Newslinks for Thursday Mar 15: Signs of weakness in Obama campaign?

Signs of weakness in Obama campaign?

• The president is on track to be hundreds of millions of dollars shy of his original fundraising goal of a $1 billion warchest, says Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal. He also writes that the President's (1) burn-rate of cash is fast and (2) he has less cash at hand than George W Bush did in 2004.
• "In the realclearpolitics.com average of recent polls, it never got better than 49 percent approve, 47 percent disapprove. Now the ABC/WaPo poll has it at 46-50 and the CBS/NYT poll at 41-47. Rasmussen Reports tracking has it at 47-52." - Michael Barone at RCP also notes that job growth on Obama is only a third of what it was under Reagan at this stage of his presidency.
• Republicans polling well in Florida - American Spectator
• Rising gas prices could abort the fragile recovery - PowerLine
• BUT Charles Blow at the New York Times sees nothing but "Obama-Mentum" in the opinion polls.

The U.S. Catholic Bishops, united in defense of religious freedom... and against Obama's birth control mandate - George Weigel for NRO

• At The Weekly Standard Jeffrey Bell finds popular opposition to the HHS mandate.

Romney is losing in states the GOP will win in November but prevailing in the swing states

"His defeats, which include losses Tuesday to Rick Santorum in conservative Alabama and Mississippi, have come largely in states that any Republican nominee is almost certain to win this fall. Mr. Romney's winning performances in the swing states of Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire and Virginia suggest that, as GOP nominee, he would present a challenge to President Barack Obama not only in those states but the communities that will be the general election's most important battlegrounds." - WSJ

• "Even if Romney loses the winner-take-all primaries in North Carolina and Pennsylvania and gets clobbered in Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and a few other conservative states, he should win the nomination by the time the primaries are over on June 6." - Dick Morris for The Hill

Romney still out-fundraising Santorum by large margin

See interactive graphic at Wall Street Journal and report here.

Romney outspending Santorum by 10-to-1 Commentary ...but it's more like 3-to-1 in spending per delegate won - BuzzFeed

• Michael Brendan Dougherty at Business Insider is exhausted by the media pretending Santorum can win: "We've been saying this over and over again. Florida was the real test. Then Michigan was pivotal. Next Ohio was crucial on Super Tuesday. Two days ago Alabama and Mississippi were all important. Now it is Illinois. And yet, Romney's lead in votes and delegates keeps growing. Get used to it: Romney is winning."
• Romney leads Santorum by 38% to 32% in national poll for Fox. It's 34.4% versus 29.3% in RCP average.
• But, says Nate Silver, Santorum is out-performing his poll numbers.
• Jennifer Rubin says Santorum's inefficient campaign suggests a lack of fitness for the biggest office in the land.
• USA Today looks forward to the next big primary - in Illinois.
• More GOP voters becoming worried about extended race - USA Today

More Romney in brief

• Romney: Very conservative voters might not be with me now but they will be in November - HotAir
• Stop campaigning without a message - Maggie Haberman for Politico
• Things could have been so much worse for Romney: The A-list alternatives never showed up, for one thing - Alexander Burns for Politico 
• Mitt-No-Excuses-Romney: “I’ve been very successful.  I’m not going to apologize for that.” - National Journal

Romney digs at Santorum as "economic lightweight" - The Hill

Suits and armored cars are now part of Team Santorum as his campaign gets serious - New York Times

• Santorum leads in Texas - Weekly Standard
• Surprising finding of the day... Only about a third of Republican and Republican-leaning respondents correctly identified Santorum as Catholic - LA Times

Senior conservatives call on Gingrich to stand aside - Washington Post | Politico

"Pollster Scott Rasmussen told The Daily Caller Wednesday that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is “not going to win” and “needs to assess his role in the Republican Party.”... but Gingrich's SuperPAC ally tells how his candidate can STILL be nominee - NPR

"Newt Gingrich's failure to win two Deep South states, and the growing calls for him to exit, have also taken Mr. Santorum one step closer to proclaiming this a two-man race between himself and Mr. Romney." - Kim Strassel in the Wall Street Journal

ABC questions the conventional wisdom and says Santorum's best hope might be if Gingrich STAYS in race.

Gingrich expressed frustration at news media and Republican establishment for failing to understand his "large ideas" for transforming American politics - CBS

Michael Medved despairs at candidates' unwillingness to embrace "moderate" tag - Daily Beast

Cameron and Obama show unity on Afghanistan - New York Times

• UK Prime Minister David Cameron lavishes praise on Barack Obama at state dinner, praising the President for his "wisdom, moral authority and strength" - VIDEO
• Dana Milibank notes Cameron "could not say enough good things about his American host" - Washington Post
• The White House state dinner: Sweet nothings across the pond - Washington Post
• They look better than us - Barack to Michelle about the Camerons - Washington Times

Defense cutbacks put intolerable stress on troops in Afghanistan - Max Boot for Commentary

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Fox News more popular than any Republican politician; Rubio and Christie more favored than any presidential candidate

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Yesterday we published the first results of ConHomeUSA's latest survey. Those showed that Rick Santorum was up to third place in the race for the GOP nomination.

Today we publish a new tracker poll where, every few weeks, we will track the popularity of key players in conservative politics.

We asked the Republican Panel* to give key organizations and people a thumbs up or thumbs down. The table below summarizes the results.

• We find that Fox News is the most popular 'institution' among Republican voters.
• Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan and Chris Christie are the most favored politicians - more favored than any of the GOP candidates.
• We find little enthusiasm for John Boehner or Mitch McConnell. Both GOP leaders in Congress get only a few more thumbs up than thumbs down.
• More people give the Republican National Committee a thumbs down than a thumbs up.

Rick Santorum moves to third-place in national GOP race

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ConHomeUSA's latest survey of its Republican Panel* finds a big increase in support for Rick Santorum in answer to the question "Who would you most like to win the Republican nomination?". The former Senator has leapfrogged Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann to establish himself as the third-placed candidate.