AP: Christie Gives GOP Stunning Win In N.J.: By Defeating Corzine, Former U.S. Attorney Deals Big Blow To President Obama, Who Carried The State Easily In 2008 (CBS, 11/03/09)
In the end, all the stumping in the world from the President of the United States wasn't going to stop regime change in New Jersey's highest office.Republican Chris Christie ended Democrat Jon Corzine's four-year run in Trenton with a narrow victory on Tuesday, The Associated Press projected. Independent Chris Daggett, thought of by many as the wildcard who could upset the order of things by siphoning off votes from Christie, finished well back. [...]
Independent voters gave President Barack Obama a huge advantage in the state last year, but they heavily favored Christie on Tuesday.
One of President Barack Obama’s key political advisers has become the central strategist in New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s bruising campaign for re-election, a race the White House desperately wants to win to avert the consequences for its own agenda of a Republican winning in a traditionally Democratic state. [...]The race is seen as extremely close, complicated by the presence of a third candidate, Chris Daggett. For the White House, it’s a crucial symbolic prize. With Democrat Creigh Deeds running far behind his Republican rival in Virginia, the New Jersey race – once believed to be hopeless for Corzine – is now seen as the White House’s best bet to make the 2009 election cycle a political wash and to calm the nerves of congressional Democrats approaching the crucial 2010 midterm elections.
Both Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden have campaigned for Corzine in the state, and Obama has cut television and radio ads for the governor. This Sunday, on the final weekend of the campaign, the president is returning to New Jersey for two events to try to pull Corzine over the finish line.
Benenson, the chief pollster in Obama’s 2008 campaign, along with David Plouffe, his former campaign manager, and a handful of others, make up a political inner circle that still meets regularly with White House senior advisor David Axelrod. Just as Bill Clinton once dispatched his political team to take over troubled campaigns from New York to Israel, Benenson’s arrival in New Jersey has stirred perceptions of a White House takeover – something he flatly denied.
'09 Exit Polls: Vast Economic Discontent Spells Trouble for Dems in 2010 (GARY LANGER, Nov. 3, 2009, ABC News)
Perhaps most striking – though simply confirmatory of national polls – were views on the economy. A vast 90 percent in New Jersey and 85 percent in Virginia said they're worried about the direction of the nation's economy in the next year; majorities, 55 percent and 53 percent, respectively, said they're "very" worried about it.In Virginia, voters who expressed the highest levels of economic concern supported McDonnell by a very wide margin, 73-26 percent. Moreover, 46 percent called the economy the single top issue in their vote, far and away No.1, and those economy voters favored McDonnell over Deeds by a 10-point margin in preliminary results. (An additional 14 percent called taxes their top issue – and those voters went for McDonnell by a far broader margin.)
Deeds did better with young voters than with their elders, but in Virginia – as in the New Jersey gubernatorial race as well – the preliminary results indicated a sharp drop-off in turnout by voters under age 30 compared with 2008 and previous years.
Another, related factor in Virginia was an increase in turnout by conservatives, who accounted for 39 percent of voters in preliminary results, up from 33 percent in 2008.
Republican Bob McDonnell wins Virginia governor's race (Associated Press/guardian.co.uk, 4 November 2009)
As if on cue, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid indicated today that lawmakers may not complete healthcare legislation this year, missing Obama's deadline on his signature issue and pushing debate into a congressional election year.
European court: No crucifixes in Italian schools (AP, 11/03/09)
In a decision that could force a review of the use of religious symbols in government-run schools across Europe, the court ordered Italy to pay a euro5,000 ($7,390) fine to a mother in northern Italy who fought for eight years to have crucifixes removed from her children's public school classrooms. The Italian government said it would appeal.Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the crucifix was a fundamental sign of the importance of religious values in Italian history and culture and was a symbol of unity and welcoming for all of humanity — not one of exclusion.
He said a European court had no right intervening in such a profoundly Italian matter and said "it seems as if the court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity, which was and remains essential."
Creationism, Minus a Young Earth, Emerges in the Islamic World (KENNETH CHANG, 11/03/09, NY Times)
Some academics at the conference worried that the rejection of some aspects of evolution might leave Islamic countries at a disadvantage in scientific education. Dr. Hameed said a negative reaction to evolutionary theory could reflect a struggle to retain cultural traditions and values against Western influences, even though Islamic creationists readily borrowed many of the arguments from Western creationists, just removing the young-Earth aspects.There is some indication that in the West, where non-Islamic influences are strongest, Islamic creationism may be stronger in reaction to the outside pressure. For example, high school students at Islamic schools in and near Toronto were far more doubting of evolution than students in Indonesia or Pakistan, the McGill researchers found. A majority of the students at the Canadian Islamic schools disagreed that a significant body of data supported evolution and that all life came from the same common ancestors.
At the same time, many of the Canadian Muslims even acquired young-Earth creationist beliefs, which are thoroughly Western in origin. Only half the students surveyed at the Islamic schools in the Toronto area thought fossils showed that life had existed for billions of years and had changed over time, compared with the 86 percent of the students in Pakistan.
In a study financed by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Hameed and his colleagues will survey the beliefs of Muslim doctors in five Muslim countries — Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey — and compare them with Muslim doctors in non-Muslim countries — Turkish doctors in Germany, Pakistani doctors in Britain, and Turkish and Pakistani doctors in the United States.
“We actually expect, especially in Europe, where they have a harder time merging in the culture,” Dr. Hameed said, “harsher rejection of evolution in England and Germany” than in Muslim countries.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Sunnis constitute a majority of the population in Iraq.
N. B. As Brother Cohen points out, the correction is hilarious.
Last-minute NY 23rd poll: Conservative Doug Hoffman surges, but ... (Andrew Malcolm, November 2, 2009 , LA Times)
It now sounds as if the national party, which originally backed Scozzafava as the choice of state party county chairpeople, has gotten the new grass-roots message. This afternoon, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he regrets having backed Scozzafava.Now listen to the RNC's new ad by clicking here. The "Pelosi/Paterson train wreck," "real conservative change," "proven conservative ideas like lower taxes."
But did you notice anything missing from that ad? Listen again.
It doesn't mention the candidate's name. Hmmm.
Well, the new last-minute polling by the Siena Research Institute shows Hoffman gaining momentum and pulling away to a 41-36 lead over Owens among likely voters. However, the pollsters said many of Scozzafava's supporters seem to have moved into the "undecided" column, which has increased to 18% -- keeping the outcome hard to predict.
However, the numbers also show that Hoffman's support among Republicans has soared from 27% in mid-October, before the Palin/Thompson/Armey endorsements, to 50% last Saturday and 63% today.
Meanwhile, Owens' support among Republicans moved from 19% to 13% to 14%, and his support among Democrats went from 55% to 66% to 62%.
Hence, the arrival of Biden to shore up his own base.
Mr. Deeds for Governor (Washington Post, October 18, 2009)
There are plenty of reasons why Mr. Deeds is the better choice for governor in the Nov. 3 election. He has stood with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the incumbent, and his predecessor, now-Sen. Mark R. Warner, in support of the sane fiscal and budgetary choices that have made the state one of the best-governed and most business-friendly in the nation. Mr. McDonnell has generally spurned those policies, most notably by opposing Mr. Warner's landmark tax package in 2004, which attracted bipartisan support as it boosted public safety and education and protected the state's finances. Mr. Deeds has compiled a moderate record on divisive social issues that reflects Virginia's status as a centrist swing state. Mr. McDonnell has staked out the intolerant terrain on his party's right wing, fighting a culture war that seized his imagination as a law student in the Reagan era.
Alien Seduction: ABC's sci-fi series V, which premieres tonight, tackles questions of blind faith, asking, "Would we believe them?" (Todd Hertz, 11/03/2009, Christianity Today)
In the original V, the conquest of powerful reptilian aliens—known as the Visitors—was a metaphor for Hitler's Germany. The Vs rose to power with Nazi-like propaganda, persecution, and overwhelming military force. But the new V isn't about dominating with might. Led by their beautiful and diplomatic leader Anna, these Visitors attack not with guns but with hope. These aliens appear with messages of peace, love, and understanding. They arrive in sleek, elegant ships hovering over 29 major cities, and promise amazing technological advancements. They heal the sick. They raise spirits.
They come—in a desperate time of war, disease and despair—as earth's saviors. As one skeptical character says, "The world is in bad shape; who wouldn't welcome a savior right now?"
And the show asks: Would we believe them? "The chief allegory here is the idea of blind devotion," said V executive producer Jeffrey Bell in an interview with Christianity Today. "If anyone is showing up and saying something too good to be true, are people thinking? Are they asking questions? Are they prepared and informed? Are you just accepting and believing what you are told?"
The Best American President India's Ever Had: That's George W. Bush. (Ashok Malik, 11.03.09, Forbes)
On Oct. 30 and 31, George W. Bush visited New Delhi and Bombay for meetings with India's political, strategic and business establishment. In the Indian capital, he addressed an audience of federal government officials, parliamentarians, business executives and foreign policy wonks that comprised the most receptive gathering the former American president had encountered in a long, long time.As Bush left the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit--a high-profile conference organized by a leading Indian newspaper--the ambassador of a major country, a NATO ally, could be seen shaking his head, recovering from the standing ovation the 43rd president had received on his way out (a repeat of the effusive applause on his way in): "Can't think of too many countries where he'd get such a reception ... India and Israel maybe ..." "And Poland ..." his interlocutor added. "And Poland ..." the ambassador repeated, still a little dazed.
If Only Obama's Performance Mattered More. (Rick Perlstein, 11/03/09, Daily Beast)
With too few exceptions, Obama very much not among them, the Democrats have shown neither the willingness nor the ability to foment populist politics from the left.
Obama betrays hope created by Cairo speech (Craig Nelson, 11/03/09, The National)
It’s official: forget Cairo. Fold up the speech and throw it in the bin, or put it in that already bulging folder marked “Bad Faith & Broken Promises”.That seems to be the unintended but unavoidably obvious message of the about-face by the US president Barack Obama and his decision last weekend to press ahead with Israeli-Palestinian talks despite Arab and Palestinian demands that Israel halt West Bank settlement construction first.
Interestingly, Mr Obama did not make the announcement himself. He put his travelling secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, up to it during a stop in Jerusalem on Saturday.
But make no mistake: the onus for the decision falls on Mr Obama himself. And in its vindication of violence over diplomacy and stalling over engagement, Mr Obama’s move ranked him alongside George W Bush, the man whose record he ran against to win the presidency.
Berkshire buying Burlington Northern railroad (Associated Press, November 3, 2009)
Making a $34 billion bet on the future of the U.S. economy, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. on Tuesday agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp."Berkshire's $34 billion investment in BNSF is a huge bet on that company, CEO Matt Rose and his team, and the railroad industry," Buffett said in a statement.
Europe's quiet leader (Anne Applebaum, November 3, 2009 , Washington Post)
[P]artly by default and partly by design, Merkel is now the de facto leader of Europe. Over in Britain, Gordon Brown's Labor Party is immolating itself. Over in France, President Nicolas Sarkozy's attention-deficit issues propel him from one project to the next, to the irritation of everybody. The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is under endless investigation, and everyone else is too small or too preoccupied to compete. Even when the European Union chooses its next president later this year, he (and it almost certainly will be a he) will find it extremely difficult to do anything that contradicts the wishes of Merkel, who regularly tops lists of the world's most powerful women.In fact, the more I watch her, the more I am convinced that her femaleness holds the key to her success. Under her watch, Germany has continued to grow more powerful, more influential, more dominant than ever before.
Demographic changes have been pinpointed as an important if challenging opportunity for coach holiday travel over the coming years. It is, therefore, important for all involved not only to keep an eye on current economic forecasts and developments in source markets and holiday destinations but also to keep a close eye on medium to long-term demographic changes and developments.Germany’s population has been in decline since 2003 but has been shrinking faster then expected according to the Germany Federal Statistics Office. The statisticians reckon with a decline of ca. 0.2 % to 82.06 million. There were 150,000 to 160,000 more deaths in 2008 than births. In 2007 142,000 more people died than were born. Immigration and emigration were in equilibrium. In previous years immigration was dominant.
27% Say Hillary Would Be Better President Than Obama (Rasmussen, November 02, 2009)
Just 14% of U.S. voters say Hillary Clinton would be doing a worse job as president than Barack Obama if she had won last year’s Democratic presidential nomination.A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 27% of voters think Clinton would be doing a better job as president while 49% say she would be performing about the same.
Clinton wishes he had left White House "in a coffin" (Reuters, Nov 2, 2009)
Planned Parenthood Director Quits After Watching Abortion on Ultrasound (Joseph Abrams, 11/02/09, Fox News)
The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a "change of heart" after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility.Abby Johnson, 29, used to escort women from their cars to the clinic in the eight years she volunteered and worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. But she says she knew it was time to leave after she watched a fetus "crumple" as it was vacuumed out of a patient's uterus in September.
'When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely pro-choice," Johnson told FoxNews.com. But after seeing the internal workings of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, "I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart ... a spiritual conversion."
A Glimpse of the Future? (BOB HERBERT, 11/03/09, NY Times)
What was missing from these appearances by the president and vice president was the feeling of excitement that should accompany the early stages of an important national mission. Mr. Obama made his appearance in Arcadia, delivered his remarks and quickly moved on to other matters. The nation was not moved. The president’s remarks were not widely heard.
Numbers Don't Support Migration Exodus to "Cool Cities" (Joel Kotkin 11/03/2009, New Geography)
Net migration, both before and after the Great Recession, according to analysis by the Praxis Strategy Group, has continued to be strongest to the predominately red states of the South and Intermountain West.This seems true even for those seeking high-end jobs. Between 2006 and 2008, the metropolitan areas that enjoyed the fastest percentage shift toward educated and professional workers and industries included nominally "unhip" places like Indianapolis, Charlotte, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Fla., Tampa, Fla., and Kansas City, Mo.
The overall migration numbers are even more revealing. As was the case for much of the past decade, the biggest gainers continue to include cities such as San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Rather than being oases for migrants, some oft-cited magnets such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago have all suffered considerable loss of population to other regions over the past year.
Much the same pattern emerges when you look at longer-term state demographic patterns. A recent survey by the Empire Center for New York State Policy found that the biggest net losers in terms of per capita outmigration between 2000 and 2008 were, with the exception of Louisiana, all blue state bastions. New York residents lead in terms of rate of exodus, closely followed by the District of Columbia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and California.
An even greater shock to the sensibilities of the insular, Manhattan-centric media, the report found that most of the movement from the Empire State was not from the much-dissed suburbia, but from that hip and cool paragon, New York City. This can not be ascribed as a loss of the unwanted: According to the report, those leaving the city had 13% higher incomes than those coming in.
How can this be, when everyone who's smart and hip is headed to the Big Apple? This question was addressed in a report by the center-left, New York-based Center for an Urban Future. True, considerable numbers of young, educated people come to New York, but it turns out that many of them leave for the suburbs or other states as they reach their peak earning years.
Indeed, it's astonishing given the many clear improvements in New York that more residents left the five boroughs for other locales in 2006, the peak of the last boom, than in 1993, when the city was in demonstrably worse shape.
The arithmetic of the frontier (H.D.S. Greenway, November 3, 2009, Boston Globe)
PRESIDENT OBAMA is doing the arithmetic of fighting in Afghanistan and figuring the odds of Pakistan pulling through. He must not only add up the numbers of soldiers he wants to hand over to his generals, but must also measure what is achievable against what his country has to spend in money and blood.
Biden Stumps in a Race Steeped in Ideology (JEREMY W. PETERS, 11/03/09, NY Times)
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. threw the heft of the White House behind the Democratic candidate on Monday in a race for a vacant Congressional seat that both Democrats and Republicans view as significant tests of their political fortunes. [...]Mr. Biden’s appearance, at a community center here, coincided with a visit by one of the Republican Party’s better-known figures, Fred D. Thompson, an actor and former senator from Tennessee, who campaigned for the Republican-backed candidate, Douglas L. Hoffman. At a boisterous rally at the local fairgrounds that drew a significantly larger crowd than Mr. Biden’s appearance did earlier in the day, Mr. Thompson praised Mr. Hoffman as the kind of candidate who understands people who think, “I don’t like the direction my country is going in; they’re trying to change my country.”
Virginia Republicans expect to make gains (Sarah Abruzzese, 11/02/09, Washington Times)
Virginia Democrats thought incumbent Delegate Dan C. Bowling had a safe seat.That was before Republican James W. Morefield successfully turned the discussion in their Southwest Virginia coal-producing region into the negative effects of proposed federal cap-and-trade legislation, which would limit companies' carbon emissions.
Now Democrats are fighting to win the race that the political blog Swing State Project has reclassified from "likely Democrat" to a "toss-up."
That story has been repeated across Virginia, as voters awash in weighty national issues have a voice only in state elections this season.
In face of Arab anger, Clinton amends view on Israel's offer to curb West Bank growth (Karen DeYoung, 11/02/09, Washington Post)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to soothe Arab uneasiness Monday over weekend statements she made praising the Israeli government's offer to "restrain" growth in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying it "falls far short" of the Obama administration's hopes and is "not enough."
AP sources: House health bill totals $1.2 trillion (DAVID ESPO, 11/02/09, AP)
The health care bill headed for a vote in the House this week costs $1.2 trillion or more over a decade, according to numerous Democratic officials and figures contained in an analysis by congressional budget experts, far higher than the $900 billion cited by President Barack Obama as a price tag for his reform plan.
In Iowa, Second Thoughts on Obama (JEFF ZELENY, 11/03/09, NY Times)
Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to a pair of young campaign workers.But by the time she received a fund-raising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, a sense of disappointment had set in. She returned the solicitation with a handwritten note, saying, “Until I see some progress and he lives up to his promises in Iowa, we will not give one penny.”
“I’m afraid I wasn’t realistic,” Ms. McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse, said on a recent morning on the deck of her home here in east-central Iowa.