Presidential Debate President Obama and Mitt Romney – 10/16/12 FULL TRANSCRIPT

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY
PARTICIPATE IN A CANDIDATES DEBATE, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY,
HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK

OCTOBER 16, 2012

SPEAKERS: FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY, R-MASS.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

CANDY CROWLEY, MODERATOR

[*]
CROWLEY: Good evening from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. I’m Candy Crowley from CNN’s “State of the Union.” We are here for the second presidential debate, a town hall, sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

CROWLEY: The Gallup organization chose 82 uncommitted voters from the New York area. Their questions will drive the night. My goal is to give the conversation direction and to ensure questions get answered.

The questions are known to me and my team only. Neither the commission, nor the candidates have seen them. I hope to get to as many questions as possible.

CROWLEY: And because I am the optimistic sort, I’m sure the candidates will oblige by keeping their answers concise and on point.

Each candidate has as much as two minutes to respond to a common question, and there will be a two-minute follow-up. The audience here in the hall has agreed to be polite and attentive — no cheering or booing or outbursts of any sort.

We will set aside that agreement just this once to welcome President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.

(APPLAUSE)

Gentlemen, thank you both for joining us here tonight. We have a lot of folks who’ve been waiting all day to talk to you, so I want to get right to it.

Governor Romney, as you know, you won the coin toss, so the first question will go to you. And I want to turn to a first-time voter, Jeremy Epstein, who has a question for you.

QUESTION: Mr. President, Governor Romney, as a 20-year-old college student, all I hear from professors, neighbors and others is that when I graduate, I will have little chance to get employment. What can you say to reassure me, but more importantly my parents, that I will be able to sufficiently support myself after I graduate?

ROMNEY: Thank you, Jeremy. I appreciate your — your question, and thank you for being here this evening and to all of those from Nassau County that have come, thank you for your time. Thank you to Hofstra University and to Candy Crowley for organizing and leading this — this event.

Thank you, Mr. President, also for being part of this — this debate.

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Mitt Romney Isn’t Telling the Truth – VIDEO

Published on Oct  5, 2012 by     BarackObamadotcom
Mitt Romney didn’t tell the truth about his tax plan, his plan for Americans with pre-existing conditions, his Medicare plan, nor the President’s Medicare plan.
Why would Romney not tell the truth about what he’d do as President? Because his real plans would hurt the middle class.

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FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TONIGHT – 10/3/2012

FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE TONIGHT. You can follow along tonight on these channels:

barackobama.com/debate  will be livestreaming debate coverage and host a special message from the Vice President directly after the debates.

@TruthTeam2012 will be livetweeting and factchecking the debates as they happen

@Obama2012 will be providing analysis

@Students4Obama will feature livetweeting by Kal Penn

@JoeBiden will also be livetweeting the debate

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FIRED UP READY TO GO!

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This Seat’s Taken…

This seat’s taken. OFA.BO/c2gbfi, twitter.com/BarackObama/st…

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 31, 2012

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Obama Camp Slams Romney’s Claim About Ohio Early-Voting Lawsuit

A woman in Ohio fills out a provisional ballot during the 2008 election. President Obama and Mitt Romney are trading charges over a lawsuit Democrats filed after the state’s early voting law was changed. (Chris Hondros, Getty Images / November 4, 2008)

Charges that the president aims to undermine service members’ rights are called ‘shameful.’

By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times
August 6, 2012, 6:02 a.m.

CHICAGO — A top advisor to President Obama‘s campaign lashed out at Mitt Romney on Sunday, arguing that the presumptive GOP nominee is misrepresenting a lawsuit Democrats filed in Ohio to equalize voting rights for all Ohioans.

The suit, which Romney has seized upon to argue that Obama is trying to undermine service members’ voting rights, calls for all Ohioans to be able to cast early votes up until the Monday before election day.

“What that lawsuit calls for is not to deprive the military of the right to vote in the final weekend of the campaign. Of course they should have that right. What that suit is about is whether the rest of Ohio should have the same right, and I think it’s shameful that Gov. Romney would hide behind our servicemen and women,” Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Until 2011, all Ohioans could cast early ballots as late as the Monday before election day. Last year, the Legislature instituted a Friday cutoff for all voters except members of the military and their families.

In mid-July, the Obama campaign and state and national Democratic groups filed suit, arguing that a two-tier voting system was unconstitutional and calling for all voters to be allowed to cast ballots until the day before election day. The suit does not call for reducing early voting access for service members.

On Saturday, Romney accused Obama of trying to undermine service members’ voting rights, and he argued that Ohio was within its rights to give service members special privileges.

“President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage,” Romney said in a statement Saturday. ” …. If I’m entrusted to be the commander in chief, I’ll work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.”

The disagreement between the two camps hinges on the Constitution: Obama argues that all citizens must be afforded equal voting access, while Romney maintains that it is legal for active members of the military and their families to receive extra privileges.

“Making it easier for service men and women and their families to vote early is not only constitutional but commendable,” said Katie Biber, general counsel for the Romney campaign. “It is not a violation of the equal protection clause to give military voters special flexibility in early voting.”

A spokesman for the Obama campaign said Romney was trying to restrict access to the polls and was fabricating the notion that Democrats sought to restrict voting rights.

MORE HERE

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First Lady Michelle Obama: “It Takes One” (VIDEO)

Published on Jul 19, 2012 by     BarackObamadotcom

It starts with you: http://OFA.BO/xJQfHT

First Lady Michelle Obama announces the launch of “It Takes One”. “It Takes One” is a new effort that asks you to inspire one more person to join you every time you take an action to move this country forward. If you’re making phone calls or knocking on doors, take a friend along. If you’re registering to vote, make sure that a family member is registered as well. If you’re attending an event, bring one neighbor along. And if you’re voting early on election day, bring one new voter with you. You could inspire five, or ten, or 100 new people before November.
As the First Lady shares:
“That one new voter you register in your precinct. That one neighbor you help get to the polls on November 6th. That could make all the difference. That one conversation you have. That one volunteer you recruit. That could be the difference between waking up on November 7th and feeling the promise of four more years or asking yourself, ‘could I have done more?'”
“As Barack has said all along, ‘It takes one voice to change a room. And one room to change a community. And one community to change the direction of our nation’. It takes one and it starts with you.”

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Romney Campaign Said to Ask Scott to Downplay Job Gains

Bloomberg

By Michael C. Bender –  Jun 21, 2012 1:46 PM MT

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named.

What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.

Scott should follow the advice of the Romney campaign and it won’t undermine his own message, said Mac Stipanovich, a political strategist and lobbyist in Florida.

“This is one of those situations where you could have it both ways and there’s enough truth in it that it would resonate,” Stipanovich said. “It would be better if everybody was singing from the same hymnal.”

MORE HERE

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Two Choices: President Obama Sets Out His Vision for the Economy (VIDEO)

Uploaded by     BarackObamadotcom on Jun 14, 2012

Are you in? https://my.barackobama.com/twochoicesvid
President Obama was in Ohio today to deliver the first in a series of speeches that lay out the clear choice in this election between a vision that moves us forward and creates an economy built to last, and one that would send us backward to the failed policies of the past decade.

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Daily Kos/SEIU Weekly State of the Nation Poll

Daily Kos

Public Policy Polling, 1000 registered voters, MoE ±3.1%, June  7, 2012 – June 10, 2012.

If the candidates for President this fall were Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, who would you vote for?

	Barack Obama	Mitt Romney	Undecided
All	50	42	8
Women	53	39	8
Men	48	44	8
Democrat	86	9	5
Republican	8	84	8
Independent/Other	48	40	12
Liberal	79	13	8
Moderate	64	27	9
Conservative	21	72	7
White	43	49	7
African-American	84	13	3
Asian	79	19	2
Hispanic	53	32	15

MORE HERE

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