Presidential candidate Rick Perry is suggesting Republican rival Mitt Romney would not provide a stark enough contrast with President Obama in the 2012 election because of “RomneyCare.” As governor of Massachusetts, Romney signed a law which requires Massachusetts residents to get health insurance or pay a penalty. “Government-mandated, government-run health care — it is part of what he put in place as the governor of Massachusetts,” Perry says. “…I think it’s very important that we put someone as our nominee that does not blur the lines between President Obama and the Republican Party.” According to Perry, a Beacon Hill Institute study shows Massachusetts lost thousands of jobs because of the state health care mandate.

“If it cost Massachusetts 18,000 jobs, think about what ObamaCare is going to do to this country,” Perry said. “RomneyCare has driven private insurance costs up by $4.3 billion in Massachusetts.” Perry touts his own record as governor of Texas as the “blueprint” for turning the economy around. During this past Monday’s televised debate among the G-O-P candidates, Romney suggested the economy in Texas was booming for a variety of reasons other than Perry’s stewardship as governor. Perry brought that up during a speech last night (Thursday) in Jefferson, Iowa.

“Governor Romney the other night, he said that about, you know, he said, well, it’s pretty easy to be governor when you get four aces in your hand and you think you’re good at poker,” Perry said. “You know, there’s some folks back in Texas that were a little offended by that. We worked hard in Texas. We put good, hard, practical principles into play.” Perry also seemed to criticize Romney’s background. Romney’s the son of a former Michigan governor, and George Romney earned his wealth in the car industry.

“As the son of tenant farmers, I can promise you I wasn’t born with four aces in my hand,” Perry said near the beginning of his speech, and the crowd laughed as many recognized the phrase from Monday’s debate. “But like many of you the American dream was available to us because this country that we live in is not a class society. This country is based on hard-work and vision and anyone who does that can achieve anything that they desire.” Governor Perry’s appearance at the Greene County G-O-P fundraiser in Jefferson was arranged this past Tuesday and about 200 people showed up last night to hear the Texan. He’s scheduled to be in Atlantic this afternoon at 2:15, for a tour of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, and to give some prepared remarks.

(Radio Iowa)

The bleeding of red ink at the U-S Postal Service could affect the life-blood of more than just small town post offices across Iowa and around the country. Officials with the USPS says larger facilities in medium-sized towns could close as well.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a press conference yesterday, the USPS is forced to face a new reality, and as a result, four Processing Centers in Iowa, five in Nebraska and two in Missouri, are on a list of 252 centers nationwide targeted for possible consolidation or closure as the post office searches for ways to save money. The Processing centers in Creston, Carroll, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids are all candidates for closure. That’s in addition to the 178 proposed post office closings across Iowa which were previously announced. Closing the mail processing centers could cost as many as 35,000 jobs.

The mail processing network was designed to process and deliver First-Class mail within a 1-3 day window. If the change is implement, Donahoe says the new service standard would become 2-3 days. It would also save the agency as much as $3-billion. Donahoe said First-Class mail is the backbone of the Postal Service, but with a dramatic decline in mail volume and a resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is “….No longer realistic.

The Post Office faces competition with the Internet. With a struggling economy, less advertising mail is flowing through the system. The agency lost $8.5-billion last year, and is facing an even larger deficit this year. It’s not clear when the proposed changes to the Postal Service’s system will take place.