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President Barack Obama has accused Mitt Romney of being dishonest, after a televised debate that most observers agreed his Republican rival won.
Speaking in Denver, Colorado, Barack Obama urged his rival to tell the “truth” about his own policies.
An estimated 40 million people watched Wednesday’s debate, according to the Nielsen TV ratings service.
The Obama campaign has said there will be some “adjustments” in strategy before the election on 6 November.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Thursday suggested Mitt Romney had a net positive rating for the first time in the presidential campaign.
The poll said 51% of voters viewed him positively, with Barack Obama at 56%. The Republican moved ahead of the president on which candidate voters trust to handle the economy, create jobs and manage the deficit.
Barack Obama told a rally of some 12,000 supporters on Thursday: “When I got on to the stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney.
“But it couldn’t have been Mitt Romney, because the real Mitt Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. The fellow on stage last night said he didn’t know anything about that.”
Mitt Romney repeatedly denied the $5tn claim during Wednesday night’s head-to-head.
Fact-checkers have said that Mitt Romney’s proposal to lower taxes by 20%, abolish estate tax and the alternative minimum tax would reduce revenue by $5 trillion over a decade.
The Republican has said he would help offset that by eliminating tax loopholes; the non-partisan Tax Policy Center says the sums do not add up.
Barack Obama told Thursday’s rally: “So Governor Romney may dance around his positions. But if you want to be president, you owe the American people the truth.
“So here is the truth. Governor Romney cannot pay for his $5 trillion tax plan without blowing up the deficit or sticking it to the middle class. That’s the math. We can’t afford to go down that road again.”
The Democratic president also mocked Mitt Romney’s plan to cut government subsidies for the PBS television channel that produces Sesame Street.
Mitt Romney said during the debate: “I love Big Bird”, adding that would not stop him axing federal funding to the public broadcaster.
“Thank goodness somebody is finally getting tough on Big Bird,” Barack Obama told Thursday’s rally.
“It is about time. We didn’t know that Big Bird was driving the federal deficit.”
Mitt Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams dismissed the president’s attack.
“In full damage-control mode, President Obama today offered no defence of his record and no vision for the future,” he said.
Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod told reporters on a conference call that the campaign would now rethink its strategy.
“We are going to take a hard look at this,” he said.
“I’m sure we will make adjustments as to where to draw the line in these debates and how to use our time.”
Mitt Romney is also back on the campaign trail, appearing at a conservative fundraiser in Colorado on Thursday morning.
Amid sustained cheers, the Republican hopeful told supporters they would have to “go out and knock on doors, and get people who voted for President Barack Obama to see the light and come join our team”.
The candidates went head to head on Wednesday for 90 minutes on jobs, taxes and healthcare.
Opinion polls agreed that Mitt Romney had the upper hand in the debate – the first of three between the White House rivals.
Various surveys gave Mitt Romney a 46-67% margin, with Barack Obama trailing on 22-25%.
The president was criticized for appearing hesitant and subdued, while the former governor – who has been lagging in the race – seemed animated and assertive.
Vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will meet in Danville, Kentucky on 11 October, before the second presidential debate on 16 October.
Mitt Romney was the clear winner of the first 2012 presidential debate held in Denver.
He had obviously practiced so hard and so long that he was nearly hoarse.
Mitt Romney looked Barack Obama in the eyes as he interrupted with animation, overriding the moderator, insisting on a comeback. He didn’t seem rude. He did seem in command and to be enjoying the scrap.
President Barack Obama on the other hand looked as though he’d much rather be out celebrating his wedding anniversary with his wife. He started out looking very nervous, swallowing hard, not the confident performer we are used to seeing.
Barack Obama warmed up and got into his stride but that meant he ended up giving overlong, mini-lectures straight to camera rather than engaging, arguing. He seemed unwilling to actually enter a debate with his opponent, and missed a few obvious openings when he could have attacked Mitt Romney.
Two-thirds of people who watched the first presidential debate think that Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the showdown, according to a nationwide poll conducted Wednesday night.
According to a CNN/ORC International survey conducted right after the debate, 67% of debate watchers questioned said that the Republican nominee won the faceoff, with one in four saying that President Barack Obama was victorious.
“No presidential candidate has topped 60% in that question since it was first asked in 1984,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
While nearly half of debate watchers said the showdown didn’t make them more likely to vote for either candidate, 35% said the debate made them more likely to vote for Mitt Romney while only 18% said the faceoff made them more likely to vote to re-elect the president.
More than six in ten said that president did worse than expected, with one in five saying that Obama performed better than expected. Compare that to the 82% who said that Mitt Romney performed better than expected. Only one in ten felt that the former Massachusetts governor performed worse than expected.
“This poll does not and cannot reflect the views of all Americans. It only represents the views of people who watched the debate and by definition cannot be an indication of how the entire American public will react to Wednesday’s debate in the coming days,” cautions Keating Holland.
The sample of debate-watchers in the poll was 37% Democratic and 33% Republican.
“That indicates that the sample of debate watchers is about four points more Democratic and about eight points more Republican than an average CNN poll of all Americans, for a small advantage for the Republicans in the sample of debate-watchers,” adds Keating Holland.
The poll suggests that the debate didn’t change opinions of the president. Forty-nine percent of debate watchers said before the debate that they had a favorable opinion of Barack Obama, and that number didn’t change following the debate.
It was pretty much a similar story for Mitt Romney, whose favorable rating among debate watchers edged up just two points, from 54% before the debate to 56% after the debate.
The economy dominated the first debate and according to the poll, and by a 55%-43% margin, debate watchers said that Mitt Romney rather than Barack Obama would better handle the economy. On the issue of taxes, which kicked off the debate, Mitt Romney had a 53%-44% edge over Barack Obama. And by a 52%-47% margin, debate watchers said Mitt Romney would better handle health care, and he had the edge on the budget deficit by a 57%-41% margin.
Debate watchers thought Mitt Romney was more aggressive. Fifty-three percent said Mitt Romney spent more time attacking his opponent. Only three in ten thought Barack Obama spent more time taking it to Mitt Romney. By a 58%-37% margin, debate watchers thought Mitt Romney appeared to be the stronger leader.
“Romney’s only Achilles heel may be the perception that he spent more time attacking his opponent than Obama, which may explain why two-thirds of debate-watchers said that Romney did the best job but only 46% said that he was more likeable than Obama,” says Keating Holland.
The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International, with 430 adult Americans who watched the debate questioned by telephone. All interviews were conducted after the end of the debate. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 4.5%.
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President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney have clashed over their economic plans in the first of three televised debates.
In their Denver duel, the candidates contrasted their approach on taxes, the deficit and healthcare.
Barack Obama said he would ensure Americans were “playing by the same rules”. His rival said re-electing Barack Obama would continue a “middle-class squeeze”.
The president has held a narrow lead in recent opinion polls.
He went into the debate ahead in national polls and in many surveys in the swing states that will decide the election.
But he faced a confident opponent on the debate stage, with Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, sounding bullish throughout.
By contrast, the president at times appeared hesitant, occasionally asking moderator Jim Lehrer, of US public television network PBS, for time to finish his points.
Throughout the debate, each man attempted to paint his rival as a disaster for working American families.
They traded barbs on their economic plans, with Barack Obama describing his rival’s approach as “top-down economics” and a retread of Bush-era policies.
“If you think by closing [tax] loopholes and deductions for the well-to-do, somehow you will not end up picking up the tab, then Governor Romney’s plan may work for you,” he said.
“But I think math, common sense, and our history shows us that’s not a recipe for job growth.”
Mitt Romney derided Barack Obama’s policies as “trickle-down government”.
“The president has a view very similar to the one he had when he ran for office four years ago, that spending more, taxing more, regulating more – if you will, trickle-down government – would work,” Mitt Romney said.
“That’s not the right answer for America.”
Mitt Romney pledged not to reduce taxes for wealthy Americans, and said Barack Obama had misrepresented Romney’s tax plans on the campaign trail.
He hit out at the president for failing to cut the budget deficit in half as he pledged in 2008, and insisted that the US must not allow itself to go down the path of Greece or Spain.
Clashing repeatedly with Jim Lehrer over the time clock, Mitt Romney said that in order to reduce the $1.1tn US budget deficit he would repeal Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law and cut other unspecified programmes.
Barack Obama deflected criticism of his fiscal management, highlighting Mitt Romney’s pledge not to raise additional tax revenue. He said Mitt Romney’s approach to deficit reduction was “unbalanced” as a result.
“There has to be revenue in addition to cuts,” Barack Obama said.
On healthcare, Mitt Romney said that Barack Obama’s “Obamacare” reform law of 2010 had increased health costs and kept small businesses from hiring.
Even as he pledged to repeal Barack Obama’s health law, Mitt Romney praised and defended a plan he himself had previously signed as governor of Massachusetts that is widely hailed as the model for the Obama law.
Barack Obama, meanwhile, said his plan had kept insurance companies from denying coverage to sick people.
As the debate ended, each candidate’s allies rushed to talk up their man’s performance.
“The average person at home saw a president who you could trust,” Barack Obama adviser David Plouffe told reporters.
“That’s what the American people are looking for.”
But senior Mitt Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom said the president had spoken “only in platitudes”.
“If this was a boxing match, it would have been called an hour into the fight,” he added.
The University of Denver debate was the first in a series of three presidential forums and one vice-presidential encounter this month.
Running-mates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will meet in Danville, Kentucky on 11 October, before the second presidential debate on 16 October.
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President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney are making final preparations for the first of three crucial presidential debates.
With just 34 days to go until election day, Wednesday’s Denver debate will focus on domestic policy issues.
Mitt Romney has long criticized the president for his economic record, but is likely to face questions over his own tax plans and immigration policy.
Barack Obama has opened up a narrow lead in the race over the past month.
He leads Mitt Romney in national polls and in many recent polls conducted in the swing states that will decide the election.
The latest national survey, released on Tuesday by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal, shows Barack Obama leading, but by just 49% to 46%.
Mitt Romney has struggled in the polls since a secretly filmed recording emerged of him telling a private fundraising event that the 47% of Americans who did not pay income tax viewed themselves as “victims” and were dependent on government help.
Wednesday’s debate at the University of Denver will be the first time voters across the US have had the chance to see Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on stage together.
Both men have already been on the campaign trail for months, and used their prime-time speaking slots at the recent party conventions to make their case to voters.
An even bigger audience is expected for this first debate: the opening head-to-head of the 2008 election attracted more than 50 million TV viewers across the US.
The candidates’ body language will be heavily scrutinized, as will their tone of voice and how they handle themselves under pressure. Media pundits and campaign spin doctors will attempt to seize on any gaffe or mis-statement in an effort to claim victory.
Both campaigns have been playing down their man’s prospects in the run-up to the debate, with Barack Obama praising his opponent’s debating skills and Mitt Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan insisting that one debate alone will not change the campaign.
Nevertheless, both candidates’ messages are well-honed, and their sharp words for each other are familiar to millions of swing-state voters who have faced a onslaught of mostly negative TV advertisements in recent months.
Mitt Romney’s campaign is based around his belief that Barack Obama’s stewardship of the US economy has been a dismal failure. He points to an enduringly high unemployment rate (currently 8.1%) and poor job growth, and says his experience in business will turn the US economy around.
Barack Obama, by contrast, says his opponent offers little except a rehashing of the “failed” Republican policies that caused the economic crash of 2008.
The president proposes tax rises for the wealthiest Americans to help reduce the federal budget deficit, and says his opponent’s plans would hurt the middle class.
But critics say neither man has fully fleshed out his economic policies, and doubts remains about how either Republican or Democrat will tackle the $15 trillion US deficit.
The two candidates have been largely absent from the campaign trail in recent days, shutting themselves away with aides for hours of rigorous preparation and practice.
Mitt Romney, who is known for his meticulous approach to debates, arrived in Denver on Monday and has been using Ohio Senator Rob Portman to play the role of Barack Obama.
The president, meanwhile, has been preparing in Las Vegas, Nevada, with 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry reportedly playing Mitt Romney.
With the principals waiting in the wings, Tuesday saw vice-presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan take centre stage.
Joe Biden stole the headlines, telling a campaign rally in North Carolina that the US middle class had been “buried” for four years. The remark was seized on gleefully by the Romney campaign.
“Of course the middle class has been buried,” Paul Ryan said in Iowa later on.
“They’re being buried by the Obama administration’s economic failures.”
Presidential election debates 2012:
• October 3rd: Denver, Colorado. Domestic policy. Moderated by Jim Lehrer (PBS)
• October 11th: Danville, Kentucky. Vice-presidential debate. Moderated by Martha Raddatz (ABC)
• October 16th: Hempstead, New York. Town-hall style foreign policy debate. Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN)
• October 22nd: Boca Raton, Florida. Moderator: Bob Schieffer (CBS)
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The dates and venues have been announced for the 2012 Presidential debates between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. The date for the Vice Presidential debate has also been announced.
Tickets – Tickets for each debate are controlled by the Commission on Presidential Debates and are extremely limited since the debates are primarily produced for television. The majority of tickets are distributed to host university students and faculty through a lottery system.
TV Channels – Each debate will be broadcast live on C-SPAN, ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, as well as all cable news channels including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC among others.
Live Stream – Each debate will be streamed live online.
October 3, 2012
Topic: Domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: University of Denver in Denver, Colorado (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Jim Lehrer (Host of NewsHour on PBS)
The debate will focus on domestic policy and be divided into six time segments of approximately 15 minutes each on topics to be selected by the moderator and announced several weeks before the debate.
The moderator will open each segment with a question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the topic.
October 11, 2012
Topic: Foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: Vice President Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan
Moderator: Martha Raddatz (ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent)
The debate will cover both foreign and domestic topics and be divided into nine time segments of approximately 10 minutes each. The moderator will ask an opening question, after which each candidate will have two minutes to respond. The moderator will use the balance of the time in the segment for a discussion of the question.
October 16, 2012
Topic: Town meeting format including foreign and domestic policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Candy Crowley (CNN Chief Political Correspondent)
The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which citizens will ask questions of the candidates on foreign and domestic issues. Candidates each will have two minutes to respond, and an additional minute for the moderator to facilitate a discussion. The town meeting participants will be undecided voters selected by the Gallup Organization.
October 22, 2012
Topic: Foreign policy
Air Time: 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida (Tickets)
Sponsor: Commission on Presidential Debates
Participants: President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney
Moderator: Bob Schieffer (Host of Face the Nation on CBS)
The format for the debate will be identical to the first presidential debate and will focus on foreign policy.
Mitt Romney today overcame one hurdle on the path to the White House – he was declared healthy enough to be the President of the United States.
Mitt Romney, 65, was described by his personal doctor as “a healthy-appearing, energetic, strong, physically fit male” in a letter released by his campaign on Friday.
Those considering voting for him will doubtless be relieved to hear that he has never suffered from HIV, cancer or epilepsy, and does not take illegal drugs.
But the document revealed that Mitt Romney does have some medical issues – he is allergic to penicillin, has an enlarged prostate, and takes daily drugs to combat his high cholesterol.
The former governor of Massachusetts and his running mate Paul Ryan each released a message from their doctors designed to show that the pair have the physical ability to take on the presidency and vice-presidency.
Mitt Romney’s doctor is Randall D. Gaz, of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who has been treating the politician since 1989.
Mitt Romney was declared healthy enough to be the President of the United States
His letter noted that the candidate has been involved in few major medical emergencies, bar ‘a concussion and fractures’ sustained in a car crash in 1968.
But Dr. Randall D. Gaz revealed that his patient takes aspirin and Lipitor daily – though never penicillin, to which Mitt Romney has an allergy.
The doctor praised Mr Romney’s healthy lifestyle and “high fiber diet”, saying: “He totally abstains from drinking any alcoholic beverages, and does not use any tobacco products or illicit drugs.”
As a Mormon, the former governor is forbidden from using alcohol, tobacco and narcotics.
Mitt Romney’s resting heart rate is apparently “in the 40s” – more characteristic of a professional athlete than a senior citizen.
However, Dr. Randall D. Gaz warned that the Romney family had a history of heart problems and prostate cancer, adding that his patient knew to monitor signs related to these conditions.
The letter set out a summary of Mitt Romney’s most recent physical exam, which took place last month and “revealed a healthy-appearing, energetic, strong, physically fit male” who “appears years younger than his age”.
Dr. Randall D. Gaz concluded with a thorough endorsement of his patient’s medical health – and what appears to be an endorsement of his political ambitions too.
“He is vigorous man who takes excellent care of his personal physical health,” the letter said.
“He has reserves of strength, energy and stamina that provide him with the ability to meet unexpected demands.
“There are no physical impairments that should interfere with his rigorous and demanding political career as the next president of the United States.”
Paul Ryan, the 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman, is known for his exercise regime and is intensely proud of his own physical fitness.
Brian P. Monahan, Attending Physician to the U.S. Congress, said Paul Ryan’s “overall health is excellent” despite his family history of fatal heart attacks.
According to the doctor’s letter, the congressman does not smoke and his alcohol use is “infrequent”.
Barack Obama releases the results of his annual physical, which last year declared him in excellent health and praised him for quitting smoking.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has released his much-anticipated 2011 tax return, which shows he paid a rate of 14.1%.
Mitt Romney paid $1.9 million in taxes in 2011, on $13.7 million of income.
The private equity tycoon has already released his 2010 tax return, for which he paid about $3 million, a 13.9% rate.
The top rate of income tax in the US is 35%, but Mitt Romney lives mainly on income derived from his investments, for which only 15% tax is payable.
Critics, including President Barack Obama, whom Mitt Romney will challenge for the White House in November, have called on him to release more tax returns.
Mitt Romney has released his much-anticipated 2011 tax return
Mitt Romney’s 2011 tax rate of 14.1% compares with a previous estimate of 15.4% for the year by his aides. The Romneys filed their 2011 return with the Internal Revenue Service on Friday after applying for an extension earlier in the year.
The campaign also released a letter from his accountants with a summary of his returns from 1990-2009, which said he paid an effective average of 20.2% over the period, with the lowest return at 13.66%.
The move came amid attempts by the Romney campaign to shift the focus of recent days away from remarks he made at a private donor dinner.
In the video secretly recorded earlier this year, he disparages Barack Obama voters, saying they pay no income tax.
Mitt Romney’s critics say he should follow the example of his father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, who released a dozen years of tax returns during his own unsuccessful run for president in 1968.
But the former Massachusetts governor has said he is following 2008 Republican White House candidate John McCain’s example of releasing two years of taxes.
Barack Obama’s 2011 tax return showed he paid an effective rate of 20.5%, on an income of $789,674.
On average, US middle-income families, those making from $50,000 to $75,000 a year, pay 12.8%, according to congressional research.
As he released his 2010 return in January this year, Mitt Romney said he had paid “all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more”.
But according to Brad Malt, the trustee that controls Mitt Romney’s wealth as he runs for president, the Romneys donated $4 million to charity in 2011, claiming $2.25 million of it as a deduction.
“The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years,” Brad Malt said.
The campaign has stressed that the blind trust run by Brad Malt means that the candidate is making no decisions on how his money is invested.
Tax law experts say the release of the 2011 return – and the summary of the past 20 years – will do little to silence questions about Mitt Romney’s past tax liability, including the source of a $100 million retirement account and the tax advantages of his offshore investments.
President Barack Obama has rebuked Republican candidate Mitt Romney, saying that anyone seeking to be president needs to work for all Americans.
Barack Obama told chat show host David Letterman that Mitt Romney was wrong to describe 47% of Americans as “victims”.
Earlier, Mitt Romney defended his remarks after secretly filmed video of a speech to donors became public.
He told Fox News he knew those “dependent on government” would not vote for him in November’s election.
Mitt Romney also decried the notion of government “redistribution”, calling it an “entirely foreign concept”.
Barack Obama told David Letterman that Mitt Romney was wrong to describe 47 percent of Americans as victims
More leaked video emerged on Tuesday, showing Mitt Romney saying Palestinians do not want peace in the Middle East.
The full video of the Florida fundraiser was also published by liberal investigative magazine Mother Jones.
In Tuesday’s Fox interview, Mitt Romney stood by his comments about the 47% of Americans who do not pay income tax. He said they support President Barack Obama and would never vote for him. He said his statement was “about the campaign”.
“I’m talking about a perspective of individuals who are not likely to support me,” he said.
“Those that are dependent on government and those that think government’s job is to redistribute, I’m not going to get them,” Mitt Romney said.
Mitt Romney says he expects Barack Obama to receive about half of the vote in the November election because of these voters.
The real problem, he added, was that so many people were not eligible to pay income tax because they had fallen into poverty.
Recent polls indicate that the election is likely to be a close contest, although an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Tuesday evening showed that Barack Obama’s approval rate has hit 50% for the first time since March.
In addition, the poll put the president ahead of Mitt Romney by 5% among likely voters polled across the nation. The poll had a margin of error of 3.6%.
On David Letterman’s show, Barack Obama said he told the US on election night in 2008 he would work for everyone, including those who did not vote for them.
“One thing I’ve learnt as president is you represent the entire country,” he said.
“There are not a lot of people out there who think they are victims” or simply entitled to benefits, Barack Obama said.
Barack Obama’s rebuke came at the end of a day in which more clips of Mitt Romney’s fundraising address emerged. In one, Mitt Romney said the Palestinians are “committed to Israel’s destruction”.
“The Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace,” he says in the video, adding that “the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish”.
But chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters news agency that Mitt Romney was wrong to accuse the Palestinians of not seeking peace.
“Only those who want to maintain the Israeli occupation will claim the Palestinians are not interested in peace,” he said.
In another clip, the former Massachusetts governor is shown discussing Iran’s nuclear programme, and warning that America itself could come under attack.
The first clips released on Monday showed the Republican candidate saying those who did not pay income tax would never vote for him.
“There are 47% who are with him [Barack Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it,” he said.
Mitt Romney said in the video that his role “is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
The video clips provided to Mother Jones are said to have been filmed at a $50,000 per head fundraiser at some point after Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee.
They were made public as the Romney campaign announced a new shift in strategy after several difficult days for the candidate.
Campaign advisers told the US media on Monday that Mitt Romney would speak more specifically about his budget plans and tax policy.
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A new secret video clip has emerged of remarks by Mitt Romney, saying the Palestinians are committed to Israel’s destruction.
The Republican candidate tells donors the Middle East will “remain an unsolved problem… and we kick the ball down the field”.
The video is from the same event as a clip released on Monday, in which Mitt Romney says almost half of Americans “believe that they are victims”.
It comes less than two months before the presidential election.
The new footage was posted on Tuesday on the website of the liberal investigative magazine Mother Jones, which said it was taken at a fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida.
A new secret video clip has emerged of remarks by Mitt Romney, saying the Palestinians are committed to Israel's destruction
Mitt Romney is shown saying that Palestinians are “committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel”.
“The Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace,” he says, adding that “the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish“.
In another clip, the former Massachusetts governor is shown discussing Iran’s nuclear programme, and warning that America itself could come under attack.
“If I were Iran – a crazed fanatic, I’d say let’s get a little fissile material to Hezbollah, have them carry it to Chicago or some other place, and then if anything goes wrong, or America starts acting up, we’ll just say, <<Guess what? Unless you stand down, why, we’re going to let off a dirty bomb>>.”
On Monday, Mother Jones posted another clip from the same fundraiser in which Mitt Romney disparages those who would vote for his Democratic rival, President Barack Obama.
The Republican candidate is shown saying that the 47% of Americans who back the president do not pay income tax and would never vote for Mitt Romney.
“There are 47% who are with him [Barack Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”
Mitt Romney said in the video that his role “is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
In a late-night appearance on Monday, the Republican candidate said those remarks were not “elegantly stated”, but did not retract them.
The Obama campaign was quick to pounce.
“It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation,” Jim Messina, Barack Obama’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
The video clips provided to Mother Jones are said to have been filmed at a $50,000 a head fundraiser at some point after Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee.
The pictures are blurred out with the exception of his face, and no attendees are visible.
Also on Monday, Mitt Romney’s campaign unveiled a significant reworking of its strategy less than two months before election day.
Until now his message to voters has largely consisted of repeated attacks on President Barack Obama’s economic record.
Campaign advisers told the US media on Monday that Mitt Romney would speak more specifically about his budget plans and tax policy.
The videos bookended a difficult 24 hours for the Romney campaign. On Sunday, a lengthy Politico story detailed apparent divisions and indecision within the campaign.
A series of opinion polls at the end of last week showed Mitt Romney trailing Barack Obama both nationally and in several swing states.
The two men square off in the election on 6 November, but early voting begins soon in several states.
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A secretly filmed video has emerged showing Mitt Romney disparaging Barack Obama voters at a private donor dinner.
The Republican nominee is shown saying the 47% of Americans who back the president do not pay income tax and would never vote for Mitt Romney.
“I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives,” Mitt Romney says.
In a late-night appearance, Mitt Romney said his remarks were not “elegantly stated”, but did not retract them.
“This is the same message I give to people in public,” he said in response to the video, released by liberal investigative magazine Mother Jones.
Earlier, his campaign said Mitt Romney “wants to help all Americans struggling in the Obama economy”.
“As the [former Massachusetts] governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work,” spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said in a statement.
A secretly filmed video has emerged showing Mitt Romney disparaging Barack Obama voters at a private donor dinner
The Obama campaign was quick to pounce.
“It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation,” Jim Messina, Barack Obama’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
This may prove to be a significant setback for Mitt Romney, who has been relentlessly characterized by his political opponents as privileged and out of touch.
Also on Monday, Mitt Romney’s campaign unveiled a significant reworking of its strategy less than two months before election day.
Campaign advisers told the US media on Monday that Mitt Romney would speak more on his specific policy proposals in the coming days and weeks.
Until now his message to voters has largely consisted of repeated attacks on President Barack Obama’s economic record.
The video provided to Mother Jones is said to have been filmed at a private fund-raiser at some point after Mitt Romney became the presumptive Republican nominee.
Its picture is blurred out with the exception of Mitt Romney’s face, and no attendees are visible.
The income tax segment is one of several clips posted online, in which Mitt Romney expands at some length on his approach to the forthcoming election, and how his campaign will take on President Barack Obama.
“There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Mitt Romney is seen saying, referring to the percentage of Americans who have no income tax liability.
“There are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”
Mitt Romney is later seen saying that his campaign has not been as harsh on Barack Obama as possible, because the president remains likeable and because of a desire to win the support of his otherwise disenchanted former supporters.
“Because they voted for him, they don’t want to be told that they were wrong, that he’s a bad guy, that he did bad things, that he’s corrupt,” he says, referring to independent voters who chose Barack Obama in 2008.
“Those people that we have to get, they want to believe they did the right thing, but he just wasn’t up to the task.”
Mitt Romney also told the fundraising dinner he believes that if he won, there would be an immediate market-driven boost to the economy.
The videos bookended a difficult 24 hours for the Romney campaign. On Sunday, a lengthy Politico story detailed apparent divisions and indecision within the campaign.
That was followed by a public revising of campaign strategy on Monday morning.
“We are not rolling out new policy,” campaign adviser Ed Gillespie said.
“So much as we are making sure people understand that when we say we can do these things, here’s how we are going to get them done and these are the specifics.”
In that vein, the campaign released an online ad on Monday that discusses his economic plan. Advisers say the campaign will now speak more specifically about his budget plans and tax policy.
A series of opinion polls at the end of last week showed Mitt Romney trailing Barack Obama both nationally and in several swing states.
The two men square off in the election on 6 November, but early voting begins soon in several states.
Who pays US income tax?
The US federal government runs off two kinds of taxes: payroll taxes, which fund benefits such as Social Security, and income taxes, which largely fund the rest of the federal budget.
In 2011, the Tax Policy Center studied the tax liability of US households:
• 53.6% paid income taxes, 46.4% did not
• 28.3% paid payroll taxes but not income taxes
• 10.3% were elderly and retired and were not taxed on Social Security benefits
• 6.9% did not pay any tax with household incomes of less than $20,000
The majority of those who pay payroll but not income tax do so because of tax benefits for the elderly, families with children and low-income earners.
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Barack Obama has accepted the nomination of the Democratic party, telling voters they face a generational choice in November’s election.
The US president highlighted the differences between his aims and Republican policies, and reprised his 2008 theme of “hope”.
“I never said this journey would be easy, and I won’t promise that now,” Barack Obama told the Democratic convention.
Republican Mitt Romney is challenging Barack Obama for the White House, with polls showing a tight race.
Barack Obama told delegates in the hall and voters watching at home that the nation’s problems had built up over decades and could not be fixed in a flash.
“But when you pick up that ballot to vote – you will face the clearest choice of any time in a generation.
“Over the next few years, big decisions will be made in Washington: on jobs and the economy; taxes and deficits; energy and education; war and peace – decisions that will have a huge impact on our lives and our children’s lives for decades to come,” he said.
Barack Obama has accepted the nomination of the Democratic party for a second term
Barack Obama took the stage not in a huge stadium in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, as organizers had hoped, but inside the convention centre after Thursday’s speech was moved because of weather concerns.
He followed a rousing speech by Vice-President Joe Biden, who praised Barack Obama for his bravery in bailing our the auto industry and ordering the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
The president offered a string of critiques of Republican policies, describing his opponents as “happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America” without offering suggestions on how to make things right.
“That’s because all they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last 30 years,” he said.
“Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!”
But there was no mention of his own healthcare law, a signature achievement that remains unpopular with many Americans, and little explicit talk of the stimulus enacted in his first months in office.
The speech prompted a response from Mitt Romney’s camp: “Tonight President Obama laid out the choice in this election, making the case for more of the same policies that haven’t worked for the past four years,” his campaign said in a statement after the speech.
“He offered more promises, but he hasn’t kept the promises he made four years ago.”
Barack Obama also spoke about his energy strategy, saying the US had opened “millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration… and we’ll open more”.
“But unlike my opponent, I will not let oil companies write this country’s energy plan, or endanger our coastlines, or collect another $4 billion in corporate welfare from our taxpayers.”
On international issues, the president described Mitt Romney and running-mate Paul Ryan as “new to foreign policy”.
“But from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly,” he said, highlighting his success with Bin Laden and his withdrawal of troops from Iraq and planned drawdown from Afghanistan.
As Barack Obama finished the speech, he roused the crowd by telling them their votes had helped make the changes of his presidency.
“Only you have the power to move us forward,” he said.
“I recognize that times have changed since I first spoke to this convention. The times have changed – and so have I. I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president.”
Earlier, Vice-President Joe Biden accepted his own re-nomination in an emotional speech that focused on family and national security.
“Folks, I’ve watched him,” he said of the president.
“He never wavers. He steps up.”
“He asks the same thing over and over again: How is this going to work for ordinary families? Will it help them?”
Joe Biden also criticized Mitt Romney for not backing the US auto industry bailout, referring to the former Massachusetts governor’s time leading private equity firm Bain Capital.
“I just don’t think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant, to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way, in terms of balance sheets and write-offs,” he said.
“The Bain way may bring your firm the highest profit. But it’s not the way to lead your country from its highest office.”
The third and final night of speeches in Charlotte also saw former Florida governor Charlie Crist – who was previously a Republican – and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry address the convention.
John Kerry criticized Mitt Romney for surrounding himself with “neo-conservative advisers who know all the wrong things about foreign policy”.
“This is not the time to outsource the job of commander in chief,” the Massachusetts senator said.
Former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from a near-fatal shooting on a meeting with her constituents in 2011, appeared on stage to lead the convention in the pledge of allegiance.
Walking slowly and steadying herself to recite the pledge, Gabrielle Giffords left many in the crowd dewy-eyed as she smiled through her recital.
Thursday’s speeches brought an end to the Democratic convention, which also headlined speeches from Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney now face two months of relentless campaigning before voters across the 50 states go to the polls on 6 November.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted he will still be able to work with Mitt Romney if he’s elected U.S. president despite him calling Russia the “number one geopolitical foe”.
Vladimir Putin made the remark about Mitt Romney during yesterday interview on the Kremlin-funded Russia Today TV channel.
The president said: “We’ll work with whichever president is elected by the American people. But our effort will be only as efficient as our partners will want it to be.”
Vladimir Putin expressed concern about how a Romney presidency would affect the two countries’ long-running dispute over U.S.-led NATO plans to place elements of a missile-defense system in Europe. Russia contends the system could undermine its own defenses.
Vladimir Putin expressed concern about how a Romney presidency would affect their countries long-running dispute over NATO plans
He added that if Mitt Romney is elected “the missile defense system will definitely be directed against Russia”.
The wide-ranging interview showed Vladimir Putin’s acerbic and combative side, particularly on the issue of the two-year prison sentence imposed last month on three members of the provocateur band Pussy Riot for their “punk prayer” prank in Moscow’s main cathedral entreating the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Putin.
Their conviction brought widespread criticism of Russia for stifling opposition and free speech.
Vladimir Putin briefly sparred with the English-speaking interviewer over how the band’s name could be translated into Russian, declaring: “I think you wouldn’t do it because it sounds too obscene, even in English.”
He also vigorously defended Russia’s stance on the escalating civil war in Syria.
Russia has come under strong criticism in the West for blocking U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, which is fighting an increasingly vigorous armed opposition.
Activists now put the death toll from the uprising that began in March 2011 at between 23,000 and 26,000.
Russia has said its policy is not aimed at supporting Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin in the interview gave strong indication that Moscow may have written off the Syrian leader.
“We realize that this country needs a change,” he said.
“But this doesn’t mean that change should come with bloodshed.”
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Bill Clinton has delivered a prime-time defence of Barack Obama, nominating the president for a second term in the White House.
Former US president’s 50-minute speech at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, was strongly critical of Republican economic plans.
Bill Clinton launched a full-throated defence of Barack Obama’s policies, saying his economic policies were working.
Barack Obama will take on Republican Mitt Romney in November’s election.
Bill Clinton’s speech is being seen as the high point of a revitalized relationship between the two presidents and as an attempt to boost Barack Obama’s appeal with white working-class voters.
Polls show these traditional Democratic voters are wary of Barack Obama, but Bill Clinton has a strong record in winning their support.
Bill Clinton has delivered a prime-time defence of Barack Obama, nominating the president for a second term in the White House
Bill Clinton told the crowd that they would “decide what kind of country you want to live in”.
“If you want a <<you’re on your own, winner take all society>> you should support the Republican ticket,” he said.
“If you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibilities – a <<we’re all in it together>> society – you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”
Bill Clinton attacked Republicans for blocking further progress on the economic recovery and getting deep into the detail of policy debates.
“In order to look like an acceptable, moderate alternative to President Obama, they couldn’t say much about the ideas they have offered over the last two years,” he said, referring to the Republican convention in Florida a week ago.
Reminding the crowd that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell had revealed that their number one priority was to get Barack Obama out of office, he declared: “We’re going to keep President Obama on the job.”
Bill Clinton argued that Barack Obama’s economic policies on taking office had prevented further collapse and begun the recovery, but said he knew that many Americans were still struggling.
He compared Barack Obama’s experience to his own first term in office, when “our policies were working and the economy was growing but most people didn’t feel it yet”.
“No president – not me or any of my predecessors – could have repaired all the [2008] damage in just four years,” he said.
“But conditions are improving and if you’ll renew the president’s contract you will feel it.”
Bill Clinton criticized Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, who he said misrepresented Barack Obama’s Medicare policy at last week’s Republican convention.
He argued that Paul Ryan had made the same amount in cuts as part of his plan for the government-sponsored healthcare plan for the elderly.
“It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did,” said Bill Clinton.
He also countered a Republican ad that Barack Obama had weakened the work requirement for welfare, which Bill Clinton signed into law.
“When some Republican governors asked to try new ways to put people on welfare back to work, the Obama administration said they would only do it if they had a credible plan to increase employment by 20%,” Bill Clinton said, adding that the Republican charge was “just not true”.
After the former president finished a lengthy and partially ad-libbed speech, Barack Obama joined him on stage.
They have previously sparred, most notably during the 2008 primaries when Bill Clinton supported his wife Hillary’s bid for the nomination, and they are known not have a close personal bond.
Earlier, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi was just one of a string of speakers who highlighted social causes including women’s issues, and economic concerns such as the future of the auto industry.
Nancy Pelosi warned that “democracy was on the ballot” in November.
“Republicans support opening the floodgates to special interest money and suppressing the right to vote,” she said.
“It’s just plain wrong.”
Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren railed against inequality, saying Mitt Romney’s policy would amount to “I’ve got mine, the rest of you are on your own”.
And Sandra Fluke, a student branded a “slut” by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh during a row over contraception, made a prime-time appearance calling for action on women’s issues.
In a procedural surprise as Wednesday’s events got under way, the convention reinstated language from the 2008 platform describing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
In confusing scenes a voice vote on the language was called three times. Despite loud boos in the audience, convention chair Antonio Villaraigosa said he had determined that two-thirds of the convention had voted in favor.
Reports emerged shortly afterwards that Barack Obama had personally intervened to change the platform’s language.
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First Lady Michelle Obama has made an impassioned speech backing her husband, President Barack Obama, for another four-year White House term.
Closing the first night of the Democratic convention in North Carolina, Michelle Obama spoke of the couple’s shared background in struggling families.
She said it was “extraordinary privilege” to serve as first lady.
President Barack Obama will formally accept the nomination on Thursday, and face Republican Mitt Romney in November.
A recent opinion poll shows Michelle Obama maintains a thin lead over Mitt Romney.
But an ABC News/Washington Post poll released as the convention got under way in Charlotte, North Carolina, showed Barack Obama with the lowest pre-convention favorability for an incumbent president since the 1980s.
The president is aiming to recapture the political spotlight over the next few days, after last week’s Republican convention.
Michelle Obama said that four years ago she “believed deeply” in her husband’s “vision for this country” but worried about how a run for president would change their life and the life of their daughters.
First Lady Michelle Obama has made an impassioned speech backing her husband, President Barack Obama, for another four-year White House term
In a speech roundly welcomed by a hyped-up crowd, she shared memories from their 23-year relationship, and noted that she had found a “kindred spirit” in a man whose values were similar to hers.
“Barack and I were both raised by families who didn’t have much in the way of money or material possessions but who had given us something far more valuable – their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves.”
The first lady’s speech connected their shared background to the values she said guided Barack Obama as president.
“As president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people,” she said.
“But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values and your vision and the life experiences that make you who you are.”
She said Barack Obama was inspired by his own background when advocating for laws involving fair pay for women, healthcare and student debt.
He had not been changed by the White House, she said, and was “still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago”.
“He’s the same man who started his career by turning down high-paying jobs and instead working in struggling neighborhoods where a steel plant had shut down, fighting to rebuild those communities.”
In the toughest moments, Michelle Obama added, “he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.”
Earlier, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, brought the gala into session with a strike of the gavel at 17:00 EDT.
Shortly after the convention opened, delegates cheered their backing for the party’s new platform in a open voice vote.
Among the changes found in the text of the party’s 2012 platform was the removal of language from the Middle East section referring to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
That message was replaced with a passage referring to the party’s “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security” and Barack Obama’s “steadfast opposition to any attempt to delegitimize Israel”.
The change prompted criticism from Republicans and Mitt Romney, who accuse Barack Obama of “selling out” a key US ally.
Tuesday’s first session saw a series of Democratic governors, members of Congress, mayors and electoral candidates speak in support of Barack Obama and his policies, most notably his much-criticized healthcare reform law.
A video tribute to the late Senator Edward Kennedy included clips from his 1994 Senate debate with Mitt Romney, and independent Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee argued that his former party – the Republicans – had lost their way and had forfeited the label of conservative.
Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the next president would set the tone for the next 40 years.
“It will be the president’s leadership that determines how we as a nation meet the challenges that face the middle class. It is the president’s values that shape a future in which the middle class has hope,” he said.
Julian Castro, the Latino Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, gave the keynote address immediately before Michelle Obama.
The Democratic gathering will see Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden formally re-nominated as the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates on Wednesday.
Later that evening, there will be speeches from Elizabeth Warren, who is fighting Republican incumbent Scott Brown in a high-profile race for a Massachusetts Senate seat, and former President Bill Clinton.
The convention culminates on Thursday with speeches from Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney is expected to spend the week preparing for a series of debates with Barack Obama.
The gala also offers the Democrats the chance to make a high-profile pitch to voters in North Carolina, a state that narrowly voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but is now firmly up for grabs.
As they did four years ago, the Democrats will take the event outside the convention centre for the president’s prime-time speech, taking over a 74,000-seater stadium in Charlotte for the final night of speeches – despite a poor weather forecast.
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Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has visited an emergency centre in hurricane-damaged Louisiana, a day after accepting the Republican nomination for US president.
Mitt Romney attended a Friday rally with running mate Paul Ryan in Florida before cancelling a campaign stop in Virginia and diverting to the South.
Hurricane Isaac caused heavy flooding in areas around New Orleans and damage across the Gulf Coast.
Mitt Romney will challenge President Barack Obama in November’s election.
The Democratic president is due to tour storm-affected areas of Louisiana Monday, a US national holiday.
Mitt Romney has visited an emergency centre in hurricane-damaged Louisiana
At least six deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi have been attributed to Isaac, which brought up to 16 in (41 cm) of rain in some areas.
Mitt Romney travelled on his new campaign plane to Louisiana, at the invitation of the state’s Republican Governor Bobby Jindal.
The two spent almost an hour meeting local officials and first responders on Friday.
“I’m here to learn and obviously to draw some attention to what’s going on here,” Mitt Romney told the governor, “so that people around the country know that people down here need help.”
The presidential candidate shook hands with National Guardsman and met residents who had lost their homes in the storm.
“He just told me to, um, there’s assistance out there,” resident Jodie Chiarello said.
“He’s good. He’ll do the best for us, you know. He speaks to our best interests at heart.”
Former Republican President George W Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina, in which 1,800 people died seven years ago, was widely perceived as a failure.
This year, Hurricane Isaac wrought less destruction and New Orleans benefited from a revamped set of flood defences erected after Katrina.
Correspondents say both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were eager to display crisis leadership in the wake of Isaac.
“The decision to travel on Monday was made before Governor Romney announced his decision to travel to Louisiana on Friday,” an Obama aide told reporters from the presidential plane Air Force One.
Meanwhile, the Romney campaign insisted it had not hurried to appear first amid the storm wreckage.
Barack Obama made federal emergency aid available earlier in the week. But he pledged further assistance for individuals in a Friday call with parish presidents and local leaders in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Senate Majority Leader Democrat Harry Reid said Mitt Romney’s visit was the “height of hypocrisy”, adding that Republicans planned to gut disaster aid.
Plaquemines Parish, just outside New Orleans, was among the areas hardest hit by flooding after an 8-ft (2.5-m) levee was overtopped, leaving many homes under about 12ft of water.
The Plaquemines levee was not part of a multi-billion dollar upgrade to the federal levees protecting the city.
Among those killed in the US by the storm were a man and a woman in the town of Braithwaite who apparently drowned in their kitchen as flood waters surged in.
In Mississippi, officials have been pumping water from a reservoir on the Louisiana border to ease the pressure behind a storm-battered dam.
About 600,000 people across Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas are without power as of Friday, Reuters reports.
Mitt Romney capped off the Republican convention on Thursday evening with a speech accusing President Barack Obama of failure.
The Obama campaign said the Republican had “gauzy platitudes, but no tangible ideas to move the country forward”.
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Mitt Romney has accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Florida where he has pledged to “restore the promise” of America.
Mitt Romney, 65, accused President Barack Obama of failing to deliver on his promises and presented his plan involving energy independence, cutting the budget deficit and creating jobs.
He also spoke of his Mormon faith.
The Obama campaign said Mitt Romney had been “no tangible ideas” and he “would take our country backwards”.
Mitt Romney will challenge the Democratic president in November’s election.
His speech was the climax of the three-day Republican convention, which correspondents saw as an attempt to show the human side of a candidate who is sometimes accused of being opaque and distant.
Mitt Romney began the most important speech of his political career by accepting the nomination that he was overwhelmingly awarded on Tuesday by thousands of delegates at the gala in Tampa.
It secured him the position that eluded him in his first presidential bid in 2008, when Arizona Senator John McCain became the Republican nominee.
“I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed,” Mitt Romney said, in a speech that was watched by millions across the US.
He recounted details of his Mormon upbringing, with anecdotes about his family life and his parents’ loving marriage.
Mitt Romney talked about his own experiences as a father, apparently becoming emotional as he talked about the times when he and his wife Ann would wake up to find “a pile of kids asleep in our room”.
Mitt Romney has accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Florida
He also levelled a barrage of attacks at President Barack Obama: “The time has come to turn the page. Today the time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us. To put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations.”
“Now is the time to restore the promise of America,” he added.
Mitt Romney vowed to create 12 million American jobs over the next four years and turn around an economy saddled with an 8.3% unemployment rate.
The presidential nominee also pledged to make the US energy independent by 2020, cut the national deficit and negotiate new trade agreements.
“I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began his presidency with an apology tour,” he said.
Mitt Romney accused the president of having “thrown allies like Israel under the bus”, while being too lenient with Iran.
“Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone,” he said.
He brought the crowd to its feet when he pledged to repeal Barack Obama’s signature healthcare bill.
The event ended with the entire Romney family – his wife, five sons and their wives and most of his 18 grandchildren – on stage with him as thousands of balloons were released over the convention floor.
Republicans at the convention said they were confident of victory after the speech.
“It’s been great. It’s fired us up. We’re going forward. We’re going to make it happen,” one delegate said.
“This is just the cherry on the whipped cream, on the ice cream, and we’re going to win in November, and there’s no stopping it now. This is the wind that’s going to blow us into office,” said another.
But Barack Obama’s campaign manager Jim Messina said the address contained little substance.
“Much like the entire Republican Convention, Mitt Romney’s speech tonight offered many personal attacks and gauzy platitudes, but no tangible ideas to move the country forward,” he said.
“What he didn’t share were his actual proposals, which would take our country backwards.”
Appearing on stage earlier to pledge his support for Mitt Romney, Hollywood star Clint Eastwood raised eyebrows with an off-the-cuff monologue to an imaginary Barack Obama in an empty chair.
Referring to the president, Clint Eastwood told a rapturous audience: “When somebody does not do the job, you’ve got to let ’em go.”
Democrats have sought to depict Mitt Romney as a wealthy, elitist, tax-dodging, corporate raider and policy chameleon. Low favorability ratings have dogged him throughout his campaign and he trails Barack Obama in likeability.
To counter that image, the convention heard emotional testimonials about Mitt Romney’s work as a Mormon leader that left some attendees in tears.
One couple talked of how Mitt Romney had befriended and comforted their dying teenage son.
A woman recalled how the Republican’s “eyes filled with tears” when her premature baby daughter was close to death in hospital.
On Wednesday, Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, pledged a “turnaround” for America, while attacking Barack Obama.
But fact-checkers said there were a number of inaccuracies in the Wisconsin congressman’s address.
The job of softening Mitt Romney’s edges also fell to his wife, who brought down the house on Tuesday with a speech about their high-school romance.
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Yahoo News has fired its Washington bureau chief David Chalian for saying White House hopeful Mitt Romney was “happy to have a party with black people drowning”.
Caught on an open microphone, David Chalian was discussing Hurricane Isaac, which hit Louisiana with the Republican convention under way.
Yahoo said the remark did not represent the company’s views and that it had apologized to the Romney campaign.
David Chalian said on Wednesday he was “profoundly sorry”.
Yahoo News has fired its Washington bureau chief David Chalian for saying White House hopeful Mitt Romney was "happy to have a party with black people drowning"
His gaffe came on Tuesday evening, as Yahoo News was preparing to begin its live coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, in association with ABC News.
In a video posted on YouTube, the commentators can be heard discussing how Isaac, which has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, was bearing down on the US Gulf Coast.
As footage is broadcast of Mitt Romney and his wife Ann, one voice can be heard saying: “They’re not concerned at all.”
Laughter is heard in the background as David Chalian says: “They are happy to have a party with black people drowning.”
He later apologized on his Facebook page for “making an inappropriate and thoughtless joke”.
“I was commenting on the challenge of staging a convention during a hurricane and about campaign optics,” he said.
A Yahoo spokeswoman told the Associated Press: “He has been terminated effective immediately.
“We have already reached out to the Romney campaign, and we apologize to Mitt Romney, his staff, their supporters and anyone who was offended.”
Mitt Romney was officially selected as the Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday, the first full day of the convention, which started a day late amid concerns over Isaac.
Ann Romney, wife of presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has painted a loving portrait of her husband at the Republican convention, on the day he became the party’s White House nominee.
In her prime-time speech, Ann Romney spoke of her “real marriage” to a steadfast partner and father.
Correspondents say the address aimed to show the human side of the Republican, who lags behind President Barack Obama in likeability ratings.
Mitt Romney will challenge the Democratic president in November’s elections.
Opinion polls show Barack Obama neck and neck with Mitt Romney, who will deliver his big speech to the convention on Thursday.
Highlighting Mitt Romney’s image problem, a new opinion poll suggests the former Massachusetts governor’s favorability rating is the lowest of any major party nominee since Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
Ann Romney, 63, told the audience she wanted to “talk to you from my heart about our hearts”, saying of her husband, “you really should get to know him”.
She talked about the way her husband helped her deal with multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.
“I read somewhere that Mitt and I have a <<storybook marriage>>,” she said.
“Well, in the storybooks I read, there were never long, long rainy winter afternoons in a house with five boys screaming at once. And those storybooks never seemed to have chapters on MS [multiple sclerosis] or breast cancer.
“A storybook marriage? No, not at all. What Mitt Romney and I have is a real marriage.”
Ann Romney has painted a loving portrait of her husband Mitt Romney at the Republican convention
She addressed criticism from Democrats over her husband’s successful private equity career.
“Mitt will be the first to tell you that he is the most fortunate man in the world.
“But as his partner on this amazing journey, I can tell you Mitt Romney was not handed success. He built it.”
Ann Romney ended by pledging: “This man will not fail. This man will not let us down.
“He will take us to a better place, just as he took me home safely from that dance.”
Mitt Romney, 65, appeared on stage and kissed his wife as she concluded her remarks, to a standing ovation from the audience.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie delivered the keynote address after Ann Romney.
“Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to put us back on the path to growth and create good paying private sector jobs again in America,” he said.
The speeches followed a roll-call of party delegates and a lively voice poll in which state delegates called out their team’s allocation of votes.
Altogether, Mitt Romney secured 2,061 votes, bringing him comfortably over the crucial 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.
Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan was also given the Republican party’s official stamp of approval on Tuesday.
Speakers attacked Barack Obama, with House Speaker John Boehner saying “his record is as shallow as his rhetoric”.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said the president has “never run a company. He hasn’t even run a garage sale or seen the inside of a lemonade stand.”
The convention also approved its party platform – a policy agenda that calls for tax cuts to revive the economy, repealing and replacing a healthcare law passed by Barack Obama, and an end to abortion.
Recent opinion polls have indicated that voters view the economy and unemployment, which is stuck at 8.3%, as top priorities.
The platform also calls for the overturning of measures passed to regulate Wall Street in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse.
This is Mitt Romney’s second run for the White House, after an unsuccessful bid in 2008.
President Obama’s re-nomination will be confirmed next week at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This year’s convention got off to a late start when Monday’s programme was postponed amid concerns that Hurricane Isaac might disrupt the proceedings in Tampa.
But the category one hurricane missed Tampa, instead making landfall in southern Louisiana on Tuesday evening.
It comes almost seven years to the day since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.
Key convention speeches
Tuesday: Ann Romney, House Speaker John Boehner, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former US senator Rick Santorum, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
Wednesday: New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Arizona Senator John McCain, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan
Thursday: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, presidential candidate Mitt Romney
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Mitt Romney has accused his rival President Barack Obama of running a campaign built on “anger and divisiveness”.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the Democratic campaign had hit a “new low” by trying to link him to controversial views on rape recently voiced by another Republican, Todd Akin.
The Obama camp has accused Mitt Romney of extreme positions on social issues.
The Republicans are due this week to nominate Mitt Romney as their candidate in November’s presidential elections.
Mitt Romney has accused his rival President Barack Obama of running a campaign built on "anger and divisiveness"
The party has been forced to delay by a day – until Tuesday – the start of its national convention in the Florida city of Tampa because of the approaching Tropical Storm Isaac.
“I would suggest that that’s a campaign of anger and divisiveness,” Mitt Romney said, referring to Barack Obama’s campaign in Sunday’s interview with US TV channel Fox News.
“That’s the kind of divisiveness that I think Americans recognize and I think it’s one of the reasons why his campaign, despite spending massively more than our campaign, that his campaign hasn’t gained the traction that he would have expected.”
Mitt Romney said the Democrats were now seeking to tie him to the remarks by embattled congressman Todd Akin, who sparked uproar by claiming women’s bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape”.
He described the remarks as “offensive and wrong”, urging the Missouri congressman to withdraw his candidacy for the Senate.
However, he admitted in Sunday’s interview that the controversy over the remarks “hurts our party and I think is damaging to women”.
Many voters do not yet feel they know Mitt Romney, and he will seek to boost his image at the Republican national convention in Tampa.
A model which has foretold the correct results of the Electoral College selections in U.S. Presidential elections since 1980, has predicted a loss for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.
The forecast was made by two professors at the University of Colorado who used economic data and unemployment figures from each state to predict a Republican win come November.
Political science professors Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry’s study predicts 218 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 320 for Mitt Romney with the Republican candidate winning every seat currently considered to be on the fence.
The prediction model uses economic data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including income per capita and both state and national unemployment figures.
The research concluded that U.S. voters blame Democrats for high unemployment rates but hold Republicans more responsible for low per capita income.
It also showed that the advantage of holding the White House disappears for Democratic candidates when the national unemployment rate hits 5.6%.
“Based on our forecasting model, it becomes clear that the president is in electoral trouble,” Prof. Kenneth Bickers said.
The professors’ analysis concluded that Mitt Romney would take home all swing states including Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Colorado.
Political science professors Kenneth Bickers and Michael Berry’s study predicts 218 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 320 for Mitt Romney with the Republican candidate winning every seat currently considered to be on the fence
Colorado voted for Barack Obama in 2008 but the current president is predicted a marginal loss at 48.1% against Mitt Romney’s 51.9%, although with the caveat that only the two major parties were considered.
Although the economy has improved under Barack Obama, Prof. Michael Berry said in a statement that it remains to be seen whether voters will consider the economy in relative or absolute terms.
“If it’s the former, the president may receive credit for the economy’s trajectory and win a second term. In the latter case, Romney should pick up a number of states Obama won in 2008,” Prof. Michael Berry said.
Although the model devised by Prof. Michael Berry and Prof. Kenneth Bickers has predicted the correct results of eight consecutive presidential elections, the data used for analysis was collected in June.
An update with figures from September is due next month which the team said could have a completely different outcome.
The results of the model’s calculations are in stark contrast to current polling data. The New York Times’ latest figures for the Electoral College selections forecasts a blue win with 282.6 electoral votes for Barack Obama and 255.4 for Mitt Romney.
Although the figure is well above the 270 electoral votes President Barack Obama needs to hold on to his presidency, it is a decrease by 12.8 seats since the last figures on August 15.
While the race remains a dead heat, a new AP/GfK poll out today says that most Americans expect Barack Obama to retain the presidency.
Overall, registered voters are about evenly split, with 47% saying they plan to back Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and 46% favoring Mitt Romney and Republican Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
About one in four voters say they are undecided or could change their minds between now and November 6.
The contours of the race are little changed from June, when an AP-GfK survey showed 47% of voters backing Barack Obama and 44% siding with Mitt Romney, suggesting Romney’s decision earlier in August to tap Paul Ryan as his running mate was not the game-changing event he may have desired.
Both campaigns have been competing fiercely for a small sweet spot in the middle of the electorate: Independent voters who say they don’t lean toward either party.
Mitt Romney holds a narrow lead among that group with 41%, compared to 30% for Barack Obama.
But few think the Romney-Ryan ticket will win in the end.
Asked to predict the race’s outcome, 58% of adults say they expect Barack Obama to be re-elected, whereas just 32% say he will be voted out of office.
Even among those who say they have a great deal of interest in following the campaigns’ bitter back and forth, a majority expect Barack Obama to win.
Partisans generally expect their own candidate to win, though Republicans are less sure about Mitt Romney than Democrats are about Barack Obama – 83% of Democrats say Barack Obama will be re-elected while 57% of Republicans think he’ll be voted out of office.
Among those Republicans who think Barack Obama may pull out a victory is Catherine Shappard, a 78-year-old from Dallas.
Catherine Shappard said all of her friends agree that Mitt Romney would be a better president, yet she’s alarmed to hear even conservative commenters say Barack Obama has a good shot at re-election.
“I think it’s close,” Catherine Shappard said.
“A lot closer than I’d like it to be.”
The perception that Barack Obama has the advantage could cut both ways.
On the one hand, people like to vote for a winner, so if voters think Barack Obama will win, they may be more inclined to cast their lot with him.
On the other hand, it could backfire for Barack Obama and help Mitt Romney if it drives down turnout among Democrats.
If Barack Obama’s supporters think the race is in the bag and their vote isn’t necessary, they may stay home.
But if, like Catherine Shappard, voters suspect the race is close, they’ll be more likely to cast a ballot, said Patrick Murray, a political analyst at Monmouth University.
“It’s less important who people think will win than if they think it’s a close race,” said Patrick Murray.
After just over one week on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney’s running mate remains unknown to about a quarter of voters.
Paul Ryan is viewed favorably by 40% of registered voters, while 34% see him unfavorably.
Barack Obama’s running mate and current Vice President Joe Biden, has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for a string of gaffes he made during campaign stops.
On August 14, Joe Biden told a Danville, Virginia, audience that included hundreds of black people: “[Romney] said in the first 100 days he’s going to let the big banks write their own rules, unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
Less than 24 hours later, Joe Biden appeared to be off by 100 years when he asked another Virginia crowd: “Folks, where’s it written we cannot lead the world in the 20th century in making automobiles?”
While Mitt Romney’s campaign strategy has been to hammer at Barack Obama on job creation and his fiscal policy, Obama has been going demographic by demographic in an effort to woo voters.
The president has alternately tailored his campaign speeches and his ad campaigns to women, older voters and, most recently, new young voters who may not have been old enough to cast a ballot four years ago.
In each case, Barack Obama has used Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan as foils, arguing that their policies would limit women’s health care choices, force seniors to pay more for Medicare and cut back on student loans.
Barack Obama’s appeal to female voters got an unexpected boost by the eruption of dismay over Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s remarks about rape and abortion, prompting an unexpected debate on that social issue.
The president’s campaign also enlisted the help of former President Bill Clinton with a TV ad blitz on the economy.
In the ad, Bill Clinton speaks directly to the camera and says voters face a “clear choice” over which candidate will return the nation to full employment.
“We need to keep going with his plan,” Bill Clinton says of Barack Obama in the ad, which will run in eight battleground states.
Republican Mitt Romney has called on embattled congressman Todd Akin to withdraw from the race for a Senate seat in Missouri.
Todd Akin has sparked uproar by claiming women’s bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape”.
He is defying intense pressure from his own party to leave the race, accusing people of over-reacting.
Correspondents say Republicans fear the backlash could sink their bid to win control of the US Senate in November.
Mitt Romney said on Monday Todd Akin’s remarks were “offensive and wrong”, but he had stopped short of urging him to drop out at that point.
But on Tuesday, Mitt Romney said: “Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.”
Todd Akin has sparked uproar by claiming women's bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape"
Senator Roy Blunt and four former senators from Missouri said earlier in a joint statement that Todd Akin’s candidacy did not serve the national interest.
On conservative radio host Mike Huckabee’s show, Todd Akin again refused to quit the race.
He described the response to his comments as a “little bit of an over-reaction”, saying he had mistaken “one word in one sentence on one day”.
“By taking this stand, this is going to strengthen our country,” the sixth-term lawmaker said.
“I hadn’t done anything morally or ethically wrong, as sometimes people in politics do.”
Last week Todd Akin had a comfortable lead in opinion polls over incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in the Midwestern state of Missouri, which has leaned increasingly conservative in recent years.
Then on Sunday, he was asked by a local news station if he would support abortions for women who have been raped.
The 65-year-old lawmaker replied: “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that is really rare.
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said Todd Akin’s claim “contradicts basic biological truths”.
But even as top conservatives were lambasting the congressman, the Republican Party was reportedly ratifying a call for a constitutional ban on abortion, without any exception for rape or incest.
The position was to be the subject of a vote at the Republican national convention in Tampa, Florida, next week.
In a new campaign advertisement released early on Tuesday, Todd Akin said: “Rape is an evil act. I used the wrong words in the wrong way, and for that I apologize.”
But the US Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said the apology was insufficient.
He said Todd Akin had “made a deeply offensive error at a time when his candidacy carries great consequence for the future of our country”.
The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has reportedly told Todd Akin that $5 million in advertising set aside for Missouri would now be spent elsewhere.
The Karl Rove-backed Crossroads organization also pulled its ads from Missouri.
But Sen McCaskill, whose campaign appears reinvigorated by her Republican challenger’s slip-up, wants Todd Akin to stay in the race.
She said Republicans were trying to “kick sand in the face” of their party’s voters in Missouri who selected Todd Akin this month as their candidate.
On Monday evening, CNN television host Piers Morgan labelled Todd Akin a “gutless little twerp” for pulling out of an appearance on his show.
Barack Obama campaign has said if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney releases five years of tax returns, they will drop the issue.
Mitt Romney, who has made public his 2010 taxes and plans to do the same with his 2011 returns, rejected the offer.
The former private equity chief said on Thursday he had never paid under 13% in taxes over the past 10 years, a much smaller rate than most US wage-earners.
Mitt Romney will challenge President Barack Obama in November’s election.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina made the tax-returns offer to his counterpart, Matt Rhoades, in a letter on Friday.
Barack Obama campaign has said if Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney releases five years of tax returns, they will drop the issue
“Governor Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provide,” Jim Messina wrote.
“So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point. If the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more – neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign.”
Releasing several years of tax returns has become a standard move in recent presidential elections.
And Jim Messina noted that the Republican candidate’s father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, had released 12 years of his tax returns during his own unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1968.
Matt Rhoades rejected the offer in an email that began: “Hey Jim, thanks for the note.
“It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney’s tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending.
“If Governor Romney’s tax returns are the core message of your campaign, there will be ample time for President Obama to discuss them over the next 81 days.”
The candidate’s wife, Ann Romney, reiterated that they were “hiding nothing” in an interview with NBC News on Thursday.
“We have been very transparent to what’s legally required of us,” Ann Romney said.
“There’s going to be no more tax releases given.”
She added that releasing more information would only give their Democratic opponents more “ammunition”.
Mitt Romney has said he is following the example of Republican Senator John McCain, who released two years of returns in 2008 when running against Barack Obama.
He has said his critics would only distort his tax information if he divulged more.
Democrats have repeatedly questioned whether the former Massachusetts governor has something to hide about his estimated net worth of about $250 million.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has accused Mitt Romney of not paying taxes in some years – a claim denied by the Republican.
The top tax rate for wages in America is 35%, but taxes on capital gains are lower.
Some 44% of Americans believe that raising taxes on the wealthiest would help the economy, according to a Pew Research Center Poll last month. Just 22% said they believed the opposite.
The same poll suggested that Americans believed two to one that Barack Obama’s tax proposals would make the tax system more fair.
Mitt Romney, the US Republican presidential candidate, is to reveal his choice for running mate in the November election on Saturday, his campaign says.
The vice-presidential candidate will be named at an event on a former warship, the USS Wisconsin, in Norfolk, Virginia, at 09:00 EDT.
Unconfirmed US media reports say Mitt Romney has decided on Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan.
But the campaign has made no official comment on the candidate’s identity.
Mitt Romney is challenging President Barack Obama in the 6 November vote.
Analysts say Mitt Romney will be hoping to wrest back momentum in the campaign after a series of pro-Obama campaign ads attacking his record.
The former governor of Massachusetts is set to begin a four-day bus tour through key battleground states.
The trip campaign will visit the states of Virginia, North Carolina and Florida before finishing in Ohio.
Unconfirmed US media reports say Mitt Romney has decided on Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as running mate for November election
In particular, Mitt Romney will seek to fight back against the Democrats’ push to portray him as upper-class and out-of-touch with ordinary Americans, observers say.
Recent opinion polls suggest a close race between the two men, with Barack Obama tending to have a slight lead in most surveys.
The vice-presidential announcement is expected to be made during a tour of the USS Wisconsin, a decommissioned battleship docked in Norfolk’s Nauticus Museum.
Dating back to the World War II-era, the vessel also saw service during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
Several US media reports said all the signs were pointing to 42-year-old Paul Ryan as the leading contender to be Mitt Romney’s running mate.
A Republican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also told reporters that Paul Ryan would be chosen.
If Paul Ryan is confirmed as Mitt Romney’s running mate, it would be a bold and ideological choice for a candidate who has been fairly cautious so far.
As chairman of the Budget committee in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, Paul Ryan is seen as likely to add electoral firepower on what are expected to be the key election issues – jobs, the economy and the budget deficit.
He is also a staunch conservative who could enthuse the Republican base, and counteract some conservatives’ skepticism about Mitt Romney’s political past as governor of the traditionally liberal state of Massachusetts.
Other Republicans mentioned as being on Mitt Romney’s shortlist include Ohio representative Rob Portman, 56, and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, 51.
Rob Portman is seen as likely to help Mitt Romney gain votes in the important swing state of Ohio, while Tim Pawlenty could improve Romney’s appeal to working-class voters.
In a little over two weeks’ time, Mitt Romney will be formally confirmed as candidate at the Republican Party convention in Tampa, Florida.
His bitter rival in the primaries, Rick Santorum, will be a speaker at the convention, it was announced earlier in the week.
Paul Ryan profile:
• Aged 42, Paul Ryan was elected to the House of Representatives at 28 and is currently the Republican congressman for Wisconsin
• Seen as young and dynamic and a rising star in the Republican party
• Chairs the House Budget committee and has worked on reshaping federal budget
• A staunch conservative, he is best known for his proposals for large cuts in spending and taxes, which have proved popular with grassroots Republicans
The Wikipedia pages dedicated to US presidential candidate Mitt Romney and other members of the Republican Party who may run alongside him have been locked down.
Wikipedia has put a silver padlock icon on the top right hand side of their entries.
This means that anonymous users cannot make editorial changes to content relating to the politicians.
The measures were taken after comedian Stephen Colbert suggested on US TV that viewers should edit the pages.
Wikipedia locked Mitt Romney entries after comedian Stephen Colbert suggested on US TV that viewers should edit the pages
Stephen Colbert was following up on earlier media reports suggesting that the popularity of election candidates could be determined by the number of edits their entries on Wikipedia had received, said volunteer media coordinator David Gerard.
As a result, more people started to tinker with the politicians’ pages.
They now have a partial lock, meaning that anonymous users and those without a Wikipedia account are currently unable to make changes to the pages of Mitt Romney, Senators Rob Portman and Marco Rubio, Governor Chris Christie and others.
“It’s supposed to be an encyclopedia so a bit of amusement is fine but too much gets messy really,” said David Gerard.
“We try to keep stuff as open as possible, so once it calms down they’ll probably be open again.”
It is particularly important that entries about living people are editorially sound, David Gerard said.
Not many pages are completely locked down.
A Wikipedia page about the Virginia Tech massacre, in which 32 people were killed at an American college, is fully protected for sensitivity reasons, and an article about episodes of Disney children’s programme Hannah Montana was completely restricted in 2011 following “persistent vandalism” said David Gerard.
“A lot of people don’t understand what to do if there’s something terrible in their article,” he said.
“If you email us with a concern I promise a volunteer will take the problems seriously.”
President Barack Obama celebrated his 51st birthday today with a round of golf and plans for a weekend away at Camp David, taking a break from campaigning three months before Election Day.
Barack Obama played golf with a group of friends and aides at Andrews Air Force Base before heading to the presidential getaway in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains.
But, before Barack Obama escaped to begin any celebrations, Republicans acknowledged his birthday by delivering him a tongue-in-cheek cake.
The Republican National Committee delivered a cake to their counterparts at the Democratic National Committee on Friday featuring a picture of a smiling Barack Obama next to the words: “You didn’t bake this.”
The inscription was a reference to a line from an Obama speech last month in which he said: “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.”
Barack Obama escaped to begin any celebrations, Republicans acknowledged his birthday by delivering him a tongue-in-cheek cake
His opponents leaped on the gaffe with Mitt Romney seizing the quote to question Barack Obama’s commitment to small business while the President and Democrats have said the quote was taken out of context.
DNC officials promptly sent the cake back to RNC headquarters, along with a copy of a recent report by the Tax Policy Center that found that Mitt Romney’s tax proposal would give millionaires a broad tax cut at the expense of tax breaks enjoyed by many middle-class families.
However, Mitt Romney’s team has disputed the study, saying his tax plan would benefit all Americans.
Barack Obama returns to campaign mode next week, with fundraisers in Connecticut on Monday and campaign rallies in Colorado on Wednesday and Thursday.
Next weekend, Barack Obama will hold several birthday-themed fundraisers in Chicago, including one at his family’s South Side home.
Barack Obama’s campaign used the event to drum up small-dollar donations before the end of the July fundraising deadline, offering two lucky winners the chance to attend the fundraiser at Obama’s red brick home.
In an email to supporters, Barack Obama warned that his birthday “could be the last one I celebrate as president of the United States, but that’s not up to me – it’s up to you”.
Barack Obama’s team has warned that he could be outspent by Republicans and GOP candidate Mitt Romney.
Barack Obama got some early birthday wishes on Thursday during a rally in Florida, when supporters serenaded him with “Happy Birthday”.
The president joked that his birthday wishes “probably would have to do with electoral votes. Winning Florida wouldn’t be a bad birthday present”.
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