Iowa, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

President Obama sought to shore up his standing in Midwestern states, including Iowa and Wisconsin, while Mitt Romney fought to secure critical states like Florida and Virginia.

Less than a week before Election Day, President Barack Obama holds a statistically significant lead over Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground of Iowa, while the two candidates are locked in tight races in New Hampshire and Wisconsin.

Unemployment rates fell or held steady last month in nine key swing states at the center of this year's presidential election. Rates dropped in Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada and North Carolina. They were unchanged in New Hampshire and Virginia.

Meet Matt Reisetter, a weary and somewhat teed-off Iowa voter. A stay-at-home dad in his mid-30s, he has long since unplugged his two land lines to stop the nonstop calls from campaigns reminding him to vote. But that hasn’t blocked the three to four daily pieces of political mail.

A month before the closing arguments of a campaign traditionally would be made, a steady stream of voters walked into election offices across Iowa on Thursday to cast their ballots.

An Iowa judge today froze emergency rules to verify the eligibility of about 3,500 voters until a lawsuit is resolved. An Iowa judge today froze emergency rules to verify the eligibility of about 3,500 voters until a lawsuit is resolved.

Polk County District Judge Mary Pat Gunderson issued a temporary injunction against the two rules, which Secretary of State Matt Schultz enacted in July, says the Des Moines Register.

Representative Paul D. Ryan spoke from a political soapbox as President Obama began a three-day bus tour through a swing state. In an early test of themes that will undoubtedly dominate the campaign in the remaining months, the two men parried on welfare, the unemployment rate and the role of government. Mr. Obama painted his rival as a conservative ideologue whose refusal to compromise has led to the Washington gridlock that has alienated many Americans.

If there were any questions about whether Paul Ryan would spark strong reactions as Republican Mitt Romney’s newly-picked running mate, they were answered today amid the Jumbo Corn Dog stands and funnel cake carts of the Iowa State Fair.

In a campaign fast growing nasty, the Republican National Committee is trying a gentler approach... Several Republicans who weren't involved in making the ad say a softer approach may be essential to the effort to defeat Obama in November, given polls showing him with strong personal favorability ratings. The ad is airing in Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa.

While nationally the two rivals are locked in a dead heat, in 12 expected battleground states — Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin — Obama leads by eight points in the survey.