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Articles by Seth McLaughlin

** FILE ** In 1980: President Carter and Republican candidate Ronald Reagan shake hands after debating in Cleveland. (Associated Press)

Presidential debate ritual is great equalizer for incumbent, challenger

Call it the built-in gravitas gap: President Obama flies the country in a grand 747, cruises in plush limousines adorned with American flags, and speaks from the White House Rose Garden, while his campaign opponent, Mitt Romney, flies in a smaller MD-83 passenger jet, rides in nondescript SUVs and makes speeches at factories and strip malls.

October 2, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver on Monday, Oct. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Romney won’t deport illegal immigrants with temporary legal status

Moving to soften his immigration stance ever so slightly, Mitt Romney said this week he will not immediately deport the illegal immigrants granted tentative legal status by President Obama — and the Republican nominee also set a soft deadline for getting a broader immigration bill done in 18 months.

October 2, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney shakes hands during a Sept. 28, 2012, rally at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, Pa. (Associated Press)

Romney insists Pa. in play in November

Mitt Romney courted military cadets and top-dollar donors on Friday as he declared Pennsylvania up for grabs in the November election — a state where the campaign is not running television ads and where poll numbers suggest that Friday's pit stop appeared to be more about raising the money needed to compete in more hotly-contested battleground states.

September 28, 2012
President Obama has an uphill battle convincing military voters that they should re-elect him as commander in chief. (Associated Press)

Obama, Romney move battle to Virginia for military votes

President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney each trolled for military votes Thursday in the critical swing state of Virginia, and although polls show Mr. Obama with a slight edge overall in the state, he is having trouble convincing veterans that he should remain their commander in chief.

September 27, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks Sept. 25, 2012, during a campaign rally in Vandalia, Ohio. (Associated Press)

Romney, Obama locked in a duel for Ohio’s working-class voters

Scrambling to regain his footing in the Buckeye State, Mitt Romney enlisted the help Wednesday of a golf legend and a television star with the sort of blue-collar credentials that could resonate with the state's working-class voters. President Obama, meanwhile, made his own Ohio pitch to college crowds at Bowling Green and Kent State.

September 26, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks Sept. 17, 2012, to reporters in Costa Mesa, Calif. (Associated Press)

Romney tax release appears to undercut Democratic charges

Seeking to put to rest lingering questions about his tax history, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Friday released his 2011 tax return as well as a 20-year "summary" of what he has paid to the IRS – a financial history, as told by tax preparers, that appears to punch a hole in Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s claim that the Republican presidential nominee avoided paying federal income taxes for more than a decade.

September 21, 2012
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaks Thursday in Sarasota, Fla. Florida is a key swing state for Mr. Romney’s campaign. (Associated Press)

Romney campaign zeroes in on Florida

Mitt Romney told a Florida crowd Thursday that he — not President Obama — is the real agent of "change" in the 2012 election as the Republican presidential nominee tried to win over voters in a state that's joined Ohio as key bellwethers in presidential elections.

September 20, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney answers questions at a Univision “Meet the Candidates” forum posed by Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas. (Associated Press)

Nondeportation trips up Romney

President Obama's nondeportation policy continued to tie Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in knots Wednesday as he struggled to find a stance that can appeal to Hispanic voters while not angering his own conservative base.

September 19, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks Sept. 19, 2012, to supporters in Miami. (Associated Press)

On the attack, Romney slams Obama’s ‘government-centered’ approach

Far from backing away, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his campaign are embracing his claim that nearly half of Americans are dependent on government as they seek to frame the race as a choice between the GOP's wealth-creation policies and what they called President Obama's wealth-redistribution message.

September 19, 2012
Lunch is served as Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign fundraising event at The Grand America in Salt Lake City, Utah, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Romney, in damage-control mode, takes on Obama’s views on wealth

Mitt Romney on Tuesday said that President Obama's economic vision embraces the notion that government is an instrument to be used to redistribute people's hard-earned money as the Republican presidential candidate tried to curtail political damage from caught-on-camera comments that indicated he has written off nearly half of the electorate.

September 18, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addresses the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles on Sept. 17, 2012. (Associated Press)

Romney campaign gets down to specifics

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will recalibrate his message over the final weeks of the race, his campaign said Monday, putting a "new emphasis" on the "specific aspects" of his policy prescriptions for strengthening the nation's economy and foreign policy abroad.

September 17, 2012
People line up for a fundraiser for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, hosted by former Vice President Dick Cheney in Wilson, Wyo., in July. The focus on the money chase this late in the game — Monday marks 50 days to the election — is a reminder of the changing nature of presidential politics and the need to fill the war chest. (Associated Press)

Fundraisers, not voters, attract nominees to opposition states

Mitt Romney made the more-than-2,200-mile journey last week from Reno, Nev., to Jacksonville, Fla., to appear at the only event he had penciled in for the following day: a fundraiser where guests ponied up as much as $50,000 to see the former governor up close and personal.

September 16, 2012
In this Sept. 14, 2012, photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in the rain at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. President Obama and Romney are embarking on a week heavy with travel through battleground states and appeals key constituencies, with both campaigns wrangling over unrest in the Middle East and who is best equipped to rejuvenate the economy. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Obama’s convention bounce begins to fade

President Obama came out of his nominating convention surging in the polls, both nationally and in key states he will need to carry to win in the Electoral College — but the high already is beginning to fade, and pollsters said he didn't fundamentally alter what's still a neck-and-neck race.

September 16, 2012
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in the rain at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Romney blasts Obama’s foreign policy

Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee, challenged President Obama's foreign policy chops on Thursday, telling supporters that the Democrat has sent mixed message to the world and said the United States "must protect the embassies of our nation."

September 14, 2012
Mitt Romney said that the return of U.S. troops from abroad should not be an excuse to “hollow out our military.” The GOP presidential nominee spoke Tuesday at the National Guard Association Convention. (Associated Press)

Romney: ‘Repair, rebuild’ military

Observing an unofficial Sept. 11 "truce," Mitt Romney didn't directly blast President Obama Tuesday in a speech to the National Guard Association Conference. But the Republican presidential nominee vowed to reverse his Democratic opponent's planned cuts in military spending.

September 11, 2012
GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stands atop a makeshift stage Monday as he addresses an overflow crowd at PR Machine Works in Mansfield, Ohio. (Associated Press)

Romney warns of looming defense cuts

Seeking to regain the offense in the presidential campaign, Mitt Romney on Monday said President Obama is to blame for the automatic defense-spending cuts looming at the beginning of next year and that those reductions will devastate communities in Ohio and other key political states.

September 10, 2012
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop in Orange City, Iowa, Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Obama, Romney trade political blows on the stump

With 60 days to go before Election Day, Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, returned Friday to the campaign trail and launched a television offensive in key battleground states that aimed to chopped away at President Obama's argument for a second term.

September 7, 2012