Political Wire

  • Front Page
  • Members
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
  • Trending
  • Resources
    • Politics Extra
    • Political Job Hunt
    • Political Dictionary
    • Electoral Vote Map
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us

Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, trending news, a private podcast, no ads and more!


Lawmaker Says “Some Girls Rape Easy”

October 10, 2012 at 7:26 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Wisconsin state Rep. Roger Rivard (R) “is drawing heat for saying that his father had told him when he was young that ‘some girls rape easy’ as a way to warn him that a woman could agree to sex but then later claim that it wasn’t consensual,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Said Rivard: “He also told me one thing, ‘If you do, just remember, consensual sex can turn into rape in an awful hurry.’ Because all of a sudden a young lady gets pregnant and the parents are madder than a wet hen and she’s not going to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I was part of the program.’ All that she has to say or the parents have to say is it was rape because she’s underage. And he just said, ‘Remember, Roger, if you go down that road, some girls,’ he said, ‘they rape so easy.'”

Latest Swing State Polls

October 10, 2012 at 7:20 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Here are the latest polls from the battleground states:

Florida: Obama 49%, Romney 45% (University of North Florida)

Nevada: Obama 47%, Romney 46% (SurveyUSA)

Nevada: Obama 51%, Romney 47% (Public Policy Polling)

New Hampshire: Obama 48%, Romney 48% (Rasmussen)

Ohio: Obama 45%, Romney 44% (SurveyUSA)

Ohio: Obama 46%, Romney 42% (Newsmax/Zogby)

Pennsylvania: Obama 51%, Romney 46% (Rasmussen)

Pennsylvania: Obama 50%, Romney 42% (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Wisconsin: Obama 51%, Romney 49% (Rasmussen)

Latest National Polls

October 10, 2012 at 6:01 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Here are the latest national polls, updated as needed:

Fox News: Romney 46%, Obama 45%

Gallup: Romney 48%, Obama 48%

IBD/TIPP: Romney 49%, Obama 44%

Rasmussen: Romney 48%, Obama 47%

Reuters/Ipsos: Romney 45%, Obama 44%


You're reading the free version of Political Wire

Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.

    Upgrade Now

  • ✔ Become a member to get many great benefits -- exclusive analysis, a trending news page, a private podcast, no advertising and more!
  • ✔ If you're already a member, log in for the full experience.



Obama Internal Polls Still Show Leads in Swing States

October 10, 2012 at 5:32 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Major Garrett reports the first batch of Obama internal polls came back from key swing states today and “revealed that Obama was not in free fall, as some feared, but that his support has returned to where it was in July and August.”

“Internal Obama polling data show that all swing states have tightened up and that Romney is within the margin of error in states like Ohio and Virginia and Florida. It’s now a dogfight across the swing-state battlefield and any sense of pre-debate complacency that some Obama hands feared was creeping into both turnout and fundraising has vanished.”

Obama to ABC News: “What’s important is the fundamentals of what this race is about haven’t changed.”

Romney Vows to be “Pro-Life” President

October 10, 2012 at 4:45 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Mitt Romney vowed he would govern as a “pro-life president” after telling a newspaper yesterday that he wouldn’t seek legislation affecting access to abortion, NBC News reports.

Said Romney: “I think I’ve said time and again. I’m a pro-life candidate. I’ll be a pro-life president. The actions I’ll take immediately are to remove funding for Planned Parenthood. It will not be part of my budget. And also I’ve indicated I’ll reverse the Mexico City position of the president. I will reinstate the Mexico City policy.”

Mother of Slain Navy SEAL Scolds Romney

October 10, 2012 at 3:39 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The mother of a Navy SEAL killed in the attack on a U.S. consulate in Libya told WHDH-TV that she thought Mitt Romney was using her son’s death for political advantage.

Said Barbara Doherty: “I don’t trust Romney. He shouldn’t make my son’s death part of his political agenda. It’s wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama.”

Vaginal Probe Stars in New Ad

October 10, 2012 at 3:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A North Carolina state senate race may be the first election in the country to feature a vaginal probe in a television ad.

[Read more…]

Clinton Hits Moderate Mitt

October 10, 2012 at 1:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Bill Clinton tried to help President Obama recover from a poor debate performance last week by offering “a withering new critique of Mitt Romney,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Said Clinton: “I had a different reaction to that first debate than a lot of people did. I thought, ‘Wow, here’s old moderate Mitt. Where ya been, boy?'”

He suggested a retort for Obama: “I could have used you in that healthcare debate when I was trying to
enact a national version of the Massachusetts law, and you were all of a
sudden condemning what you had been for. And I miss
you.”

[Read more…]

King Way Up in Maine

October 10, 2012 at 1:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Pan Atlantic SMS poll in Maine shows Angus King (I) way ahead in the U.S. Senate race with 50%, followed by Charlie Summers (R) at 24% and Cynthia Dill (D) at 12% with another 14% still undecided in the race.

Americans Trust Obama More with Their Dog

October 10, 2012 at 12:25 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Esquire/Yahoo! News poll finds that Americans would trust President Obama more to look after their dog when they’re out of town than Mitt Romney, 52% to 27%.

Bonus Quote of the Day

October 10, 2012 at 12:12 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I think it’s fair to say I was just too polite.”

— President Obama, quoted by the Huffington Post, on why he didn’t do well in the first presidential debate.

Governor Gives Out Phone Sex Hotline

October 10, 2012 at 12:06 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) was giving a routine update on the fungal meningitis outbreak in his state but rather than direct people to the meningitis hotline, the Tampa Bay Times notes he transposed two numbers and instead directed callers to a phone sex hotline.

Amazingly, it’s not an uncommon mistake. Dan Amira has a brief history of politicians sending people to phone sex numbers.

White House Hit Hard on Libya Contradictions

October 10, 2012 at 11:24 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The Heritage Foundation eviscerates the Obama administration in a brutal video highlighting the inconsistencies in it’s timeline on what happened during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.

[Read more…]

Is Google Biased?

October 10, 2012 at 11:03 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

BuzzFeed finds interesting search results for “completely wrong.”

Romney Debates Himself

October 10, 2012 at 10:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A pretty amazing video.

Josh Marshall: “I think with a few more sharp cuts and some of that foreboding voiceover work something like this could be a pretty lethal campaign ad for the Obama folks.”

[Read more…]

Pro-Life Lawmaker Pressured Mistress to Get an Abortion

October 10, 2012 at 10:17 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A pro-life, family-values congressman who worked as a doctor before winning election as a Tea Party-backed Republican had an affair with a patient and later pressured her to get an abortion,” according to a phone call transcript obtained by the Huffington Post.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) “was trying to save his marriage at the time, according to his remarks on the call, made in September of 2000. And, according to three independent sources familiar with the call and the recording, he made the tape himself.”

Pressure Builds for Vice Presidential Debate

October 10, 2012 at 9:55 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

First Read: “While vice-presidential debates typically don’t have much bearing on the presidential contest, tomorrow night’s Joe Biden-vs.-Paul Ryan showdown has put pressure on both sides. Team Obama NEEDS a strong performance from Biden to make up for last week and change the subject; another bad outing by a member of the ticket and the Democratic handwringing could turn into a full-fledged panic. Meanwhile, Team Romney needs a solid outing from Ryan to keep up the momentum.”

“As we wrote last week, consider tomorrow night Game 2 of a baseball playoff series. After ace Romney beat ace Obama in Game 1, Democrats are looking for their No. 2 starter, Biden, to even the score. And Republicans are looking to go 2-0. That’s what at stake Thursday, and that’s why there’s more pressure on Biden than on Ryan.”

The Week The most important vice presidential debate ever?

House Holds Hearing on Libya Attack

October 10, 2012 at 9:15 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

The big political story of the day may be Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya.

First Read: “How concerned is the Obama administration about today’s hearing, which starts at noon ET? Concerned enough that the State Department — after weeks of near-silence — yesterday gave a tick-tock of what happened in Libya, and that tick-tock doesn’t even remotely match what UN Ambassador Susan Rice said in the days after the attack (that it was sparked by that anti-Islam video and that it wasn’t premeditated). Of course, the Obama administration has since revised its story, and it’s better to be late than never. But there’s no doubt that today’s hearing is going to be – at the very least — a headache for the White House.”

Interestingly, the Washington Post reports Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not appear at the hearing. The State Department “will instead send a trusted career diplomat along with three security officials.”

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 7948
  • 7949
  • 7950
  • 7951
  • 7952
  • …
  • 8129
  • Next Page »

Get Smarter About Politics

Members get exclusive analysis, a trending news page, the Trial Balloon podcast, bonus newsletters and no advertising. Learn more.

Subscribe

Your Account

Sign in

Latest for Members

  • Schumer Breaches Protocol to Trigger Vote on Epstein Files
  • The Hoax Playbook, Revisited
  • A Shutdown Would Backfire on Democrats
  • A Catch-All Message to Frame Republicans in 2026
  • Another Test of the Special Election Surge

Word of the Day

Photo-Op: A photo-op is short for a “photo opportunity,” an event specifically staged for television news cameras or photographers to increase a politician’s exposure.

Read the full definition

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.

Copyright © 2025 · Goddard Media LLC | Privacy Policy | Corrections Policy

Political Wire ® is a registered trademark of Goddard Media LLC