Barbour makes a CPAC pitch

[Geee]

Politico:


Haley Barbour said Saturday that he’s actively considering running for president.

“I’m thinking very seriously about it,” Barbour said in a brief interview after his CPAC speech, adding that he is “doing some things to test the waters."

That includes recent travels to South Carolina and privately urging GOP donors and strategists to not make any commitments before he makes a decision this April.

But the best evidence yet that the Mississippian is a man with his eye on winning the hearts of Republican voters may have come during his address here.

While Barbour offered the predictable shots at the Obama administration that are a staple of this cattle call, he also spent considerable time explaining how he had governed as a conservative and not just given lip-service to small-government principles.

"Mississippi had a $720 million budget shortfall, about 20 percent of our total general fund," the two-term governor recalled. "It took us two years, but we eliminated that deficit without raising anybody’s taxes."

And he went further in explaining how he had found cost savings in Medicaid over what he said were the objections of the "liberal media elite."

"You can save money on entitlements, you just gotta have the will to do it," Barbour bragged, going off his prepared text.

But he didn't just outline his record on fiscal issues. With an eye apparently on the GOP’s social conservative base, the Mississippian also made sure to note his anti-abortion credentials.

"My first year as governor my pro-life agenda was adopted by our Democrat-majority legislature, and Americans United for Life, I am proud to say, named Mississippi the safest state in America for an unborn child," Barbour said.

And, lastly, the governor paid homage to the tea party movement — yet another important bloc within the conservative coalition.

Despite media suggestions otherwise, he said, the new grassroots populism is not a burden for the GOP.

[Casino67]

AnnCoulter

 

I'll be speaking at cpac at 3:45 today -- hurry so you get a good seat!

 

I am watching the stream here.

[Casino67]

Watch the speech by Allen West. Great one.

 

here.

[Valin]

Watch the speech by Allen West. Great one.

 

here.

 

 

Thank you! Some really great speeches this year. Really get's your getter going.

 

 

 

 

We're going to have some really good people running for the job of sending "The One" into retirement.