“Each and every day that I’ve been a United States senator, I’ve been discussing issues meeting on issues, in secret meetings with kings and queens and prime ministers and business leaders and military leaders talking voting working on issues every single day.”
— Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), quoted by the Boston Globe.
A new Mitchell Research survey in Michigan finds President Obama with a tiny lead over Mitt Romney, 47% to 46%.
Said pollster Steve Mitchell: “I think this will be a battleground state. I think it is a purple state. It leans a little to the left but this election will be competitive here.”
First Read: “After all the reporting from a couple of weeks ago that Romney outraised Obama in May, well technically that isn’t correct. In the true apples-to-apples comparison for the campaigns, the Obama camp outraised the Romney camp last month, $39.1 million to $23.4 million. What’s more, the Obama camp has $109 million in the bank as of May 31, while the Romney camp has $17 million.”
“But where Team Romney outraised Team Obama was with the major party committees (the RNC’s $34.8 million vs. the DNC’s $20 million) and the victory funds. What’s going on here: A larger portion of the pro-Obama money is coming in the form of contributions to the campaign (where the maximum donation is $5,000), while a larger portion of the pro-Romney dough is coming from donations to the RNC (max is $30,800) and Romney’s victory fund.”
Rick Klein: “This election won’t be determined by either side running out of money. But a few data points suggest that the Obama campaign isn’t spinning by saying it will be outspent, as unthinkable as that is for an incumbent to have to worry about. Mitt Romney is coming off a record-setting, $6 million to $8 million day in Michigan — yes, Michigan — with a super, mega fundraising weekend coming in Utah this weekend… It’s only June, and already Romney has erased, if not reversed, the financial edge of the most prolific fundraiser in American politics.”
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ABC News “has obtained access to parts of the schedule for the three-day retreat with Mitt Romney in Park City, Utah, this weekend. If you’re massively wealthy and favor Romney over Obama, or if there’s a possibility you might be No. 2 on the Republican ticket, or if you fancy being considered for the veep spot, this fancy resort town nestled in the Deer Valley is the place to be.”
The Wrap notes that’s Stephen Colbert’s theory.
Mitt Romney’s five sons — Tagg, Matt, Josh, Ben and Craig — talked with Conan O’Brien last night about some of their father’s more memorable pranks.
President Obama’s campaign officials say “they are braced for an election decided by a razor-thin margin and are counting on their political organization in key states to overcome what they expect will be Mitt Romney’s money advantage,” Bloomberg reports.
“The president’s political advisers said that outside political action committees supporting Romney are likely to pour as much as $1 billion into the race, outspending Obama and the Democrats.”
Obama advisers “said their advantage will be their extensive operation to identify and turn out Obama voters. The campaign, for example, has 35 offices in Ohio and 40 in Florida, two crucial swing states in November.”
A new Bloomberg poll finds a plurality of Americans, 43%, say they want to retain President Obama’s health care law with only small modifications, while 15% say the measure should be left alone and 33% say it should be repealed.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule in the next week “on the constitutionality of the law, the centerpiece of which is the mandate that most Americans buy insurance or pay a fine.”
A new Quinnipiac poll finds President Obama has retaken the lead in Florida from Mitt Romney, 46% to 42%.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “The president is doing better among independent voters. It also is worth noting that the last Quinnipiac University Florida poll was on the heels of the president’s backing of gay marriage, which might have hurt him at that time.”
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) “to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Obama,” Bloomberg reports.
“What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.”
A new Associated Press/GfK poll finds President Obama slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in the presidential race, 47% to 44%.
Key finding: “About half — 49% — approve of how Obama is handling his job as president, dropping him below the 50% mark he was above in May. Disapproval of Obama is highest — 55% — for his handling of the economy. Still, registered voters are split virtually evenly on whether Romney or Obama would do a better job improving it.”
Meanwhile, a new Public Policy Polling survey shows Obama leading 49% to 45%.
President Obama’s re-election campaign has unveiled a new campaign organizing tool called Dashboard, where you can get the latest campaign news and connect with local supporters.
Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential bid, raised nearly $5 million last month, and roughly 20% came from three Ohio companies that share an address, USA Today reports.
“The $1 million in contributions from the connected Ohio firms were disclosed in filings today with the Federal Election Commission and underscore the ability of wealthy donors to contribute large sums to influence the election.”
“It wasn’t about body parts. It wasn’t about dissent. It wasn’t about anyone’s religious beliefs. It was that last comment that took it a step too far, and that’s what crossed the line about … The ‘no means no’ comment. That went a step too far. As I said to someone up north here, it’s like giving a kid a time out for a day, you know. Hey, time out.”
— Michigan state Rep. Wayne Schmidt (R), explaining why state Rep. Lisa Brown (D) was barred from speaking on the House floor for saying the word “vagina.”
A new Marquette Law School poll in Wisconsin shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney, 49% to 43%.
London Mayor Boris Johnson tells New York magazine that cities are all about prestige, which is the central thesis of his new book.
Said Johnson: “We seek cities because there are a greater range of girls at the bar, of
reproductive choice. Number one. Number two is there are better
outcomes for health and wealth. And now we care more about the
environment, and cities are better for the environment. But above all, talented people seek cities for fame. They can’t get famous in the fucking village.”
Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R), who once flirted with the idea President Obama wasn’t born in the United States, now says he thinks the president lied about being born in Kenya in order to get into college.
Said Bennett: “Now, I know there’s a lot of people that are very skeptical as to whether he was born in Hawaii. Personally I believe that he was. I actually believe he was fibbing about being born in Kenya when he was trying to get into college and doing things like writing a book and on and on and on.”
Bennett also said he thinks Obama has spent as much as two million of dollars to cover it up.
Samuel “Joe The Plumber” Wurzelbacher (R), made famous during the 2008 presidential campaign by John McCain and now running for Congress in Ohio, says in a new campaign video that gun control led to the Holocaust and Armenian genocide.
Wurzelbacher, who is featured in the video blasting tomatoes with a shotgun, proclaims at the end, “I love America.”
The New York Observer followed up with a campaign spokesman who not only stood by the video but suggested gun control may have also helped cause slavery in the United States.
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.
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