Obama still collects from Wall Street: The Wall Street Journal reports that “defying expectations, the securities and investment industry has remained an important part of the Obama fundraising effort. Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $14 million from the securities and investment industry through the end of April, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Mr. Obama's campaign alone raised $361,000 from the industry in May.” Still, this is well below the $28.2 million he raised in 2008 and less than what Mitt Romney has raised.
Fifteen states fight Obamacare: At least 15 Republican governors have suggested that they will not participate in the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act in the wake of last week’s Supreme Court ruling, which made it easier for states to opt out. Seven states have already refused to participate, while another eight have made noises about rejecting the program. Altogether, the governors’ moves could leave millions of poor people uninsured and undercut the health law’s goal of expanding coverage to every American.
The public doesn’t understand the Obamacare ruling: A new Pew poll finds: “Despite extensive public interest in the court’s ruling, just 55 percent of the public knows that the Supreme Court upheld most of the health care law’s provisions; 45 percent say either that the court rejected most provisions (15 percent) or do not know what the court did (30 percent). Among those aware that the court upheld most of the law, 50 percent approve of the decision while 42 percent disapprove. … The survey finds that 45 percent followed news about the court’s decision very closely, making it the second most closely followed story of 2012 (52 percent tracked news about rising gas prices in March).”
Mitt Romney, Rupert Murdoch and the CEO of Goldman Sachs walk into a private Manhattan club: And Romney tells the two, along with 40 to 50 other titans of industry, that he refused to take a clear position on Obama’s deportionation policy because he wants to avoid looking like a "flip-flopper." That led Murdoch to chide Romney’s campaign team on Twitter as incompetent. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, did the same yesterday.
Could Romney pick his VP this week? The Republican national convention in August is fast approaching and there are suggestions that Mitt Romney will use his vacation in New Hampshire to choose his running mate, perhaps just privately for now. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a short-lister, will March with Romney in tomorrow’s Fourth of July parade is meeting with the candidate, ABC News reports. Meanwhile, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, another veep favorite, is planning to visit the Granite State later this week for a GOP fundraiser.
U.S. quietly building up against Iran: “The United States has quietly moved significant military reinforcements into the Persian Gulf to deter the Iranian military from any possible attempt to shut the Strait of Hormuz and to increase the number of fighter jets capable of striking deep into Iran if the standoff over its nuclear program escalates,” the New York Times reports. Iran has made noised about closing the Straits with mines in retaliation for sanctions on its oil. Such a move would have a tremendous impact on world oil markets, driving up costs significantly and pushing tensions to the brink of war, so the U.S. wants to avoid that scenario.
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