Michelle Bachmann Presidential

Michelle Bachmann Presidential, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann will announce that she’s ending her presidential campaign after a dismal showing in the Iowa caucuses, according to an adviser to the congresswoman.

Earlier, a senior Republican official familiar with the congresswoman’s plans told CBS News partner National Journal that Bachmann came to the decision to end her run, recognizing that “there was no viable way forward.”

Also, Bachmann canceled her campaign trip to South Carolina.

Campaign manager Keith Nahigian tells The Associated Press that the Minnesota congresswoman plans a news conference in Iowa later Wednesday morning. Nahigian would not say whether Bachmann intends to drop out.

Bachmann, 55, told a small group of supporters Tuesday night that she was staying in the presidential race – despite her sixth place finish – as the only true conservative who can defeat President Obama. But her campaign is known to be low on money.

Bachmann’s showing was a sharp turn after she finished in first place in the Iowa GOP’s summer straw poll.

Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scout Cookies, Boxes of Girl Scout cookies are displayed in this file photo. The national organization has unveiled a new Girl Scout cookie, ‘Savannah Smiles,’ to celebrate its 100th anniversary. This year, a new Girl Scout cookie will join the usual lineup of Thin Mints, Samoas, and Do-Si-Dos: In honor of Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary, the club has unveiled Savannah Smiles, a lemon-wedge shortbread cookie dusted with powdered sugar.

The new treat is named after Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low’s hometown, Savannah, Ga. According to the Girl Scouts website, the new cookie has a strong lemon flavor and recalls Girl Scout cookies of the program’s early years.

“This lemon wedge cookie is cool and crisp, with just the right number of lemon chips to deliver tiny bursts of flavor,” says a press release for Little Brownie Bakers, the company that produces Savannah Smiles and several other Girl Scout cookie varieties, including Samoas and Trefoils. “And, when you hold it right, you’ll quickly be reminded of that world-famous ‘Brownie Smile.’ ”

The Girl Scout cookie program began in 1922, when the Girl Scouts’ American Girl magazine published recipes for simple homemade sugar cookies, suggesting local troupes sell them as a fundraising activity. The organization began licensing recipes out to commercial bakers in 1936. Today, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers are the two licensed companies.

The Girl Scouts sell an estimated 200 million boxes of cookies per year, at around $3.50 per box. Of the 11 cookies currently available, the most popular are dark chocolate Thin Mints, which make up 25 percent of all sales. Samoas and Tagalongs are the other big sellers, comprising 19 and 13 percent of sales, respectively.

Not all cookie varieties are quite so successful. The Girl Scouts have discontinued scores of cookie varieties during the program’s run, including Aloha Chips (with macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips), Apple Cinnamons, Double Dutch (chocolate cookies with chocolate chips), and the raspberry jam-filled Ice Berry Pi?atas.

Despite Girl Scouts’ efforts to make their cookies healthier (in 2007, several recipes were reworked so that they had zero trans-fat), the health-minded cookie offerings sell terribly. Many sugar-free and 100-calorie cookies have been briefly available, all disappearing quickly. Daisy Go Rounds, a 100-calorie replacement of the retired Cinna-Spins, only lasted two years (2009-2011).

Indeed, Savannah Smiles sound remarkably similar to another discontinued cookie, the Lemon Cooler (lemon-flavored cookies dusted in powdered sugar). But will it buck the trend and have the staying power of more enduring cookies?

You can soon decide for yourself. Most regional Girl Scout troops will begin cookie sales later this month, or in early February. To find a “cookie booth” in your area, visit girlscoutcookies.org. Girl Scouts knows how to move with the times, so you can also download the organizations official “Cookie Finder” app for your smartphone.

Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann, Desperate for a late lift in Iowa, Republican Michele Bachmann is increasingly stressing a distinction in the presidential field: She’s the only woman competing for the nomination.

The Minnesota congresswoman has made the gender card central to her closing argument. She’s urging voters to embrace the idea of a “strong woman in the White House” and is molding herself as “America’s Iron Lady” in the vein of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

It’s a play that carries as much risk as potential reward because some of the ardent religious conservatives she’s aggressively courting have traditional views about gender roles.

History is not on Bachmann’s side, either. Iowa has never elected a woman as governor or to its congressional delegation, a footnote shared only with Mississippi.

It was only a few years ago when GOP presidential nominee John McCain energized his campaign by putting Sarah Palin on the ticket, inspiring a hot pink-shirted army of voters the folksy former Alaska governor affectionately coined “mamma grizzlies.” Palin opted out of the 2012 race and so far isn’t pushing her followers in any direction.

Bachmann seldom underscored gender early in her campaign. She would sprinkle in mentions of motherhood and even shared an emotional story about how a miscarriage fortified her anti-abortion views. But she was mostly content letting voters notice the obvious difference on their own as she stood on debate stages surrounded by a bunch of men.

But as Bachmann darted around Iowa in the hectic days before Tuesday’s caucuses, she hit the woman theme hard.

“I’m an Iowa girl. And one thing I remember about Iowa is we are a state of strong women,” Bachmann told the lunch crowd at a 50s-themed burger joint in Mount Ayr. “We need a strong woman to turn this country around, right?”

Longtime residents Margaret Bickers and Mary Davenport, sitting in a booth near Bachmann, nodded in agreement.

“Women are just more passionate than the men,” Bickers told a reporter. “We need a woman who is not afraid to vocalize that passion and effect change.”

“It takes a woman to get things done,” Davenport chimed in. Both said they were inclined to caucus for Bachmann.

Bachmann dispenses warm hugs as readily as simple handshakes. She’ll sometimes run her hand along another woman’s back during conversations, extended contact her male challengers tend to avoid.

When a 90-year-old woman shared that she was a mother of 12, Bachmann crouched by her side to hear more. “What a blessing,” the candidate said.

Paul Ryan Response

Paul Ryan Response, The GOP gathering Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan for replying cements its status as the opposite party.

Tonight was a special moment for those who know Paul Ryan.

Janesville Craig students walk by his picture in bars of gold every day, Paul Ryan, Class of 1988.

Principal Alison Spiegel said: “I think it says you can do what you’re about to do.”

Dedicated to the honor of the school wall for his achievements and his dedication to the community, Ryan continues to make his school proud.

Tonight he was chosen to give the response of the Republican Party State Chairman of the Union address.

Spiegel said: “Absolutely, it’s a learning opportunity for our students and do not fall into the laps of our teachers.”

One of them, a king of ball former class president and has spent much time on the student council and sports teams.

Even those that say they did not know Craig personally Paul says they have heard many stories because he is not the kind of guy you forget.

A quick buzz directory shows how much he was involved, Latin club, club history, club Letterman band.

Former Professor Sam Loizzo said: “Paul had a disk to him. He knew what he wanted in life and went after him. ”

Loizzo Ryan learned in U.S. government class and remains a friend today.

Ryan gave him this letter of thanks and a copy of a document of the Congress shortly after he was elected.

Loizzo said, “We can have a difference of opinion about issues, but it’s one of those things where you can not fault the man.”

For over 15 years Ryan has taken the time to give to current students or to come and speak to Craig or meeting with children in DC when they are visiting on trips.

(AP) – Moving quickly, House Republicans are taking another whack at the federal spending on the day after a State of the Union in which the president Barack Obama gave the country “ready for Progress and legislators signs both parties to do their job creation goal.

“The challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics,” the president said in a speech on national television at the dawn of a new era of divided government.

Republicans applauded the president politely and tempered their criticism post-speech on a night where civility reigned more than two weeks after the shooting in Tucson, Arizona that killed six, left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D- Ariz., injured and stunned lawmakers.

“I assure you, we want to work with the president to reduce federal spending,” Wisconsin Republic Paul Ryan said at times the official Republican response after Obama spoke.

But the chairman of the House Budget Committee and said that rotate rapidly in the last two years Obama had presided over a huge rise in spending on domestic programs. Democrats, then “made things worse” with a law of health care plush with taxes, penalties, fees and mandates that stifle job creation, “he said.

“We want a few simple beliefs: Endless borrowing is not a strategy, spending cuts must come first,” he said, the latest indication that the Conservatives in Congress intend to seek deeper cuts in spending and more profound changes for the benefit programs Obama or the Democrats agree.

“We are facing a crushing burden of debt, Ryan said in a speech to the committee room, where the Republicans will soon begin drafting a plan to cut spending and reduce deficits.” Debt will soon eclipse our whole economy and reach catastrophic levels in the years to come. ”

While Republican leaders sought to put Ryan on the front, their plan was complicated by the decision of the Republic Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota, a favorite tea party, for a speech of his.

Newly in charge of the House, Republicans have already made an advance payment down on their commitment to reducing costs, the vote to prepare their own office expenses and accounts committee of 5 percent. On Tuesday, hours before Obama spoke, they went on the record for the reduction of most national programs to levels in place when Obama took office, and 17 Democrats joined them.

Deeper cuts are expected in the winter turns to spring, but another change was relatively low on the agenda of the House for the day after Obama’s speech.

It would eliminate the program of matching funds from the federal government to help fund presidential campaigns, and supporters said the savings would be $ 520 million and more than a decade.

The White House opposes the bill, saying the system should be improved, not eliminated.

Majority Leader of the House Eric Cantor, said Wednesday that the GOP can work with Obama on programs to stimulate the economy and create jobs, but that significant spending cuts are needed immediately. “We need to force the budget down,” he said on CBS ‘The Early Show. ”

For his part, Obama’s speech was followed by a trip to Wisconsin to tout the recovery of the economy out of recession so far, and as he turns to his reelection campaign for the action he describes in discourse.

Obama walked down the aisle of a packed room in the house political form much stronger than we could have anticipated three months ago.

Unemployment remains at 9.4 percent but the economy is growing, and the polls instead of his approval rate of over 50 per cent higher than it has been for almost a year. A recent survey has recorded a double-digit growth in recent months among independent voters, who deserted the Democrats and Republicans swung behind last fall.

In a speech that took place over an hour, the president coupled his call for a moratorium of five years on national programs to a request to increase spending on areas such as rail and high-speed clean energy.

He said he was open to changing the legislation on health care, but Republican critics said it would not agree to their demands for repeal.

He drew applause from the GOP deficit hawks in his audience when he said he would veto legislation containing pet projects known as dedicated. But he challenged lawmakers to make public any meetings they have with lobbyists, a step he said the White House has already taken.

He said that the finances of Social Security must be improved “without slashing benefits for future generations, and without the income of Americans guaranteed retirement to the whims of the stock market.” It was a message to Ryan and other Republicans who want to allow younger workers to create private retirement accounts as an alternative to the current system of government benefits.

Republicans were unanimous on one point – that Obama’s calls to reduce the expenses were not strong enough. The leader of the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said President General had “changed the tone and rhetoric” in its first two years of his term. But, he said, “The freeze on public spending for five years to increase the levels of these last two years is really not enough. ”

Senator Jim DeMint, RS.C. who has supported many challengers argued tea party in elections last fall, was contemptuous. “When the president says:” investment “, he means more federal government and higher taxes. Americans sent a clear message to the 2010 elections. They do not want to” invest “in the plans for big spending President Obama. ”

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement: “A partial freeze is insufficient at a time when we borrow 41 cents of every dollar we spend, and the administration is begging for another increase the limit of debt instead. Locking in spending spree job crushing the last two years, we strive to fulfill our promise to cut spending pre-‘stimulus, “for pre-bailout plan and to impose real spending limits. ”

And Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, said Obama’s proposed freeze was “nothing less than reckless driving towards a brick wall at 80 miles per hour, then placing on cruise control and calling it “the responsibility”. ”

Bachmann said that his speech was not intended to compete with the remarks of Mr. Ryan, but some Republican officials have privately expressed anger at his decision. Originally, his remarks were going to party supporters of tea, but that changed when CNN decided them live.

“Last November, you went to the polls and voted on politicians of great expense and put yourself in their place of men and women with a commitment to uphold the Constitution and reduce the size of government,” she said. “I think we’re in the beginning of a turn to make history.”

Bachmann has narrowly avoided a constitutional proportions gaffe in his speech.

Extracts published ahead of Obama calling for “a commitment to sign” a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget.

The Constitution gives the president no role in the changes, which go directly to states for ratification after Congress approves them.

Complete his remarks, published a few hours after the extracts, dropped the reference to a signature and simply called Obama to support the amendment.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Michele Bachmann Response

Michele Bachmann Response, (AFP) – Fired-up U.S. Republican Party papered over crack on the measure to cut spending, Tuesday, they mounted a frontal attack on the hours of the policies of President Barack Obama before his State of the Union speech.

Enemies of the White House in the House of Representatives have rallied nearly 20 Democrats voted with the chamber of 256-165 for a bill calling non-binding on the government to do with what it spent in 2008.

“The American people rejected the idea that we can spend and borrow the path to prosperity,” Speaker of the House Republican John Boehner said, referring to November 2 routs of the Democrats by Obama Voters angry against high unemployment.

“We listened, and tonight the American people whether Obama did the same,” Boehner said after the House approved a symbolic measure, which reflects a Republican campaign promise.

Moreover, the Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor said the House would vote the week of Feb. 14 – when Obama is due to unveil its annual budget – the renewal of a spending bill stopgap expires in March 4.

“So we are serious in achieving our commitment to reduce expenses,” Cantor told reporters.

Republicans also preemptively rejected the word of the White House, Obama proposes a five-year freeze in non-security discretionary spending in order to contain the runaway deficit of the United States and deflate the rising debt of the United States.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel has called Obama’s approach “insufficient” and warned it would “lock” the Democrats ‘job killer’ political past two years, unlike the “more serious” Republican approach.

In the Senate, Mitch McConnell top Republican supported Obama to use his annual agenda setting – mid-way through his re-election in 2012 – to do more than simply a change of rhetoric in politics.

“We all have noticed with great interest that the president seems to want to go in a different direction. We hope this is not only a change in rhetoric at the center, but also a real change in the center, “said McConnell.

But the Republicans face their own trouble spots, including a push by many party members of the House’s most conservative to cut spending more deeply than their leaders were planning to do so, amid dire warnings that the Democrats the cuts will stall rather than the speed of economic sputtering U.S. recovery.

And party leaders laughed about the internal dissent that archconservative “Tea Party” movement initiated a firebrand legislator, Republican Representative Michele Bachmann, offer their own televised rebuttal of Obama’s speech.

Senior Republicans – Bachmann and itself – insisted his remarks were not in competition with the official Republican answer to be offered by the House Budget Commission Chairman Paul Ryan.

“We are all on the same page,” House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, adding: “. Most of us who can get the message out there, the better”

“Paul Ryan is our official response to the GOP,” itself would have said Bachmann, on Monday morning in his home state of Minnesota. “I’m just reacting to what Obama said … This is not supposed to compete in any way. ”

And Steel noted that it was common for legislators to comment on annual speech of the President’s agenda setting.

“Whether through a press release, Twitter, Internet, television, radio, via Facebook or by other means, almost all members of Congress will share their thoughts,” he said.

Republican support also noted that Obama gave his own answer to the predecessor of George W. Bush ‘s State of the Union in 2008, while it fell to another Democrat formal objection to the party.

Bachmann, who has fueled rumors she may run for president in 2012, is known for heated rhetorical attacks on Obama and his politics: She called last week for a “revocation” and denounced the president’s state of health care signing the Law Review as “the crown jewel of socialism.”

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

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