Democracy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Democracy: October 8th, 2012
Top Five News and Analysis Links (Excerpts Below)
- For Both Campaigns, Time to Fine-Tune Messages
- Romney Narrows Vote Gap After Debate Win
- Romney Works on Momentum in FL, Critical to Victory
- Democrats Bet on Shift in Hispanic Numbers in AZ Race
- The Cacophony of Campaign Money
More top news and analysis:
ELECTIONS 2012: For Both Campaigns, Time to Fine-Tune Messages - NYT
The debate, events in the Middle East and the better-than-expected jobs numbers on Friday are forcing the two campaigns to adjust to a new reality in the final month before Election Day.
ELECTIONS 2012: Obama on target despite lacklustre debate - FT
President can lose Virginia and Florida and still get across the line
ELECTIONS 2012: gasp of life for Obama – ECONOMIST
Barack Obama has received a lifeline from an unlikely source: the economy
ELECTIONS 2012: 6 keys to a Mitt Romney revival- POLITICO
MAGGIE HABERMAN: Mitt Romney had the best political performance of his career last week in Denver, but his debate victory over President Barack Obama still leaves him with a big and not-easy question: Now what?
ELECTIONS 2012: Romney to call for course change in Middle East- WP
Foreign policy was once seen as an Obama strength, but Romney campaign senses an opportunity.
ELECTIONS 2012: The Ungreat Debate – NEW YORKER, Hendrik Hertzberg
Romney won; and even more, Obama lost, as surely as if he had cancelled the whole damn thing…
*MORE ELECTIONS 2012 NEWS AND ANALYSIS BELOW
POLLS: Romney Narrows Vote Gap After Historic Debate Win – GALLUP
By record-high margin, debate watchers say Romney did better
POLLS: Battleground Tracking: Dems less enthusiastic - POLITICO
Nationally, the race is a point closer than it was a week ago.
POLLS: Mitt’s big debate bump – POLITICO
Gallup cites a 5 point shift in favor of Romney, which ties up the two candidates.
SWING STATES: Romney Works on Momentum in FL, Critical to Win - NYT
The Republican nominee rallied crowds and his volunteers blanketed the state to register new voters, while President Obama raised money in California.
SWING STATES: Despite Economic Woes, Obama Holds Edge in NV - RCP, Op-Ed
Scott Conroy: If the key issues in the election are jobs and the economy, there should be no easier venue for Mitt Romney to make his case than in a state where it has been harder for residents to find work than anywhere else and where more than 60 percent of mortgages remain underwater.
SWING STATES: The GOP’s Colorado Connection – WSJ, Op-Ed
Stephen Moore: Who needs Ohio when the GOP can win Colorado?
VOTERS: Campaigns Use Social Media to Lure Younger Voters – NYT
If the presidential campaigns of 2008 were dipping a toe into social media like Facebook and Twitter, their 2012 versions are well into the deep end.
VOTERS: Democrats Bet on Shift in Hispanic Numbers in AZ Race – NYT
FERNANDA SANTOS: The candidacy of Richard H. Carmona was handpicked by President Obama, hoping it could help galvanize the state’s dormant Latino electorate in favor of Democrats.
VOTERS: Obama moves to lock in Latino vote – POLITICO
So far, the strategy seems to be paying off with the nation’s fastest growing demographic.
VOTERS: Labor Widens Its Vote Push - WSJ
Labor unions are taking advantage of new campaign laws, under the 2010 Citizens United decision, that let them knock on doors and make phone calls to prospective voters who aren’t their members.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: The Cacophony of Money - NYT, EDITORIAL
Only a constitutional amendment or a careful system of regulation can diminish the corrupting flow of unlimited third-party spending.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Democrats & Obama, Record Haul in Sept - NYT
NICHOLAS CONFESSORE: President Obama and his party shattered the election cycle’s fund-raising record with a $181 million t0tal for September, Mr. Obama’s campaign said on Saturday.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Obama Quickens Fundraising Pace - WSJ
President Barack Obama’s $181 million fundraising haul in September is helping to calm Democrats who fear a deluge of negative ads from Republican super PACs.
VOTING: Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises – NYT
ADAM LIPTAK: Nationwide, mailed ballots now account for nearly 20 percent of votes, yet such ballots are more likely to be compromised, and contested, than those cast in person, statistics show.
LOCAL RACES: It’s Big. It’s Confusing. And It’s Anybody’s Race. – NYT
KIRK JOHNSON: Washington State’s newly drawn First Congressional district is considered fair if unpredictable in the upcoming election.
LOCAL RACES:Some in G.O.P. Return to Akin’s Corner – NYT
Todd Akin, a member of the House who is running for Senate from Missouri, lost the support of many fellow Republicans after he made comments about abortion and “legitimate rape.”
LOCAL RACES:Connecticut Debate Gets Personal – WSJ
Connecticut Republican Linda McMahon and Democrat Christopher Murphy traded blows over political attack ads, entitlement spending and taxes in their first debate on Sunday in a Senate campaign that has taken on an increasingly negative ton
LOCAL RACES:Arizona’s Flake Out – WSJ, Allysia Finley
Just what Republicans need—another Senate seat that seemed secure now shifting into the toss-up column.
BALLOT MEASURES: Voters in FL Face Two Contentious Ballot Questions – NYT
Among 11 proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution, No. 6 would ban state money for abortions, and No. 8 would remove language barring religious institutions from receiving state money.
EDUCATION: Texas Pushes $10,000 Degree – WSJ
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is renewing his call for $10,000 undergraduate degrees, in what he hopes will be the state’s signature response to the national problem of rising college tuition and student debt.
GAY RIGHTS: Happily ever after? - WP, Jo-Ann Pilard
Gay love deserves respect.
MAIN STREET: Fighting for a Cause With Soap and Suds – NYT
In Phoenix, carwashes raise money for funerals and deaths, struggling churches and cheerleading squads, for children of murder victims and for sick children.
MAIN STREET: Chasing Jobs in Polarized Wisconsin Town – NYT
“As Goes Janesville” documents the effects and politics of the recession on this small town in Wisconsin.
ADDICTION: Prescription for Addiction - WSJ
The U.S. spends about $15 billion a year fighting illegal drugs, often on foreign soil. But America’s deadliest drug epidemic begins and ends at home.
WILDFIRES: Burning through wildfire budgets - WP
In the worst wildfire season on record, the Forest Service ran out of money to fight and prevent them.
HEALTH: How to Die – NYT, BILL KELLER
A death in the family brings some lessons about how we can best approach our final days.
HEALTH: Study Shows Children With Autism Tend to Stray – NYT
Those at greatest risk of wandering off were autistic children with severe intellectual deficits and those who do not respond to their names.
HEALTH: Marijuana Only for the Sick? A Farce, Angelenos Say - NYT
While the federal government cracks down on dispensaries of medical marijuana, Los Angeles repealed a recent ban on them.
HEALTH: Deadly Meningitis Increases to 91 Cases – REUTERS via NYT
Health officials on Sunday reported an additional 27 cases in a fungal meningitis outbreak linked to steroid injections that has killed seven people and now infected 91 in nine states.
HEALTH: Fewer federal HIV funds for women, youth in big cities - WP
Many large cities with high rates of infection get less money, but 19 others will get fund for the first time.
SCIENCE/SPACE: SpaceX Launches Cargo Flight - WSJ
A private rocket and cargo spacecraft owned by Space Exploration Technologies blasted off from Florida on Sunday night as the company sought to begin regular commercial shipments to the international space station.
SCIENCE: Scientists Win Nobel For Stem-Cell Work - WSJ
John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka shared the prize for their work in “cellular reprogramming.”
MEDIA: Do We Need Professional Critics? - NYT, ROOM FOR DEBATE
Can professional criticism stay relevant in a media landscape overflowing with opinions?
MORE ELECTION 2012 NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
Updated election stories posted shortly
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The Common Good publishes a U.S. domestic news digest every weekday, available here.
