The Scarlet Letter
Campaign Insider
Election protection pushing mobile app amid voter ID worries
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 18 2012
When Pennsylvania voters arrive at the polls this Election Day, they will be asked for a valid ID but they won’t actually need one in order to cast a ballot. It’s just one of the many concerns voting rights advocates have ahead of Nov. 6.
The greatest worry, says Eric Marshall of the group Election Protection, is that confused voters may avoid the polls entirely and that uninformed poll workers may turn others
Super PAC hits Akin with talking mailer
by Shane D'Aprile / Oct 18 2012
The Democratic Super PAC American Bridge 21st Century is hitting Missouri Rep. Todd Akin (R) with a talking direct mail piece that highlights his "legitimate rape" comments.
The mailers, which employ a sound cell that will greet Missouri voters with Akin's own voice once the card is opened, begin reaching mailboxes in the state today.
American Bridge is putting at least $37,000 behind the mailer. It was produced
Best consultant tweets from last night's debate
by Shane D'Aprile / Oct 17 2012
There was plenty of real-time spin that came across C&E's Twitter feed during last night's debate.
The short version: Dem consultants were a hell of a lot happier Tuesday night, and Republicans don't really like Candy Crowley.
Some of the best consultant tweets from last night:
OH!POTUS: "I don't look at my pensions as much as yours.Yours is much bigger so it takes longer." #debate
— Paul Begala
Obama fiery in second clash with Romney
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 17 2012
After a lackluster performance in his first debate, President Obama came out swinging on Tuesday night. Obama repeatedly took aim at Republican challenger Mitt Romney in a fiery townhall-style debate.
Unlike the first faceoff between the two candidates, there's no agreement from our experts post-debate as to who came out on top. But there is a consensus that Obama upped his game at a moment when his campaign was clearly on
SCOTUS ruling on early voting a win for Obama
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 16 2012
Officials in Ohio cannot limit early voting in the days before Election Day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.
SCOTUS denied a request from state officials who wanted to enforce a law that would have limited early voting to members of the military and their families for the three days prior to Nov. 6.
The request to the high court came after a lower court sided with the Obama
Romney's 'sponsored' Facebook posts
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 16 2012
This was sent over by a committed Democrat in Tampa, who was surprised to see Mitt Romney’s promoted post in his news feed.
Both the Romney and Obama campaigns have made use of promoted content options on Twitter, but this is the first promoted Facebook news feed post I’ve seen from either campaign.
The nastiest congressional race in the country?
by Shane D'Aprile / Oct 12 2012
The contest between incumbent Democratic Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman might have officially earned that distinction last night after a police officer had to get between the two candidates in the middle of a debate.
The California Democrats, pushed together by redistricting, almost came to blows after Sherman wrapped his arm around Berman during a particularly heated exchange.
The race between the two has been characterized by heavy
Best consultant tweets from the V.P. debate
by Shane D'Aprile / Oct 12 2012
The Twitter volume wasn't nearly as high for last night's V.P. debate as it was for the first showdown between President Obama and Mitt Romney, but the vice president managed to generate plenty of Twitter reaction on Thursday.
Whether it was "malarkey" or the vice president's ever-present smirk, strategists had lots of fun with Joe Biden's debate theatrics. Some of the best consultant tweets from last night:
Joe Biden: has
A rapid response battle on Twitter
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 12 2012
While Rep. Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden went head-to-head in their only debate of the 2012 campaign on Thursday, a separate battle was being waged by the Romney and Obama rapid response teams on Twitter.
Before Thursday’s faceoff, both campaigns blasted emails encouraging supporters to follow their Twitter handles for fact-checks, as well as real-time rebuttals of their opponents. The Obama camp rolled out a new rapid response Twitter handle
Pew's other poll
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 09 2012
Plenty has been made this week of the latest Pew numbers on the presidential race, but here’s another stat from Pew that’s worth some attention: more than a quarter of registered voters who own cellphones have used their devices to get information on the 2012 election.
The overall number of people accessing election information via mobile may not have changed all that much since the 2010 election cycle, but their approach
A grassroots campaign in Venezuela
by Francisco Pelayo / Oct 09 2012
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez won his fourth term in office on Sunday, defeating an energized and emboldened opposition headed by Henrique Capriles. While it wasn’t as close as many had predicted (or as millions of others had hoped), there is a silver lining for the opposition: the race proved that real grassroots-style campaigning is weakening the country’s ruling class.
The 2012 campaign was very different than the one that reelected Chavez six years
What does the latest jobs report mean for Obama?
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 05 2012
While a 7.8 percent unemployment rate is hardly a positive a month before Election Day, the slightly downward trend in the overall percentage may very well be a good omen for President Obama if history is any guide.
The White House jumped on the latest figures from the Labor Department on Friday. At a rally in Virginia, the president touted the news telling supporters “the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest
Newsletter Sign up
Please enter a valid email address
Sign up here to receive newsletters and special offers from Campaigns & Elections.
Advertise with Campaigns&Elections
