David Corn

You're doing that now by participating here. Word of mouth is a great way to do that for individuals. But also if you send us cash--by which I mean tax-deductible contributions in the form of checks--we can use those funds to beef up our promotional efforts to boost the magazine and the work we generate.

I cannot say much about the source of the tape and how s/he came to be in the room. But as far as I can ascertain, it wasn't an opposition hit job. The source realized that s/he would be in the room with a presidential candidate and thought that Romney might just say something interesting enough to deserve recording. Seems the source was right about that...As for the legality of what happened, I will leave that to experts on Florida law.

Oh, I should give the address for that, right. It's

Mother Jones 222 Sutter St. Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94108

We may take electronic donations. I will check. Good question!

Here's the link to subscribe and donate:

https://secure.motherjones.com/fnp/?action=SUBSCRIPTION&list_source=7H10TOPNV&extra_don=1

Good question. This is something I've pondered and written about many a time. See

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/factcheck-politifact-lying-politicians

and

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/09/after-w-will-press-get-spine

I think there's a lot of factors. Beat reporters often don't like to be too antagonistic toward their subjects, for this will affect their ability to get information from them. MSMers often feel it is not their place to render such judgements and believe it is their job to convey what the pols are saying and let the public reach its own conclusions. I disagree (what a surprise!) and believe the press needs to be aggressive in policing the pols and in calling out untruths. I'm heartened to see more of that in the MSM, via factchecking (see the first piece above), but this recent trend in the media has had its rocky moments.

I remain convinced this is a close election. I wouldn't bet. And there's still a chance that the debates or external circumstances--say, a financial crisis or foreign policy emergency--could change the contours of the race.

I could tell you, but then I'd have to....Just kidding. I assume his accountant does. Did John McCain hang on to the 23 years of returns Romney gave him in 2008? I don't know. I do know--or assume--that the tax return issue will become an inconvenient matter for Romney again, and soon. He has pledged to release his 2011 return in October. Which is reaaaallll soon. When he does, it will once again raise the knotty issue of...what about the ten years prior to 2010? I was just talking about this on the Diane Rehm Show (guest-hosted by Susan Page!), and we all sort of agreed this could be a problem and wondered why he didn't release the return earlier to avoid this potential dustup so late in the final stretch.

I'm shocked, shocked.

For me, the issue is not bias in the media, but accuracy. Mother Jones does embody a set of values--the progressive tradition. But we are dedicated to accuracy. (Our factchecking process is really a pain-in-the-rear, believe me!) To me, that's the key.

During the brief gap, Romney said, "I buried Paul."