May 17, 2012
"I think guys like that so misunderstand the state of the nation they act like its 1942 or something. I mean think the public is so so far beyond. And then I heard getting out of the car it looks like they are not going to do that now. Look there are certain things that are sort of so morally clear and straight-straight lines about it-it almost doesn't warrant commenting."
-- Vice President Joe Biden, quoted by
Time, on plans of a Romney-aligned Super PAC to hit President Obama with ads
highlighting his ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
In the first poll of Nebraska's U.S. Senate race after this week's GOP primary,
Rasmussen finds Deb Fischer (R) crushing former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D), 56% to 38%.
Gallup: "Fifty-six percent of Americans think Barack Obama will win the 2012 presidential election, compared with 36% who think Mitt Romney will win. Democrats are more likely to believe that Obama will win than Republicans are to believe Romney will. Independents are nearly twice as likely to think that Obama, rather than Romney, will prevail."
A new
Public Policy Polling survey in North Carolina finds "a noticeable shift" in the attitudes of African Americans toward rights for gay couples in the wake of President Obama's announcement last week that he supports gay marriage.
Key finding: "Our final poll before the primary last week found only 20% of black voters in the state favoring gay marriage, with 63% opposed. Now 27% express support for gay marriage with 59% opposed, for an overall 11 point shift on the margin."
Nate Silver updated his Senate forecast and concludes "the most likely outcome" to be Republicans winning 50 seats, Democrats 49, and Angus King (I) the seat in Maine. Under those circumstances, the Democrats would retain control of the Senate if King caucused with them and President Obama won re-election, making Vice President Biden the tiebreaking vote. Otherwise, Republicans would control the chamber.
However, the range in the forecast is from Democrats winning 55 seats to Republicans winning 56 seats.
When asked about the report that a Super PAC is planning to
runs ads about President Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Mitt Romney told
Townhall that it was the Obama campaign that was engaging in "character assassination."
Said Romney: "I would like to see this campaign focus on the economy, on getting people back to work, on seeing rising incomes and growing prosperity... And I think what we've seen so far from the Obama campaign is a campaign of character assassination. I hope that isn't the course of this campaign."
Maggie Haberman: "Obama's campaign's attacks have been about Bain Capital, which has been
a key element of his curriculum vitae that he cites as qualifying him
for the job."
A new
WPRI poll in Rhode Island finds Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) -- one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the country -- holds a slim lead over his Democratic primary opponent Anthony Gemma (D), 40% to 36%, with another 20% still undecided.
However, the primary to pick the opponent to Brendan Doherty (R) isn't for another four months.
Young workers were hit hard by the recession and at least one recent poll shows the president
lagging significantly among younger voters.
National Journal: "The White House incumbent enjoyed the overwhelming enthusiasm of young voters in 2008, winning them by a two-to-one margin over Republican John McCain -- an incredible edge even for a group that usually leans left. But replicating that success could prove difficult when so many of those same voters are beset by personal financial difficulty. To do so, the Obama campaign might have to rely on a culturally oriented pitch, one that can tout the president's support of same-sex marriage."
The
New York Times reports a group of "high-profile Republican strategists is working with a conservative billionaire on a proposal to mount one of the most provocative campaigns of the super PAC era and attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away from."
"Timed to upend the Democratic National Convention in September, the plan would 'do exactly what John McCain would not let us do,' the strategists wrote. The plan, which is awaiting approval, calls for running commercials linking Mr. Obama to incendiary comments by his former spiritual adviser, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., whose race-related sermons made him a highly charged figure in the 2008 campaign."
First Read: "One, the advertising campaign -- if it aired -- would consume the Obama-Romney race for a week or more. Forget the economy, the deficit, even gay marriage; this ad would bury everything else. Think Swift Boats on steroids. Two, it's questionable the campaign would work. While we know that there are conservatives who want to portray Obama as a socialist tied to people who hate America, his actual record over the past four years -- championing legislation that once had GOP support (stimulus, health-care reform, even cap-and-trade) and killing Osama bin Laden - doesn't back-up the conspiratorial narrative portrayed in this plan."
New from former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura:
DemoCRIPS and ReBLOODlicans: No More Gangs in Government.
Mark Halperin: "The greatest indication that public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted over the past few years: almost no prominent GOP elected officials raised the issue after the day of the endorsement; party leaders, almost to a person, changed the topic to the economy when asked about Obama's now evolved stance. Besides, at a time when Republicans are trying to minimize the impression that their party is intolerant, the last thing they want is to pick a big fight over personal liberty and morality. Rest assured, they will quietly communicate Obama's position to targeted voters via religious organizations and mail as the election nears. And if Obama loses narrowly, some of his supporters are sure to look back and wonder if publicly backing gay marriage cost him his job."
A new
Washington Times/JZ Analytics poll find Mitt Romney edging President Obama nationally, 44% to 43%.
Key finding: "Obama is doing fine in most categories except young voters -- those under 30 -- with whom he only has a 5 percentage-point advantage over Mr. Romney."
Meanwhile, a
YouGov/Economist poll finds Romney ahead 46% to 42%.
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) told
Politico that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) "did more harm than good by investing seven figures in a conservative candidate who finished a distant third in the Nebraska GOP Senate primary."
Said Johanns: "The question I'd get asked as I get around the state: 'Who is this guy and why he is spending this money to elect people in our state?' ... I just think it was a poor choice of strategy. I don't think they understood the state. People hate that kind of stuff in our state, and so they recoiled, they looked for an alternative."
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina dismissed suggestions that it was a mistake for Democrats to hold their national convention in North Carolina and told
The Hill that President Obama can win the state.
Said Messina: "I believe that we can absolutely win North Carolina. The president's economic vision and the work he's done in North Carolina will carry the day for us there."
A new
Rasmussen poll shows Romney with an 8-point lead over Obama, 51% to 43%.
Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee raised $40.1 million last month,
Politico reports.
"That's the first joint Romney-RNC fundraising figure of the 2012 campaign, and comes close to matching the
$43.6 million President Obama and the Democratic National Committee took in last month."
May 16, 2012
A new
Fox News poll finds Presdent Obama leading Mitt Romney by seven points nationally, 46% to 39%. Just three weeks ago the candidates were tied at 46%.
The finding is the reverse of a
New York Times/CBS News poll put out earlier this week which found Romney moving into a lead.
"Fed up with an inept and self-destructive GOP apparatus in Nevada, the Republican National Committee and the Mitt Romney campaign have decided to erect a 'shadow state party' in this critical swing state,"
Jon Ralston reports.
Said one GOP strategist: "They are still bogged down in the minutiae of whether Romney will be the presumptive nominee. We don't have time for that when the Obama campaign already is in full campaign mode. We have no use for them (the state GOP)."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) told supporters he will not seek a House seat in Washington state this year after
losing a primary to a fellow Democrat earlier this year,
Roll Call reports.
Said Kucinich: "After careful consideration and discussions with Elizabeth and my closest friends, I have decided that, at this time, I can best serve from outside the Congress."
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D) was talking to Canadian radio station
CJAD-AM but the interview ended when the car carrying Dean was hit by another car.
Said Dean: "We just got hit by a car, sorry. I'm going to have to goodbye, say goodbye. Everybody's fine... going to be a bit of a struggle."
About a year after former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer was indicted on felony charges of organized fraud, theft and money laundering, the
Tampa Bay Times reports he left a message for former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist:
"Listen I just wanted to call and tell you something as a man, not like these other people that have put knives in your back and never had the courtesy of calling you directly or talking to you... there'll probably be things coming out that are going to be very hurtful to both you and Carole (Crist's wife), but I'll be honest with you, I don't care any more because I did everything I could for you."
To Crist, it sounded like Greer was attempting to extort money from him and he reported the messages to law enforcement.
A new
Marquette Law School Poll in Wisconsin shows President Obama and Mitt Romney tied in the presidential race, 46% to 46%, among likely voters.
In April, Obama led Romney by 49% to 45%.
Think Progress: "In January 2009, before President Obama had even taken the oath of office, annual spending was set to total 24.9 percent of gross domestic product. Total spending this year, fiscal year 2012, is expected to top out at 23.4 percent of GDP."
"Here's another interesting fact. Taxes today are lower than they were on inauguration day 2009. Back in January 2009, the CBO projected that total federal tax revenue that year would amount to 16.5 percent of GDP. This year? 15.8 percent."
"One last nugget. The deficit this year is going to be lower than what it was on the day President Obama took office. Back then, the CBO said the 2009 deficit would be 8.3 percent of GDP. This year's deficit is expected to come in at 7.6 percent."
John Edwards' defense
rested "without calling the two-time Democratic presidential
candidate or his one-time mistress to the witness stand, a sign of
confidence after presenting little more than two days of testimony and
evidence," the AP reports.
Jimmy Kimmel told
Howard Stern a joke he decided not to use at the White House Correspondents' Dinner:
Said Kimmel: "I had some jokes about -- like Rick Santorum. I said something like -- well, I didn't say it, but: Newt Gingrich's campaign is so dead Mitt Romney wants to baptize it and Rick Santorum wants to put it in a jar and show it to his kids."
"Mr. Speaker, I like it when you cry. You give new meaning to compassionate conservative."
-- Bill Clinton, quoted by
Washingtonian magazine, to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
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