Add another mistake to the list of gaffes that Vice President Joe Biden has made.

During a campaign speech yesterday in North Carolina, Biden had the following to say about the middle class and claims that Mitt Romney would raise taxes on them: “How they can justify … raising taxes on the middle class that has been buried the last four years?”

Of course, Barack Obama has been the president for the past four years, and sharp Republicans quickly jumped on the statement. Mitt Romney tweeted “Agree with @JoeBiden, the middle class has been buried the last 4 years, which is why we need a change in November #CantAfford4More.” Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, also mentioned the comments at a campaign stop in Iowa. Read 

President Barack Obama arrives in Denver as the frontrunner for the first debate with Mitt Romney, set for Wednesday night. Obama has a slight lead in the polls nationally and an even larger lead in the swing states. Most Americans (54%) are expecting the president to win the first debate, vs. 28% expecting Romney to win.

No candidate wants the public to have high expectations for his performance. Simply put, it is much easier to exceed expectations if the expectations are low. (However, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did not get this memo.)

Fortunately for Obama, the first debate is supposed to focus on domestic policy. Mitt Romney recently has made headway undermining Obama’s foreign policy in the wake of the Libya disaster in which four Americans, including the ambassador, were killed in what appears to have been a well-planned terrorist attack. The Romney campaign has been seizing on the recent unrest in the Middle East as evidence of failed Obama policies. Read 

America has roughly a month and change before the presidential election, and one thing’s for certain: Whoever is elected will save America.

Or ruin it.

Pretty much depends on whose side you’re on. Read 

Tomorrow marks the first of three presidential debates (as well as one vice-presidential debate) for the 2012 election season. And while it remains to be seen whether or not anything of substance is said during those debates, two people very near and dear to the president and his Republican challenger have already faced off — in a baking contest.

Since 1992, Family Circle magazine has held a cookie baking contest between the two wives of the major parties’ candidates for president. This year’s contest pitted First Lady Michelle Obama against Mitt Romney’s wife Ann.

This year, the contest, between Obama’s White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies and Romney’s M&M’s Cookies, was the closest ever. In the end, though, Obama edged out Romney by a 51.5%-48.5% margin. Just 287 votes separated the two. Over 9,000 magazine readers voted in the contest. Read 

New polls are in, and they do not look good for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

According to a poll released yesterday by the Columbus Dispatch, Mitt Romney trails President Barack Obama in Ohio by 9%, 51% to 42%.

The Dispatch‘s polls echo results from other recently released polls that put Obama ahead by varying amounts — anywhere from 8% by theWashington Post to4% by Public Policy Polling to 7% by Fox News. Read 

As more and more polls tip further and further in Barack Obama’s favor, many on Wall Street are already starting to advise their clients about how to prepare for an Obama victory.

The biggest thing worrying investment firms and hedge funds isn’t the fact that Obama might raise taxes on the highest earners in the aftermath of his re-election. They’re more worried about the fiscal cliff.

If nothing is done by Congress, on January 1, $600 billion in painful across-the-board spending cuts and the expiration of Bush-era tax breaks could do some serious damage to an already ailing economy. Read