Congressional Report: Fast And Furious Scandal Result Of “Deliberate Strategy” Laid Out By Eric Holder, Other Senior Obama Officials…

The latest congressional report on Operation Fast and Furious found that the gunwalking-program-turned-scandal was the result of a “deliberate strategy created at the highest levels of the Justice Department aimed at identifying the leaders of a major gun trafficking ring.”

The report is the second installment in a three-part series from Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley and House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa.

That “deliberate strategy,” congressional investigators argue, sprang from “a series of speeches about combating violence along the Southwest border” that Attorney General Eric Holder delivered shortly after taking office.

“Although [the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] ATF did not officially open the Fast and Furious investigation until the fall of 2009, the groundwork for the strategy that would guide the operation began shortly after new leadership took control of the Department of Justice nine months earlier,” the report reads. “On February 25, 2009, just one month after Attorney General Eric Holder took office, he gave a speech noting the danger of the Mexican drug cartels, focusing on the Sinaloa cartel in particular.”

On Feb. 25, 2009, Holder said the drug cartels “are lucrative, they are violent, and they are operated with stunning planning and precision” and, under his leadership, he promised “these cartels will be destroyed.”

A little more than a month later, on April 2, 2009 in Cuernavaca, Mexico, congressional investigators say Holder “gave further insight into the department’s new strategy for combating these dangerous cartels.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Obama Works His Magic, Tuns Historically Liberal Young People Into Fiscal Conservatives…

CHICAGO (AP) -- This generation of young Americans has been called many things, from civic-minded to "entitled." But fiscally conservative?

That's a new one, and it just might have an impact on the presidential election.

Listen to Caroline Winsett, a senior at DePaul University, who considers herself fairly socially liberal but says being fiscally conservative matters most right now.

"Ultimately, I'm voting with my pocketbook," says Winsett, a 22-year-old political science major who's president of the DePaul student body. She recently cast an absentee ballot for Republican Mitt Romney in her home state of Tennessee.

To be clear, polls show that President Barack Obama remains the favorite among 18- to 29-year-old registered voters, as he was in 2008. No one thinks the majority of young voters will support Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, in the Nov. 6 election.

But the polls also hint at a "schism" between those who weren't old enough to vote in 2008 and their older twentysomething counterparts, says John Della Volpe, the polling director at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.

In one poll, for instance, he found that 42 percent of 18- and 19-year-olds identified as "conservative," compared with just over one-third who said they were "liberal." By comparison, those proportions were nearly flipped for 22- to 24-year-olds: 39 percent said they were "liberal," and a third called themselves "conservative." It was much the same for older twentysomethings.

Via: AP

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[VIDEO] OCTOBER SURPRISE: 'Perfect Storm' Hurricane Sandy Shakes Up Campaign Homestretch

 Romney, Obama campaigns cancel events through Tuesday over Sandy

Mitt Romney's campaign has cancelled all events for Monday night and Tuesday "out of sensitivity to those in harm's way," in the latest drastic schedule change in the final week of the presidential campaign due to Hurricane Sandy.

President Obama had already pulled out of a Monday morning rally in Orlando after touching down in Florida the night before. Instead, the president returned to Washington to hold a Situation Room meeting, and monitor preparations for and response to the storm -- a massive system that threatened some 60 million people along the East Coast.

Via: Fox News

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OBAMA CAMPAIGN SCRAMBLES TO DISCREDIT ROMNEY'S 'JEEP' AD

President Barack Obama's campaign went apoplectic Monday over a commercial by Mitt Romney's campaign that alleges Chrysler, despite Obama's bailout, was sold to the Italian company Fiat that intends to build Jeeps in China. 

Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina said "everyone" just had to know the ad is false. And the campaign ran a commercial of its own trying to tear down Romney's commercial. Except Romney's commercial is correct. 

The New York Times reported Romney's commercial says, “Who will do more for the auto industry? Not Barack Obama.” The commercial continues: “Fact checkers confirm his attacks on Mitt Romney are false. Obama took G.M. and Chrysler into bankruptcy, and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job.”

Via: Breitbart

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Obama Campaign Asks People To Man Phone Bank During Hurricane Sandy…

You really cannot make this stuff up.

Last night, the Obama campaign was sending email requests into Annapolis, Maryland, for help with phone-banking. The time? 5:30 pm, right when Sandy is supposed to be at its worst there.

Hey, what's your petty little insignificant life compared to helping Obama win a second term? 

Just by way of comparison, the Romney campaign has cancelled all its campaign events for Monday/Tuesday.  Of course, the President has cancelled his, too, so he can "focus" on the hurricane.  Wish he had shown that same focus on 9/12, when he jetted off to Las Vegas for a fundraiser . . 

Via: TownHall

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Chairs, Debates, Hurricanes and The Man Who Never Was

After many months of campaigning, Mitt Romney has finally taken the lead in polling for the election.  But why has it taken so long for the American people to catch onto the Mittmentum?  It begins with two key events:  the Republican National Convention and the Presidential debates.  And interestingly, Hurricane Sandy also shows us some interesting insights about how the mainstream media has dealt with Barack Obama – The Man Who Never Was.

One of the seminal events of the election season was Clint Eastwood’s appearance at the RNC.  Granted, the Eastwood “speech” was a bit odd.  But something happened in those moments that had previously not been seen by most Americans:  the mocking of Barack Obama.  Prior to that moment, the American media had a slobbering lovefest with the President and has consistently and steadfastly refused to expose his weaknesses.  But the appearance of Eastwood at the biggest political event to date was something they could not ignore.  And Eastwood delivered a stunning blow to the media’s narrative.  He depicted Obama as “the empty chair“.

So I — so I’ve got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he’s – I just was going to ask him a couple of questions. But, you know about, I remember three and a half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election. And though I wasn’t a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles. And they were saying, you know, I just thought, this is great. Everybody’s crying. Oprah was crying.

I was even crying. And then finally – I haven’t cried that hard since I found out that there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country.

Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven’t done enough, obviously – this administration hasn’t done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

So, so, Mr. President, how do you, how do you handle, how do you handle promises that you’ve made when you were running for election and how do you handle, how do you handle it?

I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just — you know — I know — people were wondering. You don’t? You don’t handle it.

Well, I know even some of the people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn’t close Gitmo. And I thought, well closing Gitmo — why close that, we spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse.

Oh, What do you mean shut up?

OK, I thought it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. Maybe that was it.

Prior to Eastwood’s Obama “interview”, had we seen that kind of public ridicule of Barack Obama?  Of course the MSM did their sworn duty and tried to write it off as Eastwood being crazy and senile.  But people heard it.  They were watching the convention to see the mystery guest.  And he delivered. The press couldn’t bury this one on page C6. It was front and center, in front of millions of voters.

Via: Red State

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COMPLETE LIST OF WHERE U.N. POLL WATCHERS WILL BE STATIONED

COMPLETE LIST OF WHERE U.N. POLL WATCHERS WILL BE STATIONED

Oct 25, 2012 169 Comments Pat Dollard

Excerpted from THE HILL: United Nations election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers around the county on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places.

United Nations Election Observer Deployment 2012

Liberal-leaning civil rights groups met with representatives from the OSCE this week to raise their fears about what they say are systematic efforts to suppress minority voters likely to vote for President Obama.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP and the ACLU, among other groups, warned this month in a letter to Daan Everts, a senior official with OSCE, of “a coordinated political effort to disenfranchise millions of Americans — particularly traditionally disenfranchised groups like minorities.”

The request for foreign monitoring of election sites drew a strong rebuke from Catherine Engelbrecht, founder and president of True the Vote, a conservative-leaning group seeking to crack down on election fraud.

Via: Pat Dollard

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Chart of the Week: Major Benefits of Free Trade

Nations that embrace international trade enjoy significantly stronger economies, achieve lower rates of hunger, and maintain a better stewardship of the environment, according to new data published by Heritage for the forthcoming Index of Economic Freedom.

There are, of course, other factors that contribute to such positive trends. But international trade undoubtedly plays a major role in determining the success of a nation and its economy. Contrary to the claims that “unfair” foreign competition hurts the jobs at home, the unemployment rate actually fares better in times of higher trade deficits. Bryan Riley and former Ambassador Terry Miller provide further clarification:

When the trade deficit increases, the unemployment rate decreases, and vice versa. For example, in 2009, the U.S. trade deficit shrank by 46 percent, and the unemployment rate increased by 60 percent.

Many critics of trade deals such as NAFTA and the WTO agreement argue that free trade benefits big multinational corporations and “the rich” at the expense of everyone else. In fact, poverty rates are much lower in countries with low trade barriers than in those where trade is restricted.

It adds up to this: Limited regulations on trade expand the economy and improve the well-being of both a nation’s citizens and its environment. With a lagging U.S. economy still bound by the recession, the expansion of trade is as important today as ever before. Trade can make everyone better off.

Via: The Foundry

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AFL-CIO offers list of union-approved Halloween candy

Halloween is less than a week away and, just in time for Americans stocking up on candy, the AFL-CIO has identified the most union-friendly candy available.

Yes, there is such a thing as union-approved candy.

“If you want your Halloween to be all treats and no tricks, make sure all your candy is union-made, made in America,” Jackie Tortora writes at the AFL-CIO’s blog, linking to Local 144’s “Buy Union Directory.”

Tortora provides a list of union-approved candy highlights from the directory including Baby Ruths, Butterfingers, Caramellos, Hershey’s Candy Corn Kisses, Hershey’s Extra Dark Chocolate bars, Hershey’s Hugs, Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Nuggets, Jelly Belly candies, Kit Kats, Laffy Taffy, Mike and Ikes, Rolos, Super Ropes, Tootsie Rolls and Trolli candies.

Via: Daily Caller

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ROMNEY CLOSES IN MINNESOTA

The last time Minnesota cast its electoral votes for a Republican running for President was 1972. Even Ronald Reagan failed to win the state in both back-to-back landslide elections. It has elected Republicans to the occasional state-wide office, but for President, it is a deep indigo blue. Except, perhaps, this year. A new poll released this morning by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune finds the race essentially tied. Obama holds a slim 3-point lead but, at 47% support, is below the critical 50% threshold. 

To be fair, Minnesota wasn't really part of Obama's firewall for his reelection hopes. It was more of a redoubt. It was state, like California or Illinois, which would absolutely support Obama's reelection. That we are even discussing the possible vote in MN, just a little over a week before the election, is a flashing sign of the troubles plaguing Obama's campaign. 

Last month, the newspaper's poll showed Obama with an 8-point lead. But that 5-point drop in support isn't the worst news for Obama in the poll. The number of voters identifying themselves as Republican has surged. In last month's poll, Democrats had a 13-point edge in the sample, 41-28. Today's poll, however, only gives them a 5-point edge, 38-33. An 8-point swing in one month is extraordinary. 

In 2008, the overall electorate had a Democrat advantage of 4 points, so Republicans still have some room to grow here. Especially considering Obama's collapse in certain voter sub-groups. In 2008, Obama won independents by 17 points. Today, he leads by 6. He won men by 3 points; today he trails by 13. He won women by 16; today, in spite of a singular focus on what Democrats consider women's issues, his support is slightly lower at 14 points.  

Via: Breitbart

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Poll: Israeli Jews Favor Romney By Almost 3-1 Margin…

Israeli Jews prefer Republican candidate Mitt Romney over US President Barack Obama by an almost 3:1 margin, according to a "Peace Index" poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University that was released Sunday.

The polling figures stand in stark contrast to polls taken of American Jews, which show they prefer Obama by a similarly wide margin. An American Jewish Committee poll at the end of September showed US Jews favoring Obama over Romney 63%-27%.

The "Peace Index" poll also puts Israel at odds with most of the rest of the world, which – according to a BBC poll published last week of nearly 22,000 people in 21 countries -- found Obama favored by an average of 50%, with only 9% for Romney. The Democrat was the preferred candidate in every country polled, except for Pakistan.

Asked "in terms of Israeli interests, who would be preferable to win the elections next month in the US,"  57.2% of Israeli Jews said Romney, while only 21.5% said Obama.

Among Israeli Arabs, the numbers were reversed, with 45% opting for Obama, and 15% for Romney.

A similar Peace Index poll in July found that Israelis felt that Romney "assigned more importance to defending Israel's national interest" than Obama by a 2:1 ratio: 40% for Romney to 19% for Obama.

Via: The Jerusalem Post

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SUNDAY SHOWS: Republicans Tee Off on Libya

On Sunday's political talk shows, several Republicans criticized the Obama administration's response to the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Here's Senator John McCain of Arizona on CBS's Face the Nation:

You know, this administration is very good at touting and giving all the details like when they got Bin Laden. But now, we know that there were tapes, recordings inside the consulate during this fight, and they've gotten—they came—the F.B.I. finally got in and took those, and now they're classified as "top secret." Why would they be top secret? So the president went on various shows, despite what he said he said in the Rose Garden, about terrorist acts, he went on several programs, including "The View" including "Letterman" including before the U.N., where he continued to refer, days later, many days later, to this as a spontaneous demonstration because of a hateful video. We know that is patently false. What did the president know? When did he know it? And what did he do about it?

McCain said for "literally days and days" the White House "told the American people something that had no basis in fact whatsoever."

Newt Gingrich, on ABC's This Week:

But the bigger issue is, whether it’s unemployment or it is what happened in Benghazi, where we’ve had this strange situation over the weekend that the Secretary of Defense apparently refused to obey the President’s order, if the president is telling the truth and he actually instructed his assistants to get aid to Benghazi, we're now being told that the Secretary of Defense canceled that. And I think these kinds of things all drag down the Obama campaign.

Ohio senator Rob Portman talked on Fox News Sunday about a "shocking breakdown" with regard to the Obama administration's response:

This is not about politics.  This is about a huge national security issue that affects all of us and there was a shocking breakdown, operationally, not to have the security there in the first place.   And then not to respond to these guys, in their pleas for help for 7 hours, during a firefight.  It’s unbelievable and now, we are hearing that the president of the United States, based on his own words, issued a directive immediately after he found out about the firefight, saying that he wanted to be sure those people on the ground were safe and they were getting what they needed.  It didn't happen.  This means either that the president's order was not followed, which would be a breakdown in terms of the White House procedure, or, it means the order wasn’t issued.  We need to find out about this, it is not about politics, it is a very serious situation.  After the fact, of course, there’s also been a lot of confusion about what happened and why it happened.

Via: Weekly Standard

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Virtual tie in … Minnesota?

I’d be the first to tell people that my state is a quadrennial sucker bet for Republicans.  In 2008, no one thought we had a prayer, but in 2000 and 2004, Republicans actually thought they had a chance to break the Democrats’ presidential winning streak, as the state last went to the GOP in 1972.  I’ve been hearing Republicans get optimistic here again, but I’ve been highly skeptical of the prospects for Mitt Romney to even get close here.

Until now:

As the presidential race tightens across the country, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found that it is narrowing here as well, with President Obama holding a 3-point lead and Republican Mitt Romney making gains in the state.

The poll shows Obama with support from 47 percent of likely voters and Romney earning backing from 44 percent — a lead within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Last month, Obama had an 8-percentage point advantage in the Minnesota Poll. Romney has apparently cut into the Democrat’s advantage among women since then and picked up support from Minnesotans who were previously undecided or said they would vote for a third-party candidate.

Independents, on the other hand, are leaning more toward Obama. Barely a third supported him last month, but that number has grown to 43 percent. Romney’s support among independents remains virtually unchanged, with 13 percent of that group remaining undecided.

Bear in mind that this is the Star Tribune’s Minnesota Poll, which has a long and (un)glorious history of leftward tilt.  Mitch Berg has long documented this trend.  One has to wonder whether we’ll need to send paramedics to his house this morning after he reads Rachel Stassen=Berger’s report from the survey.

Snark aside, this looks like a relatively solid poll.  The sample is D+5, with a D/R/I of 38/33/29.  In 2008 when Obama won by 10 points, it was D+4 at 40/36/22, and I suspect that Republicans are going to be more motivated this time around. Obama wins the core counties in the Twin Cities, but only by a relatively weak 57/35.  Romney wins the Metro suburbs with a majority 51/39 and edges Obama 46/44 in the rest of the state.

In 2008, Obama had a 19-point edge in the gender gap, +3 among men and +16 among women.  This time, Obama has only a +1 — he’s up 14 among women but down 13 among men.  Obama still leads by 6 among independents, which he won by 17 points in 2008, but he’s only got 43%.  Late breakers are not likely to flow to the incumbent at this stage of the election; if the were inclined to support Obama, they’d already be in his corner now.

That’s true of the overall number as well. If Obama can only get to 47% in the Star Tribune poll with nine days left to go before the election in Minnesota, which has gone Democrat every presidential election over the last four years, this state is in play — and that’s why both campaigns are suddenly starting to spend money here.

Via: Hot Air

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Cutter: Des Moines Register endorsement not based 'in reality’

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter on Sunday dismissed the Des Moines Register endorsement of GOP candidate Mitt Romney, saying it was not “based at all in reality.”

“They endorsed Mitt Romney in the primary, so this was not much of a surprise,” said Cutter on ABC’s “This Week” of the influential swing-state paper’s backing for President Obama’s challenger.

“It was a little surprising to read that editorial, because it didn't seem to be based at all in reality, not just in the president's record, but in Mitt Romney's record,” Cutter added. “It says that he'd reach across the aisle, which he'd do the exact opposite. It's the exact opposite of what he did in Massachusetts.”

Romney on late Saturday received the endorsement of the Des Moines Register, Iowa’s largest newspaper. 

The paper which had backed Obama in 2008 and not endorsed a Republican nominee in 40 years said Romney would be better at building bipartisan compromises in Washington. 

Via: The Hill

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The Des Moines Register endorsement: Mitt Romney offers a fresh economic vision

Ten months ago this newspaper endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president. An overarching consideration was which of the party’s candidates could we see occupying the White House, and there was no question that Romney was qualified for the job.

Now, in the closing days of the general election campaign, the question is which of the two contenders deserves to be the next president of the United States.

Both President Barack Obama and Governor Romney are superbly qualified. Both are graduates of the Harvard University Law School who have distinguished themselves in government, in public service and in private life. Both are devoted husbands and fathers.

American voters are deeply divided about this race. The Register’s editorial board, as it should, had a vigorous debate over this endorsement. Our discussion repeatedly circled back to the nation’s single most important challenge: pulling the economy out of the doldrums, getting more Americans back in the workforce in meaningful jobs with promising futures, and getting the federal government on a track to balance the budget in a bipartisan manner that the country demands.

Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.

The former governor and business executive has a strong record of achievement in both the private and the public sectors. He was an accomplished governor in a liberal state. He founded and ran a successful business that turned around failing companies. He successfully managed the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Via: Ten months ago this newspaper endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination for president. An overarching consideration was which of the party’s candidates could we see occupying the White House, and there was no question that Romney was qualified for the job.

Now, in the closing days of the general election campaign, the question is which of the two contenders deserves to be the next president of the United States.

Both President Barack Obama and Governor Romney are superbly qualified. Both are graduates of the Harvard University Law School who have distinguished themselves in government, in public service and in private life. Both are devoted husbands and fathers.

American voters are deeply divided about this race. The Register’s editorial board, as it should, had a vigorous debate over this endorsement. Our discussion repeatedly circled back to the nation’s single most important challenge: pulling the economy out of the doldrums, getting more Americans back in the workforce in meaningful jobs with promising futures, and getting the federal government on a track to balance the budget in a bipartisan manner that the country demands.

Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.

The former governor and business executive has a strong record of achievement in both the private and the public sectors. He was an accomplished governor in a liberal state. He founded and ran a successful business that turned around failing companies. He successfully managed the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Via: Des Moines Register

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Breaking: Sandy Prompts NYC, Other Coastal Evacuations

Hurricane Sandy remains on track to become a historical storm for the mid-Atlantic and southern New England with New Jersey and New York City bracing for very dangerous conditions and catastrophic damage.

The impact from Sandy will reach hundreds of miles from the center of landfall, including areas well inland and well ahead of the storm's landfall Monday night.

An overview of the catastrophic impacts that await the mid-Atlantic and southern New England can be found in this news story, while below are more detailed impact stories for specific cities and communities.

Updates on Sandy:

2:00 p.m. EDT: Wind gusts were reaching 52 mph in Norfolk, Va. and 58 mph on the North Carolina Outer Banks.

12:00 noon EDT: New York Governor Cuomo announced that the orderly suspension of all subway, bus and commuter railroad service will begin at 7 p.m. EDT, Sunday.

12:00 noon EDT: New York Mayor Bloomberg announced city schools are closed on Monday and ordered evacuations of some low-lying areas in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens.

11:00 a.m. EDT: A storm surge of up to 5.5 feet was flooding neighborhoods on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Multiple roads were under water.

10:30 a..m. EDT: Moderate coastal flooding was occurring near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in the Norfolk, Virginia area. Minor coastal flooding was already occurring along portions of the New Jersey coast at time of high tide.

9:30 a.m. EDT: Seas of 30 feet continue off the coast of the Carolinas. Seas were between 10 and 15 feet off the coast of New Jersey and Long Island and building.

9:24 a.m. EDT: Winds were gusting to 48 mph in Virginia Beach, Va., to 40 mph in Ocean City, Md., and to 36 mph in Atlantic City, N.J. with Sandy still hundreds of miles away.

9:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy is racking up rainfall. So far, Hatteras, N.C. has received 5.19 inches with 1.76 inches in Newport News, Va. A zone of heavy rain was developing farther north from the Maryland eastern shore to eastern Pennsylvania.

6:00 a.m. EDT: Sandy is a truly massive storm on satellite. One of, if not the largest tropical cyclone to ever develop in the Atlantic basin.

OHIO NEWSPAPERS' POLL: RACE TIED AT 49, ROMNEY ERASES 5-POINT OBAMA LEAD

Yet another poll has shown the presidential race in Ohio tied, with President Barack Obama dropping below the crucial 50 percent mark. The latest Akron Beacon Journal/Ohio Newspaper Organization poll shows the race in a 49%-49% tie, with Republican Mitt Romney erasing the 51%-46% lead Obama enjoyed as of late September.

The poll, with a D+3 sample, also showed Romney leading 51%-46% on the issue of the economy. Obama held a slight lead among independent voters, albeit with a very large margin of error, given the small number of uncommitted voters remaining. Obama has retained his double-digit margin among women, while Romney has opened a double-digit lead among Ohio men, according to the poll.

Both campaigns are attempting to spin recent Ohio poll numbers in their favor, with the Obama campaign insisting that it is holding onto a narrow lead. Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday's State of the Union program that the race is tied, and that a tie "goes to the challenger."

The campaigns have also dueled over early voting numbers in Ohio and elsewhere. The Obama campaign claims a large lead among those who are voting early, but the Romney campaign insists that margin is among a very small proportion of voters, and that the gap between Democrats and Republicans in early and absentee voting has narrowed significantly since 2008.

Via: Breitbart

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Despite Promises of Transparency, Obama Administration Suppresses Report That Would Detail Rise in Welfare Dependence

Washington, DC - A day after his inauguration, President Obama promised his Administration would be defined by its openness and transparency, proudly declaring, "I will also hold myself, as president, to a new standard of openness….Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency."  Sadly, the Obama Administration has failed to live up to the President’s lofty rhetoric, and its record on transparency is littered with broken promises.  The latest example is the Administration’s withholding of Federal data about welfare receipt and dependence on government benefits.  Under a 1994 law, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is required to issue annual reports on the degree to which Americans are dependent on various welfare benefits.  This 1994 law was authored by Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), passed by the Democrat-controlled House and Senate, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.  Yet after nearly four years, the Obama Administration has never once issued this report.   
  
The 1994 law requires HHS to issue this report to leaders of key Congressional committees with jurisdiction over various welfare programs: the House Committees on Ways and Means; Education and the Workforce; Agriculture; and Energy and Commerce and the Senate Committees on Finance; Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; and Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.  Today, the Republican House Chairmen and Senate Ranking Members of these Committees sent a letter to HHS Secretary Sebelius asking for an immediate response as to (1) why HHS has failed to issue this report during her nearly four years as Secretary, and (2) when HHS expects to finally issue this report.  A copy of the letter is availablehere.

If issued, this report would reveal that dependence on government benefits has risen sharply during the Obama Administration.  All the more troubling is the fact that, while suppressing this annual report on welfare dependence for nearly four years, HHS recently took action to illegally waive work requirements for welfare recipients, which will result in even more welfare dependence.   

In their letter to Secretary Sebelius, the Chairmen and Ranking Members wrote, “HHS has failed to issue even one of these annual reports required by law during the nearly four years you have been Secretary.  It also means that the 2009 annual report is now more than 1,000 days overdue.” 

Via: Committee on Ways and Means

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ObamaCare Work Disincentives: 4 Cliffs Hit Employees

In the time of Caesar, all roads led to Rome. In the time of ObamaCare, seemingly every path heads straight for a cliff.

The health law is filled with cliffs where the returns for more work take a nose-dive.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated ObamaCare will "reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent" — about 800,000 full-time jobs. It seems likely that four especially steep cliffs — including two where marginal tax rates can approach 100% or more — will factor into work and hiring decisions.

The 50th employee: For companies with 49 workers that do not offer its employees health coverage, the hiring of just one more worker would carry a penalty of $40,000.

A firm with at least 50 workers that doesn't offer coverage must pay a $2,000 fine per worker (minus the first 30 workers) if even one of its employees receives ObamaCare subsidies.

Likewise, even if a business with 50 employees offers coverage, it would still face up to a $3,000 charge for each worker who nevertheless claims Obama-Care subsidies.

The law gives workers this option when employer coverage is deemed unaffordable because it costs more than 9.5% of the worker's household income.

France has 2.4 times as many firms with 49 employees as with 50 due to labor regulations that take effect with the 50th hire, BusinessWeek has noted.

How many firms will institute a hiring freeze to avoid ObamaCare penalties is unclear, but the risk is that the U.S. will go down a similar path as France.

The low-income cliff: At 200% of the poverty level is a dividing line. Deductibles for married couples on one side may be $300 vs. $3,500 on the other, according to one estimate provided to the Kaiser Family Foundation by Towers Watson.

In addition, a family at 200% of poverty would pay $830 less for subsidized insurance than a family at 225% of poverty, The Kaiser Family Foundation's health subsidy calculator shows.

Via: IBD

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Proposal 4: SEIU union pumps money into Michigan's home health ballot measure

LANSING, MI – The Service Employees International Union has kicked in at least $5.5 million to support Michigan’s Proposal 4, according to campaign finance reports, but it's not clear if more SEIU money is involved.

Proposal 4 on the Nov. 6 ballot would amend the Michigan constitution to create a home healthcare registry and give workers some limited collective bargaining rights. The workers involved would be represented by the SEIU.

The main committee supporting Proposal 4 – Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care – reported raising roughly $9 million overall. The money is listed as coming from Home Care First Inc.

According to Dohn Hoyle, co-chair of Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care: “Home Care First Inc. is a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization formed and supported by Michigan’s leading senior and disability rights groups. Home Care First — along with the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition, Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Area Agencies on Aging Association of Michigan, the Arc Michigan and many more — strongly supports Proposal 4 ... "

Supporters of Proposal 4 have said there’s nothing secretive about their campaign. But former Attorney General Mike Cox has called Home Care First “clandestine” because there hasn't been full disclosure of donors.

Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution is a coalition that opposes Proposal 2, 3 and 4. Nick De Leeuw, a spokesman for Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution, said $1.4 million has been spent on Proposal 4.

Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution is a coalition that includes the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

Via: Michigan Live

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