Jeremiah Wright and Joe Ricketts: Analysis from around the Webs
The New York Times’ bombshell report on a GOP Super PAC’s plan to use President Obama’s relationship with his former pastor in attack ads has blotted out the sun for other campaign coverage.
Mitt Romney said Wedensday morning that he repudiated attacks like those outlined in the proposal. Joe Ricketts, who commissioned the proposal through his super PAC, issued a statemment Wednesday saying it was one of several submitted to him and was never accepted.
Mitt Romney’s schedule for Thursday
Mitt Romney will spend another day criss-crossing Florida, trying to best the $40 million April fundraising total his campaign announced Thursday morning, while President Obama has no public events scheduled.
Here’s your look at the candidates’s schedules for Thursday, from the White House Press office and the PBS News Hour political calendar:
Romney’s Mormonism could help him in the polls, study finds
Will Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith be a factor when voters go to the polls this November?
A new study released by the Brookings Institution suggests that it will — but not in the way one might expect.
Brookings fellow Matthew M. Chingos and University of Mississippi assistant professor Michael Henderson argue that contrary to conventional wisdom, “information about the LDS church and Mr. Romney’s affiliation with it poses little threat to his electoral prospects, even among evangelical Christians” and that “in fact, messages about Romney’s religion may even boost his support among conservatives.”
Romney, Obama campaign staffers debate an actual issue on Twitter
As our colleagues at the Fix wrote last month, Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod and top Romney campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom have had some notable debates in 140-character bursts.
The two senior aides publicly sparred over such high-level topics as what Mitt Romney has in common with a TV show and a child’s toy and whether President Obama would eat his pet.
Two other top aides traded Twitter barbs Wednesday. Romney press secretary Andrea Saul and Obama rapid response director Lis Smith argued over — of all things — jobs and the economy.
See the exchange after the jump.
Romney, responding to Bain attacks, says Obama responsible for 100,000 auto job losses
This post has been updated.
Personally responding for the first time to Democratic attacks this week over his business record at Bain Capital, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Wednesday accused President Obama of being responsible for the elimination of more than 100,000 auto industry jobs.
(AP)
Romney was asked by conservative talk radio host and blogger Ed Morrisey of Hot Air about a new attack this week from Obama’s reelection campaign over Bain’s role in the 2001 bankruptcy of GST Steel, which resulted in massive job losses. Romney said he was not responsible for the actions because he had taken a leave from Bain two years earlier to run the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
“The most recent attacks are really off target and I think they know,” Romney said. “They said, ‘Oh, gosh, Governor Romney at Bain Capital closed down a steel factory.’ But their problem, of course, is that the steel factory closed down two years after I left Bain Capital. I was no longer there, so that’s hardly something which is on my watch.”
Then Romney tried to lay blame for auto job losses on Obama.
On the debt ceiling, student loans and ‘fake fights’
On MSNBC Wednesday, House Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (S.C.) accused House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and congressional Republicans of turning the raising of the country’s debt ceiling into “a made-up issue.”
President Obama, right, meets with congressional leaders including House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor during the July 2011 debt ceiling talks.(Andrew Harrer — Bloomberg)
“It is a phantom,” Clyburn, the No. 3 ranking House Democrat, said of the newly-ramped up battle over raising the country’s $16.4 trillion borrowing limit early next year. “Talk to any economist and a lot of them will ask you, ‘Why do we even have that kind of legislation in the first place?’ ... I hope the president will not get roped into this foolishness because that’s all it is.”
Clyburn was responding to Boehner’s announcement on Tuesday that he again intends to oppose any measure that would raise the debt ceiling without commensurate spending cuts.
‘Made-up issue.’ ‘Phantom’ debate. Sound familiar? It should:
Herman Cain formally endorses Mitt Romney
Businessman Herman Cain formally endorsed Mitt Romney’s presidential bid in an event on Capitol Hill on Wednesday afternoon.
Herman Cain (Win McNamee/Getty Images)The move marks Cain’s third endorsement since suspending his own White House run last December amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment and a 13-year affair.
Deb Fischer’s surprise win and the most competitive county in Va. | #campaignreads
What political news have you missed since you checked your paper, RSS feed, or Twitter this morning? Lots of campaign coverage on the aftermath of the Nebraska Senate primary, Mitt Romney’s morning campaigning in Florida, and White House news (some of which isn’t even related to hoagies).
Here are links to the stories that will bring you up to speed, courtesy of those who tweet it for a living.
and what Henrico story would be complete w/out nods to Godwin and Freeman cc: @jmartpolitico @jtuckermartin @ryanobles bit.ly/JGHhBA
— Peter Hamby (@PeterHambyCNN) May 16, 2012
ten things to know about Deb Fischer's win wapo.st/JG7Red
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 16, 2012
Obama tries to sandwich Republicans on jobs plan, at a Washington deli
President Obama stopped by a Washington sandwich shop Wednesday to pick up some hoagies for a lunch with Capitol Hill leaders at the White House — and to make his latest pitch for Congress to support his economic agenda.
President Obama participates in a roundtable discussion with local small business owners at Taylor Gourmet in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, May 16, 2012. From left are, SBA Administrator Karen Mills, Taylor Gourmet co-owners David Mazza and Casey Patten, the president of Yes! Organic Markets, Kathy Rachels, and the founding principal of the Francis Lee Contracting construction firm, Brian J. Smith.
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais - Associated Press)
Obama chose Taylor Gourmet, at 14th and T Streets NW, to tout his five-point “to-do list” for Congress, a series of economic initiatives aimed at boosting small businesses and allowing homeowners to refinance at lower interest rates.
Grover Norquist makes the case for Bobby Jindal for veep
In a Politico op-ed Wednesday morning, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist wades into the veepstakes debate — and makes the case for Bobby Jindal as Mitt Romney’s running mate.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal addresses the state legislature on the opening session in Baton Rouge, La., March 12, 2012.
(Gerald Herbert - Associated Press)
Norquist, who is best known for his anti-tax pledge signed by the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans, argues that the Louisiana governor is the best choice for Romney because he “has already implemented the sort of bold reforms at the state level that are now desperately needed at the federal level,” on issues including education and energy.
The op-ed was penned by Norquist and ATR’s Patrick Gleason.
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