Friday, April 13, 2012

Friday, April 13th, 2012 - Mike Nova's starred items - via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/13/12

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Mike Nova's starred items

Friday, April 13th, 2012

via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/13/12

Friday, April 13th, 2012

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Cancer keeping Chávez off campaign trail, but hasn’t dimmed political

via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/12/12

Cancer keeping Chávez off campaign trail, but hasn’t dimmed political hopes

CARACAS, Venezuela — With less than six months left until Election Day, Venezuel ...

Rise in US exports brightens outlook for economy, spurs stocks higher

WASHINGTON — The outlook for U.S. economic growth is looking slightly better.

SEC, parties reach deal on recount

The island island’s two main political parties and the State Elections Commissio ...

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PR teams aim to defend titles at NASA’s Great Moonbuggy Race

via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/12/12

PR teams aim to defend titles at NASA’s Great Moonbuggy Race

Students from the University of Puerto Rico Humacao and Teodoro Aguilar Mora Voc ...

Global trade expected to slow in 2012

GENEVA — Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and other economic shocks are expected t ...

Market may be up, but scars of 2008 are fresh

CHICAGO — Cheryl and Jim Friedman, retirees in St. Louis, had two-thirds of thei ...

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Thursday, April 12th, 2012

via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/11/12

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

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PR Supreme Court gives parties 48 hours to reach deal in recount

via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/11/12

PR Supreme Court gives parties 48 hours to reach deal in recount case

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court is putting off a decision on the primary recount a ...

PR joins feds, states in antitrust suit against Apple, publishers over ebooks

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department, Puerto Rico and 15 states sued Apple I ...

EIU says PR economy on ‘road to recovery,’ but obstacles are many

Analysts at the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) are voicing cautious optimism t ...

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Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

via caribbeanbusiness.pr on 4/11/12

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

Moody’s: Popular, PR units of BBVA and Santander, on downgrade review

Puerto Rico’s biggest bank, Popular Inc., and the island subsidiaries of two maj ...

GDB: PR economy holding ground

The Government Development Bank Economic Activity Index (GDB-EAI) for January an ...

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Caribbean's oldest luxury hotel celebrates its 125th anniversary

via Caribbean News Now!: News from Puerto Rico on 4/12/12

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See more of Mike Nova's starred items ...

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Puerto Rico News - Puerto Rico Noticias: 04/12/12

Mike Nova: My Photos - Puerto Rico - January 2012

Tropical Flowers: Lush, flamboyant, sexy, seductive, lovely.
This generous and artsy nature seems to influence a human spirit too.
San Juan Beach Hotel - early January 2012

New Year 2012 under palms:

Mike Nova: The Health Of Nations

The idea of social justice is as old as are the ubiquitous and blatant practices of social injustice, first of all enslavement in its various forms and exploitation, on which "The Wealth Of Nations" was built. The 20th century Marxism seems to have combined both seamlessly.
Today we see more and more that "wealth of nations" depends to a large degree on "health of nations", namely, not only the conditions of their respective health services but their just (and therefore economically efficient) social and political order. The broad and universal concept of health with its notions of normal and abnormal social functioning can and should be applied to large social groups and systems, extending from the traditional notions of individual and small groups (family, industrial groups) to social health or socio-political pathology of countries and cultures (e.g. "failed states").

Social class in the United States

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This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2012)

A monument to the working and supporting classes along Market Street in the heart of San Francisco's Financial District

Income in the United States
Affluence in the United States Household income in the United States Income inequality in the United States Personal income in the United States Social class in the United States
Income by: State (localities by state) County (highest \| lowest) Metropolitan statistical area Place (highest \| lowest) Urban areas ZIP Code Tabulation Area

Social class in the United States is a controversial issue, having many competing definitions, models, and even disagreements over its very existence.^[1] Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes the "rich", the "middle class", and the "poor". More complex models that have been proposed describe as many as a dozen class levels;^[2]^[3] while still others deny the very existence, in the European sense, of "social class" in American society.^[4] Most definitions of class structure group people according to wealth, income, education, type of occupation, and membership in a specific subculture or social network.
Sociologists Dennis Gilbert, William Thompson, Joseph Hickey, and James Henslin have proposed class systems with six distinct social classes. These class models feature an upper or capitalist class consisting of the rich and powerful, an upper middle class consisting of highly educated and affluent professionals, a middle class consisting of college-educated individuals employed in white-collar industries, a lower middle class, a working class constituted by clerical and blue collar workers whose work is highly routinized, and a lower class divided between the working poor and the unemployed underclass.^[2]^[5]^[6]

Language, Imperialism and Culture - Dr. Thorsten Pattberg on GRTV - YouTube

Uploaded by corbettreport on Feb 27, 2012

As China, Russia, and the other so-called BRICS nations rise in economic and geopolitical power, interest in these countries' language and culture is increasing in the West. Dr. Thorsten Pattberg of Peking University examines the ways that translation of certain key concepts misrepresents history and culture.

This is the GRTV Feature Interview for Global Research TV with host James Corbett and guest Dr. Thorsten Pattberg.

Mike Nova: Apparently, if there is such a thing as "English Linguistic Imperialism" then there must be and IS!!! such a thing as "Spanish Linguistic Imperialism". Both are quite regrettable.

Apparently, if there is such a thing as "English Linguistic Imperialism" then there must be and IS!!! such a thing as "Spanish Linguistic Imperialism". Both are quite regrettable. In application to Caribbean this linguistic antagonism phenomenon might also, together with other factors, reflect the objective economic realities combined with subjective emotions and fears of local upper (ruling) and middle classes. In a way, it is a continuation of wars and resistance movements by means of linguistic domination. I don't think, that this is a "Marxist observation or analysis" and I do not consider myself a "Marxist" at all. But Marxism's general thesis about the role and significance of socio-economic factors in social and political lives of all societies seems to be indisputable. Just as indisputable as marxism's general error in evaluating in quite simplistic and mechanistic terms the complexity of human nature, which (the error) revealed itself in various marxist practices.

Mike Nova: "Gim'mi or else" is just the next and very logical step

"Gim'mi or else" is just the next and very logical step
of "Gim'mi" as a "philosophy" and as the way of life.

Puerto Rico - YouTube

Puerto Rico's Nature & Wildlife - YouTube

Published on Apr 11, 2012 by WestBuchan

I spent this past winter (2012) in Puerto Rico, and its hard to capture all the nature and wildlife, so I made a video of some of the adventures I was able to have through out the Island.

Mike Nova: "GIVE ME EVERYTHING! AND PREFERABLY TONIGHT!" - "DAME TODO! Y ESTA NOCHE PREFERENTEMENTE!"

Give me everything and tonight!
That's very much in vein (pun not intended!) of impatient and passionate Mediterranean character, and not Mediterranean only.
If things were so simple...
Although, sometimes and somewhere they are.
Didn't it become almost an universal slogan for the whole Generation - 2000-s?
"GIVE ME EVERYTHING! AND PREFERABLY TONIGHT!"
Do not delay and postpone anything. Take anything you can, and all sorts of gratifications here and now. And maybe you are entitled to them, too.
Who knows?

angelina-jolie-sarajevo-film-festival-2011-24.jpg

nightcore-give-me-everything-tonight.jpg

Dame todo y esta noche!
Eso es mucho en la vena (juego de palabras no tiene la intención!), de carácter Mediterráneo impaciente y apasionado, y no sólo del Mediterráneo.
Si las cosas fueran tan sencillas ...
Aunque, a veces y en alguna parte que son.
¿No llegó a ser casi un lema universal para toda la generación - 2000-s?
"DAME TODO! Y ESTA NOCHE PREFERENTEMENTE!"
No se demore y posponer cualquier cosa. Tome todo lo que pueda, y todo tipo de satisfacciones, aquí y ahora. Y tal vez usted tiene derecho a ellos, también.
¿Quién sabe?

http://sirenasinvoz.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

5819857136_09a9398e1e_z.jpg

Omega - Give Me Everything - YouTube

Published on Apr 11, 2012 by dantesfelipeeldan

Give Me Everything (Versione Merengue)

Salsa de Puertorico alla Clave exlusive latin club discoteca Aureliano e Daniela pasquetta 2012 - MOV02511.MPG - YouTube

MOV02511.MPG - YouTube

Published on Apr 12, 2012 by aureliano520

salsa de Puertorico alla Clave exlusive latin club discoteca Aureliano e Daniela pasquetta 2012

4/10/12 Puerto Rico's HIV Crisis Worsens - YouTube

Published on Apr 11, 2012 by chenincolon

The cruel reality of politics and missmanagement of HIV funds has shown up again in Puerto Rico, with absolutely no results or positive actions from governmental agencies, neither statewide nor in San Juan's municipality..

Category:

Film & Animation

Calle 13 - Atrevete te te - YouTube

Uploaded by Calle13VEVO on Oct 24, 2009

Puerto Rican independence movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puerto Rican independence movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Puerto Rican independence movement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Puerto Rican independence movement · · ·
First row Antonio Valero de Bernabe • Ramón Emeterio Betances • Mariana Bracetti Second row Antonio Mattei Lluberas • José de Diego • Pedro Albizu Campos Third row Lolita Lebrón • Gilberto Concepción de Gracia • Filiberto Ojeda Ríos

The Puerto Rican independence movement (Movimiento de la Independencia Puertorriqueña) refers to initiatives throughout the history of Puerto Rico aimed at obtaining independence for the Island, first from Spain, and then from the United States. The movement is not localized to one group of individuals or even one organization throughout the years, but represents instead the events and activities of dozens of groups and organizations, and thousands of individuals, that share the common goal of advocating, supporting, or seeking political independence for Puerto Rico.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, the independence movement in Puerto Rico has used both peaceful, political means as well as violent, revolutionary approaches in search of its objectives. Organized political movements have existed since the mid-19th century and have advocated independence of the Island, first from Spain (in the 19th century) and then from the United States (from 1898 to the present day). Today, a spectrum of autonomous, nationalist, and independence sentiments and political parties exist in the Island.

Calle 13 (band) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Calle 13 (band)

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Calle 13

Background information
Origin	Puerto Rico
Genres	Alternative rap, World music, Reggaeton
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Sony Music
Associated acts	Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Voltio, Tego Calderón, Nelly Furtado, La Mala Rodriguez, Orishas, Café Tacuba, Don Cheto, Shakira, Rubén Blades, Mercedes Sosa, Alejandro Sanz, Dante Spinetta, Juanes, Chancho en Piedra, Totó la Mamposina
Members
René Pérez Joglar (Residente Calle 13) Eduardo Cabra Martínez (Visitante Calle 13) Ileana Cabra Joglar (PG-13)

Calle 13 is a Puerto Rican band formed by stepbrothers René Pérez Joglar (born February 23, 1978 in Hato Rey) who calls himself Residente (lead singer, songwriter) and Eduardo José Cabra Martínez (born September 10, 1978 in Santurce, another subsection of San Juan), who calls himself Visitante (multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, beat producer) and their sister Ileana aka PG-13 (choirs, background vocals).
Stepbrothers Pérez and Cabra first got a record deal with White Lion Records after sending the label a demo tape, and after the controversial song "Querido F.B.I." was released, the group gained notoriety in Puerto Rico. In 2005, Calle 13 released its eponymously titled debut album, which became very popular due to the singles "Se Vale Tó-Tó" and "¡Atrévete-te-te!". In 2007, the group released its second album, Residente o Visitante, which was also very successful and experimented with a wide variety of genres. The album helped the group gain success throughout Latin America and win three Latin Grammys. The group released its third album, Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo, in 2008, which won Album of the Year at the 2009 Latin Grammy Awards. Calle 13 released its latest album, Entren Los Que Quieran, on November 22, 2010.
Calle 13 is noted for its eclectic musical style, often using unconventional instrumentation in its music, which distances the group from the reggaeton genre. The band is also known for its satirical lyrics as well as social commentary about Latin American issues and culture. The stepbrothers are strong supporters of the Puerto Rican independence movement, a stance that has generated controversy.^[1] For their work, the group has won nineteen Latin Grammy Awards. They hold the record for the most Latin Grammy wins. They have also won two Grammy Awards.

Calle 13 - Latinoamérica - YouTube

EIU says PR economy on ‘road to recovery,’ but obstacles are many - caribbeanbusiness.pr

EIU says PR economy on ‘road to recovery,’ but obstacles are many - caribbeanbusiness.pr

EIU says PR economy on ‘road to recovery,’ but obstacles are many

By CB Online Staff

cbnews@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

Analysts at the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) are voicing cautious optimism that Puerto Rico is finally pulling out of its economic doldrums, but warn that big obstacles remain to a substantial rebound.

“After many years of recession, Puerto Rico’s economy appears to have hit bottom and is now on a slow road to recovery,” the EIU reported in its latest island bulletin.
The advisory and analysis firm expects Puerto Rico’s gross national product will grow by 0.5% in fiscal 2012 (which ends June 30), which is short of the island government’s forecast of 0.7% growth.
The EIU expects growth to gain steam to 1.4% in fiscal 2013, as credit conditions improve and trends in several domestic sectors continue in a positive direction. The Fortuño administration’s efforts to support the rebound with a medium-term development strategy, which most recently included the enactment of a law that provides tax incentives to promote Puerto Rico as a hub for export services, could help to lift this to higher rates over the medium term, the report said.
The EIU notes that Puerto Rico has not registered growth since fiscal year 2006, when it expanded by just 0.5%. This was followed by five years of contraction. By comparison, during this stretch of time the mainland U.S. economy shrank in only one year, 2009 (by 3.5%), during the depth of the global financial crisis.
The island’s poor performance is the result of a combination of factors, including eroding competitiveness, structural changes in the manufacturing industry (particularly pharmaceuticals, a major component of Puerto Rico’s manufacturing base), the phasing out of federal tax incentives for producers on the island and the local government’s severe fiscal imbalances, the report said.
“The latter has required a major fiscal retrenchment effort by the administration of Gov. Luis Fortuño in order to keep the government running and maintain Puerto Rico’s credit rating and access to financing. This has had a negative impact not only on public spending but also employment, as the public sector is a major provider of jobs on the island,” the EIU said.
Signs of recovery
“Against a backdrop of fiscal adjustment, the economy has remained weak,” the report said. “However, select indicators have begun to show a clear improvement.”
The Puerto Rico Manufacturing-Purchasing Managers Index has been above a threshold that reflects expansion for 14 of the last 20 months. Exports in fiscal year 2011 totaled $64.9 billion, 5.2% over the prior year. Retail sales grew by 2.8% year on year in 2011, and by 4% in December alone. Auto sales in 2011 also showed modest improvement, with growth of 1.5% year on year. In the important tourism industry, the occupancy rate reached 69.2%, up 1.5 percentage points over 2010.
The report notes the positive impact from more than $7 billion in federal stimulus funding for Puerto Rico through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. Some $5.9 billion (83.5%) has been disbursed, largely for infrastructure projects. The Fortuño administration’s $500 million local stimulus plan has also pumped $365 million into the island economy.
“However, as these funds will soon be depleted, the government’s recovery strategy is based on a medium- and long-term plan to boost Puerto Rico’s competitiveness, attract investment to new or growing sectors, focus more on innovation and research and development, and promote the island as a business hub connecting the North America with the broader Caribbean and Latin American area,” the EIU said.
New tax breaks created
One step in this direction is a new law to aggressively foment growth of the local services industry and the exportation of services, thereby diversifying the drivers of economic growth and attracting new private capital.
The Export Services Act (No 20 of 2012) aims to turn Puerto Rico into an international center for legal, consulting, financial, engineering and other forms of services. The law provides for 20-year decrees, renewable for 10 additional years, which guarantee the tax breaks cannot be subject to subsequent legislative changes.
Under the decree, a new outside business setting up in Puerto Rico to provide services for export (or an existing local service provider that expands into exports) will be subject to a 4% flat corporate income tax rate (compared with the normal local rate of 30%), with a possibility of lowering this to 3% if exports are the main revenue generator of the company. Distributions from earnings and profits from such ventures will be 100% tax exempt in Puerto Rico. The operation will also be exempt from property taxes.
As a complement to this act, lawmakers passed the Individual Investors Act (Act 22 of 2012), designed to attract investors and high net worth individuals to take up residence in Puerto Rico. Benefits include 100% exemption from local taxes on interest and dividends, and on long-term capital gains accrued after the person becomes a legal resident. It is hoped that the act will attract business professionals (or retirees) to relocate to the island and will further encourage foreign or mainland-based services companies to set up shop there.
The EIU is not optimistic on Puerto Rico’s chances of landing a new federal industrial lure in the short term.
Puerto Rico has continued to lobby legislators in Washington to amend Section 933 of the U.S. tax code by adding a clause that would allow U.S. companies in Puerto Rico to benefit from US tax provisions permitting dividends paid to a parent company on the mainland to be tax-deductible. The measure, which has not advanced, would partially replace special benefits provided to Puerto Rico under Section 936 of the tax code, which expired in 2006.
“The issue might not be considered until the US Congress takes up a more comprehensive overhaul of the tax code, which is much discussed in political circles but does not look to be on the horizon,”
Too soon to tell
“It is too soon to determine whether Puerto Rico’s latest efforts to boost economic growth and diversification will bear the desired fruit,” the EIU said.
In the short term at least, the government’s ongoing fiscal squeeze will keep government consumption and investment low, according to the report. The economy also suffers from very high rates of unemployment, and this will continue to dampen private demand. A strong dependence on imports, particularly of fuel, will also hinder growth.
Externally, conditions also remain fragile.
Although the EIU no longer foresees a risk of recession in the U.S., and forecasts U.S. GDP growth of 1.9% in 2012, this is far below the rate of 3% enjoyed in 2010.
“Sluggish U.S. growth will limit expansion of Puerto Rico’s tourism, services and retail sectors,” the EIU said. “Recession in the euro zone, and the risk of an oil price spike, will also dampen Puerto Rico’s growth prospects.”

Tribute to the "Father of the Nation" - Primerahora.com

Tribute to the "Father of the Nation"

Antonio Martorell was one of the sketches of the design of the First Medal Betances, accompanying the president of the Ateneo, Joseph Milton Single Ramirez. (Supplied)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Olga Roman / First Time

It tells the biblical story that Moses recited to his people the Ten Commandments that Christians had to follow, Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances, wrote to be followed by Puerto Ricans free.

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Is that, Betances (1827 - 1898), described by many as "The Father of the Nation," wrote the proclamation of the Ten Commandments of Free Men in November 1867 with the aim of inspiring Puerto Ricans to fight for regardless of the Spanish metropolis.
It is for this reason that the Puerto Rican Athenaeum announces the future opening of the monument to Betances, a sculpture of about six feet, designed and developed by Joseph Caraveda and whose circular base is a glass mosaic designed by the renowned painter and sculptor Antonio Martorell . The piece will be placed in the gardens of the institution.
Martorell said the work is not culminated even "for reasons beyond our control" and "heavy rains". The artist shared with the analysis of "the ten commandments of the hero and their status today."
Other projects
Martorell was to present one of the sketches he made for the design of the First Medal Betances, Puerto Rican group delivered to Calle 13 , on Dec. 22.
The president of the Puerto Rican Athenaeum, Dr. Jose Milton Single Ramirez, said that awarding the prize to the group, "we recognize that they are the most illustrious exponents of the cultural revolution and nominate them to be the spokesmen of the goods to our natural geographical space, Latin America and to the rest of the world. "
"The Ateneo partially intensify efforts to achieve the dream of Betances, who will be the Cultural Confederation of Spanish-speaking Caribbean, with Cuba, Dominican Republic and Venezuela," stated the president.
On the other hand, the secretary of the Athenaeum, Roberto Ramos Perea said that next year will be held at the First Conference of the National Identity Father, dedicated to the figure of Betances and "begin with the traditional festival of Puerto Rican Athenaeum Theatre" . As part-time, will be presented about eight theatrical productions on the figure of Betances, recitals of his poetry and dramatic readings of his stories. Also produce three audio books with the work of the hero.
In the press conference also discussed Dr. Felix Ojeda Reyes, professor and author of The banished from Paris: biography of Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances, 1827-1898, and among the audience were the author Magali Garcia Ramis, the singer Danny Rivera and President of the College of Surgeons of Puerto Rico, Dr. Eduardo Ibarra.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Puerto Rico News - Puerto Rico Noticias: 04/11/12

Predicting the Latino Vote: How One Key Demographic Could Reshape the 2012 Campaign | Swampland | TIME.com

2012 Election

Predicting the Latino Vote in 2012

By Michael Scherer | @michaelscherer | April 11, 2012 | 12

Learn More

Mary Altaffer / AP

Lucy Allain, originally from Lima, Peru, and a student at Queens Borough Community College, addresses other activists March 14, 2012 in New York. Students protested in Manhattan against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's opposition to the Dream Act, a proposal that would create a path for undocumented children to legalize their immigration status.

The Latino vote will matter in the 2012 election. So say Republicans and Democrats, and even the cover of TIME magazine. But just how much it will matter is not clear at this point. Too many factors remain fluid. We don’t know how close races in key states will be, what the Latino and non-Latino turnout will be, or how the vote will split between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
But we can make some pretty good back-of-the-envelope guestimations, which is exactly what the political consultants inside the Obama and Romney camps have been doing.
On Monday, I participated in an Aspen Institute panel about the Latino vote in 2012, which was broadcast on C-Span, and I tried to boil down the impact of Latinos to a few simple numbers.
(PHOTOS: Election 2012: Faces of the Latino Vote)
In national elections since the early 1990s, Republicans have had a floor of about 20% among Latinos, a group that includes a large population of Cuban Americans in Florida. Democrats have always won at least 55%. So about 25% of the Latino vote is at play in the middle. (In one survey, Romney now polls at 14% among Latinos, though that poll, for the moment, is an outlier.)
So when we consider the impact of Latinos in 2012, we are looking at a swing between about a 20% vote share for Republicans and a 45% vote share. The question that follows is how much of an impact this swing will have on the final electoral college results. The polls that really matter are state-by-state surveys, not national ones.
Latinos are expected to make up about one in ten voters this year, but many of those votes, in big states like Texas, California and New York, will have no impact on the electoral college, since those states are not in play for Romney. But Latinos can have a big impact on the outcomes in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, and a marginal impact in states like North Carolina and Ohio, all of which both parties will contest.
The polling firm Latino Decisions, which is the gold standard of Latino-American polling, recently put out a report on the impact of Latinos in these states. They found that for every eight points that Republicans lose among Latinos in states like Colorado and Nevada, the party needs to pick up another single point among non-Latino voters in order to not lose ground statewide.
(PHOTOS: Being Latino in Arizona)
For example, if Obama gets 69% of the Latino vote in Nevada (ceding to Romney just 31%), then Obama can still win the state by capturing only 47% of the non-Latino vote (ceding to Romney 53%). If Obama gets a little more than 63% of the Latino vote, then he needs to get 48% of the non-Latino vote. Here is the chart:

There are many caveats to this formula, but it provides a helpful outline of the landscape. The difference between Democrats winning 80% of Latinos and winning 45% of Latinos in a state like Nevada corresponds to about three points in the non-Latino vote. In other words, we are talking about a field goal, not a touchdown. But in states like Nevada and Colorado, which have a history of hosting close presidential contests, that may be enough.
(MORE: Why Latino Voters Will Swing the 2012 Election)
These numbers also help explain the different approaches that the Romney and Obama campaigns have taken to the election. With its vast network of staffers and year-long grace period to prepare, the Obama campaign is pursuing a strategy that focuses on deploying specialized teams, which are reaching out to constituent groups, building an enormous ground game and making a huge investment in technology, from iPhone apps (which don’t always work) to new data gathering programs. For the most part, these factors will only impact the outcome if the final score is close enough to be decided by a field goal. Romney, who has fewer resources after a bruising primary, is building a campaign in the expectation that the 2012 will be yet another anti-incumbent wave cycle that will hinge upon the economy. In other words, it will be won with touchdowns, not field goals.
As the Romney campaign rejiggers for the general election, there will be a pivot, at least in tone, to appeal to Latino voters. The tough talk–advocating “self-deportation” and calling Arizona a “model” for the nation–will almost surely give way to more positive talk about the need for fair reforms to immigration law. And Romney is not going to completely cede the ground game or the technological arms race to Obama. But the underlying difference outlook is almost sure to remain up until Election Day. One team will be counting on its kicker, the other is betting it won’t need one.
PHOTOS: Political Pictures of the Week, March 31-April 6