Frank Rich: “If there’s one battle cry that unites our divided populace, it’s that the country has gone to hell and that almost any modern era, with the possible exception of the Great Depression, is superior in civic grace, selfless patriotism, and can-do capitalistic spunk to our present nadir. For nearly four years now — since the crash of ’08 and the accompanying ascent of Barack Obama — America has been in full decline panic. Books by public intellectuals, pundits, and politicians heralding our imminent collapse have been one of the few reliable growth industries in hard times.”
Pigs and Politicians
Ted Yoho (R) unveiled a new ad in his effort to defeat Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) in the August 14 Republican primary which features pigs and politicians literally throwing mud at each other.
Flashback of the Day
“You Olympians, however, know you didn’t get here solely on your own power.”
— Mitt Romney, quoted by NBC News, during his speech at the opening ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Romney has roundly criticized President Obama in recent weeks for his “you didn’t build that” line when it came to businesses.
Techies Move Into Campaigns
Bloomberg looks at “the rise of a new professional, political class: a core group of young technology experts who are shunning traditional campaign titles, starting companies and making millions off the most expensive presidential campaign in history. They are cutting a path similar to the one etched by television ad makers in the 1980s, with a dose of Silicon Valley and the dot-com boom’s edginess.”
Is the Obama Campaign Ready for Recounts?
Bill Daley, who was intimately involved in the rancorous 2000 presidential recount in Florida, has already raised the question with the Obama campaign, the Daily Beast reports.
Bailout
Just published: Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street by Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general of TARP.
First Read: “It’s a harsh assessment of Washington and Wall Street — and one that is under the radar right now but gives fuel to the criticism that nothing has really changed.”
Breaking Down the Fundraising Numbers
First Read reports the Obama campaign “actually outraised the Romney campaign in the apples-to-apples comparison for the month of June, $45.9 million to $33 million. And it has more campaign money in the bank as of June 30, $97 million to $22.5 million, as well as a higher burn rate, 126% to 83%.”
“But where Team Romney outpaced Team Obama was with the RNC vs. DNC fundraising ($39.8 million to $20.5 million) and the victory fund money. Why these distinctions matter, as we’ve said before: While the campaigns control the party/victory fund money, there are limitations in how they’re able to use it. For example, coordinated party expenditures are limited to $21.7 million in this presidential contest.”
“Overall in June, GOP presidential campaign entities (Romney camp, RNC, American Crossroads, Restore Our Future) outraised the Dem groups (Obama camp, DNC, Priorities USA Action), $99 million to $72.6 million. So again: The Obama campaign has more money directly in its control, and Romney will be the beneficiary of a lot of help from outside groups.”
Romney Olympic Documents Still Secret
“More than a decade has passed since Mitt Romney presided over the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, but the archival records from those games that were donated to the University of Utah to provide an unprecedented level of transparency about the historic event, remain off limits to the public. And some of the documents that may have shed the most light on Romney’s stewardship of the Games were likely destroyed by Salt Lake Olympic officials,” ABC News reports.
California GOP on Path to Minor Party Status
“This would seem a moment of great opportunity for California Republicans. The state has become a national symbol of fiscal turmoil and dysfunction, the Legislature is nearly as unpopular as Congress and Democrats control every branch of government,” the New York Times reports.
“But instead, the state party… is caught in a cycle of relentless decline, and appears in danger of shrinking to the rank of a minor party… Registered Republicans now account for just 30% of the California electorate, and are on a path that analysts predict could drop them to No. 3 in six years, behind Democrats, who currently make up 43%, and independent voters, with 21%.”
The Chris Christie of Democrats?
Baltimore Sun: “None of the analysts is sure exactly when it happened. But they all agree that sometime in 2012, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley become a staple, if not a star, of Sunday morning public-affairs television. And for all the new media speaking to voters, that forum not only shapes the national debate, it also plays a major role in anointing politicians as national leaders worthy of White House consideration.”
“Why does O’Malley get invited to the shows seemingly every week while many other eager and able political leaders never get the call? People who host and book the shows say political savvy, TV skills, geography and a willingness to take off the gloves result in a combination that one veteran network producer describes as ‘the Chris Christie of Democrats.'”
Obama Will Keep Ads Off Air in Colorado
President Obama’s re-election team, “maintaining an unofficial time-out on full-scale campaigning following a deadly shooting at a movie theater, said on Sunday it will keep its advertisements off the airwaves in Colorado for the rest of the week,” Reuters reports.
Obama and Mitt Romney “both set aside the previously harsh tone of the November 6 election campaign to speak soothingly to the nation on Friday, after the shooting rampage that killed 12 at a midnight movie screening outside Denver.”
Obama Approval Better Than Carter or Bush
Gallup finds that President Obama averaged 46.8% job approval during his 14th quarter in office.
“The recent and continuing improvement in his approval rating, though, is a positive sign for his re-election prospects, but it remains below the 50% level that virtually assures a president of a second term in office. Obama appears in much better shape now than the two recently elected presidents who were denied a second term — Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush — both of whom averaged below 40% approval their 14th quarters in office.”
Obama Ahead in Minnesota by Six
A new Survey USA poll in Minnesota finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by just six points, 46% to 40%.
Wave of Attacks Rock Iraq
“An onslaught of bombings and shootings killed 93 people across Iraq on Monday, officials said, in the nation’s deadliest day so far this year,” the AP reports.
“The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive and warned in a statement that the militant group is reorganizing in areas from which it retreated before U.S. troops left the country last December. Al-Qaida has been seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans, seizing on Baghdad’s fragmented government and the surge of Sunni rebels in neighboring Syria to sow instability across Iraq.”
Help Me Pick a T-Shirt Design
Political Wire needs a t-shirt. Take a look at the leading designs and tell me which one you like best.
Coburn Supports Manchin’s Re-Election
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) crossed party lines and gave a $250 contribution to Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) re-election campaign “because he believes Manchin is not beholden to short-sighted political interests,” The Hill reports.
Said Coburn: “I think he votes thinking about the long-term interests of the country. We don’t agree on everything but he’s a good guy.”
5 Reasons the Mitt Romney Tax Controversy Won’t Go Away
The Week has the list.
Do Polls Break Towards the Challenger?
Nate Silver: “There are certainly some good reasons to think that the polls could break toward Mitt Romney. For instance, many polls out now were conducted among registered voters; when pollsters switch over to likely voter polls instead — which assess each voter’s probability of actually casting a ballot on Nov. 6 — it is likely that Mr. Romney will gain a point or two. And Barack Obama obviously has a lot of weight to bear from the lukewarm economic recovery.”
“But one hypothesis you should find less persuasive is the notion that the polls will break toward Mr. Romney just because he is the challenger. It is often asserted that this is the case — that the polls move toward the ‘out-party’ candidate rather than the incumbent. But in my view the empirical evidence — although it is somewhat ambiguous — mostly argues against this idea.”
