Despite some positive economic signs in a handful of key presidential swing states, voters in those states don’t see the U.S. economy being much better than the rest of the country, according to a new Gallup poll.

There has been a storyline bubbling beneath the surface this election year — The Fix boss wrote on it a couple weeks back — that despite the continued economic hardship in this country, there are signs of progress in a handful of swing states that could, in turn, perform better for President Obama than national polls suggest. The unemployment rate, for example, is either below the national average or trending downward in all eight states rated as swing states by The Fix.

Continue Reading »

President Obama defended Vice President Biden’s “chains” remarks in an interview with People magazine Wednesday, while Douglas Wilder, the country’s first elected African-American governor since Reconstruction, has accused Biden of making a race-based appeal.

At issue is a comment Biden made at a campaign rally in southern Virginia on Tuesday. The vice president said that presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s approach to financial regulation will “put ya’ll back in chains.” Biden made the remark in front of a racially mixed audience that included African Americans.

Continue Reading »

Being a government outsider with the ability to rely on personal money to finance a campaign isn’t proving to be a silver bullet this election cycle.

Across the country, self-funding political newcomers from the private sector have struggled in Senate races. Two have lost in less than two weeks in Missouri and Wisconsin, while a third appears likely to lose in Arizona later this month.

Continue Reading »

Mitt Romney still isn’t releasing his tax returns.

In an interview set to air on NBC’s “Rock Center” tonight, Ann Romney reiterated the now-familar position of she and her husband when it comes to putting any more than their 2010 and 2011 returns out: No way, no how.

“We have been very transparent to what’s legally required of us,” Ann Romney told NBC’s Natalie Morales. “There’s going to be no more tax releases given.”

Continue Reading »

Artur Davis weigh on Biden’s “chains” comment, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will talk about Medicare in Ohio, and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) concedes.

Make sure to sign up to receive “Afternoon Fix” every day in your e-mail inbox by 5(ish) p.m.!

EARLIER ON THE FIX:

How Tommy Thompson’s win in Wisconsin changes the Senate majority fight

Continue Reading »

Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson’s narrow victory in Wisconsin’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday not only bolsters his party’s chances of winning the seat in the fall election but also betters the GOP’s chances of re-claiming the majority in the chamber this November.

Thompson, a former four-term governor of the Badger State, was lambasted during the primary as insufficiently conservative on a whole range of issues including health care.  Of course, that same moderate image works to Thompson’s advantage in a general election fight against Rep. Tammy Baldwin where his task will be to win over independents and even some leaning Democratic voters.

Continue Reading »

Rep. Connie Mack IV cruised to victory on Tuesday in Florida’s Republican Senate primary, winning nearly 60 percent of the vote against nominal competition he barely acknowledged during the campaign.

But toppling Sen. Bill Nelson, a likable second-term Democrat with a nearly $9 million campaign account is a considerably more demanding task. Mack begins the race as an underdog, but not one without a path to victory. To pull an upset, he’ll need to tighten up a shaky campaign.

Continue Reading »