Triage.

And then, on the other hand: Expansion into newly-tossup states.

In late September, just before Romney's impressive performance in the first presidential debate, Obama held an 11-point lead, 53 percent to 42 percent.

Obama still edges Romney on favorability there, which, after long resisting the notion, I'm now comprehending does in fact represent one's likely Election Day vote share.

Romney's slightly underwater at 46/48, while Obama's ahead 52/45.

I think ads and appearances can change that. Here's hoping, anyway.

Oh: Thompson is 1 point ahead in the same poll. Which means Romney is underperforming, which is possibly simply because he hasn't genuinely contested this state. Yet.

Posted by: Ace at 09:31 AM | Comments (170)
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At Gallup, 51-45.

Romney might have overshot it with that 47% business.

Oh by the way: Uh, Romney's ahead with Registered voters, too. 48-46.

Meanwhile, CBS' snap poll also confirms that Romney won on the most important issues this cycle.

As already noted, Romney won on "The Economy" 65-34. Here are some other findings:

On the Deficit, Romney wins 70-29. Seventy.

On Taxes, Romeny wins 54-46.

Now, about triage:

Decisions need to be made at crunch time. Romney will no doubt make some heartbreaking decisions too; like, I don't think the Pennsylvania Push will come. (But the Michigan push might...)

But Obama is now retreating.

Via The Meatball:

Politico story on obama pulling from NC http://politi.co/R4uygx

I'm not even going to hyperlink that. Politico can go right into my sex binder.

Obama pac cancel in florida we heard about

Better Romney # in CO and VA

And now this from politicalwire: "Obama circling wagons in OH IA NV NH"

Er... I think he's triaging. Because if the last part concedes the
aforementioned states...

Posted by: Ace at 09:05 AM | Comments (260)
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@lochnar with a great catch from Candy Crowley's interview with David Axelrod on September 30th.

Here's the full exchange for context (video here). I'll highlight what I think are the important parts.

CROWLEY: I am joined by Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod. I want to pick up on what John McCain and I were talking about. There's a back and forth now about why didn't this administration -- why did it take them until Friday after a September 11th attack in Libya to come to the conclusion that it was premeditated and that there was terrorists involved. John McCain said it doesn't pass the smell test, or it's willful ignorance to think that they didn't know before this what was going on. Your reaction?

AXELROD: Well, first of all, Candy, as you know, the president called it an act of terror the day after it happened. But when you're the responsible party, when you're the administration, then you have a responsibility to act on what you know and what the intelligence community believes. This was -- this is being thoroughly investigated.

CROWLEY: But first it was, like, not planned.

AXELROD: We need to bring to justice--

CROWLEY: First, they said it was not planned, it was part of this tape. All that stuff.

AXELROD: As the director of national intelligence said on Friday, that was the original information that that was given to us. What we don't need is a president or an administration that shoots first and asks questions later.

CROWLEY: But isn't that what happened?

AXELROD: And, you know, Governor Romney leaped out on this Libya issue on the first day, and was terribly mistaken about what he said. That is not what you want in a president of the United States. And as for Senator McCain, for whom I have great respect, he has disapproved of our approach to Libya from the beginning, including the strategy that brought Gadhafi to justice.

CROWLEY: But this has to do not with the approach to Libya but with the murder of four Americans in Libya. And didn't the administration shoot first? Didn't they come out and say, listen, as far as we can tell, this wasn't preplanned, this was just a part of --

(CROSSTALK)

AXELROD: At this point, this is what we know, and we are thoroughly investigating. And that's exactly what you should do. That's what the responsible thing to do is. I was kind of shocked to see Representative King attack Ambassador Rice for what she said last Sunday here and elsewhere, because she was acting on the intelligence that was given to her by the intelligence community. To say she should resign -- she is one of the most remarkable, splendid public servants we have. That's thoroughly irresponsible.

Here's Crowley talking to McCain before she interviewed Axelrod on the same show.

Friday we got the administration's sort of definitive statement that this now looks as though it was a pre-planned attack by a terrorist group, and some of whom were at least sympathetic to al Qaeda.

Why do you think and are you bothered that it has taken them this long from September 11th to now to get to this conclusion?

So which is it Candy? Did it take the administration until Friday to admit it might have been per-planned and "that there was (sic) terrorists involved" or did Obama claim on September 12th in the Rose Garden that it was "an act of terror"? It can't be both.

* I changed the date because I misunderstood which Friday she was talking about.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:14 AM | Comments (287)
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Can anyone explain this twatty stupidity to me? Because I don't get it.

But this is their big Thing.

Posted by: Ace at 08:03 AM | Comments (152)
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My quick take on the debate:

Romney was uneven. Good on taxes and economy (see the ad), not so good (to put it mildly) on Libya and pay equity (he should have been ready with facts about women making less in Obama's White House. Could be bad staff work).

Obama was obnoxious and lied repeatedly, nothing new there.

Crowley was an embarrassment who should be fired immediately.

Overall...Romney fought to a draw which was good enough considering the momentum is with him, so nothing changes. All Obama did was fire up his base but since that includes the DMM (Democratic Machine Media) it will seem like more than it is.

Crowley proved that if the GOP lets "undecided" voters for the Daily Kos and partisan hacks like her continue to frame these debates they are idiots. Radditz and Crowley should be the death knell for the Commission on Presidential Debates (yeah, yeah, War on Women).

Meanwhile, here's the ad culled from Romney's answer to a disgruntled Obama voter. It's very good. Clearly Team Mitt is moving into the closing arguments phase which makes sense with so much early voting going on. Can't wait until last week anymore. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 06:59 AM | Comments (351)
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Introduction (from his website):

David Rouzer currently owns and operates a business consulting firm providing strategic advice to businesses on a wide range of issues. He also owns and operates a distributorship marketing environmentally friendly products.

Prior to starting his own consulting and distributorship businesses, David had been involved in public policy development and implementation, public relations, and legislative strategy for more than a decade through his work in the Legislative and Executive branches of the Federal government as well as through his work for NC State University.

Opponent:
8 term incumbent Democrat Mike McIntyre is another “Blue Dog” Democrat. While he might have a reasonable claim to the title on votes in the House, his work in committees and his seeming chumminess with unions raises questions.

In the end, if heÂ’s reelected, heÂ’ll vote to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker.

The District:
ItÂ’s a district that was trending Republican before redistricting and has gotten more conservative following the redrawing of the lines.

"We're the underdog in this battle because they drew a seat to predetermine the outcome of the election," McIntyre, who has been in Congress since 1997, said this week.

McIntyre was referring to new district lines drafted by the state's Republican-dominated legislature last year that cut out heavily Democratic precincts in central Wilmington and McIntyre's hometown of Lumberton.

Rouzer, 40, voted for those new lines as a two-term state senator and is a resident of Republican-leaning Johnston County, which was added to the district.
Even before the changes, the district was trending Republican, voting to re-elect President George W. Bush in 2004 and for GOP nominee John McCain in 2008. McIntyre narrowly survived the Tea Party wave of 2010, which swamped many of the remaining rural Democrats in Congress.

The Race:
I can’t find any polling on this race but RCP calls it a “toss up” district. Still given Romney’s growing lead in NC, the districts rightward lean and the fact that the GOP is still spending money there it’s clearly a prime potential pickup seat.

If youÂ’re in the area and can volunteer or want to donate, visit the campaignÂ’s website.

Previous “Focus On The House” Posts:
Vernon Parker(AZ-9)
Lee Anderson (GA-12)

Posted by: DrewM at 06:12 AM | Comments (57)
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• Andrew Sullivan Off Suicide Watch
  
• U of Colorado Study Claims 77% Chance Romney Wins The Popular Vote
  
• Michael Walsh: Don't Worry, Be Happy
  
• VDH: A Draw, Or Better Than A Draw
  
• Kaus: Crowley Was Out Of Line
  
• Mark Critz Is Fighting Barack Obamas Ballot Drag
  
• Taliban Demands Unbiased Coverage Of Attempted Murder Of 14 Year Old
  
• Woman Accused Of Driving Drunk After Drinking Half A Bottle Of Hand Sanitizer
  
• Tool That Reveals Politicians Top 10 Campaign Donors
  
• Lance Armstrong Stepping Down From Livestrong Charity And Nike Is Terminating His Contract
  
• White House Pays Women Less Than Men
  
• UK Guardian May End Print Edition
  
• Unreal: State Department Hasn't Ruled Out Role Of Anti-Islam Video In Libya Strike
  
• Chaffetz Tells Crowley To Her Face< "It's Not Your Place"
  
• Federal Jobs Filled Despite Hiring Freeze
  

Follow me on twitter

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:37 AM | Comments (249)
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Below is the leader board for week six.

Proles
HailMaryHector 56
enneakdeka 50
My Team 50
Hat Trick Swayzes 49
Hondo's Swinging Nuts 49

Management
Andy 51
JWF 45
Ben 41
CDR M 36
JohnE. 35
Russ from Winterset 34

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:32 AM | Comments (43)
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Happy Wednesday.

In CBS and CNN's post-debate polls, Obama just barely ekes out a win overall, but the details are devastating for him:

Romney was seen as better able to handle most issues. he had an 18-point edge among registered voters on the economy (58 percent to Obama's 40 percent ); a 3-point edge on health care (49 percent to 46 percent); a 7-point edge on taxes (51 percent to 44 percent); and, largest of all, a 23-point edge on the deficit (59 percent to 36 percent).

In other news, astronomers have found an Earth-mass planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, our nearest celestial neighbor. It's orbiting too close to the star to support life, though.

Also, Ace and Andy were blogging muy, muy late last night, so keep scrolling.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:49 AM | Comments (367)
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You don't just pick the winners and losers -- you pick the losers.

The troubled battery maker A123 Systems filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the Obama administrationÂ’s program to jump-start a domestic battery industry and spur development of electric vehicles.

The companyÂ’s bankruptcy filing was unexpected...

Of course it was. It was unexpected because they agreed to sell to a Chinese battery firm. But that fell through. In its bankruptcy filing, it announced it was now selling part of its assets to... another company that got Green Job$ Money from Obama'$ Taxpayer-Shaped Piggy Bank.

123, based in Waltham, Mass., was once considered one of the most promising grant recipients under the administrationÂ’s $2 billion stimulus program for electric car development.

That was the most promising grant recipient?

Well. Can't wait to see how the less promising ones fare.

BTW: Lot of good stuff below. Blogged through most of the night. (It's important to get an early start on the post-debate charges and counter-charges.)

But there's a lot of good stuff underneath. The midnight post on the real poll numbers is pretty good, as is Andy's post on Candy Crowely's walkback.

Hitting the sack now.

Posted by: Ace at 12:24 AM | Comments (55)
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