Came In On Saturdays

Buckeye State Showdown-- Progressive Senator Sherrod Brown v. “Truth Challenged” Josh Mandel  April 19, 2012

      Anyone with the slightest political knowledge understands that Ohio, with its 20 electoral votes, will be a critical Presidential swing state. No GOPer has ever been elected president without carrying Ohio, and no Democratic nominee can be sure of winning the Oval Office without it (Barone 12, Almanac). The Obama-Romney race, however, is not the only major Ohio political showdown brewing. In order to take back the 25 seats they need to regain the House, Democrats will try to recapture the 5 Ohio seats they lost in the 11/2010 GOP tsunami (See CQ Roll Call, Guide to the New Congress). Adding to Ohio’s mega- importance in Campaign 2012 will be a marquee Senate race which may determine that body’s control. After the 2010 midterm “shellacking,” Democrats went from 59 seats to a 53-47 majority, including 2 independents (Lieberman and Sanders) caucusing with them. In 2012, one-third of the Senate will face the voters. In 11/ 2012, unlike in 2006 and 2008, Senate Democrats will be defending 23 Senate seats, not all of them “slam dunks.” Should Republicans win the White House, that party needs just 3 seats to take over and 4, should Obama and Senate tie-breaker VP Biden triumph (AP, D. Sharp, 2/28/12, CQ 12 Almanac). One of the Senate seats the GOP wants is that of Ohio’s Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. He is being challenged by Josh Mandel. Let’s laser in on this contest.

      Senator Sherrod Brown (59) is running for a second term in 2012. A native of Mansfield, Ohio, and a doctor’s son, Brown became an Eagle Scout and high school student council president.  He entered politics because of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and RFK’s 1968 presidential race. Brown received his Bachelor’s degree at Yale and two Masters’ Degrees at Ohio State. Brown won election to the Ohio House in 1974 where he served 8 years. He then did an 8 year stint as Ohio’s Sec. of State (1983-1991). In 1990, Robert Taft, who later became Governor, defeated Brown. In 1992, Brown won election to Ohio’s 13^th CD (Congressional District), an area west of Cleveland (CQ12 ).

       In 10 out of 14 of his House years, Brown received a 100% annual score from labor’s AFL-CIO. Boyish-looking Brown identifies with the working-class. He is a baseball fan who discusses that sport and emphasizes local concerns in his speeches. Brown calls the inability of workers to receive a bigger share of the wealth they help create “the most fundamental problem in our economy.” Brown made his mark in the House with his strong opposition to free-trade agreements. He believes they harm manufacturing in Ohio and the nation. He wants to revamp trade pacts with incentives for corporations to create U.S. jobs rather than outsource them. Brown desires to make Ohio the “Silicon Valley of jobs” in the alternative energy sector to offset manufacturing losses (CQ 12). He has fought for better mining conditions, children’s health research, and banning the use of antibiotics in farm animals (Barone 12).

        In 2006, Brown challenged Ohio GOP incumbent Senator Mike DeWine. De Wine used ads of the burning 9/11 World Trade Center towers to falsely imply Brown was “soft on national security.” De Wine also ran untrue commercials that claimed Brown had not paid an unemployment tax bill for 13 years. Several Ohio stations pulled these ads after Brown refuted those charges (Columbus Dispatch, 7/14/06, AP, 10/19/06, Brown campaign website). Brown defeated DeWine by over 12 points, 56.2%- 43.8% (CQ 12). Brown’s victory helped Dem. Sen. Harry Reid become Majority Leader (Schumer, “Positively American”).

         Brown maintained his progressive record in the Senate. The AFL-CIO gave him perfect 2007-2010 ratings. In the 111^th Congress, Sen. Brown voted with his party 97% of the time, and 94% in the current 112^th session (CQ12, Wash. Post, U.S. Congress Votes Database). He voted for expanding child health care, the SCHIP bill, and for extending the statute of limitations in pay discrimination cases, the Lilly Ledbetter law. He was a “Yea,” for Obama’s 2009 stimulus, voted for health care reform, and for Wall Street financial regulation. He was for ratifying the strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia. Brown stood for repealing the anti-gay/ lesbian “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” military standard and was against Ohio’s amendment that banned same sex marriage (CQ12). With his strong stances on labor, health care reform, and preserving Social Security from GOP attacks, Sen. Brown has stepped into the void left by the 8/2009 death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (CQ12). He sits on the powerhouse Senate Agriculture, Banking, and Appropriations Committees, as well as on Veterans and Ethics (CQ12).

      And here is Brown’s GOP opponent, Josh Mandel. Youthful Mandel (34) is touted by GOPers as a “rock star of the party.” He is seen as the next Marco Rubio, Fla.’s Senate GOP/Tea Party “hero (M. Ball, “The Atlantic,” 3/5/12).” Like Cuban American Rubio, Mandel gives the GOP another non-WASP up-and-comer. Mandel is an Orthodox Jew. He was actively recruited by top party leaders, according to Matthew Brooks, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s executive director ( Z. Silberman, Cleveland Jewish News, 2/28/12, matzav.com, 3/07/12). His maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors and his paternal grandfather was a WWII Army Air Corps veteran. Mandel stated he was inspired by both grandfathers to a “sense of duty to community and country (Cleveland Jewish News).” Cleveland native Mandel is an Ohio State graduate, where he served two terms as student body president and joined a fraternity. He earned a law degree from Case Western (joshmandel.com).

      Mandel enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve where he served 8 years. In 2004 and 2007, he did two active tours of duty in Iraq, including working as an intelligence specialist (Cleveland Plain Dealer, J. Guillen, 10/19/10). Mandel served three years as a city councilman in Lyndhurst, Ohio. In 11/2006, he won election to the Ohio House of Representatives from the 17^th district and was re-elected in 2008. In the state legislature, Mandel voted against Ohio House Bill 176. That legislation prohibited discrimination on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity,” and passed that chamber 56-39.

       In 2010, Mandel ran for Ohio State Treasurer. His opponent, Columbus City Councilman Kevin Boyce, had been appointed to that job when the former Dem. treasurer left office to become Ohio’s Attorney General in 11/2008. In one of the most controversial 2010 election ads, Mandel charged that Boyce had announced a job offer only at a Columbus-area mosque. The ad ended with a picture of Mandel dressed in military fatigues. This attack was completely refuted by Boyce and called “False,” by PolitiFact Ohio, a group that monitors political ads. Mandel pulled the ad, but the damage was done. Boyce, an African American Christian, who had never been in this mosque was tarred as a Muslim and/or Muslim sympathizer (9/30/12, politifact). On 11/02/10, Mandel clobbered Boyce 54.9%-40.2%. Mandel received 2,008, 892 votes, more than anyone running in an Ohio statewide race in this GOP wave year. Mandel’s win was the first time since 1958 that an incumbent Ohio treasurer was defeated for re-election (M. Scott, Plain Dealer, 11/02/10, sos.state.oh.us.).

       Mandel had promised to serve a full four year term before running for the Senate. However, for Mandel, promises, like the truth, are easily jettisoned. In 4/2011, just three months into his first year as Treasurer, Mandel set up a senatorial campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission (Guillen, 4/08/11, Plain Dealer). Conservative pundits, bloggers, and politicians “begged” Mandel to run. Mandel was endorsed by talk show host Hugh Hewitt, the blog RedState, and far right radio “commentator” Mark Levin. The extremist Club for Growth, S. Carolina GOP Senator Jim De Mint’s Senate Conservative Fund, newly elected GOP Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, and conservative Ohio stalwart Rep. Jim Jordan were in Mandel’s corner. Mandel raised $2.6 million in the first quarter of the campaign to Sen. Brown’s $1.5 million. He handily won the 3/12 Ohio primary with 63% of the vote (“Politico,” Catanese, 8/22/11, NBC 4i, clubforgrowth.org).

      Mandel speaks of his tenure as Ohio treasurer as “one of the most efficient and effective in America.” Mandel is playing fast and loose again with the truth. In the treasurer’s race, Mandel charged Boyce with cultivating a play-to-pay atmosphere. Mandel said Boyce had passed over qualified job candidates in favor of relatives, friends, and political cronies. He repeatedly promised to operate “differently (Dayton Daily News, Bischoff, 3/31/12).”

      Mandel hired young, relatively inexperienced staffers from his 2010 campaign and gave them high-ranking jobs in the treasurer’s office. Mandel selected six campaign workers whose average age was 26 and assigned them duties ranging from debt management and policy advising. Mandel picked Michael Lord (27), his former campaign manager as his senior policy advisor. Lord had been Mandel’s legislative aid and a paid political consultant. Working in the legislature, Lord earned $13.95 an hour. Now, Mandel pays him $100,000. Another Mandel appointee, then 26-year old Joe Aquilino, was Mandel’s political director during the 2010 race. He became director of debt management at a $90,000 salary. Aquilino, who became an attorney in 11/2011, now is political director for Mandel’s Senate run. In the treasurer’s office, Aquilino worked under General Counsel Seth Metcalf (33). Metcalf managed Mandel’s 1999 campaign for Ohio State student government president (Dayton Daily News, L. Bischoff, 3/31/12). Many of those with campaign ties were given sizeable raises to work in the treasurer’s office. Jacob Dummermuth, 22, who later left, worked as an intern in Mandel’s 2010 campaign. Mandel hired him in 5/2011 to research and write materials for financial education conferences. Dummermuth had not graduated college when he landed this job. Mandel’s office paid him $16.83 an hour plus benefits, a jump over the $7.50 he had made as a part-time cashier and stock boy at HoneyBakedHam (Dayton News, 3/31/12). Mandel’s inexperienced political cronies are getting “on the job training” in serious economic issues, a terrible way to “run a railroad/state treasury,” with the people’s money.

      The public doesn’t take kindly to officials with high absentee records out fundraising instead of governing. Senate candidate Mandel has been rightly hammered by Brown as an absentee treasurer too busy raising campaign cash to do the job Ohioans elected him to do (Dayton News, 3/31/12). In late 1/2012, the AP reported Mandel did not attend a single Board of Deposit meeting during his first year in office. During the 1/2012 meeting, Mandel was off fundraising for his Senate race in D.C. He was also not present at the 2/2012 meeting (AP, Cleveland Jewish News, Silberman, 2/28/12). In 3/2012, Mandel made headlines when he flew to the Bahamas to hold a fundraiser and speak to pay day lenders. Mandel’s office calendar for his first 12 months shows a light schedule with about two meetings a day, some of them by phone (Dayton News, 3/31/12). Mandel is not paying attention to monetary affairs in Ohio, but has raked in $5.8 million for his Senate race, looking out for “Number One” (OpenSecrets.org).

         While progressive Brown is a “straight shooter” who does not duck controversial issues, Mandel refuses to take a stand on matters that would hurt his public image. He refuses to say flat out whether Americans should be able to purchase birth control if they choose in their health plans. He states that the Catholic Church has the “right to follow its doctrine and teachings.” Translation, Mandel favors what GOP Ohio Senator Portman voted for and Brown against, the Blunt Amendment. That bill,  opposed by the public and defeated by the Dem. Senate 51-48, would have allowed employers or health insurance providers to deny coverage based on their religious beliefs (Columbus Examiner, 3/01/12, M. Ball, “The Atlantic,” 3/05/12). Mandel claimed to have “no idea” about the Sandra Fluke controversy, where Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” for advocating birth control. Mandel will not take a stand on the unpopular GOP “Kill Medicare,” Ryan budget (Cleveland Jewish News, 2/28/12, “The Atlantic”). Mandel refuses to say how he feels about the now popular and successful auto bail out that would also have helped Ohioans (“The Atlantic”). However, he spoke of his “dog eat dog” belief in the free enterprise system, where the strong survive and the weak go under (“The Atlantic”). Mandel is no friend of organized labor. He admitted he is for anti-union right-to-work laws. Mandel supported GOP Gov. Kasich’s bill to limit the collective bargaining rights of employers, which went down 2:1 in 11/2011 (Cleveland Jewish News, 3/01/2012). Mandel is against Obama’s health care reform calling it “similar” to European and Canadian ones. Mandel has also supported a very restrictive anti-abortion law in Ohio, one that would outlaw the procedure if a fetal heartbeat was detected (Ohio, 15th. Blogspot, 4/06/12, Cleveland Jewish News, 3/01/12 ). Mandel, IMHO, is a right wing GOP Tea Party zealot trying to hide most of his record so he can win a Senate seat.

       Mandel has started attacking Brown by repeating a set of outlandish serial lies. PolitiFact’s Ohio has evaluated 14 of Mandel’s statements since 2010 on its “Truth-O-Meter” scale. Six of these 14 have been deemed “Mostly False, False, or the most extreme “Pants on Fire.” In fact, Mandel received 3 of PolitiFact Ohio’s 7 most recent “Pants on Fire” awards for mixing audacity with absurdity. These ratings included accusing Sen. Brown, Mr. anti-outsourcer and prime free-trade champion, of relocating Ohio jobs to China. Mandel received “third degree leg burns” for saying Sen. Brown sided with “Washington bureaucrats and fringe extremists,” for opposing “fracking” or deep drilling for shale and gas in Ohio. Brown sided with a local forester and popular  mayors and commissioners to make sure that Ohio land was subject to further review for safety before fracking would be allowed. Mandel also had the nerve to say that Brown had “egged on” Occupy Wall Street protestors to spit on the police and relieve and defecate themselves on police cars. Brown was nowhere near those protestors and had only encouraged peaceful protestors by the 99 percent of Americans fighting for their fair share (See H. Gomez, Plain Dealer, 3/24/2012, politicfact.com/ohio, 11/14/11, 12/02/11, 3/01/12). Mandel has refused to back down from his charges and has attacked the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The Plain Dealer reporter charitably stated Mandel already had a “casual relationship with the truth” that has taken a turn toward “outright estrangement (H. Gomez, 3/24/12).”

      Although 34-year old Mandel sounds and looks like a fellow that many think is too young to vote or run for office, do not “misunderestimate” him. He is a non-stop campaigner who has won in Democratic/swing areas. When asked why he’s ready for the Senate, he replies, “the Constitution,” since that document allows a 30- year old to be a Senator (Ball, “The Atlantic”). He combines a cocky fraternity boy image with the belief  that “this is probably one of those instances when timing is picking you (to run) (Ball, “The Atlantic, Karfeld, Cleveland Jewish News, 3/01/12).”  He has huge conservative financial deep pockets. Already, Brown has faced at least $5.1 million in attack ads from groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS, and other outside GOP leaning groups. Despite this onslaught, Brown’s lead over Mandel has just dropped 2 points, from 13 to 11%.  Mandel is still in the 30% range (TPM survey 9/25/11-3/22/12, Kos 4/12/12). However, most people have not yet tuned in to the campaign. The race for president and senator will start to tighten as it always does in Ohio and in the rest of the nation (See CBS Times Poll, 4/18/12). Don’t count on Obama holding his 4/2010 TPM 8.1% Buckeye edge. If nominee Romney picks Ohio Sen. Bob Portman as his VP running mate, whom Tea Partiers like, the presidential and Brown-Mandel race could be a Buckeye nail-biter. Mandel will certainly try to make inroads into the Jewish community with the help of Romney’s and W’s former top voting microtargeters. In 2004, W was able to make a successful push for Cleveland’s GOP-leaning Orthodox Jews (10% of that city’s 81,500 Jews). W also microtargeted Republican- sympathetic Soviet Jewish immigrants that helped put him over in Ohio along with evangelical mega church supporters (“One Party Country,”Hamburger& Wallsten). Mandel will have a leg up in the Orthodox Jewish and evangelical communities. Mandel is also targeting other Jewish Americans by calling Brown hostile to Israel, another serial lie in his arsenal (Cleveland Jewish News,Silberman, 2/28/2012).

      Columbus Dispatch political editor Joe Hallett correctly called “the stakes really high” in the Brown-Mandel race. On 11/06/2012, Ohio Democrats must come out in droves and not repeat their poor “no-show” 2010 midterm performance. Progressive Sherrod Brown must defeat inexperienced, “truth challenged” reactionary Josh Mandel to keep control of the Senate. Ohio and the rest of the country cannot afford to go back to the failed policies Mandel, Romney, and their GOP allies want to reenact.

Iraq War Hero Tammy Duckworth—She’s Leading the Charge Against Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh   April 12, 2012

    Face the facts. In the 11/2010 midterm “shellacking,” the complete GOP House takeover of the formerly Democratic-trending Chicago suburbs was instrumental in John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) grabbing the  Speaker’s gavel from Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair (DCCC), New York Rep. Steve Israel, aptly stated, “The road to the majority goes through Illinois.” Democrats need 25 seats to take back the House from the GOP. The DCCC’s “Drive for 25” campaign to win the House has 5 Illinois congressional seats held by GOPers in its sights. The newly redrawn Illinois 8^th Congressional District (CD) is at the very top. In that CD, Democrat Tammy Duckworth will be leading the charge against freshman GOP Congressman Joe Walsh. Let’s zero in on the new 8^th CD, Duckworth and Walsh, and Duckworth’s chances.

       The present Illinois 8^th CD takes in communities north and northwest of Chicago. The district includes Schaumberg, the headquarters of Motorola. The fast-growing 8^th contains about half of both Lake and McHenry Counties. The area is upscale, with median family income of more than $100,000 in the southwest Lake villages of North Barrington and Kildeer. For more than half a century, the 8^th CD had sent GOPers to the House. However, the GOP lean has shifted, and the 8^th went for Obama by 13 points in 2008. The current 8^th CD has just a +1 R Cook Partisan Voting Index (Barone 10 &12 Political Almanacs, CQ12 Almanac).

       Parts of Cook, DuPage, and Kane Counties will be in the reconfigured Ill. 8^th, constitutionally required to be redrawn after the 2010 census. The new 8^th  will include Addison and Bloomingdale, as well as Elgin, Elk Grove Village, and Glendale Heights. The redone 8^th will also have Lombard, Roselle, Schaumberg, and Villa Park (elections.il.gov, Ill. Bd. of Elections).  Democrats lost 5 Illinois House seats in 2010, including 4 in the Chicago suburbs. However, they still won the governorship and the majority of both state Houses. This trifecta allowed Ill. Democrats to draw new “Blue”-leaning congressional and state district maps. Democrats hope to pick up 2-5 Illinois congressional seats that Obama would have won in 2008, including Walsh’s present 8^th CD. Illinois “favorite son” Pres. Obama will be running for a second term in 2012. According to a 1/2012 poll taken by PPP, Public Policy Polling, Cong. Walsh “trails a generic Democratic opponent 49%-35%, and may be the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the country (blogs.suntimes.com).” Analyst Edward McClelland believes that Walsh will be defeated in 2012 (nbcchicago.com, Ward Room, 3/23/12, see, Isenstadt, “Politico,”12/09/10).

          In 2010, Democratic Congresswoman Melissa Bean, a fiscal conservative /social moderate and close Obama friend, was running for a fourth term. She supported Obama’s 2009 stimulus and voted for his health care reform bill, which made her a prime GOP/Tea Party target. Pundits believed she would win. She had a huge financial war chest, nearly $2 million to Walsh’s $500,000 (Chicago Tribune, Hinkel & Skiba, 11/16/10, NY Times). It was felt that the GOP would need a “topflight” challenger to unseat Bean, not Walsh. Walsh had won a divisive six-way GOP primary. He called himself a “Tea party conservative first and a Republican second (“Who Runs Goverenment.”).” Many GOPers deemed Walsh “too extreme” for his district (Warren, NY Times, 12/15/10). During this race, it was reported that Walsh had gone into foreclosure on his Evanston condo and that he faced 1990’s unpaid state and federal taxes. His campaign appeared to implode when top staffers resigned and a former campaign manager sued him for unpaid compensation (“Who Runs Govt.”). However, because of the 2010 GOP wave, lower Democratic turnout, Tea Party support, and 3% of  won by a Green Party candidate, Walsh pulled off a 290 vote upset (Chicago Tribune, 11/16/10).

       Walsh is no fan of bipartisan compromise. He ran a campaign on anger, and has no intention of changing his style. He told NY Times reporter James Warren, “now is not the time to get things done.” Walsh is a member of Cong. Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party Caucus (CQ12 Almanac). Any past antagonisms between “grass roots” Walsh and the GOP establishment have disappeared. The GOP leadership has given him key committee assignments, Small Business, Homeland Security, and Oversight and Reform, Cong. Darrell Issa’s “harass Obama” outfit. Walsh is a GOP media fixture, and pops up anywhere a microphone is handy (Wash. Post, “The Fix,” 7/28/11). And Walsh has no respect for President Obama. He was the first GOPer to announce he would boycott Obama’s 9/08/2011 key jobs speech given before a joint congressional session. Walsh stated that his appearance would make him “a ‘prop’ for another of the president’s speeches.” On 8/31/2011, he called Obama “idiotic” before a group of voters (Huffington Post, Northwest Herald).

     GOP hypocrite Walsh campaigned against “politics as usual” and as a friend of the middle class. He went on to hire as his chief-of-staff a financial services lobbyist. Walsh welcomed contributions from Wall Street’s JP Morgan to help pay off his debt. Walsh famously said government “takes care of too many in the middle class (Warren, NY Times, 12/25/10).”  Walsh is just another GOP 1% super rich supporter.  

      Walsh “only” votes with his right wing party 85% of the time, because its stances, especially on budget cutting, are not radical enough. Most GOPers voted for raising the debt ceiling, after nearly throwing the U.S. and world economic markets into chaos. Walsh, however, was a “Nay”, because the debt deal “doesn’t matter,” and Obama was acting like a “spoiled child” in the negotiations (Weiner, “The Fix,” Wash. Post, 7/28/11). Walsh voted for the House GOP’s radical “Kill Medicare” Ryan budget plan twice and has compared Social Security to a “Ponzi scheme (Chicago Tribune, 2/02/12 , clerk.housegov).” Walsh wants to repeal Obama’s health care law because it isn’t sufficiently “free-market oriented.” Walsh is so ideological on health care reform that he turned down his government health care package. His present wife, Helene, has a pre-existing medical condition, and is not happy that she has to find another plan. Millions of other Americans will be similarly unhappy, should Congress or the Supreme Court overturn this law (“Who Runs Gov.” NY Times, Warren, 12/25/10).

     Catholic Walsh had the nerve/ “chutzpah” to say the Jewish community should be more pro-Israel. He accused U.S. Jews of siding with the Palestinians because “most American Jews are liberal (“The Hill,” Fabian , 5/26/11).”  Huh? Despite GOP talk, most Jewish organizations, including the ADL and AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, stated that Obama’s views would not push Israel back to its indefensible pre-1967 borders. Walsh’s comments about Jewish voters and their views constitute the worst kind of stereotyping and pandering.

     Walsh is another GOP “family values” hypocrite. On 7/28/2011, the Chicago Sun Times reported that his ex-wife Laura was suing him for $117, 437 in child support, dating from 2005, for three of his children. Walsh allegedly told her he didn’t have the money because he was out of work. However, he reportedly loaned $35,000 to his campaign and allegedly enjoyed foreign vacations in earlier years (Pallasch, 7/27/11, Epstein, “Politico,” 7/28/11). Walsh, who voted against the debt ceiling because he “would not place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids,” won’t even help his own children. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’ Donnell banned Walsh from ever appearing on his show to teach “deadbeat dad Joe Walsh a lesson about family values (rawstory.com, D. Edwards, 7/29/11).” Walsh refused to show up in court during a 9/2011 child support hearing because his attorney stated he was a “U.S. Congressman.” Judge Vega rightfully called Walsh “no different than anyone else.” He issued a preliminary ruling against Walsh ordering him to explain why he was $100,000 behind in support payments. In 11/2011, while meeting with constituents, Walsh was videotaped being aggressive and swearing (Pallasch, Chicago Sun Times, 9/14/11, CBS News). You get the idea.

        Walsh will now face his strongest political challenge. He is running against progressive war hero Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth was born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1968. Her late father was a former longtime member of the U.S. military, whose roots went back to the Revolutionary War. Her mother is a Thai native of Chinese ancestry. At the time of her birth, her family was living in Southeast Asia because of her father’s UN refugee work (P. O’ Connor, St. Louis Post Dispatch, 6/27/05, L. Michel, Buffalo News, 11/30/08, P. Slevin, Wash. Post, 2/18/06). Duckworth received her BA in political science from the Univ. of Hawaii and a Master’s degree in international affairs from GW, George Washington University (Honolulu Advertiser, 1/08/06).  

        Following her father’s as well as his ancestors’ military achievements, Duckworth joined the GW Army Reserve ROTC in 1990, and became a commissioned officer in 1992. She chose to fly helicopters, because it was one of the few combat jobs open to women. She joined the Ill. Army National Guard in 1996 (B. Haskall, 1/06/05, “Defend America,” Dept. of Defense). She was also a supervisor at Rotary headquarters in Evanston, Ill. In 2004, while working on her political science doctorate at Northern Illinois University, she was deployed to Iraq. On 11/12/2004, Duckworth was co-piloting a UH-60 Black Hawk when it was hit by rocket propelled grenades. Duckworth lost the lower part of both legs and her right arm was almost completely destroyed. While recuperating at D.C.’s Walter Reed  Army Medical Center, she was awarded the Purple Heart, promoted to Major, and presented with the Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal (“Stars and Stripes,”6/14/05, D. Camire, 3/18/05). Using prosthetics, Duckworth became fully mobile. Duckworth participated in fundraising to build a rehabilitation center for other injured veterans. Former Sen. and GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, a seriously wounded WWII veteran, dedicated his biography, “One Soldier’s Story,” in part to Duckworth (Chicago Sun Times, 8/20/06, M. Sneed). Duckworth’s husband, Bryan Bowlsbey, is a Major in the Ill. National Guard who also served in Iraq (Chicago Sun Times, 2/14/07).

       Although Sen. Dole later backed her first GOP opponent, Duckworth credits Dole for inspiring her to go into public service. While recovering at Walter Reed, Duckworth decided to enter politics to do more with her life that she had almost lost (J. Biemer, 9/29/06, Chicago Tribune). In the 2006, Duckworth ran against GOP state Senator Peter Roskam in the Illinois 6^th to replace outgoing GOP stalwart Rep. Henry Hyde. Duckworth was personally recruited by then DCCC head Rahm Emanuel, later Obama’s chief-of-staff and now Chicago’s mayor. The Duckworth-Roskam race was seen as a referendum on W’s Iraq War. Duckworth opposed that conflict, arguing that we should have pursued Bin Laden. Duckworth, however, stated she was still proud to have served and would have “gone again to do her duty.” Roskam won by just 2 points, 51%-49% (Barone 12 Almanac).

        After her loss, Duckworth was appointed in 11/2006 Director of the Ill. Dept. of Veterans’ Affairs where she served until 2/2009. In this office, Duckworth developed state programs to give tax credits to veterans who served in Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan. She helped veterans with disabilities (Chicago Sun Times). After Obama’s presidential victory, he appointed Duckworth Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs. Duckworth served in this post until resigning on 6/30/2011 to run in the 8^th CD Democratic primary (Wash. Post, Chicago Sun Times, ABC-7 Chicago, U.S. Dept. Vet. Affairs, 2/03/09). On 3/20/2012, she won this contest and will face Walsh in the 11/06/2012 general election (suntimes.com).

         Duckworth is pro-choice and pro-health care reform. Walsh is against abortion in “all cases.” He also is against birth control coverage in Obama’s health care reform bill. He erroneously testified before an all-male congressional panel that this issue was “not about women,” but, rather, an attack “on religious freedom (Huffington Post, Sabella, 2/21/12, “Who Runs Gov.,” NY Times, Warren, 12/25/10).” Duckworth is strong on education and veterans’ issues. After her primary victory, Duckworth joined two other Democratic  winners from the Chicago suburbs, Bill Foster and Brad Schneider, to denounce the GOP Ryan “end Medicare as we know it” budget (Pallasch, burridge.suntimes.com, 3/22/12).  Cong. Walsh stated he gave Ryan “a lot of credit and courage for talking about Medicare.” Walsh only “wished that Ryan could do better,” by balancing his budget faster (Pallasch, 3/22/12).

        Tea Party rookie Walsh, who never served in the military, even belittled Duckworth’s sacrifices and experience. When presented in a recent interview with Duckworth’s powerful biography, Walsh stated, “I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country.” Walsh then lowered his voice and leaned forward for dramatic effect and declared, “Ehhh. Now let’s move on. What else has she done? Female, wounded veteran…ehhh, she is nothing more than a handpicked Washington bureaucrat… for this district (“Politico,” D. Catanese Blog, 3/30/12).” After an outcry, Walsh tried to “clarify/take back his remarks,” but still continued to call well-experienced Duckworth an “insider’s” hack (Catanese, “Politico”).

       Again, even though most pundits give Duckworth an edge in the new Ill. 8^th CD, elections are played out at the ballot box, not by armchair analysts. And in this case, the only poll that counts will be taken on 11/06/2012, Election Day. Democrats must come out in droves and vote to re-elect President Obama, take back the House, and keep the Senate “Blue” on 11/06/2012. In 11/2010, Democrats stayed home. Tea Party zealots Joe Walsh and Company were, therefore, able to take over the reins of House government and get close to capturing the Senate. Walsh has said he doesn’t care if his dogmatism imperils his political self-preservation. In Walsh’s words, he went to D.C. “absolutely prepared to lose in two years.” Let’s take Tea Party/GOP prop Walsh at his word and elect Tammy Duckworth along with her fellow Democrats.    

Ron Barber—The Best Person to Fill Gabby Giffords’ “Big Shoes”  February 16, 2012

     Repeat after me—25, 25, 25. Twenty-five is the number of House GOP seats Democrats must flip in 11/2012. A 25 GOP-Democratic turnover will give Nancy Pelosi back the Speaker’s gavel, ending the radical GOP agenda of attacking Medicare, slashing middle class benefits, and going after Planned Parenthood. Just 15 months after the 11/2010 midterm GOP House shellacking, Democrats are optimistic about their chances. The economy has started to improve, with 23 consecutive months of job creation, and the unemployment rate has gone down in 6 months from 9.1 % - 8.3%. Voters have “buyers’ remorse” over the extremist GOP-Tea Party House they voted for in 2010. Approval of Congress, especially the GOP obstructionist House, is in the sub-basement. The GOP “clown car” of presidential nominees has helped Obama “big time.” President Obama’s Gallup Poll approval rating has gone up to 49%, and he leads Mitt “severely conservative” Romney among registered voters 51%-45%. In the Pew Poll, Obama has an eight point edge over Romney, 52%-44% (ABC News/Washington Post Poll, 2/01-2/04/12, Walsh, CNNPolitics, 1/29/12, “The Hill,” Bolton, 2/10/12, CNN Wire Staff, 2/10/12, Lauter, LA Times, 2/13/12). A president running with good ratings often helps carry the rest of the ticket, the “coattails effect (See, Bolton, “The Hill,” 2/10/12).” Democrats have some opportunities to pick up seats in Calif., NY, Ill., Fla., and Texas (Sacramento Bee, Capitol Alert, 2/10/2012).  

       We are still 10 plus lifetimes away from 11/2012, and the economic recovery can be derailed by events in Europe and elsewhere. Re-districting also helps GOPers in many areas (Walsh, CNNPolitics, 1/29/12). In order to reach the “magic 25,” Democrats must also keep in their column open seats where their incumbent will not be running. One of those seats will be in Arizona, where 8^th Congressional District Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords resigned on 1/25/2012. Giffords, a third-term Democrat, is still recovering from a bullet wound to the head that she received in the 1/08/2011 Tucson shooting. That tragedy killed six people and wounded thirteen. On 2/09/2012, a top aide to Cong. Giffords, Ron Barber, announced he would seek her seat in a special election to fill out the remaining months of her third term. He “looked forward to continuing her legacy of putting problem-solving before politics.”  He also left the door open to running in November, 2012 for a full term on his own (cbsnews.com, 2/10/12, Celock, Huffington Post, 2/11/12, M.J. Lee, “Politico,” 2/09/12). Let’s take a close look at Mr. Barber, the current and future make-up of this district, and his chances.

     Ron Barber (66) served as Cong. Giffords’ district director from her first year in office, 2007, until her 2012 retirement. British-born Barber moved to Tucson in 1959 and is a U.S. citizen. His wife, Nancy, is a native Tucsonan and his two adult daughters and four grandchildren live there. Before working for Giffords, Barber and his wife owned and ran a small business for 22 years. Barber also headed the Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities. He built  that agency into one of  one of the nation’s top five programs that helped people with disabilities get jobs and successfully live in their communities (Reuters, YAHOO, D. Schwartz, 2/10/12, Tucson Weekly, J. Nintzel, 2/09/12, Kos, Dave in Az. 2/10/12). Barber was hit in the face and thigh during the same 1/08/11 shooting in which Rep. Giffords was shot. He is still recuperating from his wounds. Barber needs a cane and brace to walk, but was able to return to work in Giffords’ office. After the shooting, Barber and his family started the Fund for Civility, Respect and Understanding. This organization helps the community heal by supporting the shooting’s  survivors, aiding first responders, reducing bullying in schools, and increasing awareness of mental health symptoms (Nintzel, Tucson Weekly, 2/09/12, YAHOO, Reuters, Schwartz, 2/10/12, NY Times, The Caucus, J. Weisman, 2/09/12, LA Times, 1/08/12, A. Powers).

        GOP Ariz. Governor Jan Brewer has set the primary for 4/17/2012 and the special election date for 6/12/2012. The winner will serve out the remaining months of Giffords’ term in the current 8^th District which will end on 12/31/2012. Barber decided to run in this special election after he consulted with his family and doctors. He feels confident he is up to the challenge. He told a reporter his “health is great,” and “it has gotten better by the minute, by the day (“Politico,” MJ Lee, 2/09/12).”  Before entering this race, he asked for the endorsement of Ms. Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. He also wanted the primary field to be cleared of other Democrats. State Rep. Matt Heinz, Barber’s sole opponent in the Democratic 4/17/2012 primary, dropped out of the 8^th district contest, allowing Barber to concentrate on winning the 6/2012 general election. Giffords and Kelly gave Barber their solid backing. Barber told reporters that Giffords had looked at him directly and said, “Ron, will you run.” He added that Gabby and Mark “would do everything they can to help me (Celock, Huffington Post, 2/11/12).” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) head NY Rep. Steve Israel, who pushed Barber to run, was delighted (J. Weisman, NY Times, The Caucus, 2/09/12, dccc.org., 2/09/12).

     In their 2/09/12 email to political supporters, Giffords and Kelly indicated their strong support for Barber. They set a goal of getting 1,000 donors before 2/13/2012 to help Barber’s campaign effort. The email spoke of how Barber would continue Gabby’s work of “putting politics aside and bringing people together.” Barber indicated that he planned to discuss with Giffords how to legally transfer her war chest of more than $1 million (Huffington Post, Celock).

       With his immigrant past, small business background, deep Tucson connections, and legislative experience, Barber does not require a political “crash course.” Barber, like Giffords, believes that “our community needs someone who will put politics aside and solve problems for the people of Southern Arizona.” Barber emphasized that his “commitment is to be honest with the people of this district and help restore civility to our public life. My first priority won’t be the next election—but the next generation.” Barber is determined to balance the budget “the right way, by protecting Social Security and Medicare, creating jobs, and securing our border.” He wants to work on military issues and help veterans secure jobs, all matters that were also at the top of Giffords’ agenda. Giffords worked with GOPers as well as Democrats and always stressed civility. She had high ratings from labor, progressive groups, and the conservative Chamber of Commerce. Barber will follow that path. Barber has already received the backing of Tucson GOP City Councilman Steve Kozachick who is on his special election steering committee (Az. Daily Star, McCombs & Pallack, 2/11/12, Celock, Huffington Post, 2/11/12, Nintzel, Tucson Weekly, 2/09/12, CQ 12 Almanac, Barone 12 Almanac). Barber has also become friends with Republican Anna Ballis, the stranger who initially saved his life by pressing on his heavily bleeding groin wound before medical aid arrived (See LA Times, A. Powers, 1/08/12).

      Although Barber will have Giffords’ help, the 6/2012 special election is no Democratic “slam dunk.” The current 8^th  Congressional District (C.D.) has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+4. In 2004, it went for W by 7 points and for Arizonan McCain by 6 in 2008. The 8^th has the Wild West town of Tombstone, site of the Wyatt Earp-Clanton gang 1881 O.K. Corral shootout. The 8^th contains all of Tucson, except for the Latino west and south sides. The 8^th also takes in all of conservative Cochise County. Most of the 8^th’s residents live in the eastern half of Pima County in the Tucson area. The 8^th has two vital military bases, the Army’s Ft. Huachuca, where military interrogators are trained and the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Raytheon Missile Systems is a major employer (Barone 12, CQ12). In the GOP wave year 2010, moderate Giffords eked out a 1.5% win against GOP Tea Party opponent Jesse Kelly (48.8%-47.3%). Many constituents disliked Giffords’ vote for health care reform. They additionally resented her for opposing Arizona’s draconian anti-immigration law even though she favored strong border enforcement (Barone 12, CQ12).  

       The 4/17/2012 GOP primary will be a right wing free for all. Anti-Social Security and “Kill Medicare” Tea Party fanatic Jesse Kelly wants a second crack at the 8^th. State Senator Frank Antenori, a firebrand conservative, has jumped into the race. Other GOP candidates include former Air Force pilot, Martha McSally, Ft. Huachua instructor John Lervold, and U. of Ariz. broadcaster Dave Sitton  (Ariz. Daily Star, 8/03/10,Tucson Weekly, 12/02/09, Kos, Dave in Az., 2/10/12, “Politico,” MJ Lee, 2/09/12, YAHOO, Reuters, Schwartz, 2/10/12).

      Should Barber win the 6/2012 special election and run for a full term in 11/2012, he will face a newly redistricted area. In the Nov. election, the current 8^th C.D. will become the 2^nd C.D. Many of the present 8^th C.D. residents will be part of the newly reconfigured 2^nd. The new 2^nd C.D. will be more Democratic than the present 8^th (NY Times, Weisman, “The Caucus,” 2/09/12, A. Kelly, Az. Public Media, 2/09/12). Again, this redistricted 2^nd is not a Democratic “cakewalk.” Although the Phoenix Business Journal gives the new 2^nd a “Leans Democratic” tag, the 2012 C.D. 2^nd has an even D and R split with Independents holding the balance of power (ballotnews.org, 11/20/11, Kos, Dave in AZ., 2/01/12). Independents are up for grabs. Barber will have to wage a strong campaign to win the special election.

         Barber only announced he would run in the special election to fill the rest of Giffords’ third term. He stated that his current focus is on organizing his special election campaign, and has not made a final decision beyond that. “It is hard for me to think two elections down the road. It would be a little presumptuous of me to think about a second election when I haven’t gotten on the ballot or won the election in June.” He added he was “not trying to be coy or cute about it.” Barber has till 7/30/2012 to file for the 8/28/2012 primary for the new 2^nd C.D. He has, however, not closed the door to running in 11/2012. Barber said that if he ran in the fall election, he would give other Democrats considering a run in the new 2^nd for a full term plenty of notice. One of those running in the 2^nd is Matt Heinz. Heinz, remember, was the fellow who dropped out of the 8^th special election race when Barber decided to run. Heinz stated he would seek election in the new 2^nd C.D. if Barber runs solely for the rest of Gifford’s term in the present 8^th. (NY Times, 2/09/12, “The Caucus,” A. Kelly, Az. Republic, 2/09/12, Celock, Huffington Post, 2/11/12, Kos, Dave in AZ, 2/10/12).

       Special elections are not just for bragging rights. They are often bell weathers of electoral trends. More importantly, the winner gets a leg up as the virtual incumbent in any future run, especially when filling an open seat. Because of these factors, the GOP will work hard to capture the current 8^th C.D.  Democrats, with Barber as their standard bearer, must exceed GOP intensity with even higher turnout. A strong special election victory for Barber will certainly encourage this Giffords pragmatist to run for a full term in 11/2012 in this ultra-swing district. In deciding to run for the remainder of Giffords’ term in the 4/17/2012 special election, Barber stated what all of us know, “there will never be anyone who can fill Congresswoman Giffords’ shoes (cbsnews.com, 2/10/12).” However, if anyone can come close to filling Gabby’s “big shoes,” it is Ron Barber.                       

GOP Senator Marco Rubio—Not Ready for Prime Time On the National Stage  February 3, 2012

      South Carolina is “history.” The Palmetto State lost its position as the “decider” in picking the GOP presidential nominee. Mitt Romney is basking in the rays radiating from his Sunshine State’s GOP primary win. In the 1/31/2012 Florida contest, Romney clobbered Newt Gingrich with a 14.5% margin, 46.4%-31.9% (NY Times, 1/31/12). Only ten days after his South Carolina stinging defeat and in the first primary limited to registered GOPers, Romney showed across the board strength. He won with a broad coalition of the GOP electorate in a state containing different income, ethnic, and religious groups. Romney took the majority of GOP women, Hispanics, moderates, Catholics, and affluent voters. White evangelical Christians, a smaller group in Fla. than in S. Carolina, split their ballots between Gingrich and Romney, as did anti-government Tea Party supporters. With Mitt making inroads into Gingrich’s evangelical and Tea Party base, Newt could not possibly take Fla. (NY Times, M. Connelly, 1/31/12).

       Electability, which candidate is most likely to win in 11/2012, was the most important question for 45% of Fla. GOP voters. Nearly 60% of these chose Romney as more electable than Gingrich (1/31/12, NY Times, Connelly). Gingrich defiantly stated he would continue on “to contest every place, and we will win (NY Times, 1/31/12, Seeyle, Gabriel).” In order for Newt to believe this, he must presently be standing on the “moon colony” he advocated. On 1/31/2012, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio told CNN, “I think the winner of Florida is in all likelihood going to be the nominee of our party. Florida is a mini America.” Many GOP insiders are salivating to have Romney make Rubio his VP running mate. Let’s look at Rubio’s background, political record, and what he might do for the GOP ticket.

       Freshman Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio (40) is the second youngest U.S. Senator and the only Hispanic Republican in that chamber. Rubio was born in Miami, Fla. to parents who came from Cuba. Rubio  received his undergraduate and law degrees from the Univ. of Miami. In 1996, during his final year of law school, Rubio ran the Dade County operation for GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole. Rubio then met future Fla. GOP Gov. Jeb Bush who became his mentor (CQ 12 Almanac, Barone 12 Almanac).

         In 1998, Rubio ran for city commissioner in heavily Cuban American West Miami and defeated the incumbent. In 2000, Rubio won a seat in the Fla. House, where he served from 2006-2008. He was majority leader in 2003 and speaker in 2006. Rubio became a favorite of GOP leaders because he worked tirelessly on redistricting plans which ended up lopsidedly favoring the GOP (Barone 12, CQ 12). Rubio went around Fla. holding “idea raisers” with voters, to find budget-neutral plans to improve the state. He put the 100 best ideas into a book that Gingrich called a “work of genius.” Rubio’s personal favorite, replacing the state property tax with the sales tax, a regressive levy on the middle class, stalled in the legislature (See Barone12).

        In 2009, Rubio announced he would run in the 2010 U.S. Senate race. No one gave him a chance. GOP Gov. moderate Charlie Crist had the backing of the establishment and high poll ratings. However, the fledgling Tea Party movement and the right wing Club for Growth endorsed Rubio. The conservative National Review wrote a glowing article about him in 8/2009 and Jeb Bush praised Rubio. The GOP base resented Crist’s lack of devotion to core Republican “principles.” Rubio went after Crist for sharing a stage with Obama, hugging him, and for backing the President’s stimulus bill. Within months, Rubio took the GOP primary lead and Crist left that party to run as an Independent who would caucus with the Democrats. In the general election, Rubio faced a three-way contest against Crist and African American Democrat Kendrick Meek. Meek refused to get out of the race, despite pleas from the White House and other Democrats. A polished speaker, Rubio avoided extreme Tea Party rhetoric and called himself a “mainstream conservative” out to “reclaim America.” He supported Arizona’s draconian immigration law. Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Dick Cheney endorsed Rubio. In the end, Rubio received 48.9% of the vote to Crist’s 29.7% and Meek’s 20.2% (CQ 12, Barone 12, CQ New Member Guide to 112^th Congress). Political analysts viewed Rubio’s triumph in swing state Fla. as a successful test of the Tea Party’s strength. Rubio has been dubbed the “crown prince” of the Tea Party movement (Barone 12, CQ12, “The Telegraph,”11/03/10, National Journal, 10/13/11).

        In the Senate, Rubio hired Cesar Conda, a former lobbyist and top domestic policy adviser to ex- VP Cheney, as his chief-of-staff (Hayes, Weekly Standard, 1/28/11). Rubio sits on the key Sen. Foreign Relations and Select Intelligence Committees. He is also a member of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees. On Foreign Relations, Rubio is a strong foe of Castro’s dictatorship, which plays well in Fla.’s big Cuban American community. He  wrongly questions Obama’s commitment to Israel, in order to peel away Jewish American votes from Democrats, another major Fla. ethnic group (CQ 12). Despite the opposition of most Floridians, Rubio favors offshore oil and gas drilling. In 2010, right wing oil Koch Industries gave Rubio $26,400 (CQ12, OpenSecrets.org). Rubio campaigned on and voted to repeal Obama’s health insurance reform bill, a Tea Party/GOP obsession. The health care repeal bill failed in the Democratic Senate. Rubio wants to crack down on federal spending, including “overhauling entitlements,” read, gutting Social Security. He originally backed allowing younger people to put Social Security taxes into accounts that they could manage, but later flipped on that position in senior heavy Fla. He still favors raising cost-of-living increases and the eligibility age for Social Security recipients (CQ New Members Guide, Barone 12, CQ 12). Rubio backs a balanced budget amendment. He voted against raising the final debt ceiling bill. Had his vote been in the majority, the U.S. would have defaulted on its debts and have taken the world along with it into an economic tailspin. Rubio voted “aye” for the House GOP “kill Medicare” Ryan budget bill which died in the Senate. In addition to being a strong economic conservative, Rubio is a social one. He is against abortion and stated he would have voted against Supreme Court nominee, now Justice Elena Kagan (Wash. Post, U.S. Cong. Votes Database, CQ12, CQ New Member Guide).

       Since his election, Rubio is seen by many as a telegenic rising GOP star. GOP leadership believe that Rubio could be a good national party spokesman and help Republicans reach out to Hispanics and young voters (CQ New Member Guide). With political ties to both Romney and Gingrich, he did not endorse anyone in the Fla. primary (L. King, USA Today, 1/28/12). Many GOPers and pundits have talked about him as a future presidential and vice-presidential candidate. Rubio has dismissed such talk as “premature.” Shortly after taking office, Rubio stated that he has “no interest in running for president or vice president in 2012 (CQ12, Rahn, “The Daily Caller,” 1/10/11, partyhardpolitics.com, archives/2721).” However, the calls for a Romney-Rubio ticket are presently at 106 degree fever pitch. IMHO, Rubio will be unable to turn down a Romney offer. According to many GOPers, Rubio could bring out the Cuban and non-Cuban Hispanic American vote in Fla. Cuban-Americans are normally a strong GOP group. However, in 2008, Obama cut into the Cuban American vote and won the total Fla. Hispanic vote 57%-42% (“How Obama Won,” Todd, Gawiser).  Romney needs big Cuban American turnout to carry Fla. with its 27 electoral votes, and hopes that non-Cuban Hispanics will also show up big for Rubio in Fla. In 2010, Rubio won 55% of the white and Latino vote, making him a proven vote-getter (Barone 12).

      There are, however, some very serious problems with a Romney- Rubio combo. When Rubio ran in 2010, Democrats were fractured between Crist and Meek and had lackluster turnout. With Obama running for re-election in 2012 and concentrating hard on taking Fla., more Democrats should show up. In 2010, Rubio was just making campaign promises. Now, he has an extremist “paper trail.” His record on oil drilling, abortion, Social Security, health care, and the budget are way out of the Fla. mainstream.

      Rubio has some huge skeletons “inside, frankly, way outside his political closet.” This Tea Party fiscal “hawk,” who claims he is a federal spending watchdog, can’t keep his own finances and literally his own “house in order.” Rubio owes far more on his $384,000 Miami home than it is worth. He bought the house in 2005 for $550,000 with a $495,000 mortgage. He soon had it appraised for $735,000 and took out a home equity line of credit for $135,000. In 2008, despite earning a declared $400,000, Rubio failed to pay down the principal of his home for several months, according to Fla. campaign finance disclosures. During that time, Rubio did not pay down the balance of a $100,000 plus student loan from his Univ. of Miami days (Huffington Post, D. Adams, 1/26/12). Before joining the U.S. Senate in 2011, Rubio’s name surfaced in an IRS investigation of the Fla. GOP’s use of party-issued credit cards. Rubio frequently used his party credit card for personal use, and later reimbursed the card company for $16,000 (Huffington Post, Adams). Fla. Democrat Brannon Jordan aptly called Rubio a hypocrite, who “says one thing (about federal spending), but is doing another, with his personal spending out of control.”

        And Rubio hangs around with some shady pals. In 2010, Rubio successfully campaigned for controversial GOP Cong. David Rivera. Rivera had been accused of domestic violence. In a 2002 state political race, Rivera was accused of driving a truck off the road because it was carrying anti-Rivera flyers by his opponent (Miami Herald, 8/19/10, CBS I-Team, 8/17/10). Rivera is one of Rubio’s closest buddies. The two of them co-owned a Tallahassee house that was subject to foreclosure proceedings, after missing five months of mortgage payments to the tune of $138,394 (Miami Herald, Reinhard, 10/21/10, Miami.cbslocal.com/iteam). Cong. Rivera is also under state investigation for campaign finance irregularities when he previously served in the Fla. legislature (Miami Herald, 12/16/10, I-Team 1/19/11).

       Much of Rubio’s appeal rests on the fact that he constantly touts the compelling story of being the U.S. son of Cuban born immigrants who fled Fidel Castro. Rubio’s official biography even called his parents refugees from Castro. However, the record shows that Rubio’s parents came to the U.S. for economic reasons more than two-and-a-half years before Castro took power on New Year’s Day, 1959 (Wash. Post, Rog-Franzia, 1/20/2011). If a Cuban American Democrat had similarly embellished his record, he would have been shredded as a “serial liar.” However, IOKIYAR. “It’s Okay if You’re a Republican.”  

         Rubio’s general popularity in Fla. is not that strong and is in fact declining. In 10/11, he had an anemic 44% positive v. 39% negative rating. In 12/11, opinion was evenly divided, 40%-40%. In 10/11, 36% stated Rubio’s being on the ticket would make them less likely to vote GOP. Thirty percent (30%) then believed Rubio in the VP slot was an asset. In 12/11, only 24% of Floridians stated they’d be more likely to vote for a GOP ticket with Rubio. This poll now found 41% of Floridians calling a Rubio VP selection a negative factor. Key independent voters were similarly 22% positive v. 38% negative on a Rubio pick. (PPP/ Public Policy Polling, Kos, 12/14/11, Tampa Bay Times, 10/05/11). Of Fla.’s 1, 473, 920 registered Hispanic voters (13% of the state), 564, 513 are Democrats to 452, 619 Republicans. The number of Fla. Hispanic voters with no affiliation is 431, 131, and up for grabs. In 2012, Obama will probably not get most of the Hispanic GOPers. Many in Obama’s Democratic base of Hispanic voters, which outnumber GOP Hispanics by more than 100,000, are of Puerto Rican descent. A lot of this group lives in the key Interstate 4 corridor in the Orlando area that often decides elections (CNN Election Center, Lopez, 2/01/12). Puerto Ricans have always been American citizens. Rubio has gone out of his way to say he would have voted against Puerto Rican American nominee, now Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He  blocked the confirmation of Puerto Rican American, Marie Carmen Aponte as Obama’s ambassador to El Salvador. In addition to favoring the harsh anti-immigration Ariz. law, Rubio is against the DREAM Act, which would provide citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. His attempt to repeal health care also hurts him among low-income Hispanics in both Fla. and the rest of the nation (D. Adams, 1/26/12, Huff. Post). About 72% of  Hispanics throughout the country, mainly Mexican and Puerto Rican Americans, believe the GOP is either “hostile” or “doesn’t care” about their community ( 2011 Latino Decision tracking poll, Adams, Huff. Post).

        In 2008, Obama won Fla. by a 3% margin (51%-48%, Lopez, CNN). Taking this state in 2012, still in the economic doldrums, will be a tough fight for Obama. Fla. Democrats must come out in droves. However, a Romney- Rubio ticket is not the GOP’s “magic bullet” for either Fla. or the nation. Rubio is not ready for national prime time. Should Romney give Rubio the nod, he must be strongly opposed.     

  Mitt “1%” Romney—A Great Match for His Out- of- Touch GOP—January 12, 2012

       Barring a cosmic turn of political events, former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney will quickly put away his GOP’s presidential primary opponents. After winning both the 1/03/12 Iowa caucuses and the 1/10/2012 New Hampshire primary, Romney has an excellent chance to triumph in the key 1/21/2012 South Carolina Republican primary. Since 1980, S. Carolina’s contest has been the GOP “decider” (CNN Wire Staff, 1/11/12). In the Palmetto State, The GOP economic and religious conservative base will be splintered among several candidates, including Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Ron Paul. So far, the attacks on Romney by fellow GOP candidates have been infrequent and have been clumsily executed. Romney has a strong financial base and a broad set of backers including Sen. John McCain, South Carolina’s Gov. Nikky Haley, and N. Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie (Epstein, “Politico”,  Shear, NY Times, “The Caucus,” 1/10/12, Daily Kos, Kos, 1/09/12 ). Even before the New Hampshire thumping of his rivals, Romney was leading in a 1/04-05/12 CNN-Time Poll of South Carolina primary voters (37% v. 19% Santorum and 18% Gingrich). Romney is the first non-incumbent Republican to win Iowa and New Hampshire. These victories will help trigger a bandwagon effect that will push him over the top. The Obama reelection campaign and fellow Democrats rightly gambled from the “get go” that Romney would be the GOP standard bearer, and have focused on him with laser plus intensity (NY Times, M. Shear, 12/30/2011). Mitt “1%” superrich Romney has a record that makes him the perfect nominee for his out-of-touch Wall Street-oriented party. Romney is also one out –of- touch clueless fellow when dealing with ordinary Americans not in his income bracket.

        The GOP’s winning strategy in most elections is to try to hide from the 99% the stands it takes for its true 1% top economic base. GOP candidates attempt to present themselves as flannel-dressed “average Joes,” while attacking Democrats as “elitists” who look down at “regular” Americans (See T. Frank, “What’s The Matter With Kansas?”) Many GOP candidates are quite good at this fakery. Look at successful 2010 truck-driving, Fenway Park fan Mass. Sen. Scott Brown, one of Wall Street’s biggest champs. However, Mitt Romney can’t play the “I’m just one of you” role well. The Wall Street Journal, no liberal paper, noted that Romney’s political career “has been marked by struggles to connect with ordinary Americans (WSJ, 6/16/11).”

    Even before he made his humungous Bain Capital fortune, Mitt was no up from the bootstraps guy.  He was “to the economic and political manor” born. Mitt is the son of American Motors chief executive George Romney. George Romney went on to become Gov. of Michigan and run unsuccessfully for President in 1968. Son Mitt has a summer home in New Hampshire and a mansion that he has expanded in La Jolla, California. In 2009, during a time of severe unemployment, “average Joe/ Mitt” put up for sale a palatial ski chalet in Deer Valley, Utah (Press release, Americans United For Change, WSJ, 6/16/11). On 6/16/2011, Romney infamously remarked to some unemployed workers in Tampa, Fla., that he was “also unemployed.” Romney called that remark a “joke.” He had previously made that tasteless “unemployed joke” in Iowa and New Hampshire (AP, 6/16/11, Time, “Swampland,” M. Scherer, 6/16/11, Zelney, NY Times, “Politico,” Burns, 6/16/11, J. Martin). Romney is one of the wealthiest candidates ever to run for President, with a Bain Capital fortune estimated at $190-250 million. Since he left Bain Capital about 13 years ago, much of his wealth has gone into investments outside the company or into family trusts, including $100 million set aside for his five sons. As part of his negotiated retirement agreement with this venture capital firm, his former partners have paid him a share of the profits ever since, bringing him millions of dollars in yearly income. “Unemployed” Romney can pursue his political career while still being, in effect, a Bain partner (NY Times, N. Confessore, C. Drew, J. Creswell, 12/18/11). He ran unsuccessfully for Sen. against Ted Kennedy in 1994, then won the Mass. Governor’s race in 2002, but declined to run again in 2006. Since 2006, he has been running non-stop for President.

        And the gaffes continue. In a 2011 Iowa debate, he challenged Tex. Gov. Rick Perry to a $10,000 bet. As most analysts and Democrats pointed out, $10,000 is “chump change” to 1%er Romney. That sum could help a lot of people. How many ordinary Americans bet in that range? Mr. 1% “out-of-touch” Romney declared and even defended his absurd comment that “corporations are people.” We should not, therefore, be surprised that Romney argued and doubled down on the idea that Obama should not have rescued the auto industry. That industry is a key employer in Romney’s native state of Michigan as well as in much of the swing state Midwest. Romney wanted Detroit to “go bankrupt.” He told John King that the “bailout was a waste of money and gave the companies over to the United Auto Workers (National Journal, 6/14/11, NY Times, 6/13/11),” utter nonsense. Romney is no friend of organized labor. He called Obama’s recent labor board appointments “union stooges (“The Hill, Lederman, 1/05/12, USA Today, M. Moore, 1/09/12).” Romney could care less if the 1.4 million middle class American jobs up and down the automotive supply chain disappeared. Obama, with his aid to Detroit, created a revival of the U.S. car industry (CNN, Brazile, 1/07/12). Out-of-touch Romney, with all his mansions, told people losing their homes that the foreclosure process should hit “rock bottom.” Translation, let investors and speculators swoop in and make a quick buck, but don’t help families in this mess (CNN, Brazile, 1/07/11).

       And the gaffes get worse. Romney recently stated he had feared getting a “pink slip” during his private sector career. Give me a break! Romney has inherited wealth, family connections, and “elitist” Harvard MBA and law degrees. He has the utter nerve to compare his career track worries at Bain to the insecurity of the average assembly line worker or small business employee (NY Times, “The Caucus, Parker, 1/09/12). And how callous can he get? On 1/09/12, Romney told people in Nashua, N. Hampshire how he “liked being able to fire people.” Democrats and GOP rivals correctly jumped on that comment. True, as VP Biden noted, Romney was talking about individuals being able to fire bad health insurance companies. Again, Romney is not living in the real world. Almost no individual can fire their health provider and get a better one. Only under the health care law Romney helped pass in Mass. and under Obama’s bill, based on Romney’s, can you fire an insurance company and get a better one. Under these two plans, insurance companies can not deny coverage or charge extra for having a pre-existing condition. Romney now wants to keep the rest of the country from having what he passed in Mass. by repealing Obama’s health care reform legislation (CNN, Carroll, 1/11/12). Biden still correctly rebuked Romney for his glee about “firing people.” As Biden stated, Romney’s “fire people” quote was “not out of context because he (Romney) thinks it’s more important for the stockholders, shareholders and the investors, the venture capital guys do well than for the employees to be part of the bargain (LA Times, Memoli, 1/10/12).” Spot on!

       In running for the White House, Romney’s main claim is that he was a successful businessman who knows how to create lots of jobs and his record at Bain Capital is proof. Since he is making his leadership at Bain the key to his candidacy, what Romney did at Bain is a fair issue for his GOP rivals, Democrats, and the media.

       When Romney led Bain Capital from 1984-1999, that company invested in 77 businesses. Of those businesses, 22% either filed for bankruptcy reorganization or closed their doors by the end of the eighth year after Bain first invested, sometimes with heavy job losses. An additional 8% ran into so much trouble that all the money Bain had invested in them was lost. Bain produced stellar returns for its investors, yet the bulk of those profits came from just a small number of investments. Ten deals produced more than 70% of the dollar gains. And of those 10 businesses, 4 later landed in bankruptcy court. Some experts said the rate at which Bain investments ran into trouble appeared to be higher than rival buyout firms during that era (Wall Street Journal, 1/09/12). Bain Capital initially specialized in venture capital deals, where an investment firm takes an equity stake in a developing or struggling company that needs capital, a perfectly legitimate practice that helps the free market economy. However, under Romney’s leadership, Bain became one of the nation’s top leveraged-buyout firms. Under leveraged buyout practices, companies are acquired using debt often pledged against their own assets or earnings. Leveraged deals make the acquired company more vulnerable to economic downturns and bankruptcy. Romney, like other leveraged buyout firm leaders, also maximized returns by firing workers, seeking government subsidies, and flipping companies for large profits. Bain investors gained even when companies went broke (Riley, CNNMoney.com, 1/10/12, LA Times, Hamburger & Gold, 12/03/11).

         Campaigning in S. Carolina, Rick Perry, not known for his fluent use of the English language, finally said it right. He called Romney’s work at Bain “vulture” capitalism. Such companies, he said, waited for businesses to “get sick, then sweep in, eat the carcass, and leave the skeleton.” On 1/09/12, Perry visited a Gaffney, S. Carolina photo-manufacturing company, where a Bain takeover deal cost 150 people their jobs (LA Times, Finnegan, 1/11/12). Newt Gingrich is running a devastating attack movie in S. Carolina, “When Mitt Romney Came To Town.” This video goes into detail about how Mitt Romney under Bain ruthlessly wrecked many American jobs and businesses and shows how the people and towns involved were personally affected (NY Times, Shear, 1/09/12, G. Sargent “The Plum Line”). Before the Iowa caucuses, Democrats brought in Randy Johnson, who lost his job thanks to Romney and Bain. Johnson said that “Romney did not care about the worker. It was all about profit before people.” Johnson worked at American Pad & Paper in the 1990’s when Bain took it over. Bain laid off dozens of workers in this Indiana company. Bain made tens of millions of dollars from its investment. American Pad filed for bankruptcy. Johnson called Romney “out of touch with the average person (Kos Labor, L. Clawson, 1/02/12).” Romney keeps saying that he created over 100,000 jobs. Independent fact checkers have concluded this claim is unsubstantiated, and there is no way of being sure that under Romney Bain had more jobs than layoffs (Carroll, CNN, 1/11/2012). When Romney was the Gov. of  Mass. (2003-2007),  that state was 47^th out of 50 in job growth. At the end of those 4 years, the Bay State had only a 1% net gain in payroll jobs, compared to 5.3% of the nation (Benen, Wash. Monthly). Mitt Romney, a job creator?  No way.

       When Romney won the Iowa caucuses, his D.C. K Street group of 15 fundraisers jumped for joy. These people have already raised over half a million dollars for him. Romney’s PACs (Political Action Committees) have come through with millions. Romney’s “K Street Army” has lobbied for the likes of JP Morgan Chase, the Mortgage Bankers Association, Visa, and MasterCard. Add Eli Lily, Bristol Meyers, and Verizon to this list. Romney  (NY Times, Edsall, 1/08/12). Romney also has veteran lobbyist Charlie Black, who advised McCain, in his camp. Black worked for foreign dictators, including Filipino Pres. Ferdinand Marcos as well big business concerns (M. Shear, 1/02/12, NY Times).  Mr. 1% Romney wants to repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act which would prevent another disastrous recession from which we are still recovering (Dantz,politics.gather.com, 8/25/11). I am shocked, shocked!

        Romney, of course, is “Political Flip-Flopper” #1. Romney, who once bragged of running to the left of Ted Kennedy on gays and abortion, now says he “lines up pretty well with the Tea Partiers,” and is the “ideal candidate of the right.” He sees no right to privacy in the Constitution and wants to overturn Roe v. Wade (GOP 1/07/12 debate). He called Obama’s $1,000 middle class tax cut a “band aid.” His own plan would only give families $54, half a band aid, Mitt? He is now in lock step with his fellow Tea Party GOPers for GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget that would kill Medicare, Social Security, and slash education (CNN Brazile, 1/07/12).

         Many GOPers are defending Romney’s Bain “vulture capitalism” as “free market virtue capitalism.” They claim the people who attack such practices are “anti-capitalist  (NY Times, Rutenberg & Zeleny, 1/11/12, “Politico,” Epstein, 1/12/12).”  Even if these attacks fail to stop Romney in the primaries, these charges will have traction among millions of Democrats and independents just tuning in to the race. Obama and his Democrats must make these arguments against Romney in the fall campaign despite false GOP claims that the Bain matter is “old news.” Democrats must also hit Romney for his constant “flip- flops” and for his Tea Party stands. He must not be allowed to “run to the moderate middle.” In addition, we must have our Get Out the Vote turnout machine in 100%+ condition and come out in droves this fall. Romney won big in New Hampshire because he micro-targeted to the tenth power the voters he knew would support him, just as W did in 2004 (M. Reston, LA Times, 1/10/12). Twenty-first Century America can not afford electing a callous out-of-touch 1% er whose claim to fame is practicing “dog- eat- dog vulture capitalism.”  

Wall Street’s Champ Scott Brown Gets A Heavyweight Challenger—Main Street Advocate Elizabeth Warren   October 19, 2011

     We are, of course, heading into Campaign 2012. President Obama is running for re-election, and because of the still weak economy, he may face a tough contest against Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, or another GOP standard bearer. All 435 House seats and one-third of the Senate (33) will also be up for grabs. In the legislative branch, Democrats will be trying to flip at least 24 GOP seats to make House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) give up his gavel. Approval of Congress, especially the GOP House, is at an all time low, 13% in 10/2011, according to Gallup. The Gallup Poll has Congress currently on track to register its lowest annual average approval rating, 17.8%, for the past 10 months (“Politico,” T. Mak, 10/12/11).

    Presently, the Senate remains in Democratic hands, but this hold is tenuous. After the 11/02/2010 midterm “shellacking,” the Senate Democratic 59 seat margin went to 53, a net GOP gain of 6 seats. Should the Republican 2012 presidential ticket win, all the GOP needs is a net gain of 3 Senate seats. If Pres. Obama and Senate tie-breaker VP Biden prevail, the GOP requires a net 4. In 2012, unlike in the two previous cycles (2006 and 2008), when more GOP seats were in play, Democrats will be defending 23 of those Senate seats (CQ 12 Political Almanac). And not all of those Democratic Senate seats are cakewalks. Democrats face tough Senate races in “Red” and “Red” leaning states. Democratic retirements in other states also give the GOP good chances. According to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Democrats, however, do have chances to pick up GOP-held Senate seats. Such pick ups would make the GOP attempts to take back the Senate harder (LA Times, L. Mascaro, 10/12/11). Democrats may have their strongest chance to pick up a GOP Senate seat in normally “Blue” Massachusetts, the one held by Scott Brown. Sen. Schumer put this race at the top of his pick- up list (LA Times, 10/12/11). Brown is facing a strong challenge from Dem. Elizabeth Warren. Let’s look closely at these two individuals and their records.

        Senator Scott Brown (52) is the first Mass. GOPer to serve in the Senate in more than 30 years. On 1/19/2010, Brown won this seat in a 52.2%-46.8% special election upset victory. He replaced Democratic liberal icon Ted Kennedy, who had died of brain cancer in 8/2009. Brown was blessed with Democratic Atty. General Martha Coakley who ran a textbook “Political Malpractice 101” campaign.

       Brown is also tied up “big time” to the extremist Tea Partiers. The Tea Party Express endorsed him in his special election race and gave him at least $32,000. That same group broadcasted an ad for Brown all over Mass. Tea Party groups came into Mass. to help Brown get out voters (Salon.com, M. Madden, Daily Kos, 1/13/10). As early as 4/15/09, Brown spoke to a Tea Party rally. On 1/02/2010, Brown hosted a breakfast in Westborough, Mass. sponsored by the Greater Boston Tea Party Group that encouraged attendees to give between $25-500 to Brown. Brown posted an advisory to this reception on his own website (Huffington Post, Stein 1/14/10).

   Brown also received money from right wing anti-environmentalist Koch Industries. In a video posted by Think Progress, Sen. Scott Brown thanked David Koch on 3/04/2011 for supporting his 2010 election. Brown then made a plea to Koch to help him in his 2012 bid. Koch gave Brown $5,000 right before his 2010 special election. Brown stated Koch’s support made a “ton, a difference, and I could certainly use it again.” Brown also received Koch support through GOP Senate committees. Many Wall Street contributors also gave money to Brown’s special election campaign (See Boston Globe, Arsenault, 3/07/11). Brown voted against the Clean Air Act, and months later, the Koch Bros. gave him the maximum amount allowed under campaign finance laws (M. Haigh, 7/21/11, 350.org).

         In the Senate, “independent” Scott Brown has voted with the GOP  nearly 80% of the time (Wash. Post .com). “Moderate” Brown called himself a “Reagan Republican (Boston Globe, 11/2009).” Sen. Brown has a 25% rating from labor’s AFL-CIO, but high ratings from business and anti-tax organizations, a record more in tune with Southern and Western GOP voters than those in mainly “Blue” Mass. Brown supported GOP Mass. Gov. and now presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s health care reform bill. Obama used Romney’s legislation as his model. Brown, however, campaigned against Obama’s health care reform and pledged to be the 41^st vote to kill it in any filibuster. He voted against the reconciliation bill that avoided a filibuster and allowed health care reform to pass (CQ 12, ABC News, J. Brownstein, 1/21/10). Brown has low scores from the Mass. chapter of the National Organization for Women. “Pro-choice” Brown wants parental consent for minors facing abortions. He also stated he would vote for a Supreme Court Justice opposed to the Roe v. Wade decision (DSCC Blog, NEWS, 1/13/10, Parker, K., Wash. Post, 1/10/10). Brown ultimately voted for Obama’s Wall Street financial reform bill, but only after he significantly weakened it to help Mass. and out of state banking firms. Brown also threatened to withdraw his support from the bill unless a $19 billion bank fee was removed. During the 3 week time that reform bill was being debated, executives from Mass. Mutual, Liberty Mutual, and State Street, among others, gave him $29,000.  Goldman Sachs, UBS, and JP Morgan Chase and others contributed $50,000 to Brown (Slack, Boston Globe, 12/12/10).

         Brown is against raising taxes on the top 1% or closing tax loopholes for big oil (“Think Progress, B. Johnson, 8/09/11). On 10/11/2011, Brown also stood with all the GOP Senators to kill through filibuster an up or down vote on Pres. Obama’s entire strong jobs package. Most economists claim this legislation will hire many Americans and lower unemployment. However, this bill contains a 5.6% surtax on income exceeding $1million. GOPers, Brown among them, can never, ever tax the top 1%, their true base (Mascaro, LA Times, 10/11/11).

    Brown also voted against the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. He introduced this former Harvard Law School Dean to the Senate and said he was satisfied with her answers to questions. However, hours before the vote, he came out against her. He suddenly said she “lacked  judicial experience,” because she had not been a judge. Kagan had “only” been Solicitor General (SG), the U.S. Govt.’s chief lawyer before the Supreme Court. As SG, Kagan had argued 6 cases before the Court. W. appointee, Justice Sam Alito, had previously argued 12 cases in that office. He called his training there, not as a judge, the one “most directly related to his present job (C-SPAN Court book).”  Sen. Brown, an attorney, didn’t remember or didn’t know that conservative Chief Justice Rehnquist did not have judicial or much litigation experience before he went on the High Court (CQ 12). Brown may have been burnishing his conservative credentials with his fellow GOPers. Some “independent” thinker (See Hayden, Atlantic Wire, 8/05/10)!

        Although Brown had an approval rating of 73% as late as 3/30/2011, that number is now moot. Brown has drawn a strong progressive Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren. On 9/14/2011, Warren entered the U.S. Sen. race to challenge Scott Brown. Warren said she was running to help the middle class who don’t have lobbyists to aid them, are facing growing income inequality, and are hammered and squeezed. In a fantastic video that she shot in 8/2011, Warren clearly explained that taxing the wealthy does not amount to “class warfare.” In the key words on this video, Warren stated: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. Now look, you built a factory and turned it into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.” Since it was posted, this video has been seen over 100,000 times on YouTube (USA Today, C. Camia, 9/22/11). Brown immediately tried to attack Warren as a Harvard “elitist,” because Warren taught law there. Few Bay Staters care about Brown’s playing the “Harvard card (Political Wire, 10/07/11).” Brown went to Tufts Univ. undergrad and Boston College Law, more “prestigious” schools than Warren’s Univ. of Houston and Rutgers Law, if anyone is remotely concerned. Brown came from a broken family home, but he does not identify with the middle class (Brown, “Against All Odds”). Warren has never forgotten her middle class roots and wants to help others similarly situated.

       A native of Oklahoma, City, Warren (62), faced hardship early. When she was 12, her father had a heart attack. The family faced a pay cut, excessive medical bills, and the loss of their car. Her mother had to go to work at Sears and as a waitress. Warren was married at 19 and had two children. Divorced in 1979, she married a Harvard professor and moved to Mass. She started teaching at Harvard Law in 1992, and worked on business law and bankruptcy issues. She wrote many articles and books including a best-selling one. One of her books, “The Two-Income Trap” (2003), discusses how middle class couples earn less today because of health care bills, mortgages, and other expenses. Warren was appointed by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to chair the oversight panel implementing the government bailout of Wall Street, where she pushed strongly to rein in big financial institutions. She was also for the creation of a strong Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to oversee the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. Pres. Obama made her a special advisor on implementing this bureau, which the GOP still wants to gut (Wash. Post, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post). In its 5/24/2010 cover story, Time Magazine named Warren one of the “New Sheriffs of Wall Street.”

        Since entering the race, Warren is crushing all her Democratic primary rivals (PPP, 9/16-9/18/11). She is neck and neck with Brown in the most recent polls (PPP Warren +2, 9/16-9/18/11, U. Mass. Lowell Boston Herald Poll, Brown +3, 10/03/11). And Warren has room to get more support, since 37% of the respondents still haven’t heard of her. She is also receiving positive reviews from the New York Times, while GOP “leader” Rush Limbaugh pours vitriol over her, a badge of honor for Warren. Warren was praised for her performance against her Democratic challengers by both the liberal Boston Globe and conservative Boston Herald in their 10/04/2011 debate. Warren stated she had stood “toe to toe” against large financial institutions and would take the fight “directly to Wall Street and Washington.” Warren noted that Forbes Magazine named Scott Brown, “Wall Street’s favorite senator.” Warren proudly and correctly declared, “I was thinking that’s probably not an award I’m going to get.” Warren also showed a comfortable stage presence, knowledge of the facts, and flashes of wit (Boston Globe, 10/05/11 Boston Herald 10/04/11). When Scott Brown mocked her as scary in an ad, Warren answered him right back in another fine video (Kos, Clawson, 10/14/11). Warren is no Martha Coakley.

        National Democrats, including Obama’s advisors, are very excited about Warren’s candidacy. Since getting into the race, Main Street candidate Warren raised an amazing $3,150,000. Over 11,000 donors came from Mass., and 96% of them gave less than $100 (Kos, Bowers, 10/10/11). Dems. and labor unions are forming a super political action committee so that Warren can raise huge sums of money to keep competitive with Wall Street’s champ, Brown. Sen. Brown has a war chest of about $10 million, which the GOP and their allies will surely keep pumping up (Huffington Post, 10/14/11).

         This contest will be no “slam dunk.” The GOP and their friends will pour everything into this race, upon which control of the Senate may turn. Although many think Mass. is a strong Dem. state, independents are the biggest bloc of voters (51.4%, v. 37% Democrats) and the key to victory. Mass. also has a strong talk show anti-Dem. set backed by the right wing Boston Herald. Women have never been elected to the Senate in Mass. Coakley lost by 5 points, the same margin by which Mitt Romney won the governorship in 2002 over then State Treasurer Shannon O’ Brien. GOPers can probably get 40%-45% of the vote in many Mass. races (Barone, Almanac 10). Too many Democrats nationwide are still showing an “enthusiasm” gap as they did in 2010, (Blitzer, CNN), which led to the GOP’s victories and the present gridlock. The public overwhelmingly supports Obama’s jobs plan and taxing the top 1%, stands Warren supports (CNN Poll, 10/14-16/2011). However, if Democrats and independent leaning Democrats don’t come out in droves in Mass. or the rest of the nation in 2012, the GOP will continue to govern only for their 1% base. The GOP will then have total control of Congress and the White House, not a formula for success in the 21^st Century.                        

“Unemployed” Mitt Romney— Another Out Of Touch, Clueless Republican  June 23, 2011

        A key to the GOP’s winning strategy is to try to hide the stands it takes for its true base, the top economic 1%. GOP candidates present themselves as “average Joes,” while attacking Democrats as “elitists” who look down at “regular Americans” (See Thomas Frank, “What’s The Matter With Kansas?”). However, this GOP “common man” talk is sometimes exposed as nothing but an act. Then GOPers are seen for what they actually are, the real elitists completely out of touch with the American people.

     At the 6/13/2011 Manchester, New Hampshire GOP presidential primary debate, the seven 2012 GOP candidates present showed a “near-monolithic” consensus in being as “anti-big” government as possible. These GOPers had no problem backing Cong. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wi.) Kill Medicare budget that would hurt the elderly and disabled. The American public overwhelmingly oppose Ryan’s plan. Mitt Romney, however, went further. He praised former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s newly unveiled economic plan as displaying the “right instincts.” No other candidate dissented from that view. Pawlenty’s plan would make Ryan’s budget look “moderate.” The Tax Policy Center projects Pawlenty’s plan would reduce federal revenue by as much as $11.6 trillion over the next 10 years, more than double the 10-year cost of extending W’s tax cuts.

     The GOP candidates also suggested eliminating or privatizing FEMA, the EPA, Medicaid, food stamps, and the Federal Labor Relations Board. They all wanted health care reform repealed as well as the Wall Street reform regulations. They even wanted an end to W’s post-Enron corporate reforms. Ask residents in tornado stricken Joplin, Mo. how they feel about abolishing FEMA. How many people, short of Koch Industries and its enablers, want regulations against air and water pollution, which the EPA makes and enforces, gutted? How many voters in Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan, where GOP governors are radically stripping workers’ rights, like the idea of further weakening labor? The public does not want a repeal of health care. Millions of uninsured are now being covered. They certainly don’t want a repeat of the Enron shenanigans or another financial meltdown (M. Goldberg, YAHOO!News, 6/14/11, Whiteside, YAHOO!, R. Brownstein, “National Journal,” 6/17/11). The GOP is sure in touch with its Tea Party base, a small disliked minority, but is clueless about the rest of America. And Mitt Romney, folks, wins hands down the “clueless and out of touch with America” crown.

        Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, the GOP front-runner for the 2012 presidential nomination, was praised by commentators for his N. Hampshire “presidential” presentation. He didn’t have much competition in this field of wing nut ideologues. These included pizza executive Herman Cain, zany Rep. Ron Paul, wacky Newt “Tiffany spender” Gingrich, extremist Tea Party Caucus head Rep. Michele Bachmann, and social values zealot, former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum. None of Romney’s GOP opponents attacked him for his numerous flip-flops on issues. Many analysts initially thought former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty might be Romney’s strongest opponent. Just one day after Pawlenty coined the phrase “Obamneycare,” to criticize the health reform bill Romney pushed and signed in Mass., Pawlenty “chickened out” at the debate. When CNN moderator John King pressed Pawlenty to criticize Romney to his face about how his bill was similar to Obama’s, Pawlenty declined to do that, and wrongly suggested that Pres. Obama had made up the “Obamneycare” phrase (B. Reinhard, National Journal, 6/14/11, Zelney & Rutenberg, New York Times, 6/13/11).  

         Romney decided to go on a post-debate “victory lap” tour in the South. On 6/16/2011, in a Tampa, Fla. coffee shop, Romney tried to show his aw-shucks sympathy with the problems of the jobless. Introducing himself there to a group of business owners and unemployed workers, Romney stated, “I should tell my story. I’m also unemployed (AP, Tampa, Fla., 6/16/11, Time, “Swampland,” M. Scherer, 6/16/11, J. Zelney, NY Times).” This was not the first time Romney had made this “I’m unemployed comment,” which he called a “joke.” He had uttered this “joke” during the 2008 campaign in Iowa, and a few days before the 11/2010 midterm elections in N. Hampshire (“Swampland,” 6/16/11, “Politico,” Burns, 6/16/11, J. Martin). DNC (Democratic National Committee) chair, Fla. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, quickly and correctly hammered Romney in a strong press release.

    In Wasserman Schultz’s words, “Folks in my home state and across the country, who are struggling every day to make ends meet, do not need someone making light of their situation. Equating his run for the presidency with the difficulties of these honest hard-working Americans is shocking and is a reflection of his inability to comprehend the struggles of the American people.”

      Mitt Romney, a former head of Bain Capital, worth at least $200 million, does not have to work for a living, and hasn’t for the better part of the last five years. He has used that time to fully concentrate on running for the presidency (Bailey, YAHOO, 6/16/11). In addition to Wasserman Schultz’s comments, N. Hampshire Dem. Chairman Ray Buckley stated, “I am not sure that I can think of anything more out of touch with Granite Staters than ‘chuckling’ at unemployment as Mitt Romney did today in Fla.”

           The Wall Street Journal, no liberal paper, noted that Romney’s political career “has been marked by struggles to connect with ordinary Americans (WSJ, 6/16/11).” Romney, like W, was born “to the economic and political manor.” Mitt is the son of American Motors chief executive George Romney. George Romney became the Gov. of Michigan and ran unsuccessfully for President in 1968 (See WSJ). Son Mitt had four houses in 2009. In that year, “average Joe/Mitt” put up for sale a palatial ski chalet in Deer Valley, Utah. How many unemployed Americans get to do that? They have trouble making payments on just one home (Press release, Americans United For Change, WSJ, 6/16/11). This “unemployed” comment was deemed a “gaffe” by Guy Benson on the right wing Townhall blog (6/16/11). YAHOO’s Holly Bailey also called the “unemployed” crack “a line that’s sure to come back to haunt Mitt Romney (Bailey, YAHOO, 6/16/11).”

          And there is much more in Mitt Romney’s record that should “come back to haunt him” as way out of touch. In the 6/13/2011 debate, Michigan native Mitt Romney repeated a stand that shows he has a “tin ear” toward the Wolverine State and much of the Midwest. He attacked the successful federal bailout of the auto industry. When moderator John King stated that this rescue had been a success, Mitt called it a failure because “the bailout program wasted a lot of money and gave the companies over to the United Auto Workers (National Journal, 6/14/11, NY Times, Zeleny& Rutenberg, 6/13/11).” Mitt said the auto industry should have gone into bankruptcy first! Mitt is completely wrong in his assessment of labor taking over the industry. He also could care less if labor, numerous auto suppliers, and many related businesses were badly hurt. A more severe economic tailspin could have occurred without this rescue. Mitt cares about Tea Party ideology and union bashing, not Midwest voters and most Americans.

         At Bain Capital, where Mitt made his millions, and as Governor of Mass., Romney was a great believer in outsourcing American jobs, or shipping them overseas. In 2008, when Mitt first ran for the White House, the Mich. Dem. Party put up an ad saying he won the “gold medal” for outsourcing jobs when he dismantled companies. As Gov., Mitt constantly took positions that undercut American jobs, including vetoing a bill that would have stopped state jobs from going overseas (Mi. Dem. Party, 8/14/08). Mitt Romney is, once more, out of touch with America.

          Mitt’s big single issue argument for becoming president is that he knows how to create jobs, both in the private sector and in government. The real record is another story. At Bain Capital and in the Mass. state house, Romney was, once again, an out of touch business executive and politician who could care less about employees/ constituents. During his 15 years at Bain Capital, Mitt made tons of cash by using leveraged buyouts. Mitt bought companies with money borrowed against their assets, groomed them to be sold off, and in the interim collected huge management fees. He bought, sold, and merged dozens of companies. Mitt had the chance to fight to save jobs, but didn’t. As Mitt’s partners explained, “his ultimate responsibility was to make money for Bain’s investors.” A review of Bain’s investments during Romney’s time there indicated that “job growth was not a particular priority (Boston Globe, Gavin, 1/27/08, S. Benen, Wash. Monthly, 6/12/11).”

      Romney’s campaign spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom acknowledged that, “layoffs are sometimes necessary for a company’s health.” Translation, for Bain’s and other investors’ health, not for employees. In some cases, in order to make money for Bain’s investors, Mitt shuttered plants, slashed hundreds of jobs, and put these companies into bankruptcy. During Mitt’s time at Bain, at least 5 companies that he bought up went broke. However, Bain still made big money on those business failures. Bain, in fact, made more from one of those failures, Ampad, than on its successes. Ampad, an Indiana paper plant,  yielded more than $100 million on Bain’s $5 million investment, while successful Staples, a Framingham, Mass. retailer, returned “just” $13 million on a $2 million investment (WSJ, 6/16/11, Boston Globe, Gavin, 1/27/08). In Romney’s view, it’s not about job growth. “It’s that their (Bain’s) investment grows (H. Anderson, MIT Sloan School of Management Professor).” A former employee of one of Mitt’s Bain-acquired business stated Romney and his firm did not “care enough to consider saving this business and create jobs. It was very clinical. Like a doctor. When the patient is dead, you just move on to the next patient  (Boston Globe).” Randy Johnson, a worker and union official at Ampad, personally wrote Romney to tell him how disappointed he was by his excuses not to save the company. The failure of Ampad became a key issue in Romney’s Senate loss to Ted Kennedy in 1994. When Romney’s record at Ampad was disclosed, Romney, who had been even with Kennedy, took a dive in the polls (See Boston Globe, Gavin). 

      As governor, jobs, again, were not a high Romney priority. During Mitt’s 4 years in office (2003-2007), Mass. ranked 47^th out of 50 states in job growth. His state record on job creations was one of the worst in the country. By the end of his 4 years in office, Mass. had just a 1% net gain in payroll jobs, compared to 5.3% for the nation (Benen, Wash. Monthly, 6/12/11). Mitt doesn’t want the rest of the country to know his real out of touch callous economic record.         

    Of course, Mitt also hopes everyone forgets that he is the “king” of flip-floppers, another characteristic many American voters heartily dislike. To many Americans, flip-floppers look like inauthentic, out of touch politicians. Such people are not worthy of the presidency. Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put it perfectly. “Romney was for gay marriage when governor, now he’s against it. As governor, he was for abortion, now he’s against it.” And Reid pointedly added, Obama and the Democrats “modeled our (federal health care reform) bill to be to a large degree about what he did in Mass. Now he’s trying to run from that.” He sure is. Romney is contorting himself into a pretzel trying to say that his health plan with an individual mandate, requiring people to get health insurance, was fine for Mass., but wrong for the nation (“Slate,” Dickerson, 5/12/11, Las Vegas News, Demirjian).

       Harry Reid also remarked that “if someone (Mitt) doesn’t know who they are, they shouldn’t be President of the United States.” Mass. Cong. Barney Frank, who saw Romney in action as his Governor, was even harsher. Frank stands by his 2007 statement that Mitt was “an extraordinarily ambitious man with no perceivable political principle whatsoever, and the most intellectually dishonest human being in the history of politics.” Rep. Frank noted Mitt has lately “flip-flopped even more.” In Frank’s opinion, Mitt’s only consistent principle is “he thinks he should run the world (CNN, Political Ticker, 6/17/11).” IMHO, Mitt is Richard Nixon to the tenth power. Romney is the GOP front runner in polls, name recognition, and financial backing. GOP voters tend to give the previous presidential primary loser the nomination when he runs the second time around. Witness the cases of Reagan and McCain. Rank and file GOPers are also “hell bent” to make Obama a one-term president. Many GOPers say they will ignore 1,000% right wing ideology to go with the person who has the best chance to defeat Obama. Romney fits that bill (Quinnipiac Poll, ABC Wash. Post Poll, 6/06/11, see Daily Kos joelgp, 6/08/11, Bailey, YAHOO, 6/08/11).  Should Romney get the nod, Democrats, independents, and moderates must come out in droves to re-elect President Obama in 2012. Clueless, out of touch Mitt must remain “unemployed.”