The Fix: 2012
Democrats keep up tax attacks against Romney
Democrats are not satisfied with Mitt Romney’s tax information, Elizabeth Warren releases a new ad, and Ed Case wants to know why he lost in Hawaii.
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Obama team offers Romney tax return deal: five years
President Obama’s campaign is proposing a grand bargain when it comes to Mitt Romney’s tax returns.
In a letter to Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades early Friday, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina wrote that if Romney releases five years of returns — three more than he currently has agreed to — the Obama campaign will not call on him to release any more.
New poll shows Obama holds slim lead over Romney in Wisconsin
A new poll shows a close presidential race in Wisconsin, Harry Reid isn’t satisfied by Mitt Romney’s tax talk, and Paul Ryan is headed to Florida this weekend.
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Paul Ryan’s stimulus problem
Updated at 6:10 p.m. with response from Romney campaign.
Paul Ryan says his office mishandled constituent requests for stimulus funding, which is why he claimed to have never requested stimulus funds even as the documents told a different story.
The GOP’s new vice presidential candidate has said repeatedly that he has never asked for stimulus funds, but recent reports indicate he has written letters on behalf of local businesses seeking them.
Obama defends Biden comment but nation’s first black governor doesn’t
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.
Self-funded candidates struggle in Senate races
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.
Artur Davis: ‘I know what Joe Biden was doing yesterday’
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.
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How Tommy Thompson’s win in Wisconsin changes the Senate majority fight
Can Connie Mack defeat Bill Nelson in Florida?
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.
Obama’s silent, non-voting majority
If everyone in America voted, President Obama would be on his way to a second term.
That’s the finding of a new poll from Suffolk University and USA Today. Obama leads Mitt Romney by 43 percent to 14 percent among the nearly 2 in 5 Americans who are likely to sit out the 2012 election. More of these people — 23 percent — say they would vote for a third party candidate rather than vote for Romney. Another 19 percent are either undecided or refused to say whom they would support.
Ann Romney: Releasing more taxes would mean more attacks
Ann Romney says she and her husband, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, have “nothing” they are hiding in their financial record, but won’t be releasing more tax returns publicly because it will only prompt more attacks.
“We have been very transparent to what’s legally required of us,” Ann Romney told NBC’s “Rock Center” in an interview scheduled to air Thursday evening. “There’s going to be no more tax releases given.”
Thompson wins Republican Senate nomination in Wisconsin
Former governor Tommy Thompson won the Republican Senate primary in Wisconsin on Tuesday, edging out self-funding businessman Eric Hovde. Thompson will face Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin in the general election.
The AP called the race for Thompson, who led Hovde 35 percent to 30 percent, with 81 percent of precincts reporting.
Chris Christie to deliver keynote address at Republican convention
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will deliver the keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this month, while Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) will introduce Mitt Romney.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivers remarks and answers questions at the Brookings Institution.
(Chip Somodevilla - Getty Images)
Obama makes Seamus the dog joke about Romney
Americans For Prosperity launches a new ad against President Obama, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) attacks the president on energy and the Senate ad war in Missouri is in full swing.
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Romney turns Medicare attack against Obama in new ad
As Democrats move to tie Mitt Romney to his newly minted running mate’s proposal to revamp Medicare as a voucher system for Americans currently under 55, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has released a new TV ad that goes on offense against Obama on Medicare.
“Obama has cut $716 billion dollars from Medicare,” says the narrator of the Romney campaign ad. “Why? To pay for Obamacare.”
Biden: Romney’s approach to financial regulation will ‘put y’all back in chains’
Campaigning in southern Virginia on Tuesday, Vice President Biden told an audience that Mitt Romney’s approach to regulating the financial industry will “put y’all back in chains,” a remark that triggered a flurry of Republican criticism, including a sharp rebuke from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
Your RNC keynote speaker: Chris Christie’s best moments
What will Chris Christie say in his Republican National Committee convention keynote speech?
We don’t know (sorry). But the New Jersey governor is one of the most prolific politicians on YouTube. So we can look at some of his greatest rhetorical moments for some hints.
Most of Christie’s greatest hits (which his office often records and promotes) had to do with his state’s long fight against teachers’ unions — a topic that will likely come up at the RNC.
New Obama ad: ‘Get real, Mitt’
A new ad from President Obama’s reelection campaign tells students — and their parents — that Mitt Romney would make it harder to pay for college and is out-of-touch with the average family’s costs.
A clip of Romney suggesting that students borrow money from their parents to pay for school plays twice, with the narrator adding at the end, “Get real, Mitt.”
Why the Wisconsin Senate primary matters
In a state that has hosted two rounds of historic recall elections in the last year, Tuesday’s primary might seem like an afterthought.
But a Senate primary season that has already featured Republican upsets in Nebraska, Indiana, Missouri and Texas might make room for one more in the Badger State. And it just might be the most consequential one of all.
Former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson greets supporters after formally launching his bid for U.S. Senate.
(Dinesh Ramde - Associated Press)
What’s the matter with Iowa?
President Obama is in the midst of a three-day campaign swing through the state of Iowa, his longest visit to one state so far in the 2012 race and a sign of the concern and consequence with which his side holds the Hawkeye State.
President Barack Obama stops for a snow cone at Tropical Sno, Monday, Aug. 13, 2012, in Denison, Iowa, during a three day campaign bus tour through Iowa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
“I have nightmares about the electoral college coming down to 266-266, with Iowa to decide it,” said longtime Iowa Democratic operative Jerry Crawford. “It’s not as far-fetched as it might sound.”
Added Dave Roederer, who ran the George W. Bush operation in Iowa: “This is an unprecedented five-city tour. I doubt he’s here for the mountains.”
Fix Veep Pick ‘Em Contest
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan was only the fourth most popular pick among Fix readers in the Veepstakes pick ’em pool we ran last month.
High-fives all around for the Fix Veepstakes pick ‘em contest winners.
Sens. Marco Rubio (Fl.) and Rob Portman (Ohio) and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty were all favored over Ryan in our informal poll, and no o ne correctly guessed Ryan would be named to the ticket on Aug. 11.
Paul Ryan makes solo debut in Iowa
Mitt Romney talks Medicare in Florida, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) makes his solo debut in Iowa, and Bill Clinton enters the fray in Connecticut's 5th District.
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5 races where Paul Ryan could matter
Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate is a decision that will impact congressional races this fall. Of that we are certain.
But, where might Ryan on the national ticket grow into a major issue? Based on demographic data, history and the candidates running, below are five races in which the Ryan ripple effect is worth watching in the fall.
Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) could face another race in which Medicare is a central issue.
(Harry Scull Jr - AP)
What Ayn Rand says about Paul Ryan
Voters might be most interested in Paul Ryan’s workout plan. But the Republican vice presidential nominee has another interest dating back to high school, one that sheds a little more light on his economic plans: the philosopher and author Ayn Rand.
Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist, is shown in Manhattan with the Grand Central Terminal building in background in 1962. (AP Photo)
Ryan has referenced Rand repeatedly over the course of her career, saying her writings got him into economics and policy. Ryan told the New Yorker recently that he has been reading Rand since high school; it was “Atlas Shrugged” that got him interested in economics. In March of 2003, Ryan told the Weekly Standard he was still a huge fan.
“I give out ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it,” he said. “Well... I try to make my interns read it.”
How Paul Ryan impacts the electoral map. Or doesn’t.
The word “game-changer” is being thrown around quite a bit in regards Mitt Romney’s selection as Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate over the weekend.
And there is a case to be made — and Republicans will make it — that Ryan re-focuses the election on the need for big ideas and hard truths.
But, does Ryan really change the game as it relates to the race for 270 electoral votes? Not really, according to our latest look at the Fix’s electoral map.
Paul Ryan pick is less popular than Palin, Cheney selections, poll shows
Rep. Paul Ryan starts his vice presidential campaign in not-so-great territory, with Americans rating his selection more unfavorably than any pick since at least 2000, according to a new poll.
The USA Today/Gallup poll shows 42 percent rate Mitt Romney’s selection of Ryan (R-Wis.) as “fair” or “poor,” while 39 percent rate it as “excellent” or “pretty good.”
Those numbers are worse than the initial reactions to both Dick Cheney in 2000 and Sarah Palin in 2008. And they appear to be the worst since Dan Quayle in 1988 (according to a different pollster). All three Republicans wound up being very unpopular in the following years.
Presidential debate moderators announced: Crowley is first woman in 20 years
The 2012 presidential debates will feature a female moderator for the first time in 20 years.
The Presidential Debate Commission announced Monday that PBS’s Jim Lehrer, CBS’s Bob Schieffer and CNN’s Candy Crowley will moderate the three presidential debates, while ABC’s Martha Raddatz will moderate the lone vice presidential debate between Vice President Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
We read the Paul Ryan New Yorker profile so you don’t have to
The Fix loves a good political profile. Little details sprinkled across a well-reported 6,000-word story go a long way toward explaining the individuals shaping the political and policy debates in Washington.
With Mitt Romney’s Saturday announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential running mate, there isn’t a story more indispensable to understanding the new member of the GOP ticket than Ryan Lizza’s recent profile of him in the New Yorker. The story tracks Ryan from his youth, through his early days as a rank-and-file member of the House, to his emergence as a leading voice in the Republican Party.
But we know you’re busy. So we’ve read the story and plucked out the most telling passages. Without further ado, below are the most revealing parts.
Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
(Mary Altaffer - AP)
Sarah Palin won’t speak at GOP convention
Sarah Palin has announced that she will not be speaking at the 2012 Republican National Convention, saying it’s time to give others a chance.
“This year is a good opportunity for other voices to speak at the convention and I’m excited to hear them,” she said in a statement to Fox News’s Greta van Susteren.
The 25-day fight to define Paul Ryan
In 25 days, we’ll likely know whether Mitt Romney picking Paul Ryan was a savvy strategy to make the November election about big ideas or a fizzled failure that collapsed under the weight of the controversial budget proposals put forward by the Wisconsin Republican.
Five issues where Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan differ
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are joining forces to try and return the Republican Party to power in Washington.
But, as with any newly formed team, there have been times when and issues on which they haven’t been on the same page.
There don’t appear to be many major policy differences between the two men, but here are five worth noting:
1. The auto bailout
Ryan supported the auto bailout four years ago, while Romney opposed it.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks alongside his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, during a campaign rally at the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, N.C., on Sunday. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Fight over campaign ads spills into Sunday shows
The back-and-forth over a pair of controversial ads recently released by Mitt Romney’s campaign and a super PAC supporting President Obama spilled over into the Sunday morning news shows, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling the anti-Romney spot “disgraceful” and a top Obama adviser criticizing the Romney campaign’s negative ad against the president.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaks during an interview by AFP in March .
(KAREN BLEIER - AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Newt Gingrich, in about face, sings Ryan’s praises
Newt Gingrich, the former Republican presidential candidate who in 2011 referred to Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) plan to revamp Medicare as “right-wing social engineering” defended of Ryan’s budget proposal on Sunday. The former House speaker said on CBS’ “Face The Nation” that the “basic thrust” of Ryan’s budget plan “is the right direction” for the country.
Newt Gingrich vouched for Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget plan on Sunday.
(Spencer Platt - GETTY IMAGES)
Tim Pawlenty ‘not disappointed’ Romney didn’t pick him
Former Minnesota Republican governor Tim Pawlenty says he is “not disappointed” that Mitt Romney did not select him as his vice presidential running mate, and called Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a “terrific” nominee.
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (R) speaks at the Iowa Straw Poll in August 2011.
(Scott Olson - GETTY IMAGES)
Scott Walker: Paul Ryan appeals to swing voters
A day after Mitt Romney named Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) his vice presidential running mate, Ryan’s home state governor, Republican Scott Walker, sought to pitch the congressman to moderate voters, while President Obama’s chief strategist moved to cast him as far to the right of the political middle.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) says Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) relates well to all voters.
(Joe Raedle - GETTY IMAGES)
Mazie Hirono defeats Ed Case in Hawaii Senate race
Democratic Rep. Mazie Hirono easily defeated former congressman Ed Case in Hawaii’s Democratic Senate primary on Saturday. Hirono will face former Republican governor Linda Lingle in the general election.
Democrat Rep. Mazie Hirono, left, and Senator Daniel Inouye speak to supporters after Hirono won the Democratic primary nomination for a Hawaii seat in the U.S. Senate, Saturday, Aug. 11.
(Marco Garcia - AP)
With all precincts reporting, Hirono captured 57 percent of the vote while Case only got 40 percent. Hirono was backed by both the state and national Democratic establishment and outraised Case by a substantial margin during the campaign. But divergent polling during the stretch run of the contest suggested Saturday's election might be close.
Can Paul Ryan deliver Wisconsin for Romney?
Mitt Romney took the historically rare step Saturday of selecting a running mate from one of the most competitive states in the presidential race.
But it's unclear that the pick will -- or was even designed to -- help Romney secure the vote in Wisconsin.
Paul Ryan’s budget: Democrats’ ace in the hole?
Conservatives will be thrilled with the selection of their favored pick, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), as Mitt Romney’s running mate, but Democratic campaign operatives may be just as excited.
Democrats have gotten significant mileage out of attacking the budget Ryan has proposed as chairman of the House Budget Committee, particularly the portion of it that would turn Medicare into a voucher program.
What Paul Ryan’s VP pick means for his House seat
Mitt Romney’s decision to select Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential running mate raises the question of what happens in the Badger State’s 1st District, where Ryan is favored to win reelection in the fall. According to state election law, Ryan would not have to sacrifice his spot on the congressional ballot even though he is also running for vice president. He would appear on the ballot twice.
Mitt Romney is set to name Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential running mate.
(Justin Sullivan - GETTY IMAGES)
Huntsman Sr. wants Romney to release more tax returns
Jon Huntsman Sr. calls on Mitt Romney to release more taxes, YG Action spends nearly $6 million on fall ad time, and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) hits Rep. Todd Akin (R) in her first ads of the general election.
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Romney ad: Obama using ‘woman’s death for political gain’
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is escalating his campaign against a recent dubious super PAC ad, airing his own ad declaring that Obama “will say or do anything to stay in power.”
Ad trackers show that the Priorities USA Action ad has not actually aired on television. But Romney is hitting back with his own ad, which according to the campaign will run on TV.
Where the tea party has mattered (and where it hasn’t)
The tea party has left a major mark on the 2012 Senate race landscape. Or has it?
Republican primary upsets won by candidates once viewed as underdogs (or even complete non-factors) in Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, and Indiana have brought renewed attention to a movement that altered the 2010 midterm environment.
But how much credit does the tea party deserve for a roiled Senate landscape? Not as much as you might think.
The tea party has made a difference in some Senate races, but hasn’t mattered as much in others.
(Julie Jacobson - Associated Press)
Obama plays defense with welfare ad
President Obama is using a new TV ad to push back on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s claims that the administration is planning to “gut welfare.”
“Blatant” quotes the New York Times, The Washington Post and former President Bill Clinton in knocking down the attack, which is based on a new Health and Human Services policy offering some states more flexibility in how (but not whether) they move people from welfare to work.
The lamest week of the 2012 campaign
It’s official: The 2012 presidential campaign has hit rock bottom.
President Obama delivers remarks during a campaign event at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday. (AFP PHOTO/Jim Watson)In the course of the last week, the following things have occurred:
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Mitt Romney hadn’t paid taxes in a decade, but refused to name his source.
* President Obama referred to the Republican presidential nominee as “Romney Hood” because he allegedly robs from the poor to give to the rich.
* Romney dubbed Obama’s alleged exaggerations about his record as “Obama-loney.”
* A Democratic super PAC ran an ad that not-so-subtly suggested that Romney’s actions led to the death of a woman.
* The Romney campaign released an ad accusing Obama of working to “gut” welfare reform, a claim that independent fact-checkers found highly questionable.
New poll shows Obama leading Romney by 7
President Obama leads Mitt Romney by 7 points in a new CNN/ORC poll, Heather Wilson attacks Martin Heinrich in a new ad, and four McCotter aides face charges in Michigan.
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Another Obama ad suggests that Mitt Romney paid no taxes in some years
President Obama’s campaign is out with its second ad suggesting that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney skirted taxes altogether at some points in his career.
As with a previous ad raising the same idea, this spot combines facts about Romney’s money-management history with allegations that can’t be proved — at least, unless the Republican candidate releases his tax returns.
“Did Romney pay 10 percent in taxes? Five percent? Zero?” the narrator asks. “We don’t know.” A clip plays in which Romney says he’s “happy to go back and look” at his past tax returns.
The narrator continues, “But we do know that Romney personally approved over $70 million in fictional losses to the IRS as part of the notorious ‘Son of Boss’ tax scandal. One of the largest tax avoidance schemes in history. Isn’t it time for Romney to come clean?”
How John Hickenlooper can help President Obama
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) could be the most important swing-state governor of the 2012 election.
The reason: The first-term governor is popular — extremely popular — and that could bode well for President Obama in what is increasingly looking like a pivotal state in the 2012 election. In addition, Hickenlooper is one of few swing-state governors with legitimate national ambitions right now.
That makes the 2012 election an invaluable time for him to get his name out there and build a base of support for a potential future run for president.
And that could play into Obama’s hands in a tough state — that is, if Hickenlooper embraces the president.
President Obama makes a statement from the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo., on Sunday, July 22, 2012. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is at left. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Can Congress compromise? Watch a Fix Google Plus Hangout with Reps. Baird, Djou
Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) became the latest moderate member of Congress to cite the hyper-partisan climate on Capitol Hill as he announced his retirement last week.
Why is it that way, and will it change? Former members of Congress Brian Baird (D-Wash.) and Charles Djou (R-Hawaii), who is running to reclaim the seat he lost in 2010, joined the Fix’s Aaron Blake and Sean Sullivan for a Google Plus Hangout on Thursday.
Like Angry Birds? You’re a swing voter.
Ever wonder what sites we tend to visit most frequently on the Internet — you know, the series of tubes — say about our political leanings? Us too.
Now we have some answers thanks to a very cool project from Engage DC, a Republican consulting company with a digital focus.
The chart, a bigger version of which you can see here, is absolutely fascinating. (For more on the methodology, scroll to the bottom of this post.)
Romney on not releasing more tax returns: ‘I’m not a business’
The man who once said “corporations are people” apparently doesn’t believe the inverse.
When pressed on why he’s not releasing more tax returns in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Mitt Romney justified it by saying: “I’m not a business.”
Bloomberg asked Romney whether, if he was investing in a company, he would want to see more than two years of financial reports, likening that process to the American people electing a president. But Romney suggested the standards aren’t the same for people and businesses.
Romney ad: Obama waging ‘war on religion’
Mitt Romney makes an appeal to the Catholic vote with his latest ad, moving away from the economy to talk about health care and contraception.
President Obama has touted newly expanded contraception coverage in ads aimed at women. Now Romney is using the expanded coverage to say the president declared a “war on religion.”
Romney’s motorcade upstages wedding party
President Obama courts the support of women in Colorado, Romney’s motorcade upstages a wedding party, the DCCC adds 13 more “Red-to-Blue” races, and Tommy Thompson proves he can do a lot of push-ups.
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Romney moves to embrace ‘Romneycare’
The health-care law which shall not be named is starting to get mentioned.
Twice today, Mitt Romney’s campaign has cited the health-care law he signed as Massachusetts governor — seeking credit for something it took pains to explain away during the Republican primary race.
Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul, responding to a harsh new super PAC ad featuring a man who blames Bain Capital for his uninsured wife’s death, broke new ground for the campaign by praising Romney’s health insurance mandate.
“To that point, if people had been in Massachusetts, under Gov. Romney’s health care plan, they would have had health care,” Saul said on Fox News. “There are a lot of people losing their jobs and losing their health care in President Obama’s economy.” (These comments are around the 2-minute mark in the video above.)
Similarly, at an event in Iowa today, Romney seemed to suggest his bill qualifies him to tackle reforming Obama’s bill: “We’ve got to do some reforms in health care, and I have some experience doing that as you know, and I know how to make a better setting than the one we have in health care.”
Partisans love to hate President Obama and Mitt Romney
More than eight in 10 Republicans view President Obama unfavorably, while a similar number of Democrats see former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in an negative light, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The numbers are just the latest sign of the deep partisan divide gripping the 2012 presidential race.
Eighty-four percent of Republicans view Obama unfavorably, while 80 percent of Democrats feel the same about Romney. Those are among the highest numbers ever measured for the opposing candidates in Post-ABC polling, far outdistancing all but how Republicans viewed Bill Clinton in 1996 (78 percent unfavorable) and how Democrats saw George W. Bush in 2004 (76 percent unfavorable).
Here’s a full chart detailing how the opposite party has felt about the presidential nominees dating back to 1988:
Bill Clinton denounces Romney’s welfare ad
Former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Presidential Library (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)Former president Bill Clinton is speaking out against a new ad from Mitt Romney’s campaign that accuses President Obama of rolling back Clinton’s welfare reforms.
“Gov. Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true,” Clinton said in a statement from his office at the Clinton Foundation released late Tuesday night.
Romney opens up new line of attack against Obama
Romney lobs an “Obama-loney” attack against the president, Cardon goes dark in Arizona, and Quayle goes after a Schweikert’s mailer saying he “goes both ways.”
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Obama and Romney coin competing terms: ‘Romney Hood’ vs. ‘Obamaloney’
The race to create the catchiest new word in the 2012 presidential contest is on.
The two latest entries:
From Team Obama comes “Romney Hood,” coined by President Obama on Monday to describe, in Obama’s words, the “reverse Robin Hood” scenario in which Mitt Romney’s tax plan takes from the poor to give to the rich.
And from Team Romney: “Obamaloney,” which Romney coined Tuesday as shorthand for what he says are the Obama campaign’s distortions of his record and policies — particularly on taxes.
A protester dressed as Robin Hood holds a a sign at the Occupy Ottawa protest in Ottawa’s Confederation Park on Oct. 15 last year. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Patrick Doyle)
Romney ad says Obama will ‘gut welfare reform’
A new ad from Mitt Romney accuses President Obama of destroying one of the last Democratic president’s signature policies — the “Welfare to Work” program.
The ad is part of a new Romney campaign push focused on welfare, part of an ongoing effort to paint Obama as a big-government liberal out of step with former president Bill Clinton.
The ad criticizes Obama for permitting states to get waivers for the program — although Romney supported welfare waivers when he was Massachusetts governor.
Priorities ad ties Mitt Romney to cancer death
This post has been updated.
A new ad from a super PAC supporting President Obama ties former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to a family’s loss of health insurance and a woman’s subsequent death from cancer.
It’s the fourth hard-hitting ad from Priorities USA Action that focuses on former workers at companies closed by Romney’s former private equity firm, Bain Capital.
Mitt Romney’s money edge — and whether it matters
In the past two months, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee have outraised President Obama and the Democratic National Committee by $61 million.
And, while Obama’s campaign has yet to release its cash-on-hand total at the end of July, it’s a near-certainty that Romney’s $26 million edge at the end of June widened in July.
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (C) greets supporters as he arrives at a campaign event with U.S. Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock (L) at Stepto's Bar B Q Shack on August 4, 2012 in Evansville, Indiana. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Add to those numbers the fact that, as of mid-July, Republican super PACs and other conservative aligned outside groups were outspending their Democratic counterparts by a seven-to-one margin on the TV airwaves in swing states, and you are left with a simple, inescapable conclusion: The President of the United States is likely to be heavily outspent in the final three months of this campaign.
Cheney walks back remark about Palin pick being ‘a mistake’
Former vice president Dick Cheney on Monday backed off his comment that it was “a mistake” for the GOP to pick Sarah Palin as its vice presidential nominee, suggesting the comment was more about the VP process than about Palin herself.
“It wasn’t aimed so much at governor Palin as it was against the basic process that (John) McCain used, “ Cheney told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in an interview airing Monday night. “My point basically dealt with the process in terms of that basic requirement: Is this person prepared to step in to be President of the United States when they’re picked? And it was my judgment — I was asked if I thought the McCain process in ‘08 had been well done or was it a mistake, and I said I thought it was a mistake.”
Former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, right, talks with Lonnie Robb, of Nazareth, Tex. on Saturday in LaVista, Neb. Palin was in the area after having lunch with Nebraska GOP senate candidate Deb Fischer. (Kent Sievers — AP Photo/The Omaha World-Herald)
‘America the beautiful’: The most memorable ad of the 2012 campaign (so far)?
Katy Perry has nothing on Mitt Romney when it comes to getting their songs on the air.
The GOP presidential candidate’s dulcet tones, it seems, have been playing in great rotation on cable TV stations for ages now via the Obama campaign’s “America the Beautiful” ad, which features Romney singing the song (poorly) over scenes of the far-off places where he has bank accounts and where Bain Capital outsourced jobs.
The ad, which went off the air Monday, strikes us as perhaps the most memorable of the cycle so far, if not necessarily the most impactful.
The reason? It’s utterly unavoidable.
Romney outraised Obama in July, $101.3 million to $75 million
Mitt Romney outraised President Obama by more than $25 million in July, according to numbers released Monday by the campaigns.
Romney’s campaign announced it raised $101.3 million, while Obama’s team said in a tweet that it brought in $75 million.
The gap is slightly smaller than it was in June, when Romney raised $106 million and Obama brought in $71 million, but it’s the second-straight month that Romney has pulled in nine figures and the third-straight month he has outraised the incumbent president.
Mitt Romney’s Harry Reid problem
Talk of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s allegation that Mitt Romney had not paid any taxes at all for 10 years dominated the Sunday talk show circuit as Republicans denounced the (still-unsubstantiated) charge.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaks to reporters in the Capitol in Washington in this file photo taken April 24, 2007. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueRepublican National Committee Chairman
Reince Priebus called Reid a “dirty liar,” noting that the top-ranking Democrat in the Senate had still not made public who allegedly told him about Romney’s tax history. (Romney, for his part, has said he paid taxes every year.) Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, the head of the Republican Governors Association, called Reid’s allegation a “reckless and slanderous charge”.
Why President Obama needs to make history in 2012. Again.
Amid the back and forth about Friday’s jobs report, one thing is abundantly clear: To win a second term on November 6, President Obama is going to have to defy history.
US President Barack Obama pauses while speaking during an event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus August 3, 2012 in Washington, DC. Obama spoke to urge Congress to pass tax cuts for the American middle class. AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKIWhy? Because the July jobs report affirmed the now-certain reality that the unemployment rate won’t drop below eight percent between today and November. And no sitting president since World War II has been re-elected with the unemployment rate above 7.2 percent.
‘The worst economic recovery America has ever had’: Scott Pelley’s soon-to-be starring 2012 election role
Expect to see lots of Scott Pelley on your TV this fall — even if you don’t watch the CBS Evening News.
The CBS anchor’s statement at the top of a broadcast two weeks ago that this is “the worst economic recovery America has ever seen” is kibble for Republican ad-makers.
Already, the clip has been used to punctuate an ad launched this week by Crossroads GPS, the issue advocacy arm of the American Crossroads super PAC. And you can bet the farm that GPS will hardly be the last to use it.
President Obama is running out of time on the economy
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its July jobs report this morning — an assessment that didn’t exactly show considerable growth in the economy over the past month. And from a political perspective, that means one thing: President Obama is running out of time.
U.S. President Barack Obama, right, speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House with Timothy F. Geithner, U.S. treasury secretary, center, and Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergWhy?
Because polling — both in this campaign and in past races — suggests that public perception on major issues (economy, Iraq, etc.) cements several months in advance of the actual vote, barring some sort of cataclysmic event.
Romney responds to Reid: ‘Put up or shut up’
Mitt Romney personally responded to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today, telling the Democrat to offer some proof of his tax claims or stop making them.
“It’s time for Harry to put up or shut up,” Romney told Fox News Radio.
Romney's favorability falling in Pew polls
Pew shows Romney sinking, Boehner says Obama has never worked a real job, Rafalca thrilled in the Olympics and Bill Nelson plays the Hooters card.
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President Obama’s job creation problem — in one chart (with caveats)
In less than 24 hours, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its July jobs report, which, if early indicators are to be trusted, won’t be the sort of turnaround that President Obama and his political team are hoping for in advance of the fall campaign.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is sure to seize on a status quo (or worse) report as yet more evidence that Obama’s economic policies have made things worse not better over the last four years.
But how do Obama’s first three-plus years as chief steward of the U.S. economy — as measured in job gains and the unemployment rate — stack up against the men who have previously held the office?
Not so well, according to a terrific infographic put together by the folks at Political Math. (You can read more about that blog here.)
Harry Reid doubles down on Romney taxes; Romney campaign responds
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has doubled (actually tripled) down on his claim that Mitt Romney did not pay taxes for 10 years.
In both a Senate floor speech and in conversation with Nevada reporters, Reid said he had it on good authority that the former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate had paid no taxes, a claim he attributed in a Huffington Post interview to a Bain investor.
Why Republicans need lower-income voters in 2012
We’ve spent a lot of time on this blog in recent weeks detailing the fact that a handful of wealthy donors have changed the presidential election game by sending millions of dollars to GOP-leaning super PACs and outside groups.
Those commercials have helped Mitt Romney even the score in the 2012 ad game.
But while the rich are certainly keeping Romney in the game early in the presidential race, he will rely on plenty of less-well-off voters if he is to win the presidential race this year.
Case in point: the chart below, which is based on data from Sentier Research and shows various measures of income in three sets of states — red states, blue states and swing states.
New Obama ad: Romney would raise your taxes to lower his own
A new ad from President Obama’s campaign hits Mitt Romney two ways on taxes, suggesting that the former Massachusetts governor’s tax plan is just a way to help line his own pockets.
Why attacking super PACs won’t work
A large majority of the country lack even the most basic knowledge of so-called super PACs, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll — a finding that reinforces the difficulty Democrats face in trying to score political points by shining a light on these outside organizations in the 2012 presidential campaign.
Three-quarters of Americans have either heard “a little” (36 percent) or “nothing at all” (39 percent) about “increased spending in this year’s presidential election by outside groups not associated with the candidates or campaigns.”
In an even more stunning finding, when prompted with four choices as to what a super PAC actually was, just four in 10 said it was “a group able to accept unlimited political donations” — the right answer.
Priorities USA Action reserves $30 million in fall ad time
A Democratic-aligned super PAC run by two former Obama White House aides has begun reserving $30 million worth of television ad time in six swing states as it seeks to combat the heavy spending by conservative outside groups.
Priorities USA Action is reserving time in Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to sources familiar with the buy. Those sources would not indicate whether this was the totality of the ad spending Priorities USA Action would make on the election or whether this was the first flight of a broader buy. The group, in coordination with the Service Employees International Union, is currently funding Spanish-language ads in Colorado, Florida and Nevada — an effort they say will continue.
Palin hits back at Cheney over ‘mistake’ comments
Sarah Palin is hitting back at former vice president Dick Cheney’s contention that her selection as the GOP’s 2008 vice presidential nominee was “a mistake.”
Palin suggested that Cheney is buying into a false media narrative and, in the process, made a joke about the vice president’s quail-hunting accident in which he accidentally shot his friend. (Palin’s comments on Cheney begin at the 7-minute mark.)
“Seeing as how Dick — excuse me, Vice President Cheney — never misfires, then evidently he’s quite convinced that what he had evidently read about me by the lamestream media, having been written, what I believe is a false narrative over the last four years,” Palin said Tuesday night on Fox News. “Evidently Dick Cheney believed that stuff, and that’s a shame.”
Introducing the Twitter Political Index!
Twitter today unveiled its “Political Index”, an attempt to compare sentiment about President Obama and Mitt Romney to the overall mood of the massive micro-blogging universe.
The Twitter Political Index — or “Twindex” for short — is born of a longstanding desire within the company to take a 50,000-foot view of its huge stores of data in hopes of gleaning conclusions about the public sentiment toward the presidential campaign, according to Adam Sharp, the head of government, news & social innovation at Twitter.
“There has been a dramatic expansion of the sample size for doing research on this data,” Sharp said in an interview with the Fix. “We now have enough data to start forming real-time data for the election.”
Think this Congress is bad? Just wait.
Polarization in Congress is at record highs. Approval of Congress is at record lows.
And yet, it’s a near certainty that whatever lows the 112th Congress has sunk to will be eclipsed (de-clipsed?) by the 113th Congress sworn in next January.
Why? A confluence of factors ranging from the kind of people being elected to the circumstances that will greet them when they arrive in Washington.
New poll shows Obama with significant lead in swing states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania
President Obama has cracked 50 percent and is leading presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in a trio of key swing states, according to new polling.
The CBS News/New York Times/Quinnipiac University polls show Obama ahead of Romney in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, all by at least six points. Obama is up in Florida 51 percent to 45 percent; in Ohio 50 percent to 44 percent; and in Pennsylvania by double digits — 53 percent to 42 percent .
Ted Cruz and the GOP’s changing face
Ted Cruz’s come-from-behind victory in the Texas GOP Senate runoff on Tuesday — and the near-certainty that he will cruise to a general election win in November — ensures he will immediately join a rapidly growing group of rising national Republican stars that have one big thing in common: None of them are white.
Romney abroad: Live by gaffes, die by gaffes
In an interview with Fox News Channel today, former Massachuetts governor Mitt Romney lamented the gaffe-heavy coverage of his trip abroad.
“I realize that there will be some in the fourth estate or in whichever estate who are far more interested in finding something to write about that is unrelated to the economy, to geo-politics, to the threat of war,” he said.
But it’s only natural that coverage of Romney’s trip would focus on gaffes. The tour was, after all, designed at least in part to highlight gaffes made by the current occupant of the White House.
Obama’s gay marriage support fails to sway Americans
Americans remain just as divided on gay marriage as they were before President Obama’s announcement in early May he now publicly supported it.
The Pew Research Center poll shows views of gay marriage remain basically unchanged since April, right before Obama announced his support for gay marriage — a reversal from his past public opposition. Support has gone from 47 percent to 48 percent since April, while opposition ticked up from 43 percent to 44 percent. Neither is even close to statistically significant.
Mitt Romney warms up in new ad
As he puts a rocky trip abroad behind him, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) is out with a new minute-long ad that sweeps over the case for his presidency with a human touch.
In it Romney goes over his resume — Bain, the Olympics, Massachusetts — but in a personal, down-to-earth way.
Romney’s less-than-Olympic narrative
Mitt Romney is still waiting for his gold medal from the American public.
If you look across Romney’s public and private sector record, his time as head of the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City stands out as what should be his greatest and most politically advantageous achievement.
Unlike his tenure at Bain Capital and as governor of Massachusetts, there’s very little Democrats can say that will undermine or pick apart Romney’s Olympics record. It’s also a high profile example of Romney’s business acumen that actually has a real-world connection to most peoples’s lives.
And, as luck would have it, the Summer Olympics in London is being held just a few months before the U.S. presidential election — a terrific opportunity for Romney to take a victory lap, right?
Maybe.
What garbage can tell us about the direction of the economy — in 1 chart
It turns out that what we throw out or, more accurately, how much we throw out, tells us a lot about the general economic direction of the country.
At least, that is, according to calculations by economist Michael McDonough, who has produced an absolutely fascinating chart that shows the remarkable correlation between carloads of waste (as calculated by the American Association of Railroads) and the U.S. gross domestic product.
Here’s McDonough’s chart (and you can read more about his methodology here):
John McCain responds to Cheney with torture jab
Former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) brought out the rhetorical firepower Monday morning when asked about Dick Cheney's criticism of Sarah Palin, questioning the former vice president’s judgment on torture.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, left, smiles as his Vice Presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, pumps her fist as she is introduced to supporters at a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, Friday, Aug. 29, 2008. McCain introduced Palin as his running mate at the event. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
Cheney said Sunday that it was a “mistake” to put Palin on the Republican ticket in 2008 when she’d governed Alaska for less than two years.
Mitt Romney and the ‘wimp’ factor
Is Mitt Romney too wimpy to be president?
U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers foreign policy remarks at Mishkenot Sha'ananim in Jerusalem, July 29, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed That’s the (purposely) provocative question Newsweek asks on its cover this week. It’s a question sure to stir controversy — and one without an easy answer.
Cheney says picking Palin for V.P. was ‘a mistake’
This post has been updated.
Former vice president Dick Cheney said in an interview with ABC News that Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) decision to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008 was “a mistake.”
“I like Governor Palin. I’ve met her. I know her. She – attractive candidate,” Cheney told ABC’s Jonathan Karl. “But based on her background, she’d only been governor for, what, two years. I don’t think she passed that test … of being ready to take over. And I think that was a mistake.”
Amazon founder gives $2.5 million to gay marriage effort
Amazon founder gives $2.5 million to gay marriage effort in Washington state; Bloomberg balks at Chick-fil-A ban; Dem poll shows GOP up 6 in North Carolina GOV; and Churchill’s bust remains in the White House, after all.
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Boris Johnson, more gaffe-prone than Romney
On Thursday, London mayor Boris Johnson lobbed a very public insult at former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
“There are some people who are coming from around the world who don’t yet know about all the preparations we’ve done to get London ready in the last seven years,” Johnson told a crowd, gathered for the Olympic cauldron-lighting ceremony. “I hear there’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we’re ready. He wants to know whether we’re ready.”
Romney’s London trip filled with stumbles. Does it matter?
What’s undeniable: former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s trip to London did not go as planned. Let’s review:
* He called security problems for the Olympics “disconcerting.” The gaffe led to jabs from Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Romney, who has promised a “No Apologies” approach to the world, was forced to repeatedly backtrack.
Obama’s Olympics opening ceremony ad: ‘I Believe’
President Obama is touting his support for the middle class in an ad during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, using the international event to reach millions of Americans with a feel-good message.
Unlike the overwhelmingly negative campaigns both candidates have been running, “I Believe” is a positive 30-second clip from a recent Obama speech. There’s no mention of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the president’s presumptive Republican rival.
Obama’s Muslim problem = Romney’s Mormon problem
President Obama’s “religion” may be just as much of a liability as Mitt Romney’s (actual) Mormon religion.
According to a new poll from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, more people are concerned about Obama’s religion (19 percent) than about Romney’s (13 percent).
The reason? The unbelievable number of Americans, now numbering 17 percent, who for some reason think the president is a Muslim.
So while there has been a lot of consternation about whether Americans will be hesitant to vote for a Mormon like Romney, misinformation about Obama’s religion may matter just as much come November.
Bad headlines for Romney in London
Mitt Romney stumbles in London, the mayor of Boston backtracks on Chick-fil-A, Michael Bloomberg endorses Scott Brown and Rand Paul is endorsing all over Michigan.
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Context be damned: Obama’s ‘It worked’ quote should work for Republicans
Context is dead. Long live context.
For the second time in two weeks, Mitt Romney’s campaign has an out-of-context quote it can use to bludgeon President Obama. First it was “You didn’t build that,” and now it’s two ill-fated words that Obama spoke at a fundraiser Monday: “It worked.”
As with “You didn’t build that,” the Romney campaign’s attacks on “It worked” will be criticized for being out-of-context, lowest-common-denominator politics. And as with “You didn’t build that,” “It worked” is going to ... well ... work.
Here’s why.
The veepstakes: Condi’s up, Portman and McDonnell feel the love (VIDEO)
Could Condoleezza Rice help Mitt Romney win the election?
Two new polls show that as Romney’s running mate, the former secretary of state, would help him close the gap both nationally and in Pennsylvania, moving him up 4 and 6 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rob Portman’s state GOP chairman says his guy would do the same in Ohio, and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell gets a little on-the-record love from Romney’s top vice presidential adviser.
It’s all in our weekly installment of who’s up and who’s down in the veepstakes...
Obama ad on Romney: ‘It’s a scary time to be a woman’
A new ad from President Obama and the Democratic National Committee raises fears about Mitt Romney’s positions on reproductive rights.
“I’ve never felt this way before, but it’s a scary time to be a woman,” says 30-something “Jenni.” “Mitt Romney is just so out of touch.”
A female narrator chimes in: “Romney opposes requiring insurance coverage for contraception and Romney supports overturning Roe vs. Wade. Romney backed a bill that outlawed all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.”
Obama’s win-big-or-go-home problem
If Americans send President Obama back to the White House for a second term, it won’t be pretty.
And in fact, it will be almost without precedent.
A hard-fought Obama win — which is about the only way he’s going to win — would likely make Obama just the second president to be reelected by a smaller margin than he won in his first race.
The history of American politics demonstrates that presidents who seek a second term either lose outright or win reelection with an even bigger mandate than they had before.
Below are the 11 presidents who have won reelection, comparing their first margin of victory to their second margin. Another eight presidents lost reelection.
Business owners souring on Obama: Poll
As former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney campaigns hard on the idea of building private businesses, a new Gallup poll finds that business owners are increasingly unhappy with President Obama.
In a survey looking at presidential job approval by occupation, business owners were the group most disapproving of Obama’s job performance, at 59 percent. Only 35 percent of business owners approve.
How Mitt Romney’s tax returns stack up — in 1 chart
Unless you haven’t been paying attention to politics for the past few months, you know by now that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is very wealthy.
But, how does Romney’s wealth — as translated in the political conversation through his tax returns — compare to that of the last few presidents? Thanks to the Sunlight Foundation, the Fix’s new favorite site, we know.
The chart below shows both the year-by-year incomes of and the effective tax rate paid by Romney as well as the last five presidents (including Obama).
Sheldon Adelson’s Jewish vote effort, and what it means
Billionaire GOP super PAC benefactor Sheldon Adelson is everywhere in the presidential race this year. His latest effort: Targeting Jewish voters in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
(Vincent Yu - AP)
The New York Times reports today that Adelson and other members of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s board of directors have committed $6.5 million to an effort to turn the heavily Democratic voter bloc more Republican in 2012.
But even if the effort is hugely successful, Mitt Romney is only likely to reap small gains.
Who wins a “devil you know vs devil you don’t” election?
One thing is starkly clear from the last month of the 2012 presidential campaign: We are headed toward a lowest common denominator, devil-you-know-versus-devil-you-don’t election in which the winner will not so much triumph as survive.
A devil you know. (Photo by Rick Scavetta/U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern)The latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll makes that point in stark terms. Forty three percent of respondents viewed President Obama negatively while 40 percent saw Romney in that light; the percentage of people who regarded Obama and Romney “very negatively” was at an all-time high (or low, depending on your perspective) in the NBC-WSJ data.
“This is not characteristic … for July,” GOP pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, told NBC. “These are numbers you usually see in October.”
Romney camp: We had nothing to do with ‘Anglo-Saxon’ quote
An unnamed “adviser” to Mitt Romney who told the London Telegraph that the candidate appreciates “Anglo-Saxon heritage” better than President Obama is not speaking for the Republican campaign, a spokeswoman for the former Massachusetts governor said Wednesday.
“It’s not true,” Amanda Hennenberg said in a statement. “If anyone said that, they weren’t reflecting the views of Governor Romney or anyone inside the campaign.”
The quote has created an early dust-up between the two campaigns as Romney begins his low-key, week-long trip through Britain, Poland and Israel.
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage,” an adviser told reporter Jon Swaine. “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.” The reporter later tweeted to clarify that the quote came from a “member of [Romney’s] foreign policy advisory team.”
How people consume political news — in one chart
Conventional campaign wisdom dictates that the surest strategy for success is to raise as much money as possible and then spend it all on television ads in the final weeks of a race.
A look at the spending already in this presidential campaign — President Obama dropped $38 million on TV ads in June and has spent $107 million on commercials so far — suggests that television remains king when it comes to politics.
And yet, the massive growth of the web, tablets and smart phones have already begun to cut into just how determinative television is in a campaign — as voters are now consuming much more of their information through this panoply of devices.
The good people at Google have put the numbers together in a single chart that tells the story of peoples’ political news consumption habits.
Here’s the chart (and click here to see a larger version):
Is the National Rifle Association overrated?
The National Rifle Association is the Keyser Soze of politics.
For years, fear of the NRA has kept lawmakers for moving forward with gun control policy. In the wake of the shooting in Colorado, few members of Congress have even mentioned gun control.
“We do absolutely anything they ask and we NEVER cross them,” a Democratic legislative staffer told GQ. “They’ve completely shut down the debate over gun control.”
Yet no one is sure if the threat is real.
Obama super PAC uses Olympics to attack Romney
Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting President Obama, is out with a new ad using the Olympics to attack his presumptive Republican rival Mitt Romney.
The ad will run in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia as part of a $20 million buy.
Romney is headed to London for the Olympics this week; Democrats hope to use the event to remind voters of the candidate’s wealth and career rather than his success in running the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.
Both Obama and Romney increasingly unpopular
Attack ads dragging both candidates down, a rare bipartisan endorsement, George W. Bush appears, and Romney’s vetting chief says even her kids wants to know more.
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Obama pushes back on ‘You didn’t build that’ in ad
President Obama is pushing back on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s “You didn’t build that” attacks in a new ad.
It’s a sign that the White House is worried that the quote, while taken out of context, is doing the president real damage.
2012: It’s the values, stupid?
President Obama’s best chance at winning a second term this fall revolves around turning the race from a straight referendum on his economic policies and toward a debate about which candidate better shares voters’ values, according to two new national polls.
In a new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, President Obama held a 49 percent to 33 percent edge on the question of which candidate is “looking out for the middle class” while new Gallup data showed Obama with a 50 percent to 39 percent edge on who “understands the problems Americans face in their everyday lives”.
Million-dollar donors account for nearly half of GOP super PAC fundraising
If super PACs are indeed saving Mitt Romney early in the 2012 election (as we posited Tuesday morning), he’s got a lot of very wealthy people to thank for it.
About four dozen donors and families have given at least $1 million to super PACs this election cycle, with three-quarters of them giving to the GOP.
Combined, these four dozen donors have provided $130 million of the $308 million super PACs have raised this cycle (more than 40 percent) — a reflection of how much these outside groups are funded by extremely wealthy donors.
And that goes double on the GOP side, where nearly half of the $228 million raised by super PACs has come from about three dozen million-dollar donors.
How Michele Bachmann finally jumped the shark
Rep. Michele Bachmann is no stranger to controversy or — as we found during the GOP presidential primary — stretching the truth.
In fact, the fact-checking Web site Politifact has rated 31 of Bachmann’s public statements to be either “false” or even worse — “pants on fire” — one of the worst records of any politician. And The Washington Post’s great Fact-Checker blog gave her four Pinocchios on six different occasions during the GOP presidential primary.
Rep. Michele Bachmann in June. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Today, though, for arguably the first time in her congressional career, the Minnesota GOP congresswoman is finding herself publicly on the outs with some in her own party. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), among others, have publicly criticized Bachmann for her suggestion that State Department officials, including longtime Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, might be part of a Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy to infiltrate the U.S. government. (Though notably, Newt Gingrich defended her this morning.)
So what gives? Why did Bachmann, whose history of bending the truth and saying controversial things has already been well-documented, finally go too far for her colleagues?
How super PACs are saving Mitt Romney
Republican-aligned super PACs and other outside conservative groups have spent more than $144 million on general election ads in swing presidential states, a huge outlay of cash that has allowed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to not only combat but exceed heavy early ad spending by President Obama.
In this May 8, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)Roughly 80 percent of all ad spending by Republicans on the general election has come from these super PACs, as Romney has expended a relatively meager $35 million to date on ads in swing states, according to ad buy figures provided to the Fix by a GOP media buyer.
By contrast, the $20 million that Democratic super PACs have spent on ads so far in the general election accounts for just 19 percent of total ad spending on the Democratic side.
Obama lays out choice in new ad
President Obama has released a one-minute ad, “The Choice,” focused on the fight over the Bush-era tax cuts.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney “would cut taxes for the folks at the very top,” Obama says, while he believes in “[a]sking the wealthy to pay a little more so we can pay down our debt in a balanced way.”
Obama campaign pushes back on ‘burn rate’ criticism
In the wake of a report that the Obama campaign’s burn rate — the amount of money they are spending per month on the race — has raised concerns among some within the party, the president’s campaign manager insisted that every penny is being well spent.
“We made a big bet in this campaign,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina told the Fix in an interview this afternoon. “Ground organization matters and building one takes a lot of money. It’s an expensive proposition.”
Romney’s Olympic records to be released before election, with cuts
Archivists at the University of Utah are aiming to release records from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics “well before the 2012 election,” ABC News reports.
That release could bring newfound scrutiny to one of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s biggest successes — turning around the scandal-scarred 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Journalists have been attempting to gain access to those papers for years.
Swing state unemployment rates: Do they matter?
In our Monday column for the newspaper, we argued that while the national economic mood is decidedly grim — thanks largely to the sky-high 8.2 percent unemployment rate — the financial picture in swing states is considerably brighter.
We wrote:
In seven of those 12 [swing] states — Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — the unemployment rate is below the June national average of 8.2 percent. In some, it is considerably less than the national average; the June rates in New Hampshire, Iowa and Virginia were below 6 percent. Even in Ohio, a state hit hard by the collapse of the manufacturing sector, the unemployment rate is a full percentage point below the U.S. average. Republicans note that the unemployment rate rose between May and June in Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire and Virginia, among other swing states.
The incredible shrinking — and increasingly valuable — undecided voter
President Obama, Mitt Romney and a slew of outside groups will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next three and a half months trying to convince 1/16th of the American electorate to vote their way.
A voter in Oklahoma City last month. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Paul B. Southerland)
New polling from The Washington Post and ABC News shows there are fewer genuinely undecided voters during the 2012 election campaign than there have been in any of the last three elections.
And less than one in five voters says there is any chance at all that he or she will change his or her mind.
Mitt Romney’s ‘exotic’ tax problem
For years, President’s Obama’s political opponents have used his background — Kenyan father, Kansan mother, raised in Indonesia and Hawaii — to cast him as somehow exotic, someone whose life makes it hard for him to understand the average American.
And yet, it’s Mitt Romney, Obama’s general election opponent, who is now dealing with an “exotic” issue that is centered on his considerable wealth and being played out in the ongoing fight over whether he will release more than two years worth of tax returns.
Why Ross Perot is made for the 2012 race
Remember Ross Perot?
Texas billionaire Ross Perot laughs after saying "Watch my lips," in response to reporters asking when he plans to formally enter the Presidential race. Questions came May 5, 1992 in New York City where Perot was speaking before the American Newspapers Publishers Association. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)The Texas billionaire, who ran twice for president in the 1990s, has the distinction of being the last third party candidate to become a major factor in a national race. (Perot took 19 percent nationwide in 1992.)
While Perot was a major political story twenty years ago, a look at the political landscape in 2012 suggests the Texan might well have been a man ahead of his time.
George W. Bush skipping GOP convention
W is skipping the convention, another GOP lawmaker says Bachmann’s Muslim Brotherhood probe is no good, Obama releases his new bundler list and Linda McMahon releases her tax returns.
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Romney laps Obama in campaign cash
Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee have grown a more than $25 million cash advantage over President Obama, according to just-filed Federal Election Commission reports.
Romney; who trailed Obama by $90 million at the end of March, now leads the incumbent president $170 million to $144 million in cash on hand, thanks to a surge in GOP fundraising and heavy spending by the Democrats early in the 2012 campaign.
President Obama’s campaign spent $38 million on ads and $58 million overall in June, while Romney’s campaign spent less than half that and continue to build up its reserves for the fall campaign.
Where Obama and Romney stand on gun control
In the wake of the tragic shooting in Colorado, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to explain what they would do about gun violence.
“Soothing words are nice,” said the mayor, an independent and gun control advocate who has not endorsed in the presidential race. “But maybe it’s time the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.”
Obama, Romney pull Colorado ads off air in wake of Aurora shooting
This post has been updated.
President Obama and Mitt Romney are pulling ads off the air in Colorado in the wake of the tragic shooting in Aurora.
“We have asked affiliates to pull down our contrast advertising for the time being,” said Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “It takes time for stations to be able to do this, but we are making every effort.” The campaign later clarified that they are pulling all advertising, not just negative ads.
New anti-Romney ad: Show us your papers
A couple weeks ago, Vice President Joe Biden told the Hispanic advocacy group La Raza, “Mitt Romney wants you to show your papers, but he won’t show us his.”
That sentiment — that Romney is hiding his tax information while demanding immigrants prove their status — has made its way into a Spanish-language ad “No Trust” from the Obama-backing super PAC Priorities USA Action and the Service Employees International Union.
Romney goes on air with ‘You didn’t build that’ attack
Yesterday, we wrote that a Web video from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s campaign was a preview of what his next attack ad might look like, using the president’s comment that “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
We didn’t have to wait long. “These Hands” is now a 30-second ad going after President Obama for telling small business owners to remember the government and community that helped them get where they are.
Is the 2012 election the 2004 election all over again?
A few months back, we wrote that the election most analogous to the 2012 contest was the 2004 race between President George W. Bush and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry .
And, as the race has played itself out since then, we feel more and more confident in that comparison.
In this Jan. 16, 2010 file photo, former President George W. Bush listens as President Barack Obama speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
Rupert Murdoch: ‘At last, Romney attacks’
Rupert says Mitt’s doing aight, Boehner says the Muslim Brotherhood witch hunt is “dangerous,” a Maine Democratic Senate candidate exists, and the horse shall not be invoked.
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How ‘You didn’t build that’ hurts Pawlenty’s VP chances
Mitt Romney’s campaign looks like it intends to make a major issue out of President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” comment.
And that may not bode well for Tim Pawlenty’s chances of being Romney’s vice president.
Romney’s campaign has gone whole-hog after Obama’s remark to business owners, and Republicans believe the attack is working in spades. But if that’s the message, then Pawlenty may not be an ideal messenger as Romney’s No. 2.
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) calls potential voters from his campaign headquarters in Charleston, S.C., in January. Romney is joined by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), left, and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty. (Jim Young/Reuters)
Can Hollywood be Obama’s Sheldon Adelson?
Actor Morgan Freeman donated $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting President Obama, the group announced today.
The contribution is notable because celebrities have so far shied away from super PACs.
A tale of two campaigns
There are two campaigns for president happening simultaneously right now.
One is being staged inside Washington — and President Obama is winning that one resoundingly. The other is set in the rest of the country — and that one is a dead heat between Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
The Condoleezza Rice effect
Condoleezza Rice isn’t likely to be Mitt Romney’s pick for vice president, but a new poll suggests that she would be a big help if she were.
Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice answers questions from reporters at Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss., on April 17. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)
(Rogelio V. Solis - AP)
The former secretary of state is the clear choice of Republican voters to be Romney’s vice president, according to a new Fox News poll that shows her garnering the support of 30 percent of them. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is second with 19 percent.
The more interesting number, though, is what Rice could do for Romney on the ballot.
While President Obama leads Romney overall 45 percent to 41 percent, adding Rice to Romney’s ticket shifts many of the remaining undecided voters to the Republican side, creating a 46 percent to 46 percent tie.
American Crossroads plays defense for Romney in $9.3 million campaign
American Crossroads, the super PAC advised by former Bush administration strategist Karl Rove, is going on the air with a $9.3 million campaign attacking President Obama for his negative campaign against former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
Romney previews ‘You didn’t build that’ attack
Mitt Romney’s campaign has released a web video that suggests how the former Massachusetts governor could use President Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment in ads.
“Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive,” Obama said Friday.“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
He was talking about the roads, bridges and education system that businesses rely on, not the businesses themselves. But that emphasis on government-funded infrastructure plays into a big-government image that hurts Obama in polls. And Romney is doing his best to exploit it.
Mitt Romney, his tax returns, and shiny objects
Mitt Romney isn’t releasing his tax returns. That’s his decision, and his campaign is sticking to it (at least for now).
And really, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Romney’s general election campaign, from day one, has taken the long view. When the waters get choppy, his response is almost uniformly to not panic, hope to ride it out, and stay focused on the long-term campaign (and more specifically, the economy). In other words: to avoid the shiny objects.
But is that a successful strategy in the era of not just 24-hour news, but 24-hour political news?
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 in Bowling Green, Ohio. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Romney disagrees with woman who called Obama ‘monster’
Mitt Romney wouldn’t call Obama a monster, John McCain defends a Muslim State Department staffer, there’s no VP candidate yet, and likely voters might tell a different story.
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Romney’s new dirty word: Chicago
In recent days, there’s been a new word sneaking into the mouths of Mitt Romney’s surrogates: Chicago.
Hoping to counter Obama’s personal, brutal attacks on Romney’s Bain Capital record and refusal to release tax returns, Romney’s campaign has seized on a line of attack that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) used intermittently throughout the 2008 campaign — that Obama is a sleazy Chicago pol.
Chris Christie convention talk premature, GOP says
Republicans say that, contrary to media reports, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has not been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R): Not a keynote (yet).
(Mel Evans - AP)
Neither the Romney campaign nor the Republican National Committee would confirm those reports.
“You''ll have to stay tuned,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon.
Sources with the campaign say Romney is not prepared to announce any speakers yet. The New Jersey State GOP Committee said they knew nothing about it.
“I've gotten no invitation to do anything like that,” Christie told NBC.
Obama’s ‘You didn’t build that’ problem
President Obama’s recent remark about business owners needing the government’s help is starting to gain traction on the campaign trail.
President Obama speaks at a fundraising event in Austin on Tuesday. (Jack Plunkett/AP)“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that,” Obama said Friday, referring to the government-funded tools that entrepreneurs have at their disposal.
The remark didn’t catch on initially, but Republicans anxious to move past Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital controversy and whether he will or won’t release his tax returns have increasingly fixated on the remark as Case Study No. 1 when it comes to Obama’s big-government philosophy.
And it just might work.
The veepstakes: Pawlenty’s up, Rubio’s down (VIDEO)
It’s getting to crunch time in the veepstakes, with rumors flying that Mitt Romney’s short list is taking shape and that he may announce his pick as early as this week.
In this week’s veepstakes video, we take a look at a trio of the top names being bandied about and let you know who’s up and who’s down in the greatest parlor game in Washington.
Romney Spanish-language ad: Mitt’s father was born in Mexico
A new Spanish-language ad from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney emphasizes his family’s ties to Mexico.
Romney’s Spanish-speaking son Craig narrates.
New Romney ad accuses Obama of cronyism
A new ad from Mitt Romney counters Democrats’ questions about the former Massachusetts governor’s taxes with a question of its own: “Where did all the money go?”
The ad accuses President Obama of paying off supporters with contracts supported by stimulus funds, while adding the accusation that much of the money went overseas.
Some Republicans still not sold on Mitt Romney’s campaign
One in four self-identified Republicans has an unfavorable view of how Mitt Romney is running his campaign, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The poll represents the latest evidence of unease within some segments of the GOP about how the former Massachusetts governor is progressing in the 2012 race.
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leaves a fundraiser that included Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., on Monday, July 16, 2012 in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)Sixty-six percent of GOPers in the poll viewed the way Romney is running his campaign in a favorable light, while 24 percent viewed it unfavorably. Those numbers lagged behind how President Obama’s campaign is viewed among Democrats — 75 percent of whom regard his bid favorably.
Rick Perry on tax returns: ‘I’m all about transparency’
Rick Perry says transparency is best, Karl Rove wanted Rubio, a super PAC ad star isn’t voting, and Republicans claim Obama hates small business owners.
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How 17 people funded the Republican super PAC world — in one chart
That the rise of super PACs has given a small number of wealthy donors an outsized level of influence in our political discourse isn’t a secret.
After all, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wouldn’t have even been in the Republican primary game if it wasn’t for a supportive super PAC funded by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. And super PACs supportive of Mitt Romney have kept him within financial shouting distance of President Obama in critical swing states like Florida and Virginia.
But, wrapping your arms around just how few people are behind these hyper-influential groups is always tough. Until now.
Check out this awesome infographic that spells it all out. The most important point? In 2011, 17 people made contributions of $1 million or more to the nine biggest conservative super PACs. That $28 million in donations accounted for half, yes HALF, of all the money these groups collected.
John Sununu, Mitt Romney’s best/worst surrogate
Two comments from former New Hampshire governor John Sununu this morning suggest that the Republican stalwart can be a less-than-helpful campaign surrogate for Mitt Romney. 
Sununu is also known for his sense of humour.
(Jim Cole - AP)
First, the doozy. On a Romney campaign conference call about small business, Sununu said: “I wish this president would learn how to be an American.” He walked the comment back later in the call, saying, “What I thought I said but what I didn’t say is the president has to learn the American formula for creating business.” Later, he told CNN, “frankly, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have used those words. And I apologize for using those words.”
Why Mitt Romney should just release his tax returns
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney continues to be steadfast in his refusal to release any more than his last two years of tax returns, a position that has already become a distraction to his presidential campaign and could cause considerably more trouble if he doesn’t figure out a better answer — and soon.
Demonstrators stand outside a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday, July 16, 2012 in Baton Rouge, La. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“Perception is becoming Romney’s reality and these issues have now risen above mere distractions,” said John Weaver, a Republican consultant and former senior adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R) 2000 and 2008 presidential campaigns. “The President has had the worst three months of any incumbent, due to the economy, since George H.W. Bush in 1992, and yet Romney has lost traction among key demographic groups in the vital swing states. He has got to get this behind him or he’s going to face summer definition ala [Bob] Dole and [John] Kerry. ”
Florida voter purge fight isn’t over
The federal government is letting Florida use a Department of Homeland Security database of noncitizens to help purge voters from the state’s rolls. But voting rights activists say the fight over Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s controversial purge is far from over.
Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) listens during the 2011 Governors Summit of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 20 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)The agreement, a victory for Republicans, comes after months of back-and-forth between Scott’s administration and the federal government over access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, which is designed to determine eligibility for benefits — not voting.
Romney’s Al Green video pulled from YouTube
A web video using President Obama’s singing skills against him has been pulled from YouTube for copyright infringement.
“Political Payoffs and Middle Class Layoffs” used a clip of Obama singing Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” at a fundraiser to suggest that the president loves his donors so much, he funneled billions of dollars in stimulus money into their pockets. (Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith called that a “warmed over and false line of attack that has already been debunked.”)
New Obama attack: Maybe Romney didn’t pay taxes
President Obama’s campaign is out with a new ad going hard after Mitt Romney to release his past tax returns.
The former Massachusetts governor has released his 2010 tax return and released an estimate of his 2011 taxes, with a pledge to release the full return. But he has resisted giving more information about his past taxes. Obama’s ad seizes on that fact, saying it “makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. ”
Republicans turn on John Roberts
John Roberts drops, Sarah Palin feels snubbed, Romney hasn’t made a VP pick and Connie Mack’s campaign is at war with a newspaper again.
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Is Romney about to pick a VP? Doubtful.
Rumors are swirling that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will pick his vice presidential candidate this week, although Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told reporters Monday that “no decision’s been made.”
Don’t hold your breath.
The Republican National Convention is over a month away, and no non-incumbent candidate has picked a VP so far ahead of his party’s nominating confab. Most picks come within a week of the event.
Anthony Weiner’s comeback: How soon is too soon?
Just 13 months after succumbing to scandal that involved pictures of his crotch being broadcast for the world to see and repeated lies about it, those close to former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) are already talking about a comeback. 
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) speaks to the media regarding a lewd photo tweet May 31, 2011, on Capitol Hill. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The New York Post got the ball rolling on the chatter this weekend, and the New York Times followed with a story Monday citing Weiner’s friends, who said he was weighing his options when it comes to a run for either New York City public advocate or even mayor in 2013.
Nobody doubts that politicians can overcome scandals involving sex and lies; we’ve seen it at the highest levels (Bill Clinton, anyone?).
But the question for Weiner is how soon is too soon.
Romney hits back with his own singing video
Mitt Romney’s campaign is pushing back on a new outsourcing attack with a Web video, another sign of a newly combative campaign.
The video accuses President Obama of handing out “political payoffs” at the expense of the middle class, a new line of attack that Romney hopes will help him regain momentum after weeks of playing defense.
Romney super PAC raised record $20 million in June
The top super PAC supporting Mitt Romney set a new standard for fundraising by a super PAC in June, collecting $20 million, a PAC aide told The Fix.
Restore Our Future’s unprecedented total is four times what the super PAC raised in May and more than three times what the top super PAC supporting President Obama raised in the same month. (That super PAC, Priorities USA Action, also set a personal best in June with $6 million raised.)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, right, is introduced by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as Rep. Paul Ryan ( R- Wis.) looks on during a campaign stop at Monterey Mills on Monday, June 18, 2012 in Janesville, Wis. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
What President Obama has learned from Republicans
The last week of the presidential campaign has been the nastiest to date, with outrage stoked, allegations leveled and apologies demanded.
Nothing new there. Campaigns are — in the modern era — races to the bottom, a lowest common denominator battle to slime the other guy before he slimes you. (USA! USA!)
What has changed is that it’s Democrats pushing the political envelope and Republicans insisting that a line has been crossed.
Santorum to campaign for Romney
Democrats get their super PAC on; Santorum to team up with Romney; Wilson outdoes Heinrich; and the Club for Growth goes after a pair in Wisconsin.
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Worst Week in Washington: Vincent Gray
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray says he looks in the mirror every day and sees someone that he respects.
Unfortunately for him, fewer and fewer of his constituents can say the same when they look at their mayor.
That’s why, for the second time in two months, the D.C. mayor has had “Worst Week in Washington” honors bestowed (thrust?) upon him.
Vincent Gray makes an appearance at a Democrat unity gathering at Judiciary Square in 2010. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
The Fix Live chat: The Dream Team, Condi for VP, and Senate races galore
The deputies were running the asylum (a.k.a. The Fix Live chat) Friday morning, with The Fix boss out on paternity leave.
Make sure to check out the full transcript here.
Below are some of the highlights:
Q: Condi for VP?
Condoleezza Rice for vice president? Nope (still).
Speculation about Condoleezza Rice’s vice presidential hopes has gone through the roof thanks to a Drudge Report banner headline late Thursday saying the former secretary of state now leads the list of contenders.
Consider us skeptical ... at best.
The Fix has already sorted through the evidence when it comes to Rice and Mitt Romney’s No. 2 slot. Below is a snippet of what The Fix Boss wrote a couple weeks back (and see the whole piece here):
Combine the coverage of the last few days together and, voila!, you have an emerging storyline that Condi could well be the best vice presidential pick for Romney.
Except that it isn’t going to happen. It just isn’t.
The Spanish-language gap, in one chart
Both President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney have released multiple rounds of Spanish-language ads this cycle. Obama needs to hold his huge lead with Hispanic voters to win, while Romney hopes to cut into that support.
But according to numbers provided by a Republican media buyer, Obama is investing far more than Romney in Spanish ads.
Romney ad suggests Obama hypocrisy on campaign tactics
Mitt Romney’s campaign is up with a new ad accusing President Obama’s campaign of engaging in the type of politics he once decried.
This ad contrasts Obama attacks in the 2012 campaign with the president’s past rhetoric denouncing divide-and-conquer tactics, using three of Obama’s lines from his 2008 Democratic National Convention speech.
Can Mitt Romney be likeable? Does he need to be?
Three months ago, Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. His prize? He entered the general election with the worst personal image numbers of any major party presidential nominee in recent history.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses the NAACP annual convention in Houston, Texas on July 11, 2012. (AFP PHOTO/Nicholas Kamm)
Since then, things have gotten better for Romney. His favorable rating has rebounded from the low-to-mid-30s, and a few recent polls have even shown more people expressing a positive view of Romney than a negative one.
But through it all, it’s become pretty clear: Romney is not a teddy bear that people want to hug. He’s not a guy most people want to have a beer with. And the Republican base is not over-the-moon about its nominee.
The question is: Is there anything he can do about it? And perhaps more importantly, does it even matter?
Romney campaign manager: Obama should apologize for ‘out-of-control’ staff
The fight over Bain Capital is heating up.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s campaign manager Matt Rhoades is calling on the president to apologize for his own staff for “a reckless and unsubstantiated charge” that Romney lied about when he left the private venture firm. Rhodes said the charge is “so over the top that it calls into question the integrity of their entire campaign.”
It’s the latest bit of nastiness in an increasingly nasty campaign over Romney’s business career — a career Obama’s campaign has tried to turn into an albatross.
Maine governor again compares IRS to Gestapo
Paul LePage can’t help himself, Mitt Romney appears to be investing heavily in his Bain counterattack, Sarah Palin is wading into a primary and the Club for Growth is going big in Texas.
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The veepstakes: Walker’s up, Christie’s down (VIDEO)
As we noted earlier today, we are less than a month and a half away from the conclusion of the veepstakes. (!)
That means it’s crunch time for politicians who would love to be on the ticket with Mitt Romney.
In our weekly veepstakes video, we take a look at three contenders who are making moves, and whether their stock is rising or falling.
Biden’s star turn at NAACP
The nation’s first black president has a secret weapon when it comes to turning out black and Latino votes: An old white guy.
Vice President Biden, for the second time in three days, delivered a stemwinder in front of a group of minority voters that had the crowd eating it up. On Tuesday, it was his keynote address to the National Council of La Raza in Las Vegas, and on Thursday it was his speech in front of the NAACP convention in Houston.
Biden’s rapport with the NAACP crowd was evident from the outset Thursday. He began things by noting that he was a lifetime member of the group, was once the “only white guy on the east side,” and giving a shout-out to an NAACP official he affectionately called “Mouse.”
From there, he pivoted between talking about the successful mission to kill Osama bin Laden, Republican obstructionism, Obama’s health-care law and Republican efforts on Voter ID.
By the end of the speech, Biden could feel the moment.
Romney punches back; both sides call each other liars
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is out with a second ad focused on President Obama’s negative ads, a sign that the Republican candidate will no longer let attacks go unanswered.
But Obama is already countering with his own lie accusations.
The ‘Real World’ moment in the 2012 campaign
Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hold a banner on July 1. (AFP PHOTO/JUAN BARRETO)With apologies to MTV: This week is the week that the 2012 presidential campaign stopped being nice and started getting real.
To be clear, the campaign was never really all that nice. But a few developments this week make it clear that neither side is holding much back with just less than four months to go until the November general election.
Mitt Romney: ‘We expected’ boos at NAACP
Mitt Romney says he expected to be booed, Dean Heller moves in on the ethics scandal, Eric Hovde moves up in polls and Jack Abramoff gets a radio show.
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Obama ad hits Romney as tax-raiser
President Obama’s campaign is up with a new ad contrasting his tax plan with Mitt Romney’s and accusing Romney of wanting to raise taxes on 18 million Americans.
The ad accuses Romney of supporting tax breaks for the wealthy, for oil companies and for those who ship jobs overseas, along with a tax increase for 18 million “working families.”
New Priorities/SEIU Spanish-language ad: Romney ‘a person without feelings’
Priorities USA Action and the Service Employees International Union are out with a new round of Spanish-language ads attacking former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with his own (out of context) words in Latino-heavy swing states.
Why was Mitt Romney booed at the NAACP?
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney likely expected to met with some skepticism at the annual NAACP conference Wednesday. But he clearly wasn’t expecting to get booed — not once, not twice, but three times.
Obama super PAC: Bashing Bain works
Some Democrats may not like it, but Obama’s allies argue that aggressive attacks on former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital are working.
Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting President Obama, has released a polling memo finding that ads targeting Romney’s business record are having an impact in five key states.
Mitt Romney’s son to Spanish speakers: ‘Get to know him’
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s son Craig stars in a new Spanish-language ad titled “I Invite You,” in which he tells Spanish speakers, “I invite you to get to know him and listen to his ideas.”
The tax return fight and the cult of transparency
President Obama is amping up the pressure on Mitt Romney to release more of his past tax returns, an attempt to change the subject from the still-struggling economy and bring the issue of transparency to the fore in the 2012 campaign.
“What’s important if you are running for president is that the American people know who you are and what you’ve done and that you’re an open book,” Obama told a New Hampshire reporter on Tuesday. “And that’s been true of every presidential candidate dating all the way back to Mitt Romney’s father.”
Vice President Joe Biden, as he is wont to do, took the critique of Romney’s reluctance to release his tax returns a step further. “Mitt Romney wants you to show your papers, but he won’t show us his,” Biden told a Hispanic audience Tuesday in Las Vegas.
And then there was this web video released by the Obama campaign that asked “why is Mitt Romney hiding the rest of his tax returns?”
The remarkably unchanging 2012 race
The past 14 months have had their fair share of historic moments — the killing of Osama bin Laden, the ongoing debt crisis in Europe, the debt ceiling fight, the Republican presidential primary fight and the Supreme Court’s ruling on President Obama’s health care law to name just a handful.
And yet, in spite of the massive news coverage that each of those stories has drawn, none of them seem to have impacted the race between President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in any meaningful way.
Good news for Romney: Enthusiasm gap is shrinking
President Obama still inspires more enthusiasm than former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, but the gap is shrinking.
(Charles Dharapak - AP)
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 91 percent of Obama voters are enthusiastic, compared with 85 percent of Romney supporters.
That gap widens when you look at the “very enthusiastic.” Fifty-one percent of Obama backers are very enthusiastic, compared to 38 percent of Romney backers.
President Obama: A man of many slogans
Did you know that President Obama’s official reelection campaign slogan is “Forward”?
President Obama delivers remarks in Parma, Ohio. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
You can be forgiven if you didn’t. After all, Obama’s campaign and the White House have offered a series of slogans over the course of the last two year as the incumbent has tried to sell his policies and position himself politcally for his reelection race this fall.
But the man who was so defined by two slogans in his 2008 campaign — “Hope” and “Change We Can Believe In” — has yet to really strike slogan gold this time around.
No immigration bounce for President Obama
President Obama’s announcement of his support for relaxed enforcement of immigration laws on young illegal immigrants has not provided any lift for him on the issue according to the new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
His approval rating on dealing with immigration issues is no better (nor worse) than it was two years ago, and he runs evenly with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on who people trust to handle the issue. Fewer than one in five voters — 18 percent — say immigration is an extremely important issue in their vote.
“The Gospel According to the Fix” is here!
Ever since we starting writing this blog — six years ago! — we’ve wanted to try to go longer, bigger and deeper with our thoughts, theories and flights of fancy about the great passion of our life: politics.
About a year ago we finally made the leap, signing a book deal with Random House to turn out a book that did just that. Today that book — “The Gospel According to the Fix” — goes on sale!
You can buy a paperback edition or read it on your Kindle. You can also check out excerpts here, here and here.
For Romney backers, the election is all about President Obama
Nearly six in 10 of those siding with Mitt Romney in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll say their vote is primarily “against” President Obama not in favor of the former Massachusetts governor, a testament to how much of Romney’s support is built on opposition to the current occupant of the White House.
By contrast, about three-quarters of Obama’s supporters are voting affirmatively “for” the president.
Is the presidential election about the past or the future?
Voters in eight swing states carried by President Obama in 2008 are evenly divided on whether they will cast their ballot this fall based on what the incumbent has done in his first four years in office or what he would do in a second term, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The poll suggests an even-steven battle between the past and the future that carries major electoral consequences this fall.
In the eight swing states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Virginia and Wisconsin — identified by The Fix, 41 percent of respondents said their vote would be about Obama’s first term, while 41 percent said it would be about what he would do in a second term.
President Obama speaks about urging the U.S. Congress to act on extending tax cuts for middle class families in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Monday. (Saul Loeb/AFP/GettyImages)
American Crossroads makes $40 million ad buy
American Crossroads gets ready for the fall, Mitt Romney stays in GOP territory in Colorado, a Democrat drops out and Dick Durbin says Jesse Jackson Jr. needs to explaim himself.
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President Obama’s massive swing state spending edge
President Obama has spent more than $91 million on television ads in eight swing states as of July 6, a massive sum that dwarfs the $23 million former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has disbursed on campaign commercials in those same places. Only heavy spending by Republican super PACs is keeping Romney within financial shouting distance of the incumbent on television at this point.
The data, which was provided to the Fix by a Republican media buyer, paints a fascinating picture of Obama’s overwhelming ad advantage in each of the states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Virginia — where both campaigns are spending.
The spending disparity between the campaigns is particularly pronounced in three of the swingiest states: Florida, Ohio and Virginia.
In Florida, Obama has spent $17 million on TV ads as compared to $2 million for Romney. In Ohio, it’s $22 million for Obama to $6.5 million for Romney; and in Virginia, Obama has spent $11 million on TV ads to less than $3 million for Romney.
Texas case puts voter ID laws to test
Voter ID laws face a high-profile test this week as the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC hears arguments about Texas’ controversial new regulations.
The case pits Texas against Attorney General Eric Holder, who has earned the ire of Republicans across the country for challenging new
Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during a news conference in New Orleans, on June 28.
(Bill Haber - AP)
voting restrictions. Republicans say the Justice Department should be more concerned about fraud; the DOJ counters that these laws suppress minority turnout.
One man’s tax cut is another man’s tax increase
One man’s tax cut is another man’s tax increase.
That political reality will be proven — yet again — in the aftermath of President Obama’s decision to call on Congress to extend the Bush era tax cuts for those making under $250,000 — and, therefore, for those not making more than $250,000.
Make no mistake: This proposal isn’t going anywhere legislatively before the election. (Republicans were quick to remind voters that Obama already pushed virtually this same proposal earlier this year.) It is a purely political gambit by the President designed to force Republicans to defend what the White House believes is an untenable position: preserving tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.
The second most important chart of the 2012 election (Hint: $$$)
On Friday, we presented readers with what we called the “most important chart of the 2012 election” — based on newly reported unemployment stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Three days later, we’re able to update the second most important chart of the 2012 election: the race for campaign cash. And it paints another potentially grim picture for President Obama, who was outraised by $35 million in June.
Here are his fundraising numbers, compared to Mitt Romney's, for the first six months of this year.
Romney outraised Obama in June, $106 million to $71 million
Updated, 10:55 a.m.: Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign outraised President Obama by $35 million in June, pulling in $106 million to the incumbent president’s $71 million, according to numbers announced by the campaigns Monday.
It is the second straight month that Romney has outraised the president and should leave the two candidates on close to equal financial footing just three months after Romney secured the Republican nomination.
Ohio at the epicenter of 2012 ad battle
More than $39 million has been spent on television ads in Ohio by the two presidential candidates and their affiliated outside groups as of early July, according to data provided to the Fix by a Republican media buying firm, a massive outlay of campaign cash that re-affirms the centrality of the Buckeye State in the electoral calculus of both parties.
U.S. President Barack Obama greets residents of Beaver, Ohio July 6, 2012. Obama is on a two-day campaign bus tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque President Obama’s campaign has spent an eye-popping $22 million on ads in Ohio already in the race while former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has dropped $6.4 million. Ohio is the state where both Obama and Romney have spent the most money on TV ads so far in the campaign.
The most important chart of the 2012 election
The June jobs report — 80,000 jobs added in the month and an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent — is full of bad news for President Obama as he seeks to make the case to the American electorate that the economy is slowly but surely improving.
The politics of the economy are heavily dependent on perception and that perception is heavily driven by the unemployment rate. (Economists roll their eyes at using such a simplistic measure to gauge the relative health of the economy but — and we can’t believe we are writing this — it is what it is.)
Crossroads launches $25 million buy off jobs report
An outside group targeting President Obama is already out with a new ad highlighting June’s weak jobs report.
Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) organization advised by former Republican strategist Karl Rove, is going on the air with a $25 million campaign focused on the national debt and the jobs market. The first ad, “Excuses,” will focus on Friday’s disappointing jobs numbers.
President Obama’s troubling trend line on jobs
The news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning that the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate stayed stuck at 8.2 percent suggests that any hope that President Obama will be able to run for reelection bolstered by an improving financial picture is rapidly disappearing.
The June jobs report and President Obama’s summer swoon(s)
The three summers of President Obama’s first term in office have been decidedly unkind to him on the economic front, a trend that puts even more importance on this morning’s June jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
MAUMEE, OH - JULY 05: U.S. President Barack Obama arrives to speak at a campaign event at the Wolcott House Museum Complex July 5, 2012 in Maumee, Ohio. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)In each of the past three summers, the unemployment rate has bumped upwards while the job creation numbers have either leveled off or dipped downward. That trend — plus the fact that we are 123 days before the election — makes the BLS’s 8:30 announcement of the utmost political importance.
Mitt Romney raised more than $100 million in June
Mitt Romney’s campaign and affiliated GOP committees raised more than $100 million in June, according to a Republican National Committee official. That’s Romney’s best month of the 2012 campaign to date.
While neither the Romney campaign nor the RNC’s communications operation were willing to confirm the haul, which was first reported by Politico, Rick Wiley, the national party committee’s political director, sent out this tweet to President Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina and senior strategist David Axelrod.
.@messina2012, check this out bro, we raised north of $100 million in June.I'm assuming u & Axe will need beers 2night bro
— Rick Wiley (@rick_wiley) July 5, 2012
The $100 million apparently includes money raised for Romney’s campaign, the RNC and the “Romney Victory Fund,” a joint fundraising committee between Romney and the RNC.
North Carolina moves to “Lean Romney” in Fix electoral map
For months, we’ve struggled with how to rate North Carolina in the 2012 race between President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
In our first electoral map predictions, we put it into the “toss up” category but the longer we looked at the states with which it shared that rating, the more it looked like the one state that didn’t belong. And so, we are moving North Carolina from “toss up” to “lean Romney” today.
(Check out the full map — with historical data and tons of other cool stuff here.)
Does Mitt Romney have a staff problem?
Talk of a shakeup in Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is running rampant, with the expectation within the Republican political class that the former Massachusetts governor will add seasoned hands rather than part ways with any of his current senior staffers.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney finishes speaking about the Supreme Court ruling on health care in Washington, Thursday, June 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
At the heart of the critique of the Romney campaign, which began with a tweet from News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and has continued with a stinging Wall Street Journal op-ed and harsh words for the campaign from the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol today, is the idea that the presidential candidate’s staff may not be up to the task of running the sort of race it will take to beat President Obama.
“The campaign needs to show the GOP elite world and the media a lot of competence going forward or this shake-up talk will only get louder and continue,” predicted one Republican adviser watching from the sidelines.
Ann Romney: Obama's strategy is ‘let's kill this guy’
In an interview with CBS News, the wife of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said President Obama's whole campaign plan was to “kill” her husband.
“They’re going to do everything they can to destroy Mitt, ”Ann Romney told Jan Crawford, when asked about Democratic efforts to paint the GOP candidate as out of touch. The couple were interviewed from their vacation home in Wolfeboro, N.H.
“Early on we heard what their strategy was, It was ‘Kill Romney,’ Romney said, referencing a 2011 story in which a Democratic strategist told Politico that Obama “will have to kill Romney” to win.
“I feel like all he's doing is saying, 'Let's kill this guy,’” she added, and promised to protect her husband: “Not when I'm next to him, you better not.”
New Obama ad: Romney believes in outsourcing
A new ad from President Obama’s reelection campaign suggests former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney “believes” in outsourcing — part of a series of ads attacking the Republican candidate as an outsourcer.
“What a president believes matters,” the narrator says over shots of the Republican. “Mitt Romney’s companies were pioneers in outsourcing U.S. jobs to low-wage countries. He supports tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.” A shot is shown of a Washington Post article on Bain Capital’s investments in companies that moved jobs overseas
Mitt Romney at Rupert Murdoch meeting: I won’t be a ‘flip-flopper’ on immigration
Romney says he won’t flip-flop on immigration, Fred Davis has regrets, and the House Majority PAC is teaming up with a labor union to make a major ad buy.
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The political fallout from health care reform — in three charts
The Supreme Court’s ruling in support of President Obama’s health care law isn’t even a week old yet but we are already seeing some fascinating numbers about how the ruling changed — or didn’t change — how people feel about the Affordable Care Act.
The Kaiser Family Foundation, which has been polling on attitudes regarding health care since time immemoriam, released new data today that tells a fascinating story about the political future of the law.
What is that future? It depends on which numbers from the poll you look at it. Below are three charts that provide three varying narratives on what the law meant, means and will mean in our political landscape.
CBS News: John Roberts changed his mind on health-care mandate
Last week, there was speculation that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. had originally planned to strike down the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, before changing his mind and ruling to uphold the mandate as a tax. Now, CBS News’s Jan Crawford reports that Roberts did switch his vote, and that the court’s conservatives tried for a month to win him back to their side.
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