RandySF
RandySF's JournalTerry McAuliffe’s big test: Turn out black voters
In an election that polls show is his to lose, one of the last hurdles between the Democrat and the Virginia governorship is making sure African-American voters don’t stay home without President Barack Obama on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Turning out party loyalists is critical for candidates of either party in any off-year election, when voter interest tails off dramatically. Republican Ken Cuccinelli has staked what slim chance he has left of an upset on firing up the GOP base.
But the challenge is particularly pronounced for McAuliffe and blacks, who make up about a fifth of the electorate and are often the difference between victory and defeat for a Democrat running statewide in the commonwealth.
Obama lost whites to Mitt Romney by 24 points, according to exit polls, but he carried the state by 4 points because 20 percent of voters were black (and he carried 93 percent of them). Blacks comprised just 16 percent of the electorate in exit polls of the last governor’s race in 2009, which the Republican won big. McAuliffe doesn’t need to match Obama’s performance among African-American voters last year, but the dropoff cannot be too steep.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/terry-mcauliffe-virginia-black-voters-98885.html#ixzz2itfQ7PBA
Pat Robertson blames mother for son being deaf, says she did something wrong during prayer.
Pat Robertson claims prayer is the best medicine for just about anything. But what does he say when prayer fails? Well, like any other fraudulent huckster, he blames the person who prayed instead of the deity who is supposed to answer them. Such was the case on Wednesday, when Robertson told a mother that it’s her fault her prayers haven’t healed her deaf child.
During his 700 Club show, Robertson took a question from a woman who has a deaf son. She told Robertson that despite her prayers, God hasn’t restored her child’s hearing. Instead of comforting the woman, the conservative charlatan shamed her for not being able to heal her son with prayer. Robertson told her that she must have done something wrong that caused God to reject her pleas. Robertson also claimed that he has successfully healed deafness himself.
“I have dealt with people who are deaf and you rebuke the spirit of deafness and they get healed,” Robertson claimed. “I don’t know what you’re doing wrong. Why don’t you try that and if it doesn’t work, try something else.”
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/10/25/pat-robertson-shames-mothe/
Charlie Crist will announce plans for governor's race Nov. 4 in St. Petersburg
The former Republican governor widely expected to run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday he will declare his intentions that Monday morning in downtown Straub Park. That's near where he announced in 2010 that he was leaving the GOP to run for U.S. Senate as an independent.
Working an enthusiastic crowd of Democratic activists gathered Friday at Disney World for their state party convention, he certainly looked like a candidate. But Crist insisted he is not completely decided.
"I somewhat know what I'm going to do, but until you say it publicly it's not done," Crist said.
He did have something of a soft opening of the campaign Friday, launching a new website, c harliecrist.com, and releasing a video of himself sounding very much like a candidate already settled on a message to take on Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/charlie-crist-will-announce-plans-for-governors-race-nov-4-in-st-petersburg/2149259
Brownback trails Democratic opponent in Kansas.
Sam Brownback, who has served in Kansas as a Congressman, U.S. Senator, and now Governor, is in danger of being unseated after one term, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for KWCH-TV in Wichita. Today, the Democratic ticket of Paul Davis and Jill Docking edges the Republican ticket of Brownback and Jeff Colyer, 43% to 39%.
Of those who voted for Brownback when he ran for Governor in 2010, just 59% stick with him in 2014, and 25% defect to the Democrats. Though today Brownback leads 2:1 among Republicans, he trails 11:1 among Democrats. Independents split. Northeast and Southeast Kansas both favor the Democratic ticket; Western Kansas favors the Republican ticket.
Of those voting for Brownback today, 65% say their mind is made up, compared to 29% who say they may change their mind. Of those voting for Davis today, 69% say their mind is made up, compared to 26% who say they may change their mind.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=40dc3a26-36e4-4819-9dd4-21417e3bf71d&c=12
New Mexico Justices to Rule on Gay Marriage
SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Supreme Court is poised to decide once and for all whether same-sex marriage is legal in this state, addressing an issue that the Legislature has for years failed to resolve and the governor has avoided — but that Democratic county clerks have embraced, under threats of legal action and at considerable political risk.
In a packed hearing at the territorial courthouse here on Wednesday, one broadcast live for the first time in the court’s history, lawyers for both sides presented their cases, trying in their arguments to resolve the question: Do gay men and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in New Mexico?
The case reached the Supreme Court here with unprecedented speed, propelled by the state’s 33 county clerks, who in August petitioned for legal guidance on whether they were allowed to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Seven of them started doing so in recent months, backed by district court rulings that affirmed the rights of same-sex couples based on a provision of the New Mexico Constitution that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
So far, the biggest winner is Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican who tempered her personal opposition to same-sex marriage by saying that voters ought to decide. In hearing the case, the Supreme Court effectively took her out of the equation, deflecting pressure from religious conservatives, who have carried the opposition to same-sex marriage in the state, as well as criticism from progressive groups, which turned the debate into a referendum about fairness.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/24/us/politics/new-mexico-justices-to-rule-on-gay-marriage.html
Hawaii To Become Next Stage In Gay Marriage Debate
HONOLULU) — The island state that helped make gay marriage a national discussion could be the next state to legalize it after more than two decades.
Many credit a Hawaii case that started in 1990 with prompting action in courts, statehouses and Congress, leading to the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 that was eventually struck down this year by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, a special session starting Monday could make Hawaii the newest state to formally legalize gay marriage, a move proponents say would finish the job and exemplify the state’s fabled aloha spirit — while granting equality and spurring tourism.
Opponents have taken up many fronts. Some argue that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Others say the matter should go to a vote, not be rushed outside the regular legislative calendar.
http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/25/hawaii-to-become-next-stage-in-gay-marriage-debate/#ixzz2irJTR8Od
NC GOPer Who Resigned Over Racist Remark Says Party Is 'Gutless'
The North Carolina GOP official who was asked to resign Thursday over a racially charged comment he made in a "Daily Show" interview doesn't regret the remark -- rather, he thinks the Republican Party has "no guts."
Don Yelton was asked to resign his post as a Republican precinct chairman after criticizing "lazy black people that wants the government to give them everything" in a Wednesday interview about North Carolina's voter ID law with "Daily Show" correspondent Aasif Mandvi.
Appearing on Asheville radio station WWNC Thursday, Yelton accused the show of taking his comment out of context with a cut-and-paste editing job.
“They created an illusion that I was just personally had an agenda against the blacks, tried to make it talking about racism rather than the real issue of illegal voting,” Yelton told host Pete Kaliner, dodging the question of whether or not his interview advanced his case for voter ID laws.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nc-goper-who-resigned-over-racist-remark-says-party-is-gutless-audio
NC GOPer Who Called Blacks 'Lazy' Uses N-Word To Defend Himself
Don Yelton, the North Carolina GOP official who resigned over the fallout for his racially charged "Daily Show" interview, used the N-word to defend himself in an interview with TheWrap.com Friday.
“When a n—– can use the word n—– and it not be considered racist, that’s the utmost racism in the world, and it’s hypocrisy," he said.
Yelton told a North Carolina radio station Thursday that the "Daily Show" had edited his interview in such a way that his comments were taken out of context. In the interview on voter ID laws, Yelton had criticized "lazy black people that wants the government to give them everything," and told correspondent Aasif Mandvi that one of his "best friends" is black.
He told TheWrap.com that his local Republican party, which he had called "gutless" for asking him to resign, should have spun his "Daily Show" interview to show the party accepts all points of view.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nc-goper-who-called-blacks-lazy-uses-n-word-to-defend-himself
VA: Longest serving Republican in General Assembly endorses Terry McAuliffe
From the McAuliffe campaign:
Virginia's longest-serving Republican former member of the House of Delegates Vince Callahan discusses why he is supporting Terry McAuliffe for governor. In the ad, Callahan underscores McAuliffe's commitment to focusing on jobs, while he says he "cannot support Ken Cuccinelli" because he will not keep Virginia "on the right track."
Ken Cuccinelli has spent his career putting his own ideological agenda first, including launching a witch-hunt against the University of Virginia because he did not agree with a climate scientist's findings, costing the school $600,000 in legal fees. As Cuccinelli tries to run from his extreme record, Election Day will show Virginia voters don't want to elect someone as governor who has spent his entire career prioritizing his own ideological agenda.
http://www.the-richmonder.com/2013/10/longest-serving-republican-in-general.html
Pete Sessions Was Behind Obama Insult, known for racist comments.
WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told his Democratic caucus last week in a private meeting that a top House Republican said to President Barack Obama, "I cannot even stand to look at you," according to two Democratic senators who were present.
The account was confirmed by two Senate Democratic aides who said they independently learned of the exchange from other senators.
A White House official said Thursday that the administration did relay such a message to Reid, but that it was the result of a miscommunication.
“While the quote attributed to a Republican lawmaker in the House GOP meeting with the President is not accurate, there was a miscommunication when the White House read out that meeting to Senate Democrats, and we regret the misunderstanding," the official said in a statement.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/harry-reid-pete-sessions_n_4156453.html
But he has a history of making racist comments....
"In September 2010, Sessions remarked after watching the Princeton University men's basketball team, "How often can you go see a bunch of white guys play basketball?" He also reportedly said that the players stayed entirely below the rim. The comments were described as an allusion to the phrase "White Men Can't Jump", and were labeled as inappropriate by New Jersey Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell.[17]
Less than two weeks after his "white guys" comments he made controversial comments about the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) giving money to and supporting, "African Americans like Sanford Bishop. And when you have to retreat back to ... your hard base you're having to make tough decisions."[18][19]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Sessions#Racial_comments
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