One more little gem from our chronically and embarrassingly broken campaign finance disclosure system. The laws as currently written allow super PACs to wait to accept all their cash until the final stages of the campaign and thereby avoid disclosing its donors until after the election is over. So no contributions accepted until the very end, and then a last-minute ad blitz that no one is accountable for until it’s too late. We have specific examples of this practice in Ohio and in Montana/North Dakota.
The average distance between stars in the universe is approximately 4,150 light-years.
Benjy Sarlin was at the Romney rally in Richmond yesterday and got a chance to talk to attendees about Mitt, Obama, and where they see the race headed. Some delightful on the ground reporting.
The way the Bureau of Labor Statistics didn’t count nearly 100,000 new jobs back in August shows how deeply involved the White House was in monkeying with the numbers.
Republicans will look back on the Indiana race as the single biggest missed opportunity in the Senate this cycle, if today’s polling bears out.
A new poll out today and the Polltracker average show Obama pulling ahead substantially in New Hampshire.
I’m pretty jaded about funny campaign vids. But this genuinely made me laugh out loud. After the jump … Read More
TPM Reader JB thinks arc of the moral universe may be bending away from douchedom, and thus all the ruckus …
I have been thinking about the attacks on Nate Silver since I heard about them and think your rejoinder to Margaret Sullivan gets part, but not all of the story. The real story is that we are watching the twilight of the current horse-race elites. As data supplants visceral election appreciation, two groups stand to lose a lot: Horse race pundits and the Republicans who can sway them.
From TPM Reader JC …
A half-dozen GOP ads during Jeopardy tonight, here in Harrisburg, PA. Crossroads, Americans for Prosperity, new warm n’ fuzzy Romney ad, not sure about the others, but it was like getting beat down to the ground and, just as you’re getting up, boom, another punch. They were all good ads and, one after another, kind of overwhelming. They must think they can move the needle in PA. Can they? Disturbing thought for me.