Archive for the ‘2012 Presidential Election’ Category

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HP: Super PACs, Conservatives Lead Surge In Independent Spending On Congressional Races

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

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WASHINGTON — On Tuesday night Indiana conservative upstart Richard Mourdock defeated 36-year incumbent Sen. Dick Lugarin a primary battle that featured no fewer than 12 independent groups — not connected to candidates or political parties — spending money to support their favored candidate.

The spending in Indiana was part of an April trend of more independent group involvement in congressional races. As the Republican presidential primary wound down, spending by independent groups in congressional races ticked up.
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LATimes: Predict a winner: Battleground states

Monday, May 7th, 2012
The 2012 presidential election is likely to be decided by voters in a small number of swing states. The Times has identified these states in play — shown below in gray — based on polling data and other factors. Click a state until it turns to your choice: Democratic, Republican or back to contested. See which combinations lead a candidate to the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the White House.
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HP: Obama, Romney Campaigns Embrace Twitter-Fueled News Cycle

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

Michael Calderone| Apr 27, 2012 01:00 PM EDT

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NEW YORK — When Pierre Prosper, a foreign policy adviser to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, accused President Barack Obama Thursday of abandoning a missile defense site in Czechoslovakia, a country that broke apart nearly two decades earlier, political reporters quickly tweeted the latest 2012 election gaffe, as Team Obama joined in to mock the other side.
 
“Hearing next @MittRomney foreign policy call will deal with threat posed by Grenada,” tweeted Lis Smith, the director of rapid response for Obama’s re-election campaign, along with the hashtag #backtothefuture.” Ben LaBolt, press secretary for the Obama campaign, retweeted her swipe.
 
Another day, another flap.
 
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NPR: A Look At Wisconsin’s Political Battle

Thursday, April 5th, 2012

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I’m Neal Conan, in Washington. Romney racks up three more, the president picks a fight, and Sarah Palin offers vice presidential advice. It’s Wednesday, and time for a…

SARAH PALIN: Go rogue and shake it up.

CONAN: …edition of the Political Junkie.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: There you go again.

VICE PRESIDENT WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I’m reminded of that ad: Where’s the beef?

SENATOR BARRY GOLDWATER: Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

SENATOR LLOYD BENTSON: Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.

PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: You don’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.

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NPR: How Does The Secret Service Create Code Names?

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

March 24, 2012

This week Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum got their Secret Service code names: Romney is “Javelin,” Santorum is “Petrus.” Presidents have been getting code names back to Harry Truman, who was called “General.” Ian Chillag and Mike Danforth of the podcast How To Do Everything look into how these code names are assigned.

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This week, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum got their secret service code names. Mr. Romney is Javelin. Mr. Santorum is Petrus. We asked Ian Chillag and Mike Danforth from the NPR podcast How to Do Everything to look into how secret service code names are assigned.

IAN CHILLAG, BYLINE: Presidents have been getting codenames all the way back to Harry Truman. The secret service called him General.

MIKE DANFORTH, BYLINE: Here’s historian Michael Beschloss.

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Truman had been in the military. He’d been a captain in World War I, so maybe this is his Walter Mitty fantasy that he would might’ve been a general.

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NYTimes: Gingrich Is Cutting Staff to Shift Focus to Convention

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
Newt Gingrich visited Maryland on Tuesday, but will turn his attention to conveying "big ideas" instead of campaigning.

Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press

Newt Gingrich visited Maryland on Tuesday, but will turn his attention to conveying “big ideas” instead of campaigning.

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and TRIP GABRIELPublished: March 28, 2012

Newt Gingrich is acknowledging that it is impossible for him to win the Republican presidential nomination outright and is cutting back on his staff and campaign schedule to focus on emerging victorious at the party’s convention this summer.

The change in strategy was described Tuesday night by Joe DeSantis, the campaign’s communications director, who said one-third of Mr. Gingrich’s staff would soon leave, including the campaign manager, Michael Krull. The changes were first reported by Politico.

Mr. DeSantis said Mr. Gingrich accepted that he could not win enough delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. But the campaign believes that neither Mitt Romney nor Rick Santorum is likely to do so, either. In that case, Mr. DeSantis said, the campaign will enter a “tossup period” this summer.

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OpenSecretsBlog: Wall Street’s Huge Bet on Romney

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

By Evan Mackinder on March 23, 2012 6:20 PM

MittRomneyGrin.jpg

Let there be no doubt where Wall Street’s political loyalties lie: Of all the money the securities and investment industry has poured into the 2012 presidential contest so far — to the candidates and the super PACs behind them — an unambiguous 92 percent has gone to the GOP, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis.
And in so doing, the securities and investment industry is betting hard on the candidacy of one of its own: Mitt Romney.
Between his campaign committee and a monster super PAC supporting his candidacy, Romney has benefited from about 72% percent of the near $33 million Wall Street has contributed through February.
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LATimes: Dueling videos mark anniversary of Obama candidacy

Friday, February 10th, 2012

An Obama campaign video marks high points of the five years since Obama announced his candidacy for president.An Obama campaign video marks high points of the five years since Obama announced his candidacy for president. (barackobama.com / February 10, 2012)

By Kim GeigerFebruary 10, 2012, 10:40 a.m.

Reporting from Washington —

It was five years ago Friday that Barack Obama stood in the blistering cold outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., to announce his candidacy for president.

That speech, in which he declared that “too many times, after the election is over, the confetti is swept away, all those promises fade from memory,” is the opener for a set of dueling web videos out Friday to mark the anniversary.

A nearly five-minute video by Obama’s reelection team presents the president’s 2008 campaign and his first three years on the job as something of a blog roll of accomplishments.

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The Raw Story: SNL parodies Gingrich as ‘moon president’

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

By Andrew Jones
Sunday, February 5, 2012 15:00 EST

Saturday Night Live and the moon president Newt Gingrich. Screenshot via NBC.

Saturday Night Live joined in on the “Newt Gingrich loves the moon” fun in its latest episode.

With his bid of becoming President of the United States no longer possible, SNL’s Gingrich is now president of the lunar world in 2014, providing him sweet redemption for those who ridiculed his “out of this world” idea.

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NYTimes: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/us/politics/rick-santorums-victories-may-not-guarantee-an-edge.xml

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Rick Santorum addressed his supporters with his wife, Karen, at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, Mo., on Tuesday night.

Dilip Vishwanat for The New York Times

Rick Santorum addressed his supporters with his wife, Karen, at the St. Charles Convention Center in St. Charles, Mo., on Tuesday night

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: February 08, 2012

Rick Santorum’s victories on Tuesday represent his first breakout moments in the Republican presidential contest since he belatedly scraped to the top in Iowa more than a month ago.

They certainly give him bragging rights. They will probably earn him a second look from voters who had once dismissed him. They may help him raise money. Down the road, they will add to his delegate count.

But how much they will matter to Mr. Santorum in the long run remains unclear.

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