In a hidden-camera video captured at a private fundraiser and posted Monday afternoon to the website of Mother Jones, Mitt Romney offers an assessment of Barack Obama’s supporters that is far more withering than any he’s revealed …
2012 Election
Promising Change of All Kinds, Romney Campaign Plans More of the Same
Have you heard? The Romney campaign is rebooting. After two weeks of slipping poll numbers, Mitt Romney’s advisers began the week by announcing the campaign would change course. But how?
Romney’s New Approach: The Tale of Two Ads
Mitt Romney has a very tricky problem. He’s running against an incumbent President whose poll numbers have proved resilient in the face of a weak economic recovery. The last few weeks have produced a bit of Republican panic, so his campaign is out with a Bold New Strategy™: Senior Romney adviser Stuart Stevens tells Politico (the …
Republican Fantasyland
I was having a drink with a Republican strategist the other day and he said, “Jon Stewart was right. We’re running a Clint Eastwood campaign, running against a version of Barack Obama that doesn’t exist.” Exhibit A is this Fred Barnes piece in the Weekly Standard, which begins with this rather remarkable paragraph:
President Obama is
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Out on the Trail, Romney Broadens Foreign Policy Critique of Obama
Fairfax, Va.
Returning to the campaign trail a day after his barbs at Barack Obama’s handling of the Middle Eastern attacks sparked recriminations, Mitt Romney amplified his criticism of Obama’s foreign policy, arguing …
Will the Arab Spring Rain on Obama’s Re-election?
Until now, the Arab Spring has felt like a wash in domestic political terms. Conservatives have charged Obama with “losing” Egypt to the Islamists after mishandling the region’s politics. Just last month, Mitt Romney complained …
Will the Ad Wars Make Any Difference?
Here comes the flood. The Obama and Romney campaigns, and their allied super PACs, are on course to spend more than $1 billion on television advertising in 2012. But only about half that money has already been spent. In my new magazine story, now available online to subscribers, I look at the campaign ad wars filling this three-week …
Mitt Romney’s Foreign Policy Gamble
During the Republican primaries, Mitt Romney’s watchword was caution. But over the last two months, things have changed. The polls began to tilt against him in early August, after months of an Obama ad onslaught. The selection of …
Obama, Romney Respond to New Poverty Data
Today the US Census Bureau announced that the nation’s poverty rate remained at 15% in 2011 after increasing each of the previous three year. President Obama and Mitt Romney both responded via online video messages.
Romney Criticized for Political Turn After Ambassador’s Killing
Mitt Romney began the 2012 anniversary of September 11 by calling for a suspension of politics. “There is a time and a place for that, but this day is not it,” Romney told a morning National Guard gathering in Reno, Nev.
The Two Campaigns of Mitt Romney
Every campaign starts with a theory of the case. In 2004, George W. Bush’s advisers surmised a shaken country wanted a leader who had the strength to take tough decisions to keep us safe. Four years ago, Barack Obama ran on …
Mitt Romney’s Monetary Policy Mystery Continues
A while back I wrote about the opacity of Romney’s views on monetary policy, so it’s worth circling back around given that he touched on the issue briefly in his interview on Meet the Press. Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript:
Romney Campaign: The Fundamentals of the Election Are Strong
Republicans need not panic about recent grim national tracking polling numbers that have shown President Obama opening up a lead of three to five points, writes Romney pollster Neil Newhouse in a state-of-the-race memo sent out …