“A knowledgeable source tells BuzzFeed the answer is in a bit of cosmetic technology used commonly by celebrities: spray tanning. The Republican nominee has made a habit of spray tanning before major speeches, debates, interviews, and other events that have a chance of getting wide TV coverage, the source said. He pays for the process out of pocket — sparing his campaign the expense, and the task of masking it on public campaign finance reports — and steers clear of public salons where he could be recognized. Instead, he gets misted down in the comfort of his own home or hotel suite.”
Efforts to Misinform Voters Increase
Reuters reports on the uptick in efforts to mislead, intimidate or pressure voters as we head towards Election Day.
In addition to billboards warning against voter fraud and employers pushing workers to vote a certain way, in Florida, Virginia and Indiana, voters have received phone calls that wrongly told them there was no need to cast a ballot in person on Election Day because they could vote by phone.
Meanwhile, a probe of similar phone calls in Indiana has focused on a firm called Vote USA, but it is unclear who was behind the group because its phone number is no longer active.
Quote of the Day
“Two-to-one, people who say they have already voted are Barack Obama supporters. The majority of people who plan to vote early are Barack Obama supporters. The majority of people who plan to vote on election day, Romney supporters. I think that’s what’s gets tricky — you have to have a huge margin on election day to offset the Democrats.”
— Pollster Ann Selzer, in an interview with TPM on the impact of early voting.
No More Interviews for Romney
The Romney campaign is not committing to granting any network interviews in the final two weeks of the campaign, Politico reports.
No Proof of Romney Surge in Battleground
Rick Klein: “The truth is both sides are worried — Team Obama is nowhere near as confident about its map as public statements suggest, and the Romney surge isn’t as real (or relevant, given battleground-state polling) as Republicans are spinning. Yet it’s that map that governs still — national polls aside, the Romney surge hasn’t spilled into the battlegrounds (particularly Ohio) enough to upend the race in Romney’s favor, at least not yet.”
First Read: “Obama could still lose Ohio and get to 270 electoral votes, and the path is not a nutty path. He does it by winning Wisconsin (a state that hasn’t gone GOP since 84), Iowa (a state Gore carried), New Hampshire (a state Kerry carried), and Colorado. That gets him to 272. Sorta stunning that with all of our focus on FL-OH-VA that they all three could get rendered meaningless by the Rodney Dangerfield of the battleground: Colorado. And this is why, despite some national polls showing Romney either tied or slightly ahead, the narrative has never held that Obama is behind – due to all of his different paths to 270.”
Quants vs. The Pros
James Fallows notes the diverging outlook between political “experts” who say Mitt Romney’s momentum may carry him to victory and quantitative analysts who insist President Obama is still the solid favorite for re-election.
“We have an exceptionally clear instance of people judging from their experience, their ‘bones,’ their personal instinct, etc that things are going one way… while data… point in the opposite direction.”
“I don’t know who’s right, but I note this as a moment of unusual clarity about two approaches to politics. Among the many things we’ll learn two weeks from now (and in the assessment afterwards) is which of these approaches to political analysis has revealed a profound flaw.”
Obama Wouldn’t Talk to Newspaper on the Record
President Obama spoke to the Des Moines Register yesterday on a phone call which was described as “an incredibly informative exchange of questions, answers and an insightful glimpse into the president’s vision for a second term. He made a genuine and passionate case for our endorsement and for reelection.”
But for some reason the White House declared the conversation “off-the-record.”
The newspaper makes its endorsement on Saturday night.
Update: The Des Moines Register was now allowed to publish the transcript of the Obama interview.
Romney Distances Himself from Mourdock
Mitt Romney distanced himself from Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s (R) suggestion that pregnancy resulting from rape is “something God intended,” according to the Huffington Post.
A new DNC video points out that just yesterday Romney appeared in a new advertisement supporting Mourdock.
First Read: “Even though the Romney camp quickly distanced itself from Mourdock’s
remarks, the story could matter to Romney. Why? Because just as Romney
is trying to move to the middle — on domestic policy, foreign policy,
and social issues — the Mourdock story is a reminder how the
conservative bent of this Republican Party has been a drag on Romney.”
The First Meme President
Ryan Teague Beckwith has an exhaustive history of the memes of the Obama presidency, including the hope poster, Superman, the teleprompter, Spock, the Joker, the Jedi knight and “not bad.”
“Though they’re usually playful, memes can tell us a lot about what people really think about the president. They’ve tracked the hopes projected on him, the difficulties he’s faced in office and the fears of his opponents. And though they are generated and sustained by grassroots Internet users, Obama has played a key role in popularizing many of them.”
White House Told of Terrorist Claim Same Day
Emails show that White House and State Department officials “were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack,” Reuters reports.
Woman Writing Book About Affair with Herman Cain
Ginger White tells Daily Download that she plans to prove that she had a 13-year affair with Herman Cain in a new book which could prompt the former presidential candidate “to be a little more honest with his wife, because the details that I share, only she would know.”
While acknowledging that she was “getting all this help from Herman Cain” — as much as $6,000 a month — White was emphatic in declaring: “I am not a hooker. I am not a prostitute.”
She added: “My thing was, okay, I’ll take advantage of you before you take advantage of me. Let’s flip the script. I’m not gonna be your nice little hottie…You want to take my time away from my kids, my family, I’m going to make you sort of pay for it just a little bit.”
Murphy Opens Lead in Connecticut
A new Quinnipiac poll in Connecticut finds Rep. Chris Murphy (D)with a 6-point lead over Linda McMahon (R) in the U.S. Senate race,49% to 43%.
National Journal notes the poll closely mirrors the results of an internal poll the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released Wednesday shows Murphy up by five points, 46% to 40%.
Warren Leads Brown by Five Points
A WBUR poll in Massachusetts finds challenger Elizabeth Warren (D) leading Sen Scott Brown (R) in the U.S. Senate race by five points, 48% to 43%.
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“Life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that
horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen.”
— Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock (R), at a debate tonight with Rep. Joe Donnelly (D).
GOP Aide Thinks Romney Will Lose Nevada
A top adviser to Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said Mitt Romney will lose Nevada this year, the Las Vegas Sun reports.
Said Pete Ernaut: “I think Obama will carry the state somewhere (between 1-3 percentage points), something like that.”
Is This Trump’s Bombshell?
Donald Trump “is to claim that he has unearthed divorce papers of Michelle Obama and the President,” the Daily Mail reports.
“It is alleged that the eccentric real estate mogul will claim that the documents show the First Lady and the President were at one point in their two decades of marriage seriously considering splitting up.”
Trump claimed earlier today that he was set to make an announcement on Wednesday that would be “bordering on gigantic” and that it could change the presidential race.
Reid Says He’s a “One-Man Wrecking Crew”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called himself a “one-man wrecking crew” on Mitt Romney’s refusal to release his tax returns and warned of “17 angry old white men” spending vast sums on political advertising as he tried to rouse Democratic voters, the Las Vegas Sun reports.
Reid added that Romney was a “plastic man running for president who changes his position every chance he gets. He isn’t someone who should represent this country.”
Poll Shows Obama Solid in the Battleground States
The latest Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll finds President Obama moving slightly ahead of Mitt Romney, 47% to 46%.
However, Obama “maintains a larger advantage in the state-by-state battle that will determine the outcome of the election. Ipsos projects that Obama holds an edge in the most hotly contested states, including Florida, Virginia and Ohio, and is likely to win by a relatively comfortable margin of 322 electoral votes to 206 electoral votes.”
Other tracking polls: IBD/TIPP shows Obama up 47% to 45%, Rasmussen shows Romney leading 50% to 46%, Gallup has Romney ahead 51% to 46% and UPI/CVoter has the race tied at 48% to 48%.
