Mitt Romney

Tax Questions Tripped Up Romney's Run For Governor

Nick R. Martin | January 24, 2012, 2:16PM

Presidential Candidate And Former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA)

It may be a touch of deja vu that Mitt Romney's campaign is being weighed down by questions about his taxes. A similar issue tripped him up during his 2002 run for governor of Massachusetts.

Romney was the Republican gubernatorial frontrunner that year when state elections officials investigated the fact that he received a major tax break on his $3.8 million mansion in Park City, Utah.

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Ron Paul

Army Reservist In Hot Water Over Ron Paul Speech

Nick R. Martin | January 4, 2012, 4:58PM

An Afghanistan war veteran is in trouble for giving a political speech while in uniform at a caucus night rally with Ron Paul on Tuesday in Iowa.

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Occupy Wall Street

NRCC Web Video: DCCC Head Steve Israel 'Stands With' OWS Anti-Semitism

Eric Kleefeld | October 20, 2011, 10:27AM

Republicans are continuing to attack the Occupy Wall Street protests -- singling out elements of radicalism and/or anti-Semitism -- with a new web video from the National Republican Congressional Committee attacking Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), who heads up their counterparts at the DCCC.

The video cites a New York Post opinion column, to say that "Steve Israel of New York, is urging party members to 'stand with' the demonstrators."

However, this is not actually what the Post column said: "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, chaired by Rep. Steve Israel of New York, is urging party members to "stand with" the demonstrators." This in turn was referring to an e-mail petition that the DCCC sent to its supporter list, in order to score political points against the House Republican leadership -- not to regular party strategy for the actual politicians.

The video features dramatic music, and news clips of the protests. After showing a parade of socialism, communism, and that guy who stuck his rear end up against a police car, the on-screen text declares: "STEVE ISRAEL STANDS WITH THEM."

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ACORN

Obama Campaign's 'Project Vote' Name Choice Could Fuel Voter Fraud Charges

Ryan J. Reilly | August 25, 2011, 2:32PM

If part of the Obama campaign's strategy is to feed conservative conspiracy theories that Democrats will steal the 2012 election through voter fraud, the name they gave their new get-out-the-vote project is perfect. Otherwise, not so much.

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Pamela Geller

Pamela Geller: Rick Perry Needs To Address His Ties To Stealth Jihadists

Jillian Rayfield | August 17, 2011, 11:31AM

Pamela Geller, blogger for Atlas Shrugs

Anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller has accused TX Gov. Rick Perry of being the pro-Sharia "Fifth Column" presidential candidate -- but still says she'd support him if she had to "with every breath of my body."

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Barack Obama

Obama Preps For Twitter Townhall

Susan Crabtree | July 5, 2011, 3:50PM

President Barack Obama and staffers

President Obama will hold his first ever Twitter townhall Wednesday in an attempt to engage a new and growing audience who no longer rely primarily on the mainstream media and traditional outlets for their news.

No stranger to the power of social media, Obama will respond to questions that have been streaming in using the hashtag #AskObama since the White House, through its official Twitter account, @whitehouse, announced the online "Tweet-Up" event last week. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will moderate the discussion, which will begin at 2 p.m.

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James Bopp Jr.

FEC: Politicians Can Solicit Donations For 'Super PACs,' But Only Up To $5K

Ryan J. Reilly | June 30, 2011, 4:05PM

RNC Committee Member James Bopp Jr. and the FEC building

As Stephen Colbert did his victory lap outside the Federal Election Commission's headquarters on Thursday, the six commissioners still inside the hearing voted on a measure that will have a much bigger effect on the 2012 election.

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Federal Election Commission

Inside Turn Right USA, The Group Behind The Most Offensive Political Ad Ever

Ryan J. Reilly | June 16, 2011, 9:30AM

The treasurer of a new "super PAC" which released what has been called the most offensive political advertisement in history is considering disassociating himself with Turn Right USA because he "just can't approve" of an ad featuring an actress portraying a pole-dancer in booty shorts standing in for a Democrat running for Congress.

"It's not something I would have produced. I have a little bit more class than that," treasurer Claude Todoroff told TPM in an interview. "I just don't approve of that video. 'Gimme the money bitch' and a person doing a pole dance. ... that's not the kind of image I'd like to display."

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Donald Trump

Tea Partiers Rallying In DC Praise Donald Trump's Birther Stance (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly and Jillian Rayfield | March 31, 2011, 5:26PM

Donald Trump

In the span of just a few weeks, real estate mogul turned reality television star turned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump went from dipping his toe in the birther pool to diving right into the deep end and claiming that he's "starting to wonder" whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

So we figured it'd be good to ask the Tea Partiers in attendance for the "Continuing Revolution" rally on Capitol Hill on Thursday if speaking out on the issue boosted Trump's presidential campaign.

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Birthers

Arizona Revives 'Birther' Bill

Melissa Jeltsen | March 23, 2011, 12:16PM

Arizona's 'birther' bill is back. Legislators passed a bill out of committee Tuesday that would make presidential candidates provide copies of their birth certificates in order to qualify for the ballot.

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Same sex marriage

Anti-Gay Iowa Republicans Will Try To Impeach Supreme Court Justices

Rachel Slajda | December 20, 2010, 3:49PM

The "Judge Bus"

For conservatives angry over the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous decision last year to legalize gay marriage, getting three of the seven justices booted from the bench just isn't enough. Now, a handful of Republican lawmakers are now trying to impeach the remaining four.

The Iowa Independent reports that three freshmen members of the Iowa House are writing legislation to impeach those four justices. They're joined by a freshman state senator, Kent Sorenson, who will sit on the judiciary committee and who has called the fight against same sex marriage "my generation's defining moment."

Such a move would require a majority vote in the House, followed by a two-thirds majority in the Senate. It's unclear how much support there is for impeachment -- a punishment generally reserved for judges who've committed a crime or other serious misconduct.

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2012 elections

Sarah Palin Profile Reveals Her Facebook Ghostwriter And Spendthrift Ways

Christina Bellantoni | September 1, 2010, 11:23AM

Former candidate for Vice President Sarah Palin

She's earned $13 million since the 2008 presidential race that shoved her onto the national stage, but Sarah Palin apparently is a crappy tipper. A new Vanity Fair profile of the former Alaska governor paints a picture of a woman who has skyrocketed to success -- stepping on staff, friends and family along the way -- but who is so deeply concerned about controlling her public persona that she hired a friendly blogger to write her much-ballyhooed Facebook posts.

The wide-ranging profile documents hotels where Palin stiffed bellhops; her demands during the presidential campaign and on her busy speaking circuit; tensions with residents in her home town; and Palin's fashion preferences (and includes a sidebar with more details on the RNC clothing flap) -- up to and including mentioning her use of Spanx and push-up bras. But after the more salacious details, Vanity Fair writer Michael Joseph Gross also drops strong suggestions there's something fishy with some of the political action committees paying Palin to boost candidates across the country -- but he doesn't quite nail it down.

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