The Presidential Lunch Date

Do you think that Romney and Obama had a productive meeting over lunch?

What is your opinion on these meetings?

Does Romney have new ideas and plans that will be beneficial to solve the issues facing the country?

Let me know your opinion on my questions or anything else you have to say about their meeting.

Illinois legislature goes "Lame Duck"

Well now that the election season is over and the dust has settled the Democrats have developed a veto proof majority in both chambers of the Illinois legislature. Leaders have stated tho that the new make up will not lead to rubber stamping for Governor Quinn's initiatives. If anything the legislature will now be able to do what it wishes such as sweep away a Quinn veto on issues such as gambling.

Thought before the newly elected state representatives and state senators get to Springfield the General Assembly enters its veto session, aka lame duck session. These next few weeks will be spent attempting to work out deals on the huge controversial issues of the year like pension reform, with legislators who will be out of a job in 1 months time. I believe that they will shoulder the blame of causing the needed cuts to occur.

Other issues that are most definitively to come up are:

E-15 Tax Credit - The shift of current tax credits to encourage E-15 as a new blend of gas and ethanol. E-15 has been approved by the US EPA for all automobiles makes 2001 or newer.This new tax credit shift would save the state a substantial amount of money along with helping boost the need for more corn based ethanol made right here in the state.

Medical Marijuana - There is a resolution in the legislature that would relax the ban on marijuana in the state of Illinois to allow for it to be used for medical purposes only. The measure barely lost an up or down vote earlier in the last legislative session and will be debated in Veto Session.



What do you expect to come of this veto session? Do you think anything will get done?

2016?

Well if you watched TV today all you probably heard about was who will be running in 2016!

I can't count the amount of times I have heard about 2016 today already. With the President Obama beginning his final term in office there are those in the media already spreading rumors about who will be replacing him.

We still have 4 years to go and so many issues that need to be dealt with before the next presidential election. I honestly do not care right now who is possibly going to be running for President in 2016, I want these individuals doing their current jobs and not looking to move up. When politicians focus only on advancement they tend to get less done because they are worried about how their actions will effect their chances for the White House.

Where are the stories on the Farm Bill, the Budget, Military Sequestration, and the multitude of other issues that our country is dealing with. My message to CNN and FOXNews is to focus on the huge issues our country still has to deal with between now and 2016 and not who will run for President 4 years from now!

What do you think about these stories about 2016? What issues should be getting more coverage in the media over these rumors?

11 Days!

What's next!

With 11 full days left, so begins the foot race to the finish line. We are just beginning to hear the last minute appeals by the candidates for our support and in some cases 11th hour announcements on policy issues. Are you prepared to make your choice?

 It will come down to the pivotal battle ground states and will most likely be one of the tightest elections since 2000.  Colorado is currently tied 50/50, Ohio and Florida are both too close to call.

How do you think the Battle Ground States are going to go? What do you see as the results of the Election?

Also the battle for control of the House of Representatives and Senate will be decided on November 6th as well. What party will win control of Congress? What are the issues that will control the outcomes?

Either way these decisions will be made on November 6th in the voting booths across America!

WILL YOU SHOW UP?

Social Media and Politics!

What role does Facebook play in politics?

Odds are that you have heard all about the ideas that social media is a means of political engagement. Well the Pew Research Center has been "studying on the social impact of the internet." They conducted research on the impact of Facebook on the spread of political information. Understanding how the public uses Facebook for political speech can help understand what the future of civic engagement will be. 


"Here are the key findings in a recent nationally representative survey: 

38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter use those social media to “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted. Liberal Democrats who use social media are particularly likely to use the ‘like’ button—52% of them have done so and 42% of conservative Republicans have also done so.
35% of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote. Democrats who are social media users are more likely to have used social media to encourage voting—42% have done that compared with 36% of Republican social-media users and 31% of independents.
34% of social media users have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues. Liberal Democrats who use social media (42%) and conservative Republicans (41%) are especially likely to use social media this way."

To see the entire survey and its findings follow this link.

Upon learning this i would like to know what your reactions are to the finding? 

Do you feel that Facebook and Twitter are the future of civic engagement? 

Do you pay attention to the political posts and groups?

Absent Issues!

The first debate was on domestic policy. What do you think of when you think of domestic policy?

I think of issues such as gas prices and energy issues, transportation and infrastructure, healthcare and medicare, as well as taxes and the economy. Yet all the first debate cover was the economy and healthcare. I feel that the issues with jobs and taxes have squeezed out many other issues that are plaguing Americans everyday.

What do you think?

Even with all this talk of jobs and the economy there is little focus on issues that are pressing and immediate concerns to many Americans living in rural communities. I have been researching the issues that congress left on the docket for after the election and found that many of the issues have received very little press. Issues that have been brought on by the summer drought such as corn yields coming in at a 6 year low as well waterway and infrastructure issues.

After a quick Google search of locks and dam issues i found hundreds of sites and articles that go in to detail on how far our water way infrastructure has fallen. Here in Illinois almost all of the locks and dams haven't been upgraded since the 1980's.  One sight in particular showed some interesting statistics about the importance of locks and dams that i have never heard about. Check it out here!

I bet that many of you haven't even heard about the Farm Bill struggles that have been going on in Washington D.C. all summer. Even if you had heard about it it has surprisingly disappeared from the major media sources. This along with the dilapidated conditions of our locks and damns are two major issues that i would have expected to be apart of the debate last Wednesday.

For more information on the rural economy and the effects of the Farm Bill expiration check out this NPR article.


Are there more issues you believe that should be focused on more in the last 30 days???

It's Finally Time to Debate!

Tonight is the first Presidential Debate in this election cycle. Depending on which news program you have been watching the past few days you have heard of the importance of this debate on the race. 

Many see this as Romney's chance to re-present himself to the American public and prove that he has what it takes to stand toe to toe with President Obama. Romney's campaign has had multiple gaffes the past few weeks with his 47% comments and this debate is the chance for Romney to quell those saying he has no chance in this race. He had relatively good showings in the primary debates but President Obama is a very skilled speaker so I expect a hard fought debate tonight.

President Obama's campaign has been spreading the idea that the president is not as practiced as he was back in '08. His campaign is trying to lower expectations so that if the President does do really well it will make him look even better. 

Following the debate tonight I will have a poll set up here on my blog for all of you to comment on what you thought about the debate and who in your opinion performed better. 
Make sure to watch it tonight or the reruns that play for the next 3 days. It starts tonight 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central.

Here is the full debate schedule so you can mark your calendars. They are all at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central


Wednesday, October 3 - Presidential debate on domestic policy
Thursday, October 11 - Vice-presidential debate on foreign and domestic policy
Tuesday, October 16 - Presidential town meeting on foreign and domestic policy
Monday, October 22 - Presidential debate on foreign policy

Money and its Effect on Party Affiliation

I just found a set of interesting graphs that show party affiliation and how it corresponds to income levels.

Do you feel that a persons income effects which party they belong to? Are you surprised by the breakdown?

Check out the story at NPR

Congress Leaves Unfinished Business!

Generally it is this time of year where we hear Congressmen and women coming back to their district touting the work they have completed in the past session. This year all I hear about is the list of unfinished business left back in Washington. It is the longest I have ever seen.

No Solution to the Fiscal Cliff 

No Farm Bill

No Real Budget Reform

No Solution to the Debt Ceiling

No Defense Re-authorization

All these issues must now be dealt with in an abbreviated lame-duck session following the election. With leaving these issues to the election they are poised to be huge election topics. It is sad that policies that could help so many Americans are held up for no reason. In the past session we have seen healthcare repeal acts, that have gone no where, passed 33 times while other crucial issues such as the approaching Fiscal Cliff and the new Farm Bill have not received the attention that they deserve.

The Fiscal Cliff is the compilation of Bush Era Tax Cuts that are set to expire at the same time as $100 billion Spending Cuts go into effect. Many economic experts fear that these both will cause the US to fall into another recession. Legislators are on record calling for the needed action to prevent the Fiscal Cliff  as soon as possible, yet nothing has been done. Now its up to a lame-duck Congress to sort out following November 6th.

Neither side is more at fault than the other for these issues not being completed in the previous session. The partisan bickering on both the Left and the Right have held up needed reforms for the bast 2 years. It is no wonder why Congress's approval rating is at 13%.

We truly need our elected officials to come back after the election and work together otherwise I fear even less will get done in the next session of Congress.

Beware the Romney Ad Machine!

It is not surprising seeing all of the coverage of Mitt Romney in the past week cause a slight dip in the polls because of the missteps this past week. The election is far from over though. I have seen new ads from the Romney campaign that may possible bring more voters to his side. The topic of these new ads, that will be run in the battle ground states, is the United States coal industry and the effects that the Obama administration policies have had so far and threaten to do in the future. Romney is truly showing that he can fight back and will be using his energy policy to show how Americans are not better off than they were 4 years ago.

The debate here is over the effect of the Clean Air Act on the United States coal industry. With higher regulations on emissions and the financial burdens that these regulations have on power plants have basically made building new coal fired power plants too expensive of a venture. Not to mention the continued regulations and inspections that would come with operating the plant. It is the Romney campaigns position that these regulations restrict business growth.  The noose of governed regulation should be loosened to allow for small business growth and the creation of new jobs. This message is very apparent in the new advertising and will no doubt bolster support for Romney in blue collar and rural america.

Watch these ads. Listen to the message that is being portrayed and you will see that they are powerful.  The Election is no where near over just because of a couple missteps. I can already see Romney trying to use his mistakes to change the message back to the economy and tax policy. Both issues that the GOP brand that continues to resonate with the American public.

Fact Check

As you all may remember from the news programs there are people out there who dissect political speeches the second that politicians finish talking. Most recent victim was the Vice-Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan and his speech to the GOP Convention. I watch to the speech and thought that it was a great speech that was geared to make Ryan out to be the Vice-President attack dog that many said he should be.

The question is why would you put some false information in a speech like that? How hard would it have been to find more credible attacks on President Obama's record? There are a multitude of different arguments that can be made to boost the GOP but Ryan and his speech writes chose to risk it has been the focus of a lot of media.

I feel that the media jumped on him a too hard because of some of the stuff he said in his speech. He did not  lie at any point he told his side of the story and some of it may have been a little stretched.

I want to hear your opinion on this speech and the over all message that the GOP took to their convention and how effective you think it might have been. Will the coverage of the Democrats be as hard as it was on the GOP? 

To better check the facts that are spread in this campaign I recommend Politifact.com.

Electoral Math

Some of you may remember that day in your High School Government class when you learned how presidential elections are decided in this country. That little thing called the electoral college and the 538 electors who actually choose the next president. Our founders set this system up from beginning as a prevention of mob rule which brought down past republics such as Rome. I would venture to guess that our founders feared the public would be too easily swayed by politicians that they wrote this law directly into the Constitution.

The current system has been changed only a few times just to modernize the voting and add in a procedure in the case of no clear majority winner for President and Vice President. Every 4 years i feel like the news media completely re-educates the public on how the system works as if it has just changed. It has been relatively  the same since almost 1800, except for the addition of th District of Columbia's 3 electoral votes which were added in 1961.

I bring up the electoral college because in my recent stint of watching the news media, people can now act as pundits and mess with the votes to see what each candidate needs to win the election. I wanted to pass on to you a link to the "Magic Wall" as CNN refers to it. This is your chance to examine the board and see for your self the possible break down of battle ground states that could sway the election.

It is surprising to see how much of an up hill battle it appears that the Romney Ryan ticket has to get to the magic 270 votes (a majority of the 538 electors).

This is where i see the election:

I think it will come down the Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida. If you look at the math Romney will need 2 of those three to win if he doesn't get Florida. Florida is the big prize and the major battle ground but it will be very interesting to see how the campaigns deal with the ever volatile electoral math.

Play around with the "Magic Wall" and let me know what you think will be the final break down of the election.