OPINION: Why Obama's Falling Apart

A presidential reelection campaign needs three key elements: a defense of the incumbent’s record, a successful effort to define the opposition and a compelling vision of a second term.

President Obama may well celebrate a second term in Chicago next month, but the conventional wisdom underestimates the difficulty he faces, as his campaign has distinct problems with all three elements

.

His defense of his record is exceptionally weak, his effort to define Mitt Romney is nearly exhausted, and his vision for the next four years — perhaps the most important — has been largely missing from his effort this year.

Defense of the incumbent’s record

Four years ago, Obama expressed great confidence that he would be running amid renewed prosperity; he famously told Matt Lauer, “One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. You know, I’ve got four years...If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

In February 2009, even most Republicans would probably have predicted that by 2012, the country would be feeling much more prosperous, with much lower unemployment.

Friday’s jobs report brought much-needed good news, with the 114,000 new jobs in the payroll survey meeting economists’ expectations and bringing unemployment down to 7.8% — but that was fueled by 582,000 part-time jobs. GDP growth is at a meager 1.3%, gasoline is averaging $3.78 per gallon nationally and the foreclosure rate is only slightly below 2011’s 17-year peak.

Any fan of Obama who tells you he expected the country to be in this condition at this moment is either lying to you or lying to themselves.

Still, Obama’s poll numbers have overcome the economic gloom for much of the year, because many Americans concluded he was doing the best he could after stepping into a bad situation. Probably the single most effective line of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte was Bill Clinton’s declaration, “no President — not me, not any of my predecessors — no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years.”

Via: Daily News

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Military Times Poll: Romney Bests Obama, 2-1

The professional core of the U.S. military overwhelmingly favors Mitt Romney over President Obama in the upcoming election — but not because of any particular military issues, according to a new poll of more than 3,100 active and reserve troops.

Respondents rated the economy and the candidates’ character as their most important considerations and all but ignored the war in Afghanistan as an issue of concern.

The Military Times Poll is a secure email survey of active-duty, National Guard and reserve members who are subscribers to the Military Times newspapers (see How We Did It, below).

This population is older and more senior than the military population at large, but it is representative of the professional core of the all-volunteer force.

The 3,100 respondents — roughly two-thirds active-duty and one-third reserve component members — are about 80 percent white and 91 percent male. Forty percent are in paygrades E-5 through E-8, while more than 35 percent are in paygrades O-3 through O-5.

Almost 80 percent of respondents have a college degree — including 27 percent with a graduate degree and more than 11 percent with a post-graduate degree — while an additional 18.5 percent have some college under their belts.

And they are battle-hardened; almost 29 percent have spent more than two cumulative years deployed since 9/11, while a similar percentage has spent one to two cumulative years deployed.

The Military Times poll shows that Republicans continue to enjoy overwhelming support among the military’s professional ranks.

“There is really an affinity for Republican candidates, even though [troops] say that what counts is character and handling the economy,” said Richard Kohn, who teaches military history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Via: Army Times

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Sesame Street Created '1.47' Jobs with $1M stimulus grant

This grant was brought to you by the letters “A” and “R” — as in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the “stimulus bill.”

Sesame Workshop, the independent nonprofit corporation that produces the popular childrens’ program Sesame Street, received a $1,067,532 stimulus bill grant in August 2010, via the Department of Health and Human Services.

The funding was to promote healthy eating according to the federal Recovery.gov website:

This grant was brought to you by the letters “A” and “R” — as in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the “stimulus bill.”

Sesame Workshop, the independent nonprofit corporation that produces the popular childrens’ program Sesame Street, received a $1,067,532 stimulus bill grant in August 2010, via the Department of Health and Human Services.

The funding was to promote healthy eating according to the federal Recovery.gov website:

SW [i.e., Sesame Workshop] will carry out an expansion of its highly successful Healthy Habits for Life initiative, which promotes improved nutrition and increased physical activity, targeting low-income preschool-aged children and their families and care providers.

The projected created “1.47″ new jobs, the website reported. How they could calculate this to a hundredth of a percent is anybody’s guess. In any event, that comes out to about $726,000 per job created.

The money is separate from the funds Sesame Workshop receives from the federally-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting to run the Sesame Street program on PBS stations.

The Recovery Act website lists the healthy eating project as more than 50 percent completed though most of the grant money appears to have been drawn.

Sesame Street has been in the news lately ever since Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said  last week that he would like to cut the funding PBS even though he likes Big Bird, a popular character on the show. The statement prompted a public comment from PBS criticizing Romney.

Via: Washington Examiner

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Actress Ditches Obama for Romney, Accused of Being 'Not Black Enough'

Actress Stacey Dash cried while watching President Barack Obama's inauguration back in 2009.

"I am so happy ... In that moment my husband and I just looked at the TV and I started to sob."

This year, she's a Mitt girl.

Dash, best known for starring in the cult classic "Clueless," clearly has had enough of Hope and Change, the reality version. Over the weekend, Dash Tweeted her support for Mitt Romney.

Twitter users were instantly split on her announcement, with some saying she suddenly wasn't "black enough."

Via: Breitbart
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AP:Think Tank: Path To Iran Nuke Warhead 2-4 Months

VIENNA (AP) -- Iran could produce enough weapons-grade uranium to arm a nuclear bomb within two to four months but would still face serious "engineering challenges" - and much longer delays - before it succeeds in making the other components needed for a functioning warhead, a respected U.S. think tank said Monday.

While Iran denies any interest in possessing nuclear arms, the international community fears it may turn its peaceful uranium enrichment program toward weapons making - a concern that is growing as Tehran expands the number of machines it uses to enrich its stockpile of enriched uranium. As those fears grow, so does concern that Israel could carry out its threats to attack Iran's nuclear facilities before that nation reaches the bomb-making threshold.

In a strident call for an internationally drawn "red line" on what he said is Iran's move toward nuclear arms, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sept. 28 that the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Tehran before it can build an atomic bomb. Flashing a diagram of a cartoon-like bomb before the U.N. General Assembly, Netanyahu said Iran is ready to move to the "final stage" of making such a weapon by then.

For now, U.S. military and intelligence officials say they don't believe Iran's leadership has made the decision to build a bomb, while also warning that the country is moving closer to the ability to do so.

Via: AP

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Mitt Romney Just Hammered Obama On Libya In A Big, Wide-Ranging Foreign Policy Speech

Republican nominee Mitt Romney gave a highly pumped-up foreign policy speech Monday that hammered President Barack Obama's foreign policy direction, including his handling of the recent attacks in Libya that left a U.S. ambassador dead.

Here's the full text of Romney's speech:

"I particularly appreciate the introduction from my good friend and tireless campaign companion, Gov. Bob McDonnell.  He is showing what conservative leadership can do to build a stronger economy.  Thank you also Congressman Goodlatte for joining us today. And particular thanks to Gen. Peay. I appreciate your invitation to be with you today at the Virginia Military Institute.  It is a great privilege to be here at an Institution that has done so much for our nation, both in war and in peace.  

For more than 170 years, VMI has done more than educate students.  It has guided their transformation into citizens, and warriors, and leaders.  VMI graduates have served with honor in our nation’s defense, just as many are doing today in Afghanistan and other lands.  Since the September 11^th attacks, many of VMI’s sons and daughters have defended America, and I mourn with you the 15 brave souls who have been lost. I join you in praying for the many VMI graduates and all Americans who are now serving in harm’s way.  May God bless all who serve, and all who have served.

Of all the VMI graduates, none is more distinguished than George Marshall—the Chief of Staff of the Army who became Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, who helped to vanquish fascism and then planned Europe’s rescue from despair. His commitment to peace was born of his direct knowledge of the awful costs and consequences of war.

General Marshall once said, “The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.”  Those words were true in his time—and they still echo in ours.

Via: Business Insider

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Romney’s Strong Debate Performance Erases Obama’s Lead

Mitt Romney no longer trails Barack Obama in the Pew Research Center’s presidential election polling. By about three-to-one, voters say Romney did a better job than Obama in the Oct. 3 debate, and the Republican is now better regarded on most personal dimensions and on most issues than he was in September. Romney is seen as the candidate who has new ideas and is viewed as better able than Obama to improve the jobs situation and reduce the budget deficit.

Fully 66% of registered voters say Romney did the better job in last Wednesday’s debate, compared with just 20% who say Obama did better. A majority (64%) of voters who watched the debate describe it as mostly informative; just 26% say it was mostly confusing.

In turn, Romney has drawn even with Obama in the presidential race among registered voters (46% to 46%) after trailing by nine points (42% to 51%) in September. Among likely voters, Romney holds a slight 49% to 45% edge over Obama. He trailed by eight points among likely voters last month.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Oct. 4-7 among 1,511 adults, including 1,201 registered voters (1,112 likely voters), finds that 67% of Romney’s backers support him strongly, up from 56% last month. For the first time in the campaign, Romney draws as much strong support as does Obama.

Via: Pew Research Center

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The scale of Obama's humiliation revealed: Romney scores 52-point debate victory - the BIGGEST in Gallup poll history

• Romney also enjoyed a five-point national poll swing putting him level pegging with Obama at 47% 
• Even among Democrats, 49 per cent thought Romney was the winner with only 39 per cent of his own supporters saying Obama had won the day
• Latest: Pew Research Center reported Romney taking a four-point lead among likely voters since the debate - 12-point swing from mid-September

Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate by a whopping 52-point margin according to Gallup - the most resounding margin since the polling giant began tracking debates 20 years ago.

The stunning judgement on the debate came as a bombshell Pew national poll put Romney four points ahead of President Barack Obama by 49 to 45 points - a huge swing of 12 points from mid-September, when Pew found Obama leading by 51 to 43 points.

In Gallup debate results published today, three times more people thought Romney did a better job than Obama in last week's so-called Duel in Denver presidential debate.

The poll about the Wednesday night's debate in Denver, watched by 67 million people, was conducted on Thursday and Friday. Of those who watched, 72 per cent thought Romney did a better job compared to 20 per cent for Obama.

Meanwhile, the respected Pew Research Center reported the most dramatic shift in a national poll during the entire general election campaign, with Romney’s fortunes improving in almost every respect. The center reported also pulling even with Obama on 46 per cent among registered voters and taking the lead by three points among likely voters.

Via: Daily Mail

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Major Lobbyist Says “There Are Lots Of Lobbyists Working For The Administration”

Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., Chairman Of Major Washington Lobbying Firm
Patton Boggs: “Now they’ve greatly changed that [last year, the Obama re-
election campaign hired former lobbyist Broderick Johnson, and in March, Joe
Biden tapped former lobbyist Steve Ricchetti as an adviser], there are lots of
lobbyists working for the administration, which is probably going to make it
work better in the second term.” (Catherine Ho, “Lobbying Icon Boggs Predicts Obama Win, Weighs In On Election’s Impact On K Street,” The Washington Post, 10/7/12)
 FLASHBACK - Obama: “[Lobbyists] Won't Find A Job In My White House.” OBAMA: “One year from now, we have the chance to tell all those corporate lobbyists that the days of them setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more to take on lobbyists than any other candidate in this race - and I've won. I don't take a dime of their money, and when I am President, they won't find a job in my White House.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Spartanburg, SC, 11/3/07)

OBAMACARE FINES START FOR HOSPITALS THAT READMIT SICK PATIENTS

Hospitals who re-admit patients within 30 days after they were discharged will now have to, under an Obamacare provision, pay fines as of October 1, 2012, which could force hospitals to slash programs that help the elderly, the poor, and the chronically ill. 

According to a study, "about two-thirds of the hospitals serving Medicare patients, or some 2,200 facilities, will be hit with penalties averaging around $125,000 per facility this coming year."

This provision was inserted into Obamacare as a cost-cutting measure, but it will force hospitals to give the poor, elderly, and chronically ill substandard care.

In addition, critics also note that "large teaching hospitals that are affiliated with universities" could be negatively impacted the most because these hospitals are often on the front lines in dealing with the elderly and the poor in addition to people who have mysterious illnesses who constantly need to be re-admitted to the hospital for urgent care. 

As the Examiner notes: 

Some observers believe that the new provision will place an enormous amount of added pressure on these populations, given that patients cannot be certain that their treatment will be up to par in the event of the need for readmission to the hospital after discharge. And hospitals that are already feeling the squeeze financially due to cutbacks in reimbursements from the government may be forced to limit the level of care given during readmission, resulting in patients being discharged long before they are ready.

This is yet another reason why a plurality of Americans want Obamacare to be repealed before it it is too late, as more of such provisions will gradually be implemented. 

Via: Breitbart

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USDA Tax-Payer-Funded Workshop Attendees Instructed To Chant ‘Our Forefathers Were Illegal Immigrants’

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) paid Chicago consultants over $200,000 in taxpayer money to put on diversity training workshops that included activities in which employees were instructed to chant "our forefathers were illegal immigrants." 

The government watchdog group Judicial Watch alleged in documents released this week that these programs only served to promote and enforce left-wing political agendas. 

A USDA department official said the statements were not reflective of USDA policy, and the consultants merely had "participants repeat provocative and potentially offensive phrases as part of an exercise to examine stereotypes."

According to Judicial Watch, the USDA has given at least $200,000 to the company Souder, Betances & Associates over the last two years for similar diversity training programs and workshops. 

According to Judicial Watch, a tipster told the organization that speakers led USDA employees in chants such as "our forefathers were illegal immigrants" while encouraging participants to pound on the table. 

The USDA sent a statement to Fox News claiming the sessions were meant to "foster overall diversity awareness." 

"USDA offers a number of optional workshops and professional development opportunities in order to help employees better serve our customers," the statement said. "The Souder Betances & Associates sessions were designed to foster overall diversity awareness -- not to focus on any specific minority group -- and received positive feedback from employees across the department."

And yet, the USDA has been hesitant to release documents to Judicial Watch and cooperate with the group for the ongoing investigation. 

Via: Breitbart

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Byron York Column: Liberals Fret: Is Obama Bored? Does He Want A Second Term? Maybe Not

There’s no doubt President Obama’s liberal supporters are worried by his lackluster performance in the Denver debate.  “Everyone is in shock,” one show-business liberal told the Hollywood reporter.  “No one can understand what happened.”  The Obama faithful are offering the White House advice, talking points, pep talks — anything to improve the president’s performance when he next faces Mitt Romney at Hofstra University on October 16.

But for some liberal writers, the concern goes deeper.  Perhaps Obama’s somewhat withdrawn demeanor at the debate was an indication that he doesn’t even want a second term as president.

On the morning after the debate, The Atlantic ran an analysis headlined, “Snippy Obama, Whose Heart’s Not In It.”  Writer Garance Franke-Ruta suggested that Obama, as an unusually sensitive man, has been worn down by the presidency’s demands of conducting war in Afghanistan and dealing with crises like the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Libya.  “His supporters keep wanting Obama to be who he was in 2008,” Franke-Ruta wrote.  “But that’s not who he is anymore.” Obama’s old enthusiasm for the job is simply gone.

Now, in the Daily Beast, liberal writer Michael Tomasky asks, “Does Obama Even Want to Win the Election?”  After poor Obama showings at the debate, the Democratic convention, and a high-profile “60 Minutes” interview, Tomasky writes, “Someone needs to ask the cut-to-the-chase question: is he enthusiastic about keeping this job, or he is just maybe tired of being president?”

Perhaps he is.  If so, there were certainly signs long before Wednesday night in Denver.  A look at the president’s career shows he has never stayed in a job four years without looking to move on to something.

Via: Washington Examiner

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TEAM OBAMA BLAMES JOHN KERRY FOR DEBATE LOSS

The Obama campaign has been reeling since losing the first Presidential debate of this election cycle in front of 67 million viewers.  They've tried--and thus far failed--to craft a narrative to explain away the debacle in Denver.  Previously, we reported to you that Obama Senior Advisor David Plouffe, who ran the President's successful 2008 campaign, (falsely) accused Mitt Romney of lying.  In a rare comedic moment from the typically robotic former Vice President Al Gore, he suggested on Current TV that the Mile High City's altitude was the reason Obama was low on energy and enthusiasm.  And, of course, Obama's chronically dishonest deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter and several others passed the buck to the moderator, Jim Lehrer. None of the above caught on, even with the mainstream pro-Obama media. 

Now the Obama Administration is floating their latest excuse: that the campaign, particularly John Kerry (who played the role of Romney in simulated debates), did not channel Mitt's aggression enough.

From CBS's "This Morning":

Norah O'Donnell: "Some Democrats say [Obama's] campaign needs a wake-up call.  Bill Plante is here with that part of the story.  Bill, you've been talking to your sources; what are they saying?

Correspondent Bill Plante: "Well Norah, they're simply upset and really outraged.  They blame the President's team, first of all, for not preparing him to meet the challenge of an aggressive Mitt Romney.  They say that nobody in the room challenged him, including the guy that he was debating with, John Kerry, because, as they say, he wants to be Secretary of State so he's not going to get in the President's face. And Presidents are used to deference; they're not used to people challenging them like that.  So they think that the debate prep was terrible, but they also fault the President himself for not understanding that Romney was going to be more aggressive."

The 2012 Obama campaign continues to be a stark contrast from their 2008 effort.  In 2008, then Senator Obama used youthful ebullience, soaring rhetoric, and a precise campaign infrastructure to capture the hearts and minds of the American people.  In 2012, the President seems increasingly lethargic and quick to make excuses for missteps on the campaign trail.

What once was "Hope and Change" is now "Mope and Blame," and this time it's John Kerry under the President's bus.

Via: Breitbart

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Steyn: Sesame Nation

Apparently, Frank Sinatra served as Mitt Romney’s debate coach. As he put it about halfway through “That’s Life”:

“I’d jump right on a big bird and then I’d fly . . . ”

Mark Steyn

That’s what Mitt did in Denver. Ten minutes in, he jumped right on Big Bird, and then he took off — and never looked back, while the other fellow, whose name escapes me, never got out of the gate. It takes a certain panache to clobber not just your opponent but also the moderator. Yet that’s what the killer Mormon did when he declared that he wasn’t going to borrow money from China to pay for Jim Lehrer and Big Bird on PBS. It was a terrific alpha-male moment, not just in that it rattled Lehrer, who seemed too preoccupied contemplating a future reading the hog prices on the WZZZ Farm Report to regain his grip on the usual absurd format, but in the sense that it indicated a man entirely at ease with himself — in contrast to wossname, the listless sourpuss staring at his shoes.

Yet, amidst the otherwise total wreckage of their guy’s performance, the Democrats seemed to think that Mitt’s assault on Sesame Street was a misstep from whose tattered and ruined puppet-stuffing some hay is to be made. “WOW!!! No PBS!!! WTF how about cutting congress’s stuff leave big bird alone,” tweeted Whoopi Goldberg. Even the president mocked Romney for “finally getting tough on Big Bird” — not in the debate, of course, where such dazzling twinkle-toed repartee might have helped, but a mere 24 hours later, once the rapid-response team had directed his speechwriters to craft a line, fly it out to a campaign rally, and load it into the prompter, he did deliver it without mishap.

Via: National Review

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It Was Never About Obama in the First Place—Why Barack is Merely Puppet o’ Hope

If the first debate between Barack and Mitt proved anything, besides this emperor having no clothes, it’s that the point of electing Obama was never about his “genius.” It was simply a convenient leftist power grab, obscured by a ridiculous cartoon of leadership. As has been richly illustrated, despite all his intellectual bluster—Barack is no Einstein. After exposure as a cocky, know-nothing parrot of others’ words, it became startlingly obvious Barack has a very limited pool of knowledge. Like a blind man searching for his cane all evening, was Barack Obama “debating.”

Now certainly those working with Obama the past 5-10 years knew of his inherent limitations, that he was essentially an unthinking figure head for their movement. Further, they wagered with his grandiose self-image, belief in his own inevitable rise, preposterously condescending manner, and photogenic style, he’d be a perfect Trojan-horse to ride to victory. But finally, Obama was revealed as a charlatan as silly as any from a rock-n-roll opera:

Ever since I was a young boy I played the silver ball
From Soho down to Brighton I must have played them all
But I ain’t seen nothing like him in any amusement hall
That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure plays a mean pinball

So what has actually happened the last four years in the White House? Obviously, an elaborate fraud has been foisted upon a credulous, tired and intellectually inert American public. But why? Because liberalism is a movement so inherently illogical, unstable and anti-intuitive it needs leaders who are either dense blowhards, moral misfits, or literally insane to head the cause (see Sources of Madness—The Insane Thinkers of the Modern Age). Alarmingly, modern liberalism (socialism, Marxism, Fascism, etc) is a political religion intent upon converting the world, even by sword, if necessary. So the real star of Obama’s administration is this quasi-religious, atheistic world movement which finds a surprising ideological partner in classic Islam. This menacing, anti-liberty movement will not rest until it has enslaved the globe.

Via: Canada Free Press

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Obama Campaign Releases Record Number of Attack Ads Following Debate

In the weekend following President Barack Obama’s terrible debate performance, the Obama campaign released 18 videos on their YouTube channel, 10 of which are attack ads against Mitt Romney, in an effort to rally their campaign back to success.

This extreme meltdown of Obama advertising focused especially on the debate, calling Romney “Dishonest,” “Misleading,” Untrustworthy,” and a, “Liar.” Most of them have specially selected footage from the debate. One even talks about, “Romney’s debate performance,” calling it “mostly false.”

Well, when your candidate swings and completely misses in a disaster of a debate, there is not much left to do but relentlessly try to draw attention away from the extent of the failure.

Clearly, the Obama campaign is grasping at straws, trying to come up with a reason why Obama couldn’t pull it together on Wednesday.

“After the debate Romney didn’t tell the American people the truth,” one ad claims. “Because his real plans would hurt the middle class.”

“Mitt Romney claims he wants more teachers. Not true,” another ad says. “He has been saying for months that he doesn’t want more teachers. If we can’t trust him on the debate stage, how can we trust him in the oval office?”

Keep the ads coming, Obama, but your debate performance speaks for itself.

Check out the most desperate one where the Obama campaign says that Romney misled the American people about Obama’s green energy record. Really, you’re going to defend Solyndra?:

Via: Red Alert Politics

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Chavez's socialist rule at risk as Venezuelans vote

(Reuters) - Hugo Chavez loyalists blew bugles in a wake up call for voters on Sunday as the Venezuelan leader faced the biggest electoral challenge yet to his socialist rule from a young rival tapping into discontent over crime and cronyism.

Henrique Capriles, a centrist state governor, edged toward the still-popular Chavez in final polls thanks to a vigorous campaign that united the opposition and made him its best chance of ending the president's 14-year tenure.

Chavez has used record oil revenue to support ideological allies around the world while preaching a fiercely anti-American line, so the election is being watched eagerly from the United States to Belarus and Iran.

Queues formed at some polling centers long before they opened, and despite a few delays voting was going smoothly.

"The battle has started!" the flamboyant former soldier wrote in an early morning rallying cry on Twitter. "Today we will write another chapter in history."

Chavez loyalists in poor neighborhoods, where he draws his most fervent following, blew bugles and trumpets in the predawn wake-up call. In the center of Caracas, some red-clad fans shouted "Long live Chavez!" from the back of trucks.

Chavez, 58, staged a remarkable comeback from cancer this year. But he could not match the energy of past campaigns - or the pace set by his 40-year-old basketball-loving opponent.

"Today we decide the future of our Venezuela," Capriles said on Twitter. "Today we are millions of Davids! God will be our guide," he added, referring to his depiction of the vote as the biblical underdog's battle against Goliath.

Capriles had prepared for the election by hiking a mountain trail on the edge of Caracas on Saturday, donning sports gear and mirrored sunglasses and posing for pictures with supporters.

Via: Reuters

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REPUBLICAN YOUTH VOLUNTEERS HIT THE ROAD IN SWING STATES

The Republican National Committee is deploying as many grassroots supporters as it can to go door-to-door for the Republican presidential ticket in three swing states, starting this weekend.

“Deploy to Ohio, Virginia, or North Carolina to knock on doors and make phone calls for Romney-Ryan 2012 and other Republican candidates,” reads the flyer for the Republican National Committee Swing State Bus Deployment.

The Republican campaign effort for this election cycle has vastly outpaced that for previous presidential elections. This year, volunteers for the Republican National Committee have made nearly 5 times more phone calls than in Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)’s 2008 campaign for president, according to a statement from Kirsten Kukowski, Communications Director for the RNC.

“We’ve already contacted more voters than both the 2004 and 2008 cycles and we still have 5 weeks left,” she said.

The bus deployment that starts this weekend is part of the larger Get Out the Vote ground game, she said.

Keegan Conway, a recent college graduate volunteering at the RNC headquarters, hopes to make the cut for this weekend’s bus trip to North Carolina, he said.

“I’d be going with another intern from the office and some of my friends at the phone bank,” he said.

Conway came to Washington from California’s Central Valley 3 months ago to educate people about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s message, he said.

Via: Human Events

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Ryan’s Impossible Debate Challenge

In a rational world, Paul Ryan should have a fairly easy time in the upcoming debate against Vice President Joe Biden. Ryan is a man who has mastered the intricacies of legislation and the federal budget while Biden has shown scant interest in anything in his senatorial career other than the AMTRAK schedule from Washington, DC to Delaware.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in a rational world. We live in one where Barack Obama is president AND Joe Biden is vice president. To win a debate against Joe Biden one must be prepared to engage with a man who has hardly more than a nodding acquaintance with the truth.

Most of us are familiar with Biden’s ill-starred run for the Demcocrat nomination in 1988 as part of the Seven Dwarfs. He was forced out when it was revealed that he’d not only plagiarized a speech by British Labor Party leader Neal Kinnock, he’s actually gone so far as to steal Kinnock’s biography, claiming to be the son of an impoverished coal miner. (Though to his credit, when Gary Hart was dropped out due to his marital infidelities Biden remarked, “We’ve lost Horny.”) To this day, Biden claims he was “raised in Scranton (PA)” though he left when he was 10 years old.

This should be a danger sign.

The fact is that when Biden gets put in a tough position he will simply make stuff up. For instance,Jonah Goldberg relates this tale:

The most notorious comes from Biden’s 1988 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He had been hounded about his law-school record and plagiarism problems (among other things, he copied five pages from a law journal for a 15-page paper and then claimed it was a footnoting error), and he was asked a question about his academic record by a resident of New Hampshire.

He responded: “I think I have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect.” He went on:

I went to law school on a full academic scholarship, the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship. In the first year in the law, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school, and, in fact, ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international moot-court competition. I was the outstanding student in the political-science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school and 165 credits — only needed 123 credits. And I would be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours.

Most of these statements were outright lies.

Via: Red State

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1,035,000: Construction Jobs Lost Under Obama

(CNSNews.com) - When President Barack Obama signed his economic stimulus legislation on Feb. 17, 2009, he said that one impact of the act would be to create jobs for 400,000 people building and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure.

But despite a price tag that the Congressional Budget Office now says was $833 billion, the economic stimulus of February 2009 did not create 400,000 new construction jobs.

In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there are now 1,035,000 fewer construction jobs in the United States than there were in January 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, and 925,000 less than in February 2009 when Obama signed his stimulus act.

The decline in construction jobs in the United States did not start when President Obama took office, but the $833 billion stimulus act he pushed through Congress and signed did not stop or reverse that decline.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research--on which Obama's former top economic adviser Christina Romer serves--says that the last recession ended in June 2009. Since then, according to BLS, America has lost 484,000 construction jobs.

In September 2012, according to BLS, 5,523,000 Americans had jobs in the construction industry. That is down from 6,558,000 in January 2009, when Obama took office; it is down from6,448,000 in February 2009, when Obama signed the $833 billion stimulus; it is down from 6,007,000 when the recession ended in June 2009; and it is down from 5,564,000 from January of this year, when Obama started the fourth year of his presidential term.\

Via: CNS News

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WINDFALL: OBAMA RAISES $181 MILLION, ONLY AROUND 2% CAN BE VERIFIED

The Obama campaign dropped a bombshell this morning. It announced that, combined with the DNC, the campaign raised a staggering $181 million in September. The windfall is a huge increase over July and August, when the campaign raised around $100 million, although it is slightly down from the $193 million it raised in September 2008. The news should raise eyebrows. 

The campaign said that just over 1.8 million people made donations to the campaign last month. According to the campaign, over 500k of these were brand-new donors, having neither given in 2008 nor 2012. 98% of contributions were under the reporting threshold of $250. Of these, the average contribution was $53. 

Its really a tale of two worlds. 35k people gave an average of $2,600, while just over 1.7 million people gave an average of $53. Half the campaign's haul came from people giving around the maximum amount and half from people who don't have to be disclosed. Seems a bit odd. 

The average of $53 from small donors is particularly noteworthy. Contributions under $200 don't have to be disclosed, but the campaign still has to keep track of the donor's name, in case subsequent donations push their contribution over the reporting threshold. 

For contributions under $50, however, the campaign doesn't even have to keep track of the donor's name. It is effectively considered a "petty cash" donation. A person could theoretically make 10 $49 donations and never be reported, even though their total contributions are above the FEC's reporting threshold. 

With an average donation of $53 from small donors, Obama has A LOT of donors who will never be disclosed and whose names aren't even known to the campaign. Tens of millions of dollars worth. 

Today's report certainly adds a great deal of interest to this news story from last week. 

Via: Breitbart

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