Rally-around-the-flag time is over. For the most part, Republicans — with the exception of Mitt Romney — had held their fire in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo and consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which claimed the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens. But as …
2012 Election
Losing Crossover Appeal Could Cost GOP the Senate
For much of the past six months, if you asked a Democrat about Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown, you’d hear some mix of exasperation and amazement. In a state that went for Barack Obama by 26 points in 2008, Brown, …
Why Romney Is Polishing Energy’s Apple
On Tuesday night in Dallas, Mitt Romney made one thing clear: he was not “just polishing the apple for T. Boone Pickens here,” he said, when he began his policy remarks at a fundraiser with Pickens, an oil and gas investor, by talking about energy.
The truth is, as Romney pointed out, he almost always starts talking policy by …
For Romney, Fundraising Comes First
Miami
It’s nearing 9 p.m. and lightning forks across the sky, but inside a cavernous concrete expo hall, a mostly Hispanic crowd is chanting Mitt Romney’s name. Although Romney trails Barack Obama by more than two-to-one …
With Romney on the Ropes, GOP Super PACs Keep Firing Away
As Mitt Romney‘s campaign tries to regain control of its message and allay growing conservative doubts about whether he can beat Barack Obama, Republican super PACs are watching carefully and gauging how they can best steer their …
Romney Tries to Change the Subject (Yet Again)
A few days ago, Mitt Romney’s advisers promised to kick off a new phase of their campaign. This one would be built around policy specifics, supposedly evidenced by a new ad campaign that includes rather non-specific pledges to …
Amid Video Controversy, Romney Punches Back
Dallas, Texas
If Mitt Romney is panicking, it’s hard to tell. As Democrats salivate and Republicans squirm over a surreptitiously recorded video that shows Romney uttering politically fraught remarks to donors at a private …
Romney’s Campaign Is Far from Dead
Some of my colleagues are declaring Mitt Romney’s presidential hopes dead and buried; some are enthusiastically dancing on his political grave. This is premature. True, the latest video of Romney denouncing nearly half the country as self-pitying mooches seems to confirm the caricature of a heartless plutocrat that Democrats have spent …
Gaffes
Caught on candid camera, whispered into a hot mic or blurted out on the campaign trail, gaffes are what make a presidential race hum. Here’s TIME’s running tally of some of the biggest verbal blunders this year.
Romney’s 47% Video: Five Charts to Fact-Check the Remarks
When Mitt Romney told a group of wealthy donors that 47% of Americans pay no income taxes, he was (mostly) telling the truth. But everything else about his statement grossly misrepresents the reality of that figure. Here are five charts to clip’n’save for future reference.
We’re a Nation of Makers and Takers, Including Romney — and Me
I try not to get worked up about politics, but I hate the Tea Party delusion that we’ve become a nation that is split between makers and takers. It’s the false idea that Mitt Romney, who probably doesn’t believe it, parroted in that cringeworthy video to suck up to wealthy donors who do. The point of my Sept. 17 TIME cover story, …
How Mitt Romney’s Luck Ran Out
For a good long while, Mitt Romney was the luckiest man in politics. He joined the 2012 race as the default Republican front runner after more-formidable challengers chose not to run. His declared rivals were at turns ineffectual …
A Nation of Moochers
As Alex Altman reports, Mitt Romney’s bad week just got worse. And the worst of the worse is Romney’s contention that the 47% of the country who support Obama are just looking for handouts. This from a man who pays 14% in taxes–a multi-million dollar handout that Romney receives because he makes his money via a financial scheme that …