UP-FRONT ROMNEY CAMPAIGN NUGGET!!
Five Reasons Mitt Romney Is A Much Worse Candidate Than John McCain Was from the National Memo
"Reason #4: Who quits a winning campaign six weeks before election day? No one. But Romney's national co-chair Tim Pawlenty did just that on Thursday. This is the first sign that Romney recognizes that his campaign is as badly in need of a revamp as the Salt Lake Olympics was."
UP-FRONT CAMPAIGN HISTORY NUGGET!!
Look How Far We’ve Come Apart (Haidt & Hetherington) from the New York Times
"...things started to change in the 1960s and 1970s, as the Democrats became the party of civil rights and the Republicans forged an alliance with the religious right. By the 1980s, the two parties were well on their way to ideological purification. ... On the bright side: it is mathematically impossible for congress to get much more polarized."
As regular readers know, I have long argued that the gridlocked polarization we see now will pass only after the baby boom generation moves out of central rings of political power and off the voter rolls. Indirectly, this report substantiates this view.
Chick-fil-A No Longer Will Fund Traditional-Marriage Groups from the Washington Times
"Chick-fil-A stopped funding traditional-marriage groups in an effort to open a new Chicago restaurant, but the company initially kept quiet about the decision, prompting gay rights groups to speculate that the company feared a backlash from conservative customers."
Big-buck donor CEOs take notice! Political meddling will COST you if your commercial interests are reliant on a broad base of consumers!
In a Tight Race, Obama Draws on the Levers of His Power from the New York Times
"Some of President Obama’s most significant recent policy announcements have been keyed to voter blocs, as his campaign seeks to make the most of his incumbency."
This One's No Contest: When it Comes to the Question of which Candidate has a Better Campaign Team, President Obama Wins by a Long Shot from the National Journal
"At least that's the impression given by the results of the latest National Journal Insiders poll. A full eight out of 10 GOP insiders said their opponent had the more effective operation, while 96% of Democratic insiders appraised the Obama team as superior to the one being deployed by Mitt Romney."
Why Does Everybody Hate Mitt Romney? (John Avlon) from the Daily Beast
"No other presidential candidate has racked up unfavorable ratings this high during a campaign, according to a Pew Survey. Why is Romney so disliked? It’s not personal, it’s business."
Disdain for Workers (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... the fact is that the modern Republican Party just doesn’t have much respect for people who work for other people, no matter how faithfully and well they do their jobs. All the party’s affection is reserved for “job creators,” a k a employers and investors."
Headwinds for Romney in Latest Poll Results from the Wall Street Journal [partial subscription wall]
"Mitt Romney's path to victory is narrowing, new polling data suggest, presenting challenges for the Republican nominee at a moment when he is trying to rebound from a week of bad headlines by refocusing on federal spending."
Our PUNDIT-OF-THE-DAY!!
Romney Needs a New CEO (Peggy Noonan) from the Wall Street Journal
A follow-up to Noonan's devastating column from the other day.
"So here's one tough, cool-eyed report on what is happening in the presidential race. .;. "The pendulum has swung toward Obama." Mitt Romney has "a damaged political persona." ... How did we get here? What can turn it around? ... The Romney campaign has to get turned around. This week I called it incompetent, but only because I was being polite. I really meant "rolling calamity.""
In the Heart of Romney World, No Retreat, No Surrender (Beth Reinhard) from the National Journal
"At campaign headquarters, there are signs of business as usual: Chick-fil-A ordered for lunch, an office prank posted on Twitter, and a festive gathering for a staffer’s birthday. But there are also signs of the bunker mentality typical of campaigns under siege."
What Working Class Whites Really Think About Dependency and Redistribution (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
VERY interesting findings!!
"On “dependency,” the study finds that large numbers of working class whites (46 percent) have received Social Security or disability payments over the last two years; more than a fifth have received food stamps; 19% have received unemployment. Yet the study also finds that three quarters of working class whites believe poor people have become too dependent on government assistance."
It's Not All God, Guns, and the GOP for Working-Class Whites (Abby Ohlheiser) from Slate
"White, working-class Americans get a more nuanced look in a new survey out today from the Public Religion Research Institute. The big takeaway? It's not all guns, God, and the GOP for one of the most targeted demographics of this election season."
THREE HEAD-FOR-THE-HILLS GOP NUGGETS!!
1. Allen: ‘I Have My Own Point Of View’ On The 47 Percent from Talking Points Memo
"Already in other key Senate races, Republicans Linda McMahon, Scott Brown and Dean Heller have backed away from Romney’s secretly recorded comment that 47 percent of Americans are voting for President Obama because they don’t pay income tax, and think of themselves as victims who want the government to take care of them."
2. Good For Morale! (Josh Marshall) from Talking Points Memo
"[In Wisconsin], Tommy Thompson explains his rapid fall in the polls in part on having to run with Mitt Romney at the top of the ticket."
3. Pawlenty: New Public Enemy No. 1 (Andrew Leonard) from Salon
"Tim Pawlenty ditches Romney's campaign -- sending poli-Tweeters into overdrive. But the real story is his new job."
Before Debates, Romney Faces a Daunting Path from the New York Times
"The state-by-state landscape facing Mr. Romney is more daunting than he expected by this stage in the contest. He anticipated, aides said, to be in a position of strength in at least some of the states that turned Democratic in 2008 for the first time in a generation, but few of them show signs of breaking decisively his way, and Mr. Obama still has more and clearer paths to 270 electoral votes."
Polls Show Democrats Taking Over In Key Senate Races from the National Memo
"According to recent polling, Democratic candidates are making major gains key Senate races across the country."
Senate Polls Show Democrats Gaining On Rising Voter Enthusiasm (Blumenthal & Carlson) from the Huffington Post
"In the two weeks since the Democratic National Convention, Democratic Senate candidates have been making considerable gains in the polls in several closely contested races across the country."
Mitt Coattails Not Reaching Senate from Politico
"Hopes for a 2010-style GOP wave are near zero."
Can Democrats Retake The House? (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"Sam Wang, bucking the conventional wisdom, claims that the "transfer of control is more likely than not.""
For some reason, the link to Wang's report isn't working right now.
Does Mitt Romney Even Want to Be President? (Leslie Savan) from the Nation
"That’s not just a rhetorical question: In Mitt Romney’s heart of hearts, maybe all he really wanted was the Republican nomination. Every time Romney gets an opportunity to reset the narrative of the election, he makes some psychologically revealing mistake."
Romney in Fantasyland (Ruth Marcus) from the Washington Post
"Governor, you’re no Horatio Alger. What will you do to give others the opportunity that good fortune granted you?"
47 Percent or Bust! (David Weigel) from Slate
"Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh want Romney to write off half the country. Even Pat Buchanan knows better."
Mitt Romney Super PAC Down To Only $6 Million Cash On Hand After Major Spending In August from the Huffington Post
"The powerhouse super PAC, run by former Romney aides and instrumental in helping him secure the Republican nomination, raised only $7 million in August, while spending $21.1 million. The heavy spending seems to have had little effect, as most polls have shown a surge for Obama at the national and state-by-state level since the early September Democratic National Convention."
Big Month for Obama Super PAC from Politico
"Dems opened their checkbooks as the super PAC devoted to Obama had its best month to date."
The Aimless Career of James Carter IV (Molly Redden) from the New Republic
"...for Carter, the Romney video confirms his place among those stars of the 2012 election—like Andrew Kaczynski at Buzzfeed—who dig up tantalizing videos of pols at their most off-message or ideologically whack."
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