The Associated Press: Obama-Romney race is focused on 7 states

Obama-Romney race is focused on 7 states

By THOMAS BEAUMONT, Associated Press – 1 hour ago

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — On the eve of their national party conventions, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are locked in a close race to amass the requisite 270 Electoral College votes for victory. And the contest is exactly where it was at the start of the long, volatile summer: focused on seven states that are up for grabs.

Neither candidate has a significant advantage in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia, which offer a combined 85 electoral votes, according to an Associated Press analysis of public and private polls, spending on television advertising and numerous interviews with Republican and Democratic strategists in battleground states.

The analysis, which also took into account the strength of a candidate’s on-the-ground organization and travel schedules, found that if the election were held today, Obama would have 19 states and the District of Columbia, offering 247 votes, solidly in his column or leaning his way, while Republican Romney would have 24 states with 206 votes.

Obama won all seven of the too-close-to-call states in 2008, and they are where the race will primarily be contested in the homestretch to the Nov. 6 election. …

Both sides are working to persuade the 23 percent of registered voters who said in an Associated Press-GfK poll that they are either undecided about the presidential race or iffy in their support for a candidate.

The Associated Press: Obama-Romney race is focused on 7 states

2012 New Mexico Senate: Heinrich vs. Wilson

2012 New Mexico Senate: Heinrich vs. Wilson

Republican Voter Suppression Campaign Rolls Back Early Voting by Dan Froomkin

But early voting was apparently too much of a success for some people. In Ohio and four other states — Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia — Republican-led legislatures have dramatically reduced early voting in 2012 as part of what can only be explained as a concerted effort to suppress the votes of Democratic-leaning voters. Other parts of that effort include voter ID bils, intimidation of voter registration groups and the purges of voter rolls.

In Ohio and Florida, two of the most critical swing states in this year’s presidential election, the GOP early voting rollback specifically included a ban on voting on the Sunday before Election Day. …

After the GOP won control of many statehouses in 2010, rolling back early voting became a top legislative priority. That meant reducing the period for early in-person voting in Florida from 14 to 8 days, and in Ohio, from 35 to 11. And no voting on Sunday before the election. …

Research by an Ohio voter advocacy group found that blacks made up more than half the early in-person voters in 2008, compared with about a quarter of people who vote on Election Day or by mail.

Research by political scientists at Dartmouth College and the University of Florida concluded that "Democratic, African American, Hispanic, younger, and first-time voters were disproportionately likely to vote early in 2008 and in particular on weekends, including the final Sunday of early voting." …

In Ohio’s heavily Democratic cities — Cleveland, Columbus, Akron and Toledo — early voting will be limited to working hours on weekdays in 2012. But, as the Cincinnati Enquirer reported recently, attempts to add extended hours at the local election boards have been blocked by Republicans in urban counties, "even as extended hours will be available in some smaller counties with a strong Republican slant."

The reason, as Ari Berman explained in the Nation, is that county boards of election in Ohio have two members from each party. Ties are broken by the secretary of state.

In solidly Republican counties, GOP election commissioners have approved expanded early voting hours — because why not? But in Democratic counties, they’ve balked. And Husted, the man who said he supports the law because it will bring uniformity to the state, has backed them up.

Republican Voter Suppression Campaign Rolls Back Early Voting

Romney touches ‘birther’ issue he avoided before  | ajc.com

"No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised," Romney said.

The crowd of more than 7,000 responded with hearty laughter.

Romney touches ‘birther’ issue he avoided before  | ajc.com

Hee-haw!

Mitt Romney uses secretive data-mining – POLITICO.com

Mitt Romney uses secretive data-mining
By: Associated Press
August 24, 2012 03:35 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) – Building upon its fundraising prowess, Mitt Romney’s campaign began a secretive data-mining project this summer to trove through Americans’ personal information – including their purchasing history and church attendance – to identify new and likely wealthy donors, The Associated Press has learned. …

For Romney’s data-mining project, which began as early as June, the Republican candidate quietly turned to a little-known but successful analytics firm that previously performed marketing work for a colleague tied to Bain & Co., the management-consulting firm that Romney once led. …

High-dollar donors have been essential to Romney’s election effort, unlike Obama, who relies on more contributors giving smaller amounts.

Romney and the GOP have out-fundraised Obama’s re-election effort for the past three months.

The fate of the presidency may depend on who raises more money in the campaign, whose cost for the first time is approaching $2 billion. …

Mitt Romney uses secretive data-mining – POLITICO.com Print View

Heinrich leads Wilson in new poll | Albuquerque News – KOAT Home

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of New Mexico likely voters shows Heinrich with 48 percent of the vote to Wilson’s 41 percent.

Heinrich leads Wilson in new poll | Albuquerque News – KOAT Home

mjh: It’s a very small sample (500). Heinrich’s lead exceeds the margin of error, but not the total of undecideds plus those for another candidate (who?).