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Warren Ad Paints Her as a Fighter, and Throws a Punch

September 13, 2012, 8:43 pm
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

BOSTON - Elizabeth Warren is throwing the first punch in the ad wars in the increasingly bitter Massachusetts Senate race, with a new television commercial on Thursday that accuses Senator Scott P. Brown, her Republican opponent, of “siding with the big-money guys.”

The language is mild compared to what both Ms. Warren and Mr. Brown have been saying about each other on the campaign trail. But they have kept their television ads - for public consumption - positive, with self-promotional sketches and without mention of the other candidate.

Ms. Warren's new 30-second spot is the first to venture off that safe ground and is a sign of how much the race is intensifying ahead of the first debat e next week.

After supporters expressed concern to The Boston Globe that her previous ads failed to connect her on a personal level with voters or link her to Massachusetts, the new ad is about as Massachusetts as you can get.

It features Art Ramalho, Micky Ward's first trainer, speaking in his gym in Lowell in a Massachusetts.

“We can spot the real fighters here in this gym,” Mr. Ramalho says. “Elizabeth Warren is a real fighter. I don't know about Scott Brown. He's been siding with the big-money guys.”

Mr. Ward, the boxer who was featured in Mark Wahlberg's movie “The Fighter,” had been prepared to endorse Mr. Brown a few weeks ago but backed off at the last minute. The Lowell Sun said that Mr. Ward realized belatedly that Mr. Brown was against unions and against same-sex marriage.

It is not clear whether Warren aides tried to recruit Mr. Ward himself for a commercial, but they seem happy with his trai ner. Mr. Ramalho's image as a fighter dovetails perfectly with the image that the campaign wants to project of Ms. Warren. And he speaks directly to a segment of voters - blue-collar Reagan Democrats - who may have been put off by Ms. Warren's manner and by Mr. Brown's caricature of her as “Professor Warren.”

“She's got heart, she got guts and she's not gonna back down,” Mr. Ramalho says in the ad.

The ad is the second from the Warren camp in two days; as in the first one released Wednesday, Ms. Warren does not speak this time, except to say that she approves this message.

Mr. Brown said in a statement that the Warren advertisement was not true, though he did not specify what was untrue.

“Her misleading and untrue attacks against me are a sign of desperation from an increasingly desperate and flailing campaign,” Mr. Brown's statement said. “The people of Massachusetts deserve and expect better, especially from a first-time candidate who initially claimed not to like attack ads.”



A Convention \'Bounce\' for the Boss

September 13, 2012, 5:55 pm
By NICK CORASANITI

Bruce Springsteen did not perform at the Democratic National Convention, but he is still enjoying a convention “bounce.”

His song “We Take Care of Our Own” was played at the convention immediately after President Obama's speech on Sept. 6. By the end of the week, the song's sales had surged 409 percent, according to Billboard, with 2,000 downloads. Mr. Springsteen's latest album, “Wrecking Ball,” also saw its sales jump, rising from No. 199 to No. 112 on the Billboard 200 chart with 3,000 copies sold.

The song, from Mr. Springsteen's latest album, “Wrecking Ball,” was released in January. Upon it's release, reviews immediately linked it to the coming election, pointing to its pat riotic lyrics, “We take care of our own, wherever this flag is flown…” and to Mr. Springsteen's history with Democratic campaigns. The performer stumped for John Kerry in 2004 and Mr. Obama in 2008. In February, the Obama team placed the song on its election playlist.

Yet after extensive support for Mr. Obama in 2008, Mr. Springsteen opted to sit 2012 out. In an interview with reporters in Paris in February, Mr. Springsteen reiterated his support for the president but also expressed some disappointment, saying that “there's not as many middle-class or working-class voices heard in the administration as I thought there would be.”

“I'm not a professional campaigner, and every four years I don't think that I'm going to go and pick a guy and go after him,” Mr. Springsteen said of his decision to remain “on the sidelines” this election.

He echoed his sentiment in July to The New Yorker, explaining, “While I'm no t saying never, and I still like to support the president, you know, it's something I didn't do for a long time, and I don't have plans to be out there every time.”



A Trip With Beyonce or on Hair Force One? You Decide.

September 13, 2012, 5:44 pm
By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS

First came the e-mail from Beyoncé Knowles: want to fly to New York to hang out with her and President Obama?

Then a message from Mitt Romney arrived: how about spending a day with him on the campaign plane his wife calls “Hair Force One”?

On Thursday, the presidential campaigns got creative with their pleas for cash, trying to grab supporters' attention after a summer filled with increasingly desperate fund-raising e-mails. Both campaigns sent out messages asking for small donations in exchange for face time with the candidates.

Supporters have received a barrage of e-mails from the campaigns in recent months with subject lines ranging from the overly familiar “Dinner?” and â €œRain Check?” (from President Obama) to the gloomy: “A laundry list of broken promises” (from Mr. Romney). But a personal message from Beyoncé? Now that might get your attention.

With the subject line “I don't usually e-mail you,” Ms. Knowles invited supporters to donate and enter their names to meet her, her husband, Jay-Z, and the president in New York, with airfare and hotel included. The e-mail was signed “Love, Beyoncé.”

Mr. Romney's e-mail, titled “Fly With Me,” attempted to use a little humor. The note said that his wife, Ann, liked to joke that the campaign plane should be called “Hair Force One,” a reference to Mr. Romney's well-groomed locks. Those who donated could win a trip aboard the plane for a day of campaigning.

“And, who knows,” Mr. Romney added, “maybe you and I will come up with a better name for the campaign plane.”

The Obama campaign has been playing catch-up in the f und-raising game. On Monday, the campaign announced that it had raised $114 million in August, noting that the amount was more than the Romney campaign for the first time since April.

The Romney campaign and the Republican National Convention said they raised more than $111 million in August. Both campaigns have touted the money they have earned from smaller donors to prove their grassroots appeal.



On the Trail in Colorado, Obama Tries Balancing Campaigning With Mideast Events

September 13, 2012, 3:33 pm
By JIM RUTENBERG

GOLDEN, Colo. â€" President Obama spent the second day of what was to be an upbeat swing through the politically vital Mountain West on Thursday balancing the somber tone that a foreign policy crisis demands and the hyper-partisan rhetoric that eight thousand Coloradoans came to hear.

At an outdoor rally under a clear blue sky here, where the crowd was so excited that it cheered a flock of squawking geese overhead before the president spoke, Mr. Obama began with a somber reminder that four Americans had been killed in Benghazi, Libya, more than 6,000 miles away.

“Obviously, our hearts are heavy this week,'' Mr. Obama said, as a hush fell over the crowd. But to a wider television audience he vowe d: “I want people around the world to hear me: to all those who would do us harm, no act of terror will go unpunished.” He added, “no act of violence shakes the resolve of the United States of America.”

But he went from there into the new, convention-tested stump speech he would have given had anti-American protests not broken out in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, and in Yemen on Thursday.

The president drew cheers for mentioning Bill Clinton and his convention speech line about the Republicans' budget arithmetic and laughs when he riffed that Republicans are seeking to solve all the nation's problems with tax cuts: “You need to make a restaurant reservation, you don't need a new iPhone: there's a tax cut for that,” he said.

One word that went unspoken here on Thursday: Romney. Instead, Mr. Obama made reference to his “opponent,'' which aides said was prompted by the president's desire to remain mindful of the ton e of his political rhetoric amid the events in the Middle East.

Aides also said they wanted to stay out of the way as Mr. Romney continues to take questions about his initial tone on the crisis and the administration's response to it.

White House officials said they were planning to avoid getting drawn into a political argument over the killings in Libya, and telegraphed comfort with the campaign debate moving onto foreign policy turf, which they consider better for them than Mr. Romney, whose campaign has rested mostly on his economic arguments.

But it was not all smooth sailing. On the way to the event here Mr. Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, was forced to address questions about Mr. Obama's comments to the Spanish language network Telemundo that he does not consider the new government of Egypt either an ally or a foe.

Mr. Carney said: “The president, in diplomatic and legal terms, was speaking correctly. We do not have an alliance treaty wi th Egypt. Ally is a legal term of art. As I said, we do not have a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, like we do, for example, with our NATO allies. But as the president has said, Egypt is a longstanding and close partner of the United States and we have built on that foundation in supporting Egypt's transition to democracy and working with the new government.”



TimesCast Politics: The Response to the Libyan Attack

September 13, 2012, 3:11 pm
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Paul Ryan Gets His Own Meet-and-Greet Room on Capitol Hill

September 13, 2012, 2:23 pm
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Only a few months ago, Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, was just another member of the House of Representatives, shuffling to the floor for votes with his iPod earphones stuck in his ears, or walking among colleagues in the Longworth House Office building.

But Thursday, in a sort of Beyoncé moment, Mr. Ryan, now the vice presidential nominee of his party, will receive members who wish to see him on a come-and-go-basis in a conference room on the Hill. The House Republican Conference sent out the invitation.

Mr. Ryan is returning to the Capitol to vote on a short-term budget measure, a much-anticipated moment by many of his colleagues who have not seen him since before t he five-week summer recess, which ended this week. Mr. Ryan's selection as the vice-presidential nominee was announced during the break.

Democrats are somewhat less excited, but they have welcomed Mr. Ryan back with a video released by the office of the Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California. The video focuses on his voting record and policy ideas.

Members will be permitted to visit with Mr. Ryan at 4:45 in a room reserved by the House Republican Conference until the vote is called. No staffers, unless chaperoned by a member, are allowed to join.



Romney Delivers Broad Criticism of Obama on Foreign Policy

September 13, 2012, 2:06 pm
By ASHLEY PARKER

FAIRFAX, Va. - Speaking to a modest-sized crowd in Northern Virginia Thursday, Mitt Romney sought to move beyond his criticism of President Obama‘s response to the turmoil in Libya and Egypt and instead broadly paint the president as weak on foreign policy.

“As we watch the world today, sometimes it seems that we're at the mercy of events, instead of shaping events, and a strong America is essential to shape events. And a strong America, by the way, depends on a strong military,” Mr. Romney said at an outdoor rally here. “We have to have a military second to none and that's so strong no one would ever think of testing it.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Romney came under fire by Democrats and Republi cans alike, for seeming to play politics as the crisis was unfolding in the Middle East. Before all of the facts on the ground were known - including the death of J. Christopher Stevens, the United States ambassador to Libya - Mr. Romney's campaign released a statement criticizing the Obama administration for not condemning the attacks and seeming to sympathize with the attackers. (In fact, a statement put out by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo came hours before the attacks, in an attempt to quell the tensions, though the embassy later stood by their statement in a Tweet. See a full timeline of events.)

But by Thursday, he seemed eager to move past the developing crisis in the Middle East, instead preferring to allude to the situation only briefly at the beginning of his speech.

“I also recognize that right now we're in mourning,” he said. “We've lost four of our diplomats across the world, we're thinking about their families and th ose that they've left behind.”

At the mere mention of Libya, however, a man in the crowd began shouting: “Why are you politicizing Libya?”

As the crowd shouted the protestor down, Mr. Romney tried to continue, before concluding, “I would offer a moment of silence but one gentleman doesn't want to be silent so we're going to keep on going.”

Mr. Romney implicitly contrasted himself to the president, telling the crowd that he would stand up for United States interests abroad.

“The world needs American leadership, the Middle East needs American leadership,” Mr. Romney said. “And I intend to be a president that provides the leadership that America respects and will keep us admired throughout the world.”

Launching into a more typical attack on the president, Mr. Romney criticized him for cutting defense spending.

“This president has done something I find very hard to understand,” Mr. Romney said. “Ever since F.D.R., we've had the capacity to be engaged in two conflicts at once. And he's saying, ‘No we're going to cut that back to only one conflict.' And so he's put in place cuts of almost a trillion dollars, with his budget cuts and the sequestration cuts we'll have almost a trillion dollars of cuts to our military.”

He added: “If I'm president of the United States we will restore our military commitment and keep America the strongest military in the world.”



Right Begins to Rally Around Romney\'s Response to Attacks

September 13, 2012, 11:13 am
By SARAH WHEATON

Republicans were not exactly rushing to defend Mitt Romney's brisk critique of the Obama administration's response to a controversial Web video and the protests it seemed to help spawn. However, by Thursday, the right establishment was starting to circle the wagons around Mr. Romney, the Republican presidential candidate.

Though some have said Mr. Romney might have spoken too soon when he called the Obama administration “disgraceful” after the American Embassy in Cairo issued a statement, that came out before the protests began, condemning the anti-Islam video. Mr. Romney said, “It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.” But, The Wall Street Journal dismissed the relevance of chronology.

“Whatever the timing of the Cairo Embassy's statements, Mr. Romney is right that a U.S. Embassy ought to ignore YouTube videos produced by obscure cranks,” wrote The Journal's editorial board, which is a key bellwether of conservative sentiment. The editorial concluded: “His political faux pax was to offend a pundit class that wants to cede the foreign policy debate to Mr. Obama without thinking seriously about the trouble for America that is building in the world.”

However, one of the pundits who might have been offended was a conservative Journal columnist, Peggy Noonan. The embassy attacks that left four Americans dead were a “water's edge moment,” she said in a video posted Wednesday afternoon. “And everybody should cool it, absorb, think and then say only serious and meaningful things, and never allow themselves to look lik e they are using it as a political opportunity. Romney looked weak today.”

Still, the Republican nominee had other high-profile defenders on the right. Ari Fleischer, who served as President George W. Bush's spokesman, tried to cast an earlier controversial remark by Mr. Romney as a prescient insight. Referring to Mr. Romney's July suggestion that cultural differences explain economic disparities between Israel and the Palestinian territories, Mr. Fleischer issued a series of Twitter messages on Thursday morning:

(3/3) And that assumes the movie actually had anything to do with the 9/11/12 attacks.

- Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) 13 Sep 12

The conservative blogger Erick Erickson's argument that the media has “beclowned themselves” is also bouncing around the right side of the blogosphere. Rather than reporting on the facts on the ground in North Africa and how the White House was responding, he writes, “the media wanted to focus on Mitt Romney.”

And when Mr. Erickson concludes by focusing on Mr. Romney himself, he writes that the candidate's statement was no gaffe, but a simple statement of his views: “He, I, and many others really do think Barack Obama is an apologist.”



Tip of the Week: Photos in Full Screen View

September 13, 2012, 7:20 am
By J.D. BIERSDORFER

The ability to see photos in full-screen mode on the computer cuts down background distraction from icons cluttering the desktop. In Windows, when you open a photo in Windows Explorer, press the F11 key on the keyboard to expand the picture to the full screen. If it does not work, the manufacturer may have modified the keyboard function; try pressing the Function key and F11 or check the computer's manual.

Pressing F11 when looking at a photo or video in Windows Media Player should also expand it to a full-screen view. The F11 key expands windows to the full screen as well. Press the Escape key to close the full-screen view.

In Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8, you can click the arrows in the top right c orner of a photo in the Mac's built-in Preview program to expand it to the full screen. With the Quick Look function on the Mac, however, you do not even need to have the photo open in the Preview program - just click on the photo's icon and press the Mac's Option key and Space bar to see the image expand to the entire screen; the Quick Look shortcut also works in Mac OS X 10.6. Press the Escape key to return to the normal view.



The Early Word: Fallout

September 13, 2012, 6:00 am
By ASHLEY SOUTHALL

In Today's Times:
The deadly attack on an American consulate in Libya on Tuesday pushed foreign policy to the front of the presidential campaign, with Mitt Romney quickly attacking President Obama for his response to the situation, Peter Baker and Ashley Parker write. But Mr. Romney's attempt to use the event to draw a contrast with Mr. Obama on foreign policy started a confrontation that landed him on the defensive and drew attention away from questions about Mr. Obama's handling of uprisings in the Arab world.

In contrast to the helpful and forceful response of Libyan officials to the attack on the American consulate, Egyptian officials' tepid response to attacks the same day on the American E mbassy in Cairo has illuminated concerns in the Obama administration that “bigger, longer-term problems” lie in Egypt, Helene Cooper and Mark Landler write.

Mr. Obama is increasingly leaning on his biggest donors and fund-raisers for his re-election campaign, and Mr. Romney has fielded a similarly powerful group, Nicholas Confessore writes. Watchdog groups say that the campaigns' willingness to reward those individuals with perks like access and entertainment confirm a give-more, get-more state of play in the game of presidential fund-raising.

The fight between Chicago and its teachers' union threatens to expose rifts within the Democratic coalition that could undermine Mr. Obama's re-election effort, Steven Greenhouse writes. To conservatives' delight, the strike pits Mayor Rahm Emanuel and wealthy liberals against the teachers' union and other labor groups, all allies of Mr. Obama, who has tried to stay on the sidelines.

Representative Paul D. Rya n, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, is playing up his native appeal in Wisconsin, as both campaign see the state as up for grabs in November, Jeff Zeleny and Trip Gabriel write. Republicans are hopeful after Democrats' unsuccessful efforts in 2010 to recall Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican. But Democrats aren't giving up easily on a state Mr. Obama won in 2008, running ads in the state starting Wednesday and sending in Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. today.

Congressional negotiators appear unlikely to reach a deal on a five-year farm bill after the previous authorization expired last month, Jennifer Steinhauer writes. The House refuses to act on the Senate's legislation or its own version of the bill, and the political polarization on Capitol Hill makes coming up with new legislation impossible.

A federal judge in Washington has blocked the government from enforcing a provision of law that allows the authorities to hold certain terror suspects indefin itely without trial, a ruling handed down as the House voted to extend a law that expands the government's surveillance powers. Charlie Savage writes that the ruling against the Obama administration and the House action signal that “the debate over the balance between national security and civil liberties is still unfolding 11 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.”

Happening in Washington:
Economic data expected today include the August producer price index and weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m., followed by weekly mortgage rates at 10.

Mr. Romney is scheduled to make a campaign stop at 11 in Fairfax, Va.

At 2:15 p.m., Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, will hold a news conference as the central bank's policy committee concludes two days of meetings on interest rates. The panel will issue a statement at 12:30 p.m., followed by an updated economic forecast at 2.

At 7, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will deliver remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's annual awards ceremony.



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