Democracy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Democracy: October 19th, 2012
COUNTDOWN TO ELECTION: 17 DAYS
Top Five News and Analysis Links (Excerpts Below)
- Obama touts economy, Romney focuses on final debate
- Campaign Moves into Final Phase
- Women’s Issues Big in CT Senate Seat debate
- Is the electoral process broken?
- Seattle Times Action Shows Citizens United Limits
More top news and analysis: (Updates coming shortly)
ELECTION 2012: Obama touts economy as Romney focuses on final debate - WP
Obama tried to seize the advantage on the economic issues on which Romney has staked his candidacy.
ELECTION PROFILE: Leadership profiles of Romney AND Obama – WP
ELECTION 2012: Ground Games: The Closer - WP
As a phone bank chief in Florida illustrates, Obama the candidate is still struggling to match the polished intensity of Obama the campaign.
ELECTION 2012/POLLING: Gallup vs. the World - NYT, NATE SILVER
The Gallup national tracking poll now shows a very strong lead for Mitt Romney. However, its results are deeply inconsistent with the results that other polling firms are showing in the presidential race.
ELECTION 2012/FOREIGN POLICY: The Foreign Policy Debate – WSJ
How Romney can show Americans he can be a capable Commander in Chief.
ELECTION 2012/DEBATE MODERATOR: Was Candy in Cahoots? – WSJ, James Taranto
Almost certainly not. Occam’s razor suggests Obama took advantage of her.
SWING STATES: Campaign Moves into Final Phase, Driven by Electoral Math – TIME
For months, Mitt Romney’s campaign has expressed confidence in its ability to restore North Carolina to the Republican column in November. The boast isn’t just bluster.
SWING STATES: Obama Ahead in Polls of Wisconsin and Iowa - NYT, MICHAEL D. SHEAR
In Iowa, Mr. Obama leads by eight percentage points in a state he won four years ago by a slightly larger margin, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Thursday. In Wisconsin, the home of Paul Ryan, Mr. Romney’s running mate, the president has an six point lead.
SWING STATES: Tiny N.H. could punch above weight - Politico
If Romney can’t put Ohio in his column, he’ll need to win most of the remaining swing states.
SWING STATES: Candidates Court Key Blocs in Florida – WSJ
Florida is living up to its billing as one of the most prized electoral-vote caches in the presidential race.
SWING STATES: Springsteen Helps Obama Lure Blue-Collar Votes in Ohio - NYT, HELENE COOPER
Bruce Springsteen joined former President Bill Clinton at an Obama rally in Ohio, part of the campaign’s all-out effort to scrounge up every vote it can in the state.
LOCAL RACES: Women’s Issues at Fore in Final Debate for CT Senate Seat - NYT
Christopher S. Murphy, a three-term Democratic congressman, tried to put Linda E. McMahon on the defensive for Republican positions on contraceptives and abortion.
LOCAL RACES:Allen, Kaine reach for the center - POLITICO
Each candidate strives to frame his opponent as a sharp partisan.
LOCAL RACES: Take the U.S. Senate Away From the Voters – BLOOMBERG, Stephen L. Carter
The campaign for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut, where I live, has produced commercials that are so nasty (and insulting to the intelligence) that I often catch myself wishing that somehow both candidates might lose.
LOCAL RACES: The people’s senator - ECONOMIST
A tight battle for the blue-collar vote in the Bay State
LOCAL RACES: House GOP Freshmen Fight for Re-Election - WSJ
The 87 Republican House freshmen arrived in 2010 and promised to change Washington. Not all of them might be coming back.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Seattle Times Action Shows Limits of Citizens United - BLOOMBERG, Josh Barro
This week the Seattle Times Co. announced that it would run $75,000 worth of independent expenditure ads on behalf of Rob McKenna, the Republican nominee for governor in Washington — at the company’s expense. It is also giving $75,000 of free ad space to the campaign backing a referendum to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: DSCC raises record haul - POLITICO
The third fundraising quarter of the year is its biggest filing period in the committee’s history.+
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Missouri Political Donor Thrives With No Limits - NYT
The possible future of unlimited campaign contributions is on display in Missouri, where Rex Sinquefield has emerged as the biggest giver.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Playing to donors, GOP groups spill secrets - POLITICO
The once secretive outside conservative groups now won’t stop talking.
VOTING: Is the electoral process broken? - POLITICO
Marc Rotterman: “The election unofficially started back in the fall of 2011, a schedule that is absurd.”
VOTERS: Demography Isn’t Destiny When Voters Are Economically Informed - FORBES
Political handicappers make it sound as if demography is destiny when it comes to which policies and candidates people support. Yet new research suggests that another factor powerfully affects one’s policy and political preferences: One’s awareness of basic truths about the U.S. economy.
LATINO VOTERS: Campaigns See Latino Voters as Deciders in 3 Key States - NYT
In Colorado, Florida and Nevada, ads and volunteers are being dispatched to make cases for President Obama and Mitt Romney.
VOTERS: More Asian Immigrants Are Finding Ballots in Their Native Tongue - NYT
Eleven states with surging Asian populations are being compelled by federal law to print ballots in languages other than English.
GUN CONTROL: The Issue That Goes Ignored - NYT, EDITORIAL
The presidential candidates remain evasive about the need for effective and sane gun control laws.
THIRD PARTY: Complaint filed with FEC - POLITICO
Presidential candidate Gary Johnson’s campaign funding and expenditures are called into question.
HEALTHCARE/CONGRESS: Democrats Use Health Law to Assail Republicans - NYT
A provision of the law requiring members of Congress to use the new insurance exchanges has inspired a barrage of political advertising that some call misleading.
HEALTHCARE FUNDING: The myth of health-care ‘funds’ - WP
Candidates are twisting Medicare truths.
GAY RIGHTS: U.S. Marriage Act Is Unfair to Gays, Court Panel Says – NYT
A federal appeals court ruled that gay Americans are a class of people who deserve the same kinds of constitutional protections as many other victims of discrimination.
GAY RIGHTS: Knights of Columbus Donate Millions to Anti-Gay Marriage Effort, Report Says - NYT
Between 2005 and 2012, the Knights channeled $6.5 million to campaigns against same-sex marriage, according to a report by Equally Blessed, a coalition of groups of Catholics who support gay marriage.
GAY RIGHTS: Another Defeat for the Defense of Marriage Act - NYT, EDITORIAL
An appeals court ruling against the discriminatory 1996 law should help hasten its demise.
GAY RIGHTS: Another Strike Against DOMA - NYT
The story of the couple behind the lawsuit illustrates why DOMA is not just unconstitutional, but muttonheaded.
GAY RIGHTS: Court Deals Blow to Marriage Act - WSJ
A federal appeals court in New York struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act, bolstering efforts by proponents to legalize gay marriage in the U.S.
TERROR PLOT: Second Suspect Held in Fed Plot - WSJ
A man identified as a co-conspirator in an alleged terrorist plot to bomb the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is in custody but won’t face charges related to the FBI sting operation.
RULING/FREE SPEECH: Texas Judge, Siding With Cheerleaders - NYT
In his decision, the judge issued a temporary injunction prohibiting a school district from enforcing a ban on religious-themed banners at football games.
FREE SPEECH: When ‘vagina’ is a dirty word - WP
Prominent Christian retailer refuses to carry book by Rachel Held Evans.
BOY SCOUTS: Boy Scout Files Give Glimpse Into 20 Years of Sex Abuse – NYT
Details of sexual abuse and what experts say was a corrosive culture of secrecy in the Boy Scouts of America came to light in documents on accusations across the country.
TERROR SUSPECTS: Lawyers Spar Over Rights for 9/11 Detainees - WSJ
Whether the accused Sept 11, 2001, terrorists are entitled to full constitutional rights came into sharper focus, as a military judge suggested that at least in one instance the defendants are getting less protection than that available to a U.S. defendant.
ENVIRONMENT: Why the Wildfires Still Rage - NYT, JOHN N. MACLEAN
A surprising number of recent fires weren’t started naturally but by far more surprising human acts. Time for tougher legislation.
HEALTH/EUTHENASIA: Over my dead body - ECONOMIST
Helping the terminally ill to die, once taboo, is gaining acceptance
HEALTH: Battle to Rethink Mental Illness in Children – WSJ
The bible of mental illness—a nearly 1,000-page tome—is getting its first revision in 15 years, with a major focus on children’s disorders.
HEALTH: Taking Big Risk for Pain Relief - WSJ
Clinics that offer steroid injections for pain are fielding patient questions about safety in the wake of the meningitis outbreak, but doctors say demand remains strong—a testament to the desperation of people seeking pain relief.
HEALTH: More Meningitis Cases Expected - WSJ
Federal health officials formally linked a meningitis outbreak to steroid injections made by New England Compounding Center.
MORE ELECTIONS 2012 NEWS & ANALYSIS
ELECTIONS 2012: Obama Takes Election Fight to Rival’s Turf - WSJ
Obama campaigned in Romney’s backyard, offering voters a blistering criticism of his rival just hours before the two candidates share a stage at a dinner benefit
ELECTIONS 2012: Amid Brutal Campaign, a Respite. With Jokes.- NYT
Just two days after their heated debate, the candidates joked, interspersing gentle jabs with shows of self-deprecation as they raised money for Catholic charities.
ELECTIONS 2012: Obama’s Stump Speech Boils Down to One Word - NYT
For the president and his campaign, the challenge is to overcome a decline in voter enthusiasm from 2008.
ELECTIONS 2012: Cuomo to Travel the U.S. on Obama’s Behalf - NYT
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said he would do whatever President Obama’s campaign asked but did not want it viewed as laying the groundwork for a presidential run of his own.
ELECTIONS 2012: The Other Missing Man - NYT TIMOTHY EGAN
The real Romney, the one who seems to have no idea what it’s like to be middle-class and struggling, is back.
ELECTIONS 2012: The Bush Blame Game - WSJ
Some conservatives quibbled with Mitt Romney’s comments on how he would differ from President George W. Bush.
ELECTIONS 2012: Obama’s Immigration Fib - WSJ, JASON L. RILEY
The president falsely accused Mr. Romney of calling Arizona’s controversial immigration-enforcement law “a model for the nation.”
ELECTIONS 2012: Noonan: The Year the Debates Mattered - WSJ
Will Obama’s crass presidential style become the rule or prove an exception?
ELECTIONS 2012: A Foreign Policy Failure to Acknowledge the Obvious - WSJ, Feith and Cropsey
After the Benghazi attack, the Obama administration’s focus on the YouTube video reflected a years-long denial of the Islamist threat.
ROMNEY/WOMEN: Truly Good Mothers and a Fifties Dad - WP, Ruth Marcus
Everyone’s having a jolly time with Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women.” To me, the more telling remark during Tuesday’s debate came when Romney spoke about how he sought to accommodate the needs of his gubernatorial chief of staff, a woman with young children.
ROMNEY/DEFENSE: Romney’s defense plan - WP
His plan meets U.S. needs better than Obama’s, but how would he pay for it?
DEBATE: OBAMA’S GOLDEN GLOVEBY HENDRIK HERTZBERG - NEW YORKER
The baseball metaphor inside the Presidential debates.
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