Election 2012 – News Stories About Election 2012 - Page 61

Poll Numbers

Dec 29, 2011 12:59 PM CST

Romney Takes Lead Over Obama

And it's his biggest lead yet

(Newser) - Mitt Romney has taken his biggest lead yet against President Obama in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll , winning the hypothetical matchup 45% to 39%, with 10% backing another candidate and 6% undecided. Last week, Rasmussen had Obama leading 44% to 41%. Neither candidate’s number is far afield from how...

The Iowa Caucuses Are a Joke

Gail Collins

Dec 29, 2011 12:12 PM CST

The Iowa Caucuses Are a Joke

Gail Collins: Do you really care what 100K people think about the race?

(Newser) - The Iowa caucuses are mere days away, so "perhaps this would be a good time to point out that the Iowa caucuses are really ridiculous," writes Gail Collins in the New York Times . They’re restricted, after all, to those willing to go to a neighborhood meeting at...

Jon Huntsman on Importance of Iowa Caucuses: They Pick Corn There

Huntsman
on Iowa:
They Pick
Corn There

Dec 29, 2011 9:16 AM CST

Huntsman on Iowa: They Pick Corn There

Which is why he's perfectly happy to have focused on New Hampshire

(Newser) - Don't expect to see Jon Huntsman shaking in his boots on Tuesday. The GOP candidate could care less about the Iowa caucuses, and has no qualms about his decision to ignore the state in favor of New Hampshire. Talking to CBS' The Early Show today (from Manchester, NH, of...

Rivals Bash
Ron Paul on
Foreign Policy

Dec 29, 2011 8:19 AM CST

Rivals Bash Ron Paul on Foreign Policy

While Paul counters with support from veterans

(Newser) - Now that Ron Paul looks like an actual threat to win the Iowa caucuses , his rivals are at last taking shots at him, aiming primarily at what they think is his biggest weakness: foreign policy. “You don’t have to vote for a candidate who will allow Iran to...

Michele Bachmann's Iowa Chair Kent Sorenson Defects to Ron Paul

Bachmann's Iowa Chair Defects to Ron Paul

Dec 29, 2011 6:22 AM CST

Bachmann's Iowa Chair Defects to Ron Paul

Bachmann accuses Kent Sorenson of selling out

(Newser) - With the Iowa caucuses just days away, it's not looking good for Michele Bachmann: Her Iowa campaign chair has defected to Ron Paul. Kent Sorenson, an Iowa state senator, says it was a tough decision, but he felt obligated to defend Paul against the Republican establishment, the Washington Post...

Issues, Schmissues:
GOP Just Wants a Winner

Dec 29, 2011 5:31 AM CST

Issues, Schmissues: GOP Just Wants a Winner

Polls show policy is taking a back seat to beating Obama

(Newser) - The fight for the Republican nomination is unusually light on issues this time around, the Los Angeles Times finds. Polls show that Republican voters, by a 2-to-1 margin, care more about whether a candidate can defeat President Obama in a general election than whether his (or her) stand on major...

Our Pundit
Screw-Ups
of the Year

Milbank & Weigel

Dec 28, 2011 12:47 PM CST

Our Pundit Screw-Ups of the Year

Dana Milbank and Dave Weigel take themselves to task

(Newser) - Political pundits are in the business of making predictions—usually secure in the knowledge that no one will remember when they mess up. “We’re not always wrong,” writes Dave Weigel of Slate . “But we’re wrong enough.” He and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post...

Gary Johnson
Launches
Third-Party Bid

Dec 28, 2011 12:35 PM CST

Gary Johnson Launches Third-Party Bid

Former NM governor will seek Libertarian nomination

(Newser) - Gary Johnson formally launched his bid to run for president as the Libertarian candidate today, declaring himself "liberated" and fed up with the "elitist media organizations" that largely ignored his attempt to run as a Republican, reports CNN . "I'm a Libertarian in belief," said the...

Perry Sues to Get On Va. Ballot

Dec 28, 2011 5:32 AM CST

Perry Sues to Get On Va. Ballot

Federal court challenge calls signature rules unconstitutional

(Newser) - Rick Perry is taking Virginia to court over the ballot rules that have kept him and Newt Gingrich off the ballot for the state's March 6 primary. Virginia's requirement for candidates to gather 10,000 signatures is "unrealistic and onerous," says his campaign communications director. Perry'...

'Transformed' Perry:
No Abortion, Even
in Rape, Incest

Dec 28, 2011 4:17 AM CST

'Transformed' Perry: No Abortion, Even in Rape, Incest

'God was working on my heart,' he says

(Newser) - Rick Perry's views on abortion have undergone what he calls a "transformation"—just in time for the Iowa caucuses. Perry has decided that he's no longer in favor of allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is at risk, USA ...

Careful, Mitt: You Could Lose

Nate Silver

Dec 27, 2011 11:19 AM CST

Careful, Mitt: You Could Lose

Nate Silver doesn't think it's especially likely, but it's possible

(Newser) - Conventional wisdom has crowned Mitt Romney the inevitable Republican nominee. His stock on Intrade shot up to 72% last night, and one of his strategists recently boasted that he couldn’t “see any scenario where we’re not the nominee." But calm down guys, writes Nate Silver in...

With Week Til Iowa, Here's What We Know: Not Much

Dec 27, 2011 8:00 AM CST

With Week Til Iowa, Here's What We Know: Not Much

Things remain fluid, muddled

(Newser) - It's D-Day in Iowa in exactly one week, and with just seven days to go, things aren't exactly firming up among Republican voters. Most media reports use words like "fluid," "unsettled," and "muddled" to describe the situation there. Highlights of today's Iowa...

Paul's Record: Quiet Futility

Dec 27, 2011 7:58 AM CST

Paul's Record: Quiet Futility

Only 0.2% of his bills have become law

(Newser) - Ron Paul has sponsored 620 measures in his 11-and-a-half terms in Congress, but only one of them has become a law—a bill allowing the sale of a Galveston customhouse to a historical society. That tells you much of what you need to know about Paul’s congressional record, which...

Gingrich Gave RomneyCare the Thumbs Up in 2006

Dec 27, 2011 7:39 AM CST

Gingrich Gave RomneyCare the Thumbs Up in 2006

'Wall Street Journal' digs up an analysis of it in 'Newt's Notes'

(Newser) - It's another "whoops" for Newt Gingrich: CNN yesterday broke the news that the candidate's story about how his first divorce went down wasn't exactly true . The Wall Street Journal today reveals the results of its own digging. It seems that while Gingrich has publicly panned Mitt...

Huckabee:
2012 Too 'Toxic'

Dec 25, 2011 1:04 PM CST

Huckabee: 2012 Too 'Toxic'

Thinks Romney will win Iowa, but doesn't count out Santorum

(Newser) - One might think that Mike Huckabee—along with any other red-blooded Republican who ever had presidential aspirations—would regret having sat this race out. Not so, says Huck, calling the 2012 political environment "so toxic and negative that it's not a water I'm ready to jump into...

Santorum Ad
Inspired by ...
Pop Up Video

Dec 23, 2011 5:10 PM CST

Santorum Ad Inspired by ... Pop Up Video

GOP candidate channels VH1's late-'90s hit

(Newser) - GOP hopeful Rick Santorum's latest campaign ad doesn't exactly scream 2012. The video is seemingly inspired by VH1's cult classic TV show Pop Up Video, which was a huge hit after it debuted in 1996 (it was resurrected in October of this year ). In the 60-second...

Romney
Just Keeps
Making Stuff Up

paul krugman

Dec 23, 2011 1:34 PM CST

Romney Just Keeps Making Stuff Up

And the media won't stop him: Krugman

(Newser) - Mitt Romney doesn't seem to set great store by the truth: Lately, he's been ascribing views to President Obama that are pure fabrication, notes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Just this week, the former governor implied that Obama sought a society in which "everyone receives...

Mitt: I Won't
Release My
Tax Returns

Dec 23, 2011 5:00 AM CST

Mitt: I Won't Release My Tax Returns

Obama campaign blasts Romney for keeping returns secret

(Newser) - Mitt Romney says that even if he becomes the Republican nominee, he has no intention of releasing his tax returns, reports the New York Times . Romney—one of the richest men ever to run for president—would be alone among nominees of recent decades if he fails to release his...

Robo-Calls Push Voters
to Draft Clinton in 2012

Dec 21, 2011 8:44 AM CST

Robo-Calls Push Voters to Draft Clinton in 2012

No one knows who's behind mystery calls

(Newser) - The “Hillary for president” campaign just got bumped up a notch: Voters across the nation have been getting robo-dialed by a woman—who sounds a bit like the good secretary of state—insisting that “America would be better off” with Clinton as president. The robo-calls, which have been...

Gingrich Lambastes Romney for PAC's 'Smear Campaign'

Dec 21, 2011 7:18 AM CST

Gingrich Lambastes Romney for PAC's 'Smear Campaign'

Mitt says he can't control 'independent' group

(Newser) - Mitt Romney was confronted yesterday over the anti-Gingrich attack ads that a pro-Romney super PAC has been pumping out, prompting him to label the whole concept of super PACs “a disaster”—and insist he couldn’t lawfully intervene. “My goodness, if we coordinate in any way whatsoever,...