Mitt Romney is losing ground in the polls. His popularity with voters has sagged under a barrage of negative advertising, and he’s struggling to shed the moneybags caricature that has hampered him since the start of his …
2012 Election
The Ad: Rowboat, Not Swift Boat
Well, just about everybody has weighed in on the Obama-leaning super PAC’s ad about the laid-off steelworker whose wife died of cancer. I was going to pass on my pundocratic responsibilities in this area, especially after Michael Crowley’s way-smart exegesis yesterday, but there’s just no avoiding the thing. It threatens to become one of …
Why Deceit Is Everywhere in the 2012 Campaign
Scoundrels! Liars! How dare they?! Well, it’s just another day in the 2012 campaign.
Welfare Warfare, Fought in Shallow Waters
This morning the Republican National Committee held a conference call with former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum to continue the GOP assault on Barack Obama over welfare. Republicans and the Romney campaign are driving their …
It’s Getting Weird Out There
And on the third day of Romney’s travels with a full-time pool of reporters in tow: a high-speed chase on the New Jersey turnpike culminating in Hasidic wedding photos.
That Priorities USA Ad: Dishonest but Important
That new Priorities USA ad which effectively blames Mitt Romney for a woman’s cancer death is a strange beast. It is at once the most dishonest and substantive ad of the summer.
How Can Rob Portman Win Ohio for Romney If Its Voters Don’t Know Who He Is?
With Mitt Romney’s vice presidential selection expected in the next week or so, the insiders’ wisdom (read: What I saw on the Internet) points to two guys in the top tier of contention: Ohio’s Rob Portman and Minnesota’s Tim …
Mitt Romney’s Father Got Free McDonald’s Hamburgers For Life
That headline is true. Mitt Romney told the story Tuesday about his father, George Romney, who received carte blanche at McDonald’s until his death in 1995. Romney spoke during a fundraiser in Chicago, which was filled with executives from the restaurant industry.
Checking Romney’s Claim that Obama Wants to ‘Gut Welfare Reform’
In a new ad released Tuesday, Mitt Romney charges that the Obama Administration has returned to “plain old welfare” by dropping work requirements passed in 1996 under Bill Clinton. The ad focuses on a July 12 directive from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which informed states that it will issue waivers for those …
The Dishonest Attack on Obama’s Military Voting Lawsuit
It’s only August, but we’ve reached the stage of the presidential race in which both sides ceaselessly sling mud at a wall, hoping something will stick. Have you heard the one about how Barack Obama wants to restrict the rights …
The Eagleton Legacy: What History Can Tell Us About Romney’s VP Pick
It was July 1972, and in the Black Hills of South Dakota, two men sat across from each other in Cabin 22 at the Sylvan Lake Lodge near Custer. They were the nominees of the Democratic Party for the presidency and vice-presidency of the United States, and they were players in a drama that would soon force the Number 2 off the ticket, …
Inside Obama’s Swing State Charm Tour
Winter Park, Florida
For a few minutes, it almost feels like 2008 again inside the air-conditioned gym. The raucous crowd is chanting and cheering and slinging I love you‘s. Before Barack Obama revs up his speech, they’re …
The Return of Karl Rove
When Karl Rove left the Bush White House in 2007, he was a battered figure. The President whose two elections he had engineered had become unloved by all but die-hard Republicans. Democrats had won back control of the Congress, …