THIS WEEK IN POLITICAL NEWS -- 2/2/12

ROMNEY MARCHES ON: On Tuesday, Romney won the Florida primary by a commanding 14 points. He then proceeded to give a victory speech filled with lies and bile. (Sullivan’s take: “This speech is the most dishonest, manipulative, disgusting series of lies I've heard in a very long time. … This man will say anything to gain power.”) In other words, the usual fare. Gingrich’s defeat speech laid out the many, many, many things he would accomplish on his first day in the oval office -- so he’s clearly not going anywhere. The candidates march on to Nevada, which holds it primary on Saturday (and seems poised for another huge Romney win). Gingrich is now pinning his hopes to Super Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether he has the money to keep campaigning that long. Then again, he has the support of Sarah Palin, and if that’s not a clear path to the White House, I don’t know what is.

The most interesting thing about the GOP race now is the money situation. This week, the SuperPacs affiliated with various candidates reported their intake from the previous quarter. Romney’s group, Restore Our Future, raised about $18 million from just 200 donors in the second half of 2011 -- that’s an average of $90,000 per donor! The Washington Post reports that “a quarter of the money amassed by Romney’s campaign and an allied super PAC has come from just 41 people, each of whom has given more than $100,000, according to a Washington Post analysis of disclosure data. Nearly a dozen of the donors have contributed $1 million or more.” This is absolutely astronomical. But this is only half the story. As the Times reminds us today, “nonprofits” associated with each PAC can donate to the SuperPac without revealing its donors, meaning that millions are dollars are being given to these campaign apparatuses without any way of being traced -- “like a $250,000 contribution to a super PAC backing Mr. Romney from a company with a post office box for a headquarters and no known employees.” More on that here. Jonathan Bernstein argues that if you really want to make a difference with your political contribution dollars, you should forget the presidential race and give instead to congressional races.

ROMNEY ADMITS WHAT WE ALL KNEW: Straight off his victory in Florida, Romney made a classic gaffe: inadvertenly saying what he actually thinks. On CNN Wednesday morning, Romney declared that he is “not concerned with the very poor.” Here’s his whole quote, so no one can yell about lack of context: “I’m not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America.” When host Soledad O’Brien asked if he really meant that he’s not concerned about the poor, Romney doubled down: “We will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor. And there’s no question it’s not good being poor. And we have a safety net to help those that are very poor.” Even the Right is enraged by this unforced error. The irony, of course, is that Romney’s entire campaign is premised on destroying that very “safety net” that he declares is sufficient to take care of the poor. He would eliminate Title X funding, he wants to privatize unemployment insurance, he wants to cap Medicaid spending and then block-grant it to states, who would be free to disburse it however they want, and he has repeatedly endorsed the Paul Ryan plan to turn Medicare into underfunded vouchers. And as Jon Stewart points out, if you’re in the net, something has already gone terribly wrong! Is it just me, or is Romney not good at this?

SENATE BILL TO ENACT THE BUFFETT RULE: Yesterday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced a bill to put Obama’s “Buffett Rule” into law. The bill would require that those making more than a million dollars pay 30 percent of that income in federal income taxes. Whitehouse explained it in one sentence: “If your income is over 1 million, multiply it by 0.3, and if that number is bigger than you’d otherwise be paying, pay that.” It would effectively work like an Alternative Minimum Tax, making sure that the small percentage of millionaires who pay less than 30% of their income in taxes, well, don’t. Jonathan Bernstein has a great rundown of arguments against the Buffett Rule, and an explanation for why all those objections fail. One thing that is not clear to be is how a tax bill can constitutionally originate in the Senate, given Art. 1, Section 7. But let’s wait for more details! At the minimum, this would be a great move politically for Democrats and the White House, given the fact that 76 percent -- 76 percent!! -- of the public supports it, and that the probable Republican nominee pays only a 14 percent tax rate.

RETHINK YOUR SUPPORT OF THE PINK RIBBON: Caving to ever-present conservative pressure, this week the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation pulled all its funding -- amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars -- to Planned Parenthood, despite the nonprofit’s essential work providing breast cancer screenings to countless women. Conservatives are declaring victory, as they get another step closer to making Planned Parenthood a pariah of American politics with whom no one may interact without facing right-wing smears, attacks, and distortions. According to Planned Parenthood, Susan G. Komen funding over the past 5 years has allowed their health centers to provide nearly 170,000 breast exams and 6,400 mammogram referrals. But not everyone is caving. HuffPo reports that “the Connecticut affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure said in a statement on Wednesday that it ‘shares’ people's frustration over the decision and that it will continue funding Planned Parenthood of New England.” Same goes for the Komen center of Denver. Two dozen senators have now signed a letter asking Komen to reverse its position, and Planned Parenthood says it raised $650,000 in the 24 hours after Komen’s announcement, close to the $700,000 in annual grants that used to come from the foundation. And today Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he will donate $250,000 of his own money to Planned Parenthood in response. You can donate here.

INDIANA BECOMES LATEST LABOR WAR FRONT: On Wednesday, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a “right-to-work” bill, making the state the latest front in the GOP’s battle against unions. It marks a sharp reversal for Daniels, who in 2006 declared himself to be a “supporter of the labor laws we have in the state of Indiana” who was “not interested in changing any of it. Not the prevailing wage laws, and certainly not the right to work law.” More than 10,000 people have protested the bill this week, and they now have a very impressive supporter: the NFL Players Association -- a coup in any context but an especially important ally given that Indianapolis is hosting the Super Bowl this Sunday. “While we’re out here, we’re going to make sure the folks who work for a living and unions they belong to know we appreciate them, we appreciate the strength they gave us for our fight. We’re always going to be standing shoulder to shoulder with men and women who want to collectively protect themselves,” said DeMaurice Smith, the players’ union’s executive director. The AFL-CIO plans to distribute information and materials at the game this weekend, and other Occupy groups are planning a presence there as well.

HERO OF THE WEEK: Virginia is on the verge of passing a bill requiring all women to undergo ultrasounds prior to getting abortions, despite the fact that such ultrasounds are not medically necessary. So state senator Janet Howell introduced an amendment to the bill requiring all men to undergo rectal exams before receiving a prescription for Viagra. Yes -- she is that awesome. “I said, it’s only fair, that if we’re going to subject women to unnecessary procedures, and we’re going to subject doctors to having to do things that they don’t think is medically advisory, well, Mr. President, I think we should just have a little gender equity here,” Howell said, explaining her amendment. Unsurprisingly, her amendment failed.

GOOD NEWS -- New Mortgage Relief Plan: In a new plan that Matt Yglesias says could “break a long-standing deadlock in the housing finance market and provide a significant boost to a ‘recovery winter’ scenario,” Obama announced a new home mortgage relief proposal today. The plan “parts of which require Congressional legislation, aims to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, by streamlining the financing process and clearing the way for people with underwater mortgages to obtain new mortgages.”

Unsurprising-and-yet-still-vomit-inducing Headline of the Week: “Lieberman, Cantor defend Capitol Hill’s Insider Traders”
Must-Read of the Week: Matt O’Brien has a thorough and clear explanation of why carried interest is an even bigger scam than you think.
Fun Video of the Week: Two videos this week featuring my favorite person/future best friend, Michelle Obama: Here she is in a push-up contest with Ellen DeGeneres, and here she is telling Rachel Ray that her husband is “freaking out” about the prospect of Malia dating.