UP-FRONT CAMPAIGN NUGGET!!
How Small Money Can Matter Again in Politics (Jonathan Alter) from Bloomberg News Service
"A funny thing’s happening on the way to Nov. 6. The billionaires trying to buy the U.S. election with contributions of $1 million, $10 million or even $100 million aren’t succeeding."
Where is Republican Anger Over Obama’s Health-care Law? (Juan Williams) from the Washington Post
"...as the presidential campaign enters the home stretch, health-care reform is the dog that has not barked. ... "
Along Virginia’s Route 15, the South’s Cultural Border Displays a Political Divide from the Washington Post
"Southern hospitality isn’t about to disappear, but the intensity of American politics in this election season can make for awkward encounters and tricky relationships, to judge by dozens of interviews in recent days along Route 15 in Virginia."
Poll: Outside the South, Obama's Doing Well With the "White Working Class" (David Weigel) from Slate
"... this new study from the Public Religion Research Institute does a lot to correct some lazy ideas about the "white working class" vote. We all know that the Obama campaign has abandoned those people, and they've abandoned him. Right? Right? Not quite."
2012 Map Could Be Deja vu for Obama from Politico
"Some political scientists and Democratic strategists believe it’s now possible that President Barack Obama could replicate his break-out Electoral College map from 2008, with the exception of Indiana, even if the popular vote is closer than four years ago."
The Electoral Map Turns Blue (John Cassidy) from the New Yorker
"An objective look at where the race now stands conveys the scale of the challenge facing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan…"
Why Romney is Losing (Steve Kornacki) from Salon
"A new set of battleground polls shows that the month of September has been especially brutal for the GOP nominee. ... taken together, they represent the latest piece of evidence that Obama is the clear leader and offer some insight into how he’s built and maintained his advantage."
Goodbye, Columbus: Why top Ohio Republicans Think Romney Has Lost the State (Walter Shapiro) from Yahoo News
"Maybe Romney isn’t down by 10 points, they argue, but the GOP presidential nominee seems destined to lose by a solid 5 points – and in closely divided Ohio that represents a loss of nearly landslide proportions. ... Many of the well-known Ohio Republicans I interviewed offered their blunt assessments only after they were guaranteed complete anonymity."
Shapiro (a VERY knowledgeable veteran non-partisan campaign reporter) gets a two-fer for his spot-on examination of the Romney campaign in Ohio:
You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Mitt Romney’s Losing in Ohio (Walter Shapiro) from Yahoo News
"This is the reality of the 2012 campaign: substance ends up on the cutting room floor. Voters consider local TV news a prime information source for the presidential campaign. But watching newscasts on three different channels in Ohio’s largest media market during the past 24 hours underscored how difficult it is for Romney to make himself heard amidst the clutter and the clatter of Columbus television."
Commiserating with the Monied Masses (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"With evidence building that his prospects have been hurt by his dismissal of nearly half the country as moochers, Romney has been making it his job to worry about the 47 percent of Americans he famously said it wasn’t his job to worry about. But when such an appeal is attempted by a man who has painstakingly crafted for himself a public image combining Scrooge McDuck and Thurston Howell III, there is bound to be a certain amount of awkwardness and inconsistency."
Presidential Debates Rarely Have Much Effect on Election Outcomes (Miranda Green) from Salon
"Nixon’s flop sweat may have cost him the 1960 election, but in most cases presidential debates such the one coming up on Oct. 3 don't have much effect on an election, writes Miranda Green."
40 Days of Night (Charles Blow) from the New York Times
"... the fact that Obama has a growing lead when the polls are taken in aggregate is undeniable. This is just an extension of the Republican war on facts. If you find a truth disagreeable, simply deny it. Call it corrupt. Suggest that it is little more than one side of a story — an opinionated, biased one — and insist that there is another explanation. The base will buy it. Let’s just call this Operation Ostrich."
How Democratic Ads Are Exploiting Romney’s ‘47 Percent’ Moment from Talking Points Memo
"Evidence is mounting that Mitt Romney’s leaked remarks about how 47 percent of Americans see themselves as “victims” are doing significant damage to his campaign both nationally and in key swing states around the country. While the hidden camera video has gotten plenty of play on its own in the press, Democrats are piling on as much as possible with a growing number of attack ads. The degree of difficulty may be low, but the current body of ads connect Romney’s quotes to an impressive array of themes in a very short amount of time."
Ann Romney: Biggest Fear Is For Mitt's 'Mental Well-Being' from the Huffington Post
"I think my biggest concern obviously would just be for his mental well-being," she said. "I have all the confidence in the world in his ability, in his decisiveness, in his leadership skills, in his
understanding of the economy. ... So for me I think it would just be the emotional part of it."
If I had spent the last five years spouting the inauthentic BS Mitt has had to throw out there to get the GOP nomination, I'd be concerned about his "mental well-being" too. When this is all over, one can only hope there's some 12-step program out there where GOP candidates can go to rediscover reality. I'm not being entirely facetious here. There is so much about the GOP now that is "cult-ish" and closed off from the real world, it really is quite mind-bending. I wasn't going to post this deeply disturbing story about this father who killed his entire family and himself because he "dreaded the thought of Obama winning the election" -- but this seems like an appropriate time. While this guy was clearly mentally ill, there is a whole partisan cottage industry out there right now that fed his paranoia!
Todd Akin Suggests Employers Should Be Able To Pay Women Less from Talking Points Memo
"Todd Akin appeared to endorse allowing employers to pay women less than men at a town hall on Thursday."
Ah -- just when his "legitimate rape" comment was beginning to fade from the headlines, he comes up with this!! What a dope!
STEVE MCQUEEN NUGGET!!
At Home with the King of Cool: Images of Steve McQueen that Show Screen Legend was Just as Mesmerizing Behind the Scenes from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"More than six decades after Steve McQueen earned the nickname the King of Cool thanks to his on- and off-screen macho persona, a series of rare photos went of display depicting candid moments from the actor's life on the verge of super-stardom."
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