Originally published on Mon September 17, 2012 12:23 pm
Two years ago, I asked Texas Sen. John Cornyn, then (and still) the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), if the GOP was going to win enough seats to take back the majority it lost in 2006.
Mitt Romney is here in Los Angeles today, where he'll be interviewed on Telemundo and then give a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Later this week, he'll be in Miami for a forum on Univision TV. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on Romney's latest attempt to woo skeptical Hispanic voters.
Well, as Cokie suggested, a lot is riding on how well each candidate gets out the vote. President Obama is campaigning this week in Ohio, Florida and Virginia, three key states where an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows him leading his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, at this point in time. Of course, talking to a pollster is one thing and again, yeah, casting a ballot is something else.
In a 1988 debate against George H.W. Bush, Michael Dukakis's answer to a question about whether he would support the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered is considered a huge stumble.
Credit Dennis Cook / AP
This is the first of two 1988 debates between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. In the second debate, the answer Dukakis gave to a question about whether he would support the death penalty if his wife were raped and murdered was considered a huge blunder.
Originally published on Mon September 17, 2012 8:52 am
Even before the final balloons fell on the Republican and Democratic conventions, pundits were talking up the next big American political viewing experience — the presidential debates.
These match-ups, in which candidates actually share a stage after months of bruising one another from far range, can lead to moments of rhetorical brilliance, or the opposite — getting caught off-guard and making a gaffe.
Quite a few Texas voters are seeing dead people in the mirror these days when they go to brush their teeth in the morning.
In Houston, high school nurse Terry Collins got a letter informing her that after 34 years of voting she was off the Harris County rolls. Sorry.
"Friday of last week, I got a letter saying that my voting registration would be revoked because I'm deceased, I'm dead. I was like, 'Oh, no I'm not!' " Collins says.
In this election, Christian conservatives seem to be more against President Obama than they are for Mitt Romney. But they do like GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, who used a speech Friday to vouch for Romney.
At the annual gathering of religious conservatives in Washington, D.C., there was also talk of this week's violence in the Middle East.
The Values Voter Summit got under way first thing Friday morning, with a speech from Tony Perkins, whose Family Research Council organizes this event.
Afghan soldiers (right) patrol with U.S. troops in the Panjwai district of southern Afghanistan in May. The two armies have been working together for years, but Afghan attacks against U.S. and NATO forces have been rising recently.
As we approach the presidential election in November, Weekend Edition is seeking your questions about issues and candidates in a new segment called Reporter Hotline. This week, we answer inquiries about foreign policy and U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
