tagged w/ news conference
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Six months in office, President Barack Obama sought Wednesday night to rally support for sweeping health care legislation he's struggling to push through Congress, expressing support for a surtax on families making more than $1 million a year to help pay for it.Six months in office, President Barack Obama sought Wednesday night to rally support... more
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It was the third primetime news conference of Barack Obama's presidency and the first not dominated by the recession. Obama said progress has been made in rebuilding the economy, yet more remains to be done.It was the third primetime news conference of Barack Obama's presidency and the... more
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President Barack Obama claimed early progress Tuesday night in his aggressive campaign to lead the nation out of economic chaos and declared that despite obstacles ahead, ``we're moving in the right direction.''President Barack Obama claimed early progress Tuesday night in his aggressive campaign... more
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In a nostalgic final news conference, President George W. Bush defended his record vigorously and at times sentimentally Monday - and admitted mistakes, too, including his optimistic Iraq speech before a giant ``Mission Accomplished'' banner in 2003.In a nostalgic final news conference, President George W. Bush defended his record... more
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Marquette, Michigan - In the marble halls of one of Michigan's most famous courthouses, an Independent candidate for Marquette County prosecutor filed a recount petition in her race against a longtime democratic incumbent.
Former assistant prosecutor Cathy Church cited uncounted absentee ballots and suspected problems with Diebold optical scanners used to tabulate ballots as the reason for the recount. She lost to the incumbent by 1,784 votes or about six percent.
"We decided there were some anomalies we wanted to look at," Church said. ""You took your ballot and put it into a machine that may or may not have sucked your ballot in on the first attempt."
Church served for 14 years as an assistant prosecutor of domestic violence cases.
She said the $400 filing fee was worth "the peace of mind."
The Nov. 12, 2008 press conference scheduled for the front steps of the historic courthouse was moved inside the main doors due to a cold rain.
The Marquette County Courthouse was the site of the director Otto Preminger's famous 1959 movie trial "Anatomy of a Murder" based on a book penned by prosecuter and future Michigan Supreme Court Judge John D. Voelker, under the name "Robert Traver," and starring Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, and a score by Duke Ellington.
At the same courthouse in 1913, former President Theodore Roosevelt was awarded six cents after winning a libel suit against a local newspaper publisher who wrote that Roosevelt was addicted to alcohol.
Church said the optical scanners used to tabulate the vote are sometimes being unreliable.
Diebold optical scanning machines “don't always read people's marks on the ballots correctly," she said.
"The scanning machines (in Marquette County) have had problems around the county," Church said. "Any mark within the circle counts as a valid vote in Michigan."
"However, the scanners are like anything, what they are doing is they are sending out some type of reading device and unless - and I think - if it's a check mark or an X it has a 15 percent chance of reading it."
"The scanner would not have picked it up but a hand recount will," she said.
At different precincts, voters were asked to mark their ballots different writing utensils including pencils and blue and black ink pens, and absentee ballots were filled out with black felt tip pens, said Professor Ruth Watry, NMU political science professor.
"I was going to take a pen out of my purse and she (the clerk) gave me a felt black tipped marker and said ‘this doesn't always read the pen well why don you use this' and some other people who had absentee ballots mailed to them from the city of Marquette has these markers mailed with the absentee ballot," Professor Watry said.
"I did a lot of research on this and according to the manufacturers, if the scanners have an infra-red reader on them there are only four types of marking instruments you are supposed to use" including a number two pencil and a Sharpie, Church said.
"It can be highly selective," she said.
Many voters voted straight party tickets but could check her name as an independent candidate for prosecutor.
"That's known as a split ticket" and if the scanner correctly reads the ballot "it should override the straight party ticket for that particular race," Church said.
"My race is pretty unique. I am not affiliated with any party" and there "was no republican candidate," she said.
"Poll workers work very hard in kind of a thankless job. I want to stress to you that I think those people do a stellar job."
"Michigan bought all these optical scanners for their precincts it was about a $32 million dollar contract," she said.
Berry County, Michigan had never had a problem with voting until using the optical scanners in 2006, she said.
"When Barry County transmitted the data 15 out of the 16 malfunctioned and they dropped 1,500 votes. Ohio just had a problem with the 11 out of 40 counties."
The recount date has not been set.Marquette, Michigan - In the marble halls of one of Michigan's most famous... more
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It was to be President-Elect Barack Obama's first public appearance since Tuesday's election, where exit polls showed that the economy was far and away the top issue for voters.It was to be President-Elect Barack Obama's first public appearance since... more
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John McCain usually is the one who dallies with reporters -- brushing off his press secretary to take as many as three questions after her habitual “We’re out of time.” But at the 4-acre compound of George H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, McCain Monday found the former president outdoing him at his own game.
McCain probably had hoped for a camera-ready send-off after a news conference at the oceanfront retreat, where reporters strained to hear over the waves breaking against the rocky shore. But as McCain turned to leave, Bush began shaking hands with reporters and seemed keen to talk about his current adventures: how one of his guests exceeded 70 mph on the cigarette boat this weekend, how another boat "ran afoul of the rocks" and his plans for another parachute jump (his last) on his 85th birthday next year.
McCain reappeared at his elbow with a tight grin, trying to steer him away. Bush obliged by walking McCain halfway down the driveway, but then turned back, insisting that the reporters take a look around the complex. So McCain gave up and left -- leaving for his third fundraiser of the morning, while his press corps took the tour.
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Click on the link for the full article.John McCain usually is the one who dallies with reporters -- brushing off his press... more
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President Bush said Tuesday the nation's troubled financial system is ``basically sound'' and urged lawmakers to quickly enact legislation to prop up mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.President Bush said Tuesday the nation's troubled financial system is ``basically... more
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