Sunday, October 7, 2012

Schumer to GOP: Be happy

In a statement, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) exhorted Republicans to embrace good economic news.

“Republicans should welcome a lower unemployment rate, not curse it as an unwanted October surprise,” the senator said in a statement.

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Obama and Romney on the issues: Immigration

The Post is taking a comprehensive look at the positions of President Obama and Mitt Romney on several key issues. For an interactive experience including polling, quotes and the ability to choose which candidate better represents your views, visit the Post’s Issue Engine.

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Voter ID laws in all 50 states — in 1 map

With only 40(!) days left before the Nov. 6 election — and many states having already begun early voting — the long-running debate between the parties about voter identification laws in the state is heating to a boil.

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Saturday, October 6, 2012

Biden, Ryan Feel Increased Pressure

Felicia Sonmez, Washington Post

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Wonkbook: When you think “fiscal cliff”, think $3,446

Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas’s morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog.

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Romney’s letter from dad, Obama’s first office photos

Which photos did Barack Obama hang in his Illinois state senate office? And what did George Romney write to cheer a discouraged Mitt during the future presidential candidate’s Mormon mission to France? 

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Did past week’s events change Romney’s, Obama’s fortunes?

If you’re looking for an answer to the question of whether last week’s events — Mitt Romney’s strong debate performance in Denver and Friday’s jobs report that showed unemployment dropping to 7.8 percent — change the trajectory of the presidential campaign, be patient and don’t rush to judgment.

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Barack Obama 2012 = Ronald Reagan 1984?

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama drew a telling comparison between himself and former Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Said Obama:

“I don’t want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what’s different are the times…I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.”

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Clint Eastwood May Have Been Prophetic

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Romney’s letter from dad, Obama’s first office photos

Which photos did Barack Obama hang in his Illinois state senate office? And what did George Romney write to cheer a discouraged Mitt during the future presidential candidate’s Mormon mission to France? 

Read full article >>

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Obama campaign: Mitt Romney ‘meant it’ about the 47 percent

Mitt Romney’s campaign said his statement during an interview Thursday night with Fox’s Sean Hannity that his infamous comments about the 47 percent were “completely wrong” was not a mea culpa.

The Obama campaign agrees. It released a video Friday titled, “Mitt Romney’s Disdain for the Middle Class: He Said It, He Meant It.”

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Friday, October 5, 2012

Why Linda McMahon has a fighting chance in Connecticut

Republican Senate candidate Linda McMahon has a shot at a very unlikely proposition: winning a Senate race in a blue state in a presidential year, after voters rejected her there two years ago in the midst of a GOP wave. 

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The 2012 Election by the Numbers: Friday, Oct. 5

Note – as we near the election, we’re replacing Reconciliation with a roundup of what the day’s polls and model projections say, and what the latest ads are.

Real Clear Politics’ Latest Polls

Race: Romney vs. Obama, National

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The rapidly changing media landscape and what it means for politics — in 1 chart

In the 2012 campaign, television is still the king (or queen) when it comes to driving storylines in the race. Once TV decides something is a story, it is one.

But, a fascinating new study from the good folks at Pew regarding the news consumption habits of the American public suggests that TV as well as print newspapers and the radio are losing their centrality in the media landscape.

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Rick Santorum: ‘You can kill things and still like them’

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum got philosophical on CNN Thursday night when asked about Mitt Romney’s pledge to cut off PBS funding.

“I’ve voted to kill Big Bird in the past,” Romney’s ex-primary rival said. “I have a record there that I have to disclose. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Big Bird. You can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don’t know. That’s probably that. Can we — can we go back on that one?”

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‘We don’t need to build more highways out in the suburbs’

Last night, the Daily Caller unearthed a 2007 speech by Barack Obama in New Hampshire that was deemed a “bombshell.” You can watch the speech here and judge for yourself, but we were struck by one line that the Drudge Report has been highlighting, in which Obama said, “We don’t need to build more highways out in the suburbs …”

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Implementation Key for Sudan, South Sudan's 'Partial Peace'

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Elizabeth Warren holds slight lead over Scott Brown in Boston Globe poll

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren holds a slight lead over Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in a new Boston Globe poll released Sunday, as nearly one-in-five voters remain up for grabs with about five weeks left until Election Day.

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What “Dancing with the Stars” can tell us about the presidential race

With just 36 days left before the 2012 election, virtually every poll question you can think of has been asked at least five times — except this one: “Who would you rather see as a contestant on ‘Dancing with the Stars’?”

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Thursday, October 4, 2012

Romney goes on offense, forcing Obama to defend record

DENVER — An energetic Mitt Romney launched a series of attacks against President Obama here Wednesday night, calling into question the president’s record on the economy, health care and the deficit, and arguing that he would take the country in a fundamentally different direction.

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