The 2012 Race Takes Shape

We got mixed signals from a turbulent political week. Barack Obama seems to be enjoying an uptick in polls — up toward, but not quite at, 50 percent approval. It’s a reminder that he can expect to benefit from Americans’ desire to think well of their presidents and from the reluctance of many voters to […]

 



South Carolina Hoping to Pick Next President

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The crowd at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate in Myrtle Beach was feisty, with whoops and cheers for Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry, though not so much for Ron Paul. But it wasn’t nearly as feisty as the crowd that forced the shutdown of the 1860 […]

 



The Weakness That Saps the Strength of GOP Candidates

A presidential campaign exposes candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. The strengths they’re eager to tell you about. So let’s look at the weaknesses. Start with Rick Santorum, whose poll numbers in New Hampshire and South Carolina have been surging since (by last count) he lost the Iowa caucuses by the Chinese lucky number of 8 votes. […]

 


Steady in Iowa, Romney Counts on New Hampshire, Florida

Election year has finally arrived, well after the beginning of a turbulent and unpredictable elections season, and voting begins on Tuesday in the Iowa Republicans caucuses. The few days of post-Christmas polling have shown the numbers oscillating and opinion changing in ways it hadn’t been earlier in the campaign. Pre-Christmas, Barack Obama’s job rating was […]

 





Romney Bets on Old Rules as Newt Moves Under Radar

MANCHESTER, N.H. — “We’re not going to lose in New Hampshire.” So says Mitt Romney’s state coordinator, Jason McBride. Stuart Stevens, the Romney campaign’s TV ad-maker, expresses similar confidence. Asked if Romney might finish second in New Hampshire, his answer is an unhesitating “no.” Whether that confidence is well founded may determine the fate of […]

 

Obama, Romney Change Tacks in Week of Political Risks

It was a week of risk-taking in the 2012 presidential race. Barack Obama, his job approval languishing in the low 40s, delivered a much heralded speech in Osawatomie, Kan., framing the choice between the parties in class-warfare terms. That’s a risky strategy. Democrats haven’t won a presidential election on class warfare since 1948, when Obama’s […]