Barack Obama, 2012 Presidential Election | featured news

Mitt Romney's campaign is aligning itself with President Barack Obama—and breaking from Republican leaders—by saying the government will be imposing a penalty, not a tax, on people who don't buy insurance as required by the new health-care law. The break from his Republican allies illustrates the difficulty the presumptive GOP presidential nominee faces in criticizing the president for a national health-care law that resembles the one Mr. Romney signed as Massachusetts governor. Both laws include a requirement that most individuals buy insurance coverage.

The presidential race is entering the sultry summer, a final lull before the sprint to Election Day, with President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney neck and neck and no sign that either can break away.

Obama was described, and demeaned, as a “metrosexual black Abraham Lincoln.” Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee for whom Davis worked, was derided as “a crusty old politician who often seemed confused” and failed to exploit the target-rich opportunity presented by the venomous Wright.

Romney repeated his vow to repeal the law if elected. But even if his fellow Republicans win both chambers of Congress in the November 6 elections, Democrats will likely still retain enough seats in the Senate to keep the law in place.

A super PAC backing President Obama is out with a new TV ad today criticizing Mitt Romney for making money on business deals in which companies went bankrupt... "For every company he drove into the ground, Romney averaged a $92 million dollar profit," the narrator says. "Now he says his business experience would make him a good president? If Romney wins, the middle class loses."

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.

Americans find both President Obama and Republican opponent Mitt Romney likable -- Obama more so, reports the Gallup Poll. Presented with a list of eight personal characteristics that could describe the candidates, 81% of respondents said Obama "is likable;" 64% said the same of Romney.

The attack is the latest iteration of President Obama’s attempts to demonize Mitt Romney over his tenure at Bain Capital.

House Republicans finally have their big standoff with President Obama and his attorney general. Are they giving Obama just what he wanted?