After state primaries, races heat up in the Ocean State

 

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced he was taking a new approach to his campaign Monday, focusing on a broader swath of issues than the economy — including President Obama’s foreign policy credentials. But Romney’s momentum lasted only a day before a video was leaked online showing the former Massachusetts governor labeling the 47 percent of Americans who receive some form of federal assistance as “dependent upon the government.” 

“My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives,” Romney said in the video. The video also showed Romney telling the donors — who each paid $50,000 to attend the fundraiser — that Palestinians have “no interest whatsoever in establishing peace and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.” 

His words spawned a firestorm of controversy, derailing Romney’s attempts to focus the election on what he sees as Obama’s failures as president. 

Romney defended himself in a press conference, saying his remarks were taken out of context in the initial video but conceding that he expressed his views “inelegantly.” His supporters have argued that the missing tape indicates the remarks have been doctored to make the candidate look bad in the eyes of the electorate. An extended version of the almost hour-long speech was made public yesterday, but the tape is still missing a minute or two of Romney’s speech. 

Obama, the Democratic Party’s nominee, criticized Romney’s remarks Tuesday night. “My expectation is that if you want to be president, you have to work for everyone, not just for some,” he said.

 

U.S. Senate

Rhode Island’s race for U.S. Senate is heating up as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., battles to defend his seat against Republican challenger Barry Hinckley Jr. The race, like many others this election cycle, has centered on the Democratic Party’s approach to the floundering economy. 

Whitehouse’s election has long appeared sealed, but recently Nate Silver, political analyst for the New York Times, listed the seat as one the Republicans might be able to win if they commit

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