Essential Reads
Essential Reads is your one-stop source for the top stories of the day as reported by your favorite Washington Week panelists. It's a simple way to save time and stay informed about the news you need to know. Check it out every day!
Oct 30, 2012
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Mother Nature Plays Politics
by John Dickerson, Slate MagazineHurricane Sandy has interrupted the campaign, which makes her the most important woman in the swing states.
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Obama, Romney Focus on Sandy: Election? What Election?
By Beth Reinhard, National JournalHurricane Sandy is injecting a tropical storm-sized dose of volatility into an already unpredictable presidential race, potentially crimping Republican Mitt Romney’s post-debate momentum and President Obama’s much-hyped early-vote operation.
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Obama hopes Nevada turnout team trumps bad economy
By Charles Babington, Associated PressIt's people like Paul Prekop who make Nevada a maddeningly difficult state for President Barack Obama to lock down, and who give Republican Mitt Romney hope that there's a route to the White House even if he loses the big prize of Ohio.
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Oct 29, 2012
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In middle of a messy election, a nightmare makes landfall
By Peter Baker, The New York TimesIn the dark of night, when they get what little sleep they get these days, the people running the campaigns for president have more than enough fodder for nightmares. Worse, come daybreak, they realize their worst fears may yet come true.
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Will Sandy add another twist to tight race?
By Alexis Simendinger, Real Clear PoliticsPresident Obama, plowing into the final week of what he calls his last campaign, cannot realistically gauge how Hurricane Sandy might change his fortunes in a election so close it could shift in a breeze, let alone a gale.
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Ohio, the Bull’s-eye State: Obama, Romney aim full arsenals at vital electoral prize
By Dan Balz and Felicia Sonmez, The Washington PostKathy Wade was out mowing her lawn on a raw and rainy Friday when Doyle and Jane Peyton, volunteer canvassers for Mitt Romney’s campaign, stopped at the curb in her suburban neighborhood 20 miles from Columbus. Doyle asked her: Had she decided how she would vote in the presidential election?
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Romney hides positions from U.S. voters, Plouffe says
By Julianna Goldman and Julie Bykowicz, Bloomberg NewsWhite House senior adviser David Plouffe said Republican Mitt Romney is “disingenuously” hiding his positions from voters as polls show the U.S. presidential contest deadlocked in the campaign’s final days.
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Oct 26, 2012
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On a frenetic day, Obama votes and Romney is for change
By Peter Baker and Michael Barbaro, The New York TimesMitt Romney adopted the mantra that fueled his opponent’s victory four year ago, casting himself as the candidate of “big change” on Thursday in Ohio as he began to outline a closing argument in the state that could decide the race.
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How to deploy your candidate
By John Dickerson, Slate MagazineAs the presidential election heads into its final days, the most important decision strategists in both campaigns are making is where to send the candidate. There is no more precious resource: Every visit initiates a multilevel strategy to capture votes, voter information, and volunteers who can be squeezed for one more hour of effort.
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Touting momentum, Romney tries to look like a winner
By Sam Youngman, ReutersHe does it too often to be a slip of the tongue. When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses his growing crowds, he always catches himself.
"If I'm president - when, I'm president," Romney says in his speeches now, drawing cheers from the crowd.
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Romney pulls even in Colorado, trails in Nevada: polls
By John Harwood, CNBCMitt Romney has pulled even with President Obama in the battleground state of Colorado, but continues to trail narrowly in Nevada, according to new NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls.
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‘Fiscal cliff’ already hampering U.S. economy, report says
By Lori Montgomery, The Washington PostThe “fiscal cliff” is still two months off, but the scheduled blast of tax hikes and spending cuts is already reverberating through the U.S. economy, hampering growth and, according to a new study, wiping out nearly 1 million jobs this year alone.
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Oct 25, 2012
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Colorado remains big prize as Romney, Obama hold campaign rallies
By Dan Balz, The Washington PostIt was after sunset as the flashing lights of Mitt Romney’s motorcade began the steep and winding climb up the hills west of Denver on Tuesday. By the time the Republican candidate arrived at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, the rocks were rocking.
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Romney running hard in Nevada where Obama holds the chips
By Sam Youngman, ReutersWhen Mitt Romney landed in Las Vegas on Tuesday, President Barack Obama's advance team had beaten him there.
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Obama defends new campaign booklet
By Laura Meckler, Wall Street JournalPresident Barack Obama defended his campaign’s decision to issue a booklet spelling out his ideas for a second term just two weeks before Election Day. Asked if the move was evidence that the Obama campaign did not expect to be in such a close race so close to the end, Mr. Obama told NBC News that the booklet simply goes over the same proposals he put forth in his Democratic National Convention speech.
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Headed to Splitsville
By Major Garrett, National JournalThe most fascinating dynamic of election night might not be the regimented partisan alignment everyone is predicting, but the reemergence of ticket-splitting and how that might determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
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Obama condemns Mourdock’s remarks on rape and pregnancy
By Julianna Goldman, Bloomberg NewsPresident Barack Obama condemned remarks by an Indiana Republican U.S. Senate candidate who described pregnancy caused by rape as something “God intended,” saying it illustrated the stakes in the presidential election.
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Oct 24, 2012
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With debates over, candidates race to clinch vital states
By Helene Cooper and Michael D. Shear, The New York TimesPresident Obama started making his closing argument for a second term on Tuesday, beginning a furious two-week effort to beat back a late surge by Mitt Romney and hang on to battleground states where voters are already casting ballots in large numbers.
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It’s not about the economy, stupid
By John Dickerson, Slate MagazinePresident Obama moved from center stage to center court Tuesday. The day after the third and final debate, Obama started his day at a tennis stadium grinning under the waves of adulation from an eager and approving crowd. The night before, the president was all sharp elbows and crisp declarations about world affairs, but for those arrayed in the bleachers surrounding him on all sides, he was in full campaign mode, joking, switching accents, and returning to the perils of Romnesia—less Situation Room and more The Situation.
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Ryan to focus on poverty in Ohio speech
By Nia-Malika Henderson, The Washington PostAs the campaign for the White House enters the final stretch and both campaigns focus on just a handful of states, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan will address upward mobility and the economy in Ohio Wednesday afternoon.
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