News and Commentary on the Road to the White House

Cracks in the “Blue Wall.”

It's heartburn time for the Obama campaign. That's because the "Blue Wall," states that formed a protective barrier surrounding safe Obama campaign Electoral College votes, has begun to crumble.
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Two men revealed.

For many, the first presidential debate marked the first opportunity to actually see President Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney outside the hyper-controlled environments of campaign appearances, television ads or condensed, sound-bite media coverage. What they saw was revealing.
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It ain’t over. (But the fat lady is warming up.)

If you believe the polls, Mitt Romney has lost the election. But there is reason to doubt the polls and there is reason to believe that the experience of 2008 does not necessarily apply to 2012.
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Romney: Right to speak up.

Was Romney wrong to speak critically of U.S. foreign policy in the wake of the attacks on U.S diplomatic missions in North Africa and the Middle East? Does "politics stops at the water's edge" apply during a presidential campaign?
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Dems used to look like Joe Biden.

Democrats used to look like Joe Biden. I remember them. They were in my parents’ Sunday School class. The lived next door. I played astronaut with their kids in cardboard boxes that once contained washing machines.
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Photos from Thursday at the DNC in Charlotte.

The Democrats got to bat in the bottom of the ninth this election year and they took the opportunity to rebut the efforts of the Republicans from the week before. Here are photos from Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, the night that marks the ​real​ beginning of the campaign for many voters.
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A welcome break at the DNC courtesy of James Taylor.

When President Obama finishes his acceptance speech Thursday night, there will ensue 61 days of the most negative, spirit-sapping political discourse most of us have ever seen. But for a moment here in Charlotte, we get to forget about all of that and enjoy the work of a great artist.
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DNC: It’s the weather and ONLY the weather.

According to a "senior official with the Obama campaign," the decision to abandon plans to conclude the Democratic convention Thursday night at Bank of America Stadium was made solely because of concern for the possibility of dangerous weather and not because the campaign fears an inability to fill all of the seats.
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Photos from Tuesday night at the DNC in Charlotte.

When President Obama finishes his acceptance speech Thursday night, there will ensue 61 days of the most negative, spirit-sapping political discourse most of us have ever seen. But for a moment here in Charlotte, we get to forget about all of that and enjoy the work of a great artist.
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Dems apparently don’t think $16 trillion is an issue.

The Tuesday night speakers at the Democratic convention talked about an array of social programs and benefits that they believe will strengthen the republic. Yet not once did the subject of the massive borrowing to fund such programs come up. Are Dems willfully ignoring the subject on the belief that it's bad politics. Or is truly not a concern to them?
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Last night of DNC may stay at the TWC Arena

According to an article in London's Daily Mail newspaper, Democratic National Convention organizers are actively considering scrapping plans to hold the last night of the convention at Bank of America Stadium for fear that the event will attract far less than the sellout crowd Obama drew four years ago in Denver's Mile High Stadium.
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Jim Hoffa and I go at it at the DNC in Charlotte.

The last name Hoffa is the title of a 1992 movie starring Jack Nicholson. Jim Hoffa is the son of the man who was the subject of that movie (and others) and, like his father, is the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. We spoke with him about labor, right-to-work laws, the state of Texas and other matters here on Radio Row at the Democratic National Convention.
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Michelle Obama has a candid moment during a walk-through.

According to an article in London's Daily Mail newspaper, Democratic National Convention organizers are actively considering scrapping plans to hold the last night of the convention at Bank of America Stadium for fear that the event will attract far less than the sellout crowd Obama drew four years ago in Denver's Mile High Stadium.
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Photos from Thursday night at the GOP convention in Tampa.

The final night of the party convention traditionally marks the beginning of the final sprint to election day. Here are photos from Thursday night at the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa.
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Advantage Romney.

When I walked out of the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul in 2008, I knew in my gut that John McCain was going to lose. Walking out of the Tamp Bay Times Forum Thursday night, that same gut tells me that Mitt Romney is going to win.
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Photos from Wednesday night at the GOP convention.

Wednesday night at a political convention is traditionally the night upon which the VP candidate gets his or her moment in the spotlight. In Tampa on Tuesday night, everything was leading to Paul Ryan's official debut on the national stage. Here is a gallery of images from the third night of the 2012 GOP convention.
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Ryan was fine. Condi was great.

When I walked out of the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul in 2008, I knew in my gut that John McCain was going to lose. Walking out of the Tamp Bay Times Forum Thursday night, that same gut tells me that Mitt Romney is going to win.
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A Brit offers a warning to the U.S.

What will America look like a few years from now? Look at Europe today, says European parliament member Martin Callanan.
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Photos from Tuesday night at the GOP Convention in Tampa.

Political conventions are often more about the optics of the event rather than the actual content of the event. A few images setting the scene here in Tampa are in this image gallery.
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Chris Christie anchors first session with GOP keynote.

New Jersey governor Christie is known for his New Jersey style, in-your-face, blunt, plain-spokeness and his speech was much anticipated on Tuesday. He did not disappoint.
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Cornyn & Gohmert talk about Todd Akin

The presidential race isn't the only contest being talked about at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.. Regaining GOP control of the Senate is a hot topic as well and one put in doubt by Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri. John Cornyn and Louie Gohmert of Texas weigh in.
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Bolton offers strong criticism of Obama foreign policy.

Former U.N, ambassador John Bolton has very sharply defined opinions regarding U.S. foreign policy and he is not at all hesitant to express them. He was making the rounds on Radio Row at the GOP convention in Tampa.
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Boredom

It is the law enforcement officers lot in life, often, to pass long hours with little actual activity. Such is surely the case in Tampa at the Republican National Convention.
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The ever-dramatic Sam Donaldson

Sam Donaldson can make ordering a cup of coffee sound dramatic. Here on the day one that wasn't at the GOP Convention, we media types talk to one another. There's nothing more irresistible than a media-on-media interview with Sam Donaldson.
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Amazing Grace on Radio Row at the RNC.

Hurricane Isaac had nowhere near the impact on Tampa that it could have. But it did serve to convince convention organizers to cancel the first day’s activities. That left the Oak Ridge Boys with nothing to do. They were scheduled to sing the National Anthem at the opening of the convention. Left with time on their hands, they hung out on Radio Row.
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Hillary will never be VP.

According to reports, which, though having a very strong air of credibility to them cannot be absolutely confirmed, President Obama offered Hillary Clinton the number two position on the ticket in place of the hapless Joe Biden. There's no chance Hillary would have ever accepted.
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The Ryan pick.

Paul Ryan is young, good looking, smart, articulate and conservative. That combination will likely prove troublesome to Team Obama in the next three months.
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Tea anyone?

Until just days before the July 31 runoff election in Texas, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst was the prohibitive favorite to defeat insurgent challenger Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination to take the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison.
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100 days out: Jump ball.

If you believe the polls, at one hundred days out it’s still anybody’s race. National polls show President Obama holding a very tenuous lead over presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney. In the states that Romney will have to win if he’s to win the White House, namely Florida, Ohio and Virginia, Obama’s lead is slightly greater.
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It’s not Condi.

Condi Rice is a brilliant woman with a stellar resumé. She was National Security Adviser and later Secretary of State during the administration of George W. Bush. She knows the political players – current, past and in many cases, future -- in every country in the world that matters to the United States. But she's never going to be Vice President.
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Damned if they do…

Proof that it isn’t 2008 will come for the Obama campaign as early as this morning. In one of the most watched Supreme Court cases in decades, the justices will decide if all or part of the Affordable Care Act, AKA “Obamacare,” is unconstitutional.
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Policy or politics?

This is an election year and it is politics that drive policy. Much as President Obama’s recently taken position on gay marriage constituted an about face from his earlier position, so, too, does his executive order of Friday regarding the children of illegal aliens.
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From May to June.

The conventional wisdom in the fall was that the Republicans were doing so much damage to one another in a bruising primary that Obama's re-election would be all but inevitable. A tough May and a bad first week of June and that wisdom is being stood on its head.
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No May flowers for the Obama campaign.

It’s still a long time until the election. But another month like May for Obama and his re-election chances will fade dramatically.
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How can Romney win?

There are 50 states in the union but the presidential action in 2012 will be concentrated in just twelve of them, from which Romney will need to execute what Karl Rove calls the “3-2-1 Plan.”
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A tough May so far for the Obama campaign.

Poor jobs numbers, a less-than-sold out house at his campaign kickoff rally and a reminder that the tea party is still around to influence elections add up to a tough start to the month of May for candidate Obama.
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Unemployment 8.1%: Good news or bad news for Obama?

If Obama can keep attention focused on the headline number, the slowly but steadily decreasing official unemployment rate, his chances improve. If, however, Romney can get voters to understand the more arcane labor force participation numbers, he can possibly ruin Obama’s Thanksgiving.
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It’s on. Five reasons Romney can win.

The polls still suggest that the November election is Obama's to lose. But only just barely and only because Obama has operated in the vacuum created by the GOP primary. The primary is now over and the general election campaign is on. As the campaign gets underway, it is clear that Obama has more downside risk than upside potential as the race unfolds.
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Clarity…in a muddled sort of way.

While the remaining candidates now have no hope of eclipsing Romney's delegate lead, Romney's path to the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination remains unclear.
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Mitch Daniels to the rescue?

The possibility now exists that the nomination will not be secured by anyone in the field by the time that the GOP convenes in Tampa on August 27 and there is a growing desire among some GOP leaders for a fresh face to enter the race. One name that keeps coming up: Indiana governor Mitch Daniels.
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A good night for Santorum.

For the past three weeks, Newt Gingrich has been calling on Rick Santorum to quit the race in order to unite conservatives behind a Romney alternative. In Missouri and Minnesota on Tuesday, conservatives got a look at what a one-on-one between Santorum and Romney might look like. That picture should be discomfiting to Romney. The scenario was on particular display in Missouri, where Gingrich did not bother to get on the ballot. One-on-one against a vastly better funded Romney, Santorum trounced the presumptive frontrunner, winning every county...
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It’s now Romney’s to lose.

Time and again Gingrich has been knocked down only to rise again. But the Lazarus-like resurrection of Newt Gingrich that followed out of South Carolina didn’t hold up in Florida. Romney beat Gingrich by over 250,000 votes and 14 percentage points to take all 50 delegates from the Sunshine State and gain increasingly unstoppable momentum in the Republican nomination race. It’s now Romney’s nomination to lose, a fact that still doesn’t sit that well with many Republicans. The Saturday Night Live gag featuring a Romney...
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Lazarus is raised (again).

The inevitability of a Romney nomination hit a serious speed bump Saturday in South Carolina. That speed bump got put in place on the preceding Monday as a result of a stunningly effective debate performance by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. In a four-minute and thirty second exchange between Gingrich and Fox News moderator Juan Williams, the fundamental choice that will be on offer in the November election was displayed in sharp relief. An articulate and passionate real-world illustration given by Gingrich in answer to a...
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What a waste.

Rick Perry had the right message. He just simply could not articulate it on the national stage.
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A breakout victory for Romney in NH

Mitt Romney has finally broken the 25% barrier in a decisive victory in the New Hampshire primary.
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Photos from the 2012 New Hampshire Primary.

Images from the 2012 New Hampshire Primary.
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The media swarm Mitt Romney at a polling place.

At most public events connected with the New Hampshire primary, the media outnumber the voters and citizens. They certainly did when Mitt Romney visited a polling place on election day in New Hampshire.
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The full Gingrich speech to the Nashua Rotary Club

Gingrich speeches are often more like a college lecture than a campaign event.
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NJ Governor Chris Christie stumps for Romney in NH

NJ governor Chris Christie appeared at a campaign rally for Mitt Romney in Exeter, NH and took President Obama to task.
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Gingrich stumps at Nashua, NH Rotary Club.

Gingrich speeches are often more like a college lecture than a campaign event.
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Mitt Romney speaks to supporters at rally in Exeter, NH

Mitt Romney, comfortable as the New Hampshire primary, focused his remarks on President Obama at a rally in Exeter.
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