Inside the Beltway

MITT’S HEALTH

Mitt Romney has earned the support of Hudson Institute scholar Tevi Troy, who served as deputy health and human services secretary during the George W. Bush administration. Mr. Troy has signed as a special policy adviser to Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign, revealing in a recent McClatchy op-ed that his candidate “recognizes that states are laboratories of democracy, and that the federal government cannot impose its health care will on all 50 states.”

Mr. Troy tells Inside the Beltway, “I’m excited to help Mitt Romney bring conservative leadership back to the White House.”

Mr. Romney, meanwhile, has adopted the motto, “Believe in America,” and now offers his own “Has he lost hope?” petition to rally voters against President Obama, urging them to “sign the petition if you think it’s time to send a conservative businessman to the White House.”

SCIENCE CORNER

OK, now for pertinent asteroid factoids. The asteroid “YU55” passes between Earth and moon on Tuesday, and will be closest to us at 6:28 p.m. ET, about 201,700 miles away. The “darker than charcoal” space rock measures 1,300 feet across, rotates every 18 hours and has created a ripple of Armageddon talk among those who fear that the end is near. NASA assures earthlings that all is well, however, and that the asteroid is only visible with a telescope that is at least 6 inches wide.

Still, the space agency also quietly says it follows YU55 through the Near-Earth Object Observations Program, otherwise known as, uh, “Spaceguard.”

POLL DU JOUR

• 89 percent of Americans say the economy is in bad shape.

• 80 percent of Americans are “angry at the way the federal government works.”

• 74 percent say the U.S. is “seriously” off on the wrong track.

• 67 percent are worried they will not be able to maintain their current standard of living.

• 63 percent say the economy “has not even begun to recover.”

• 44 percent approve of the overall job President Obama is doing; 38 percent approve of how he handles the economy.

• 42 percent trust Mr. Obama to do the best job with the economy; 42 percent trust Republicans in Congress.

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