RandySF
RandySF's JournalU.Va. analysis: Obama has already won
The team of Larry Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley said if the election were held today, Obama would win 290 Electoral Votes, Mitt Romney 204. And the 42 toss-up Electoral Votes would not be enough to help Romney even if he took them all.
Theirs is the first to essentially declare Obama the winner and it comes after they switched several battleground states from toss-up to leaning Democrat, including Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and Nevada. The change mirrors new polling in those states and caps a two-week trend favoring Obama in state polls.
They caution that there are a few hurdles yet for Obama to clear, including the upcoming trio of presidential debates and continued bad economic reports. But they said those problems were only "theoretical" and concluded that "caution is always in order with almost six weeks to go, yet President Obama clearly leads at the moment."
What's more, with Obama's improving fortune is the likelihood he will have coattails for House and Senate candidates to grab onto. According to the new U.Va. analysis, the Senate looks to stay in Democratic hands and House Democrats will claw closer to control, but likely not win it.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/u.va.-analysis-obama-has-already-won/article/2509180#.UGx84H2UAqY
Keep this in mind about Romney and his "debating skills".
It's true that Romney had good debates during the primary season. But don't forget that he shared the stage with some very weak competition and never had a real one-on-one since 2002 when he ran for Governor of Massachusetts.
Michelle Malkin fuming over fizzled Obama "bombshell".
On Twitter:
You know what's getting old? Lib journos who went nuts over Romney's 1965 h.s. pranks, but dismiss any pre-2008 vids of Obama as "old."
https://twitter.com/michellemalkin
Drudge already gave up on the Obama "bombshell".
I took a peek and now the front page has a picture of someone installing the debate podium. Michelle Malkin's head must e exploding at the fizzle.
California AG Kamala Harris mentioned as potential Supreme Court Justice.
Washington (CNN) -- Here is an unofficial list of potential nominees for the Supreme Court if President Barack Obama is reelected. This list was compiled from a number of legal and political sources, including government officials deeply involved in the selections of Justices Sonia Sotomayor (2009) and Elena Kagan (2010).
The Obama administration, like those before, keeps an informal list of possible high court nominees to consider in the event of a sudden vacancy. But serious vetting only begins when such a vacancy occurs or is announced in advance by the retiring justice.
Election raises stakes for possible high court vacancies.
Kamala Harris, California attorney general
Born 1964. She was elected to her current job in 2010. She is part African-American, part Asian-American. Her father is a Jamaican-born Stanford University economics professor and her mother is an Indian-born (native Tamil) physician who works as a breast cancer specialist. Harris is a former San Francisco district attorney and author of "Smart on Crime." Her political savvy, ethnic background, telegenic personality, law enforcement credentials, and early support of President Obama's 2008 candidacy make her a favorite for any high court vacancy in any second-term, and possibly for U.S. Attorney General. Complications: Harris may seek re-election in 2014 and then may run for governor the following year.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/30/politics/court-obama-list/index.html
Judge Partially Blocks Pennsylvania Voter ID Law
A Pennsylvania judge partially blocked the state's voter ID law on Tuesday in a ruling that will still allow poll workers to ask for identification at the polling place. Under the judge's ruling, the state will be forced to accept provisional ballots from individuals who lack identification without that individual having to show photo identity within six days of the election.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/judge-partially-blocks-pennsylvania-voter-id-law
Advisers Say Romney Will Show Empathy In Debate
The Romney campaign believes their candidate needs to show empathy with Americans' economic troubles in the first presidential debate Wednesday, advisers to Mitt Romney told National Review. In debate prep, Romney has practiced coming across as personable and may share stories from the trail about people who have been hit hard during the recession.
From National Review:
Romney’s advisers have a simple strategy: They want their candidate to balance his finely tuned arguments with personal warmth. Since Romney is a reserved man, his advisers acknowledge that it will be difficult for him to endear himself to the country, especially under the hot studio lights. But they consider it critical. “This is really about introducing him to the country,” a Romney adviser says. “It’s the largest audience he has ever had. Everybody’s watching.”
During prep sessions in Vermont this past month, Romney has worked tirelessly on the stylistic aspect of his presentation, and Romney’s advisers predict that the former Massachusetts governor will come across as both presidential and empathetic. Rather than fire off brusque retorts, as he often did during primary debates, Romney will take care “to speak in paragraphs about the economy,” a second aide says.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/advisers-say-romney-will-show-empathy-in-debate
Ryan: I Didn’t Explain Tax Math Because People Would Change The Channel
Paul Ryan defended his refusal to go into the specifics of Mitt Romney's tax plan during a Sunday interview, saying on Monday that he likes Fox News host Chris Wallace too much to turn off his viewers by talking math.
“I like Chris,” Ryan told Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes Monday, via the Washington Post. ”I didn’t want to get into all the math of this because everybody would start changing the channel.”
Ryan also said that the Obama campaign is mischaracterizing the plan. “When you’re offering very specific bold solutions confusion can be your enemy’s best weapon,” Ryan said.
During a Sunday interview, Ryan declined to discuss any math behind Romney's tax plan, saying, "It would take me too long to go through all of the math."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/ryan-i-didnt-explain-tax-math-because-people
Tenn. frat house alcohol enema case worries experts
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Before an unruly Tennessee party ended with a student hospitalized for a dangerously high blood alcohol level, most people had probably never heard of alcohol enemas.
Thanks to the drunken exploits of a fraternity at the University of Tennessee, the bizarre way of getting drunk is giving parents, administrators and health care workers a new fear.
When Alexander "Xander" Broughton, 20, was delivered to the hospital after midnight on Sept. 22, his blood alcohol level was measured at 0.448 percent — nearly six times the intoxication that defines drunken driving in the state. Injuries to his rectum led hospital officials to fear he had been sodomized.
Police documents show that when an officer interviewed a fellow fraternity member about what happened, the student said the injuries had been caused by an alcohol enema.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49228851/ns/health/#.UGkplH2J__8
Dad's rant: I'm going to let my kid be a kid on the weekend, dammit.
My son just started first grade. He has an 8-hour school day beginning at 8 a.m. Every day he has language arts, math, science, social studies, Spanish and religion/philosophy (it's a parochial school). On PE days (Tuesday and Thursday), he comes home and I can feel the dried sweat on his body. He walks out the door every day with a tired look on his face and he still has 20 minutes of homework and 10 minutes of reading ahead of him after dinner. He has almost no free time before he takes a bath and goes to bed (including story time) and he has to repeat this five days a week. And some other parent tells me I have to keep him busy on the weekend? I'm glad their child takes karate on Saturday and skating on Sunday, but I'm the one who watches my kid fall asleep as soon as his head hits this pillow. I'm going to let him reast, play and be a kid on the weekends. If that makes me a bad parent, then so be it.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit Area, MI
Home country: USA
Current location: San Francisco, CA
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 02:53 PM
Number of posts: 58,706
