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Thursday, January 19, 2012

2012 Republican Primary Mud-Slinging in Historical Perspective (ContributorNetwork)

Mud-slinging is an inherent part of elections in the United States, and 2012 is no exception. Here's a rundown on mud slung so far in this year primaries, who slung it, and how it compares to mudslinging in elections of years past.

2012 Republican Primary Mud

* Ron Paul opponent Jere Brower allegedly hatched a plot to plant Ku Klux Klan-robed volunteers with pro-Paul signs at his rallies, Digital Journal reported Sunday. Paul's been linked to a decades old newsletter containing racially inflammatory material, the Christian Science Monitor noted.

* Youtube user "LibertyforPaul" posted a video attempting to smear former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman as "the Manchurian candidate," mocking his Chinese fluency and questioning his U.S. loyalty and the legality of his Asian daughters' adoptions.

* Pro-Mitt Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future said of Newt Gingrich in a television ad, "You know what makes Barack Obama happy? Newt Gingrich's baggage. Newt has more baggage than the airlines." The ad impliedly reminds voters of Gingrich's association with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, his 1997 reprimand for failing to ensure his use of tax-exempt groups was legal and lying to the House leadership, and his Freddie Mac consultancy profits.

* A Ron Paul ad portrays Rick Santorum as holding a "blackbelt in hypocrisy," alleging Santorum reversed course on a balanced budget amendment and right to work legislation, while taking more money from lobbyists than anyone else in Washington.

American Mud-Slinging History

* In 1876, Democrats bristled at accusations that Samuel J. Tilden was a tax evader who profited from corruption, Our White House noted. In retaliation, his supporters claimed Rutherford B. Hayes stole money from dead soldiers and shot his own mother.

* "Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha," became the rallying cry of Grover Cleveland supporters in 1884, after Republicans chanted, "Ma, Ma, where's my pa?" to shame him for fathering a child out of wedlock. At a James Blaine speech, the emcee called Democrats the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," smearing pro-Cleveland Irish-Catholic voters.

* In 1988, an independent group for George H.W. Bush used a race-baiting ad against Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis. The ad cast blame on Dukakis for a black felon going AWOL on a weekend prison pass and raping a woman.

* The 2004 Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry was similarly a product of a pro-Bush group. According to the Washington Post, the ad accused John Kerry of exaggerating his military service record to win medals and dishonoring the country by participating in anti-war protests on his return from Vietnam.

* John McCain was smeared in 2008 by anonymous false rumors he fathered an out-of-wedlock black baby and was married to a drug addict.

* An unidentified party circulated a Christmas card in 2007 attacking Mitt Romney's religion. The card, purportedly from Romney's family, contained a quote about God having several wives.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120119/pl_ac/10850839_2012_republican_primary_mudslinging_in_historical_perspective

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The 2012 tech primary (Politico)

As GOP presidential contenders stump for votes from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina, Google, Facebook and Twitter are in a race of their own ? for millions of dollars in political ads.

The tech giants are offering candidates new ways to advertise ? Mitt Romney has spots on YouTube and Rick Perry?s Facebook ads target Christian college kids in South Carolina ? and hiring political consultants, sponsoring debates and poaching from each other?s ad sales teams to jockey for the top spot in political social media circles.

?This is the Twitter election,? boasted Peter Greenberger, who Twitter recently lured away from Google, where he started the search giant?s political ad sales team in 2007. ?We?ll be a core component.?

Not so fast, says Google, the most experienced Web company when it comes to political advertising. Google has expanded its team to work directly with campaigns to come up with ad strategies and every Republican presidential candidate has already bought in, and several have also?bought newly refined YouTube ads that target viewers in specific states or cities.

?What we saw in Iowa and New Hampshire was campaigns using search ads to recruit volunteers and get out the vote,? said Rob Saliterman, who heads Google?s political ad sales on the Republican side. ?They?re reaching people at the exact moment where someone has expressed interest in the campaign.?

In 2008 and 2010, candidates largely used Google ads to fundraise. Now, in a sign of new sophistication, candidates are using the ads to persuade voters. For example, they?ve begun to run search ads on each other?s names. In Iowa, a Google search for Rick Santorum would bring up a critical ad paid for by Perry?s campaign. When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed Romney, his campaign bought ads to pop up when voters searched for Christie.

Google also owns YouTube, the Web?s biggest online video network, where candidates frequently post short ad spots and commercials. New for this election, YouTube offers a ?TrueView? feature that tracks how long viewers watch a video ad, so campaigns only pay when a viewer watches most of the ad.

Then there?s Facebook, which also has practice when it comes to working with politicians, though its user base was smaller for previous elections. The social networking behemoth allows campaigns to target voters of a specific demographic with specific interests because users volunteer their personal information.

In Iowa, for example, Perry?s campaign marketed his faith-focused commercials to Iowans who identified themselves as Christians on Facebook. The campaign also made sure a spot featuring his wife, Anita Perry, was prominent on the pages of conservative women in the state.

Last week, Perry?s campaign launched a new ad targeting students at Furman University, a Baptist college in South Carolina, according to Vincent Harris of Harris Media, who manages Perry?s digital strategy.

Twitter, already central to the national political conversation, is a newcomer to the political ad arena. In September, it launched its first political product aiming to get a cut of the lucrative 2012 ad spend.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71461_html/44194967/SIG=11ml5fdbf/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71461.html

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Romney says he may release tax returns in April

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, right, speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, listens Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidateTexas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks during the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) ? Mitt Romney's four remaining challengers for the Republican presidential nomination did their best to knock the front-runner off stride in a contentious debate, but the best they could do was to get him to grudgingly agree to consider releasing his tax returns.

Romney didn't bend under heavy rhetorical pressure on the issue of his job-creation record at the private equity firm Bain Capital, nor did he apologize on stage for his evolving views on abortion. The former Massachusetts governor stressed the independence of the super PACs that have been running negative ads in his behalf against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other rivals, including former Sen. Rick Santorum.

Monday's night's debate was as fiery as any of the more than dozen that preceded it.

Romney did say that while he might be willing to release his tax returns, he wouldn't do so until tax filing time in April. And the multimillionaire former businessman didn't get much gratitude from his rivals for his halting change of heart.

"If there's nothing there, why is he waiting 'til April?" Gingrich told reporters.

Romney at first sidestepped calls from his rivals to release his records, then acknowledging later that he'd follow the lead of previous presidential candidates.

"I have nothing in them that suggests there's any problem and I'm happy to do so," he said. "I sort of feel like we're showing a lot of exposure at this point," he added.

Romney, the clear front-runner for the GOP nomination after back-to-back wins in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, was under fire from Gingrich and fellow GOP rivals Rick Perry, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum in Monday night's debate as they sought to knock him off stride.

The five will meet again in debate in Charleston Thursday night, the last time they will share a stage before Saturday's South Carolina primary.

The first Southern primary could prove decisive in the volatile contest. Gingrich has virtually conceded that a victory for Romney in South Carolina would assure his nomination as Democratic President Barack Obama's Republican rival in the fall, and none of the other remaining contenders has challenged that conclusion.

That only elevated the stakes for Monday night's debate. It was feisty from the outset, with the attacks on Romney often couched in anti-Obama rhetoric.

"We need to satisfy the country that whoever we nominate has a record that can stand up to Barack Obama in a very effective way," said Gingrich.

The five men on stage also sought to outdo one another in calling for lower taxes. Texas Rep. Ron Paul won that competition handily, saying he thought the top personal tax rate should be zero.

In South Carolina, a state with a heavy military presence, the tone turned muscular at times.

Gingrich drew strong applause when he said: "Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear idea about America's enemies. Kill them."

Perry also won favor from the crowd when he said the Obama administration had overreacted in its criticism of the Marines who were videotaped urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Gingrich and Perry led the assault against Romney's record at Bain Capital, a private equity firm that bought companies and sought to remake them into more competitive enterprises, with uneven results.

"There was a pattern in some companies ... of leaving them with enormous debt and then within a year or two or three having them go broke," Gingrich said. "I think that's something he ought to answer."

Perry referred to a steel mill in Georgetown, S.C. where, he said, "Bain swept in, they picked that company over and a lot of people lost jobs there."

Romney said the steel industry was battered by unfair competition from China. As for other firms, he said, "Four of the companies that we invested in ... ended up today having some 120,000 jobs." And he acknowledged, "Some of the businesses we invested in were not successful and lost jobs."

It was Perry who challenged Romney to release his income tax returns. The Texas governor said he has already done so, and Gingrich has said he will do likewise later in the week.

"Mitt, we need for you to release your income tax so the people of this country can see how you made your money. ... We cannot fire our nominee in September. We need to know now," Perry said.

Later, a debate moderator pressed Romney on releasing his tax returns. His response meandered.

"If that's been the tradition I'm not opposed to doing that," Romney said. "Time will tell. But I anticipate that most likely I'm going to get asked to do that in the April time period and I'll keep that open."

Prodded again, he said, "If I become our nominee ... what's happened in history is people have released them in about April of the coming year, and that's probably what I'd do."

April is long after the South Carolina primary and the Republican nomination could easily be all but decided by then, following Super Tuesday contests around the country in March.

Santorum stayed away from the clash over taxes, instead launching a dispute of his own. He said a campaign group supporting Romney has been attacking him for supporting voter rights for convicted felons, and asked Romney what his position was on the issue.

Romney initially ducked a direct answer, preferring to ask Santorum if the ad was accurate.

He then said he doesn't believe convicted violent felons should have the right to vote, even after serving their terms. Santorum instantly said that as governor of Massachusetts, Romney hadn't made any attempt to change a law that permitted convicted felons to vote while still on parole, a law the former Pennsylvania senator said was more liberal than the one he has been assailed for supporting.

Romney replied that as a Republican governor, he was confronted with a legislature that was heavily Democratic and held a different position.

He also reminded Santorum that candidates have no control over the campaign groups that have played a pivotal role in the race to date.

"It is inaccurate," Santorum said of the ad assailing him. "I would go out and say: 'Stop it. That you're representing me and you're representing my campaign. Stop it.'"

That issue returned more than an hour later, when Gingrich said he too has faced false attacks from the same group that is criticizing Santorum. He noted that Romney says he lacks sway over the group, "which makes you wonder how much influence he would have if he were president."

Romney said he hoped no group would run inaccurate ads, and he said the organization backing Gingrich was airing a commercial that is so false that "it's probably the biggest hoax since Bigfoot."

He called for scuttling the current system of campaign finance laws to permit individuals to donate as much money as they want to the candidates of their choice.

Noting that the debate was occurring on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one moderator asked Gingrich if his previous statements about poor children lacking a work ethic were "insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans."

"No," Gingrich said emphatically, adding his aim was to break dependence on government programs. "I'm going to continue to find ways to help poor people learn how to get a job, learn to get a better job and learn someday to own the job," he said.

Romney is the leader in the public opinion polls in South Carolina, although his rivals hope the state's 9.9 percent unemployment rate and the presence of large numbers of socially conservative evangelical voters will allow one of them to slip by him.

____

Associated Press writer Dave Espo contributed to this report.

_____

Follow Shannon McCaffrey at www.twitter.com/smccaffrey13

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-17-GOP%20Campaign/id-461dda67bd4043de931836df07265ad9

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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Legal hit by Niners' Whitner on Saints' Thomas

San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner, right, is called for pass interference while defending New Orleans Saints tight end Jimmy Graham during the first quarter of an NFL divisional playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2011, file photo, New Orleans Saints' Pierre Thomas runs during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. Overshadowed by all the record-breaking passing statistics the Saints put up in 2011 was a running game that ranked sixth in the league. Running backs Darren Sproles, Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory give New Orleans ample depth. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

The helmet-to-helmet hit by San Francisco safety Donte Whitner that sent Saints running back Pierre Thomas to the locker room early in Saturday's NFC playoff game was legal.

Whitner was not penalized because the tackle was not against a defenseless player. Helmet-to-helmet hits are outlawed against eight categories considered defenseless players, and a runner is not one of those categories.

Thomas was considered a runner because he'd made a catch, turned and made a "football move" before being hit.

The competition committee that recommends rules changes could examine such hits in the offseason.

NFL spokesman Michael Signora said Sunday the "committee always closely studies and analyzes anything having to do with player safety."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-15-Saints-Thomas%20Hit/id-7d3d99ab475e4ce789ff40d662d2e066

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Drop in Melanoma Deaths Limited to Educated Whites: Study (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthDay News) -- Recent declines in death rates due to the skin cancer melanoma among white Americans appear to be limited to those with higher levels of education, researchers have found.

The findings reveal a widening education-related disparity in melanoma death rates and highlight the need for early-detection strategies to effectively target high-risk, low-educated whites, the American Cancer Society researchers said.

The investigators noted that overall melanoma death rates among white men and women aged 25 to 64 in the United States have been declining since the early 1990s, but it hasn't been known if death rates among whites might vary depending on a person's socioeconomic status, a term used to describe their levels of income and education.

To examine the issue, the researchers reviewed death certificates from 26 states and found that melanoma deaths declined about 10 percent between 1993-1997 and 2003-2007 in both men and women.

However, reductions occurred only among whites with at least 13 years of education, and there were actually slight increases among those with the least education. As a result, the education-related gap in melanoma death rates rose by nearly 52 percent in men and by almost 36 percent in women between 1993-1997 and 2003-2007, the investigators found.

The study was published in the Jan. 16 online edition of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to document this education gap in melanoma mortality trends among non-Hispanic whites in the U.S.," study leader Vilma Cokkinides said in an American Cancer Society news release.

"The reasons for the widening of the educational gap in mortality rates are not yet understood, but we do know the cornerstone of melanoma control is recognizing the signs of melanoma early. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with suboptimal knowledge and awareness of melanoma, inadequate health insurance, and lower rates of skin self-examination or physician screening," she explained.

The researchers said there's a need for more vigilant primary and secondary melanoma-prevention education campaigns that target high-risk people with low socioeconomic status and the doctors who care for them.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about melanoma.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120116/hl_hsn/dropinmelanomadeathslimitedtoeducatedwhitesstudy

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Pakistan, UK deny call expressing coup fears

Pakistani tribal people gather to condemn drone strikes on hideouts of alleged militants along the Afghanistan border in Pakistani region, Thursday, Jan 12, 2012 in Mir Ali, a border town of North Waziristan in Pakistan. American missile strike killed four foreign militants in North Waziristan, a lawless region close to the Afghan border that is home to extremists from around the world, Pakistani officials said. (AP Photo/Ijaz Muhammad)

FILE - In this Friday, July 1, 2011 file photo, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, followed by his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, exits after his meeting with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron at his official residence at 10 Downing street Street in central London. Pakistan's military warned Wednesday of "grievous consequences" for the country after the prime minister accused the army chief of violating the constitution, adding to a sense of crisis that some believe could end in the ouster of government. Tensions between the army and the government of President Asif Ali Zardari have soared since a scandal involving a memo sent to Washington asking for its help in reining in the army broke late last year. The memo outraged the army, and the Supreme Court ordered a probe to establish whether it had been sanctioned by Zardari, something that could lead to impeachment hearings. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan's prime minister telephoned the top British diplomat in the country this week expressing fears that the Pakistani army might be about to stage a coup, a British official and an official in Islamabad said Friday.

The Pakistani and British governments denied the report, which comes as tensions between Pakistan's army and government have soared in recent days, leading to speculation that the army might try to oust the civilian leadership.

Pakistani leaders have often looked to foreign powers, especially the United States and Gulf countries, to intervene in domestic affairs, mediate disputes between feuding power centers or "guarantee" agreements between them.

The army, which has staged four coups in Pakistan's history and is believed to consider itself the only true custodian of the country's interests, has never liked the civilian government headed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari.

But a scandal centered on an unsigned memo sent to Washington last year asking for its help in heading off a supposed coup has put the military and the government on a seeming collision course. The note enraged the army, which was still smarting from the humiliation of last year's unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

While most analysts say army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has little appetite for a coup, many believe the generals may be happy to allow the Supreme Court to dismiss the government by "constitutional means."

The reported phone call, which one official said was "panicky," would suggest a genuine fear at the highest level of the Pakistani government that army might carry out a coup or support possible moves by the Supreme Court to topple the civilian leadership.

Gilani asked High Commissioner Adam Thomson for Britain to support his embattled government, according to the officials, who didn't give their names because of the sensitivity of the issue. It's unclear if the British government took any action.

The British Foreign Office, however, said in a statement Friday there was "no phone call on this matter."

The prime minister's office also said Gilani had "not spoken to the British High Commissioner in this regard."

A Supreme Court commission is probing the memo affair. Any ruling from the court that strengthens suspicions that Zardari may have had a hand in the memo could be politically damaging to him.

The court has also ordered the government to open corruption investigations into Zardari dating back years. The government has refused. Earlier this week, the court said it could dismiss Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani over the case. Judges are convening Monday for what could be a decisive session.

Zardari traveled last month to Dubai for medical reasons, triggering widely reported rumors he was on the verge of resigning. On Thursday he traveled to the same city, citing "personal reasons," returning early Friday, said spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

Asked whether Zardari was concerned about his political future, Babar said, "Absolutely not. Why should he be? He is comfortable and perfectly all right."

In parliament on Friday, lawmakers loyal to the government introduced a resolution to express support for the government, a move that would give it a symbolic boost. The resolution, which will be put to a vote on Monday, pledges "full confidence and trust" in the political leadership and says all state institutions must act within limits imposed by the constitution ? an apparent rebuke to the military for crossing into politics.

"Either there will be a democracy or dictatorship" in the country, Gilani said as the measure was introduced.

Pakistan is facing a host of problems, among them near economic collapse and a virulent al-Qaida- and Taliban-led insurgency. The fight against the militant has been complicated by allegations that the nuclear-armed country's main Inter-Services Intelligence is supporting some of the insurgents.

On Friday, a government-appointed commission investigating the unsolved murder of a journalist last year said that the ISI needed to be more "law-abiding." The report did not find enough evidence to name any perpetrators in the death of Saleem Shahzad, who was killed after he told friends he had been threatened by the ISI.

The commission called for the ISI to be made more accountable to the government through internal reviews and oversight by parliament. It said its interactions with reporters should be closely monitored.

Also Friday, militants assaulted a police station in the northwestern city of Peshawar, shooting dead three officers and wounding nine others, said police officer Saeed Khan.

The Pakistani Taliban have carried out hundreds of attacks on the country's army and other security forces since 2007. The attack came a day after militants armed with guns and grenades killed four Pakistani soldiers in an ambush in the South Waziristan tribal area.

_____

Dodds reported from London. Heidi Vogt contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-13-AS-Pakistan/id-0d70e683205d442a803b4143f0ea1346

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