Is Congress Nearing A Deal On Student Loans?
McCaskill Defends Her Would-Be GOP Opponent After Attack Ad
Obama Leads In Swing State Poll, But Romney Takes Florida And Ohio
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The Moon Always Wins
The Large Hadron Collider – otherwise known as The Big Bang Machine – is apparently no match for the gravitational pull of the Moon.
Schilling’s State-Backed Biz Bankrupt
Curt Schilling, famed former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, and champion of conservative causes hasn’t proved to be a particularly talented businessman.
Rhode Island lured his video game venture 38 Studios to the state with the promise of $75 million in guaranteed loans.
Today the company filed for bankruptcy.
But perhaps of more concern for Schilling, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies “are working together to investigate activities that have recently come to light at 38 Studios.”
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Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong
The depressing upshot of this winter’s recovery-that-wasn’t is that the economy will probably limp along through the rest of the year, unless it actually gets knocked down by a collapsing Euro or some other outside force.
Beneath the obvious political and human costs of that volatility, though, lies the potential that everything we think we know about the chaotic post-election legislative landscape is totally wrong.
Read More →Very Important, Very Sobering
Late last year there was a minority view among economists that said the economy was about to perk up in a big way. And then it actually happened. And then it stopped happening. Our Brian Beutler spoke to one of the main proponents of this view to find out what went wrong.
PollTracker.com
The pace of campaign polling is heating up. And we have a series of new releases tied to PollTracker coming this month. First up a completely redesigned PollTracker at TPM and more. Stay tuned.
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A Tie in Michigan?
Other polls have shown a solid Obama lead. But EPIC-MRA, the big in-state pollster, says Romney is up over Obama by only 1 point.
Good Luck With That
UN Agency tries to create legal frameworks for cyberwarfare.
Ooops
Romney’s new campaign attack against President Obama is sourced to a new book called The Escape Artists. But the author of the book says the claim is false.
Megabucks
Mitt Romney and the RNC took in a much bigger cash haul in May than President Obama and the DNC.
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Quick Note
We’ve decided to change the date of our annual survey from today to next Tuesday. Again, it’s very important to the health and growth of the site. So please keep your eyes out.
Geography Is Hard
The crew of Fox & Friends is very excited for their summer road trip to the Republican and Democratic conventions.
They’ll be heading to Tampa, to Charlotte, AND to North Carolina.
Strength in a Union (Readers Respond)
We’ve had an avalanche of responses to TPM Reader HS’s rough email on public sector unions. Here’s one of many, focusing on what I think is a key point. From TPM Reader BB …
I’m sure one of many emails that you received concerning the financial guy commenting on public employee unions. Full disclosure: public school teacher from WI that signed and collected recall petitions, marched in Madison in the winter and cannot wait to vote for anyone else other than Scott Walker. But I also believe that the author of the email is voicing a popular sentiment concerning public employee jobs and unions in general.Read More →
Remember Morning in America?
The inside story on how the recovery went bust.
Greece Gets Ugly (VIDEO)
I’m sure you’ll be surprised to discover that Greece’s recently elected Neo-Nazis are reprehensible.
This video from a Greek talk show that turned violent is pretty shocking.
The Sleeper Story
For all the attention to Wisconsin, this is the story out of California that let me know that public impatience verging on hostility to public employees unions is a big story of 2012.
Pearls of Wisdom
From TPM Reader JL …
Obama delayed the recovery? I think Jay Carney better get used to saying “sounds like someone’s been spending too much time with Donald Trump.”. I know he used Trump once already today but really, I don’t think the Trump card can be played too often.
Tough Love, Or Actually No Love
I always stress that my reprinting a reader email doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with it. This one, as you’ll see, requires restating that upfront. But I’m reprinting TPM Reader HS’s note because I think he’s speaking for what is a real animus or lack of sympathy for public employees unions afield in the electorate in these straightened times. Bracing stuff. That’s what I take from the little discussed victories for public employee pension cuts in two major California cities on Tuesday. But I think it’s foolish to ignore and important to read.
I can think of a few things that the Wisconsin Governor’s recall mean.Read More →Unions, particularly public employee unions, are not that popular.
Yes, Scott Walker is a dick. Yes, I think he wants a right to work state. I tend to side with the Wisconsin Public Employee Unions.
But it is also difficult for me to feel much sympathy or even understand Unions. I received a degree in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate in 1987, and have been in Sales and Marketing for most of the last 25 years in the Tech and CE sector.
Okay, That’s Crazy
Mitt Romney says President Obama slowed down the recovery on purpose in order to get health care reform passed. Watch.
America: We Love Us Some Mitts!
In today’s Crosstabs, why have Mitt Romney’s favorables rebounded so quickly?
For full sized video, click here.
The Manufactured Story Of The Week
If you follow politics closely, you probably know by now that Bill Clinton broke dramatically with President Obama on Tuesday and recommended that all of the Bush tax cuts be extended. Permanently? For a few years? Who cares really. All that’s important is that Clinton said some thing that could be construed (if you squinted and cocked your head just so) as breaking from Obama on fiscal policy.
It started with a heavily promoted CNBC interview, Republican operatives pushed the suggestion aggressively, and by the end of the day we had stories like this one from the Chicago Tribune, headlined “Bill Clinton backs extending Bush tax cuts, for now,” distributed with a tweet that read “Bill Clinton breaks from Obama, endorses Bush tax cuts.”
Read More →Mitt Romney, RNC Pull In Huge May Haul
Romney, RNC raised $76.8 million in May, easily outpacing $60 million from President Obama’s campaign.
In Race To Replace Giffords, Candidates Keep It Civil While Super PACs Get Dirty
The circumstances that led to the Arizona special election necessitated a somber, civil campaign from both candidates. Outside groups, however, have agreed to no such truce.
Most Recent Latest news stories from TPM reporters
Is Congress Nearing A Deal On Student Loans?
After weeks of deadlock, Congress appears to be narrowing its differences on how to avert a hike in student loan interest rates on July 1. The public manner of negotiations suggests that a deal may not be imminent. But the back-and-forth reveals that both parties feel enough election-year pressure not to be seen on the wrong side of the cause. The latest development came late Thursday afternoon when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) wrote a letter responding to GOP leaders’…
Read More →
‘A New Era Of Madness’: Total Spending On Wisconsin Recalls Could Top $125 Million
The recalls in Wisconsin are finally over – but tallying the mammoth sum of money spent on them in the past year is not. “It’s a moving target, and we continue to track the money,” said Mike McCabe, executive director of the campaign finance watchdog group Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. “It’s gonna be well into July before we can put a final price tag on the race, because post-election reports filed by the candidates aren’t filed until July 5.” So far, at least $66 million in…
Read More →
Sen. Claire McCaskill Defends Her Would-Be GOP Opponent After Attack Ad
Attack ads are de rigueur in Senate campaigns. But a seemingly run-of-the-mill negative spot in the Missouri Republican primary recently drew an unusual amount of backlash, including from current state lawmakers and even the sitting senator the candidates are vying to challenge. On Tuesday, Republican Senate candidate John Brunner released an attack ad against his two primary competitors – the first negative ad by a Republican against another Republican so far of the cycle –…
Read More →
Fast And Furious: Issa Claims He Never Requested Sealed Wiretaps
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa seemed to take offense on Thursday to the suggestion that his committee asked the Justice Department for access to wiretap applications under court seal during his investigation into the botched ATF operation known as Fast and Furious. “We did not request any wiretaps under seal, since I’m the person who signed the subpoenas,” Issa said after Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) asked what negative impacts the disclosure of wiretap applications…
Read More →
Obama Leads In Swing State Poll, But Romney Takes Florida And Ohio
President Obama leads a new poll of swing states from Purple Strategies by 2 points over Mitt Romney overall, but Romney has taken a lead in crucial Florida and Ohio. The poll confirms what has long been expected – a tight contest in which the redrawn political map will be a major factor. “This marks the first time since January that the candidates were within 2 points of each other in these critical purple states,” the pollsters wrote. “Despite still trailing, Mitt Romney has…
Read More →
‘Big Bang Machine’ Suffers Interference From Moon’s Gravity
The world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator is no match for the moon. That’s the observation of one of the scientists working on it, Dr. Pauline Gagnon, a physics professor at the University of Indiana Bloomington, who recently posted a blog entry describing a spatial surprise she encountered last weekend while running one of the six major ongoing experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-around underground accelerator located near Geneva, Switzerland, which …
Read More →
Schilling’s State-Backed Video Game Company Files For Bankruptcy
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Studios, has filed for bankruptcy. “This action comes after several weeks when the company has reviewed, considered and received the recommendations and advice with respect to potential avenues for relief that are currently available,” 38 Studios told The Providence Journal in a statement. “After ongoing negotiations with the State of Rhode Island and potential investors and other interested parties, the Company has…
Read More →
Issa Complains Holder Is ‘Not A Good Witness’ (VIDEO)
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) in a House hearing on Thursday pressed Attorney General Eric Holder about the Justice Department’s response to a subpoena requesting information on the botched ATF operation known as “Fast and Furious.” Issa said Holder was “not a good witness” and he was unsatisfied with Holder’s answer about whether DOJ had internally pulled material responsive to the subpoena. Issa said there was “hostility” between Holder and himself but …
Read More →
In Race To Replace Giffords, Candidates Keep It Civil While Super PACs Get Dirty
Jesse Kelly ran guns blazing against former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in 2010 – literally – he invited supporters to a “Get on Target for Victory” event where they could shoot a fully loaded M16 with the candidate. This time around, the circumstances that led to the June 12 special election to succeed Giffords has necessitated a much different campaign. Ron Barber, the Democratic nominee who is running at Giffords’s behest, has made a point of conducting a civil campaign – he wears…
Read More →
Scheiber: Romney’s Claim About My Book Is ‘False’
The author of a book documenting the White House’s policy making strategy, cited multiple times by GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, says the former Massachusetts governor is using the book to dishonestly accuse President Obama of intentionally harming the economy.
“That is false, in a variety of ways. I don’t believe that it’s substantively true,” Noam Scheiber, author of The Escape Artists, told TPM by phone Thursday morning.
Read More →
Crossroads Rolls Out New Senate Race Ads
Updated June 7, 10:55 a.m. ET. The Karl Rove-founded Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads rolled out three new TV ads Thursday in key Senate races. One ad in Indiana, where conservative state Treasurer Richard Mourdock ousted Republican Sen. Richard Lugar in the GOP primary, goes on the attack against the Democratic nominee, Rep. Joe Donnelly. “Since Joe Donnelly went to Washington, America’s debt has increased $3.5 billion per day – up $7 trillion in less than six years…
Read More →
Democrats Worry Wisconsin Is Ghost Of General Election Future
Democrats got a glimpse at their nightmare scenario Tuesday as Wisconsin Republicans teamed up with billionaire donors to bombard the airwaves with campaign advertising. But the party and its allies are divided over which path to take as they forge ahead: Focus their resources on ground operations, or divert money to playing catch-up on TV and radio. Gov. Scott Walker benefited from a legal loophole that allowed him to raise unlimited money until the recall was formally set into…
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Romney’s Transition Team Leader Not Afraid To Pick Fights With The Right
Kirk Jowers, a former Republican operative and longtime Mitt Romney backer, remembers the first time he met Mike Leavitt, the man tapped to run Romney’s transition team. It was in the late 1990s, during a fight over allowing states to force online retailers to levy sales taxes. Leavitt was a staunch supporter of collecting online taxes – a position that split him from anti-tax purists on the right like Grover Norquist. As general counsel for the Advisory Commission On Electronic…
Read More →
See Like Superman? MIT Scientists Make It Possible
Seeing a person’s pulse through their skin seems like it should be a power relegated to superhero comics. But researchers at MIT have developed new video processing software that does just that and more – allowing an observer to identify tiny, otherwise imperceptible changes, such as a person’s breathing, blood flow and even the slight vibrating of still guitar strings, just from a few frames of video footage seconds apart.
Read More →
UN Tries To Navigate Cold Hard Politics Of New Cyber War
A United Nations telecommunications agency is denying allegations that it is trying to take over regulation of the Internet following vocal concerns from U.S. lawmakers, tech journalists, companies and advocacy groups. “There has been some breathless news coverage recently of a supposed UN Plot to Control the Internet,” wrote blogger Mark Leon Goldberg in a post on the website U.N. Dispatch on Monday, “This is false.” But recent pronouncements by the agency in question, theThe New …
Read More →
What Happened To The Economic Recovery?
For several months starting late last year, it looked like Morning in America was finally back upon us. Unemployment claims were dropping dramatically, businesses were adding hundreds of thousands of jobs, and it looked like the country was in the midst of a self-sustaining economic recovery. Some economists saw a boom coming. They believed years of depressed economic activity had created a huge pent-up demand for automobiles, housing, and other major purchases. The spending dam was…
Read More →
GOP Economic Sabotage? Genesis Of A Dem Talking Point
The theory that Republicans are deliberately thwarting economic progress has its roots in the early days of Barack Obama’s presidency. Democrats have preferred to count on a steady recovery to make their case, but grim economic news of late has them wondering if nailing the GOP for sabotage may be their best hope of winning on Election Day. “I don’t have any doubt at this point – the Republicans are clearly rooting for recession as hard as they can,” said veteran Democratic…
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Is Romney Using A Double Standard To Defend His Record On Jobs?
The Romney campaign knows it has some explaining to do.
On Sunday, the campaign defended the former Massachusetts governor’s jobs record, arguing that the state’s bottom-of-the-barrel status as 47th in job creation ignores the improvement made between the beginning and end of Romney term. But when it comes to attacking President Obama’s jobs record, the Romney campaign doesn’t always apply the same standard.
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Florida Defends Voter Purge, Accuses DOJ Of Enabling Voter Fraud
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner essentially dared the Justice Department to sue the state over its voter purge in a sharply worded letter on Wednesday, accusing DOJ of wanting to make it easier for non-citizens to vote.
“This hardly seems like an approach earnestly designed to protect the integrity of elections and to ensure that eligible voters have their votes counted,” Detzner wrote in the letter.
Read More →
Why Public Worker Pensions Could Become A 2012 Flashpoint
While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker cruised to victory in Tuesday’s failed recall – a stinging defeat for public employee unions in itself – two lower-profile municipal referenda in California that could slash public sector pensions passed overwhelmingly as well. The confluence suggests 2012 will be marked by fights at both the local, state, and national level over retirement security for public sector workers. Voters overwhelmingly approved ballot measures in both conservative San…
Read More →