President Obama will run a very positive, feel-good ad tied to the start of the Olympic Games.
Alex Burns: “The ad is in line with the Obama campaign’s string of positive commercials this week, and is a definite departure in tone from the slashing, negative, anti-Romney ads that have dominated June and July. But then, these are the Olympics, and voters aren’t necessarily going to want to see harsh Romney-bashing spots during the opening ceremonies.”
Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll (R) apologized “for offending lesbians when she said black women who engage in those relationships don’t look like her,” the AP reports.
“Carroll, who was implying that black lesbians aren’t attractive, made the remarks more than a week ago when she was asked about court documents in which a fired staffer claims that she walked in on Carroll and a female travel aide in a compromising position. Carroll denies that claim.”
Said Carroll: “It is wrong and inexcusable to make a comment that hurts people, and that was not my intention.”
The New York Times looks at the political evolution of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
“Absent is the maverick who bucked his party on the environment and campaign finance, and verbally towel-snapped Republicans and Democrats alike on the Senate floor. Gone, too, is the far-right leaning Mr. McCain of 2010, who found himself in a primary fight back home that caused him to retreat from his stances on immigration and global warming.”
“Mr. McCain instead appears to have entered Version 3 of his long and multipronged Senate career — partisan warrior and party stalwart. He takes to the Sunday TV talk shows, the Senate floor and the Capitol hallways that are filled with more reporters than mosquitoes at a garden party to press his party’s agenda on taxes, military spending and national security.”
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.
Washington Post: “Tens of thousands of civilian employees in the Defense Department could receive warnings about potential layoffs four days before the November election if impending spending cuts aren’t averted, hitting presidential battleground states such as Virginia and Florida hard.”
“The alerts would come in addition to any that major defense contractors might send out at the same time to their workers under an often-overlooked law, a prospect that is unnerving the White House roughly three months before voters go to the polls.”
“It’s been quite amazing so far. I’m almost speechless. That doesn’t happen too often.”
— Obama strategist David Axelrod, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, on Mitt Romney’s “European misadventures.”
A new Rasmussen survey in Nevada finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by five points, 50% to 45%.
A new Honolulu Star-Advertiser poll shows both Democratic candidates well ahead of Linda Lingle (R) in the U.S. Senate race. Mazie Hirono (D) leads 58% to 39% and Ed Case (D) leads 56% to 38%.
In the Democratic primary, Hirono leads Case 55% to 37%.
The Guardian: “From criticising the biggest sporting event Britain has held in over 40 years, to ‘looking out of the backside of 10 Downing Street’, Mitt Romney’s first foreign trip of his presidential candidacy hasn’t gone quite as well as he might have hoped. As the former Massachusetts governor continues to gaffe his way across London, here’s a round-up of Romney’s red-facers. So far.”
“There are some people coming from around the world who don’t yet know if we are ready. There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we are ready. Are we ready?”
— London Mayor Boris Johnson, quoted by the Daily Telegraph, mocking Mitt Romney in front of a crowd of 60,000 at Hyde Park.
Mitt Romney has already been slapped by British Prime Minister David Cameron for suggesting that Britain may not be ready to host the Olympics, but Josh Rogin points out it’s not the first time he’s said unflattering things about the country.
Romney wrote, in his book, No Apology:
“England is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn’t make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy. And if it hadn’t been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler’s ambitions.”
As head of the Salt Lake Olympics, Mitt Romney became the first Olympic executive to approve a series of commemorative pins in his likeness, BuzzFeed reports.
In an interview in London, Mitt Romney “expressed ignorance about when a horse owned by his wife, Ann Romney, would be participating in the Olympic sport called dressage,” Reuters reports.
Said Romney: “I have to tell you. This is Ann’s sport. I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on. She will get the chance to see it, I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”
Andrew Sullivan: “This is either a fib, designed to insulate him from whatever minimal
fallout there is from owning a dressage horse; or it’s true and he’s
just unlike other human beings.”
Check out the latest public policy news from our sister site, Wonk Wire.
Mark Halperin: “With about 100 days to go until Nov. 6, campaign veterans spy a rarity in presidential politics: both the Obama and Romney operations like their chances of winning … The phrase used consistently by each side: ‘I would rather be us than them.’ That is a shift from the recent past, when the McCain, Kerry, Gore and Dole camps all projected the air of fretful underdogs at this stage.”
The Justice Department’s inspector general found “at least seven instances of federal employees engaging in illegal attempts to hire family members at the agency,” The Hill reports.
“The report is the third investigation in less than a decade that has found numerous examples of illegal hiring practices, amounting to nepotism, within the DOJ.”
Very interesting: First Cameraman: Documenting the Obama Presidency in Real Time by Arun Chaudhary.
Reflections of the first official White House videographer from the early months of the 2008 presidential campaign and through the first two and a half years of the Obama administration.
A new Pew Research survey finds eight-in-ten voters who know Mitt Romney is Mormon say they are either comfortable with his faith (60%) or that it doesn’t matter to them (21%).
However, the survey also finds that nearly four years into his presidency the view that President Obama is Muslim persists. Currently, 17% of registered voters say that Obama is Muslim; 49% say he is Christian, while 31% say they do not know Obama’s religion.
Some of President Obama’s most senior aides “have begun making regular appearances at his campaign’s Chicago headquarters, tightening the link between the White House and the re-election effort as the race intensifies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Top aides Pete Rouse and David Plouffe have been spending about one day a week at the campaign’s offices, senior Obama advisers said. Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer made a trip to Chicago this week and is expected to spend about one day a week at the headquarters as the campaign season picks up.”
Taegan 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.
“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.