A new We Ask America poll in Wisconsin finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by seven points, 49% to 42%.
Obama Ahead in Nevada
A new We Ask America poll in Nevada shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by six points, 49% to 43%.
A new Magellan Strategies poll shows Obama leading 50% to 46%.
Romney Wouldn’t Have Run If He Had to Release Taxes
Mitt Romney “has been determined to resist releasing his tax returns at least since his bid for Massachusetts governor in 2002 and has been confident that he will never be forced to do so,” several current and former Bain executives tell the Huffington Post.
“Had he thought otherwise, say the sources based on their longtime understanding of Romney, he never would have gone forward with his run for president.”
Daily Beast: The emerging theory on Mitt’s taxes: It’s 2009.
Obama Says Romney Will End Medicare
President Obama begins a two-day swing through
Florida and First Read reports “he’ll introduce another attack:
hitting Romney on Medicare and the Ryan budget.”
Per the campaign, the
president “will discuss his commitment to strengthening Medicare, and a
new report tomorrow that highlights the devastating impact Mitt Romney’s
Medicare plan could have on the 3.4 million Floridians that rely on
Medicare.”
“Bottom line, per the campaign’s guidance: Obama will argue
that Romney — through his support for the Ryan budget plan — advocates
ending Medicare ‘as we know it.'”
Jonathan Chait: “The Obama campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s business record and
personal finances will probably continue for a long time. But I think
that, when the campaign is remembered in history, they will not be seen
as the central element but rather as a prelude. The main event is going to be a fight over the priorities of the Paul Ryan budget.”
Romney Hits Obama on Business Remark
The Romney campaign is out with a tough new video using President Obama’s recent quote about business: “If you’ve got a business-you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen…”
Greg Sargent: “This line is going to be a major target for the Romney campaign — similar to Obama’s 2008 remark about spreading the wealth — but in order to have maximum political value, it needs to be removed from context in a highly misleading way, which the Romney camp is happy to do.”
DNC Backs Off Dressage Romney Attack Ads
The DNC said that they “would refrain from using the Romney’s dressage horse Rafalca in future advertisements after suggestions the ad could be offensive to the Republican challenger’s wife, Ann,” The Hill reports.
“The horse, which will be competing later this month in London’s Summer Olympics, is one of a number of animals that Ann Romney owns and rides as part of her treatment for multiple sclerosis.”
Zeke Miller: “The curveball: Mrs. Romney never even took offense. And the episode was
more a mark of Democrats’ fear of provoking sympathy for the candidate’s
wife than of any move by the Republicans to capitalize on it.”
Why Romney Can’t Wait Out the Tax Storm
Frank Rich: “What Mitt doesn’t seem to realize is that whatever embarrassments are in his tax returns, the bigger problem is that his secrecy keeps accentuating all the mysteries in his resume: the erased hard drives he left behind when leaving office as Massachusetts governor; what exactly he did as a longtime lay official in the Mormon church; and, of course, what exactly he did and didn’t do at Bain and, for that matter, when he was there and not there. If he keeps trying to wait out the tax storm, it will keep growing — hitting a new peak when he finally releases the one additional year of tax returns he has agreed to disclose, and another when his veep pick is asked to release his or her tax returns.”
Steve Kornacki: “Maybe the calendar offers a clue about Romney’s thinking. In just over a
week, the London Olympics will kick off. If you’re going to release
more embarrassing tax returns, maybe that would be the ideal time?”
Deadlocked in the Battleground States
A new NPR poll in 12 battleground states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — finds President Obama and Mitt Romney tied at 46% each.
Virginia is Dead Even
A new Quinnipiac poll in Virginia finds Mitt Romney now in a dead heat with President Obama at 44% each.
Obama held an 8 point lead in March and a 5 point lead in June.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Virginia voters are sharply split along gender and political lines about the presidential race. The two candidates equally hold their own political bases and are splitting the key independent vote down the middle. One small edge that President Obama has is likability. Voters have a slightly more favorable opinion of the president than they do Mitt Romney.”
Majority of D.C. Residents Think Gray Should Resign
A new Washington Post poll finds 57% of District of Columbia residents think Mayor Vincent Gray (D) should resign, revealing “how deeply the continuing campaign corruption scandal has eroded the city’s support for its mayor.”
Gray’s support is dwindling even among his political base, with 48% of African Americans saying he should resign.
Heller Holds Small Lead in Nevada
A new Magellan Strategies poll in Nevada finds Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) with a narrow lead over challenger Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV), 45% to 42%.
Skipping Work to Hang Out at the Horny Toad?
A new ad in Missouri’s race for lieutenant governor makes the presidential race look tame in comparison.
Still Close Nationally
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%.
More Blame Bush Than Obama for Economic Downturn
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.
Exchange of the Day
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.
Olympics Documents Described Romney as Bain CEO
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.
Obama Too Busy for Jobs Council
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.”
Obama Fades in New Mexico
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.”
