- The Huntsman-Gingrich debate was convivial, but not too kind to Romney.
- The Tax Policy Center finds Gingrich’s tax plan to be pricey, sharply regressive.
- Romney is like Clinton in ’08, only better organized.
- Gay Vietnam vet unimpressed by diner run-in with Romney.
- Private equity folks don’t relish the attention brought by having one of their own run for President.
- Congress’s proposed insider trading law is kind of a fig leaf.
- Ron Paul’s ads have sharpened since 2008.
- The Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of Arizona’s immigration law next year.
- It’s yet another high-profile election year case involving the Obama administration.
- Obama trails in swing states.
- Occupy creates union tension with its port protests.
- Perry wishes everyone “happy holidays,” presumably a white flag in “Obama’s war on religion.”
- And Funny or Die lipreads his latest ad.
Morning Must Reads: Sharp
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The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy
More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.
