A new Fox News poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney nationally by four points, 45% to 41%.
A new CBS/NYT poll finds Romney ahead by one point, 47% to 46%.
A new NPR poll shows Obama leading by two points, 47% to 45%.
A new Fox News poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney nationally by four points, 45% to 41%.
A new CBS/NYT poll finds Romney ahead by one point, 47% to 46%.
A new NPR poll shows Obama leading by two points, 47% to 45%.
A new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that 34% of Americans say President Obama’s policies contributed significantly to the economic downturn, another 30% say they contributed to some degree while 35% say the president’s policies contributed little or not at all to the downturn.
However, more people blame former President George W. Bush.
Nearly half say Bush’s policies played a significant role in creating the nation’s current economic problems. Another 33% say they played some role. Only 18% say Bush’s policies had little to no impact.
Email from a conservative blogger to Putlizer prize winning journalist Connie Shultz on July 9, 2012.
Dear Ms. Shultz,
We are doing an expose on journalists in the elite media who socialize
with elected officials they are assigned to cover. We have found
numerous photos of you with Sen. Sherrod Brown. In one of them, you
appear to be hugging him.
Care to comment?
Response on July 10, 2012:
Dear Mr. [Name Deleted]:
I am surprised you did not find a photo of me kissing U.S. Sen. Sherrod
Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen. He’s really cute.
He’s also my husband.
You know that, right?
Connie Schultz.
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.
BuzzFeed: “Mitt Romney has spent much of the last week arguing that, despite some public records, he was effectively gone from Bain Capital in February 1999. But in February 2000, Romney was introduced as the ‘founder and CEO of Capital’ at the National Press Club during an appearance about the Olympics, and Romney’s biography on the Olympic’s website listed him as Bain Capital ‘founder and CEO.'”
Meanwhile, a new Obama video asks people what “retroactively retired” means.
President Obama “has not met for six months with the CEOs and others on his Jobs Council in part because he’s simply been too busy,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told Politico.
Said Carney: “There’s no specific reason, except the president has obviously got a lot on his plate, but he continues to solicit and receive advice from numerous folks outside the administration about the economy about ideas that he can act on with Congress or administratively to help the economy grow and help create jobs.”
A new Public Policy Polling survey in New Mexico finds the presidential race tightening with President Obama holding a five point lead, 49% to 44%.
The previous two PPP polls found Obama ahead by 14 and 15 points.
Key finding: “New Mexico still looks like a lean Obama state, but a surprise choice by
Mitt Romney of Susana Martinez as his running mate could make the state
a toss up. With her on the ticket Obama’s lead drops all the way down
to 48-47. That’s a testament to Martinez’s appeal with Democrats.”
As pressure builds on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns, the Huffington Post reports that the GOP nominee has not even disclosed all of his tax documents for 2010 — the only year for which he has presented any final tax forms.
“Romney released his 2010 tax return in January of this year, a document that first informed voters about the existence of his Swiss bank account and financial activities in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. But people who own foreign bank accounts are required to file a separate document with the IRS that provides additional details on such overseas bank holdings, and Romney has not released that form to the public.”
President Obama’s reelection campaign filed a federal lawsuit against Ohio’s top elections official “in a dispute over the battleground state’s law that restricts in-person early voting in the three days leading up to Election Day,” the AP reports.
“Obama’s campaign and other Democrats argue that the law unfairly ends in-person early voting for most Ohioans on the Friday evening before the Tuesday election while allowing military and overseas voters to cast ballots in person until Monday. Before the changes to the law, local election boards had the discretion to set their own hours for such voting on the days before the election.”
The Week has six theories.
Nate Silver’s book is now available for pre-order: The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don’t.
Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) insisted to The Hill that he was not running negative ads about his challenger.
Said Heller: “The campaign is. If you have any questions or comments it’d probably be better if you directed those towards the campaign. Just talk to the campaign, they’re the ones dealing specifically with this issue. Right now, I’m just worried about jobs and the economy.”
The Week weighs the evidence.
New York Times: “Mr. Romney’s possible running mates, who have handed over reams of documents to the campaign, have probably opened themselves to a greater level of scrutiny than the candidate himself, especially on the thorny question of taxes. Mr. Romney has said he will disclose federal tax returns covering two years by Election Day, far fewer than the 23 years’ worth that he handed over to Senator John McCain as a possible vice-presidential pick in 2008.”
Most national pollsters are still using samples of registered voters rather than “likely” voters and some suggest that Mitt Romney will have an advantage when this change is made but Mark Blumenthal suggests it’s too early.
“In almost every election dating back to 1980, the margins separating the top candidates in horse race polls shifted significantly after the party conventions. Only in 1996 did those margins remain roughly the same throughout the year. In other years, the shifts in voter preferences that occurred after the party conventions, shifts that have benefited both Democratic and Republican candidates, would have overwhelmed the relatively modest differences that earlier likely voter screens would have produced.”
“In the end, if all pollsters applied likely voter screens right now, Romney’s numbers would be slightly better, but there is a long way to go before any horse race poll should be considered an accurate forecast of the outcome.”
A new Latino Decisions poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney among Latino registered voters, 70% to 22%.
Alex Burns: “The final margin among Latinos in 2008 was a 36-point gap in Obama’s favor. Right now, he’s up by 48 points. Which gives you a sense of why Republican elites think it’s so urgent for Romney to make up ground with this bloc.”
Al Kamen reports former President Bill Clinton praised Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent by E.J. Dionne at an appearance in London earlier this week.
Clinton said, “This is the best thing E.J. has written in 20 years — since Why Americans Hate Politics.”
Despite suggestions Mitt Romney might pick a running mate this week, sources close to the Romney campaign tell the New York Daily News the working plan “has been to announce the pick after the Olympic Games, which begin next week and conclude Aug. 12 — two weeks before the Republican convention in Tampa.”
“The running mate choice — a high-stakes pick often described as the first presidential-caliber decision a candidate makes — will dominate the news cycle for days, temporarily changing the subject from Romney’s financial baggage. But some top advisers believe popping the name now would be seen as a panicky overreaction to Romney’s bad press and should be saved for better ‘bounce’ closer to the convention. As a practical matter, moreover, a GOP veteran of vice presidential rollouts said it takes at least a month for a support staff to be up and running before a nominee is named.”
Rick Klein: “An early VP pick would be out of character for Mitt Romney and a campaign team that has made few panic moves in this long campaign. Yes, it would change the storyline in a big way — but it would also acknowledge that the current story needs desperate changing. The one big chip Romney can play that President Obama can’t is his choice for vice president, and even holding onto that chip gives him leverage over the campaign.”
The conservative National Review calls on Mitt Romney to release tax returns prior to 2010:
“He’s a politician running for the highest office in the land, and his current posture is probably unsustainable. In all likelihood, he won’t be able to maintain a position that looks secretive and is a departure from campaign conventions. The only question is whether he releases more returns now, or later — after playing more defense on the issue and sustaining more hits. There will surely be a press feeding frenzy over new returns, but better to weather it in the middle of July.”
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.