Obama Campaign Says Polls Showing Romney Surging Is A “Bluff”…

DENVER - Obama campaign senior adviser David Plouffe sought to knock down claims by the Romney camp that they are gaining momentum and steaming toward victory on Wednesday. Plouffe called those claims "more bluff than reality" and contended that the Romney camp is "overstating their Electoral College situation."

"We think we maintain a lot more plausible pathways to 270 than Governor Romney, who we think essentially has to pull an inside straight in terms of the Electoral College," Plouffe said during a bus ride through Iowa, noting that the President is leading or essentially tied in polls of most battleground states. "Governor Romney's campaign likes to talk about how well they're doing in North Carolina, but we think we're doing a lot better in Ohio and Iowa and Nevada than they're doing in North Carolina."

Plouffe argued that the Obama campaign is "already sitting at a win number" in some of the battleground states, though he declined to say which ones. "I'm not going to call states, but we'd win the election if it were held today,"  he said. Obama campaign officials have sought to downplay the significance of Romney's rise in the polls following his strong performance in the first of three presidential debates.

Today, Plouffe argued that the bump Romney received was a natural and inevitable tightening in a race that widened artificially in September. "Governor Romney was not going to get 44 or 45 percent in battleground states," he said. "He's a major party nominee in a divided country in a tough economy. He's going to get 47, 48, 49 in a bunch of these states. So that's all that's happened is Governor Romney picked up some of what he lost. We don't consider that momentum."

Via: CBS News

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Presidential Debate, Round 2

Pressure on Obama to check Romney surge at NY debate
Published October 16, 2012 | FoxNews.com
First, President Obama was too cool. Then Vice President Biden was, by some accounts, too hot.
Can Obama get it just right?

At his second debate against Mitt Romney, the pressure is unquestionably on the president to recapture the momentum. The debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., comes as new polls continue to show Romney closing the gap in key battleground states in the wake of the candidates' opening bout.

And the president's team is making clear that Obama will have a more aggressive -- and more prepared -- approach this time.

"He's excited for it," campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. "He's calm and energized."
Romney's campaign has said little about how and whether the Republican nominee's style might differ Tuesday night, compared with the opening debate, though a second clear-cut victory for the Republican challenger could be a game-changer. A senior Romney adviser said the campaign anticipates a "more aggressive" Obama.

"We expect he'll launch one attack after another in an attempt to distract from his record and make up for his weak performance in Denver," the adviser said.

Both campaigns are stacking the debate hall with surrogates, who will be in place to spin the performances and try to get their version to dominate media coverage going into Wednesday.
Romney's campaign also announced a fresh endorsement Tuesday morning from Ross Perot, though the former presidential candidate is not on the surrogate list for the New York debate.

"We can't afford four more years in which national debt mushrooms out of control, our government grows, and our military is weakened. Mitt has the background, experience, intelligence and integrity to turn things around," Perot said in a statement. Read the full story on FoxNews.com ....

Via: Fox News

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Debbie Wasserman Schultz pushes women to vote Obama as Romney narrows gap

The Obama campaign continued its effort to attract women voters during a Monday conference call with reporters, with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz charging that Republican nominee Mitt Romney would be “a president who wants to essentially force us to refight battles that we thought were won long ago, and essentially either make us or keep us as second class citizens.”

“Women’s health and economic security depend on President Obama winning the White House. And because women make up 55 percent of the electorate, women will decide this election,” Wasserman Schultz said.

After the first presidential debate in Denver, Colo., Romney made strides in narrowing the polling gap among women voters.

“In every poll, we’ve seen a major surge among women in favorability for Romney” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told USA TODAY, regarding a Monday USA TODAY/Gallup Poll that showed likely women voters giving Romney a bump in swing states following the debate. “Women went into the debate actively disliking Romney, and they came out thinking he might understand their lives and might be able to get something done for them.”

An October Pew Survey found that where Obama had an 18-point lead among women last month, following the president’s poor debate performance, the candidates are now tied among likely women voters (47 percent to 47 percent). The USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Monday found Obama leading Romney overall by 9 points among registered women voters, but narrowing the gap to give Romney the edge in swing states.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Moderator Role Under Scrutiny — Before the Debate

In a rare example of political unity, both the Romney and Obama campaigns have expressed concern to the Commission on Presidential Debates about how the moderator of the Tuesday town hall has publicly described her role, TIME has learned.

While an early October memorandum of understanding between the Obama and Romney campaigns and the bipartisan commission sponsoring the debates suggests CNN’s Candy Crowley would play a limited role in the Tuesday-night session, Crowley, who is not a party to that agreement, has done a series of interviews on her network in which she has suggested she will assume a broader set of responsibilities. As Crowley put it last week, “Once the table is kind of set by the town-hall questioner, there is then time for me to say, ‘Hey, wait a second, what about X, Y, Z?’”

(MORE: What Happened at the First Presidential Debate)

In the view of both campaigns and the commission, those and other recent comments by Crowley conflict with the language the two campaigns agreed to, which delineates a more limited role for the moderator of the town-hall debate. The questioning of the two candidates is supposed to be driven by the audience members themselves — likely voters selected by the Gallup Organization. Crowley’s assignment differs from those of the three other debate moderators, who in the more standard format are supposed to lead the questioning and follow up when appropriate. The town-hall debate is planned for Tuesday at 9 p.m. E.T. at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

According to the town-hall format language in the agreement, after each audience question and both two-minute responses from the candidates, Obama and Romney are expected to have an additional discussion facilitated by Crowley. Yet her participation is meant to be otherwise limited. As stated in the document: “In managing the two-minute comment periods, the moderator will not rephrase the question or open a new topic … The moderator will not ask follow-up questions or comment on either the questions asked by the audience or the answers of the candidates during the debate or otherwise intervene in the debate except to acknowledge the questioners from the audience or enforce the time limits, and invite candidate comments during the two-minute response period.” The memorandum, which has been obtained by TIME, was signed by lawyers for the two campaigns on Oct. 3, the day of the first presidential debate in Denver.

Via: Time

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The Reality Principle

Column: Obama and Biden were winning—until they faced actual opponents

Hold it, I’m confused. I watched all of the vice presidential debate last night, and someone did not show up. Vice President Joe Biden was there—how could one miss him, with all the grinning, grunting, interrupting, and sneering. But where was the Ayn Rand-worshiping, rape-redefining, fanatically exercising zealot who wants to throw grandmothers off of cliffs and whose budget plan is, according to the president, “thinly veiled Social Darwinism” that is “antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility”? That Paul Ryan was nowhere to be found.

What America saw instead was a young and likable and knowledgeable conservative worried about the current trajectory of fiscal, monetary, foreign, and social policy. Where Biden harrumphed, Ryan calmly litigated President Obama’s failed record. Twice in eight days, the caricatures against which President Barack Obama and Biden are purporting to run have been exposed as grotesque exaggerations. The liberal attempt to frighten America with the illusory specter of an extremist Republican ticket dissolved on first contact with, well, the actual ticket. The reality principle asserted itself once again. We have an open race.

Perceptions matter. Why did 67 million people watch the first debate? One reason may have been that Americans, open to an alternative to the incumbent, wanted to know who the Republican nominee actually was. They only had vague knowledge of Mitt Romney going into the Denver bout—and their impression was not favorable.

What they knew was largely limited to the messages of $217 million in negative advertising from Obama and his allies: Romney was rich, secretive, out of touch, paying little in taxes, hiding his tax returns, stashing money in the Cayman Islands, singing out of tune, shipping jobs overseas with little thought of the lives he affected, dismissing out of hand 47 percent of the country, in favor of raising middle-class taxes and health-care costs for seniors, and waging a “war on women” with Todd Akin to “turn back the clock” on women’s rights.

Via: WFB

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Obama crams for debate, Romney claims momentum

AFP - President Barack Obama headed to a Virginia hotel for debate camp Saturday on a mission to transform his re-election pitch after his tame first clash with Mitt Romney hammered his poll ratings.

Obama planned four days of cramming at the resort at the historic colonial city of Williamsburg, ahead of Tuesday's crucial second debate against his Republican opponent with the November 6 election on a knife edge.

The president has seen Romney take the lead in national polls and eat deep into his prior advantage in battleground state surveys since the Republican's clear victory in Denver 10 days ago, imperiling his hopes of a second term.

Obama's aides have declined to say how the president will change his approach in the second debate, which takes place at Hofstra University, New York, but there have been signs of an evolving strategy.

Since the Denver showdown, Obama has unveiled a snappier stump speech, and criticized Romney for an "extreme makeover" of conservative positions and over a secretly filmed tape of him decrying half of Americans to rich donors.

Mystified Democrats sharply criticized Obama for not taking a similar tack during a lethargic and unfocused performance in the first debate.

Vice President Joe Biden prosecuted a more forensic attack on Romney when he met the Republican's vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, in their debate on Thursday, a showing that cheered Democrats dismayed by Obama's performance.

But Romney's team senses growing momentum across the board, including what may turn out to be the crucial swing state of Ohio, which Democrats see as a firewall for Obama, and which has been decisive in numerous US elections.

"There's a growing crescendo of enthusiasm," Romney said in a raucous event in Ohio on Friday evening.

"People recognize this is not an ordinary campaign. This is a critical time for the country.

Via: France24

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The scale of Obama's humiliation revealed: Romney scores 52-point debate victory - the BIGGEST in Gallup poll history

• Romney also enjoyed a five-point national poll swing putting him level pegging with Obama at 47% 
• Even among Democrats, 49 per cent thought Romney was the winner with only 39 per cent of his own supporters saying Obama had won the day
• Latest: Pew Research Center reported Romney taking a four-point lead among likely voters since the debate - 12-point swing from mid-September

Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate by a whopping 52-point margin according to Gallup - the most resounding margin since the polling giant began tracking debates 20 years ago.

The stunning judgement on the debate came as a bombshell Pew national poll put Romney four points ahead of President Barack Obama by 49 to 45 points - a huge swing of 12 points from mid-September, when Pew found Obama leading by 51 to 43 points.

In Gallup debate results published today, three times more people thought Romney did a better job than Obama in last week's so-called Duel in Denver presidential debate.

The poll about the Wednesday night's debate in Denver, watched by 67 million people, was conducted on Thursday and Friday. Of those who watched, 72 per cent thought Romney did a better job compared to 20 per cent for Obama.

Meanwhile, the respected Pew Research Center reported the most dramatic shift in a national poll during the entire general election campaign, with Romney’s fortunes improving in almost every respect. The center reported also pulling even with Obama on 46 per cent among registered voters and taking the lead by three points among likely voters.

Via: Daily Mail

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Byron York Column: Liberals Fret: Is Obama Bored? Does He Want A Second Term? Maybe Not

There’s no doubt President Obama’s liberal supporters are worried by his lackluster performance in the Denver debate.  “Everyone is in shock,” one show-business liberal told the Hollywood reporter.  “No one can understand what happened.”  The Obama faithful are offering the White House advice, talking points, pep talks — anything to improve the president’s performance when he next faces Mitt Romney at Hofstra University on October 16.

But for some liberal writers, the concern goes deeper.  Perhaps Obama’s somewhat withdrawn demeanor at the debate was an indication that he doesn’t even want a second term as president.

On the morning after the debate, The Atlantic ran an analysis headlined, “Snippy Obama, Whose Heart’s Not In It.”  Writer Garance Franke-Ruta suggested that Obama, as an unusually sensitive man, has been worn down by the presidency’s demands of conducting war in Afghanistan and dealing with crises like the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.  “His supporters keep wanting Obama to be who he was in 2008,” Franke-Ruta wrote.  “But that’s not who he is anymore.” Obama’s old enthusiasm for the job is simply gone.

Now, in the Daily Beast, liberal writer Michael Tomasky asks, “Does Obama Even Want to Win the Election?”  After poor Obama showings at the debate, the Democratic convention, and a high-profile “60 Minutes” interview, Tomasky writes, “Someone needs to ask the cut-to-the-chase question: is he enthusiastic about keeping this job, or he is just maybe tired of being president?”

Perhaps he is.  If so, there were certainly signs long before Wednesday night in Denver.  A look at the president’s career shows he has never stayed in a job four years without looking to move on to something.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Obama attacks Romney on oil tax break remarks he never made

President Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail, blasting the “fake” Mitt Romney for false claims he supposedly made during Wednesday night’s presidential debate.

“Last night, my opponent says he refuses to close the loophole that gives big oil companies $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies every year,” Obama said at a Denver campaign event on Thursday. “He ruled out closing the loophole that gives oil companies $4 billion in corporate welfare.”

Obama continued this line of attack at other campaign events as well.

“The guy who was playing Mitt Romney said he refuses to close a loophole that gives big oil companies $4 billion in taxpayer subsidies every single year,” Obama said in Wisconsin on Thursday.

And again at a Friday event in Virginia, Obama claimed Romney said that there is “no way” he’d close loopholes for oil companies.

“He said there’s no way that he’d close the loophole that gives big oil companies billions each year in corporate warfare,” Obama said on Friday.

In fact, Mitt Romney said during the debate that getting rid of tax breaks for oil companies was “on the table” and that these breaks probably wouldn’t survive a lowering of the corporate tax rate.

Via: The Daily Caller

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Obama Flying To L.A. To Reassure Hollywood Donors After Denver Debate Debacle

The president arrives for a star-studded concert and high-roller dinner on Sunday amid "shock" in Hollywood over his Denver debate performance.

President Barack Obama returns to Los Angeles Sunday for a star-bedecked celebrity concert and fundraising dinner. In the wake of his Denver debate troubles, however, the long scheduled visit has acquired another, equally urgent purpose—reassuring his Hollywood supporters that he's fighting to win the race and he's poised for a comeback in the next televised forum with former Gov. Mitt Romney.

From the now iconic dinner at George Clooney’s house that created a new Internet raffle style of campaign fundraising, through a series of lucrative Westside fundraisers and a wildly successful gala staged by the gay and lesbian community, the entertainment industry—in both L.A. and New York—has turned out to be a critical component in the Obama campaign’s fundraising efforts. There’s also no doubt that the president’s Hollywood supporters were deeply shaken by his lackluster performance in this week’s debate with Republican nominee Romney.

STORY: Presidential Debate Hits 32-Year Record in Gross Ratings

“Everyone is in shock,” said one long-time Democratic activist. “No one can understand what happened.”

At the very least, several longtime Obama supporters told THR, the chief executive should expect some directorial notes on how to tailor his performance to television’s split screen. “Everyone with a connection to the president is reaching out to him,” said another veteran Dem. “At the end of the day, the best coach he has is himself.”

The cloud of anxious fallout from Denver has all but overshadowed what otherwise would be considered a particularly glittering and gala L.A. appearance for Obama. His Sunday evening will kick off with a concert at downtown L.A.’s Nokia Theater featuring Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Hudson, Earth Wind and Fire, and Jon Bon Jovi. Presidential pal Clooney will make a special appearance to introduce Wonder. Afterward, Obama will head next door for a $25,000-per-plate dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s chic WP24. Both events were sold out before the debate. The two events could easily raise more than $5 million for the president's reelection campaign. 

On Monday, the president will head north to San Francisco for a fundraising dinner hosted by superstar chef Alice Waters, and a concert headlined by John Legend.

In Hollywood political circles this weekend, Obama’s shaky showing in Denver remained the conversational Topic A.

Via: Hollywood Reporter

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Restaurant Loses Big Bucks After Refusing Romney

An acclaimed Denver restaurant that told Mitt Romney to lunch elsewhere is facing some backlash.

After the GOP presidential candidate chose Chipotle for a lunch drop-by yesterday, the Mexican fast food chain got a lot of glory in the press after a Romney posing with staffers went viral. But it turns out the chain eatery was a fallback. And now the family-owned restaurant is paying a big price after a Westword blog post reported on its refusal to host the candidate.

“We lost a big order today,” Oscar Aguirre, co-owner of Rosa Linda’s, told The Daily. “Somebody called in and ordered $120 worth of food.

Later, Aguirre said, the customer called back and asked, "Aren’t you the restaurant that canceled Romney?"

He said the customer “hung-up” and canceled.

“They have a right to do so but don’t hurt us either,” Aguirre said.

It's not the first time this year that a restaurant is finding out politics and business don't always mix well. The Florida pizza shop owner who lifted President Obama in a big bear hug last month has since said his business is facing boycotts.

On Aug. 6,  Aguirre said he received a call from Romney’s campaign, which was setting up camp in Denver ahead of Wednesday night's debate. Aguirre, the oldest of five brothers and co-owner of the family-owned restaurant Rosa Linda’s, remembers the campaign's first visit to the establishment, which has been nationally recognized for its nachos and for feeding the homeless for almost three decades on Thanksgiving.

“They said ‘Oscar, we would like to bring Gov. Romney.’ I said, ‘Sure, why not? Let me talk to my mom and dad and call you back.’”

The family, whose parents are Mormons, conferred and thought the better of it.

“I said thank you and told him ‘We discussed it as a family but unfortunately we are going to have to pass.’”

"We could use the business, I’m not going to lie," Aguirre told The Daily. “But at the same time, what kind of message is that going to send?”

For Aguirre and his family, they want to keep their religion and their politics separate from their “amazing” chile rilleno and shredded beef which he said “put us on the map.”

“Gov. Romney we respect,” he said. “If he’s sitting president we’ll open our doors with open arms.”

Via: The Daily

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OBAMA COLLAPSE IN ILLINOIS: TIED IN DISTRICT HE WON BY 23 POINTS IN '08

Back in August, a poll showed Obama with just a 12-point lead over Romney in Cook County, Illinois. While he posted a huge lead in the city of Chicago, the poll found him actually losing to Romney in suburban Cook County. It was a shock that I set aside as an outlier. 

A new poll of Illinois' 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Cook County, however, suggests the August poll might not be such an aberration. The poll, from WeAskAmerica, finds Obama with just a 2 point lead over Romney, 47-45 in the suburban district. Obama won the district in 2008 by 23 points. 

I know the district well. It is affluent, with high levels of education, and very socially liberal. Voters there take pride in being politically "moderate" and wear the label as a badge of honor. Since the 1980s, the district has been represented by a Republican in Congress, but not by anyone who could be mistaken for a conservative. Al Gore and John Kerry both carried the district comfortably in 2000 and 2004. And, in 2008, Obama won over 61% of the vote in the district. 

Last year, during redistricting, the Democrats in Illinois made the district even more Democrat, looking to unseat freshman GOP Congressman Bob Dold. In this poll, Dold leads his opponent by 2 points, 47-45. It should be noted that this poll was conducted before last night's debate, so the surprising results don't reflect Obama's lackluster performance in Denver. 

Obama's performance in this district in 2008 was emblematic of the appeal he had then to moderates and independents. No Democrat had ever come close to posting the kind of vote he got here. It was also an enormous source of campaign donations for his election. Being essentially tied with Romney, and under the 50% threshold, shows the greatly diminished appeal he has to independents.

"For Mr. Obama to be in a statistical tie in an area that he won by around 20 points in 2008 truly reveals the failure of his Presidency," said Illinois-based political consultant Paul Miller. "The economy is undoubtedly the key factor, but in suburbs with a large Jewish population, his treatment of Israel is also taking its toll."

There is a sizable Jewish vote in the district. It could account for the rising dissatisfaction with Obama here. Also a factor could be the lack of leadership from Illinois' Democrat legislative leaders, who dominate state government and are quickly bankrupting the state. The state's debt level has exploded and recent massive tax hikes have done nothing to plug the state's gaping budget deficits. 

I should note that the sample in the poll is evenly split between GOP and Dem voters. That may be a bit generous to the GOP, but even this can't explain the collapse in Obama's numbers here. A drop of more than 20 points one month out from the election is damning for Obama. Of course, the poll also deliberately oversampled women. They make up around 65% of the poll's universe. Given the purported advantage Obama has with women voters, his margin in this poll should be considerably higher. 

Miller continued: "Unfortunately for the GOP, they wrote off Illinois before the campaign season began. Considering that President Obama may under-perform by a large percentage, and that his numbers in Cook County are not nearly as strong as they were four years ago, Illinois could have been in play. It may not be too late to make Illinois purple."

Given the state of the GOP in Illinois, I'm not certain Romney could have made Illinois competitive this year. Certainly, Obama continues to have the edge in his adopted home state. But, among the base of some of his core supporters, the thrill is clearly gone. 

Via: Breitbart

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AARP Bashes Obama For Using it to Promote Himself in Debate

Denver, CO— Earlier this evening the Presidential candidates discussed AARP, Social Security and Medicare during the first Presidential debate of the 2012 general election.  AARP, a sponsor of activities at all four of the 2012 Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, released the following statement in response.  AARP Senior Vice President John Hishta said:

“We’re grateful that this evening the candidates engaged in a more robust conversation with regard to Medicare.  We’re also pleased Social Security was included in tonight’s debate. But America’s voters deserve more than talking points and 30-second sound bites. Our members and older Americans want to hear how the candidates would strengthen Social Security, Medicare, and financial security, and we encourage the candidates to offer more specifics about their plans before Election Day.

“Across party lines, older voters say that getting more information on the candidates’ plans on these crucial economic security programs will help them determine their vote. We know that our members vote, and they want the candidates to tell them how they’ll fix Medicare and Social Security for them, their kids and their grandkids.

“Earlier this year, we launched You’ve Earned a Say, a national conversation on the future of Social Security and Medicare, to engage people in communities across the country so they have the pros and cons of proposals currently on the table in Washington and on the campaign trail. 

“While we respect the rights of each campaign to make its case to voters, AARP has never consented to the use of its name by any candidate or political campaign. AARP is a nonpartisan organization and we do not endorse political candidates nor coordinate with any candidate or political party.  

“We remain focused on providing voters with balanced information on where candidates stand on the key issues, so they can make their own decisions on Election Day.  For more information on where the candidates stand on premium support and other Medicare topics discussed tonight, see AARP’s Voters’ Guides at www.earnedasay.org.”

Via: AARP Blog

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Planned Parenthood To Hold Anti-Romney Protests In Denver Ahead Of Debate…

Part of Campaign to Mobilize Voters to “Ask Mitt”
 

Washington, DC — Today, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Votes announced they will paint Denver pink in the days leading up the first presidential debate. The Action Fund will hold a rally in Denver on Tuesday and Planned Parenthood Votes will run a series of ads targeting Colorado voters spanning TV, mobile, and online. The blitz is part of a wide, sweeping campaign to mobilize voters to “Ask Mitt” about his domestic policy positions, which would have real consequences for women, women’s health and women’s economic security.

The centerpiece of the campaign is “Ask Mitt” — an online voter engagement campaign that has already generated thousands of submissions via twitter and through the website http://www.ask-mitt.com. In the days leading up to the debate, supporters are being asked to vote for their favorite “Ask Mitt” questions (top five below).

Additionally, the groups are rolling out the following in Denver:

• an Action Fund “Ask Mitt” rally for women’s health on Tuesday, October 2, with Planned Parenthood Action Fund president, Cecile Richards;
• a new 30-second ad, “Ask Mitt,” from PPVotes on local Colorado television, that you can view here: http://youtu.be/GjZcbFml9JE;
• two Planned Parenthood Votes geo-targeted “Ask Mitt” 15-second mobile / tablet ads targeting Colorado voters, that you can view here:http://youtu.be/emFT0ao-ANU, and here:http://youtu.be/8oewPkpgQJo;
• takeover “Ask Mitt” Planned Parenthood Votes advertising on the politics section of the Denver Post online all day Tuesday and Wednesday of next week; andan “Ask Mitt” giant movable chalkboard where pedestrians can paint their questions that will be placed around different locations in Denver in the days leading up to the debate.

• Via: Planned Parenthood
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Democratic National Committee predicts Romney will win first debate vs. Obama

It's a further lowering of expectations ahead of the first debate in Denver next week. Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse tells Fox News he thinks Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will win.

Woodhouse says the way the DNC sees it, challengers win the first debate when they are up against incumbents.

"Mitt Romney has had a lot more time to debate, the president has not debated in the past four years in terms, of a campaign debate. I think the president will hold his own, but he's not known for sound bites. And these are 60 second, 90 second responses."

AFP/Getty Images

Mitt Romney

'THE AMATEUR' AUTHOR EDWARD KLEIN: ROMNEY HAS AN ADVANTAGE IN FIRST DEBATE

Woodhouse says Democrats are "trying to be realistic about expectations" because the president is "lucky to be able to devote three consecutive hours to debate preparation."

Woodhouse also paints Romney as a good debater and gives him credit for "dispatching Newt Gingrich" who Woodhouse considers a pretty good debater.

Woodhouse said he wants to see Obama "talk from his heart about where the country was and where he wants to take the country."

He's looking to see the president connect with Americans during the debate, the way Woodhouse thinks Obama was able to do in Charlotte during the Democratic National Convention.

Via: NY Post

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Chart of the Week: Obamacare’s Barrage of Tax Hikes Coming in 2013

The first presidential debate takes place in Denver on Wednesday with a focus on domestic issues, including President Obama’s unpopular health-care law. Obamacare imposes numerous tax increases on Americans, totaling more than $500 billion over a 10-year period.

According to Heritage’s analysis, these higher tax rates on income and investment threaten to slow economic growth. With so much uncertainty already stemming from Taxmageddon, this only adds to the concerns of American families and businesses.

One of the most alarming taxes — a new payroll tax on investment income — goes into effect in January 2013. It was cited by Americans for Tax Reform as one of the “top five worst Obamacare taxes coming in 2013.”

Via: The Foundry

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Opinion: It's Always the Economy, Stupid

Stupid," in the famous quotation from 1992's Clinton vs. Bush campaign—"It's the economy, stupid"—is whoever thinks a U.S. presidential election is about something else. All presidential elections are about the economy. Yes, there are other issues, but it's also true that a whale has pilot fish. Still, most politicians would rather talk about anything but the economy, which they see in one of two ways—as a personal piggy bank or a mystery. Neither is discussable in public. This is the sixth presidential election since "stupid" was first identified, and nothing has changed.

Barack Obama has reduced the whole economic record of his first term to one word: Bush. He's talking about the next U.S. economy, in which, he says, some people will be making windmills. Or capturing the rays of the sun.

His rebooted challenger, Mitt Romney, led an audience in Nevada last week through his plan to revive the economy. Mentioned first, and so presumably most important, he'd pursue "energy independence." Second most important: Crack down on trade "cheaters." That would be China, which is a long way from Vegas.

Next Wednesday night, these two will be hauled onto a stage in Denver for their first debate on "domestic issues," a euphemism for the economy. Nothing—and that includes Jim Lehrer—can make these two talk about the economy as it's understood by the average American voter. But the odds are Mitt Romney will talk about it and Barack Obama won't

Via: Wall Street Journal

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Too Funny: Obama Spokeswoman Says Campaign Is Intentionally Limiting Crowd Sizes At Obama And Biden Events…

COLORADO SPRINGS — About 4,200 people of all ages and colors spread across a green at Colorado College on Thursday in this conservative city for a rally with President Obama. Hours earlier, 3,500 supporters did the same in smaller Pueblo, Colo.

Together with two events on Wednesday in Denver and Grand Junction, Colo., an estimated 14,100 people in this battleground state turned out over the past two days to cheer Mr. Obama.

Good crowds, especially compared with the hundreds that typically turn out to see Mitt Romney. But four years ago Mr. Obama often was drawing five-digit throngs, filling arenas’ nosebleed seats and overflow rooms and regularly requiring shutdown orders from the local fire marshals.

Which raises a couple of questions: Where are the crowds now? And what does it mean for the results in November?

“We have plenty of time for big rallies,” a campaign spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said between the rallies on Thursday. “Our focus right now is on exciting our supporters and winning over undecided voters and the smaller and medium-size events are the best venue to accomplish that because the president can closely engage with the crowd.”

Big rallies are expensive, especially given the logistical and security challenges for a president as opposed to a mere United States senator. And Obama campaign operatives, both at the Chicago headquarters and in swing states where Mr. Obama recently has stumped, say the campaign intentionally limits crowds by restricting tickets. The reason is to allow the president to better connect with supporters, aides say.

Pettie Quintana, an employee at the Holiday Inn Express in Pueblo, said on Thursday that she had gone earlier in the week to the state fairgrounds to get a ticket, but the ticket office was closed, its allotment gone.

Via: NYT

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