Breaking political news before the news

It has been almost 24 hours since the gavel has fallen announcing the start of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and while there has not been an “empty seat” moment, there has been plenty happening. The first night of the DNC was a positive one for Democrats as speeches from Michelle Obama and Julian Castro hit their mark causing social media to go haywire. We were tracking the Michelle Obama speech and she topped Mitt Romney’s RNC speech peak with 369 tweets per second. Romney’s peak was 310 tweets per second. Day two started off in a different mood as the DNC decided to move Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speech from the 80,000 seat Bank of America stadium to the… Read more

In a May online poll done by CNN, abortion and women’s issues are nowhere to be found in the ten listed categories of 2012′s important election issues. Economy, healthcare, national debt, education, taxes, help the middle class, reform, environment, state of politics, and social security are the top issues according to that poll. Similar polls late last year and into this year show much of the same. Going into the 2012 Republican National Convention, the two words on the lips of politicos are abortion and hurricane. This is all because of Todd Akin, the Missouri Congressman running for Senate, who said that it was difficult for women to get pregnant from “legitimate rape.” The news organizations are talking about it,… Read more

It is not quite the Dan Quayle “potatoe” incident, but President Obama today might not be amused to find a picture of him and some others spelling swing state Ohio as Oiho with their arms. Some are saying the picture is doctored or a mirror image. Either way it is getting some traction on social media though there is barely a mention of it in any other kind of media. I’ll bet the guy with the sweaty armpits is proud too. Here is some of the fun being had at the Presidents expense. Are they being too hard on him? Did this actually happen? FACT: “OIHO” is actually a native [Kenyan/Hawaiian/Indonesian] word for “Where’s the golf course?” #ChooseYourOwnAdventureJoke — AOTUS… Read more

Republican Todd Akin caused a stir on over the weekend when he said that women’s bodies can almost always prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape.” Akin is a six term Congressman running against Democrat Claire McCaskill for the Missouri Senate seat. This statement has caused a lot of movement amongst strategists, pundits, and candidates in races far away from Missouri. Many GOP candidates, pundits and figures are calling for Akin to step down because of his remarks. Many Democratic strategists are hoping that he stays in the race, eying an easy and much needed win for them. Some see an opportunity to pigeon hole all Republicans as thinking the same way that Akin does, and many Republicans set out… Read more

Mitt Romney’s choice for VP, Paul Ryan, recently came out and said that political rap-rockers Rage Against The Machine are his favorite band. Ryan is 42 and lived his young adult years in the 1990′s when this band was at the height of popularity. So it would make sense that this band would be amongst his favorites. Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who is the most outspoken and the biggest activist in the group, did not take it very well that Ryan is a fan. Morello, 48 stated in an open letter to Rolling Stone magazine, “Ryan claims that he likes Rage’s sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don’t care for Paul Ryan’s sound or his lyrics…. Read more

There was no time for reflection after today’s shooting of a security officer outside of the Family Research Council in Washington D.C. The shooting suspect is in custody, wrestled to the ground by the injured officer and others. The Family Research Council is a large advocacy organization that promotes the “traditional family unit” and a Judeo-Christian value system. Both sides are already trying to spin what happened into political leverage. Based on twitter activity, some on the left seemingly are saying ‘it’s about time’ this group gets some payback. Others are expressing sympathy but reiterating they feel the FRC is a hate group. The right are seeing this a way to turn the “violence” rhetoric away from the tea party… Read more

A new Zogby poll was released today stating the 41% of the nation’s youth support the Romney/Ryan ticket. This is said to be the highest such number from Romney in this campaign, and a great number all around considering that the youth vote for Obama in 2008 was 66%. This poll seems to say that youth support for Obama has fallen by 17% since 2008. This is only one poll, and both sides are either championing it or labeling Zogby as a inaccurate nuisance in the polling world. Zogby is claiming that the addition of Paul Ryan to the ticket as Romney’s VP choice is part of the reason for Romney’s surge with the youth vote. Are you 18-29 and… Read more

One has to wonder if the Saturday announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s VP choice was calculated to slowdown immediate attacks from the left. However, with social media at our fingertips, one does not need copy and print to get the spin out. It is done with a picture shared on Facebook, or in 140 character or less on Twitter. Officials on the left have come out with a barrage of attacks calling Ryan someone who will destroy Medicare. Everyone on the Obama email list has received multiple email blasts with appeals to give money. The people who share pictures have come out with Ryan as the “Royce to Romney’s Rolls” - a calling him a homophobic who supposedly… Read more

Last week at VoterTide our team decided it would be fun to put up a Facebook Poll to see who our followers wanted Mitt Romney to pick as Vice President. We picked out the ten most popular names we were seeing in VoterTide data nationwide. Then we posted the poll to Facebook users. However, we didn’t close the poll to additional “write-in” names. The votes and write-ins began and guess what? Actor Clint Eastwood was entered as a write-in. We left the poll open for a couple days and have received 244 votes so far. Some other humorous names were entered such as Nancy Pelosi, Rafalca The Dressage Horse, “Who Cares”, and of course “Your Mom.” Clint Eastwood kept getting… Read more

Mitt Romney has launched an app that will tell people who is pick for Vice President will be before anyone else. Many are speculating that Romney will announce his VP pick right after the Olympics wrap up this weekend. There has been wild speculation all over the map from popular long shots like Condoleezza Rice and General David Petraeus to more likely choices such as Rob Portman and possibly even Paul Ryan. Who is your pick for Mitt Romney’s VP slot?  Take the poll on our Facebook page. BREAKING: Mitt Romney picks Home Depot paint sample “Parchment White” as VP. #Romney/White2012 — Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) August 8, 2012   NBC reporting that Romney is down to three potential VP candidates…. Read more