Barack Obama

Private equity's choice: Obama or Romney

Will Obama or Romney be better for private equity?

FORTUNE -- In 36 hours or so, we should know if America has elected its first-ever private equity president. Or if it's reelected the guy who campaigned, in part, by criticizing some of private equity's more controversial practices.

Based on the rhetoric, it seems obvious that Mitt Romney should be the choice of private equity professionals who vote their business interests. But I'm MORE

Post-debate thoughts: What wasn't said

No mentions of A123, Bain Capital or housing.

FORTUNE -- A few business-related thoughts from last night's presidential debate:

* I am simply dumbfounded that Romney didn't bring up A123, particularly given how much time he and Obama spent discussing energy policy. This is a company that received hundreds of millions in government loans, which went bankrupt on the very day of the debate. Maybe Romney has some history with A123 that I'm not aware MORE

Among financial pros, Romney trounces Obama

Romney is favored candidate of bankers, private equity execs.

FORTUNE -- Last week we asked readers of the daily Term Sheet newsletter to participate in a (totally unscientific) presidential poll, and the results were a blowout win for Mitt Romney.

Of the more than 1,800 respondents, 58% (1,071) said that they plan to vote for Romney next month, compared to 38% (696) who said they plan to vote for President Obama.

The remaining 4% MORE

Mitt Romney keeps Solyndra canard alive

Mitt Romney and the land of green energy make believe.

FORTUNE -- It happened again. During last night's presidential debate, Mitt Romney implied that campaign contributions to President Obama had influenced green energy investments by the Department of Energy.

Never mind that there is no evidence to support such a charge, following multiple independent investigations. Never mind that Romney has been caught lying about such things in the past, in regards to MORE

Dear next President: Court your adversaries

The next President will need to raise the bar on how the White House reaches out to adversaries, according to a bipartisan panel at Fortune's Most Powerful Women conference.

By Tory Newmyer, writer

FORTUNE -- President Obama would need to work much harder reaching out to unfriendly power centers in a second term. That was the striking point of bipartisan consensus from former George W. Bush adviser Karen Hughes and Obama bundler Mellody MORE

How PE execs can still love Obama

Not all private equity executives are backing Mitt Romney.

FORTUNE -- I've spoken to a handful of Obama-supporting private equity execs this week, trying to better understand how they reconcile their presidential preference with his campaign's regular attacks on their industry (yes, I know the Obama campaign says it's only going after Romney, not PE as a whole, but that's just a nice story they tell themselves to feel better about holding MORE

America's new work ethic?

New welfare rules and booming disability insurance rolls reveal a bias toward aid checks over paychecks. By Nina Easton

New study says $2 trillion corporate cash hoard not Obama's fault

A lack of corporate raiders and an investor preference for safety could be a better answer to the cash puzzle.

Fortune -- About a year or so ago, corporate balance sheets, for some, became exhibit No. 1 of how President Obama was killing the recovery.

The argument was over cash. Ever since the financial crisis, corporations have hoarded an increasing amount. The pile reached $2.2 trillion at the end of last year, MORE

At Obama fundraiser, no one mentions private equity

Obama raises money from private equity, hours after bashing the industry.

FORTUNE -- At a Democratic Party fundraiser, I guess it's inappropriate to mention the elephant in the room.

President Obama last night spent time at the Park Avenue apartment of Blackstone Group (BX) president Tony James, to press the Wall Street flesh and collect $35,800 per plate. It came just hours after his campaign launched its first formal attack on Mitt MORE

Obama begins anti-Bain campaign

Obama campaign swings and misses on Bain Capital attacks.

FORTUNE -- President Obama's reelection campaign today took its most pointed shots at Mitt Romney's business career, launching a website that focuses on select Bain Capital deals from Romney's time running the private equity firm.

Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, said the following in an email announcing the site:

Romney and his partners bought companies across the United States, often loading them up with MORE