Gallery: NBA power rankings

D.C. Sports Bog: Michael Wilbon rips the Wizards

Latest updates on Wizards Insider

View the original article here

Sunday, February 5, 2012

NFL playoffs 2012: For 49ers Vernon Davis, it’s about the team again

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An ex-Redskin finds a new life with 49ers

Giants’ passing game in Cruz control

Capitals endure another shutout

Wizards can’t keep up frenetic pace

NFL playoffs 2012: For 49ers Vernon Davis, it’s about the team again

Beck Diefenbach/Reuters - Vernon Davis catches the game-winning touchdown, evoking shades of Terrell Owens circa 1998, as the 49ers shock the Saints in last Sunday’s divisional playoff game at Candlestick Park.

Text SizePrintE-mailReprints By Barry Svrluga,

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – What the moment meant was apparent on Vernon Davis’s face, because when he caught that pass last Saturday – a franchise-changing, career-altering, season-sustaining play – the tears came and came quickly, running down his face for all to see. He rushed into the arms of his coach, Jim Harbaugh, as if – at 27, with the musculature of a fine sculpture — Davis needed a nurturing hug, a shoulder to cry on. He found Harbaugh’s shoulder, buried his head, and wept some more.

“It’s something I’ve been dreaming about my whole life,” he said days later, and that’s true. But it was not all.

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Davis is not one of those athletes who has been through what amount to trials and tribulations for millionaires – benched, sent to the locker room, the subject of a coach’s tirade – and says, “I was misunderstood.” Rather, his self-assessment is this: I was who I appeared to be — petulant and self-centered and everything you thought.

“When I first got here, it was all about what Vernon wanted,” Davis said here Thursday, three days before his San Francisco 49ers were set to host the New York Giants for the right to go to Super Bowl XLVI, an opportunity Davis provided with his game-winning touchdown catch against New Orleans last weekend. “It was all about me, what I wanted, achieving my goals instead of worrying about what the team wanted. And today, as we sit here, to me it’s all about the team. It’s all about the team.”

So he cried for the 49ers, who return to the NFC title game for the first time since 1998 in no small part because Davis caught seven balls for 180 yards and two scores in that wild 36-32 NFC divisional playoff win over the Saints. He cried for Harbaugh, the first-year coach who helped get them there. He cried for his grandmother, Adaline, who raised him and his six siblings in a small house off Georgia Ave. NW in the District, one woman doing the work of many.

But he cried, too, for Mike Singletary, because the YouTube moment that has defined Davis’s career to this point actually was the one that turned it around. The public humiliation of that scene – when Singletary, then in his first game as San Francisco’s head coach, yanked Davis from the game after a penalty, sent him to the locker room, and publicly upbraided him afterward – went into those tears last week.

“He helped me,” Davis said. “It made me open my eyes. When it happened, I was like, ‘Maybe it’s not all about me. Maybe it’s not about what I want.’”

What Davis wanted, growing up in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest, was the moment he had against the Saints. With 14 seconds left, the 49ers trailed by three, but had the ball at New Orleans’s 14 yard line. Davis charged off the line of scrimmage.

“All the friends here, we talked about it,” Adaline Davis said last week, invoking Davis’s childhood nickname. “We said, ‘If “Duke” wins that game, he’s going to cry.’”

“It touched his heart,” said his brother Vontae, a cornerback for the Miami Dolphins. “It was meant to be.”

‘The Good Lord will always provide’

When Vernon Davis used to head out into the streets as a kid, up to Truesdale Elementary School for a game they called “throwback” – essentially hurling a football into the air, then trying to tackle the kid who came up with it – his situation was different, Petworth was different. He never really had a relationship with his mother; his relationship with his father to this day consists of occasional visits back in Washington, but not much more. Adaline Davis – left to raise Davis and his siblings as their mother battled a drug problem – provided what she could, cleaning houses.

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