Billionaire George Soros appears to have changed his mind about super PACs, and will give $1 million to the Barack Obama-supporting Priorities USA Action.

In addition to that donation, he will give $500,000 to two other super PACs supporting Congressional Democrats. Soros’ donations came as part of a Thursday gathering of liberal donors called the Democracy Alliance, who typically have focused on grass-roots organizations and research institutes.

The gathering, headlined by an appearance by former President Bill Clinton, was seen by many as a way of convincing donors who were reluctant to give to super PACs to do so. Soros had said earlier this year he was unlikely to give money to Priorities USA Action, and many other Democratic donors had followed suit. Read 

A new advertising campaign being run by President Barack Obama in the key swing states of New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada and Colorado promotes what the president calls a “new economic patriotism.”

According to the two-minute ad running in these states, Obama’s economic plan would create 1 million new manufacturing jobs, reduce oil imports, and hire thousands of new teachers.

Mitt Romney’s campaign has responded by releasing an ad aimed at coal miners, including video from 2008 where Obama supported forcing greenhouse gas emitters to buy allowances at auction, saying “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them.” Read 

Nov. 6 might not mark the end of the election this year, thanks to new voter ID laws in several states. If the election is close, and voters are forced to cast provisional ballots due to those laws, there could easily be a delay in determining the final result.

It raises the specter of the 2000 election, where lawyers, hanging chads, and the U.S. Supreme Court eventually hashed out the final results of that presidential election a month after the election was held.

The issue here is new, stricter laws in states like Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin affecting the presidential election, as well as similar laws in Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee having an effect on their local and state elections. Though many of these voter ID laws are being challenged in court, if they are upheld, they typically lead to voters voting with provisional ballots. Read 

With fall setting in and the conventions over, the race to determine the president of the United States is in full swing. And weather patterns notwithstanding, it seems the amount of hot air is set to increase — a normal quadrennial occurrence as two candidates jockey for position.

Most voters probably realize the economy’s been a key issue thus far. But it isn’t so much the real economy that many feel is a swing factor — it’s the emotional economy.

The emotional economy is what Bill Clinton cited in 1992’s famous, “It’s the economy, stupid” rhetoric. His campaign claimed the U.S. was in recession during the race, while Bush claimed the economy was growing. Voters, in general, opted for Clinton’s version — he was seen as being “in touch.” Read 

Seniors enrolled in popular Medicare prescription drug plans may want to take a look at their premiums. According to a report by Avalere Health, seven of the 10 most popular Medicare prescription drug plans are increasing their premiums by double digits.

This seems to fly in the face of the Obama administration’s sunny view on Medicare. According to them, the average premium for basic prescription drug coverage in 2013 would stay the same, at $30 a month. Obviously, though, averages aren’t applied evenly across the board, from plan to plan. It also factors in all plans, not just the most popular ones.

Among the most popular Medicare drug plans, all of the 10 most popular plans are facing increases. The seven plans facing double-digit hikes include: Read 

Romney finally took steps to stem criticism about his tax returns, releasing his 2011 tax returns on Friday.

According to his returns, he paid $1.9 million in taxes on $13.7 million in income, an effective tax rate of 14.1%. However, Romney could have easily paid even less. The Romneys donated $4.02 million in 2011, and if they had taken all of the available deductions on that amount, they could have easily paid an effective tax rate of 10.4%.

How much more did Romney pay than he needed? About $500,000. Read