Battleground Virginia: Romney and Obama woo military veterans (+video)
Mitt Romney and President Obama stormed through the key battleground state of Virginia Thursday with their eyes on a politically prized group of voters: veterans. Mr. Romney, the GOP’s presidential nominee, gave a speech to some 200 people at an American Legion post in Springfield, Va., a city that…
The Republican National Committee fired a voter registration firm owned by a paid consultant to the party's presidential candidate Mitt Romney Thursday, after Florida officials traced more than 100 possibly fake registration forms back to the company.
NBC News reported that the RNC cut ties with Strategic Allied Consulting (SAC), run by party strategist Nathan Sproul, had been paid $2.9 million this year to register voters in five swing states before being dismissed.
Sproul is also the founder and managing partner of another company, Lincoln Strategy Group, which records show was paid by the Romney campaign paid to do "field consulting."
A Romney campaign spokesperson told NBC via email, "We used this vendor for signature gathering services during the primary but have not used them since 2011."
Strategic Allied Consulting had been fired this week by Republican officials in Florida after 106 "questionable" registration forms were handed to the state attorney's office after being flagged for review by Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher.
"When we learned today about the instances of potential voter registration fraud that occurred in Palm Beach County, we immediately informed the Republican National Committee that we were terminating the contract with the voter registration vendor we hired at their request," state Republican Executive Director Mike Grissom told The Palm Beach Post Tuesday. "There is no place for voter registration fraud in Florida."
Sproul told NBC Thursday the incident was caused by isolated acts by individual employees, and attacked state party officials of acting "in a likely libelous manner" against SAC, and suggested that on a national level, the Republicans were moving to protect Romney from any fallout.
"In the case of the RNC, they had no choice to do what they did," Sproul said. "They're trying to get the distraction behind him."
The allegations in Florida led Sproul's firm also being fired by GOP state officials in both North Carolina and Virginia, a decision one official told WTVR Thursday did not surprise him.
"They were responsible for people that appeared in some libraries in Chesterfield County, supposedly to conduct voter registration drives," said the county's General Registrar, Larry Hawke. "But they were asking voters for whom they are going to vote."
And in North Carolina, state Democratic Party officials told WRAL-TV state Rep. Larry Hall (D) was preparing to criticize Republicans for hiring Sproul's firm before learning they had cut ties.
"Republicans are using this unethical and shady firm to try to get a leg up in this election because they know North Carolinians aren't interested in their message of slashing education to pay for more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires," Hall was planning to say in a statement.
WTVR's report on the firm's suspected activities in Virginia, aired Thursday, can be seen below
The Republican Senate candidate from Missouri who recently said that women could not get pregnant from "legitimate rape" may have lost any chance of winning back female voters on Thursday when he accused his opponent of not being "ladylike."
Speaking to reporters in Jefferson City, Rep. Todd Akin again dismissed concerned over his "legitimate rape" comments and insisted that he would defeat Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in November because voters would punish her for not appearing "ladylike" during their latest debate.
"I think we have a very clear path to victory, and apparently Claire McCaskill thinks we do, too, because she was very aggressive at the debate, which was quite different than it was when she ran against Jim Talent," Akin explained, according to the Kansas City Star. "She had a confidence and was much more ladylike [in 2006], but in the debate on Friday she came out swinging, and I think that’s because she feels threatened.
In her opening remarks at the debate last Friday, McCaskill had explained that she and Akin were at "opposite ends."
"I’m right in the middle, it’s just he’s so far out on the fringe, and that’s where the contrast comes in," she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu feels so strongly about imposing a "red line" on Iran's nuclear program that he demonstrated by using a magic marker to draw an actual red line on a bomb diagram during his speech to the United Nations on Thursday.
"There's only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs," the prime minister explained. "And that's by placing a clear red line on Iran's nuclear weapons program."
"Let me show you, I brought a diagram for you," he told the General Assembly as he unfolded a drawing of a bomb with a lit fuse that could have easily been mistaken for something out of a children's cartoon.
"If these are the facts -- and they are -- then where should a red line be drawn?" Netanyahu asked. "A red line should be drawn right here."
At that point, the prime minister used a large red marker to draw a thick red line at the top of the bomb near the fuse.
"Before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb, before Iran gets to the point where it's a few months away or a few weeks away from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon," he warned.
Rep. Scott Rigell: Maverick GOP freshman in the eye of a political storm (via The Christian Science Monitor)
When President Obama touches down in Virginia Beach, Va., Thursday morning, he’ll be crossing electoral ground that is both well-traveled and crucial in the race for the White House. When Mitt Romney unveiled his vice presidential nominee, he did so just down the road in Norfolk, Va., where Rep.…
A former employee says that he quit his job at Chick-fil-A after almost a decade of working at its restaurants and corporate headquarters because the company allowed a mindset "that Chick-fil-A doesn't like homosexuals."
"It's become a safe place for people to hate and expect to be patted on the back for it. I don't want to work in that kind of environment," 60-year-old Steve Cammett recently told CBS Atlanta.
Cammett said that he spent nine years working for the restaurant chain because "I was a Chick-fil-A enthusiast. ... We don't have enough time to go over all the things I liked about Chick-fil-A."
But things changed earlier this year after Chick-fil-A founder Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press that his company was “guilty as charged” of working to prevent marriage equality, sparking a series of protests and counter-protests.
"I felt hurt by those statements," Cammett, whose late sister was a lesbian, said.
The former employee recalled instances where customers and other employees made bigoted commends about LGBT people. In one case, a customer put his arm around an employee and thanked him for taking a stand against "those perverts."
"And that [employee] was gay and [the customer] didn't know it," Cammett explained. "And I just thought, 'Wow. What has happened here?'"
"Chick-fil-A allowed a mindset to continue, especially amongst their customers, that Chick-fil-A doesn't like homosexuals," he added.
Earlier this month, Chick-fil-A reportedly agreed to stop funding groups opposing rights for LGBT people, some of which had been labeled as hate groups. But just two days later, the company changed its tune.
"Chick-fil-A and its charitable-giving arm, the WinShape Foundation, did not agree to stop making donations to groups that support the biblical definition of marriage in exchange for being allowed to open a franchise in Chicago," a statement from the company said.
Watch this video from CBS Atlanta, broadcast Sept. 26, 2012.
A Catholic bishop from Springfield, Illinois is warning that the stakes for the 2012 election are even higher than most people think because voting for President Barack Obama could damn "you own soul" to hell.
In a column and video posted by the official newspaper of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and obtained by Right Wing Watch on Wednesday, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki called out the Democratic Party for temporarily removing God from their platform, supporting abortion and recognizing that "gay rights are human rights."
"There are many positive and beneficial planks in the Democratic Party Platform, but I am pointing out those that explicitly endorse intrinsic evils," the bishop explained. "My job is not to tell you for whom you should vote. But I do have a duty to speak out on moral issues. I would be abdicating this duty if I remained silent out of fear of sounding 'political' and didn't say anything about the morality of these issues. People of faith object to these platform positions that promote serious sins."
"So what about the Republicans? I have read the Republican Party Platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin," Paprocki added. "One might argue for different methods in the platform to address the needs of the poor, to feed the hungry and to solve the challenges of immigration, but these are prudential judgments about the most effective means of achieving morally desirable ends, not intrinsic evils."
"Again, I am not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against," he concluded, "but I am saying that you need to think and pray very carefully about your vote, because a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."
Watch this video from the Catholic Times, broadcast Sept. 23, 2012.
Think and pray about your vote in upcoming election from Diocese of Springfield in IL on Vimeo.
(h/t: Pam's House Blend)
Authorities in Tacoma, Washington on Wednesday said that they had seized 39 horses that were sickly, emaciated and living in inhumane conditions.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department told KING5 that Animal Control officers obtained a search warrant after another law enforcement agency suspected the horses were being abused. About a dozen Arabians and some stallions were recovered in the raid.
"Think puppy mill, but for horses," Pierce County Sheriff's Office Detective Ed Troyer explained to MyNorthwest.com. "The conditions are deplorable. ... I don't think any living thing should live like these horses are."
The animals were reportedly living in conditions that included "large amounts of urine and feces in the stalls."
"Anyone who has any experience with equine medicine knows hoof care and what happens when you're standing in one foot of manure and urine for months at a time has devastating consequences on horses," Pierce County Auditor Julie Anderson noted.
The horses were transported for veterinary care and will be held as evidence.
"They have not been handled in a very long time, they literally have 'night eyes' so they're very sun sensitive and are having trouble with depth perception," Anderson said.
The owners could be charged with animal cruelty in the second degree.
Watch this video from KING5, broadcast Sept. 26, 2012.
(h/t: NBC News)
More than $4bn was spent on the presidential and congressional candidates and campaigns in the first 18 months of the election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Presidential candidates have received $601.9m of that money, the data released on Wednesday, shows, while $1.21bn has been donated to congressional candidates donated to presidential candidates personally.
The Federal Election Commission compiled campaign finance reports filed between 1 January 2011 and 30 June 2012 to produce the report. The time period covers the Republican primaries and the buildup to the presidential race.
In total $4.06bn was received by presidential candidates, congressional candidates, party committees and PACs over the 18-month-period. There are no direct figures directly comparing the same period available from 2008 or earlier, but Bill Allison, from the non-profit Sunlight Foundation, said ultimately more money will be spent on the 2012 campaign.
"This is 18 months and we're at $4bn, 2008 the entire election cycle ended up being at $5.2bn, so there's still a quarter of the money to go," Allison said. "We'll definitely top that number. The current projection is about $5.8bn that we'll see for 2012."
The fact that the FEC data shows money raised until 30 June 2012 accounts for the relatively small amount of expenditure in the figures. Of the $4.6bn raised in total, just $2.88bn had been spent in the same period, which candidates and organisations likely waiting until closer to 6 November to spend the money raised.
The presidential candidates raised $601.9m over the 18-month period, spending $407.9m, although included in those figures is money raised and spent by Republican primary chancers such as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. Interestingly, over the same period in 2008 presidential candidates raised far more money – $1.05bn – which Allison said was a reflection of both sides having to choose a presidential candidate.
"In 2008 you have the primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama – they both raised so much money and it ran all the way through June. Romney wrapped up the nomination in mid-April and for all practical purposes earlier than that, so you didn't have two candidates who were raising money all the way through."
Elsewhere the FEC data show the money generated by congressional candidates has risen every election cycle since 2002. Back then, $610.1m was donated candidates running for congress and senate. That increased to $789.8m in 2004, and by 2010 $1.18bn was raised. In 2012, that amount was $1.21bn.
Some $1.29bn was received by Pacs – including corporate groups, labor groups, trade unions and Super Pacs, which can receive unlimited donations. A Sunlight Foundation study released this week showed Super Pacs had received $385.7m in donations as of Sunday 23 September.
"We're almost in this wild wild west period of campaign finance," Allison said.
"You have candidates raising money at $50,000 a pop for joint fundraising committees and party committees, you have Super Pacs taking in million-dollar contributions, you have Barack Obama doing some 200 fundraisers already – it's become this mad dash for cash."
"It's as if it's all the politicians care about. But the sad thing is that after the election is over all the people who gave that money are going to be coming round asking for favours."
Actor Samuel L. Jackson is famous for dropping F-bombs and now he's added about dozen more to his resume with a children's-style poem, telling voters to "wake the fuck up" and vote for President Barack Obama.
In the tradition of his viral "Go the Fuck to Sleep" audio book for children, Jackson on Thursday released a video warning voters about Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
"In the silvery moonlight that bathed every town / the people lie dreaming so safe and so sound. / They're warm in their beds, snuggled up in their sheets / But four years before, they were out in the streets. / Now, it's as if they don't know what's at stake," Jackson says in the video sponsored by the Jewish Council on Education and Research Super PAC.
But one little girl, "little Susie," is too worried to sleep and joins Jackson in a mission to wake up family.
"Sorry, my friends, but there’s no time to snore. / An out-of-touch millionaire just declared war," the actor tells the girl's parents. "On schools, the environment, unions, fair pay / we’re all on our own if Romney has his way. / And he's against safety nets. / If you fall, tough luck. / So, I strongly suggest that you wake the fuck up."
The pair then visit the girl's brother, sister and grandparents and warn them that Romney had not opposed Republican efforts to suppress minority voters, would ban same sex marriage, stands against the DREAM Act and won't take care of the poor.
"We've come a long way but there's still more to do. / And we need you all back in the fight till it's through," Jackson concludes. "Of course, you're so busy at finding times rough. / But you can sleep when you're dead. Right now, wake the fuck up."
Watch this video, broadcast Sept. 27, 2012.
More than $4bn was spent on the presidential and congressional candidates and campaigns in the first 18 months of the election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Presidential candidates have received $601.9m of that money, the data released on Wednesday, shows, while $1.21bn has been donated to congressional candidates donated to presidential candidates personally.
The Federal Election Commission compiled campaign finance reports filed between 1 January 2011 and 30 June 2012 to produce the report. The time period covers the Republican primaries and the buildup to the presidential race.
In total $4.06bn was received by presidential candidates, congressional candidates, party committees and PACs over the 18-month-period. There are no direct figures directly comparing the same period available from 2008 or earlier, but Bill Allison, from the non-profit Sunlight Foundation, said ultimately more money will be spent on the 2012 campaign.
"This is 18 months and we're at $4bn, 2008 the entire election cycle ended up being at $5.2bn, so there's still a quarter of the money to go," Allison said. "We'll definitely top that number. The current projection is about $5.8bn that we'll see for 2012."
The fact that the FEC data shows money raised until 30 June 2012 accounts for the relatively small amount of expenditure in the figures. Of the $4.6bn raised in total, just $2.88bn had been spent in the same period, which candidates and organisations likely waiting until closer to 6 November to spend the money raised.
The presidential candidates raised $601.9m over the 18-month period, spending $407.9m, although included in those figures is money raised and spent by Republican primary chancers such as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. Interestingly, over the same period in 2008 presidential candidates raised far more money – $1.05bn – which Allison said was a reflection of both sides having to choose a presidential candidate.
"In 2008 you have the primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama – they both raised so much money and it ran all the way through June. Romney wrapped up the nomination in mid-April and for all practical purposes earlier than that, so you didn't have two candidates who were raising money all the way through."
Elsewhere the FEC data show the money generated by congressional candidates has risen every election cycle since 2002. Back then, $610.1m was donated candidates running for congress and senate. That increased to $789.8m in 2004, and by 2010 $1.18bn was raised. In 2012, that amount was $1.21bn.
Some $1.29bn was received by Pacs – including corporate groups, labor groups, trade unions and Super Pacs, which can receive unlimited donations. A Sunlight Foundation study released this week showed Super Pacs had received $385.7m in donations as of Sunday 23 September.
"We're almost in this wild wild west period of campaign finance," Allison said.
"You have candidates raising money at $50,000 a pop for joint fundraising committees and party committees, you have Super Pacs taking in million-dollar contributions, you have Barack Obama doing some 200 fundraisers already – it's become this mad dash for cash."
"It's as if it's all the politicians care about. But the sad thing is that after the election is over all the people who gave that money are going to be coming round asking for favours."
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — President Barack Obama Wednesday mocked Mitt Romney's get tough with China rhetoric, saying his foe's record of making money in China meant he would be like a fox guarding a chicken coop.
Obama and Romney clashed on trade with the giant Asian economy at dueling political events in Ohio, a key midwestern swing state which has seen thousands of blue collar jobs migrate to low cost economies abroad, including China.
"He's been talking tough on China," Obama said of his White House challenger at an event in the college town of Bowling Green.
"He says he's going to take the fight to them; he's going to go after these cheaters," Obama said, before accusing Romney of spending years investing some of his money in US firms that outsourced jobs to China.
"When you hear this newfound outrage, when you see these ads he's running promising to get tough on China, it feels a lot like that fox saying, 'You know, we need more secure chicken coops.'"
"I mean, it's just not credible."
Romney hit northern Ohio as part of a bus tour and renewed his vow to stop China from stealing American jobs with unfair trade practices as he wooed blue-collar workers and business owners.
He lambasted Obama for failing to prevent the loss of 582,000 manufacturing jobs in the past four years and placed much of the blame for the industry's decline on "competition from overseas, which is often unfair."
"From day one I will label China as a currency manipulator," Romney told supporters gathered in a spring wire plant in suburban Cleveland.
"They must not steal jobs."
Obama however touts a string of complaints and actions he has leveled against China at the World Trade Organization, including a case against Chinese auto and auto parts subsidies that he unveiled in Ohio last week.
In a new web video, the Obama campaign accused Romney of investing in YouKu, the Chinese equivalent of YouTube, which it described as a haven for stolen US videos and of backing a Chinese firm accused of pirating Microsoft software.
"If Romney really wanted China to stop stealing, why would he send them his money?" the ad's narrator asked.
Discovery Channel personality Mike Rowe joined Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign in Ohio on Wednesday but during at least one campaign speech in Bedford, the "Dirty Jobs" host didn't even bother to utter the candidate's name.
"The first time I was here, I think, was 2004," Rowe said after being introduced by Romney. "I came out here and spent a very long day in the middle of July with the guys over at the Department of Transportation, specifically in their road kill cleanup division. You'll be pleased to know, Ohio, that you do have a road kill cleanup division and they are excellent at what they do. You'll also be pleased to know that the road kill itself here in Ohio is second to none, both in volume and variety."
"I've been assured by the governor and his team that today will not be anywhere near as bloody or smelly as my last time in Ohio," he continued. "I wanted to be here today because the governor invited me. He answered a letter I'd written to a lot of people over the last five or six years."
Rowe said that he had written the letter to Romney because Americans were not paying enough attention to skilled workers who do the type of jobs that others avoid.
"We have to try and reconnect on a level that has nothing to do with the local or national news or whoever happens to wind up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," Rowe explained. "The conversation needs to start in the kitchen around the table with moms and dads and kids. And when these kids start to think about what's possible, mothers and fathers can't immediately push options off of the table because they've bought into the idea that some jobs are better than other jobs."
"I'm here as the governor's guest," he concluded. "And to the extent that I can contribute to this conversation, it will be my privilege."
A Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll released on Wednesday found that President Barack Obama led Romney by 10 points in Ohio among those who said they were definitely going to vote. The state is critical for Romney because no Republican has ever won the presidency without also winning Ohio.
While the campaign announced on Monday that Rowe had endorse their candidate, Romney admitted on Wednesday that the Discovery Channel star was "not here to endorse me."
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