Free Republic

Just 18 days from election day, the Obama campaign is beginning the final push for votes in the most critical "fire wall" swing states on their electoral map. To that end, First Lady Michelle Obama gave a rousing and impassioned speech in Racine, WI last night to a fervent and committed crowd of core supporters. The speech, and the First Lady's delivery, was at times shrill and desperate as false straw man after false straw man was hoisted up before the devoted crowd only to be struck down by Mrs. Obama with passionate force. "Don't let anybody talk down your...

Obama For America took out a $15 million loan from Bank of America last month, according to the campaign’s October monthly FEC report. The loan was incurred on September 4 and is due November 14, eight days after the election. OFA received an interest rate of 2.5% plus the current Libor rate. Warren Buffett, Obama donor and namesake of the infamous “Buffett Rule,” invested $5 billion in Bank of America last year in an effort to help the ailing financial institution. Last month, two weeks after OFA took out the loan, Bank of America announced a plan that would lay...

A local FOX affiliate in Greensboro, NC asked DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on why Presisent Obama hasn’t personally campaigned in North Carolina. Wasserman Schultz explained that they had surrogates campaigning “non-stop” for the president in the state. “This is a big country!” she added.

Original title: 'If four Americans get killed, it's not OPTIMAL': Obama's extraordinary response to Comedy Central question about shifting story after Benghazi attack ---------------------------- President Barack Obama, during an interview to be shown on Comedy Central, has responded to a question about his administration's confused communication after the Benghazi attack, by saying: 'If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.' Obama was speaking to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show for a programme to be broadcast tonight. Stewart, a liberal whose young audience is full of potential voters prized by the Obama campaign, asked the president about his handling of...

CNN's Managing Editor sent an email around the office today, praising Candy Crowley and trying to blunt criticism that she was unfair to Mitt Romney. The email -- sent by Mark Whitaker and obtained by TMZ -- is almost a series of talking points to address Candy's critics.

Original title: Shock Poll: Pro-Democrat Polling Group Finds Barack Obama only Leading Mitt Romney by Five Points in — Washington (10/17/12) ----------------------- We just posted a new shock poll by left-leaning Public Policy Polling (PPP) in the state of Washington – and they find Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney by only 5-points, despite using a Democrat +6 sample. This may be a total outlier poll, but PPP is usually very sympathetic to the Democrats, so it is truly puzzling how they came up with this result, unless Obama really is losing ground all across the country. I guess we’ll know...

The crisis of leadership in American government is easily explained: thanks to a flawed presidential primary system that rewards strident rhetoric and hyper-partisanship, candidates tailor their messages to fringe elements in small, unrepresentative states. The result? A nasty, shallow and expensive process that rewards sound bites rather than solutions and gamesmanship instead of ideas. This year, however, we have witnessed a rare phenomenon in American politics. A candidate has emerged from the rough and tumble of the primaries with his dignity intact. The system has produced not a demagogue but a manager, a candidate whose experience is rooted in the...

President Barack Obama needed a game-changing night here in Hampstead, New York and Mitt Romney made sure he didn't get it. Over the 90 minutes, Obama might have edged it - just - but strategically he did little if anything to blunt Romney's growing advantage. Just as Al Gore over-compensated for his poor first debate in 2000, we saw a completely different Obama this time around. He had clearly had some intensive coaching from his debate prep team and was acting under orders to do change everything. Romney strategist Stuart Stevens quipped afterwards that he became 'Joe Biden without the...

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that early voting can proceed in Ohio — a major victory for President Obama. In a one-sentence order with no explanation, the court rejected Ohio Republicans' efforts to block early voting three days before Election Day. The court left in place a lower court's ruling that said early voting had to be available to all Ohioans — not just military personnel. Democrats initiated the legal battle over Ohio's early voting policy after state officials decided to eliminate three days of early voting that were offered in 2008. Minorities, who traditionally favor Democrats, often take advantage...

The left-leaning Public Policy Polling does regular weekly polling for the extreme left-leaning Daily Kos and SEIU, and the numbers this morning have probably stopped the hearts of leftists everywhere. Nationally, the poll shows Romney up four, 50-46%. In the swing states, the news is just as bad with Romney up three, 50-47%. In this particular poll, the movement towards Romney nationally is a net gain of two points. In the swing states, Romney overcame a four-point deficit. Two weeks ago he was losing to Obama, 50-46%. That's a seven-point shift. Daily Kos released the daily numbers in this three-day...

First Lady Michelle Obama said in a radio interview on Friday that the United States is in the “midst of a huge recovery” because of what “this president has done.” Pablo Sato, co-host of Pablo & Free on WPGC 95.5, a Washington, D.C.-area hip-hop radio station, asked the first lady: “Mrs. Obama, you know what, in your words, tell us what you think the state of the union is in right now?” Mrs. Obama said, “I mean, we are seeing right now that we are in the midst of a huge recovery. Right? Because of what this president has done.”

President Obama called in to the "YO Show" radio program Friday to talk about his campaign and the issues of the day. Speaking with host Michael Yo, Obama gave his take on the strained relationship of American idol judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.

The Obama campaign released a new ad this morning in which we’re treated to an epical presentation of President Obama’s hard-fought achievements — because nothing says “historic” like a classic Morgan Freeman narration. "Every president inherits challenges. Few have faced so many. Four years later, our enemies have been brought to justice. Our heroes are coming home. Assembly lines are humming again. There are still challenges to meet, children to educate, a middle class to rebuild — but the last thing we should do is turn back now."

Praised by colleagues as smart, friendly and passionate about the law, Teresa Wagner was a leading candidate when two jobs came open to teach writing at the University of Iowa law school. An alumnus, she was already working part-time at its writing center and received positive reviews from students and a key committee. But after she interviewed with the faculty in 2007, one job went to someone without teaching experience and the other wasn't filled. She was passed over for other jobs in the coming years. She now says she was blackballed because of her legal work against abortion rights...

The crowds tell the story. As Election Day nears, Mitt Romney is drawing large and excited throngs. Look to dusty Iowa cornfields, rain-soaked Virginia parks, the muddy fields of the Shelby County Fairgrounds, where a crowd of 9,500 - almost half of this western Ohio town - gathered among the barns and stables on a frigid October evening this week to glimpse the Republican presidential contender. Romney's debate performance against President Barack Obama last week - and his energetic appearances following it up - have fueled a rise in enthusiasm on the campaign trail. Whether or not it will translate...

Bruce Springsteen, whose music has been the soundtrack for President Obama’s campaign rallies, will join former President Bill Clinton at a pro-Obama event in the battleground state of Ohio next Thursday. “Bruce Springsteen’s values echo what the President and Vice President stand for: hard work, fairness, integrity,” said Jim Messina, Obama’s campaign manager, in a statement Saturday morning about the Oct. 18 event in Parma, Ohio. “His appearances will help with our get out the vote effort in these critical swing states and we are thrilled with his ongoing support,” Messina said ahead of the appearance in a state where...

Maybe Vice President Joe Biden stopped the bleeding for the Obama campaign on Thursday, but he did little to stall the momentum Mitt Romney’s building in Ohio. “I’ve had the fun of going back and forth across Ohio, and this week, I was also in Florida and Iowa, ... in North Carolina and Virginia,” Romney told 8,500 people packed into the Lancaster Town Square last night for a rally featuring him and running mate Paul Ryan. Ryan debated Biden on Thursday night in Kentucky in their lone duel of the campaign; afterward, both sides were claiming victory. “You know what?...

Mitt Romney’s 7-point lead in the TBT/Herald/Mason-Dixon poll is the latest sign of a Florida surge: The survey conducted this week found 51 percent of likely Florida voters supporting Romney, 44 percent backing Obama and 4 percent undecided. That’s a major shift from a month ago when the same poll showed Obama leading 48 percent to 47 percent — and a direct result of what Obama himself called a “bad night” at the first debate. The debate prompted 5 percent of previously undecided voters and 2 percent of Obama backers to move to Romney. Another 2 percent of Obama supporters...

Today, the White House finally revealed its policy on embassy security: keep President Obama out of the loop so he can claim plausible deniability and blame Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for any problems. In today’s White House press conference, a reporter asked press secretary Jay Carney about the situation in Libya. Carney responded:

The Obama campaign is struggling to respond to mounting criticism of Vice President Joe Biden's bizarre behavior during last night's debate with Rep. Paul Ryan. Biden not only interrupted Ryan frequently--82 times, according to Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus--but frequently laughed, smirked, and snorted at serious moments, showing contempt for his opponent and disturbing even friendly observers. A CNN poll conducted after the debate, which handed Ryan a narrow 48%-44% victory, also showed that Ryan had beaten Biden by an even wider margin when it came to "likeability." Viewers in the poll--with an admittedly small sample-- also said Ryan...