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They are Stealing The Vote Again
In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.
In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.
In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.
In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.
Greg Palast In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all re... more -
The Sidewalk to Nowhere, McCain Supporters in Bethlehem, PA
WOW! Living in California, in the Bay Area in particular, I often forget about what the rest of the country is like. It is extremely frightening and embarrassing and, if I do say so, IDIOTIC.
God help us! WOW! Living in California, in the Bay Area in particular, I often forget about what the rest of the country is like. It is extremely f... more -
Massive Voter Suppression Uncovered by AP and New York Times
When smears fail...cheat
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Report: Voter Purging Process Is Shrouded in Secrecy, Prone to Error and Vulnerabl...
A new study by the Brennan Center for Justice has found voters across the country are being purged through a process that is shrouded in secrecy, prone to error and vulnerable to manipulation. The Brennan Center is calling on states to develop and publish uniform, non-discriminatory rules for purges; provide public notice of pending purges; make purge lists publicly available; and develop rules for individuals to challenge the purge list. A new study by the Brennan Center for Justice has found voters across the country are being purged through a process that is shrouded ... more
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Video Clip: Obama a terrorist? some ohio people believe it.
'There are good people who won't vote for Obama because he's a black man,' says Gov. Ted Strickland. 'I don't want people to vote against their own interests because of an unwillingness to vote for a black man.'
Will McSame's recent fear mongering campaign -- (talking about Barack Obama 'palling around with terrorists,') give folks pause that he might actually be a terrorist? 'There are good people who won't vote for Obama because he's a black man,' says Gov. Ted Strickland. 'I don&#... more -
Courting Middle-Class Voters -
Tell us why this is interestingRepublican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. each sought to claim the mantle of "kitchen table" candidate in the first and only debate between the major-party vice presidential candidates last night, both arguing that their running mates better understand the concerns of middle-class Americans worried about the nation's faltering economy.
On a night when presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama were relegated to the sidelines, Palin and Biden raced through a fast-paced debate that touched on same-sex marriage, the war in Iraq, and the nation's energy and foreign policies. Each escaped without major mishap, and Palin seemed to repair an image that had been damaged by recent media interviews and increasing public doubts about her readiness for the nation's No. 2 job.
From the opening moments of their highly anticipated 90-minute debate, each portrayed themselves as a voice for Middle America and attempted to make the case that their ticketmates are best prepared to bring change to Washington and the nation.
Palin, the first female governor of Alaska, referred to "average, middle-class families like mine," and in her first answer she suggested that the proper place to take the temperature of Americans' concerns about the economy would be at a Saturday-morning soccer game.
"Now, thankfully, John McCain has been one representing reform," Palin said. "People in the Senate, his colleagues" -- she turned to the senator from Delaware -- "didn't want to listen to him and wouldn't go towards that reform that was needed."
Biden trained his fire on McCain, noting that the senator from Arizona "two Mondays ago" claimed that the "fundamentals of the economy were strong."
He added: "That doesn't make John McCain a bad guy, but it does point out he's out of touch."
The debate, with its emphasis on quick answers and numerous topics, became a barrage of numbers and competing and conflicting visions of Obama and McCain.
Likely to be more lasting for viewers was the lack of obvious mistakes on either side, and an image of Palin that was more like the confident, smiling politician who burst onto the scene with a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention, and less like the stumbling candidate who has seemed ill prepared in a series of interviews broadcast recently with CBS News anchor Katie Couric.
She was respectful and cordial to Biden -- "Hey, can I call you Joe?" she asked when she greeted him onstage -- but quick to try to put him on the defensive about his past differences with Obama. "I watched all those debates," she said, referring to the Democratic primaries in which the two were rivals.
But the essence of the night -- and one of the major arguments of the campaign -- may have been illustrated by a long exchange after Biden said policies of the Bush administration have been an "abject failure."
"There's a time, too, when Americans are going to say, 'Enough is enough with your ticket,' on constantly looking backwards, and pointing fingers and doing the blame game," Palin said. "There have been huge blunders in the war. There have been huge blunders throughout this administration, as there are with every administration. But for a ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there's just too much finger-pointing backwards to ever make us believe that that's where you're going."
**more at article** Tell us why this is interestingRepublican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. each sought to claim the mantle of "kitche... more -
Debate leaves some young voters unsatisfied
Story Highlights:
Rock the Vote gathered young adults at Hard Rock Cafe to watch debate
Some in attendance had already made up their minds
Others say nominees' responses were unsatisfying
"It's a matter ... of who you don't want," one young voter says Story Highlights: Rock the Vote gathered young adults at Hard Rock Cafe to watch debate ... more -
"Is Your Vote Safe?"
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ring of Fire Posts That republican party pushes scams to get democratic voters off the voting rolls. this effects mainly college students, immigrant families, Ethnic citizens, & swing states.
See full story for what we should know. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ring of Fire Posts That republican party pushes scams to get democratic voters off the voting rolls. this effec... more -
How Obama Can Win Working-Class Votes
For now, Barack Obama has contained his free fall in the polls. But the slim margin he enjoys over John McCain can hardly be a source of comfort.
If he wants to restore his original lead, he will have to do more than go on the offensive. He will have to deliver on his promise of being a post-partisan unifier and convince working-class whites to join blacks--two key Democratic constituencies--to join forces behind him. This charge will require him to perform a delicate double-maneuver: persuade working-class whites that he's not an identity politician indifferent to their interests and, at the same time, assure black voters that his appeal as a post-racial candidate doesn't involve selling them out.
One principled way he could do both? Ask colleges to end preferences for minorities and white children of alumni in admissions.
Racial preferences have been a sleeper issue so far, but they will generate more attention come November, given that Colorado and Nebraska are facing ballot initiatives--authored by a black businessman from California, Ward Connerly--to ban their use in public universities. If similar initiatives in California (1996), Washington (1998) and Michigan (2006) are any indication, they will win handily, thanks to white working-class support. Indeed, the Michigan initiative passed 58% to 42%, receiving nearly 70% of the votes in places such as Macomb County--home of the Reagan Democrats.
But Obama has condemned Connerly's initiatives as "divisive." This will likely irritate working-class whites who already feel alienated by his "god and guns" remark. Indeed, their antipathy is one reason why, despite pervasive disgust with the current Republican administration, McCain has gained ground.
The current average of major polls shows Obama leading McCain by 3%--certainly an improvement over last week, but still only half of what it was two months ago. The latest Gallup poll shows McCain leading Obama 55% to 33% among lesser educated, blue-collar whites. Likewise, a Zogby poll earlier this month reported that Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) shoppers support McCain over Obama 62% to 24%.
Of course, over 90% of blacks polled support Obama. But they alone can't carry him to the White House; they comprise only 11% of the general election voters--and whites 77%. For now, Barack Obama has contained his free fall in the polls. But the slim margin he enjoys over John McCain can hardly be a source ... more -
Electoral Projections Done Right: Allocating the Undecideds
Heretofore, I've simply been allocating undecided voters 50:50. That is certainly the most neutral assumption to make. But this site isn't about making the most neutral assumption, it's about making the most predictive one.
So what I'm going to do instead is tie the undecided allocation to the extent to which Barack Obama overperformed or underperformed his polls in particular types of states in the Democratic primaries. If you compare the actual results in the primaries to the final RCP or Pollster.com averages, you'll notice some fairly systematic differences.
Specifically, Obama overperformed:
1. In states with high African-American populations;
2. In states that share a border with Illinois (no, Kentucky doesn't count);
3. In states with highly educated electorates;
4. To a lesser extent, in the South (as indicated by the number of evangelicals), even after accounting for the above variables.
Meanwhile, he underperformed his polls:
1. In the Appalachian states (as indicated by the number of respondents who identify their ancestry as 'American', a practice concentrated in the Appalachian region);
2. In states with low education levels;
3. And in states with a high number of Catholics Heretofore, I've simply been allocating undecided voters 50:50. That is certainly the most neutral assumption to make. But this s... more -
My candidate, myself
Sept. 22, 2008 | "Let's make sure that there is certainty during uncertain times" -- George W. Bush, 2008
Last week, I jokingly asked a health club acquaintance whether he would change his mind about his choice for president if presented with sufficient facts that contradicted his present beliefs. He responded with utter confidence. "Absolutely not," he said. "No new facts will change my mind because I know that these facts are correct."
I was floored. In his brief rebuttal, he blindly demonstrated overconfidence in his own ideas and the inability to consider how new facts might alter a presently cherished opinion. Worse, he seemed unaware of how irrational his response might appear to others. It's clear, I thought, that carefully constructed arguments and presentation of irrefutable evidence will not change this man's mind.
In the current presidential election, a major percentage of voters are already committed to "their candidate"; new arguments and evidence fall on deaf ears. And yet, if we, as a country, truly want change, we must be open-minded, flexible and willing to revise our opinions when new evidence warrants it. Most important, we must be able to recognize and acknowledge when we are wrong.
Unfortunately, cognitive science offers some fairly sobering observations about our ability to judge ourselves and others.
Perhaps the single academic study most germane to the present election is the 1999 psychology paper by David Dunning and Justin Kruger, "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments." The two Cornell psychologists began with the following assumptions.
# Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill.
# Incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others.
# Incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy.
---more at link--- Sept. 22, 2008 | "Let's make sure that there is certainty during uncertain times" -- George W. Bush, 2008 ... more -
The Numbers Voting starts NOW
"Pennsylvanians serving in the military may have completed the task already. Kentuckians and North Carolinians can start any time now. And in the next week or so people in up to a dozen more states can go ahead and be done with it." "Pennsylvanians serving in the military may have completed the task already. Kentuckians and North Carolinians can start any time... more
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ABC News: Which Candidate Has the Best Economic Plan?
"With 48 days left before election day, rival presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are trying to convince voters that they have the best plan to fix what is being called the worst economic crisis the nation has faced since the Great Depression.
Barack Obama and John McCain hold starkly different views on economic issues including taxes, home foreclosures, and government regulations.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)Obama and McCain released fresh television ads today looking straight into the camera, appealing to Americans to trust them to fix the staggering economy as Wall Street reeled this week with stock prices plummeting, investment banks collapsing, and the Federal Reserve rescuing an insurance giant from bankruptcy.
"This isn't just a string of bad luck," Obama says in his latest two-minute ad. "The truth is that while you've been living up to your responsibilities, Washington has not." "
" "With 48 days left before election day, rival presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are trying to convince voters ... more -
ABC News: Former President Will Visit 'The View'
Former President Bill Clinton will take his turn on the couch with the ladies of ABC's "The View" during his first appearance on the program Monday Former President Bill Clinton will take his turn on the couch with the ladies of ABC's "The View" during his first appe... more
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ABC News: Biden: Voters 'Don't Know We Can Accomplish' Change
"Biden Dismissed Concerns About Obama's Dwindling Lead in Polls"
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ABC News: Presidential Race Tightens, Moves to Familiar Battlegrounds
"This is how close the contest for the White House really is: It comes down to an electoral college slug fest over 14 states, and in some of those key states the race is too close to call.
The presidential race has tightened and has come down to a fight for familiar battleground and swing states.
(ABC News Photo Illustration)New polls indicated that Republican John McCain has lost the bounce he got from the GOP's convention and his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. A CBS News-New York Times national survey showed Democrat Barack Obama leading McCain 48 percent to 43 percent, and a Quinnipiac University poll gives Obama a similar edge 49-45 edge.
But the closeness of the race has apparently prompted Obama to abandon earlier plans to fight for votes in states that generally go Republican, and the 2008 presidential race has settled on familiar battleground and swing states.
ABC News has identified 14 states that could go for either Obama or McCain in November. Those states include Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada, and New Hampshire.
Those14 states have a total of 175 electoral votes up for grabs, more than half of the 270 needed to claim victory. " "This is how close the contest for the White House really is: It comes down to an electoral college slug fest over 14 states, and... more -
957 liters of wine
with 356kg of grapes they made 957 liters of wine amazing
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GOP Increase in Party ID After Convention Not Unusual
PRINCETON, NJ -- The percentage of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans has increased from 26% immediately before last week's Republican National Convention began to 30% immediately after it. That increase, combined with a slight 2-point drop in Democratic identification from 37% to 35%, has reduced the Democrats' formidable advantage in national party identification from 11 points to 5.
Democrats have held a large advantage on party identification for much of 2007 and 2008. But the GOP convention -- and the exposure it gave to John McCain and Sarah Palin as the Republican ticket -- has encouraged a greater number of Americans to identify as Republicans, thus narrowing the Democratic advantage for the moment.
Republicans saw an even larger increase in "leaned" party identification, which is computed by adding the percentage of Americans who initially identify themselves as independents but then say they "lean" to a party to the percentage who identify with that party. Before the GOP convention, 39% of Americans said they identified with or leaned to the Republican Party, but that number has increased to 47%. Forty-eight percent now identify with or lean to the Democratic Party, down from 53% prior to the GOP convention.
These results are based on the Sept. 5-7 USA Today/Gallup poll, but Gallup observed similar trends in its daily tracking survey.
Such short-term shifts in party affiliation are a regular occurrence after a party's convention -- Gallup has measured an increase in the percentage of Americans identifying with a party after its convention since 1992, averaging 4 percentage points. PRINCETON, NJ -- The percentage of Americans identifying themselves as Republicans has increased from 26% immediately before last week... more -
Lose your house, lose your vote
Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African American voters
The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.
“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.
State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.” The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”
One expert questioned the legality of the tactic. “You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so,” said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. “I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.” As for the practice of challenging the right to vote of foreclosed property owners, Hebert called it, “mean-spirited.”
GOP ties to state’s largest foreclosure law firm
The Macomb GOP’s plans are another indication of how John McCain’s campaign stands to benefit from the burgeoning number of foreclosures in the state. McCain’s regional headquarters are housed in the office building of foreclosure specialists Trott & Trott. The firm’s founder, David A. Trott, has raised between $100,000 and $250,000 for the Republican nominee.
The Macomb County party’s plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans — the most likely kind of loan to go into default — were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
Party chairman Carabelli said that the Republican Party is training election challengers to “make sure that [voters] are who they say who they are.” When asked for further details on how Republicans are compiling challenge lists, he said, “I would rather not tell you all the things we are doing.”
“You would think they would think, ‘This is going to look too heartless,’” said Lagstein, whose group has registered 200,000 new voters statewide this year and also runs a foreclosure avoidance program. “The Republican-led state Senate has not moved on the anti-predatory lending bill for over a year and yet [Republicans] have time to prey on those who have fallen victim to foreclosure to suppress the vote.” Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African American voters ... more -
McCain takes 4-point lead over Obama in poll
Republican John McCain heads into the final stretch of the U.S. presidential campaign with a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama, a USA Today/Gallup poll released on Sunday showed.
The lead was McCain's biggest since January and a turnaround from a USA Today poll taken just before last week's Republican Party convention opened, when the veteran Arizona senator trailed Obama by 7 percentage points. Republican John McCain heads into the final stretch of the U.S. presidential campaign with a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama, ... more
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