2012 Elections

The Senate's longest-serving Republican, Orrin Hatch of Utah, has announced that he will not seek reelection. Mitt Romney, as The Weekly Standard was first to confirm, intends to run for the seat. This news item provoked a characteristically fevered round of speculation and theorizing from the…

You might not believe this, but we're just four weeks out from the first presidential debate and behind the scenes, prep is well underway. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that Laura Ingraham is helping the Trump campaign prepare for the debates and may even wind up playing the part…

You may not remember this, but four years ago Bill Clinton spoke on the third night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. And it turned out to be the hinge of the campaign against Mitt Romney.

The final majority report of the Benghazi Select Committee is set to be released later Tuesday morning. Representatives Jim Jordan and Mike Pompeo have signed onto the official majority document and authored a supplemental, 51-page "additional views" report of their own.

The Boston Globe reports that Tom Stemberg, the founder of office-supply retailer Staples, has died. Stemberg started Staples with the help of Mitt Romney's Bain Capital investment firm, and the two men became friends.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush laid out details of his economic plan in North Carolina Wednesday, focusing primarily on how he would reform the tax code as president. The proposal, Bush said, would help achieve his stated goal of four-percent annual economic growth.

Rick Santorum is keeping expectations low for his second presidential campaign. Asked if he would need to win the Iowa caucuses to stay in the race, the former senator said it “depends.”

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and runner-up for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, will run for president again in 2016. The Associated Press reports:

Stephen F. Hayes and Thomas Joscelyn report in the Wall Street Journal on the latest developments in uncovering how the Obama administration actively played down the threat of al Qaeda during President Obama's reelection campaign.

Just before the start of the Labor Day holiday weekend, the reelection campaign for Mitch McConnell of Kentucky announced its campaign manager, Jesse Benton, was resigning. Benton was leaving the campaign, Politico reports, "citing potential distractions over renewed attention to a scandal from the…

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said on CNBC this morning that he "would love to see" Mitt Romney run for president again, but that he doesn't think it's likely:

New York congressman Tim Bishop has a new ad out today—well, it depends on your definition of "new." The Democrat's ad features 10 seconds of testimonials from constituents whose jobs were saved, they say, by Bishop. The ad closes with Bishop giving his own pitch. Watch it below:

In the midst of rioting in St. Louis over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager, the New York Times decided to stoke the embers of racial animus even further with an incendiary op-ed titled, "Can the G.O.P. Ever Attract Black Voters?"

Google has not been kind to Rick Perry. Type in “Rick Perry gaffe” and you get 111,000 results. Google also offers “searches related to Rick Perry gaffe.” These include “Rick Perry drunk speech, Rick Perry oops, Rick Perry gaffe YouTube, Rick Perry gaffe debate .  .  . Rick Perry video, Rick Perry…

It seems these days, everything's coming up Romney. There's talk the two-time presidential candidate and the 2012 Republican nominee ought to run for the job again in 2016. Writing in Politico magazine, Emil Henry makes "the case for Mitt Romney" and draws comparisons to Richard Nixon's political…

In late June, the Pew Research Center released "Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology." Breaking the nation's voting public into seven types (plus one type that does not regularly vote), Pew aims to give a more granular perspective on the nation's body politic. Pew's political map can be a…

Paradise for the most dedicated supporters of President Obama would look like an eternal campaign. It would, in fact, be an eternal campaign. The speeches about hope and change would never end and there would be no messy governing to attend to.  One could promise passionately, to make the…

Governor Rick Perry of Texas criticized President Barack Obama's Washington-centric approach to solving problems in a Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press. Perry was asked by host David Gregory about the recent botched execution of a convicted murderer in neighboring Oklahoma and the…

Elizabeth Warren, the freshman Democratic senator from Massachusetts, did not say whether or not she thought her fellow Democrat, Hillary Clinton, would make a good president. ABC News's David Muir asked Warren the question in an interview airing Monday night on ABC.

Nebraska senator Deb Fischer will travel next door to Iowa in support of a fellow female Republican running in a tough primary for U.S. Senate. According to a press release from ShePAC, a conservative women's group, Fischer will go to Des Moines later this month to campaign for Joni Ernst, who is…

Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts who defeated Republican Scott Brown in 2012, has sent out a fundraising email to encourage supporters to donate to New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen. Brown announced Friday he is forming an exploratory committee to run against Shaheen…

Texas governor Rick Perry told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel that "America is a great place for second chances" when asked about running for president in 2016. Perry, appearing on Kimmel's show Tuesday night while on location in Austin, teased the idea of running again after his failed 2012 bid.

Austin

Republican Matt Doheny, a House candidate in upstate New York, lost his two previous bids for the seat. His more recent defeat, in 2012, came after photos and video surfaced of Doheny, then engaged, kissing one woman and canoodling with her and another woman outside a Washington, D.C., restaurant.…

Jim Matheson, the lone Democratic congressman from Utah, will not run for reelection in 2014. Matheson announced the decision on his Facebook page:

The campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe of Virginia has emailed its supporters likening Republican opponent Ken Cuccinelli to failed 2012 Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin.

The chairman of Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign is refusing to answer questions about allegations the campaign paid for endorsements before the Iowa caucuses last year. Jesse Benton, a longtime Paul aide who is now campaign manager for Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, has not replied…

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum spoke Thursday at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington about the failure of the Republican party and its presidential nominee to speak to the concerns of middle class and working people. Politico's James Hohmann reports:

The Republican National Committee announces that it's filing a Freedom of Information Act request for the release of all "Benghazi Emails Between Obama’s Reelection Campaign and State Department." The RNC's press release reads:

The Democratic ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings, said that today's IRS hearing "is more important than one election":

NBC's Lisa Myers reported this morning that the IRS  deliberately chose not to reveal that it had wrongly targeted conservative groups until after the 2012 presidential election:

Mitt Romney expressed regret at not being the next president of the United States in a speech today at CPAC:

At the New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes,“Paul Ryan has released his new budget proposal, ‘The Path to Prosperity.’ It looks almost exactly like his old budget proposal.” Cohn continues, “That tells us a lot about Ryan’s priorities — and how little interest he and his allies have in moderating…

When Chris Wallace asked Mitt Romney on Fox News Sunday why he lost the election, one of the reasons Romney gave was, “Obamacare was very attractive, particularly [for] those without health insurance, and they came out in large numbers to vote, so that was part of a successful campaign.” Like much…

Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney, said this morning that the media is at least in part to blame for her husband's failure to win the last presidential election:

Matthew Continetti, writing at the Washington Free Beacon:

Pat Riley, the president of the Miami Heat, skipped the team's meeting with Barack Obama at the White House today. Chuck Todd reports on Twitter:

This is the time that tries economists’ models. It has become the fashion at this time of year for forecasters to opine on the growth of GDP, the level of unemployment, the inflation rate next year—to at least one decimal place. I respect those who consult their models and intuition to come up with…

As we survey the political wreckage of 2012, it’s worth highlighting once again that Republicans lost the presidential election for two main reasons:  They failed to get their best candidates to run, and their eventual nominee failed to make the case to voters.  The result was a relatively lopsided…

This is a good time to see where we have come during the year now coming to a close. Some things haven’t changed very much, or so it might seem. When the year began, households reported that 142 million Americans held jobs; right now, 143 million are in work. The labor force participation rate—the…

The son of mogul Ted Turner, Teddy Turner, announced his intention this evening to run for the House seat being vacated by Tim Scott, who today was appointed to fill the remainder of Jim DeMint's Senate term. The House seat represents part of South Carolina. 

During the tail-end of the presidential campaign, Valerie Jarrett, a close aide to Barack Obama, was pushed away from the president. The news of the conflict is reported in a new Politico e-book, which came out today.

The Washington Post reports:

The Republican National Committee announced the formation of a committee set to examine what the party did wrong in the last election.

At an event in Washington, D.C. this evening, Paul Ryan asked Marco Rubio, "Know any good diners in Iowa or New Hampshire?" The reference, of course, is to the first state to hold a primary contest (the Iowa Caucus) and the first to in the nation to hold a primary election (New Hampshire).

President Obama is enjoying a bit of a post-election honeymoon, but the same cannot be said for his signature legislation.

The White House announces that Governor Mitt Romney will meet tomorrow with President Barack Obama for lunch.

As hard as it is to believe, it’s been only a little over three weeks since Election Day. But there are already plenty of signs that Republicans are learning many of the wrong lessons from that debacle. For starters, there’s been a lot of excessive emphasis on racial demographics, which actually…

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum says he is “open” to another run for president in 2016. Santorum was asked about a possible presidential campaign Monday at THE WEEKLY STANDARD. 

Politico reports:

The last thing Republicans need is an identity crisis. The losses in the 2012 election shouldn’t be sugarcoated. President Obama’s reelection does mean Obamacare will go into effect, and another shot at capturing the Senate was squandered. But the election was a setback, not a catastrophe.

After his defeat in Britain’s 1945 general election, Winston Churchill’s wife Clementine consoled him: “It may well be a blessing in disguise.” Churchill replied, “At the moment it seems quite effectively disguised.”

In many respects, the 2012 election played out as a close cousin of the 2004 contest. A vulnerable incumbent president in a bad political environment faced a weak challenger who lacked a core ideology and who articulated no clear vision for the country. In both campaigns the challenger chose to…

Had this presidential campaign been a chess match, one move would have merited a row of exclamation points. A chess master will violate the rules of strategy as neophytes understand them (“You’re gonna lose your Queen!”) but only because he sees possibilities on the board that are invisible to…

Ryan Streeter writes:

Mitt Romney’s campaign can effectively be boiled down into two parts. One was his first debate appearance, during which he aggressively attacked President Obama’s abysmal record and vigorously explained and defended his own policy proposals. During the other part of his campaign — encompassing his…

With the election over, President Barack Obama lavished praise on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney at today's press briefing:

Robert Robb writes:

In remarks on the Senate floor, the top Republican in that chamber argues against a mandate for President Barack Obama after his reelection last week.

Bobby Jindal suggests to Politico he's thinking of a new way forward:

With the election over, members of the mainstream media are now claiming victory over the conservative media. Jonathan Martin of Politico writes about how insular Republicans were blindsided by the Democrats' success last week and chalks it up to "Kaelism"--recalling the movie critic Pauline Kael's…

In today's New York Times, Ross Douthat begins the debate, and, in my judgment, very much points in the right direction.

President Barack Obama used his new political politician coming off his reelection win to assert his political position ahead of fiscal negotiations with Congress.

Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who defeated Scott Brown for the U.S. Senate, held what the Boston Herald reports as an "awkward" first press conference in Boston with Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. Warren's first question from the press as a senator-elect was about defense…

Megan McArdle offers a few reasons to be skeptical of an "emerging Democratic majority."

Yuval Levin, writing for National Review Online:

Fox News reports:

Bill Kristol, with Mara Liasson, A.B. Stoddard, and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

Hillary Clinton still intends to step down as secretary of state. That will take place likely "days" after President Barack Obama's second inauguration in January.

Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal: 

Vice President Joe Biden will be a guest performer on the sitcom Parks and Recreation later this month. The spot was filmed over the summer, but kept silent in order to avoid having to give equal air time to Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, the New York Times reports.

Barack Obama is now the first president in American history to win a second term with a smaller share of the electoral vote, a smaller share of the popular vote, and a smaller aggregate vote than when he was first elected. There are still votes to be counted, but as of this writing he actually has…

Vice President Joe Biden told reporters on Air Force Two today that last night's election represented a clear "mandate" to raise taxes.

The Republican party’s brutal defeat in yesterday’s presidential and Senate races offers at least one clear, abiding lesson: Republicans can’t win without making their case.

Vice President Joe Biden told the press on Air Force Two that he's now  "very optimistic about ... immigration reform."

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham:

Democrat Jim Matheson of Utah has won a tight race against Republican challenger Mia Love. The only Democrat in the Utah congressional delegation, Matheson bested Love by 1 percentage point. Here's more from the Deseret News:

Democrat Jim Matheson of Utah has won a tight race against Republican challenger Mia Love. The only Democrat in the Utah congressional delegation, Matheson bested Love by 1 percentage point. Here's more from the Deseret News:

In reaction to President Barack Obama's reelection, a top Israeli newspaper is warning, "start filling your sandbags. We're in for a rough ride." The column, written by David M. Weinberg, is published today in Israel Hayom.

Two thoughts for those TWS readers who—for some reason!—may be a bit down in the dumps, and especially for those who may have spent considerable time and effort trying to secure a better outcome on Election Day 2012.

James Ceaser's article in last week's WEEKLY STANDARD, "The Day After," is very much worth re-reading … the day after. Here's the most relevant part:

What happened with the Senate? That’s one question Republicans are likely asking themselves after a disappointing Election Day. 

Republicans never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.  In 2010, they failed to win the Senate when it was theirs for the taking. Now they’ve lost the White House to President Obama, despite his poor record and the likelihood things won’t get any better in his second term.  And they failed…

Mitt Romney delivered the following concession speech to supporters in Boston:

NBC News projects President Barack Obama will be reelected:

Republican Senate candidate Deb Fischer of Nebraska has defeated her Democratic opponent, former governor and former senator Bob Kerrey, according to CBS News.

Mitt Romney is projected to win North Carolina, according to the Associated Press.

Democrat Tim Kaine is the winner of the hotly contested Senate race in Virginia, CBS News projects. Kaine, a former governor, faced another former governor and former senator, Republican George Allen. Allen lost this Senate seat in 2006 to Democrat Jim Webb, who chose not to run for reelection.

Fox News projects that Democrat Elizabeth Warren has defeated Republican Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race.

Democrat Joe Donnelly of Indiana has defeated Republican Richard Mourdock for that state's Senate seat, Fox News reports.

Fox News projects Barack Obama will win Wisconsin, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's homestate.

Fox News projects Barack Obama will win Pennsylvania. Mitt Romney's campaign gave a late push there, but it appears not to have paid off.

Democratic senator Bob Casey has held on to his Senate seat in Pennsylvania, Fox News projects. Casey, whose significant lead in the polls dropped in the final weeks of the campaign, has held off a challenge from Republican Tom Smith, a businessman from Western Pennsylvania.

Obama will win Michigan and New York, Fox News projects. Romney will win Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska (or at least 4 of the state's 5 electoral votes).

Fox News projects Mitt Romney will win Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Obama, the cable news channel predicts, will win Illinois, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.

Fox News projects Mitt Romney the winner of Georgia.

Vigo County, Indiana, has correctly reflected the winner of the presidency in every election since 1956, as in 2008 when Barack Obama won the county with 57 percent support and in 2004 when George W. Bush won the county with 53 percent support.

The AP reports:

Fox News projects Mitt Romney the winner in Kentucky and Indiana. Fox also projects Barack Obama the winner of Vermont.

I gather the first wave of the exit poll has the right track/wrong track at around 46/52. The current Real Clear Politics polling average for right track/wrong track is about 41/54, with no poll having the right track above 43. Maybe all the other polls are wrong. Or, given that Democrats are more…

Here's a picture a Washington, D.C. polling place--at the School Without Walls High School--which clearly displays a mural of President Barack Obama:

To help readers keep score at home of the 2012 presidential election: 

A woman wearing an MIT t-shirt was barred from voting Florida, according to a local report. MIT stands for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, not Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Here's a photo of an election judge checking in voters in Barack Obama's Chicago ward--wearing an Obama baseball cap:

Former DNC chair Howard Dean said that if Obama loses Ohio, it's because of voting irregularities:

Here's a picture of an Obama mural at a Philadelphia polling place:

On the evening before the big game, both candidates showed up on ESPN's Monday Night Football.  And why not?  You hunt where the ducks are.  And on Monday night, that's where they are.

Yuval Levin, writing at National Review Online:

Since the House passed Obamacare 961 days ago, on March 21, 2010 — two days before President Obama signed it into law — all eyes have been on November 6, 2012.  As Bill Kristol wrote on March 22, 2010: 

Politico writes that Nancy Pelosi’s “drive to regain the [House] majority for Democrats is on the verge of a complete collapse.”  It adds, “Democrats are expected to pick up five seats at best — a fraction of the 25 they need.  On the eve of the election, some party officials are privately worried…

Blue Bell, Pa.

In an email to supporters, the Obama campaign pleads for Election Day volunteers in northern Virginia. "Daniel," the email begins, "if you care about how this election ends, then I need to know right now: Can we count on you to help get out the vote on Election Day?"

Reader email of the day! (We've removed his name for the sake of his mom's privacy.)

At Harry's Bar, 5 rue Daunou, 2eme, Paris—in the deepest of deep blue precincts!—Mitt Romney is doing surprisingly well in the early vote, trailing Barack Obama by only about 10 percentage points. Sophisticated statistical analyses of early voting trends suggest this may well mean diminished Obama…

Today at a reelection event where President Barack Obama was scheduled to speak, rapper Jay Z replaced the word "bitch" in a rap song with "Mitt:"

Urban Outfitters, a retail store that appeals to a young (teens and 20s) demographic, is encouraging voters to "Vote Early, Vote Often." A reader, Allyson Rowen Taylor, sends along this picture from the storefront of the Urban Outfitters at the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Blvd. in Studio…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham:

Vice President Joe Biden gives his impressions of the race to the pool reporter: 

What did or didn't the president do on the evening of September 11?

Mitt Romney will win.  The tie in the polls goes to the challenger. Here’s why:

At an Obama rally in Wisconsin today, Bruce Springsteen admitted, "The first debate really freaked me out."

Larry Summers, President Obama's director of the National Economic Council, on Monday said it was "ridiculous" for Republicans to point out the 7.9 percent unemployment rate announced last Friday was higher than when the president assumed office.  Going on what he says to Justin Sink of the Hill,…

Reuters writes the following about Mitt Romney’s Sunday night rally on the outskirts of Philadelphia:  “The rally drew a huge crowd, but Romney arrived some 90 minutes after he was expected and hundreds of people streamed out of the rally as he spoke, angry and cold after waiting at a facility with…

The auto bailout debate, already a triumph of narrative over reality, took another turn for the absurd last week as both presidential campaigns exchanged salvos over what amounted to a misunderstanding about Chrysler's plan to build Jeeps in China. The dust-up began when the Romney campaign…

Here's a video calling attention to how President Obama abandoned those who are recovering from Hurricane Sandy to go back on the campaign trail:

Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts is in a dead heat to retain his Senate seat against Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren, according to a new poll from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the Boston Herald. The poll found 49 percent support Brown and 48 percent support Warren.…

They have a dream. For months now, Republicans have been nursing the hope that déjà vu may be on order, that their favorite year may be making a comeback, and that their nominee, after numerous trials, may be riding a late-breaking wave. Democrats scoff, and predict the mirage will dissipate in the…

Joe Biden was forewarned. When he did a walk-through at the site of his debate with Paul Ryan, he asked if there might be double screens when the debate was broadcast. Yes, indeed, he was told, though it would be up to each TV network and cable channel whether to show both candidates at once on a…

With a week to go until the 2012 presidential election, Mitt Romney has a decided leg up on President Barack Obama.

Six months ago, in an editorial titled “President Romney,” I speculated that Mitt Romney​—​then behind in the polls​—​could prevail this fall: “If Romney can speak to Americans’ sense that it’s a big moment, with big challenges, and if he can make this a big election rather than a petty one, then…

Plumcreek Township, Pa.

Observers on both sides of the political aisle have noted, often with surprise, President Obama’s failure to offer an agenda for a second term in office. It would be a mistake, however, to assume Obama has no second-term agenda; he simply doesn’t have one he can express aloud. In truth, the…

When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced on August 11 that he had selected Paul Ryan as his running mate, the consensus was that he had made a daring choice with a huge risk: being demagogued on Medicare cuts.

For the small school of political analysis that draws its inspiration from the great French 17th-century philosopher René Descartes, the cardinal methodological rule is to begin from what one can know “so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.” The only important fact about the…

Columbus, Ohio

Milwaukee

The last several weeks have not been good for Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock of Indiana. The two-term state treasurer, who beat six-term incumbent Senator Dick Lugar in the GOP primary in May, has fallen back in the polls against his Democratic opponent, Congressman Joe Donnelly. A…

Two recent polls maintain that Republican Tom Smith of Pennsylvania is statistically tied with his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., in the race for the U.S. Senate. The first poll, an internal Smith poll released Friday, shows the candidates tied at 46 percent. The second, a Susquehanna Research…

At a campaign rally for President Barack Obama yesterday in Virginia, former President Bill Clinton talked about bringing "this country together" and crossing "all of its diversity." Then, Clinton added this:

The Illinois Republican party claims early and absentee voting has precipitously fallen since the 2008 presidential election.

President Barack Obama told a Virginia crowd last night that he's "a prop in the campaign":

The Romney campaign seems to have committed to a late push into Pennsylvania, to the derision of Team Obama. The latter sees this as a desperation ploy by a foundering campaign, similar to John McCain’s late entrance into the Keystone State in 2008. Is that right?

Last night, on Special Report, I urged Mitt Romney to step up and address President Obama's failure to explain what decisions he made and didn't make on the evening of September 11, as Americans fought terrorists in Benghazi. This afternoon it seems that Romney, not having mentioned Benghazi in his…

Earlier today at an Obama rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, former President Bill Clinton said that American can't export Jeeps to China:

Early this morning, the Hill reported that the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is relying on a private company — a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group — to play a central role in establishing and running Obamacare’s insurance “exchanges.”  As the Hill writes, the…

One thing is certain in these waning hours of the presidential and congressional election campaigns: it is Barack Obama and the current members of Congress who will have to make the initial decision on what to do about what we have come to call the fiscal cliff. By the time the new Congress and the…

Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren told a local TV news reporter she had "plenty of pictures" that reflect her claim to Native American heritage, but quickly added that she wouldn't show them. "They're not for you," she says.

In a letter to the White House, four members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence asked President Obama whether recent disclosures to the press of classified information on the Benghazi terrorist attacks were authorized by the Obama administration or illegal leaks subject to…

The four polls taken this week in Iowa that are listed by RealClearPolitics show widely different results.  NBC/WSJ/Marist shows President Obama up by 6 percentage points — 50 to 44 percent.  Gravis Marketing shows Obama up 4 points — 49 to 45 percent.  WeAskAmerica shows Obama up 1.5 points — 48.8…

The boss, sitting alongside Kirsten Powers and Charles Krauthammer, made the case on Special Report Friday that Mitt Romney should raise the issue of Barack Obama's failure to be forthright on the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Watch the videos below:

Mitt Romney, speaking just now in Ohio:

Joe Biden revealed his vacation plans to a Miami radio station earlier today:

Republican House candidate Mia Love of Utah has a 12-point lead over her Democratic opponent, incumbent member Jim Matheson, in a new poll from the Salt Lake Tribune. According to the poll, 52 percent of voters in Utah's Fourth District support Love, while 40 percent support Matheson.

In the second poll released this week, Republican Scott Brown has a two-point lead over Democrat Elizabeth Warren in the Massachusetts Senate race. A new poll from Kimball Political Consulting, a firm based in Massachusetts affiliated with the GOP, finds 49 percent support Brown while 47 percent…

In the final days of the campaign, the Illinois Republican party and allied conservative groups are hitting Democratic congressional candidate Bill Foster over allegations he abused his former wife. According to court documents from Foster's divorce proceedings in March 1996, the Democrat's…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham:

There are two new ads that use a different approach to convincing voters: silence.

The newly released October jobs numbers reveal that, since President Obama signed Obamacare into law in March 2010, we have now gone 31 consecutive months in which fewer than 59 percent of Americans have been employed.  The Obama administration’s own Bureau of Labor Statistics compiles such…

With the latest jobs report, it is now the case that "Under Obama, Food Stamp Growth [Is] 75 Times Greater Than Job Creation," according to statistics compiled by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee. "For Every Person Added to Jobs Rolls Since January 2009, 75 People Added To Food…

Rick Santelli got into a screaming match this morning on CNBC when he said that, under President Obama, the U.S. economy has had a net loss of 61,000 jobs since February 2009:

Fred Barnes, writing in the Wall Street Journal: 

When I started making election predictions eight years ago, I had a very different perspective than I do today. I knew relatively little about the history of presidential elections or the geography of American politics. I had a good background in political science and statistics. So, unsurprisingly…

There's an interesting article on Benghazi in the Wall Street Journal, with some useful information, and lots of finger pointing and back-and-forth between the State Department and the CIA, and between Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus. Guess who's nowhere mentioned in the piece: The person who's…

Obama administration officials are feeling the pressure to answer some basic questions about their responsibility for what happened September 11 in Benghazi. As has become very clear, the administration doesn't want to answer the questions, such as what the president did and didn't do that evening;…

It is no surprise Barack Obama’s campaign is running ads to highlight the support of former chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell. After all, for the most part, the military overwhelmingly supports Mitt Romney.

Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano will head to Staten Island tomorrow to view the clean-up from Hurricane Sandy.

Democratic hopes of capturing the House next Tuesday are long gone. And Democrats now could wind up actually losing seats.

At a campaign rally featuring First Lady Michelle Obama today in Daytona, Florida, supporters of President Obama were reportedly chanting "Hail Obama," according to one local reporter.

Sports fans in some important swing states this weekend will get a last-minute dose of politics with their football. Bankrupting America, a campaign project of the conservative group Public Notice, will be flying two banners over the fields at college and professional football games with messages…

It is close, we are told again and again.  And you can find someone with the expert credentials to confirm your hopes, whichever way you lean.  Karl Rove has it figured for Romney.  Nate Silver is willing to put a couple thousand, cash money, on Obama.  The BLS unemployment numbers come out…

President Barack Obama invoked the destructiveness of Hurricane Sandy--and the ensuing clean-up--in his campaign stop earlier today in Wisconsin.

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One today that President Obama "has not participated in the investigation" of the terror attack against Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Republican senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts has a new 60-second ad touting his bipartisan, moderate record in the United States Senate. "I've kept my promise to be an independent voice," Brown says in the ad. "I put people ahead of politics. And now, I need your help to keep that independent…

Republicans often find comfort in the suburbs. But for long-time Maryland congressman Roscoe Bartlett, having a slice of Washington, D.C. suburbia added to his district means the biggest fight of his life. He now faces a tough challenge from Democrat John Delaney, the founder of a successful…

The latest ad from Mitt Romney's campaign hits President Barack Obama for floating the idea of adding a "secretary of business" in a second term: 

Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general under President George W. Bush and the current Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona, recently came under scrutiny after Senator Jon Kyl revealed a memorable conversation the two had about the perks of being a member of Congress. It happened in the 2006…

Mitt Romney and President Obama are now tied in the RealClearPolitics average of recent national polling, thanks in large part to the United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll released Wednesday afternoon. That poll projects an 8-point advantage in turnout for Democrats…

Vice President Joe Biden was greeted with talk of a 2016 presidential run at a campaign stop for Barack Obama earlier today in Iowa. This happened multiple times during his visit to an Obama field office in Davenport, Iowa. 

In today’s Wall Street Journal, David Gamage — who teaches at Cal-Berkeley, worked for two years in the Obama administration, and regards himself as “an Obamacare supporter” — discusses “the perverse incentives” that Obamacare would provide to employees, employers, and romantic couples, alike.

“We feel that we are in a very, very good place, that this race is exactly where we hoped it would be a week out,” said Russ Schriefer, a senior advisor to Mitt Romney, on a Wednesday conference call with reporters. Schriefer says the Romney campaign remains convinced that the fundamentals of the…

President Obama comes to work, conducts a few conference calls on Hurricane Sandy, holds a press conference, and later travels to New Jersey to survey the damage caused by the storm. In doing so, he performs a job expected of him as president.

According to the pool report, Vice President Joe Biden said on the campaign trail, "You'll vote for me in 2016."

Seven weeks later, the White House still hasn't explained what President Obama did and didn't do during the seven hours of the attack on Benghazi on September 11. And there's been no response from the White House to questions asked by senators or THE WEEKLY STANDARD or David Ignatius in the…

The Republican party of Massachusetts has released a new Halloween-themed web ad criticizing Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, particularly her positions on Obamacare and a balanced budget. "This election season, Elizabeth Warren is masquerading," the text reads. Watch the video below:

At a campaign event, Vice President Joe Biden promised "to give ... the whole load today":

A new ad from Republican Senate candidate Tom Smith of Pennsylvania features a personal testimonial from Smith's daughter, Allison.

David Axelrod refused to say whether Barack Obama is winning independents in Ohio:

Barack Obama senior adviser David Axelrod promised to shave off his mustache of 40 years is Mitt Romney wins Minnesota, Michigan, or Pennsylvania. He made the promise on MSNBC--and pledged to come back on Morning Joe for the shaving.

There is a peculiar divergence between various public opinion polls at the moment. On the one hand, Mitt Romney has built a narrow but durable lead in the national polls, averaging around a 1 percent advantage over the last three weeks. This has cheered the hearts of conservatives everywhere.

Editor's note: We republish this Washington Free Beacon article as a public service, as the publication's servers are down due to Hurricane Sandy.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, is politicizing the clean-up of Hurricane Sandy and, he says he offered help to the Democratic mayors of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Emanuel does not appear to have made the same offer to Republican governors…

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Former Nebraska senator and governor Bob Kerrey, the Democrat who is running for his old Senate seat to replace retiring Democrat Ben Nelson, said he would vote for Nevada's Harry Reid for majority leader if he is elected. Appearing on KFAB radio in Omaha Tuesday morning, Kerrey was asked if he…

A new Suffolk University poll says Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has a 7-point lead over her Republican opponent, Senator Scott Brown. According to the poll of 600 likely voters, 53 percent support Warren while 46 percent support Brown. The previous Suffolk poll,…

Mitt Romney's campaign has a new television ad directed at voters in Pennsylvania. The ad juxtaposes Barack Obama's record and rhetoric on the coal industry with Romney's plan.

Former President Bill Clinton, using the backdrop of Hurricane Sandy, blasted Mitt Romney for criticizing Barack Obama's unkept promise of "turn[ing] back the seas":

On MSNBC, host Andrea Mitchell criticized Republican presidential Mitt Romney for making collections to help victims of Hurricane Sandy:

A new 30-second ad airing on cable news in Wisconsin and New Hampshire features Americans who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 voicing their disenchantment with the president over the last four years. The spot, which is an advertisement for the Citizens United film The Hope and the Change, will air…

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham: