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May 04, 2012 | | DIPLOMACY FAIL Though blind dissident Chen Guangcheng reportedly has a fellowship at an American university, the secretary of state’s effort to help blew up in Beijing. After a string of foreign-policy successes, the fiasco has put a dent in Clinton’s halo—and handed Romney a campaign issue, writes Howard Kurtz. ELECTION The race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney continued to heat up this week, with a new poll showing that the Republican has caught up with the president in the swing states of Ohio and Florida. Obama pulled ahead in Pennsylvania, however, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. The three states are crucial to either candidate locking up the White House. “What appears to be keeping Romney in the ballgame, at least in Florida and Ohio, is the perception he can better fix the economy,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac’s polling institute. OPPOSITION In the U.K., the people have spoken. Early results cited Friday by the BBC show that Britons favored the Labour Party in a number of votes held during a sweeping election Thursday. The mayoral and local council elections have been seen as a judgment on the coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party. Cameron’s party may score one key victory though in the person of mayor of London incumbent Boris Johnson, who fought a bitter battle with Labour politician Ken Livingstone but who was expected to win in polls conducted before Thursday’s vote. LAWSUIT In what may be the first sign of serious blowback for Walmart after a bombshell New York Times report last month, the United States’ second-largest pension fund said it is suing the company over allegations of misconduct in Mexico. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System holds more than 5.3 million shares of Walmart Stores Inc. In a statement, the public pension fund said it had filed suit in Delaware based on the allegations made in the Times report, which said Walmart used bribery to speed its growth in Mexico, then covered up the payouts. The fund’s CEO said in a statement that the case was intended to ensure “that similar misconduct is not repeated in the future.” ANECDOTES On Thursday ex-staffers continued to pile on the damaging anecdotes, from more trysts with Rielle Hunter to a secret phone call asking whether his mistress was "showing." Diane Dimond reports. | | 
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