That’s the percentage of Americans who say that the U.S. economy is improving, according to the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index for the week ended March 18. That’s the highest level since January 2004. Though more Americans think things are moving...
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Photograph by Robert Caplin/Bloomberg
A shopper in New York.
Magic Number of the Day: 34
Photograph by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo
Rick Santorum at the LSU vs. Mississippi State NCAA college baseball game in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on March 18, 2012.
Louisiana Win Won’t Help Santorum’s Delegate Count
Rick Santorum won’t make much of a dent in Mitt Romney’s 300-delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination if the former Pennsylvania senator wins the Louisiana presidential primary tomorrow. That’s because a maximum of 20 delegates, out...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
A tour guide leads a group past the Capitol.
Signs of ‘Small Progress’ in a Lost Year
At a time when corporate America bemoans the lost year it faces, with Congress unable to work in harmony during the election campaigning under way, one CEO says there could be cause for optimism. “There are some signs of hope,”...
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Photograph by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Mitt Romney with his son Tagg in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Romney Pitches Ballgame for Small Donors
Republican presidential front-runner, leading in the delegate count, trails in the small-donor game. Trying to woo small-sum campaign donors, the former governor of Massachusetts is offering them a chance to join him and son Tagg at Fenway Park for the...
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Photograph by Frank Polich/Bloomberg
Bill Clinton during the Clinton Global Initiative conference in Chicago.
Clinton Connections Mean Campaign Cash
Want to raise $2 million in 74 days for a congressional campaign? It helps to have personal wealth and an endorsement from Bill Clinton, as Maryland Democrat John Delaney does. Delaney, co-founder of the financial advisory firm Alliance Partners LLC,...
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Photograph by Eric Thayer/The New York Times/Redux
Newt Gingrich with an Etch A Sketch at a campaign event at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge on March 22, 2012.
Can Mr. Potato Head Deflect Etch-A-Sketch Damage?
There are a few ways to manage a gaffe. Making light of it is one way. It was Eric Fehrnstrom, longtime political adviser to Mitt Romney, who gave birth to the metaphor that the Republican candidate for president may have...
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Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg
A shopper at the Saks Inc. store in New York on Feb. 17, 2012.
Magic Number of the Day: 13
That’s the percentage-point “gender gap” between men and women in the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index for the week ended March 18. Women aren’t as confident as men about the economic recovery, the survey showed. In political terms, confidence is everything. And,...
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Photograph by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Actor and activist George Clooney is arrested for blocking the entrance of the Sudan Embassy on March 16, 2012, in Washington.
Ethics Panel Won’t Review Four Lawmakers’ Arrest at Protest
The House Ethics Committee, which is empowered to investigate lawbreaking by House members, is taking a pass on the arrest of four Democratic lawmakers during a protest outside the Sudan Embassy on March 16 that included actor George Clooney. Massachusetts Democrats Jim McGovern...
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Photograph by Erik Lesser/EPA/Landov
Henna-dyed support for Mitt Romney in Snellville, Georgia on March 4, 2012.
For Romney, Good Things Don’t Come in Small Packages
Mitt Romney leads his Republican rivals in primaries won, delegates amassed and money raised. He lags in small donations. Romney has brought in $7.5 million in contributions of $200 or less through Feb. 29, less than any of the remaining Republican presidential candidates,...
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Photograph by Mike Mergen/Bloomberg
Tax forms.
Magic Number of the Day: 5,000
That’s the approximate reduction in the Internal Revenue Service’s workforce compared to 2011, the agency’s commissioner Douglas Shulman told a congressional subcommittee yesterday. The agency reduced its headcount through attrition and by providing incentive payments to employees who were eligible...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
