Summary: Politico reports that Barack Obama’s aides and advisers are preparing to center the president’s reelection campaign on a ferocious personal assault on Mitt Romney’s character and business background, a strategy grounded in the early-stage expectation that the former Massachusetts governor is the likely GOP nominee. However, the Obama campaign would be sorely misguided if it diverted inordinate resources to fending off Romney as Barack Obama’s likely opponent. Despite being the early front-runner in public opinion polls, Romney is unlikely to be the Republican presidential nominee, with the vastly underestimated Michele Bachmann potentially posing the greater reelection threat to Obama in terms of personal charisma. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on August 9, 2010, Aubrey Immelman appealed to Minnesota voters to support Independent Tom Horner for governor in the August 10, 2010 primary election.
Summary: Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s reluctance to go toe-to-toe with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the CNN-hosted GOP presidential debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on June 13, 2011 is consistent with his personality profile. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on June 16, 2010, Aubrey Immelman chronicled the rise of right-wing extremism in America following the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States in November 2008, reporting that the growing fear among some citizens of losing their rights and freedoms had created a political backlash toward the U.S. government that was manifesting itself in violent rhetoric and anti-government groups who want to “take their country back.”