Back from Charlotte! It was an honor to represent California's 33rd Congressional District as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. To the links then...
- Registering to vote just got easier. With this little widget, you can fill out a registration form, print it off and mail it in ... or, if you're lucky enough to be in a state where you can register online, it will take you directly to your Secretary of State's website. Do it now! And share it with family and friends. Remember, as Rep. John Lewis said, voting is "the most powerful, nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union."
- State of the race? Advantage, Obama:
“Their map has many more routes to victory,” said a top Republican official. Two officials intimately involved in the GOP campaign said Ohio leans clearly in Obama’s favor now, with a high single-digit edge, based on their internal tracking numbers of conservative groups. Romney can still win the presidency if he loses Ohio, but it’s extremely difficult.
The Obama and Romney campaigns anticipate little movement in national polls before the first debate on Oct. 3, which both see as the most important day of this campaign. They also see eye-to-eye on their belief the election will come down to whether Romney can persuade voters he understands the problems of ordinary people and that his solutions are at least marginally better for turning things around economically.
Hinging a campaign's hopes on dominating Barack Obama in a debate is definitely not the best position to be in.
- Even worse numbers for the Romney campaign:
In fact, Obama led Romney in a dozen such favorable characteristics, such as "represents America" or "has the right values." The only such category in which Romney had an advantage was being "a man of faith," as 44 percent picked Romney, who is Mormon, compared to 31 percent for Obama, who is Christian.
Romney's campaign has had to resort to attempting to activate latent prejudices of white voters by claiming sending subtle dogwhistles that Obama either literally or figuratively is not American. If the Reuters/Ipsos poll is to be believed, that racist dogwhistle won't hunt.
- And speaking of the item above, how's this for desperation:
"I will not take God out of our platform," the Republican nominee said after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. "I will not take God off our coins, and I will not take God out of my heart."
In response, Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith called the insinsuation false and an act of desperation.
President Obama certainly hasn't mentioned taking "In god we trust" off of our coinage, but Romney has no problem implying that it's a point of contrast. By the way, did I mention that issues of coinage are regulated by the Congress?
- War on women? What war on women?
In a blow to judicial prudence and common sense a South Dakota federal appeals court ruled 7 - 4 that it was indeed legal to require doctors to tell abortion patients the day before their procedure that they will be at risk for suicide. The warning of suicide that doctors are now forced to give has never been medically or scientifically proven. Because of this, opponents call it nothing but a scare tactic.
The ruling overturned a previous decision made in September 2011 that said the requirement was not within the realms of the law. That decision was in response to a 2005 law which required all abortion practitioners to notify in writing, "all medical risks of the procedure" which allegedly included "risk of suicide." Again, the claim was made without evidence.
Soon, they'll pass legislation requiring doctors to tell people that masturbation will make you go blind. If we're going to start forcing doctors to tell scare tactics as truth, we may as well go all the way.
- Maybe he should offer bitcoins instead?
- President Obama 1, birthers 0:
President Barack Obama was at an Orlando sports bar, snapping a University of Florida Gators' sign, sipping a pint and working a crowd when he walked up to a table with five children. One adult pointed to one of the boys, 7-year-old Andre Wupperman of Orlando, and informed the president that the boy was born in Hawaii, the president's native state.
Delighted, the president greeted the boy with a "shaka" sign, the pinky and thumb gesture typical of Hawaiian culture. The boy gestured back.
"You were born in Hawaii?" the president said. Then he asked teasingly: "You have a birth certificate?"
See, that's actually funny, unlike any interaction Mitt Romney has ever had with anyone.