Steve Kornacki notes that Mitt Romney’s explanation for leaving Bain Capital only makes sense in the context of when he made it: When Romney left to run the Olympics, there was no reason for him to think he would be running for public office any time soon. In fact, he fully expected to return to his old job.

“The point here isn’t that Romney was running Bain Capital and making all of its key decisions from 1999 to 2002. But the story he tells now absolves him of all responsibility for anything and everything Bain did in those years. This would be reasonable if Romney had forged a clear and total break with the company in 1999, but he didn’t. His statement to the ballot law commission 10 years ago was supported by just about all of his actions between 1999 and 2002: Until the final few months of his Olympic tenure, Romney’s break from Bain was supposed to temporary.”

First, it was kings and queens. Now, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) tells CNN that President Obama and other powerful Democrats are regularly phoning him to get help passing their legislation.

Said Brown: “I can name a litany of Democratic-sponsored bills that I’ve done that never would have passed hadn’t it been for me. And the president had called me, and vice president calls me, and Secretary Clinton calls asking for my vote all the time.”

But the Boston Globe reports Brown has spoken by phone with Clinton just twice during his Senate career and he’s spoken to President Obama by phone just once.

The Week looks at how Romney can get back on track.

Mitt Romney’s campaign is out with another ad reacting to Obama campaign attacks on his tenure at Bain Capital.

Alex Burns: “The ad sticks with Romney’s strategy of not engaging the attacks against him in too much detail, and trying to make the negativity of Obama’s campaign a liability for the president.”

First Read: “But remember this little rule in politics: If someone is complaining about negative TV ads, that usually means they’re working…”

[Read more…]

A Democratic-leaning super PAC unveiled a new website called VeepMistakes.com which features more than 1,300 pages of opposition research and scores of video clips of possible running mates for Mitt Romney, ABC News reports.

“Political prognosticators can only speculate who is on Romney’s short-list, but now we know who the Democrats are preparing to target. The super PAC is shining their spotlight on three of the mostly likely contenders: former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.”

Most interesting: “In addition to the written material, the super PAC, which was formed
primarily as a tracking and research organization, is making public
large amounts of video footage of the three vice presidential hopefuls.
American Bridge trackers have been following Pawlenty since May 2011,
Rubio since this February and Portman since May.”

Ben Smith notes that two weeks ago the Romney campaign was forced to rebut claims of a Washington Post article that Bain Capital was a “pioneer in outsourcing” by claiming Mitt Romney left the firm in February 1999, before much of the activity questioned in the article took place.

“The argument over the Washington Post story ran for a few weeks, with
Romney and his allies making arguments that depended centrally on his
date of departure. Today, the trap — set by Obama and his allies or
happened upon by reporters, or some combination — sprung: A Boston Globe story called into question that premise.”

“Romney now finds himself in a place he’s spent months avoiding:
Offering a complex, technical explanation of his role running a venture
capital firm and of why some documents showed his continued involvement
after he says he left.”

Mitt Romney’s claim that he played no part in decision-making related to Bain Capital after 1999 is false, according to Romney’s own sworn testimony in June 2002, the Huffington Post reports.

Romney’s sworn testimony appears to back up the SEC filings and contradict his personal disclosure forms submitted to Massachusetts officials in 2002, in which he said that he retired from Bain on Feb. 11, 1999.

Politico: “The problem for the Romney campaign, when it comes to the Bain issue, is that things are reaching the point where the facts don’t really matter. The bigger problem is that the Bain cloud now hanging over the former Massachusetts governor is growing daily, and the Romney campaign still hasn’t found a compelling way to respond to what’s becoming the driving narrative, fairly or unfairly, of the 2012 campaign.”

Drudge Report: “Late Thursday evening, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign launched a new fundraising drive, ‘Meet The VP’ — just as Romney himself has narrowed the field of candidates to a handful, sources reveal. And a surprise name is now near the top of the list: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice!”

“The timing of the announcement is now set for ‘coming weeks’.”

Mark Halperin: “Inconceivable”

In a possible sign he’s starting to get worried about the Obama campaign attacks on Bain Capital, Mitt Romney is hitting back hard with a new ad running in seven key swing states: Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.

Greg Sargent: “If this ad buy info is accurate — and if the ad is running for a significant amount of time — it may signal that the Romney camp has decided the onslaught against his business background may be working, or threatening to work, and now merits a serious escalation in engagement.”

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Despite calling them an “age-old ruse” in his 1994 U.S. Senate campaign, Mitt Romney now assures voters that a “blind trust” gives him no control over his assets.

Todd Purdum looks at the history of blind trusts in politics — first used by President Lyndon Johnson — and notes Barack Obama set one up when first elected to the U.S. Senate “but sold all of his stocks and closed the trust because he decided that even such an arrangement could not protect him from the appearance of a conflict.”

But the blind trust “has another enduring meaning in American politics, a sarcastic one coined by Garry Trudeau in 1984, when, in his comic strip Doonesbury, he accused then vice president George H. W. Bush of depositing his manhood in one. The slam stung — and stuck — which is something Mitt Romney would do well to remember as he charts his investment in the presidency.”

Despite a stagnant economy and broad dissatisfaction with the nation’s direction, a new Pew Research survey finds President Obama holds a significant lead over Mitt Romney, 50% to 43%.

Key finding: “Of 12 issues tested, Obama has the edge on eight; Romney is seen as stronger than Obama on only one, reducing the federal budget deficit. In June, Romney led as the candidate best able to improve the economy, but today Obama holds a slight lead on this issue. However, neither candidate has a clear advantage on the job situation, the top issue for voters: 46% say Romney and 42% say Obama can do a better job improving the job situation.”

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Texas finds Ted Cruz (R) with a surprising five point lead over former front runner David Dewhurst (R), 49% to 44%.

A Wenzel Strategies poll, commissioned by allies of Cruz, also found Cruz leading Dewhurst, 47% to 38%.

Sean Trende: “The problem, however, is that elections are largely referenda on the incumbent. It takes something very powerful for the people to choose an unpopular incumbent over a challenger of any stripe… In a presidential campaign, both candidates are incredibly well-funded, to the point where they can achieve saturation media coverage in most major markets and still have money left over. This is especially true for Obama, who is a known quantity. His spending just isn’t likely to do that much to change the race, unless he hits upon an argument that disqualifies his opponent.”

Likewise, “I wouldn’t expect Romney to achieve a major breakthrough anytime soon. The economy isn’t so bad that it would cause people to give up utterly on Obama. It is improving, albeit more slowly than he — or the country — would like. That could change, but if it doesn’t, Romney is not going to run away with this election.”

The Atlantic notes that “underwhelming recruitment” by will make it tough for Republicans to win a majority in the U.S. Senate.