Obama Plans Wisconsin Advertising, Signaling the State Is Now in Play

September 11, 2012, 10:24 pm

By JEFF ZELENY

“On, Wisconsin!”

That is the title of the Badgers fight song at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as one of the official state songs. It also underscores a new dynamic in the presidential race.

President Obama's re-election campaign on Tuesday added Wisconsin to its list of targeted states. The campaign's first television advertisements there are set to begin on Thursday, a sign that the state is more competitive than the Obama campaign had once expected.

Mitt Romney's campaign started its advertisements in Wisconsin earlier this week. Outside groups on both sides have also been advertising in the state.

All of those movements, aides said, led Mr. Obama to start his a dvertising in a state he won by 14 percentage points four years ago. Democratic presidential candidates have carried the state since 1988, but it was among the most fiercely competitive battlegrounds in 2000 and 2004.

“With Romney up on the air now in addition to his Republican allies, we're not taking anything for granted,” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign.

Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, is scheduled to campaign near Green Bay on Wednesday. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is set to campaign in the state on Thursday.

Wisconsin is among eight tossup states, according to The New York Times's battleground rankings.

Rhode Island Primary Tests New Voter ID Law

September 11, 2012, 9:50 pm

By JESS BIDGOOD

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Candy McSwain and Bonnie Stevenson, two poll workers in this city's diverse Elmwood neighborhood, peered at Jeziel Jared Lopez's passport and expired state ID card and consulted the state's new list of acceptable forms of voter identification.

“It says U.S. passport,” said Ms. McSwain, pointing to the list.

“This is O.K.,” Ms. Stevenson said, clearing the way for Mr. Lopez, 18, to vote for the first time.

Rhode Island's state primary on Tuesday gave its new voter identification law its most strenuous exercise yet, stirring dissent and praise from voters who lined up with ID cards, while officials reported few identification-related voting problems.

The law, wh ich went into effect this year, requires voters to show a photo ID, bank statement or government-issued document before they are allowed to vote. Its list of accepted forms of identification will become more restrictive in 2014, when only photo IDs will be accepted.

The state's list of acceptable identification includes IDs from workplaces and gyms, making the law more flexible than similar ones passed in states like Pennsylvania. It also allows voters without IDs to fill out a provisional ballot.

The law was in effect for the presidential primary and two municipal special elections earlier this year; in those elections, of about 25,000 ballots cast, fewer than 30 provisional ballots were needed for voter-related issues - one of which was rejected, according to Chris Barnett, spokesman for the secretary of state.

By early Tuesday evening, the secretary of state's office was aware of only two uses of provisional ballots, af ter visits to 13 polling locations.

“This is as smooth as we had hoped it would go,” said Mr. Barnett, who said his office had distributed more than 700 free identification cards to voters who requested them before the election.

In Elmwood, Robert Emmanuel, a singer, had to leave the polling place to fetch his ID, but he was unperturbed. “I don't see why it's so controversial,” Mr. Emmanuel said. “People need to prove who they are.”

An Elmwood poll worker, who said her name was simply Raffini, wondered if the low number of requests for provisional ballots was because people without ID had decided to stay home. “To tell you the truth, the ID issue's probably just going to make people not come,” she said.

That has been a concern for advocacy organizations like Rhode Island's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which said it had received two complaints related to the identification requirement on Tuesday.

“I don't thi nk there's any question that there are people who aren't aware of the broad acceptability of documents for this election,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the state's chapter. “This was totally unnecessary and will certainly have an adverse effect on certain categories of voters - poor, racial minorities,” repeating a criticism often levied by those opposed to voter ID laws.

David Thomas, a disabled voter in Elmwood, said he was changing his party affiliation to the Green Party from the Democratic Party, in part because of some Rhode Island Democrats' support for the law. “I feel like a piece of cattle, basically,” Mr. Thomas said. “You're erasing a certain group of people off of the block. I look at it as a new Jim Crow situation.”

But other voters in the neighborhood showered praise upon the law.

“I think it avoids fraud and makes things clear - you vote and you say who you are,” said Rosa Perez, a registered Democrat who teache s math at a public high school. Like several other voters interviewed in Providence on Tuesday, Ms. Perez pointed out that the policy was consistent with that of her native country, the Dominican Republic.

“In Latin America, people show identification - you have to show ID,” said Ms. Perez. “I think it's right.”

TimesCast Politics: Some Republican Nervousness After the Conventions

September 11, 2012, 2:19 pm

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Polls: Obama Gains Ground on Some Measures

September 11, 2012, 1:57 pm

By ALLISON KOPICKI

An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows several signs of strength for President Obama after the national conventions, but among likely voters, the presidential race remains deadlocked.

The poll finds Mr. Obama with 50 percent support to Mitt Romney's 44 percent support among registered voters, his best showing since early April in ABC News/Washington Post surveys, a difference that is within the poll's margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

But among likely voters, gleaned through screens used by polling organizations once voters begin paying a lot of attention to the race by late summer and fall, the candidates are running neck and neck, with 49 percent for Mr. Obama a nd 48 percent for Mr. Romney.

This week portends to be a very busy reporting period for major media polling organizations, now that the political conventions have ended and surveys are examining whether either candidate has received much of a bounce from the gatherings. So far, polls have shown that Mr. Romney received little or no bounce after the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., while in the time since the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., ended last Thursday, survey results for Mr. Obama have generally given him an edge. The CNN/ORC International poll released on Monday put the president ahead at 52 percent to Mr. Romney's 46 percent.

With only about 1 in 10 voters remaining truly undecided during this election cycle, small gains or losses in the polls are viewed as more meaningful to the campaigns.

The ABC News/Washington Post survey showed Mr. Obama also gaining ground on a few measures among the larger samp le of registered voters, including on handling taxes and Medicare, and being seen as the stronger leader. Enthusiasm among his supporters also grew, and new highs of support came from Democrats and men. Mr. Romney's support eroded among moderates, whites and higher-income voters.

Mr. Romney was seen by registered voters as better understanding what it takes to build a successful small business, and runs even with Mr. Obama on handling health care policy. However, while more than half of voters disapprove of the president's handling of the economy, a majority said the economy would not have improved under Mr. Romney.

And as always, it will be up to Mr. Obama and his campaign team to maintain the level of support seen in the ABC News/Washington Post poll in the next eight weeks of campaigning, or if the enthusiasm will diminish.

In addition, Gallup has a new analysis showing that despite Mr. Obama's tepid job approval ratings, a number of important economic a nd national mood indicators watched by Gallup are higher now than in February 2009, after Mr. Obama's inauguration.

Gallup's Economic Confidence Index was at negative 58 in Mr. Obama's first full month in office, and after a quick rise and a few dips over the last three and a half years, it is still in negative territory, but has been roughly cut in half, to negative 27 in August 2012. Gallup's Job Creating Index has also risen to a positive 19 from a negative 5 since Mr. Obama took office.

Only 15 percent of Americans were satisfied with the way things were going in the United States in February 2009; that number has fluctuated throughout Mr. Obama's presidency, falling to 11 percent in August and September 2011, but has risen back to 25 percent of Americans being satisfied now. And in August, nearly half of Americans said their standard of living was improving, compared with just over a third who said that in February 2009.

The ABC News/Washington Post po ll was conducted by telephone Sept. 7 to 9, among 826 registered voters, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points. Gallup's analysis is based on trends from both Gallup daily tracking and monthly polls, in which interviews are conducted by telephone among samples of at least 1,000 national adults.

Biden Invites Shanksville Firefighters to the White House for a Beer

September 11, 2012, 1:29 pm

By PETER BAKER

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. - Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stopped by the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department after his speech marking the anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, to greet the firefighters and arrived just in time for the barbecue and a little earthy talk.

Jumping out of his limousine, Mr. Biden immediately encountered Deputy Chief Brad Shober, 44, of Shanksville, who had been among the firefighters who visited him at the vice president's residence a year ago. At the time, Mr. Shober said, the vice president gave him a ceremonial coin and told him, “Next time I see you, if you have that coin, drinks are on me.”

When Mr. Biden saw that he had the coin, he invited Mr. Shober and the rest of the firefighters to visit him again to Washington and pointed to an aide. “He's going to call you,” Mr. Biden said, then using an expletive.

Then noticing reporters following him, the vice president said, “I didn't know you guys were here.”

Turning back to Mr. Shober, he cleaned up the language. “This is no malarkey. You come to the White House. I'll buy you a beer.”

Mr. Biden worked the group of firefighters as he typically does, gripping their shoulders, joking with them, telling them Delaware stories. One firefighter said, “You got my vote.” Mr. Biden replied, “Thank you, man. That's not why I'm here, but thank you.”

He talked again about hosting them after the election. “Win, lose or draw, I'm still going to be vice president in January.” They should come, he said. “That's a deal.” He added: “I give you my word. I'm not just saying it.”

He gathered the firefighters a nd posed for pictures in front of a red fire truck with a banner “United We Stand” in red white and blue. Looking at the clear sky, he said, “Isn't it eerie? The day's just like it was.”

Then he headed over to the grill. “Come on, let's go get one. I want a hot dog.” He actually served himself a hamburger and put a slice of American cheese on it. He pulled a $20 bill out of his wallet and put it in a firefighter's boot that was used to deposit donations.

“I want the record to show,” he said. Then noting Secretary Ken Salazar behind him in line, he added: “My twenty covers both of us.”

Asked what his wife, Jill Biden, would think of his diet, he said, “She's going to say, ‘Joe, what the hell are you doing?' I just ate a peanut butter sandwich between here and there.”

Three Tips for Better Google Searching

September 11, 2012, 1:25 pm

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Want to improve your Google search skills?

Here are the three tips - basic, intermediate and advanced - from Dan Russell at Google. He studies how people use the search engine and teaches classes on how to do it better, including a free online course this month, for which registration started Tuesday. He promises these tips will make you happy, and he cares a lot about that - his official title at Google is über tech lead for search quality and user happiness.

Basic tip:
Say you know you were mentioned in an article online, so you search to read what was said about you. But when you click on the link, you get the entire article and no idea where to find your name. The solution is simp le: control F. Typing that on your keyboard allows you to enter a term to find it anywhere it appears on the Web page. Ninety percent of United States Internet users do not know how to find the word they are looking for on a Web page, according to Mr. Russell's studies. “Control F changes the way you read anything.”

Intermediate tip:
You tried to snowboard and ended up back at your computer with a possibly broken arm. Instead of typing “What do I do with a busted arm” into Google, try to use words that you imagine someone else would have written about broken arms, Mr. Russell said. “Put yourself in the mind of the author of a perfect Web page,” he said. “Emulate the language of the person you want to read the answer from.” But do not take that too far, by making up words that you think are expert, but are not real words. “Don't overdo it using words you think are medical, like ‘fracturated,' because you will find results, at which point you'll be in even bigger trouble,” Mr. Russell said. Which leads us to his final tip.

Advanced tip:
Before you ask Google what to do with a “fracturated” arm, look up the word, or any word, by typing “define:” followed by the word. Mr. Russell advises promiscuous use of the word “define” followed by colon. “Before you search, make sure you're searching the right word. The worst thing you can do is to search for something you think means one thing but in fact means something else, but you believe the answer when you asked the wrong question.”

A Journalist With Rare Access to Obama Had to Play by Quote Rule

September 11, 2012, 11:48 am

By JEREMY PETERS

Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” was granted extraordinary access to President Obama for his latest article in Vanity Fair.

But with that access came one major condition.

Like other journalists who write about Washington and presidential politics, Mr. Lewis said that he had to submit to the widespread but rarely disclosed practice of quote approval.

During a discussion at Lincoln Center on Monday night with Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair, Mr. Lewis volunteered to the audience that as a condition of cooperating with his story, the White House insisted on signing off on the quotes that would appear.

Mr. Lewis said that ultimat ely the White House disallowed very little of what he asked to use. And he described having access to the president that was unusually unfettered. About 95 percent of what he witnessed was on the record, he said.

What the White House asked to leave off the record, Mr. Lewis added, was usually of little relevance to his article anyway - like a discussion between Mr. Obama and his political strategists about their electoral strategy in Florida.

Mr. Lewis said there was one particularly moving exchange with the president that he wished he could have described in greater detail. But the White House nixed the idea, perhaps wary of having the commander in chief described as in tears.

Mr. Lewis declined to delve into too much detail because he said he did not want to violate the ground rules he agreed to, but he did offer that the president explained to him how the job exacts a heavy emotional toll. The president told Mr. Lewis how on e evening after a particularly trying day, he sat down to watch a movie and surprised himself by suddenly tearing up.

In the discussion with Mr. Carter on Monday, Mr. Lewis described a White House staff that seemed to be extremely wary of his presence around the president. He said that in one exchange with Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, Mr. Carney expressed reservations about cooperating. But ultimately, Mr. Lewis recalled Mr. Carney saying, his concerns didn't matter because the boss wanted to do the story.

That meant Mr. Lewis was allowed to peek behind the White House curtain in a way that few journalists ever have.

Over an eight-month period, Mr. Lewis conducted multiple interviews with the president. He rode in the official presidential limousine. He was given a special lapel pin that designated him to the Secret Service as someone who was allowed to be in close proximity to the president.

When he flew with the president on several foreign and domestic trips, he sat not with the rest of the press corps in the back of Air Force One, but near the front. And the president even allowed Mr. Lewis to play on his basketball team.

But that pursuit did not end quite as Mr. Lewis had hoped. The president benched him.

A Quiet and Solemn Day of Remembrance

September 11, 2012, 10:02 am

By PETER BAKER

SHANKSVILLE, Pa. - On another Tuesday morning with another clear, late-summer sky that seemed eerily familiar, the nation's leaders briefly put aside a divisive political campaign to mark the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil.

The commemorations 11 years after that grim day were noticeably subdued. New York leaders intentionally kept politicians from speaking at the site of the worst of the attacks to avoid politicizing the moment. While the president and Mr. Romney pulled down advertising for the day in deference to sensibilities, they made no effort to duplicate the show of unity that Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain, then his Republican opponent, staged in 2008 when they appe ared together.

Instead, Mr. Obama appeared with Michelle Obama, passing through a Marine color guard onto the South Lawn of the White House, where hundreds of staff members waited silently at 8:46 a.m., the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center in 2001. Three bells tolled, the president and first lady bowed their heads, then looked up and put hands over their hearts as a trumpeter played taps.

“This anniversary also renews our faith that even the darkest night gives way to a brighter dawn,” Mr. Obama said in a message sent out later by Twitter. “On a day when others sought to bring this country down, we choose to build it up with a National Day of Service & Remembrance.”

In Chicago at the same time, members of the local fire department similarly observed a moment of silence on the tarmac before Mr. Romney arrived. Mr. Romney had not been scheduled to participate but once he arrived, he went down a line and shook hands with the firefighters and medics.

Like Mr. Obama, he made no public remarks but he released a written statement beforehand. “On this most somber day, those who would attack us should know that we are united, one nation under God, in our determination to stop them and to stand tall for peace and freedom at home and across the world,” Mr. Romney said, adding his “profound gratitude” to the troops who have gone into battle since the attacks.

Other political figures released written statements honoring the fallen and the heroes who tried to save them. While they generally made no reference to the election campaign now under way, some of the statements carried an edge of the policy debate over defense spending and counterterrorism policies.

“Our national security must be a priority and we must protect against efforts that would undermine our ability to prevent or respond to another devastating attack,” said Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican majority leader. “The United States should never forget and we must never quit.”

Ashley Parker contributed reporting from Chicago.

Q&A: The End of Windows Gadgets

September 11, 2012, 7:17 am

By J.D. BIERSDORFER

What happened to Windows desktop gadgets?

Microsoft took down its online Gadget gallery this summer and issued a safety warning to Windows Vista and Windows 7 users about using the desktop miniprograms on their computers. Researchers found security flaws, and that certain gadgets from “untrusted sources” (like malicious hackers) could leave the computer vulnerable to infiltration or takeover from an intruder.

In response to the threat, Microsoft recommends applying a security update and disabling desktop Gadgets and the Windows Sidebar. The company has an advisory on its site that explains the issue, the Windows versions involved - and provides links to a Microsoft Fixit Solution script tha t automatically disables the Windows Sidebar and Gadgets feature.

Warhol Has Your Mac Products Covered

September 11, 2012, 6:51 am

By ROY FURCHGOTT

You don't have to wait for The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts auction of 20,000 Andy Warhol works to claim a bit of Andy-bilia.

The foundation, working once again with Incase, has borrowed the graphics from one of Warhol's most famous works, the sculpture Brillo Boxes, to make covers for the MacBook, iPad and iPhone 4S.

While the 20,000 objects from the Warhol estate is expected to bring more than $100 million at auction, the cases vary in price from $40 to $80.

The snap-on hard case for the iPhone, which fits the iPhone 4 and 4S, is $40. The zippered and padded protective sleeves for the 15-inch or 13-inch MacBook and the 11-inch MacBook Air are $60. The sleeves have a weather-r esistant Tyvek cover with a poly-suede interior. The iPad portfolio has a built-in stand and is also covered in Tyvek with a cotton twill interior.

This is the sixth round of Warhol images to appear in the Incase series, with previous cases featuring graphics from his 1966 film Chelsea Girls, and photo booth self-portraits, among others.

The Early Word: Guessing Game

September 11, 2012, 6:00 am

By JADA F. SMITH

In Today's Times

• With less than two months until Election Day, fierce races have broken out in states where they were not expected, and control of the Senate is now anyone's guess, Jonathan Weisman and Jennifer Steinhauer report. Because of some campaign missteps and unexpected turns, Democrats appear to be in less danger of losing the Senate, while Republicans have a more difficult path to gaining the majority.

• Despite the stakes in this year's Congressional elections, neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has campaigned for House and Senate candidates, Helene Cooper and Jeremy W. Peters write. These days, it is every man for himself on the road to the White House.

• President Obama raised more money than Mitt Romney did in August, underscoring reports that Mr. Obama had an uptick in support after his convention in a way that Mr. Romney did not, Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny report. But both campaigns agreed that post-convention readings could be ephemeral and that the race was likely to remain competitive until the end.

•  Mitt Romney's pledge to guarantee access to health insurance for people with longstanding medical problems highlighted the difficulty of repealing the new health care law while keeping some of its popular features, Robert Pear and Abby Goodnough report. His proposal would apply only if those people had maintained coverage without a significant gap, which could exclude millions of Americans with medical problems.

• Bill Clinton is hitting the campaign trail as the role model both sides claim to emulate, Peter Baker writes. Mr. Clinton's political drama has played out again and again o ver a quarter-century, and along the way he has reinvented himself as a bipartisan figure from a mythical era of across-the-aisle cooperation.

Around the Web

• Politico: After Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention, the obvious next step would be a run for national office, his iPhone told him.

Happenings in Washington

• President Obama, Michelle Obama and White House staff members will gather on the South Lawn of the White House for a moment of silence to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Later, the president will attend a ceremony at the Pentagon Memorial, and in the afternoon he will visit wounded members of the military at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

• Members of Congress will hold a Congressional Remembrance Ceremony on the front steps of the Capitol.

• Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will hol d swearing-in ceremonies for United States ambassadors to Ghana and Serbia.