Sunday, October 2, 2011

PA-Pres: Obama keeps slight edge in key battleground, voters uneasy about electoral college shift

Pennsylvania is tight, but still leans to Obama

Pennsylvania is a state that has (justifiably) received a lot of attention in recent weeks, as it relates to the 2012 presidential election. This is something of a given, considering how the state's trove of electoral votes has shown every sign of being a toss-up between the president and whomever emerges as his Republican foe.

A new Quinnipiac poll, released earlier in the week, indeed suggests that President Obama would be narrowly favored to win statewide, if the election were held today.

Quinnipiac. 9/21-26. Registered voters. MoE 2.7% (8/2 results)

Barack Obama (D): 45 (42)
Mitt Romney (R): 43 (44)

Barack Obama (D): 46 (45)
Rick Perry (R): 40 (39)

Barack Obama (D): 45 (45)
Rick Santorum (R): 42 (43)

Adding to the recent attention bestowed upon the Keystone State was the news two weeks ago that the Pennsylvania GOP legislative leadership was flirting with a scheme to change the way electoral votes were awarded in the state, going from the winner-take-all approach utilized in 48 states and the District of Columbia to a district-by-district approach that would siphon a number of electoral votes away from the Democrats, assuming they won statewide.

The narrow margins here underscore why, for the Pennsylvania GOP, the electoral college gambit was always a calculated risk. While Democrats have carried the state in every presidential election since 1992, the president's polling numbers here have been pretty shaky throughout the 2012 cycle. His present job approval numbers in the state stand at just 43/54, which is just a point off his all-time low. A move designed to strip a handful of electoral votes away from the Democrats could, with a shift of just a handful of voters, actually deny the GOP a handful of electoral votes.

What's more, the bill itself is not a popular proposal. While support or disapproval generally falls along party lines, opponents to the bill outnumber supporters by a 52-40 margin. A strong majority, rightly, see it as an effort by legislative Republicans to aid their presidential nominee, rather than reflective of the will of the people. So, aside from the practical considerations, the GOP would have to expend a good amount of political capital, especially since a growing number of their GOP brethren are on the record opposing the move.

Meanwhile, in other Pennsylvania campaign data, the GOP presidential primary is still wildly undefined. The leading candidate, Mitt Romney, is still in the teens (18 percent), narrowly ahead of Rick Perry (16 percent) and semi-homeboy Rick Santorum (12 percent). Both Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, in double digits in August, have seen their support recede as Perry's has grown.

Downballot, as Republicans still search for a first-tier opponent to freshman Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, the Q poll indicates that he might be a pretty tough target. His job approval continues to be above average (46/30, a bit better than GOP Senate mate Pat Toomey's 43/32), and he leads a generic Republican challenger by a pretty solid 50-31 margin.


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/U4B89hMOaCg/-PA-Pres:-Obama-keeps-slight-edge-in-key-battleground,-voters-uneasy-about-electoral-college-shift

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Obama economic adviser adopts classroom style to explain policies

In the fall, with the administration struggling to convince Americans its economic strategy was working, the White House's new media team wanted to try an old-school idea: an adviser in front of a board explaining its policy ideas, like in a classroom.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/09/AR2011030901706.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Chicago News Cooperative: Looking for Savings, Quinn Has a Good Idea

Gov. Pat Quinn proposes to close the Illinois Youth Center, part of the state?s juvenile justice system, to save money, and that is not a bad move.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=a3b22527451e19d0c7e821d44c51dd33

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Is Monstrously Obese Chris Christie Even Too Fat For Republican Voters?

Republicans are a large bunch, if you get what we mean. When Teabaggers sit around the house, they literally sit around the 3,800-square-foot foreclosed tract house, in Florida. The latest advances in physics are repeatedly tested by the makers of Hoverounds and Rascals, as the wee scooters are expected to carry ever heavier loads. So [...]

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Source: http://feeds.wonkette.com/click.phdo?i=1acd334be63adba74649810355b514f2

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The Plum Line: Do people care about the deficit?

Duncan Black poses a question: "Nobody cares about the deficit. Why don't people understand this?" Matthew Yglesias attempts an answer: "Politicians don't understand that the voters don't care about the deficit because the voters themselves don't understand that they don't care about the deficit....

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031103780.html?wprss=rss_politics

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EPA chief Lisa Jackson perpetually on Capitol Hill hot seat

House Republicans have been challenging EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on whether carbon dioxide is a pollutant, in hearings aimed at cutting the agency's budget and curbing its ability to regulate greenhouse gases.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/13/AR2011031303340.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Wisconsin governor wins his battle with unions on collective bargaining

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has won his drive to strip the state's government workers of nearly all of their collective-bargaining rights, prevailing after a three-week standoff that brought tens of thousands of protesters to the Capitol and transfixed the political world.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031005940.html?wprss=rss_politics

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House votes to end foreclosure-assistance program

The House on Thursday voted to end the Federal Housing Administration Refinance Program, one of two federal foreclosure-assistance programs on the chopping block this week.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031005575.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Rich Are Under Attack - Poor Things!

Barbara Ehrenreich, Wash Post

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/10/01/the_rich_are_under_attack_-_poor_things_264575.html

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2chambers: Rep. Eric Cantor defends Rep. Peter King's hearings on radical Islam

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday backed House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King's (R-N.Y.) planned hearing on Islamic radicalism, chiding the press for having "become sort of fascinated" with it.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/08/AR2011030804188.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Peter Gent Dead: Former Cowboys Player, 'North Dallas Forty' Author Dies

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/01/peter-gent-nfl-north-dallas-forty-dies_n_990525.html

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Saturday hate mail-a-palooza: Best of Q3 edition

Don't steal medicare to support socialized medicine.
Yes, they really are that stupid.
Time to vote on the best (worst?) hate mail from the last three months! The contestants are below the fold.


Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/bqmSjLKc8cg/-Saturday-hate-mail-a-palooza:-Best-of-Q3-edition

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Rep. Peter King's Muslim hearing: Plenty of drama, less substance

One half of the Muslim contingent in Congress paused, his voice high and breaking. He tugged at his glasses. He held up a finger and gathered himself.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031002045.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Contempt charge for Murray lawyer?

Judge in trial of Michael Jackson's doctor orders hearing after attorney gives interview despite gag order Full coverage

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/ZClxFZhByns/main20114259.shtml

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The Fact Checker: Foreign policy braggadocio on Libya and AIDS

"We have already engineered the most rapid and forceful set of sanctions [against Libya] that have ever been applied internationally." --President Obama, March 3, 2011

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030701497.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Judge Postpones Blagojevich Sentencing Indefinitely

The judge, James Zagel, gave no explanation for his delay of the sentencing of former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, but the decision appeared linked to a new trial he will be overseeing.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=81cf174ae760588881f94daf5a757049

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Friday, September 30, 2011

Minnesotan Whose Daughter Suffered A Stroke From E. Coli Asks Bachmann To Reconsider Her Food Safety Position

During a campaign stop in Iowa about two weeks ago, 2012 GOP presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann criticized the government’s regulatory “overkill” when it comes to food safety. “When they make it complicated, they make it expensive and so then you can no longer stay in business,” she said, while chopping beef at a Des Moines [...]

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/30/333445/minnesotan-daughter-bachmann-food-safety/

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Obama Charts New Route to Reelection

Calmes & Landler, New York Times
With his support among blue-collar white voters far weaker than among white-collar independents, President Obama is charting an alternative course to re-election should he be unable to win Ohio and other industrial states traditionally essential to Democratic presidential victories.Without conceding ground anywhere, Mr. Obama is fighting hard for Southern and Rocky Mountain states he won in 2008, and some he did not, in calculating how to assemble the necessary 270 electoral votes. He is seeking to prove that those victories on formerly Republican turf were not flukes but the start of a trend...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/09/30/obama_charts_new_route_to_reelection_264517.html

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AP source: Obama to tap Locke for China ambassador

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will nominate Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, the son and grandson of Chinese immigrants, to be the next U.S. ambassador to China, a senior administration official said Monday. A formal announcement could come as early as Tuesday.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030704163.html?wprss=rss_politics

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American Muslim groups react to views presented in controversial hearing

Standing before a throng of cameras after his high-profile hearing on Muslim radicalization, Rep. Peter T, King (R-N.Y.) once again attacked major Muslim American organizations and their leaders, whom King described as soft on extremism.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031105903.html?wprss=rss_politics

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Will The Bigger Bailout Fund Work?

Short answer, no. Longer answer. A country that issues debt in its own currency should always have a default risk of zero. If I promise to give you Australian dollars in the future, and I also own a machine that allows me to instantly create infinite quantities of Australian dollars it would be absurd for [...]

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/09/30/332886/europe-doomed/

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Watch: John Paul Stevens Releases Book on Supreme Court

Former Supreme Court justice documents his time working with 5 chief justices.

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Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=80f0345877594666dca18130396197d1

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Biden on the Economy: 'We're in Charge'

Vice President says Bush administration irrelevant at this point, Obama has to deliver on economy.

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Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=40f2d97c2ffeb20c2e6580010fea77cd

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