Jess Mitchell: Paramount Hands Out For Free Tickets For Obama Economy Talk
At 8:30 a.m., the Paramount Theatre began handing out free tickets for a chance to see President Barack Obama in Austin later this week. People spent the night outside the Paramount to make sure they would be the first in line for tickets to Thursdays’ event. The tickets are free but will be handed out on a first-come-first-served basis.
People we talked to who began waiting in line Wednesday night said it’s an opportunity they just couldn’t miss.
“I see it as kind of like putting in a long 12 hour shift at work for a really great reward,” Jeff Britt said. “He’s not only the president, he’s a very historical president and I don’t know, I’d love to see him.”
William Wright and India Johnson wait in line to vote at Larchmont Elementary School in Norfolk, Va. on Tuesday. Wright and Johnson, both from Richmond, were excited to cast their first votes in the Presidential election.
President Barack Obama walks with Chief of Staff Jack Lew during a break from debate preparations in Williamsburg, Va., Oct. 14. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Heads up:
5:45 ET: Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign event at Cuyahoga County Community College, Cleveland
A supporter holds up a sign during First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign rally at the Ohio Wesleyan University, October 15 (Jewel Samad/AFP/GettyImages)
Facebook: Kent State students and others wait in line for tickets to see President Barack Obama on campus on Sept 26. Distribution of tickets for the event began Sept 24.
President Barack Obama meets with former President George H.W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the Oval Office, Jan. 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The White House released a statement saying, “The three men enjoyed a personal visit in the Oval Office – as they have done on previous occasions when President Bush is Washington.”
The Bushes are in town to attend the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday, an annual get-together for Washington power brokers that Obama also is scheduled to attend.
7:15 PM: PBO delivers remarks at the 99th annual Alfalfa Club Dinner in Washington. Michelle Obama attends.
Thanks Jovie
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President Barack Obama boards Marine One for departure from Cambridge-Dorchester Airport in Cambridge, Md., Jan. 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
USA Today: Republicans were quick to rebuke the Obama administration after a third clean-energy company to receive taxpayer dollars, Ener1, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week.
But absent from their critique of Ener1 — which was awarded a $118.5 million grant from the Department of Energy in 2009 to expand an Indianapolis manufacturing plant — has been any mention that the electric battery manufacturer was also championed by one of the GOP’s rising stars, Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic): All parties agree that Ron Paul is not, personally, racist and that he didn’t write the (newsletters) passages …. As I’ve said before, we all must make our calculus in supporting a candidate or even claiming he is “good” for the debate. But it must be an honest calculus.
If you believe that a character who would conspire to profit off of white supremacy, anti-gay bigotry, and anti-Semitism is the best vehicle for convincing the country to end the drug war, to end our romance with interventionism, to encourage serious scrutiny of state violence, at every level, then you should be honest enough to defend that proposition.
What you should not do is claim that Ron Paul “legislated” for Martin Luther King Day, or claim to have intricate knowledge of Ron Paul’s heart, and thus by the harsh accumulation of evidence, be made to look ridiculous.
Supporters of President Obama cheer at the press bus travelling with Newt Gingrich arriving at the Republican Jewish Coalition rally in Delray Beach, Florida, January 27
President Obama arrives on a rainy and foggy night in Romulus, Michigan, January 26
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Friday:
9:45 ET PBO delivers remarks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
11:00: Departs Michigan en route to Joint Base Andrews
12:25: Arrives at Joint Base Andrews
12:30: Departs Joint Base Andrews en route to Cambridge, Md.
PBO and VP Biden address House Democrats at their annual retreat
3:00: Arrives at the White House
3:30: PBO and VP Biden meet with Secretary of State Clinton
4:30: PBO delivers remarks at a campaign event
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A segment of the line of people waiting for tickets to see President Barack Obama speak on Friday starts near the Michigan Union, winds around the Fleming Administration Building, back toward the Literature, Science, and the Arts Building, and north down Maynard St
See the post below for more on the demand for tickets for tomorrow’s speech
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Freep.com: Two months ago, it appeared Michigan might well be prime real estate for Mitt Romney as he sought the Republican nomination for president.
In a Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) poll then, native Michigander Romney led the Democratic president, Barack Obama, 46%-41%, in a head-to-head matchup.
But as Romney’s path to the nomination has gotten cloudy, his lead in the state over the Democratic incumbent also has evaporated. In a new Michigan poll, Obama has taken the head-to-head lead, 48%-40%.
MSNBC: Newt Gingrich leads Mitt Romney among Republicans, but he is the weakest of the Republican candidates tested against President Obama, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll released Thursday evening.
Gingrich leads Romney 37 percent to 28 percent nationally among registered Republicans likely to vote in the primaries; Rick Santorum is in third with 18 percent, and Ron Paul is fourth with 12 percent.
…. Romney fares best against the president, trailing Obama by six points among registered voters, 49 percent to 43 percent. That’s a four-point improvement for the president from a month ago.
Obama, however, beats Gingrich by a whopping 18 points, 55-37 percent, expanding the president’s 11-point lead a month ago.
A segment of the line of people waiting for tickets to see President Barack Obama speak on Friday starts near the Michigan Union, winds around the Fleming Administration Building, back toward the Literature, Science, and the Arts Building, and north down Maynard St. Angela J. Cesere
People sleep on the floor outside of the Michigan Union Ticket Office
AnnArbor.com: Roughly 3,000 people Thursday morning received tickets to President Barack Obama’s upcoming speech — many camping outside overnight to secure their place in line — and still hundreds of hopefuls were turned away.
It’s clear: Obama mania has seeped into the University of Michigan campus as the school prepares for his speech on college affordability Friday at 9:35 a.m. at the Al Glick Field House…..
AnnArbor.com: They brought blankets and sleeping bags, sent friends on doughnut runs, did homework and broke out into an impromptu dance party next to the Cube as at least 1,000 people converged into a line at the University of Michigan overnight to get tickets to see President Barack Obama.
The crowd snaked from the Michigan Union ticket office through Regents Plaza, building from about 80 at 10 p.m. Wednesday to much larger early Thursday, prompting one person to say “people in the back of the line have no idea how many people are here because it’s so long.”….
Between 2,000 and 3,000 people were in line by 9 a.m. At that time, the line reached the intersection of South University and South State and stretched toward the Law Quad.
….Update: As of about 1 p.m. all tickets to Obama’s speech had been distributed, according to the Michigan Union Ticket Office.
A group of ten students rest their backs against each other to stay warm and get some sleep while waiting in line by the Michigan Union. They arrived around 11:30 pm Wednesday night.
U-M Taubman College of Architecture faculty member Teman Evans holds up his ticket to see President Barack Obama speak while people in line behind him cheer. Evans was the first person in line at 7:30 pm Thursday night.
President Barack Obama talks about extending payroll tax cuts in the White House’s Brady Briefing Room
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President Obama put out a statement commending Phil Schiliro, who is leaving the administration: “As my advisor and chief liaison to Congress during one of the most productive legislative periods in our history, Phil Schiliro helped shepherd through a series of historic accomplishments on behalf of the American people, from health care reform that will make coverage more affordable and accessible to Wall Street reform that will protect consumers and our economy. The White House will not be the same without Phil, but more importantly, the country would not be the same without his steady leadership and tireless effort over the past three years.”
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Time: Andrew Kaczynski digs up a 2004 video of Mitt Romney explaining to fellow Republicans why flip-flopping is so devastating to a presidential candidate. He was talking about John Kerry of course. But this kind of footage presents all kinds of opportunities for devious ad-makers to slice and dice Romney, and his repeated use of “this guy,” which, taken out of context, could be made to seem self-referential, seems destined for some absolutely brutal attack ad.
Greg Sargent (Washington Post): Ever since Obama delivered his Arab Spring speech, conservatives have been engaged in a full-throttle campaign to distort and outright falsify his stance on Israel – a comically transparent effort to drive Jewish support away from the President.
Conservatives predicted that Obama’s position – which they widely distorted as a call for a return to pre-1967 borders – would cost him the support of top Jewish donors. But The New York Observer talked to the donors themselves, and found that the whole thing is totally bogus…
…It was painfully obvious that this whole meme was highly questionable from the start … has a single actual major Jewish donor broken publicly with the President? If The Observer – which reports extensively on the world of big Jewish power Dems – is to be believed, the answer is No…
What’s more, it’s important to recall that the claim that Jews are on the verge of breaking with Obama has been a frequent refrain for literally years now. Back in 2008 there were reams of stories about how McCain would be able to make successful inroads with this core Democratic constituency. In the end, according to exit polls, Obama won around 78 percent of the Jewish vote.
The Obama Diary 
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