Democracy Now! Lula vs. Bolsonaro (Again): Brazil's Presidential Race Goes to Runoff as Right Wing Makes Gains

Oct 5, 2026 | Brazil's presidential election is headed to a runoff between leftist incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and far-right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro after neither candidate cleared 50% in Sunday's vote, in which the right made gains in Congress and in governor races across the country. Bolsonaro received 47% of the vote compared to Lula's 45%. The second round of voting is on October 25. If elected, Flávio Bolsonaro has vowed to grant amnesty to his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest and serving a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup in 2022 to overturn Lula's last victory. He has also vowed to strengthen ties to the Trump administration, which is accused of trying to influence the result in Bolsonaro's favor.

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President Biden Sits Down for Interview with George Stephanopoulos l ABC News Exclusive

Streamed 8 hours ago

A Defiant Biden Says Only the ‘Lord Almighty’ Could Drive Him From the Race

THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Biden dismissed concerns about his age, his mental acuity and polls showing him losing his re-election bid.

President Biden on Friday dismissed concerns about his age, his mental acuity and polls showing him losing his re-election bid, saying in a prime-time interview that his sharpness is tested every day while he is “running the world.” He vowed to drop out only if “the Lord Almighty” told him to.

During a 22-minute interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, which aired unedited, Mr. Biden, 81, said there was no need for him to submit to neurological or cognitive testing. He said he simply did not believe the polls showing him losing. And asked how he would feel if former President Donald J. Trump were elected in November, he brushed off the question.

“I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” Mr. Biden said in an interview that was intended to assuage growing concerns about his age following last Thursday’s debate. But with him speaking in a hoarse voice and remaining defiant throughout, there was little indication that the interview would do much to stanch the bleeding during the deepest crisis of a long political career.

Again and again, Mr. Biden told Mr. Stephanopoulos that voters should consider his accomplishments in office. » | Michael D. Shear, Reporting from Washington | Published July 5, 2024; updated July 6, 2024

Will Biden Bow to Pressure to Quit Presidential Race after Debate Debacle? | DW News

Jun 29, 2024 | US President Joe Biden is trying to allay concerns over his age, after stumbling through a TV debate this week. Thursday's showdown saw Biden stammer through answers, and struggle to counter attacks and false claims from Trump. The New York Times has called for Biden to leave the presidential race. Biden has vowed to continue, insisting he's the best man for the job.

Ron DeSantis Drops Out of Republican Presidential Race

THE GUARDIAN: Hard-right Florida governor at one point thought to be future of party ends campaign to be GOP nominee

Ron DeSantis, the hard-right governor of Florida, has ended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Donald Trump.

“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” he said in a statement posted on X. “He has my endorsement because we can’t go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”

DeSantis’s withdrawal in the days ahead of the New Hampshire primary follows a disappointing result in the Iowa caucus, where he finished second place but trailed Donald Trump by a large margin. In New Hampshire, his numbers were far behind former South Carolina governor Haley and Trump.

The withdrawal was the culmination of a long, agonising decline. » | Martin Pengelly in Washington | Sinday, January 21, 2024

Elizabeth Warren, Once a Front-Runner, Drops Out of Presidential Race

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ms. Warren, a senator and former law professor, staked her campaign on fighting corruption and changing the rules of the economy.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts dropped out of the presidential race on Thursday, ending a run defined by an avalanche of policy plans that aimed to pull the Democratic Party to the left and appealed to enough voters to make her briefly a front-runner last fall.

Though her vision excited progressives, it did not generate enough excitement among the party’s working-class and diverse base, and her support had eroded by Super Tuesday. In her final weeks as a candidate she effectively drove former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, a centrist billionaire, out of the race with debate performances that flashed her evident skills and political potential.

She entered the race railing against the corrosive power of big money, and one long-term consequence of her campaign is that Ms. Warren demonstrated that someone other than Senator Bernie Sanders, and his intensely loyal small-dollar donors, could fund a credible presidential campaign without holding fund-raisers. » | Astead W. Herndon and Shane Goldmacher | Thursday, March 5, 2020

France Presidential Race: Fillon Placed Under Formal Investigation Over 'Fake Jobs'

France Presidential Race: Candidate François Fillon Gives Press Conference amidst Series of Scandals

France's Penelopegate: Presidential Race Upended by Scandal (Parts 1 & 2)

France Presidential Race: Fillon Will Not Abandon Candidature Over Penelopegate

Kasich: I Might Not Vote GOP for President

John Kasich says he's no closer to endorsing Donald Trump for president, cementing his place as one of the most prominent holdouts in the Republican Party.

Mike Pence Explains Why He Is Running with Donald Trump

On 'Hannity,' 2016 vice presidential running mate discusses his decision to enter the race for the White House

‪Sophie&Co: America's Unpopularity Contest‬

Clinton has to go further left, or she's not going to make it to White House - Ed Schultz. The race for the White House is nearing its final stage - and it looks like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are to face each other in the fight for the presidency. However, both candidates are quite unpopular with the American public, tired of overseas wars, the rule of big banks, and divided over issues such as immigration and gun control. In this turbulent environment, is there no alternative to pandering populism and condescending establishment? What sort of a choice does America have to make this time around? We ask progressive commentator, prime-time TV and radio show host, Ed Schultz. Recorded from RT, SophieCo, July 11, 2016

Donald Trump Widens Lead Over US Republican Presidential Field: Poll

NDTV: WASHINGTON: Republican Donald Trump is pulling away from the pack in the race for the party's US presidential nomination, widening his lead over his closest rivals in the past week, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Friday.

Republican voters show no signs they are growing weary of the brash real estate mogul, who has dominated political headlines and the 17-strong Republican presidential field with his tough talk about immigration and insults directed at his political rivals. The candidates are vying to be nominated to represent their party in the November 2016 general election. » | Reuters | Saturday, August 22, 2015

Sickly Sweet Garbage? Dorothy

Read the Telegraph article here

Bobby Jindal Becomes 13th Republican to Run for US Presidency

The governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, has become the 13th Republican to throw his hat into the ring and join the presidential race. Jindal criticised the establishment in Washington, saying, 'It's time for the folks in Washington to admit the truth. You can't grow the economy and the government at the same time.' He pitched himself as a Republican candidate with a difference, saying 'the Republican party in Washington DC has been beaten into submission. It is increasingly afraid to speak the truth. It is time to say what everybody is already thinking. The emperors in Washington, they are not wearing any clothes.' Jindal is the first person of Indian-American heritage ever to run for the presidency

Mitt Romney Gains Four-point Lead Over Obama In Post-debate Poll

THE GUARDIAN: Republican candidate makes especially dramatic gains with female voters after strong performance in first debate

The storm clouds gathering over President Obama's bid for re-election have thickened with the release of a new poll from the respected Pew Research Center that gives Mitt Romney a four-point lead among likely voters.

The Pew survey of 1,511 adults was carried out over four days starting on the day after the first presidential TV debate last week. Its findings – including evidence that the Republican nominee is making dramatic headway with female voters, young people and those in the heartlands of the mid-west – appear to confirm that Obama's listless performance at the debate, and by contrast Romney's strong showing, has translated into a powerful political force.

"We found a dramatic shift from a significant Obama lead to a slight Romney edge among likely voters – and this is the first evidence that the debate appears to have impacted the race," said Carroll Doherty, Pew Research Center's associate director. » | Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Rick Perry: My Wife Prodded Me to Enter Presidential Race
Governor Rick Perry, the Republican presidential contender, has said that "the reason" he is running for the White House was that his wife told him "to do your duty".

Read the article here

Trump NOT Running for US President
RUSSIA TODAY: After creating much controversy and a circus of media frenzy over the past few months billionaire Donald Trump has announced he will not be running for the office of US President in 2012.

“After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency. This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country,” he said in a public statement.

Trump argued he would have won both the Republican primary and the general election, but he could not commit to a campaign at this time.

In the end, business beats politics for Trump. » | Monday, May 16, 2011

White House Dismisses Donald Trump's 'Sideshow' Presidential Run
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The White House has dismissed Donald Trump's potential presidential run as a "sideshow", saying there is no way the billionaire businessman would be "hired" by the American people.

Mr Trump, renowned for his New York bluster, is considering a tilt at the White House and according to some polls is running second among prospective Republican candidates, behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

As part of his flirtation with a presidential bid, Mr Trump has controversially brought up the non-issue of Mr Obama's birthplace.

The president was born in the US state of Hawaii and released a certificate of live birth to prove it in June 2008, but some on the right-hand fringes of American politics still like to pretend it is an issue.

"I think I saw Donald Trump kind of rising in some polls and given his behaviour with respect to the last couple of weeks I hope he keeps on rising," Mr Obama's campaign adviser David Plouffe told ABC's "This Week" program.

"I think there's zero chance that Donald Trump would ever be hired by the American people to do this job." » | Sunday, April 10, 2011