Daily Presidential Update
In case you missed it: Romney has surged ahead of Obama for the first time in the Real Clear Politics Electoral College Map.
via Real Clear Politics
Swing State Polls from the Last 2 Days:
Friday, Oct. 19:
Virginia (Rasmussen) – Romney 50, Obama 47
Thursday, Oct. 18
Ohio (Rasmussen) – Obama 49, Romney 48
Ohio (SurveyUSA) – Obama 45, Romney 42
Iowa (NBC/WSJ/Marist) – Obama 51, Romney 43
Wisconsin (NBC/WSJ/Marist) – Obama 51, Romney 45
North Carolina (Rasmussen) – Romney 52, Obama 46
Colorado (PPP) – Obama 50, Romney 47
Alabama Politics
AL.COM: Democrat in Alabama uses Facebook to imply GOP congressional opponent is gay
State Rep. Daniel Boman, D-Sulligent, has yet to report raising a single dime in his bid for Congress, but this week he found a free way to get some public notice: Use Facebook to imply that your opponent is gay.
Boman has not reported any campaign contributions with the Federal Elections Commission. That compares to $1.2 million raised by U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, as of the end of last month.
Boman, an attorney, is the Democratic nominee seeking to unseat Aderholt, an eight-term incumbent. On Oct. 14, Boman posted the following question to his Facebook page:
“Who would you vote for on November 6, 2012 between the following two candidates:
1) A republican who is a homosexual who has a voting record of voting AGAINST ALL homosexual legislation. Further, this particular homosexual congressman has ALL homosexuals working on his congressional staff
OR
2) A democrat who is a straight male, but has no voting record for or against homosexual legislation.”
The post has caught some attention online and from local talk radio. Boman this morning insisted the post is hypothetical and does not refer to anyone in particular. “The people running my campaign posed a hypothetical question,” he said. “The reason they posed the hypothetical question is we received phone calls about a congressman who may be homosexual.”
Asked if he believed Adderholt is gay, Boman responded, “The only way to remove the hypothetical is to call and ask him.”
AL.COM: Survey ranks University of Alabama, Auburn University alumni among nation’s 10 most conservative
Alumni from The University of Alabama and Auburn University are among the top 10 most conservative from 177 colleges and universities surveyed nationwide, according to findings released Wednesday.
Monica McGurk, executive editor of The Alumni Factor, a college rankings system headquartered in Atlanta, said more than 42,000 alumni in the survey were asked to what extent they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements regarding social issues.
The University of Alabama and Auburn University are the only two Alabama universities or colleges included in The Alumni Factor’s “Top 177 Schools.”
The U.S. Air Force Academy’s alumni are the most conservative, the survey found.
Others in the top 10 list of most conservative alumni include: Brigham Young, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Military Academy, Texas A & M, University of Mississippi, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Baylor.
The 10 colleges and universities with the most liberal alumni are Reed College in Oregon, Oberlin, Macalester, Grinnell, Bard, Swarthmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan, and Smith, the survey noted.
WSFA: AEA Defends Stance Opposing Amendment 4
WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.
The Alabama Education Association’s chief is speaking out against Amendment Four on the November ballot.
“Amendment Four is a wolf in sheep’s clothing” said AEA Executive Secretary, Dr. Henry Mabry. “All it will do is take away the rights of children in Alabama.”
Mabry says that lawyers for the AEA reviewed Amendment Four and they came back with a report that detailed how it would adversely impact education by striking some language from the Alabama Constitution.
According to the ballot language of the proposed constitutional amendment, it would remove language referring to poll taxes and segregated schools. Mabry argues the amendment would go much further, removing vital lines that guarantee a child’s right to an education in the state.
Republicans have fired back at the Alabama Education Association with a study of their own from the non-partisan Alabama Law Institute. According to that analysis, Amendment Four would have little if any impact on education.
AL.COM: UA suspends fraternity privileges amidst several hazing allegations
As a result of several hazing allegations and investigations, the University of Alabama has suspended several fraternity privileges and all pledgeship activities as of 1 p.m. on Thursday.
UA Media Relations says the university has issued interim suspensions to one former member of Pi Kappa Alpha and two active members who engaged in hazing activities at an off-campus location. Students may not attend classes or participate in UA activities until they have appeared before Judicial Affairs and a decision is made on whether they can be reinstated and return to campus.
UA has revoked Pi Kappa Alpha’s student organization seating for the rest of this football season. Judicial Affairs is looking into sanctions for the chapter and additional penalties for other members, and the chapter will lose social privileges for fall semester.
“As our investigations move forward, additional sanctions, consequences and penalties could be levied against these individuals and the chapter,” UA’s release said. “If additional details reveal that criminal offenses were committed, the individuals will be referred to appropriate law enforcement officials.”
National & International Politics
Mitt Romney highlights from the Al Smith Dinner
U.S. Spending on Federal Welfare Now Exceeds $1 Trillion
WEEKLY STANDARD: Clinton: I Thought Obama ‘Was Going to Cry’
At a campaign event for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, Bill Clinton said that Mitt Romney’s argument “is true, we’re not fixed”:
“Governor Romney’s argument is, we’re not fixed, so fire him and put me in,” said Clinton. “It is true we’re not fixed. When President Obama looked into the eyes of that man who said in the debate, I had so much hope four years ago and I don’t now, I thought he was going to cry. Because he knows that it’s not fixed.”
UPDATE: A Romney spokesman comments: “We agree with former President Bill Clinton. The economy has not been fixed under President Barack Obama. Today, more than 23 million Americans are struggling for work, poverty has increased and food stamps are at record levels. Mitt Romney believes we can do better by creating 12 million new jobs with higher take-home pay, cutting spending to put our nation on course for a balanced budget, and actually fixing our economy.”
ORLANDO SENTINEL: Our pick for president: Romney
Two days after his lackluster first debate performance, President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes got a timely boost. The government’s monthly jobless report for September showed the nation’s unemployment rate fell below 8 percent for the first time since he took office.
If that were the only metric that mattered, the president might credibly argue that the U.S. economy was finally on the right track. Unfortunately for him, and for the American people, he can’t.
Economic growth, three years into the recovery, is anemic. Family incomes are down, poverty is up. Obama’s Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, highlighted these and other hard truths in this week’s second debate.
Even the September jobless numbers deserve an asterisk, because more than 4 million Americans have given up looking for work since January 2009.
And while the nation’s economy is still sputtering nearly four years after Obama took office, the federal government is more than $5 trillion deeper in debt. It just racked up its fourth straight 13-figure shortfall.
We have little confidence that Obama would be more successful managing the economy and the budget in the next four years. For that reason, though we endorsed him in 2008, we are recommending Romney in this race.
Obama’s defenders would argue that he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression, and would have made more progress if not for obstruction from Republicans in Congress. But Democrats held strong majorities in the House and Senate during his first two years.
Other presidents have succeeded even with the other party controlling Capitol Hill. Democrat Bill Clinton presided over an economic boom and balanced the budget working with Republicans. Leaders find a way.
With Obama in charge, the federal government came perilously close to a default last year. Now it’s lurching toward another crisis with the impending arrival of massive tax hikes and spending cuts on Jan. 1.
Daily Caller: Whistle-blower audio: Sen. Claire McCaskill’s husband cut business deals in Senate Dining Room
Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s husband used the U.S. Senate Dining Room to cut business deals selling tax credits tied to stimulus money, a whistle-blowing executive inside his company alleged on an audio recording exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller.
“The thing that irritated me about this was he [McCaskill’s husband Joseph Shepard] entertained these outside investors in the Senate Dining Room,” the whistle-blower said. “That’s where he closed the deal.”
The whistle-blower, Craig Woods, was a longtime high-ranking official within Shepard’s business empire, serving first as chief financial officer and then as vice president and chief underwriter for Missouri Equity Investors LLC and JA Shepard Companies.
