Chad’s Morning Brief: GOP Primary in Illinois, LCU Candidate Forum, & More

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of March 20, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am. LFN is broadcasting live this morning from 7-9am at Good Brews Coffee & Tea Lounge. Come on out and join the show and have some coffee. Details here.

1. LCU Candidate Forum Tonight (link)

A great event is being held tonight on the campus of Lubbock Christian University. The LCU College Republicans are hosting a non-partisan forum with the candidates running for office in this area. The forum starts at 6pm at the Baker Conference Center on the LCU campus and is expected to last until about 8pm. Admission is free, but they ask that you bring at least one can of food for the South Plains Food Bank.

This is a great chance to hear from many of the candidates running for office. Even though there won't be a question and answer period, you will have the chance to go up to the candidates and talk to them one on one.

I hear people call in all the time saying that they wish more people would take an interest in who is running for what. Well, here is your chance. I plan on being there, and I hope you will be as well to hear the candidates running for office.

2. It's Romney vs. Santorum in Illinois (link)

Both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are fighting to win the state of Illinois. As of right now, Romney is still predicted by many to win the state, but Santorum could come back and surprise people. A Santorum win would be devastating to the Romney camp though.

"If Santorum wins, the question will arise: How can Romney beat Obama if he can't beat Santorum?" said Christopher Robling, an Illinois-based Republican consultant and former member of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. "That's not to say that either Santorum or Romney would become the nominee ... it's just to say that it would shake the ground under the Romney campaign."

Personally, I don't see Romney losing tonight in Illinois. Though it could be closer than a 7 point win, in which case Rick Santorum should be kicking himself. Santorum wasted 2 days in Puerto Rico where he had no shot of winning. Santorum should have spent that time in Illinois.

3. Is Santorum Off Message? (link)

Many have said issue number one in the election should and will be the economy, but according to Politico, Santorum isn't focusing much on that.

Since winning primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, Santorum’s standard remarks have generally excluded an economic plan — the heart and soul of the message his chief GOP rival, Mitt Romney, repeats at event after event, day after day.

On Monday afternoon, Santorum revived talk of his jobs plan and renewing the manufacturing sector, but added: “I don’t care what the unemployment rate’s going to be…My campaign doesn’t hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. It’s something more foundational going on.”

“We have one nominee who says he wants to run the economy. What kind of conservative says that the president runs the economy?” Santorum asked. “We conservatives generally think that government doesn’t create jobs.”

During two events in the Chicago suburbs on Friday and in a handful of Sunday appearances in Louisiana, primarily at churches — Santorum didn’t once mention jobs without being prodded by a questioner.

During speeches Sunday in Shreveport and Bossier City, Santorum stuck closely to his promise that he wasn’t there “to give a political speech, I’m here to share with you a little bit about my journey and my life as a Christian,” weaving a compelling story about his family and faith journey, but with no mention of the pivotal issue that Americans say will most motivate them at the polls.

The former Pennsylvania senator concluded a 52-minute speech at an Arlington Heights, Ill., Christian school, without once saying the word “jobs.” He said the word “economy” three times — once each in reference to health-care reform, the Wall Street bailout and the federal government “controlling sectors of our economy.”

Is Santorum hurting himself by not focusing on the economy? Or is he talking about the issues that need to be talked about.

4. Women Take on Perry (link)

This is real mature...

Women aren't too happy with Rick Perry's stance on family planning funding. Today, they let him know the best way they could, with some well-directed Internet snark.

Posts asking Perry's advice about everything from menstruation to menopause flooded the governor's Facebook wall this morning. They've since been taken down, and new posting has been disabled, but screenshots document the whole episode.

Come on ladies! Stop blaming Rick Perry and the Republicans. It was the Obama administration that cut off the funds!

5. Dumb story of the morning (link)

Want to give food to the homeless in NYC? Too bad.

So much for serving the homeless.

The Bloomberg administration is now taking the term “food police” to new depths, blocking food donations to all government-run facilities that serve the city’s homeless.

In conjunction with a mayoral task force and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services recently started enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters. Since DHS can’t assess the nutritional content of donated food, shelters have to turn away good Samaritan.

6. Good Brews Good News of the Day (link)

What would you do if you found $7,000?

A doughnut shop owner lost a bag with thousands of dollars inside -- and the person who found it made sure the owner got it back.

The owner of a doughnut shop in Friendswood put the bag on his car and drove off. Danny DeLaRosa found it on the side of a road.

"I saw it was a money bag and I just stopped and picked it up," he said.

DeLaRosa works for the city of Alvin cleaning up streets. He said he was stunned to discover that $7,000 was inside.

Instead of keeping the dough, he turned it over to his boss. His boss turned it over to the doughnut shop owner.

"He was shocked that someone was still honest," said Andre Roberts, DeLaRosa's boss. "He was happy -- very happy."

DeLaRosa said the money was not worth more than his honor.

"My wife … she couldn't believe it," he said. "She was happy for me."

Everyday, Good Brews Coffee & Tea Lounge brings you the Good News of the Day! Join LFN on Tuesday, March 20, from 7-9am at Good Brews! Details!

Other Top Stories:

Stories about Malia Obama in Mexico Are Disappearing

Manning Headed to Denver

Obama Misleading People?

No Celebration of ObamaCare

US Government Spent Almost a Billion on Ads

LFN LIVE at Good Brews on Tuesday!

Guests Appearing on LFN Today:

Congressman Randy Neugebauer at 7:37am

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show atkfyo.com.