Thursday, August 2, 2012

Pew: Obama Leads Romney By 10 Points Nationally

A new poll from the Pew Research Center finds more voters say they have an unfavorable than favorable view of Mitt Romney by a 52% to 37% margin.

A review of final pre-election surveys of voters since 1988 finds that all candidates enjoyed considerably higher personal ratings going into the final days of their campaigns than does Mitt Romney currently. Only three, Michael Dukakis in 1988, George H.W. Bush in 1992 and Bob Dole in 1996, were not rated favorably by a majority of voters.

Obama continues to hold a sizable lead over Romney in the election contest. Currently, 51% say they support Obama or lean toward him, while 41% support or lean toward Romney.

This is largely unchanged from earlier in July and consistent with polling over the course of this year. But Obama holds only a four-point edge (48% to 44%) across 12 of this year’s key battleground states.

Read the full report @ Pew Research Center.

U.S. District Court Suspends Five Texas Restrictions On Deputy Voter Registrars

In 2011, the 82nd Texas Legislature enacted and the Governor signed three bills that substantially affected the qualifications to become a volunteer deputy registrar in Texas. Today, U.S. Southern District Court Judge Gregg Costa suspended five provisions of Texas law that place restrictions on groups and individuals who work to register new voters. Judge Costa issued his 94-page order (3:12-cv-00044 Document 65) in the Voting for America v. Hope Andrade case.

The suit was filed in February against Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade’s office by Voting for America Inc., the voter registration affiliate of Project Vote, a national nonprofit voter education and advocacy organization. The deputy registrar provisions Judge Costa suspended with a temporary injunction are:

  1. No one can work in voter registration drives who doesn’t live in Texas;
  2. No one can work outside any one particular county;
  3. Payment to registration drive workers must be an hourly wage and compensation cannot be based on the worker’s productivity;
  4. No completed voter registration forms can be photocopied by the registration drive workers or the registration drive organization; and
  5. All completed voter registrations must be delivered to county elections officials in person by the deputy registrar.
It may take a while for the Office of the Secretary of State to update the Texas Volunteer Deputy Registrar Guide on it's website.

Democrats - Wake Up And Learn To Use The Internet!

by Michael Handley, DBN Managing Editor

In toppling Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst for the state’s Republican nomination for U.S. Senate Tuesday, Mr. Cruz certainly had the full force of the Tea Party movement supporting him with cash, social media, and people power.

Dewhurst, owner of an energy company, dominated Cruz 3-1 in campaign donations, raising more than $33 million. But super PAC and other outside spending on "soft" media buys increases the total money spent by or for Dewhurst to $39.5 million. Cruz's campaign raised just $10.2 million with pro-Cruz groups adding an estimated $8 million more in soft spending.

Dewhurst had more than a 2-1 advantage in campaign spending, used largely for old media advertising buys. And still, Tea Party favorite and former Texas solicitor general Cruz shellacked Dewhurst 55 percent to 45 percent.

What happened to the old math of campaign spending in the 2012 Texas GOP primary? As they proved with big 2010 mid-term election Tea Party candidate wins, Tea Party groups have learned how to use the Internet's free communication channels to motivate voters and get out the vote.

The Tea Party may be an Astroturf movement funded by billionaire conservatives like Charles and David Koch, but it has proven very effective in using the Internet to motivate grassroots conservatives to get out and vote.

President Obama got elected in 2008, in part, by harnessing the Web and mobile phones, drawing in a new generation of young people. Now the Tea Party is using the Internet and mobile devices as effectively as the Obama campaign and much more effectively than Democrats in general, or even old guard conservatives like David Dewhurst, in drawing in both young and older voters.

Grassroots Democrats - wake up and learn how to effectively use the Internet to drive and support your "base building" community organizing and Get Out The Vote ground games!

How the Tea Party Used Obama's Digital Playbook To Gain Power

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Obamacare Gives Women Health Security

Forty-seven million women are getting greater control over their health care and access to eight new prevention-related health care services without paying more out of their own pocket beginning Aug. 1, 2012, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today.

On July 31 Republicans in the House of Representatives for the thirty-four time since they took control of the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, to emphasis their not only their opposition to the Obamacare, but their war on women.

Specifically, the eight preventive-care provisions that, as of today, will no longer entail any out-of-pocket costs for 47 million American women are:

  1. Well-woman visits.
  2. Gestational diabetes screening that helps protect pregnant women from one of the most serious pregnancy-related diseases.
  3. Domestic and interpersonal violence screening and counseling.
  4. FDA-approved contraceptive methods, and contraceptive education and counseling - Birth control covered by insurance companies, free of co-pays.
  5. Breastfeeding support, supplies, and counseling.
  6. HPV DNA testing, for women 30 or older.
  7. Sexually transmitted infections counseling for sexually-active women.
  8. HIV screening and counseling for sexually-active women.

The Rachel Maddow Show," July 31, 2012

Previously some insurance companies did not cover these preventive services for women at all under their health plans, while some women had to pay deductibles or copays for the care they needed to stay healthy. The new rules in the health care law requiring coverage of these services take effect at the next renewal date – on or after Aug. 1, 2012—for most health insurance plans. For the first time ever, women will have access to even more life-saving preventive care free of charge.

According to a new HHS report also released today, approximately 47 million women are in health plans that must cover these new preventive services at no charge. Women, not insurance companies, can now make health decisions that will keep them healthy, catch potentially serious conditions at an earlier state, and protect them and their families from crushing medical bills.

The Affordable Care Act requires many insurance plans to provide coverage for and eliminate cost-sharing on certain recommended preventive health services.

In addition, pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, in August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration published guidelines on women’s preventive services that require health insurance plans to cover certain recommended preventive services specifically for women, without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible beginning in plan years starting on or after August 1, 2012.

The Guidelines are based on recommendations to the Department from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The Department provided for an exemption for certain religious employers, and a transition is provided for certain additional non-profit organizations with religious objections to contraception coverage.

“President Obama is moving our country forward by giving women control over their health care,” Secretary Sebelius said. “This law puts women and their doctors, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of health care decisions.”