Monday, November 10, 2008

Lost but rebuilding - Conservatives regrouping

Obviously there won't be much reason to use this site, I don't believe Senator McCain will have any reason to run again in 2012 for President.

Perhaps Governor Palin (or Senator Palin at that time?)
Or a whole list of other strong Republicans contenders for the leadership.

For now the real challenge becomes learning from the loss:
We got some requests here for advice on how to get involved, start reading the real thinkers listed above, start commenting and engaging, choose a "movement" to get behind and help them with small donations, contact your local county chair and ask to be appointed to a precinct (everyone needs new appointees right now) ... Most of all, talk to the real people in your life about the American Dream and how we can all work to gain it together.

For now, signing off this site, what a fun ride!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

A lot of fun, and sad today

What a ride we had over the last 18 months!

We supported Senator McCain when no one thought he'd even make it until the end of 2007, and into the primaries. We supported him through the primaries and all thru 2008.

Now, after a defeat, we'll stay away from attacking Barack Obama. He will need to govern, and govern well, or find himself dealing with 25% approval ratings and a mess for his party

For now ... Thanks for the memories Senator McCain ... we're sad to see it over.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Indiana has its hare of ACORN issues

Watch Indiana for ACORN and voter problems

Marion County Absentee Ballot Confusion

There has been a great deal of confusion over the lawsuit Marion County Republicans filed against the Marion Co. Election Board this week, Schoettle v. Marion Co. Election Board, in which Circuit Court Judge Ted Sosin had to order the county to follow the law and not process provisional ballots into the voting systems at polling places on election day, thereby commingling them with otherwise validly cast votes. This confusion arose during the election training Marion Co. Clerk Beth White's office put on for election day inspectors, judges and clerks last weekend. I attended the training for judges and can personally attest to the confusion created by White's training video. (Click link above for full article on Marion County Clerk's somewhat creative way of trying to include provisional ballots without review by the election board)


Not the first time ...

from Election Journal, a good place for these breaking voter issues tomorrow and Tuesday.

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette compared the Allen County, Indiana voter file to the Florida voter file and found 2,000 probable overlaps with the same name and birthday:

The Journal Gazette compared the list of 222,000 active registered voters in Allen County with the list of more than 12 million registered voters in Florida and found that 2,172 registrations have the same first and last names, middle names or initials and the same birth dates and are listed as active, eligible voters in both places.

This could be very significant. Both Florida and Indiana are close states, and Allen County contains a significant portion of the votes in IN-03, where Congressman Mark Souder is in a close re-election race.

How many more of these are there? How many have voted?

Recall that when the Indiana voter-ID law went to Supreme Court, one of the plaintiffs was Faye Buis-Ewing, who was registered in both Indiana and Florida and was fraudulently claiming homestead tax exemptions in both states.


Also, right next door in Lake County the early voting mess continued all week, with judges eventually ruling that the voting centers could stay open, even though the law was definitely broken by Democrats. Interesting how we're "suppressing" votes when we try to follow the law.

Also:

Indiana - Voter Fraud Problems

Friday, October 31, 2008

Karl Rove says polls have problems

From the Wall Street Journal Opinion by Karl Rove

There has been an explosion of polls this presidential election. Through yesterday, there have been 728 national polls with head-to-head matchups of the candidates, 215 in October alone. In 2004, there were just 239 matchup polls, with 67 of those in October. At this rate, there may be almost as many national polls in October of 2008 as there were during the entire year in 2004.

Some polls are sponsored by reputable news organizations, others by publicity-eager universities or polling firms on the make. None have the scientific precision we imagine.

For example, academics gathered by the American Political Science Association at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington on Aug. 31, 2000, to make forecasts declared that Al Gore would be the winner. Their models told them so. Mr. Gore would receive between 53% and 60% of the two-party vote; Gov. George W. Bush would get between just 40% and 47%. Impersonal demographic and economic forces had settled the contest, they said. They were wrong.

Right now, all the polls show Barack Obama ahead of John McCain, but the margins vary widely (in part because some polls use an "expanded" definition of a likely voter, while others use a "traditional" polling model, which assumes turnout will mirror historical trends but with a higher turnout among African-Americans and young voters).

On Monday, there were seven nationwide polls, with the candidates as close as three points in the Investors Business Daily/TIPP poll and as far apart as 10 points in Gallup's "expanded" model. On Tuesday, the Gallup "traditional" model poll had the candidates separated by two points and the Pew poll had them separated by 15. On Wednesday, Battleground, Rasmussen and Gallup "traditional" model polls had the candidates separated by three points while Diageo/Hotline and Gallup "expanded" model polls had the spread at seven points.

Polls can reveal underlying or emerging trends and help campaigns decide where to focus. The danger is that commentators use them to declare a race over before the votes are in. This can demoralize the underdog's supporters, depressing turnout. I know that from experience.

On election night in 2000 Al Hunt -- then a columnist for this newspaper and a commentator on CNN -- was the first TV talking head to erroneously declare that Florida's polls had closed, when those in the Panhandle were open for another hour. Shortly before 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Judy Woodruff said: "A big call to make. CNN announces that we call Florida in the Al Gore column."

Mr. Hunt and Ms. Woodruff were not only wrong. What they did was harmful. We know, for example, that turnout in 2000 compared to 1996 improved more in states whose polls had closed by the time Ms. Woodruff all but declared the contest over. The data suggests that as many as 500,000 people in the Midwest and West didn't bother to vote after the networks indicated Florida cinched the race for Mr. Gore.

I recall, too, the media's screwup in 2004, when exit-polling data leaked in the afternoon. It showed President Bush losing Pennsylvania by 17 points, New Hampshire by 18, behind among white males in Florida, and projected South Carolina and Colorado too close to call. It looked like the GOP would be wiped out.

Bob Shrum famously became the first to congratulate Sen. John Kerry by addressing him as "President Kerry." Commentators let the exit polls color their coverage for hours until their certainty was undone by actual vote tallies.

Polls have proliferated this year in part because it is much easier for journalists to devote the limited space in their papers or on TV to the horse-race aspect of the election rather than its substance. And I admit, I've aided and abetted this process.

In the campaign's final week, though, the candidates can offer little new substance, so attention turns to the political landscape, and there's no question Mr. McCain is in a difficult place.

The last national poll that showed Mr. McCain ahead came out Sept. 25 and the 232 polls since then have all shown Mr. Obama leading. Only one time in the past 14 presidential elections has a candidate won the popular vote and the Electoral College after trailing in the Gallup Poll the week before the election: Ronald Reagan in 1980.

But the question that matters is the margin. If Mr. McCain is down by 3%, his task is doable, if difficult. If he's down by 9%, his task is essentially impossible. In truth, however, no one knows for sure what kind of polling deficit is insurmountable or even which poll is correct. All of us should act with the proper understanding that nothing is yet decided.

As for me, I've already cast my absentee ballot in Kerr County, Texas -- joyfully, enthusiastically marking the straight Republican column. I would like to have joined the line Tuesday outside the polling place in Ingram, where I've been registered the past few years. But I will be in New York, part of the vast horde analyzing exit polls, dissecting returns, and pontificating on consequences. I'll thoroughly enjoy myself that night, and probably feel guilty the next morning. But this year's 728 national polls and the thousands of state polls made me do it.

Mr. Rove is a former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

The McCain surge begins today

From Zogby:

UTICA, New York – Republican John McCain continues to gain on Democrat Barack Obama, reducing Obama’s lead to 5.3 points with just over a week to go before Election Day, the latest Reuters/C–SPAN/Zogby national daily tracking poll shows.

The race now stands at 49.4% to 44.1% in favor of Obama. Obama led McCain by 9.5 points in yesterday’s report.

“There is no question that this race continues to tighten and that McCain is finding his message again,” said Pollster John Zogby. “It is after all about the economy and that is how McCain tightened it up the last time. I have said over and over again, when he focuses on extraneous issues, he screws up. In today's single day of polling, it was 49% to 46% in favor of Obama. McCain has moved his own numbers each of the three days and Obama has gone down from 54% to 50% to 49%. I have alluded before to this strange, magnetic pull that brings Obama down to 48% or 49%, a danger zone for him. McCain's gains are among white voters, where he now leads by 12 points, and with men, where he again has a healthy lead. There is still a lot of campaign to go. A lot of campaign to go.” (Source: Libertarian Republican)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Senator Obama underpaying female staff

Obama hypocritical on pay for women

The two charts will say it all (from Carpe Diem)
obamasenate.jpg

Senator Obama pays his own female staff quite a bit less than his male staff. No spin, just the facts.

Oh, by the way, and I'll let you go to the original post, John McCain pays almost the same to his staff ... actually just a little bit more to his female staffers.

Thanks to Doctor Perry for this very visual example of Senator Obama's hypocrisy

Monday, October 20, 2008

Real Estate Professionals on McCain and the polls

I get to write on Active Rain and converse often with real estate professionals, (Post is included in group: Real Estate Professionals for John McCain ) some who are supporters of John McCain and others who aren't. Here's a post and commenting interaction that some of you may enjoy reading:

Voters - Use your heads, you're being tricked

Disgusted with vapid voting trends

Are voters so easily manipulated?

Are the voters of the United States of America going to allow themselves to be manipulated by netroots trolls, Obama-mania, the major media and "prevailing opinion?"

First the facts:

  • The race for President is actually too close to call
  • Millions of new registrations have been submitted to vote, but they are untested voters who may or may not even show up at the polls.
  • When polling registered voters Obama tends to lead by a larger amount than when polling "likely" voters.
  • No one won the debates, I can't even say the debates were all that interesting

But, with all this said, the television media is reporting that Obama is running away with the election. How?

For an interesting read, that will turn your stomach, read Sack/Smurf/Freepfest on Daily Kos and see how the left is manipulating the American voting public. It's working by the way. So I return to my original question: Are voters going to allow themselves to be that easily tricked and told what to do?

I'm afraid the answer is yes. When the media tells the average voter that Obama would handle the economy better, they believe. When the media tells the average voter that Obama would help them get a job, make more money, get free healthcare, or a whole host of goodies, they believe. I'm just a bit frustrated today with Americans. When a couple hundred bloggers can sack the online polls, twist the issues, and manipulate the voting public .. what have we become but lazy and irresponsible democracy.

PREVIOUS POST: Presidential Race tightens to 4 points

14 Comments (So far) on Voters - Use your heads, you're being tricked

Steve ~ The American media will have alot of explaining to do trying to elect another extention of the Jimmy Carter Administration. Long lines at gas stations becase like Obama he demonized big oil and taxed and taxed until it cost American tax poyers dearly. We are taxed on eltricity, taxed on cellular phones, taxed on marriage, taxed on alcohol, taxed on life and tax when we die. Obama never saw a tax he didn't vote on, now he says he is a moderate like Bill Clinton.

Well, his voting record made him the number one liberal in the senate, now he says don't pay attention to his past, its meaningless.

10/15/2008 08:24 AM by Nicholas Goglucci, CRS ~ CLHMS, e-PRO ~ Re/Max Professional in South Florida (RE/Max In Motion, Inc.)


People think that movie tickets are high in the US? I heard last night that it costs 15-16 Euro's to see a movie in Spain because of gov't taxes.

These poor (and I mean that literally) people in this country who think Obama will be their savior and tax only the rich. They don't know what they're in store for.

10/15/2008 08:30 AM by Peter Z. Nikic


Gallup has race at 3 points good news today at least, I think the ACORN and Ayres drums are taking a toll on Obama's lead, tightening things back to dead even going into the final debate and 18 days of campaigning

10/15/2008 12:14 PM by Steve Dalton - Northwest Indiana (First Financial Trust Mortgage )


Steve - Wishful thinking if you believe that McCain / Palin stands a chance at this election.

10/15/2008 12:16 PM by John Guiney e-PRO, CBR (Keller Williams Realty)


I'm NOT going to be tricked into believing that a man who has made the kind of crazy decisions that McCain has made, changing them every couple of days, can POSSIBLY do better than an intelligent and thoughtful Obama will.

10/15/2008 12:31 PM by Leslie Prest, Prest Realty, Payson, AZ


Steve,

I totally agree with you. The media hopes if they keep the Obama is up 14 in the polls, the American people will think it's no use to go vote because Obama's going to win anyway. It is a trick used by the "driveby media" to get their liberal buddy in there. Look at all the people not buying it...that's why their pushing him so hard. Like my pastor says, the heat gets turned up when you get closer to your goal. If it wasn't so close they would simply set back & coast into the presidency. All of Obama's planned, calculated speaches cannot take the place of McCains experience;period.

Yes they do have a chance of winning because the American people are NOT as dumb as Obama want them to believe!

10/16/2008 10:05 AM by Diana Lyons (Coldwell Banker Townside)


There is only one qualified person in this election who deserves to be President! Note!! I said deserves to be President. A forceful take charge leader is what we need right now. One Nation Under God beliefs who will stand by OLD GLORY, through thick and thin. I may not believe in everything McCain stands for-but-If I needed someone to cover my back in a fight it sure to hell wouldn't be?**** What's his name again?

10/16/2008 06:34 PM by matt mathews (mathews realty associates llc)
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Don't like him...don't trust him... where does he get all his funds for his campaign??? I get several flyers a week most looking like they come from McCain but when they are opened are just Obama McCain bashing pieces... Wake up America... We need an american who believes in America and our Pledge as president...

10/20/2008 10:34 AM by Caron's Gateway Real Estate
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Matt - It sounds like McCain would be a great bar buddy for you. I prefer a President who leads the country in a manner such that I won't have to worry about young Americans having to sacrifice their lives in unnecessary wars.

10/20/2008 10:44 AM by Tchaka Owen (Elite Coastal Properties)
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I agree with you Steve. When Powell threw in his backing for Obama it confirmed what I knew all along. People don't care what the man stands for, they are voting for him because either he is the same race as they are or because they are white people who want to prove they aren't prejudice by voting for any stupid thing or because the seriously believe this man will make this country better and are buying into his bs.

The way I see it....if they turn this country into what Obama wants to turn it into, I may as well pack up and move to Tuscany. This won't be America anymore anyway so why put up with the morons here any longer. We will just be one big European Union with one world leader I guess eventually and I've always liked the idea of Italy so why not just go?

10/20/2008 10:46 AM by Cheri' Smith (ERA Whitaker Realty)
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Cheri - Do you think all of the people supporting McCain are doing so because of his race?

10/20/2008 10:56 AM by Tchaka Owen (Elite Coastal Properties)
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Cheri - Spoken like a true Palin supporter. If things aren't to your liking just join an indepenence party or flee the country. Talk about bs.

10/20/2008 11:02 AM by John Guiney e-PRO, CBR (Keller Williams Realty)
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Steve I don't believe the polls, but let them keep predicting big wins, let the socialist elite stay home and plan victory parties while hometown America goes to the polls and elects McCain

10/20/2008 06:08 PM by Hugh Krone Sussex County NJ Century 21 Realtor (Century21BillSemmens)
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Thanks to all of you who commented.

Although it's scarry right now, I feel pretty good that the race is tightening and Americans aren't prepared to be told who to vote for by the media.

10/20/2008 08:17 PM by Steve Dalton - Northwest Indiana (First Financial Trust Mortgage )



First Financial Trust Mortgage