ROMNEY WOULD END DONATIONS BY TEACHERS UNIONS
Mitt Romney said Tuesday that he thinks teachers unions should be banned from making political contributions because union leaders often negotiate contracts with Democratic politicians they've helped elect, a situation that he called "an extraordinary conflict of interest."
"I believe that we simply can't have a setting where the teachers unions are able to contribute tens of millions of dollars to the campaigns of politician, and then those politicians, when elected, stand across from them at the bargaining table, supposedly to represent the interest of the kids," Romney told host Brian Williams in a 45-minute appearance at NBC's Education Nation Summit in New York.
He said it is "a mistake" to allow unions to make such donations.
Romney's argument against political donations by teachers unions appears to be at odds with the Supreme Court's 2010 landmark Citizens United ruling, in which the court found that corporations and unions have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts on campaigns.
WASHINGTON POST
ROMNEY LAGGING IN OHIO, FLORIDA
President Obama has grabbed a significant lead over Mitt Romney in Ohio and holds a slender edge in Florida, according to two new polls by the Washington Post, indicating that there are fresh hurdles in the way of the Republican challenger's best route to victory in the Electoral College.
Among likely voters, Obama is ahead of Romney in Ohio 52 percent to 44 percent. In Florida, the president leads 51 to 47 percent, a numerical but not statistically significant edge. Among all registered Florida voters, Obama is ahead by nine percentage points.
The new numbers come one week after a Washington Post poll in Virginia showed Obama with a clear lead there. More than half of all money spent in the campaign has focused on these three states, and many analysts say Romney has to win two of the three to capture the White House.
