Elections 2012

Millions of voters across the country could cast their ballots before Election Day. Some experts say early voting could have a disproportionate impact on certain voting blocs. Host Michel Martin discusses the issue with Professor Paul Gronke, founder of the Early Voting Information Center, and Republican strategist Lenny McAllister.

Mitt Romney appeared to shift his position on contraception in the town hall-style presidential debate last week. And his campaign released an ad, stressing Romney's support for abortion rights under limited circumstances. Social conservatives in Iowa weigh in on whether Romney's shifts on these issues trouble them.

Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigned Tuesday in Nevada and Colorado.

With the presidential debates wrapped up, President Obama began a blitz of six battleground states Tuesday.

After saying during a debate Tuesday night that a pregnancy caused by rape is "something that God intended to happen," the Republican candidate for Senate in Indiana is arguing that it is "twisted" to suggest he thinks God wants some women to be raped.

An estimated 59.2 million people tuned in Monday night to watch President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in their third and final debate before the Nov. 6 election, The Nielsen Company reports.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Governor Romney went straight to Nevada this morning and is now in Henderson for a campaign event. NPR's Ari Shapiro is there and joins us now. Hi there, Ari.

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hi, Audie.

CORNISH: So, what does Mitt Romney have to say out there on the campaign today?

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

I'm Audie Cornish, and we begin this hour with a sprint. The 2012 presidential debates are now history and today, President Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney begin the two-week race to Election Day. Mr. Obama is widely considered the winner of last night's foreign policy debate, but he didn't spend much time crowing today.

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

You are listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

This campaign season most of us have been bombarded by political ads on TV. Those ads get the most attention from fact-checkers and opposing campaigns, but the presidential candidates are also running lots of spots on commercial radio stations. It gives them a chance to target particular kinds of people, as NPR's Brian Naylor reports.