The Scarlet Letter
Campaign Insider
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
FEC deadlocks on new rulemaking
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 04 2012
The Federal Election Commission deadlocked over conducting a new rulemaking on the disclosure of outside groups’ donors at Thursday’s open meeting.
Commissioner Ellen Weintraub offered the motion and pushed her Republican counterparts for a rulemaking during the commission’s meeting. But faced with a 3-3 vote, the FEC instead elected to proceed with defending the current regulations in District Court.
Commissioners Cynthia Bauerly, Steven Walther and Weintraub voted in support of a
10 best consultant debate tweets
by Shane D'Aprile / Oct 04 2012
Odds are your Twitter feed was more attention grabbing on Wednesday night than was the first of three televised debates between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
The C&E Twitter feed certainly was, so we went through and picked out some of the best political consultant tweets from last night’s debate.
Republican strategists were loving just about every minute of it...
Strategists: Obama flat in first debate
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 04 2012
In a debate that likely had Democratic strategists yelling at their TV sets, Republican nominee Mitt Romney aggressively went after President Obama in the first of three meetings between the two candidates ahead of Election Day.
The general consensus among the strategists C&E talked to post-debate: President Obama’s performance fell flat Wednesday in the face of an offensive from Romney.
The early punditry played out on Twitter well before the debate wrapped.
What to watch for during the Obama-Romney debates
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 03 2012
Winning a presidential debate is as much about presence as it is the strength of a candidate’s positions, say communications experts.
So who has the edge heading into what some pundits are billing as one of the most consequential series of presidential debates in modern political history? We asked two veteran debate watchers what to look for during Wednesday night’s debate and in the two showdowns to follow.
The likeability factor
Judge blocks Pennsylvania voter ID law
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 02 2012
Pennsylvania voters will still be asked to produce a valid ID before they step into the voting booth next month, but thanks to a court ruling the state’s new voter ID law won’t be fully enforceable on Election Day.
A judge’s ruling on Tuesday halted enforcement of the law, which was passed by the state legislature earlier this year. It’s just the latest development in a number of ongoing voter ID battles working
PAC wants state approval for text donations
by Dave Nyczepir / Oct 01 2012
A Houston-based PAC is asking the Texas Ethics Commission to approve a proposal that would allow the committee to solicit text message contributions from donors in the state.
The Federal Election Commission has approved a text-to-donate model for federal campaigns, but demand for the service is already spreading down the ballot. The PAC—Harris County Republicans—wants the ethics commission to move quickly so donation functionality can be added to a voter mobilization app developed
Strengthening the political party system
by Jeff Brindle / Oct 01 2012
Nasty campaign attack ads like a recent super PAC commercial that cynically implied Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney bears responsibility for a woman’s cancer death make three things clear.
First, most remaining parts of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), or McCain-Feingold, should be repealed. Second, the political party system nationally should be strengthened. Third, independent groups that are running many of the most noxious ads should fully disclose their donors and expenditures.
Do debates move the needle?
by Chris Palko / Sep 28 2012
One of the most anticipated events of every presidential election cycle are the debates. In recent years, they have become institutionalized, but they are a relatively new phenomenon. The first was the famous Kennedy-Nixon debate, and there would not be another one until 1976, when they became a permanent fixture. Debates are unscripted, and with tens of millions of viewers they are the biggest collective experience voters will have in making a choice.
Top fundraising states for GOP hold some surprises
by Erik Nilsson / Sep 27 2012
Which U.S. states are the Republicans' BFF (that's best friends forever, if you’re unfamiliar with the lingo) when it comes to presidential fundraising? We at CMDI decided to dig into the donor data to find out.
In order to normalize the giving data, this examination only includes FEC filings for Republican presidential candidates during the primaries of 2004, 2008 and 2012. As the general elections are still in play for 2012, we didn't
McCaskill's first salvo: 'legitimate rape' ad
by Dave Nyczepir / Sep 26 2012
What’s sure to be a nasty ad war between Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and Rep. Todd Akin (R) officially kicked off Wednesday in Missouri’s Senate race. McCaskill rang in the deadline for Akin to withdraw from the contest by launching a new TV spot taking aim at the congressman’s ‘legitimate rape’ remark.
Tuesday was the final day Akin would have been legally able to remove his name from the ballot
Doubt the power of TV at your own risk
by Steve Lanzano / Sep 26 2012
It’s 2012, and you know what that means--it’s at least the 50th anniversary of people saying that nobody’s watching TV anymore. Oh, sure, people will admit that they enjoy “Downton Abbey” and maybe some local news, but besides that, everybody has moved to online video. At least, that is, if you ask anyone who produces digital research about the media habits of everyday Americans.
Do not accept these magic beans. They will lead
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