Millions have already been spent by the campaigns and the super-PACs on this year’s presidential election. So where do we stand less than 5 months out from Election Day? Well, if you believe the polls — and the polling aggregation...
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Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Supporters of President Barack Obama with a supporter of Mitt Romney before his campaign event at the Cornwall Iron Furnace on June 16, 2012 in Pennsylvania.
Obama, Romney Virtually Tied
Photograph by Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images
Afghan women and children enter FOB (Forward Operating Base) Jackson also known as Sabit Khadam during seed distribution organized by U.S. Marines Female Engagement Team (FET) from the 1st battalion 7th Marines Regiment in Sangin on June 12, 2012.
Afghanistan, Iran Still ‘Failed States’
After 11 years of war, billions of dollars, and 2,004 American deaths, the U.S. effort at nation-building in Afghanistan shows little sign of success by one measure: The country was ranked even worse than last year in the annual “Failed...
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Photograph by Laura Natividad/Flickr/Getty Images
Ozombie Care
Ozombie Care
President Obama’s push for near-universal health insurance coverage may be harder to kill than most zombies. If the Supreme Court decides to take a metaphorical stake to Obama’s health-care overhaul law and tosses the individual mandate out on the front...
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Photograph by Kevin P. Casey/Bloomberg
The Boeing manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington.
Drop in Exports to EU Hurts Obama Goal
In his 2010 State of the Union, President Obama said he wanted to double exports in five years. The worsening situation in Europe is threatening to quash that goal. U.S. exports to the European Union dropped 4.8 percent in the...
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Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Capitol Hill.
Bernanke Weighs Risks as U.S. Economy Slows
It’s a tough call for Federal Reserve officials this week. Economic growth indicators have sputtered. Job creation in May and April slowed to 69,000 and 77,000 jobs respectively, not nearly enough to lower the unemployment rate below 8 percent. None...
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Photograph by Stephen Yang/Bloomberg
A window shopper in New York.
Call Them Henrys
Aka, a High Earner Not Rich Yet. That’s what retail consultants call people who earn $100,000 to $250,000 a year and shop everywhere from Target to Saks. They make up 21 million U.S. households. Mac McKay is one of them....
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Photograph by Evan Vucci/AP Photo
Mitt Romney, left, and Gov. Scott Walker at Monterey Mills during a campaign stop on June 18, 2012 in Janesville, Wis.
Magic Number of the Day: 74
That’s the number of electoral votes in the six states on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign bus tour, which takes him to Wisconsin (10 electoral votes) and Iowa (6) today. Romney will conclude the tour tomorrow in Michigan (16),...
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Photograph by Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images
Sen. Barbara Boxer urging the House-Senate Transportation Conference Committee to pass a conference report reauthorizing the nation’s surface transportation programs, which expire on June 30.
Driving Us Over the Fiscal Cliff
“I guess it would be nice to think that somehow more enlightened leadership and followership could avoid a dismal conclusion, but so far there’s not much evidence of it.” That’s Pete Davis, president of Davis Capital Investment Ideas, who advises...
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Photograph by Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Supporters of Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece's New Democracy party, in Athens.
Washington Daybook: Come Together
President Barack Obama is in Los Cabos, Mexico, joining other heads of state and finance officials including U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Group of 20 summit. The meeting, which...
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Photograph by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo
President Barack Obama checks his BlackBerry in this file photo.
Texting: The New Way for Campaigns to Draw Contributions
Get ready to start texting campaign contributions to President Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. In a rare show of bipartisanship, the six-member Federal Election Commission has unanimously approved an advisory opinion that will, for the first time, allow...
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Contributors
-
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.
