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SPECIAL REPORT
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A seven-part Globe series that offers the most complete biography of Mitt Romney.
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Your campaign videos
Boston.com invites college students and others who follow politics to send us original clips from the campaign trail.
Campaign trail blog
Field reports from Globe reporters.
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Your campaign videos
Boston.com invites college students and others who follow politics to send us original clips from the campaign trail.
(July 11, 2008)
latest opinion from the globe
McCain's blind spot on Iraq, Vietnam
IS IT ANY wonder that John McCain was feeling a tad neglected? There was Barack Obama on a nine-day trip through eight countries with three network anchors, and all John got was a lousy T-shirt. Or to be more exact, all he got was a ride in George H.W. Bush's golf cart and a rejection slip from a New York ... (By Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe)
America's new global challenge
AS BARACK OBAMA travels abroad this week, he is finding a world that still wants America to be engaged, but no longer necessarily waits for America to take the lead. The challenge for the next president is to understand how much has changed and how America can best pursue its national interests in such a different international environment. (By Ivo Daalder and Anne-Marie Slaughter, Boston Globe)
While sun shines on Obama, storm trips up McCain
Another entry in the category of if he didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all: John McCain, to counter Barack Obama's speech today before the adoring masses in Berlin, planned to fly out to an oil rig off the Louisiana coast to make the case for offshore drilling. (Boston Globe)
Can Romney buy the VP nomination?
MITT ROMNEY is running for vice president. He recently decided he would not seek donations to repay the $45 million in personal loans he made to his failed presidential campaign so he could instead concentrate on raising millions for John McCain. (By Todd Domke, Boston Globe)
Perfecting McCain's op-ed pitch
DEAR Senator McCain: Sorry to hear that your op-ed column about Iraq was rejected by The New York Times less than a week after the paper printed an op-ed by Barack Obama on the same topic. (By Peter Funt, Boston Globe)
McCain camp says media love Obama
John McCain's campaign, with some acid humor, is directly hitting what many critics see as the media's infatuation with Barack Obama. (Boston Globe)
Times defends rejecting op-ed
WASHINGTON - The New York Times yesterday defended its decision not to publish an op-ed article as submitted by Republican John McCain about the Iraq war on grounds it customarily reviews such pieces with the author. (Boston Globe)
The Reagan realignment's staying power
IN 2000, Republican strategist Karl Rove often speculated that a victory by George W. Bush could bring a long-term realignment of American politics, similar to the way William McKinley's win in 1896 began 36 years of GOP dominance in Washington. Rove was being immodest in a lot of ways, but the most startling aspect of his boast was that a ... (By Robert David Sullivan, Boston Globe)
The audacity of ego
JUST LIKE the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama. Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him. (By Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe)
Al Gore: A sound pick for the environment
IT IS unlikely that a Nobel laureate, Oscar winner and former vice president of the United States would return to the nuts and bolts of the federal bureaucracy, but it is obvious who Barack Obama or John McCain should make either energy secretary or administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Given the impact each agency has on the other, they ... (By Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe)
Obama's summer of success
IT'S A tricky time, the period from the end of the primary season to the start of the political conventions. (By Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe)
Going jaw to jaw with our enemies
SENATOR JOHN McCain has apparently decided to focus not on the sagging economy under the disastrous Bush economic and fiscal policies, which McCain would continue, but on Senator Barack Obama's willingness to communicate with hostile foreign leaders, such as those in Iran, North Korea, and Syria. (By Ted Sorensen, Boston Globe)
Memo to Obama, McCain: No one wins in a war
BARACK OBAMA and John McCain continue to argue about war. McCain says to keep the troops in Iraq until we "win" and supports sending more troops to Afghanistan. Obama says to withdraw some (not all) troops from Iraq and send them to fight and "win" in Afghanistan. (By Howard Zinn, Boston Globe)
Campaign musings
IS IT JUST ME, or is the country in serious trouble? Other things I wonder about: (By Dan Payne, Boston Globe)
Big Boston fund-raiser will be Obama's 47th birthday present
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will celebrate his 47th birthday in Boston with a giant fund-raising event at the State Room on Aug. 4. (Boston Globe)
What's so shocking about satire?
ANOTHER DAY, another campaign kerfuffle. The latest tempest in a teapot is over a New Yorker magazine cover that shows Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, in an Oval Office where an American flag burns in the fireplace, a picture of Osama bin Laden hangs above the mantel, and a radical, assault-rifle-toting Michelle Obama gives him a fist bump. (By Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe)
Fist-bump fury
A FRESH ROUND of campaign offend-o-rama has been triggered by a New Yorker magazine cover that mocks right-wing slanders of Barack and Michelle Obama. The couple, he in Muslim garb, she in camo with automatic weapon, stand in the Oval Office knuckle-bumping under a portrait of Osama bin Laden and in front of a flag-burning fireplace. A host of commentators ... (Boston Globe)
The brilliance of the Electoral College
OVER THE LAST two centuries, constitutional amendments to abolish or alter the Electoral College have been proposed in Congress more than 700 times . None has ever come close to being adopted - an indication, perhaps, of the existing system's enduring value. The most recent such proposal , introduced by US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, would eliminate the Electoral ... (By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe)
Fist-bump fury
A FRESH ROUND of campaign offend-o-rama has been triggered by a New Yorker magazine cover that mocks right-wing slanders of Barack and Michelle Obama. The couple, he in Muslim garb, she in camo with automatic weapon, stand in the Oval Office knuckle-bumping under a portrait of Osama bin Laden and in front of a flag-burning fireplace. A host of commentators ... (Boston Globe)
Obama repeats calls for blacks to show greater responsibility
CINCINNATI - Democrat Barack Obama insisted last night that while Washington must provide greater education and economic assistance, blacks must demand more of themselves and show greater responsibility - a challenge that has upset some black leaders. (Boston Globe)
For Obama, a questionable finale planned in Denver
WASHINGTON - When Barack Obama accepts his party's nomination in the Broncos' football stadium - poised at one end zone, like John Elway preparing for a game-winning drive - the image may indeed provoke the associations that its planners hope to trigger. (By Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe)
McCain versus the eight-year electoral jinx
PRESIDENT BUSH has left presumptive GOP nominee John McCain with a lot of problems, but the biggest may be the weak 50.7 percent of the vote that Bush received when running for reelection. That's a problematic number because American political parties almost always lose support when trying to secure a third term in the White House. The last time that ... (By Robert David Sullivan, Boston Globe)
Obama clarifies view on Jerusalem
Barack Obama said yesterday that he used "poor phrasing" in a speech supporting Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. (Boston Globe)
Democrats, the military, and McCain
FOUR YEARS ago, Democrats couldn't laud military service - especially that of their presidential standard-bearer - highly enough. (By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe)
McCain's budget figures don't add up
FICTION MAY require a willing suspension of disbelief, but presidential campaigns shouldn't. Yet here's the fanciful proposition John McCain wants us to swallow: that he can extend the Bush tax cuts, pile other tax breaks and revenue reductions atop them - and still balance the federal budget in four years. (By Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe)
Wearing out the 'brand'
ARE YOU TIRED of the word "brand"? Political pundits apparently love it. "Barack Obama is three things you want in a brand. New, different, and attractive." "John McCain has a strong brand identity as being a maverick." "Obama and his senior advisers crafted a strategy to fit the Obama brand." "McCain's out there working on his brand: I'm a different ... (By Todd Domke, Boston Globe)
Obama regrets allowing daughters' TV interview
WASHINGTON - Don't expect to see more of Barack Obama's young daughters on television any time soon. (Boston Globe)
The push for a popular vote
THIS MONTH, the Massachusetts Legislature can help nudge the nation into the modern age by taking a stand in favor of a national popular vote for president - and against that most antiquated of arrangements, the Electoral College. (By Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe)
The color of television
YOU WOULD think with Barack Obama's ascendancy that network television, often a barometer of where the culture is, would have its share of leading black men and women. Yet, if you scan a week's worth of shows on CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox, you might think the networks are locked in a pre-"Cosby Show" mindset from a quarter century ago. (By Ed Siegel, Boston Globe)
A stark choice on the economy
BARACK OBAMA and John McCain both reloaded their presidential campaigns this week with a renewed focus on the dire state of the nation's economy. With gasoline more than $4 a gallon, 438,000 jobs lost since January, and 3 million Americans facing possible mortgage default, you don't need a pollster to know the economy is the voters' top concern. And on ... (Boston Globe)
Healthcare overhaul would be risky for a President Obama
WASHINGTON - The news last week that Democratic senators, led by an ailing but determined Ted Kennedy, are already laying the groundwork for a major revamping of the national health system may or may not be welcome news to Barack Obama. (By Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe)
Obama to give speech at Broncos stadium
Last month, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama picked the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul, the site of the Republican National Convention in September, to claim victory in the Democratic nomination race - and in the process, to show off his ability to draw a big crowd. (Boston Globe)
McCain lacks judgment, Kerry says
Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that John McCain doesn't have the judgment to be president. (Boston Globe)
Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that John McCain doesn't have the judgment to be president. (Boston Globe)
GOP's suburban advantage fading with time?
IT'S OFTEN said that people get more conservative as they grow older, but places seem to get more liberal or, at least, more Democratic as they mature. (By Robert David Sullivan, Boston Globe)
Obama cites faith as key to change
Barack Obama called "active faith" an obligation of religious Americans and a chief agent of societal change in a speech yesterday at the national meeting of a black church group. (Boston Globe)
What's growing at the White House?
SCARBOROUGH, Maine IT HAS BEEN decades since that famous forager Euell Gibbons reached through the White House fence and picked four edible weeds out of the president's garden. This is not something that the Secret Service would recommend you try today. (By Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe)
McCain is no maverick
DURING the primaries, Barack Obama was said to be the darling of the news media. Not anymore. While the 2008 John McCain literally embraced W and courted the Religious Right, many in the news media believe he's secretly the 2000 McCain, who campaigned against W and the Religious Right. (By Dan Payne, Boston Globe)
McCain picks leader of daily operations
WASHINGTON - John McCain put a top adviser in control of day-to-day campaign operations yesterday after weeks of private concerns among Republicans that the GOP presidential campaign had not made the transition for the general election. (Boston Globe)
McCain's agenda on Amtrak
TRAIN TRAVEL is finally becoming a third rail of politics. The first one to fry over it might be John McCain. (By Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe)
Obama decries attacks on his love of country
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Flanked by American flags, Barack Obama forcefully defended his patriotism yesterday against anyone who would challenge it, declaring he wouldn't stand for persistent rumors questioning his loyalty and aimed at sinking his presidential campaign. (Boston Globe)
Obama-Clinton contest revealed limits of racism, sexism
WASHINGTON - To hear some of Hillary Clinton's disappointed supporters tell it, half of America just told her to "Iron my shirt." (By Peter S. Canellos, Boston Globe)
Changing the polarized electoral landscape
SHORTLY AFTER the 1972 election, film critic Pauline Kael was widely ridiculed for saying, "I don't know how Richard Nixon could have won. I don't know anybody who voted for him." (By Robert David Sullivan, Boston Globe)
Powell is favorite in online VP poll
Ever wonder what it would be like if the vice presidential sweepstakes was conducted like "Survivor"? Now we know, because of Affinnova, a Massachusetts-based company that used "evolutionary optimization" to trim down a list of 100 possible vice presidents to the strongest candidate for each party. (Boston Globe)
The same old politics of terror
WHEN ASKED about the effect of another terrorist attack on American soil, John McCain's chief strategist, Charlie Black, responded rashly and bluntly. "Certainly it would be a big advantage" for McCain, Black told Fortune magazine recently. Similarly, the strategist described the assassination of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto in December as "an unfortunate event," but said "it helped us" in the contest ... (Boston Globe)
Make over old views, not political wives
MANCHESTER, N.H. SHE PRAISED Hillary and the military and expressed gratitude to America. Michelle Obama's makeover from fiery and unpredictable to sweet and scripted is underway. It's another kind of change Barack Obama believes in for victory in November. (By Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe)
Obama, McCain begin four-month courtship of Hispanic voters
WASHINGTON - Presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama yesterday sought the support of Hispanics, beginning a four-month courtship with a pivotal swing-voting constituency. (Boston Globe)
A silver bullet for Obama?
WHEN IT comes to gun control, the Democratic Party is a house divided against itself. That helps explain Barack Obama's dizzyingly inconsistent positions on District of Columbia v. Heller, the landmark Second Amendment case decided by the Supreme Court last week. (By Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe)
Holding Muslims at arm's length
I WISH Barack Obama were a Muslim. Better that than having supercilious staffers whisk women in Islamic head scarves out of photo-ops. Better that than telling Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the nation's first Muslim congressman, not to come help Obama in Iowa and North Carolina. (By Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe)
Economy bodes ill wind for McCain
HISTORICALLY, ECONOMIC conditions have played an enormous role in presidential elections, even as other factors come into play. Economic downturns are bad news for the incumbent, while expansions tend to lead to reelection. Franklin D. Roosevelt unseated Herbert Hoover in the depth of the Great Depression in 1932. Boom times helped reelect Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Bill Clinton in ... (By Augustine Faucher, Boston Globe)
Holding Muslims at arm's length
I WISH Barack Obama were a Muslim. Better that than having supercilious staffers whisk women in Islamic head scarves out of photo-ops. Better that than telling Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the nation's first Muslim congressman, not to come help Obama in Iowa and North Carolina. (By Derrick Z. Jackson, Boston Globe)