mommiegrandma's Blog

This will be disappointing for you to know dprin that I'm not hiding.  First of all I have no reason to hide.  Second, when there is something of interest posted and I want to give an opinion I will do just that.  Third, my candidate WON the election and my job is complete.

I have read the "junk" posted by you and your crew and I do not find it worthy of my time. It's the same type of "junk" that was posted before the election and I'm bored with that silly stuff.

 If my some chance something is posted that is true and of interest and if "I" desire to comment I will.

End of Story!!!

You have a happy holiday season dprin.

DPRIN, THIS IS FOR YOU! This article was written a year ago based on the ecomony at that time.  Ohio has lost a lot of jobs during that time and still losing jobs.  This foreclosure crisis/job losses did not just happen.

 

Midwest states lead nation in foreclosures, delinquencies

By: JEFF KAROUB and MARK WILLIAMS - Associated Press | Monday, December 17, 2007 10:54 PM PST 8

DETROIT -- Michigan and Ohio share something with Florida and California -- some of the nation's highest rates of foreclosed homes and delinquent mortgages. But the reasons for their woes are as different as their climates.

Battered by a declining manufacturing base, stagnant population growth and low demand for housing, Michigan and Ohio rank No. 1 and 2 on mortgage finance company Fannie Mae's list of states with the largest credit losses through Sept. 30.

Fannie Mae, which finances or guarantees one of every five home loans in the United States, listed losses ---- loans written off as having no chance of being recovered ---- of $185 million for Michigan and $101 million for Ohio ---- two similar states in many respects with strong ties to the auto industry. By contrast, California saw $30 million; Florida, $21 million.

"The underlying economies of Michigan and Ohio are that bad relative to California and Florida," said Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. Michigan had the nation's highest unemployment rate in October at 7.7 percent; Ohio's rate was 5.9 percent. Both are above the national rate of 4.7 percent.

And jobs and income are all-important in keeping the housing market alive. Nationwide data from Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, found the No. 1 reason its customers have been defaulting on mortgage loans is because their income was cut. That accounted for almost 60 percent of its loan defaults in the first 10 months of this year. Once illness and divorce are factored in, cash-flow problems caused 80 percent of mortgage defaults nationwide, according to Countrywide's data; payment adjustments alone accounted for only 2 percent.

Phillip Hubbard of Flint, a town hard hit for decades by plant closings and immortalized by native Michael Moore in his 1989 film, "Roger & Me," knows first-hand how bad the housing market has become.

Hubbard, 39, said he left his job of 19 years in 2005 at a "mom-and-pop" auto parts store as he dealt with a form of muscular dystrophy and found physical aspects of the job difficult. He managed for nearly two years to pay his 30-year fixed mortgage on a small ranch home he bought six years ago through his disability checks and savings, but fell behind as gas prices, property taxes, utility bills and insurance premiums escalated.

He said he tried unsuccessfully to work out a new payment plan with his mortgage company. So he put the house up for sale in the spring and then let it go into foreclosure in October when he couldn't find a buyer.

Fannie Mae's report shows the Midwest in general is suffering the largest loan losses. Of the top seven states, five are in the Midwest, with Minnesota ranked third, Indiana fourth and Illinois seventh. California and Florida are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.

Teresa Gordon, a Michigan-based owner of a real estate firm that specializes in foreclosure, said the economy is a factor in her region's mortgage mess, but the blame goes around, including lenders that got too lenient and buyers who made poor decisions.

"I'm one of the few people that's going to capitalize on this. ... but it's only (for) so long," Gordon said.

Housing is a lagging indicator of an economic decline, said Duncan, pointing to the 340,000 jobs lost in Michigan and 200,000 in Ohio since 2001.

"People aren't moving out because of the weather, but because of the lack of opportunity," he said.

Meanwhile, the mortgage problems in Florida and California were caused by a speculative bubble built on excess supply, he said.

"It's a different story."

Home foreclosures reached an all-time high nationwide in the third quarter, with Ohio the top state in percentage of loans in foreclosure, and ninth in delinquencies not yet in foreclosure, according to the latest report by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Michigan ranked second in delinquencies and third in foreclosure inventory.

Ohio, Michigan and Indiana were near the top in three important categories: foreclosure inventory and foreclosure starts and serious delinquencies, the share of loans at least 90 days past due or in the process of foreclosure.

"If you're losing population and jobs, that's not going to be good for housing. ... They both come out of demand side of equation, and loan quality is going to decline," Duncan said.

There are other differences in the regions.

Florida and California are markets dominated by adjustable-rate mortgages while Midwest homeowners usually have fixed rates where Fannie Mae has a much stronger presence. Also, Fannie Mae has a $417,000 loan limit, keeping it out of many markets in both states.

Hubbard, who last month moved into a mobile home he bought from a friend, plans to get his associate's degree from a community college this spring, and then transfer to University of Michigan-Flint to earn his bachelor's degree in education and become a high school history teacher.

He hopes his financial turnaround coincides with the state's, but he's ready for whatever comes.

"My house now has wheels under it and I've joked a few times about renting a U-Haul truck and dragging it to where I can find work," he said.

Meet the first family.

Crispus Attucks fell so that Rosa Parks could sit, Rosa Parks sat so that Dr. Martin Luther King could march, Dr. Martin Luther King marched so that Barack Obama could run, and Barack Obama is running so that our children and grandchildren can fly."

Obama for president

Palin's rise captivates us but nation needs a steady hand

Published: October 25th, 2008 07:37 PM
Last Modified: October 25th, 2008 08:10 PM

Alaska enters its 50th-anniversary year in the glow of an improbable and highly memorable event: the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate. For the first time ever, an Alaskan is making a serious bid for national office, and in doing so she brings broad attention and recognition not only to herself, but also to the state she leads.

Alaska's founders were optimistic people, but even the most farsighted might have been stretched to imagine this scenario. No matter the outcome in November, this election will mark a signal moment in the history of the 49th state. Many Alaskans are proud to see their governor, and their state, so prominent on the national stage.

Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

Since his early acknowledgement that economic policy is not his strong suit, Sen. McCain has stumbled and fumbled badly in dealing with the accelerating crisis as it emerged. He declared that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" at 9 a.m. one day and by 11 a.m. was describing an economy in crisis. He is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout. His behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped to lead the essential effort of reining in a runaway financial system and setting an anxious nation on course to economic recovery.

 

Sen. Obama warned regulators and the nation 19 months ago that the subprime lending crisis was a disaster in the making. Sen. McCain backed tighter rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but didn't do much to advance that legislation. Of the two candidates, Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown's root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it. It is easy to look at Sen. Obama and see a return to the smart, bipartisan economic policies of the last Democratic administration in Washington, which left the country with the momentum of growth and a budget surplus that President George Bush has squandered.

 

On the most important issue of the day, Sen. Obama is a clear choice.

Sen. McCain describes himself as a maverick, by which he seems to mean that he spent 25 years trying unsuccessfully to persuade his own party to follow his bipartisan, centrist lead. Sadly, maverick John McCain didn't show up for the campaign. Instead we have candidate McCain, who embraces the extreme Republican orthodoxy he once resisted and cynically asks Americans to buy for another four years.

It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington. You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove. And while Sen. McCain points to the fragile success of the troop surge in stabilizing conditions in Iraq, it is also plain that he was fundamentally wrong about the more crucial early decisions. Contrary to his assurances, we were not greeted as liberators; it was not a short, easy war; and Americans -- not Iraqi oil -- have had to pay for it. It was Sen. Obama who more clearly saw the danger ahead.

The unqualified endorsement of Sen. Obama by a seasoned, respected soldier and diplomat like Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican icon, should reassure all Americans that the Democratic candidate will pass muster as commander in chief.

On a matter of parochial interest, Sen. Obama opposes the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but so does Sen. McCain. We think both are wrong, and hope a President Obama can be convinced to support environmentally responsible development of that resource.

Gov. Palin has shown the country why she has been so successful in her young political career. Passionate, charismatic and indefatigable, she draws huge crowds and sows excitement in her wake. She has made it clear she's a force to be reckoned with, and you can be sure politicians and political professionals across the country have taken note. Her future, in Alaska and on the national stage, seems certain to be played out in the limelight.

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan. Watch why the campaign is fighting »

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

A Palin associate defended her, saying that she is "not good at process questions" and that her comments on Michigan and the robocalls were answers to process questions.

But this Palin source acknowledged that Palin is trying to take more control of her message, pointing to last week's impromptu news conference on a Colorado tarmac.

Tracey Schmitt, Palin's press secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the press and started talking. Schmitt tried several times to end the unscheduled session.

"We acknowledge that perhaps she should have been out there doing more," a different Palin adviser recently said, arguing that "it's not fair to judge her off one or two sound bites" from the network interviews.

The Politico reported Saturday on Palin's frustration, specifically with McCain advisers Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin's initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly damaging.

In response, Wallace e-mailed CNN the same quote she gave the Politico: "If people want to throw me under the bus, my personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there."

But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and that the missteps could have been a lot worse.

They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain's record.

"Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."

Schmitt came to the back of the plane Saturday to deliver a statement to traveling reporters: "Unnamed sources with their own agenda will say what they want, but from Gov. Palin down, we have one agenda, and that's to win on Election Day."

Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.

"This is what happens with a campaign that's behind; it brings out the worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating," this senior adviser said.

This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well, most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America's enemies will try to "test" Obama.

Tensions like those within the McCain-Palin campaign are not unusual; vice presidential candidates also have a history of butting heads with the top of the ticket.

John Edwards and his inner circle repeatedly questioned Sen. John Kerry's strategy in 2004, and Kerry loyalists repeatedly aired in public their view that Edwards would not play the traditional attack dog role with relish because he wanted to protect his future political interests.

Even in a winning campaign like Bill Clinton's, some of Al Gore's aides in 1992 and again in 1996 questioned how Gore was being scheduled for campaign events.

Jack Kemp's aides distrusted the Bob Dole camp and vice versa, and Dan Quayle loyalists had a list of gripes remarkably similar to those now being aired by Gov. Palin's aides.

With the presidential race in its final days and polls suggesting that McCain's chances of pulling out a win are growing slim, Palin may be looking after her own future.

"She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart said. "And the difficulty is, when she went on 'Saturday Night Live,' she became a reinforcement of her caricature. She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day, voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and personally."

Ohio voters please remember what we have endured over the past 8 years of a Republican Governor, coupled with 8 years of a Republican President.

Ohio has been given a double whammy in terms of our economy, one hit from the State level and the other hit from the Federal level.  We can not afford to take a another hit by electing John McCain. 

Ohio needs a new direction we need an opportunity to get this state back on the right track.  We can not afford to have our jobs out sourced,  and shipped out of the this country.  Unemployment in Ohio in September was 7.4 %, higher than the National Average, we have a 13 week of extended benefits to help those Ohioans who have experienced long term unemployment and can not find a job. 

These are the people in Ohio who are already caught up in the failed Ohio/National economy brought to bear by the failed Taft Administration, the failed Bush Administration with John McCain supporting the Bush Administration 90% of the time on issue of the economy that relate directly to our quality of life . These are Ohioans who are losing homes, healthcare, and a good quality of life.  These are hard working Ohioans who have worked hard and earned the right to the American dream, just to have it stripped away through no fault of their own.

The rest of us are at risk if we continue down the same path of failed Republican Policies.  Ohio we need a period of recovery, we can not go back into the same situation that got us into this mess we are into TODAY!!  WE CAN NOT AFFORD 4 MORE YEARS!!

I know that every Ohioan knows of someone who has lost their job in Ohio, or lost a home.

Remember we have had a DOUBLE WHAMMY IN OHIO.  It's time for a REAL CHANGE and a BETTER OPPORTUNITY to rebuild Ohio.

VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA OHIO....WE NEED A CHANGE, AND OPPORTUNITY TO RECOVER.

Poll: Obama up in Ohio, tied in Florida By ALEXANDER BURNS | 10/24/08 6:58 AM EDT   
Obama has widened his lead in Franklin County, Ohio; McCain has gained ground in Hillsborough County, Fla. Photo: AP

Sen. John McCain has improved his odds of capturing one of Florida’s most competitive counties at the same time a crucial Ohio battleground seems increasingly out of reach, according to a new Politico/InsiderAdvantage poll.

While Sen. Barack Obama has widened his lead in Ohio’s Franklin County, where Columbus is located, McCain has gained ground in Hillsborough County, which includes the city of Tampa and is one of the Sunshine State’s most competitive areas.

McCain trails Obama in Hillsborough by just two points, 46 percent to 44 percent. That represents a four-point improvement for McCain since Politico’s last Hillsborough survey, conducted October 12, which showed Obama leading 47 percent to 41 percent.

But Obama has strengthened his standing in Ohio’s Franklin County, where he currently holds an 11-point lead over McCain, outpacing the Republican nominee by 51 percent to 40 percent. Politico’s previous poll of Franklin County, conducted October 13, showed a closer race there, with Obama ahead by just five percentage points, 45 percent to 40 percent.

According to the Politico/InsiderAdvantage poll, Obama leads statewide in Ohio by 52 percent to 42 percent.

In Florida, the statewide survey shows Obama with a one-point lead, with 48 percent of poll respondents naming him as their choice for president, compared with 47 percent who chose McCain.

“It’s tightened a little bit in Hillsborough and it’s tightened a little bit statewide,” said InsiderAdvantage pollster Matt Towery. “It would still be leaning Obama, in my opinion, both the county and the state, but tightening.”

Obama’s lead in Franklin County comes in large part from his strength among male voters, Towery said.

“[McCain’s] doing worse with males than he’s doing with females, and Obama’s picking up the lion’s share of independents in this particular county.”

Franklin County women currently prefer Obama, 48 percent to 44 percent. Among men, Obama leads by a surprising, 15-point margin, 53 percent to 38 percent.

“This is not good news for John McCain,” Towery said. “This county is just so representative of what’s going on in Ohio.”

McCain’s performance among men is stronger statewide. He trails Obama by 7 points among men, 42 percent to 49 percent, rather than by 15 points as in Franklin County. Obama currently leads among female voters in Ohio, 54 percent to 42 percent.

“If [McCain] can’t do something about that male percentage he’s a dead duck in Ohio,” Towery said.

In 2004, President George W. Bush won male voters in Ohio, 52 percent to 47 percent, and tied among female voters.

As Election Day draws closer, both presidential tickets have zeroed in on Ohio and Florida as possible keys to victory, and both have spent time campaigning in those states in recent days.

McCain stumped Thursday in Sarasota, Fla., and Palin rallied supporters in Troy, Ohio. On Wednesday, both members of the Republican ticket campaigned in Ohio.

Earlier in the week, Obama spent two days in Florida, campaigning alongside his former rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and visiting Miami, Pensacola, Orlando – and Tampa.

Recent polls have shown varied results in Florida. A Mason-Dixon poll released Wednesday showed McCain with a one-point lead in the state, though a St. Petersburg Times poll released Thursday placed Obama seven points ahead of his rival, leading 49 percent to 42 percent.

For McCain, Florida is an absolute must-win battleground because it is virtually impossible for him to get to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory without the state’s 27 electoral votes.

In theory, McCain could make up for a loss in Ohio by picking up Pennsylvania, but it would be a hard blow to lose a state with 20 electoral votes that President Bush won twice.

The latest wave of polls from Ohio have shown Obama building a substantial lead there, with a Thursday Quinnipiac University survey giving him a 14-point lead, a Big Ten poll released the same day showing him ahead by 12 points and a CNN/TIME magazine poll giving the Democrat a tighter, 4-point lead.

Previous Politico/InsiderAdvantage polling has shown Obama even with or ahead of McCain in a crucial set of battleground counties, including Hillsborough; Franklin; Jefferson County, Co.; St. Louis County, Mo.; Washoe County, Nev.; Wake County, N.C.; Bucks County, Pa. and Prince William County, Va.

The Politico/InsiderAdvantage poll of Florida’s Hillsborough County, conducted Oct. 22, tested 295 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus six percentage points. In the statewide poll of Florida, also conducted Oct. 22, there were 562 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

The poll of Ohio’s Franklin County, conducted Oct. 22, had 432 respondents for a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points. The Ohio statewide poll, also conducted Oct. 22, tested 408 voters with a five-point margin of error.

MCCAIN AND PALIN CAN'T DO THIS!!!
OBAMA CAN DRAW RECORD CROWDS!!

Huge Obama crowds: 100,000 in St. Louis, 75,000 in K.C. Margaret Talev and William Douglas McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Democrat Barack Obama turned out enormous crowds at his two stops in battleground Missouri on Saturday in what campaign aides said was a strategy of using his ability to command huge crowds as a way to build excitement heading into the final two weeks of the presidential campaign.

An estimated 100,000 people showed up in St. Louis Saturday morning to hear Obama speak at the Gateway Arch — the largest crowd ever to hear Obama in the United States.

Saturday evening, a crowd estimated at more than 75,000 thronged the Liberty Memorial near downtown Kansas City for another Obama rally.

With just 17 days to go before the election, campaign aides said they hope to turn out comparable crowds in other battleground states. Obama was headed to North Carolina on Sunday.

"This is the home stretch and our primary goal is to capture the excitement and energy that's surrounded this race," said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. To turn out large crowds, the campaign is choosing outdoor venues with virtually unlimited capacity.

Good weather &mdash: like Saturday's in Missouri — helps. Meanwhile, volunteers in dozens of Obama field offices in each of the battleground states are tapping phone and email lists to urge his supporters to turn out for the weekend rallies.

Republican John McCain also campaigned in two hotly contested states — North Carolina and Virginia — where the crowds were smaller, but the rhetoric was heated.

McCain used words like "welfare" and "socialism" to describe Obama's plans to raise taxes on businesses and Americans earning more than $250,000 and redistribute that in the form of cuts and credits to 95 percent of working families.

"Since you can't reduce taxes on those who pay zero, the government will write them all checks called a tax credit," McCain told a crowd estimated at 7,000 people, in Concord, N.C., criticizing Obama's plan. "And the Treasury will cover those checks by taxing other people."

In a Saturday morning radio address, McCain concluded that Obama's plan would turn the Internal Revenue Service into "a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington."

Obama adopted new rhetoric, saying McCain's plans to continue President Bush's tax cuts amounted to corporate welfare and reflected his values.

"It comes down to values," Obama said. "In America, do we simply value wealth, or do we value the work that creates it?"

Obama said McCain "is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people 'welfare.' The only "welfare" in this campaign is John McCain's plan to give another $200 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations in America - including $4 billion in tax breaks to big oil companies that ran up record profits under George Bush."

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who spoke at the St. Louis rally before Obama took the stage, criticized McCain running mate Sarah Palin's recent suggestion that some parts of the country are more pro-American than others. McCaskill went on to suggest Palin isn't particularly qualified to be vice president. And McCaskill said McCain's campaign is "mean, angry, personal, petty, small, bogus-attacks" and that "they're scared about the new voters, have you noticed?"

The only larger Obama event was the international audience of roughly 200,000 that turned out during Obama's summer visit to Berlin where he spoke about foreign policy

All I can say is, 'Wow," Obama said as he surveyed the crowd gathered at the edge of the Mississippi River, underneath the nation's tallest monument.

Joyce Jones, 62, a local volunteer said television stations had predicted a turnout of about half the size, or 50,000 people.

"It shows that people really want a change," she said. Jones said if she were McCain, watching the Obama rally on television, "I would think maybe there's something I haven't done right."

Another woman in the crowd, Jocelyn Harmon, 44, an auditor, said she isn't involved with the campaign and simply showed up to lend her support to the idea Obama could win Republican-leaning Missouri. "It is history, regardless of who wins," she said.

McCain continued to make references to Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, a Toledo, Ohio, man who'd recently asked Obama about his tax policies. Obama told Wurzelbacher he wants to "spread the wealth" around, which McCain has seized on to make his argument about Socialism.

McCain has attempted to make Wurzebacher a working-class poster boy for his campaign despite revelations following Wednesday's presidential debate that Wurzelbacher isn't a licensed plumber and owes back taxes.

Wurzelbacher, who told Obama that he was preparing to buy a company that makes between $250,000 and $280,000 and asked if the candidate's plan would tax him, also would benefit under Obama's plan, according to some analysts.

"At least in Europe, the Socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives," McCain said in his weekly radio address. "They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut it's just another government giveaway."

Voters say they were duped into registering as Republicans Email Picture Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times "I am not a Republican," insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet clinic manager from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. "I certainly . . . won't sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again." YPM, a group hired by the GOP, allegedly deceived Californians who thought they were signing a petition. YPM denies any wrongdoing. Similar accusations have been leveled against the company elsewhere. By Evan Halper and Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
October 18, 2008 SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.

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  Related Content FOR THE RECORD:
Voter registration: An article in Saturday's California section, about voters who said they were duped by a company called Young Political Majors into registering as Republicans, incorrectly referred to eight workers for the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, who pleaded guilty to election fraud in Missouri this year. They were temporary employees trained by ACORN to register voters, not officials of the nonprofit group. —

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"I am not a Republican," insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet-clinic manager and former Democrat from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. "I certainly . . . won't sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again."

It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.

Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.

The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.

The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.

Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.

Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.

The Times randomly interviewed 46 of the hundreds of voters whose election records show they were recently re-registered as Republicans by YPM, and 37 of them -- more than 80% -- said that they were misled into making the change or that it was done without their knowledge.

Lydia Laws, a Palm Springs retiree, said she was angry to find recently that her registration had been switched from Democrat to Republican.

Laws said the YPM staffer who instructed her to identify herself on a petition as a Republican assured her that it was a formality, and that her registration would not be changed. Later, a card showed up in the mail saying she had joined the GOP.

"I said, 'No, no, no. That's not right,' " Laws said.

It all sounds familiar to Beverly Hill, a Democrat and the former election supervisor in Florida's Alachua County. About 200 voters -- mostly college students -- were unwittingly registered as Republicans there in 2004 by YPM staffers using the same tactic, Hill said.

"It is just incredible that this can keep happening election after election," she said.

YPM and Republican Party officials said they were surprised by the complaints. The officials said the signature gatherers wear shirts bearing the Republican symbol, an elephant -- a contention disputed by some of the voters interviewed.

Every person registered signs an affidavit confirming they voluntarily joined the GOP, party leaders said.

"It does the state party no good to register people in a party they don't want to be in," said Hector Barajas, communications director for the California Republican Party.

The document that voters thought was an initiative petition has no legal implications at all. YPM founder Mark Jacoby said the petition was clearly labeled as a "plebiscite," which does nothing more than show public support.

He also said that plainclothes investigators for Secretary of State Debra Bowen, a Democrat, have conducted multiple spot checks and told his firm it is doing nothing improper.

"Every time, they gave us a thumbs-up," Jacoby said. "People are not being tricked."

But Nicole Winger, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office, said the agency "does not give an OK or seal of approval to voter registration groups."

Two years ago, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas charged 12 workers for a petitioning firm hired by the local Republican Party with fraudulently registering voters as Republican.

Democratic registration drives have also caught the attention of law enforcement officials.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, a national nonprofit that recruits mostly Democratic voters, is being investigated by the FBI for filing fake registrations in multiple states during the current presidential campaign.

In April, eight ACORN officials in St. Louis pleaded guilty to federal election fraud for submitting false registration cards in 2006.

In California, signature-gatherers are prohibited by law from misleading voters about what they are signing.

"You can't lie to someone to procure their signature," said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in election law.

Civil rights activists recently filed a lawsuit in Arizona accusing YPM of deceiving residents to get signatures for a ballot measure that would have prohibited affirmative action by that state. The lawsuit was dropped after supporters of the measure pulled it from the ballot.

In Massachusetts, former YPM worker Angela McElroy testified at a legislative hearing in 2004that she had tricked voters into signing a ballot measure to ban gay marriage. She said she told voters they were signing in favor of a measure to allow alcoholic drinks to be sold in supermarkets.

YPM's Jacoby said McElroy was on loan to another signature-gathering company at the time the alleged deception took place.

Jose Aguilera, a 48-year-old math teacher from Ventura whose registration was recently changed from Democrat to Republican, said he signed the child-molester petition outside an Albertsons supermarket.

He said he was asked to sign a second document but not told that it would change his registration.

"Somehow the guy pulled out something else and I signed it," he said.

Ashcraft, the pet-clinic manager, said she knew that she could still vote in November for whichever presidential candidate she supports -- in her case, Democrat Barack Obama.

"I just don't like being lied to," she said.

Janett Lemaire, 54, said she told a signature-gatherer in the small Riverside County town of Desert Edge, "I've been a Democrat all my life and I want to stay that way."

But the man "said this has nothing to do with changing how you are registered," Lemaire said. "Then I get a notice in the mail saying I am a Republican. . . . I was very angry."

(CNN) -- A Republican campaign worker who told police she was assaulted by a man angered by a John McCain sticker on her car admitted she made up the report, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, assistant police chief said Friday.

Police say Ashley Todd, 20, admitted making up the report she was attacked because of a McCain sticker.

Ashley Todd, 20, of College Park, Texas, will be charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, and may face more charges, said police spokeswoman Diane Richard at a news conference.

"This has wasted so much time. ... It's just a lot of wasted man hours," Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said at the same briefing.

The woman told investigators a man approached her Wednesday night at an ATM in Pittsburgh's East End, put a blade to her neck and demanded money, Richard said.

Police said they found "several inconsistencies" in Todd's statement and she was not seen in surveillance videos taken at the ATM. She was asked to take a polygraph test Friday morning, Richard said. The results were not made public.

Later, Todd came to the police station to help work on a composite sketch of the alleged attacker. When she arrived, Todd "told them she just wanted to tell the truth" -- that she was not robbed, and there was no attacker, Bryant said.

Todd originally told police a man "punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, and he continued to punch and kick her while threatening to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," according to a police statement.

The woman also told police her attacker "called her a lot of names and stated that 'You are going to be a Barack supporter,' at which time she states he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees, and scratched into her face a backward letter 'B' on the right side of her face using what she believed to be a very dull knife."

Bryant described Todd as "very cordial, polite, cooperating," and said the woman was surprised by all the media attention. Asked whether the false report was politically motivated, Bryant replied, "It's difficult to say."

"She is stating that she was in her vehicle driving around, and she came up with this idea," she said. "She said she has prior mental problems and doesn't know how the backward letter 'B' got on her face."

However, Todd was the only one in the vehicle, and "when she saw the 'B' she thought she must have been the one who did it," Bryant said.

"We're talking with the district attorney's office and conferring on just how we're going to handle it," she said. "It's been different stories through the night and this morning."

She said there was no indication that anyone else was involved.

Richard said the woman had described her alleged attacker as an African-American, 6 feet 4 inches tall with a medium build and short dark hair, wearing dark clothing and shiny shoes.

Before the revelation that the report was false, McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said that McCain and running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "spoke to the victim and her family after learning about the incident."

The Obama campaign also had issued a statement wishing the woman a "speedy recovery."

Republican Governor Robert Taft was elected as Ohio’s Governor the first time in 1998 and was re-elected in 2002.  His term in office ended in 2006.  While in office Governor Taft was convicted of 4 criminal misdemeanors for violations of the States Ethics Law.

 

Republican George W. Bush was elected as President of the United States in 2000 and like Taft he was re-elected in 2004. As you can see their terms in office ran concurrently and the final outcome of each of these men with executive experience both ended up the same way, Ohio was left broke and in disarray under Taft and the USA was left broke and in disarray under Bush.  OHIO DON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN!

Taft's conviction was grounds under the Ohio Constitution for impeachment and removal from office by the Ohio General Assembly; however, impeachment proceedings did not occur and Taft remained in office until the end of his second term.  In addition he was given a public reprimand by the Ohio Supreme Court.

 

Governor Taft was rated one of the 3 worst Governors in the United States, just like  Bush has been rated the worst President in the history of the United States.  Bush lied to the country on the Iraq War and by rights he should have faced impeachment and removed from office.  Bush like Taft was not impeached.  OHIO DON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN.

 

These 2 men have created enormous hardships on Ohioans over the past 7 years and we can not risk falling into this TRAP again.  OHIO DON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN.

 

Under the Taft Administration and Bush Administration the affects on Ohio have been as follows:

 

Ohio’s Median Household Income Fell by $3,225 From 1999-2000 to 2005-2006.  Despite strong gains in productivity, workers’ wages are only marginally higher than they were 25 years ago, and after adjusting for inflation, nationally, the income of a typical American household fell by $962, or 2.0 percent, to $48,201 between 2000 and 2006. In Ohio, real median household income averaged $49,031 over the 1999-2000 period, compared with $45,776 over the 2005-2006 period, a decrease of $3,225. (source US Census)

 

 

Ohio’s payrolls totaled 5.4 million jobs in July 2007, 171,800 less than in January 2001. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor,)

 

·        In 2006, 13.3 percent of Ohioans were living below the poverty line. Ohio’s poverty rate was equal to the national average and ranked 21st highest among the states. Many of the counties with comparatively high poverty rates are in Ohio’s Appalachian region. (ODJFS Labor Market Information)

 

Gas Prices in Ohio Have Increased 67 Percent Since 2001.  The real average retail price per gallon at pumps in Ohio jumped 67 percent over the same time period. ( Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation)

 

Health Care Premiums Have Risen 42.6 Percent in Ohio Since 2000. Health insurance premiums have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years on a national level. Between 2000 and 2005, the average monthly premium paid by workers for family health coverage rose 39.7 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In 2005, the average inflation-adjusted health care premium for family coverage in Ohio was $11,010, which is 42.6 percent higher than it was in 2000. Similarly, the average health care premium for individual coverage in Ohio has risen 34.6 percent since 2000, to an estimated $4,056 in 2005. [Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.)

 

Child Care For Two Children Averaged $1,064 Per Month in Ohio in 2005. Ohio’s families felt the burden too, with monthly care for an infant averaging $566, and monthly care for two children averaging $1,064. [National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies )

 

Ohio College Tuition Is Up 61.7 Percent Since 1999. Over the past several years, tuition has risen at more  than double the rate of inflation. Between the 1999-2000 and 2005-2006 academic years, average inflation-adjusted tuition and fees at U.S. public colleges and universities increased by 36.3 percent. Students at Ohio’s public schools were hit even harder, as the average inflation-adjusted tuition and fees at Ohio’s four-year public colleges increased 61.7 percent between the 1999-2000 and 2005-2006 school years to $8,733 per year. With that $3,332 increase over just six years, Ohio families are finding it more and more difficult to afford to send their children to college. [The Chronicle of Higher Education: Almanac.]

 

In Ohio, 28.3 Percent of Households Had Housing Costs Greater Than 30 Percent of Their Income. Experts recommend households devote no more than 30 percent of their income to housing expenditures. In 2004, 28.3 percent of households in Ohio spent more than 30 percent of their annual income on housing. Furthermore, 12.5 percent spent more than half of their income on housing. Those numbers compare to 31.9 percent and 14.4 percent of households, respectively, across the United States. [Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, Tabulation of the 2004 American Community Survey,.]

 

 

The Number of Ohio Residents Without Health Insurance Increased 72,000 From 1999-2000 to 2005- 2006. The number of Americans without health insurance totaled 47.0 million in 2006, up 8.6 million since President Bush took office. During the 2005-2006 period, an average of 1.2 million Ohio residents, 10.7 percent of the state’s population, had no health insurance – 72,000 more than during the 1999-2000 period. Furthermore, the number of Ohio’s uninsured children amounted to 6.7 percent of the state’s population underthe age of 18. [Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce,  See the JEC’s August 29, 2007 fact sheet on health)

 

Subprime Mortgage Meltdown Hurting Housing Market in Ohio. The subprime mortgage crisis is taking its toll on homeownership and home equity nationwide, with the percentage of adjustable rate subprime mortgages in delinquency across the United States hitting 13.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007. That is a 4.9 percentage point increase from the first quarter of 2005. Ohio also saw an increase, as the percentage of adjustable rate subprime mortgages in delinquency increased from 12.3 to 16.1 over the same period. Likewise,

the percentage of all outstanding subprime adjustable rate mortgages entering into foreclosure in Ohio has risen from 2.7 percent in the first quarter of 2005 to 4.5 percent in the first quarter of 2007. By some estimates, every

foreclosure results in a one percent decrease in nearby property values, with the impact even higher in lower-income communities. [Mortgage Bankers Asociation; Dan Immergluck and Geoff Smith, “The External Costs of Foreclosure: the Impact of Single-Family Mortgage Foreclosures on Property Values,” Housing Policy Debate, Vol. 7, Issue 1, 2006. See the JEC’s June 22, 2007 fact sheet on foreclosures.]

 

Over the past six years, the Bush/Taft economy has made it more difficult for the vast majority of Americans/Ohioans to get ahead. Under these administrations’s working in tandem, there has been a sharp divergence between the fortunes of companies and the paychecks of their workers.

 

 

“The slow growth in wages has been compounded by the growing demands on families’ pocketbooks, caused by the rising costs of health care, energy, childcare, and college tuition.

 

 

We need a new direction in economic policy, aimed at restoring broad-based growth, reducing high costs of health care and energy, and increasing prosperity and retirement security for all Americans.”

 

For these reasons as outlined above we OHIOANS can not afford TO BE FOOLED AGAIN by another Republican President working in tandem with the policies, practices and ideology of the past Republican Administrations that we have suffered through in Ohio. We need a change!! 

OHIO VOTERS DON’T GET FOOLED AGAIN!

 

Vote for Barack Obama/Joe Biden on November 4, 2008.

 

 

Thank You.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obama Camp Seeks Special Prosecutor on Acorn Inquiries By Michael Falcone

Updated | 8:45 p.m. Seeking to portray law enforcement investigations into reports of fraudulent voter registrations in several states as an extension of the controversial firings of United States attorneys, the Obama campaign on Friday called for a review by a special prosecutor.

Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, sent a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Nora R. Dannehy, who is investigating the attorney firings, requesting that Ms. Dannehy also look into the whether F.B.I. investigations of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn, were politically motivated.

In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Mr. Bauer suggested that there was “an unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics.”

“There is ample reason for us to be concerned about Republican involvement and we believe this ought to be included in the special prosecutor’s mandate,” Mr. Bauer said.

Mr. Bauer spoke to reporters after the McCain campaign manager Rick Davis stepped up his attacks on Acorn on Friday, saying that reports of fraudulent voter registrations cast a “cloud of suspicion,” over the election.

In his letter, Mr. Bauer wrote:

I request that Special Prosecutor Dannehy’s inquiry include a review of any involvement by Justice Department and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee (“RNC”)’s systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud. It is highly likely that the very sort of politically motivated conduct identified in the Department’s investigation to date, necessitating the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, is repeating itself, and for the same reason: unwarranted and politically motivated intervention in the upcoming election. An investigation must be entrusted to government officials who do not have an improper political motivation or a conflict of interest, either in fact or appearance.

Privately law enforcement officials have said that the F.B.I. inquiries in several states into the fraudulent voter registration cards did not amount to a national investigation. Just today, another lawsuit was filed in Pennsylvania.

A spokesman for the McCain campaign, Ben Porritt, responded to the Obama team’s letter by saying that it represented an attempt to “criminalize political discourse.”

“Today’s outrageous letter to Attorney General Mukasey and Special Prosecutor Dannehy at the Justice Department asking for a special prosecutor to investigate Senator McCain and Governor Palin’s public statements about ACORN’s record of fraudulent voter registrations (including in this week’s Presidential debate) is absurd,” Mr. Porritt said in a statment. “It is a typical time-worn Washington attempt to criminalize political differences.”

THE PLOT THICKENS!!!! INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT.

By PEGGY NOONAN- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things.

Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she's not a big "egghead" but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what instincts? "I'm Joe Six-Pack"? She does not speak seriously but attempts to excite sensation—"palling around with terrorists." If the Ayers case is a serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than the Republican ticket has made. In the past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn't, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn't seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

I gather this week from conservative publications that those whose thoughts lead them to criticism in this area are to be shunned, and accused of the lowest motives. In one now-famous case, Christopher Buckley was shooed from the great magazine his father invented. In all this, the conservative intelligentsia are doing what they have done for five years. They bitterly attacked those who came to stand against the Bush administration. This was destructive. If they had stood for conservative principle and the full expression of views, instead of attempting to silence those who opposed mere party, their movement, and the party, would be in a better, and healthier, position.

At any rate, come and get me, copper.