2012 US General Election Discussions: Start to Finish

[Martina]

Originally Posted by alexri

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on independent and left newsites and facebook pages about Tagg Romney (son of Mitt) having purchased electronic voting machines that will be used in the 2012 elections in Ohio and other states. The news is that a Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital has taken over Hart Intercivic, the voting machine company.

Is anyone else hearing this? And if true how the heck is this legal?

Politico had it. I guess because it's about three companies removed, and it's the candidate's son. But I get you.

[Martina]

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.co...aud-billboards

Clear Channel Outdoor said on Saturday it will take down anti-voter fraud billboards that had come under criticism in the Cleveland area because they were placed in mostly Hispanic and African-American neighborhoods. The company said the billboards were paid for by an anonymous corporation in violation of Clear Channel's policies. Clear Channel said that the anonymous buyer preferred to take down the billboards rather than disclosing they company's name, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

[Tommi]

Originally Posted by alexri

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on independent and left newsites and facebook pages about Tagg Romney (son of Mitt) having purchased electronic voting machines that will be used in the 2012 elections in Ohio and other states. The news is that a Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital has taken over Hart Intercivic, the voting machine company.

Is anyone else hearing this? And if true how the heck is this legal?

Originally Posted by Cajun_dee

i saw that and i wondered the same thing. there is SO much chatter on the internet that i am tuning all of it out, but that one takes the cake.

Originally Posted by Martina

Politico had it. I guess because it's about three companies removed, and it's the candidate's son. But I get you.

Subject: Tagg Romney Invested in Ohio Electronic Voting Machines

As the election gets closer, we hear more and more about the lies and deceptions, here's another troubling fact:

http://www.politicolnews.com/tagg-ro...ting-machines/


and the Debate's on during MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL>

[princessbelle]

I know one thing...

If this election doesn't hurry up Bully will go over the edge. As if living with me isn't enough.

It's almost midnight and she is sitting at the computer with charts and grafts and notebooks and colored pencils, studying voter turnouts and state electoral votes and proposing outcomes.

Actually, it may already be too late.

[Martina]

good heavens!! She needs to share her results!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ins?intcmp=239

I like this journalists writings in general.

In this article I love the paragraphs that summarizes his take on the two candidates thus:

"With just a fortnight to go before polling day, the "show" has been terrible. Democrats are running the same acts that they did last time, and hoping that nobody will notice. Concluding the first TV debate, President Barack Obama's closing argument was: "Four years ago I said that I'm not a perfect man and I wouldn't be a perfect president ... But I also promised that I'd fight every single day on behalf of the American people and the middle class, and all those who are striving to get in the middle class. I've kept that promise and if you'll vote for me, then I promise I'll fight just as hard in a second term." I tried my best. I want another go. It's hardly a pitch bursting with vision.

His opponent, Mitt Romney, is worse. He has visions a-plenty. In his crystal ball he sees a land of free-market unicorns galloping under tax-slashing, deficit-reducing rainbows where, if only government would get out of the way, prosperity would fall from the sky. Those are the visions that he will admit to, and insists that he has costed. The ones he won't take ownership of look like a black and white version of Mike Leigh's 2004 film about illegal abortion in 1950s London, Vera Drake, in a land full of ungrateful moochers."
(Gary Younge, Guardian 21.10.12)

[BullDog]

Well, unfortunately no matter how often I look at polls or read another article, they are all telling me it's a close race.

If my life depended on correctly choosing who would be the next president I would say Obama. I think he does still have the Electoral College advantage in several of the key swing states. It mostly boils down to Ohio. (see I have nothing new). Whoever wins Ohio will almost certainly be President, and I do think Obama still has the edge there.

My biggest concern is voter turnout. The Dems do seem to be doing well with early voting, so that should help. It's just that enthusiasm is way down from 2008.

My second biggest concern is in a very close race we will have Republican shenanigans- especially in Ohio.

I do think at this point that Obama will win but it is way too close for comfort!

[Tommi]

Close races are scary.

Polls are biased I believe, so I am trying to discount them. My friends and I have collected the mailers, the literature left on the doorknobs and fenc and perused it all. We have researched where the money comes from for candidates, ballot issues here and there. One of my friends sounds like she is doing just what Bully is. We all went over the Voter's Guide over the weekend, and spent hours looking up who , what and where on the Calif. issues

On voter day turnout****Seeing the electoral counts and then voter ballot recounts and feeling that something fishy somewhere will jump out attcha after the vote booths close.

CNN reports "47 young, female and undecided voters" this late in the game ..WOW


Mother Jones
7 Highlights You Missed From the Romney Video

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012...draising-video
"By now you've probably heard about the secret video we published exposing a bunch of real talk from Mitt Romney as he dined with rich Republican donors. But the hour-plus footage, which left the Romney campaign reeling and provoked a full-blown eruption of "chaos on Bullshit Mountain," is a real embarrassment of riches, as it were. Here are some telling moments that you may not have seen yet from Romney's unvarnished Q&A behind closed doors at the $50,000-per-plate fundraiser in Boca Raton on May 17:"

[Martina]

The PBS video on called The Choice 2012 I watched last night made a good point -- similar to what Daktari quoted above. Obama isn't really running on his record because no one is happy with it. He is scaring people with the possibility of Romney. The more rational Romney looks, the less likely Democratic voters are to turn out. Romney was scary during the Republican primaries when he was playing to the base. Now he has morphed into Moderate Mitt as Clinton called him. And he is a good debater. So . . . .

This Clear Channel billboard thing in Ohio chilled me. Not that I think the billboards had that much of an effect. But that the company who paid for them chose to have them taken down rather than have their identity revealed. Someone has something to hide -- probably a connection to Romney. In any case, I think there are a lot of potential behind the scenes shenanigans in Ohio. The behavior of the Secretary of State, John Husted, around the early voting law is reason enough to be worried. I won't recount all this. Rachel Maddow has been following it closely, and I know most of you watch her. And Ohio has a documented history of election tampering.

If we have another stolen election, who are we as a nation? Oh well, I am running away with myself. But with a significant amount of wealth, education, and privilege, we are going to hand the democratic process in this nation over to the oligarchy -- cause we can't be bothered to insist on election reform?

OK. I gotta stop. I can be relied upon to veer off into one political rant or another given the slightest push. I am scared. I am volunteering this week and next just to calm my nerves.

Originally Posted by BullDog

Well, unfortunately no matter how often I look at polls or read another article, they are all telling me it's a close race.

If my life depended on correctly choosing who would be the next president I would say Obama. I think he does still have the Electoral College advantage in several of the key swing states. It mostly boils down to Ohio. (see I have nothing new). Whoever wins Ohio will almost certainly be President, and I do think Obama still has the edge there.

My biggest concern is voter turnout. The Dems do seem to be doing well with early voting, so that should help. It's just that enthusiasm is way down from 2008.

My second biggest concern is in a very close race we will have Republican shenanigans- especially in Ohio.

I do think at this point that Obama will win but it is way too close for comfort!