Politics and Policy
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Swing States Project — November 12, 2012 02:50 PM
A dart to Yahoo Finance
For utterly confusing its readers about Social Security
By now we’re accustomed to weak reporting about Social Security, but a piece on Yahoo Finance, part of its “Just Explain It” series, is a real doozey. It does not come within one centimeter of explaining Social Security, and instead misleads the 16,089 readers, as of mid-day Monday, who have weighed in with comments, plus thousands of others who...
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Swing States Project — November 9, 2012 11:57 AM
The fiscal whatchamacallit
Media’s embrace of “fiscal cliff” obscures the real story about budget negotiations
With Election Day behind us, all of Washington is suddenly focused on a looming issue that drew little notice during the campaign: the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and spending cuts that are scheduled to occur on Jan. 1, and that, if they do take hold, could tip the economy back into recession. It all sounds pretty scary. But should...
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Swing States Project — November 8, 2012 03:12 PM
An Ohio election special causes controversy
TPM flags some anti-Obama programming on Sinclair stations
OHIO — A controversial election eve special that aired twice Monday night on the local ABC affiliate in Columbus triggered a wave of criticism on social media, prompting one local anchor to launch her own Twitter defense.
And because the company behind the broadcast is about to expand its media holdings in the Buckeye State, this story may not be...
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Swing States Project — November 8, 2012 11:10 AM
The Ad Wars: Was outside money futile?
After Election Day, the press seizes on a new conventional wisdom
Throughout the 2012 campaign, dozens of reporters and advocates kept a close eye on the flood of outside money that poured into the contest, most often from wealthy conservative donors. They tracked where it was coming from, how it was being spent, and who it was benefiting.
And Wednesday morning, after a string of losses for Republicans backed heavily by...
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Swing States Project — November 7, 2012 03:16 PM
Digital innovation on election night: a report
From CJR and Tow Center’s “meta newsroom”
About as digital as most Americans get on election night is to operate the channel clicker. But that is steadily becoming less true. The explanatory and informational firepower of emerging online media tools are too alluring to avoid forever. Each election cycle they become more sophisticated yet easier to work, and they draw more readers and viewers.
The people...
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Swing States Project — November 7, 2012 01:18 PM
How to cover the presidential results
A guide for journalists on election fundamentals and campaign effects
One of the most fascinating parts of the aftermath of an election is the construction of post-hoc narratives to "explain" the results. There’s plenty of Web traffic to be gained by meeting the public's demand for these sorts of tidy explanations, but there’s peril too. Reporters should be wary of telling stories about why President Obama won re-election that are...
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Swing States Project — November 7, 2012 06:51 AM
A Laurel to NPR, for giving hospitals a disaster exam
Sandy exposes gaping holes in hospital safety plans
NYU Langone Medical Center and Bellevue represent a tale of two New York City hospitals. Langone is a well-endowed brand-name facility eager to trumpet its state-of-the-art treatments. Bellevue is the country’s oldest public hospital, with a reputation for treating the city’s poor. Last week, though, they were united in disaster. Both offered a single tale of hundreds of patients—fragile...
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Swing States Project — November 6, 2012 08:00 PM
Election 2012: Welcome to our Meta Newsroom
What's happening now in digital election-night news
CJR, in collaboration with Columbia's Tow Center for digital journalism, will be covering tonight's election coverage. Seven student journalists from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism will be watching and reading the coverage, working with CJR editors to report on digital innovation and integration of social media by news outlets as they present election results. Their analysis will run in real-time...
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Swing States Project — November 6, 2012 07:13 PM
Election Day worries in Ohio
Lawsuits, provisional ballots, alleged software glitches—and the coverage of it all
OHIO — The fun never stops here in Battleground Ohio.
Just when reporters thought they had seen the last of the presidential candidates, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Vice President Joe Biden couldn’t resist one last stop in Cleveland on Election Day. Counting candidates and wives, there have been more than 90 Buckeye State stops scheduled this year.
But today...
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Swing States Project — November 6, 2012 06:50 AM
King Coal rises in PA
A last-minute crush of ads—including Romney’s first here—challenges reporters to keep up
PENNSYLVANIA — Add the Keystone State to the list of places where King Coal is a leading issue in candidate ads.
In terms of presidential campaign ad spending (if not down-ballot), local television stations here have been mostly passed over this fall. But in a late push last Tuesday, the Romney campaign made its first ad buy this state, making...
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Swing States Project — November 6, 2012 06:50 AM
In Colorado, $716 billion claim lives on
Romney repeats the discredited charge at weekend rally, and it pops up in ads for a Congressional race
COLORADO — On Saturday, at his last and largest 2012 campaign rally here, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney told the crowd that President Obama took $716 billion from Medicare to fund his Affordable Care Act.
“He raided $716 billion from Medicare to pay for his vaunted Obamacare,” Romney told 17,000 supporters at Comfort Dental Amphitheater in the southern Denver suburb...
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Swing States Project — November 5, 2012 03:44 PM
The Ad Wars: GOP advantage in the House
In local races, outside money can tip the scales, and the GOP is trying to do just that
As Americans cast their votes for the next president, the Obama campaign and its supporters have maintained an unexpected advantage in the ad wars—defying predictions that the Democrat would be drowned out by a flood of cash from deep-pocketed conservative groups (at least before a spending splurge by outside groups this past weekend).
But outside groups have propelled Republicans to...
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Swing States Project — November 5, 2012 02:00 PM
Was it Obama’s policies—or the pie?
Romney ad blames president for Virginia BBQ chain’s closure; locals point to the food, competition
VIRGINIA — As part of his closing pitch to voters here in Virginia, Mitt Romney went hog wild.
It was pork barrel politics of a different sort as the Romney campaign late last week crafted an online ad that lays the September closing of a Richmond barbecue chain, Bill’s Barbecue, at the feet of President Obama. Romney also visited with...
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Swing States Project — November 5, 2012 11:15 AM
Analyzing early voting in Nevada
Reporting roundup: What might the early numbers tell us?
NEVADA —Two weeks of early voting ended here in the Silver State on Friday evening. In a state where folks can legally wager on the outcome of any number of events, what might these numbers tell us about the odds on whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will prevail on Tuesday?
Over the weekend, political journalists were busy analyzing the...
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Swing States Project — November 5, 2012 06:50 AM
A missed connection on Michigan’s ballot questions?
Bridge battle draws the attention, but Props 1 and 2 could lead to future conflict
MICHIGAN — On Tuesday, voters will here sift through six ballot initiatives that could transform the state’s policies on a range of issues, from collective bargaining and Michigan’s controversial emergency manager law to a new bridge across the Canadian border. With boatloads of money poured into the campaigns—active ballot question committees have raised more than $141 million this election cycle,...
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Swing States Project — November 5, 2012 06:49 AM
Navigating voter guides in North Carolina
For voters looking for easy research tools, a few bright spots emerge
NORTH CAROLINA — For many normal people—that is, people who take their ballot seriously but don’t obsess over every twist and turn in a grueling months-long political campaign—the printed voter guides provided by newspapers have long been a civic good, collecting in one place information to help voters make decisions in races from the White House down to the local...
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Swing States Project — November 3, 2012 11:45 AM
Getting ready for ballot battles in Ohio
Reporters explore 'nightmare scenarios'—and offer some practical advice to voters
OHIO — No disrespect to other swing states, but the pivotal one on the majority of pundits’ lips and in the presidential candidates’ eyes in the waning days of the election is the Buckeye State.
President Obama will stop in Ohio every day until the election, followed closely by Mitt Romney and company. For Ohioans, it’s like the movie Groundhog...
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Swing States Project — November 2, 2012 03:00 PM
Three questions about campaign coverage
How the media can do better the next time around (Or, “NOW FOR THE HARD PART”)
COLUMBUS, OH — As America lurches towards Election Day like a ravaged water-logged creature from a 1950s horror flick, the general mood is less anticipation than a desperate craving for the nation’s quadrennial adventure in democracy to be over. At this stage in the campaign, the only novelty is in the breakout of unlikely brouhahas: Rush Limbaugh vs. Chris Christie,...
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Swing States Project — November 2, 2012 10:28 AM
Ask Romney This: What will replace Obamacare?
A vague healthcare plan raises many questions
Over the final weeks of the campaign, CJR has been publishing a series of pieces under the headline “Ask Obama This” and “Ask Romney This,” suggesting themes and questions that reporters and pundits can consider posing to the presidential candidates. There’s not much time left for that, of course, but the questions this series raises will be around for the...
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Swing States Project — November 2, 2012 06:50 AM
At Michigan’s edge, global warming emerges as campaign issue
But spotty local coverage of House race is sometimes too soft on climate denialism
MICHIGAN — Climate change is one of the great disappearing issues of the 2012 campaign. Though President Obama made climate central to his run for the White House four years ago, he, Mitt Romney, and down-ballot candidates have all generally avoided the subject this year. And as CJR and many others have noted, the campaign media—most strikingly, the debate moderators—have...
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