RandySF
RandySF's JournalBarack Obama to campaign for Terry McAuliffe
President Barack Obama will campaign for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe this weekend, giving a late boost to McAuliffe as he seeks to energize core Democratic voters in an off-year governor’s race, Democratic sources told POLITICO.
Obama is set to appear at a Sunday afternoon get-out-the-vote rally in Northern Virginia. It will be the president’s first campaign appearance for McAuliffe, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
McAuliffe’s campaign has been working to activate many of the same voters who carried Virginia for Obama in 2008 and 2012: young people, independent women and African American, Latino and Asian American voters. Some of those groups – particularly young and nonwhite voters — tend to participate at lower rates in non-presidential elections.
The Democrat currently has held a consistent polling lead over his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. A Washington Post survey published Monday found McAuliffe 12 points ahead of the GOP nominee.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/barack-obama-campaign-for-terry-mcauliffe-virginia-2013-gubernatorial-elections-99002.html#ixzz2j4xDkPCl
The Richmonder: Mark Obenshain championed "government rape"
Virginia's women are beginning to realize that Mark Obenshain is just another Ken Cuccinelli when it comes to the Tea Party Republican War on Women.
http://www.the-richmonder.com/2013/10/mark-obenshain-championed-government.html
Daily Kos: GOP Collapses in Virginia.
The Washington Post just posted their final poll of the Virginia campaign (9/22 results in parenthesis):
Governor
McAuliffe (D) 51 (47)
Cuccinelli (R) 39 (39)
Lt Gov
Northam (D) 52 (45)
Jackson (R) 39 (42)
Attorney General
Herring (D) 49 (45)
Obenshain (R) 46 (42)
Democratic Party: 50 fav, 48 unfav
Republican Party: 32 fav, 65 unfav
Virginia voters have had one of the clearest contrasts between candidates imaginable: Terry McAuliffe running an explicitly liberal campaign, and Ken Cuccinelli running a hardcore conservative one. It's what both bases have been demanding, and both candidates have delivered.
Only one side will emerge next Tuesday validated, and it looks like it will be our side. And it's not just the governor's race, but the lieutenant governor's and attorney's general races as well. And it's not just them, either. Look at those party numbers! They point to big gains in the legislature, which is why we're pushing hard for our mini-slate of state lege candidates.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/28/1251378/-GOP-collapses-in-Virginia
Urban Legends: Is Halloween Candy Tampering a Myth?
By and large, yes, according to the best available research. Despite a very few well-publicized cases of alleged tampering during the 1960s, '70s, and '80s — nearly all of which were discovered on further investigation to be unfounded or unverifiable — no child has ever been seriously injured or killed as a result of ingesting adulterated candy, apples, or other treats collected door-to-door on Halloween.
"Since 1983, I have followed stories about contaminated Halloween treats in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune going back to 1958," said sociologist Joel Best in a 2002 interview, "and every time a case has been reported, the cause of death or injury has turned out to be something other than Halloween candy."
In one of those cases, it turned out that a child who died after allegedly eating Halloween candy laced with heroin had actually found the drug stashed in his uncle's home. In other cases, children who were initially thought to have died as a result of poisoned Halloween candy were found by pathologists to have succumbed to natural causes. And, in one of the very few incidents in which Halloween treats were actually implicated, investigators discovered that the deadly candy had been poisoned by the child's own father, who had recently taken out a life insurance policy on his son.
"Tainted Halloween candy is a contemporary legend, spread by word of mouth, with little to support it," Best concluded. Like most contemporary ("urban"
legends, this one has more to reveal about our collective psyche than it does about real-world events. "Contemporary legends are ways we express anxiety," Best explains. This legend shows just how anxious we can be.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/halloween/a/Is-Halloween-Candy-Tampering-A-Myth.htm
What elections are you following where you live?
We all know about the races for Governor in New Jersey and Virginia, and Mayor of New York City, but there are elections all over the country and I'm interested in learning about elections going on in your parts of the country. It's dead here in Northern California. So anyway, what elections are you watching?
Washington state special election could decide party control
Voters in a swing district just outside Seattle and Tacoma will cast ballots on Nov. 5 in what has become the most expensive legislative race in Washington’s history. And the outcome of the special election could determine whether Republicans gain a lasting foothold in an otherwise very blue state.
The battle for the 26th legislative district, based in Gig Harbor and Bremerton, pits Democratic incumbent Nathan Schlicher against Republican state Rep. Jan Angel. Schlicher was appointed to fill the Senate seat after Derek Kilmer, the previous incumbent, won election to Congress. The winner will serve the final year of Kilmer’s four-year term.
The candidates are a study in contrast. Schlicher, 30, is an emergency room doctor from Gig Harbor and a political neophyte. He graduated from college at 17 and earned a law degree before going to medical school. Angel, a 66-year old Colorado native and trained falconer, has won three terms in the state House. Schlicher labels himself a moderate, while Angel serves as chair of Washington’s chapter of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the group that promotes conservative and business-friendly legislation across the country.
Angel’s career in politics gives her a leg up; Washington state House and Senate members run in identical districts, meaning Angel has run and won district-wide before. In an Aug. 6 primary, Angel bested Schlicher by nine points, 54.6 percent to 45.4 percent. The district, just across Puget Sound from Seattle in the north and Tacoma in the south, is almost evenly divided: President Obama won the seat by fewer than 900 votes, or just over 1 percentage point, in 2012, according to data compiled by the liberal Daily Kos Web site.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/10/23/washington-state-special-election-could-decide-party-control/
X-Post from Daily Kos: Two micro elections with mega implications
If you pride yourself on following politics closely, you probably know there's a lot going on in next week's election beyond the usual New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, neither of which looks very dramatic at this point. There are important state legislative races in the Virginia House and the Washington Senate, two chambers that the Democrats would like to flip (and races in which Daily Kos has gotten involved). There are big-city mayoral races, ranging from New York City to Tulsa, and, in states that allow them, ballot measures aplenty, among which the highest-profile include casino gambling in New York, genetically modified food labeling in Washington, and reverse mortgages in Texas.
What's that, you say? You know about all those races, and you want to get even further down in the weeds? Well, here are two races you probably haven't heard about but should, in two Washington state jurisdictions so small you probably haven't heard of them either (Whatcom County has 201,000 people, while the city of SeaTac has only 27,000 residents). And yet, these are races with true national implications: One is a push to implement a first-in-the-nation $15 minimum wage, while the other is a flashpoint in the fight against climate change.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/27/1250502/-Two-micro-elections-with-mega-implications
I blame Republicans for ACA glitches.
1. This idea of a health care exchange came from the Heritage Foundation in the 1990's.
2. If not for decades of resistance, we'd already have a fully functioal public health system.
3. When you stave government of the resources needed to administer programs well, glitches are what you can expect.
4. Want a reminder for number 3? KATRINA!!
'nuff said.
Cheney shoots another friend, this time in the back.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) lied about their relationship when he said that the two had gone fishing.
Cheney's daughter, Liz Cheney, is challenging Enzi in the Wyoming Republican Senate primary.
The former vice president predicted confidently that his daughter would win the contest and took a swipe at Enzi for suggesting he and the Republican senator are friends.
"Mike also said he and I are fishing buddies, which is simply not true. Never happened," Cheney said during an appearance on ABC's "This Week."
http://thehill.com/video/sunday-shows/330809-cheney-mike-enzi-lied-about-our-relationship#ixzz2iwY5sszU
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
PPP Report on VA Early Voting
Date: October 22, 2013
A new Public Policy Polling survey of early voters in the Virginia Governor’s race finds Terry McAuliffe building up a large early lead. He’s at 57% to 39% for Ken Cuccinelli and 3% for Robert Sarvis among those who have already cast their ballots. The numbers are a mirror image of the 2009 early voting results. Last time around BobMcDonnell won them by an 18 point margin over Creigh Deeds, 59/41. This time the 18 point lead is on the Democratic side.Key findings from the survey include:
-McAuliffe has a wide lead over Cuccinelli among independent voters at 54/37. He alsohas his party more unified around him, getting 87% of Democrats compared to Cuccinelli’s 84% of Republicans.
-McAuliffe’s building a particularly substantial lead with female voters, getting 60% who have voted so far compared to 36% for Cuccinelli. The early vote numbers also suggestthat McAuliffe is performing far better among white voters than Democrats normally doin Virginia. He has a 55/41 advantage with those who have already voted.
- There’s been a lot of speculation that Libertarian Robert Sarvis will not end up getting as
much support at the ballot box as he’s been showing in the polls. His 3% standing amongthose who have already voted confirms that, but McAuliffe’s large overall lead indicatesthat a decline in support for Sarvis doesn’t do much for Cuccinelli’s prospects.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/178109125/VA-Gov-PPP-for-LCV-Oct-2013-Early-Voters-Only
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