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| Clock ticking on election, campaigns look to next debates - NBCNews.com Posted: 07 Oct 2012 09:26 AM PDT By Michael O'Brien, NBC News Mitt Romney is fighting to earn a new look from voters with 30 days remaining until the election, as President Barack Obama looks to close the window on his Republican challenger. A Meet the Press roundtable discusses the effects the first presidential debate had on polling numbers and the anticipation for the release of updated employment statistics. Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has hopes of building momentum off of his strong debate performance this week, in which he generally outperformed Obama with energetic and crisp arguments. But a top spokesman for the president vowed Sunday that Obama wouldn't allow Romney a repeat performance in their second showdown. "It's not rocket science to believe the president was disappointed in the expectations he has for himself," former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on "Meet the Press" of Obama's debate performance, which was panned as lethargic and lacking in aggression. Of the second debate, scheduled for Oct. 16, Gibbs said, "I think you're going to see a very engaged president that is ready and willing to call out whichever Mitt Romney shows up." Romney "walked over" Obama in Denver, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of Romney's erstwhile primary opponents, contended. But Gingrich also acknowledged that the GOP nominee had "changed" from the primary, when he vowed to cut taxes for individuals in all income brackets. (Romney said in Wednesday's debate that, in his reform plan, the wealthy wouldn't end up paying any less in taxes.) Whether Romney has made up much ground versus Obama hasn't yet been fully reflected in polls conducted since the debate. The Republican hopeful entered the matchup trailing the president, and must make up ground — especially in battleground states like Ohio — if Romney is to have any hope of winning on Nov. 6. The former California governor discusses his new book, his various indiscretions and his thoughts on the 2012 race with NBC's David Gregory. "The real question to me, of this campaign, is, can the Romney campaign take this moment and run with it?" asked Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican consultant with ties to Romney. Romney won the endorsement of a newspaper in one such swing state, Nevada, as the editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said Romney "has the principles and experience needed to put America back on the road to prosperity." But Obama's case for re-election was bolstered Friday by a new jobs report that showed the unemployment rate at 7.8 percent in September, clearing the psychological barrier of 8 percent, above which the unemployment rate had sat for months. "I think it was a significant help to the president," Gingrich said of that report. Obama's advantage over Romney was fueled partly by improving perceptions of the economy, which could be cemented by the new employment data. If nothing else, the president will have a new cudgel to wield against Romney in their next debate matchup. Both Romney and Obama will leave it to their running mates this week to carry the banner on Thursday, at the vice presidential debate. "I know Vice President Biden is anxious and ready to do this," Gibbs said of Biden's impending debate versus Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential nominee. In the meanwhile, both the president and Romney aren't taking the weekend off; instead, they're both on the campaign trail this Sunday. Romney will hold a rally this afternoon in Florida, while Obama attends a "30 days to victory" fundraising concert tonight in Los Angeles. |
| Awakened in Venezuela capital by reveille, voters head for polls - Los Angeles Times Posted: 07 Oct 2012 08:46 AM PDT
In his closing campaign rally Thursday, Chavez, a former army colonel, said he wanted to roust Venezuelans to vote early so that his "irreversible" victory would be plain by midday. Most pollsters, however, expect an exceedingly tight vote and that the ballot count could extend into tonight's wee hours. Although Chavez leads in most polls, some indicate challenger Henrique Capriles could eke out a victory. In any case, residents in Caracas responded in droves; by 8 a.m., lines a half-mile long or longer were snaking around many of the capital's polling places, a reflection of the significance of the election in this highly polarized country. The nation's 19-million eligible voters face a stark choice. If Chavez is reelected to a fourth term, Venezuela will continue along the socialist path he has charted. The redistribution of the country's oil wealth, housing, ranches and farmland will continue and more private enterprises almost certainly will be nationalized. If Capriles wins, the takeovers will stop and private property will be more respected, although the former Miranda state governor has promised to retain Chavez's social welfare programs called Missions, even seeking to make them more efficient. A Chavez defeat would reverberate far beyond Venezuela's borders. Capriles said he would end $7 billion in annual oil giveaways that Chavez makes to friendly Central American and Caribbean nations, mainly Cuba, and invest the money in Venezuela. The region's political winds might also shift. Many aspects of Chavez's socialism, as well as his populist and autocratic political style, have been emulated in other Latin American countries, including Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Nicaragua. Chavez also has lavished financial aid on those countries. Even if Chavez wins, some observers think his socialist regime is running on borrowed time, that the former army officer's abdominal cancer will likely kill him or force him to resign over the next couple of years. If that happens during the first four years of a new six-year term, another presidential election must be held, according to the Venezuelan Constitution, a race Capriles or another opponent would be likely to win without Chavez around to galvanize his base of mostly poor voters. Such was the argument made Friday by Barclay's Bank Latin America economist Alejandro Grisanti, in a report in which he recommended that investors consider buying beaten-down Venezuelan bonds. "If Chavez wins, his first order of business may be to choose a successor," Grisanti said in an interview this week. "If not now, political change could come in just a little while." ALSO: Pakistan bars anti-drone rally from reaching South Waziristan Must Reads: Colombian rebels, a salamander and evangelical TV South Korea puzzles over oddball success of 'Gangnam Style' — Chris Kraul Photo: Venezuelans line up to cast their votes Sunday at the Petare shantytown polling station in Caracas. Credit: Leo Ramirez / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images. |
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