2012 election

President’s Win Is Reprieve for ‘Obamacare’

Posted on 11/7/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsBy Jay Hancock, Staff Writer, Kaiser Health News President Barack Obama’s victory cements the Affordable Care Act, expanding coverage to millions but leaving weighty questions about how to pay for it and other care to be delivered to an increasingly unhealthy, aging population. “The re-election of Obama and the Democrats holding the Senate will solidify the law in American history,” said Len Nichols, a health economist at George Mason University who supports what both sides have come to call Obamacare. …

Tammy Baldwin Wins U.S. Senate Race in Wisconsin

Posted on 11/7/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

PoliticsNews organizations have called the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin in favor of Democrat Tammy Baldwin, who defeated former Wisconsin governor and Bush administration official Tommy Thompson. With 78.8 percent of the vote counted, Baldwin was leading 50.8 percent to 46.6 percent, according to Politico.

In Missouri, McCaskill Defeats Akin to Win Re-Election

Posted on 11/6/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

PoliticsDemocratic Senator Claire McCaskill, written off just months ago as a likely loser in her Missouri re-election race, has won a trip back to Washington — and she has 50- to 64-year-old voters, the state’s biggest voter group by age, in part to thank for it. McCaskill, who was dragging in polls early this summer, was expected to lose the seat to a Republican. But when GOP nominee Todd Akin made controversial comments about abortion and rape victims, McCaskill’s numbers began …

How to Follow the Election Online

Posted on 11/6/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsWhether you’re a hard-core political junkie or just an ordinary citizen who’s concerned about the outcome, there are a wealth of ways to follow election night 2012 on your laptop, tablet or even your smart phone. Here are some suggestions: News websites. ABCNews.com will be offering a dizzying array of information, from live streaming of its regular TV election-night coverage, to an interactive map that will allow viewers to track real-time results in key battleground states, and “Breaking Hashtags,” a feature …

Revisiting the Political Playbook on Medicare

Posted on 11/2/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsIt was once accepted conventional wisdom in politics that messing with federal retirement programs would sink a candidate with older voters. Want to win retiree-rich Florida? Then just attack your opponent as a threat to Social Security or Medicare or both. During the 1992 Democratic presidential primary, Bill Clinton took one little paragraph from Paul Tsongas’ treatise, “A Call to Economic Arms,’’ in which his rival floated the idea of a 1 percent reduction in cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security. …

12 Senate Races to Watch: Update

Posted on 11/2/2012 by Election 2012 | Politics | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsIn an Oct. 24 post we looked at how the future of Medicare, Social Security and other programs for older Americans may well be shaped by the outcomes of 12 key races for seats in the U.S. Senate, all of which have been rated as tossups by RealClearPolitics or major news organizations. Here are some updates on how those races are playing out in the final days of the 2012 campaign. Each entry includes excerpts from — and links to …