No Time For Sitting Around

Today is the last day before the 2012 elections and, as we predicted on Friday, it was not a slow weekend.

No one who cares about the outcome of this election - or what happens to their fellow Americans still recovering from Sandy - was just sitting around this weekend, except for those few so-called "Independent" voters who are still hogging an oversized amount of attention from both the Democratic and Republican political players in most races.

This election is still being portrayed almost like a football game by many in the media, but make no mistake about it: the more accurate comparison for this election is warfare. Over the weekend, both sides engaged in heated battles - but only one side took the ethical high ground.

In Florida, Governor Rick Scott's unethical plan from 2011 to cut early voting days in half played out much as both local and national political and media figures thought it would. With less time for early voting, insanely long lines formed - reportedly up to nine hours in one Florida location, and more than six in at least one other.

The Florida Democratic Party had asked for an extension of early voting on Thursday on behalf of all Florida voters from any party, but they were effectively ignored by Gov. Rick Scott. After the insanely long lines, the Democratic Party decided they'd had enough and filed an emergency lawsuit late Saturday night seeking to extend early voting hours for all Florida voters - and they won, at least in Orange County.

In Miami-Dade County, the Elections Department was pushed by the Democrats' action and the large voter demand to open their doors Sunday and allow early voting. The Republican mayor of Miami effectively had a tantrum, because he hadn't directly been involved in the Elections Department decision - so, with several hundred voters waiting in line, the Republican mayor made a bad situation even worse and forced the doors closed again. After two hours of phone calls, legal threats, and hundreds of voters chanting and banging on the doors, not going away, the Elections Department in Miami-Dade opened the doors again - and all voters who were in line got to vote again. Not even potential bombs could stop Florida voters. In short, Republicans did not succeed in hijacking the fundamental right of Americans to vote - at least in Florida.

That may not be the case in Ohio.

A last-minute directive issued by Ohio's Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted seeks to invalidate fully legal provisional ballots by shoving some of the state's information verification responsibilities onto the voter - then penalizing the voter by not counting their ballot if the information provided by the voter is incorrect or filled in on the form incorrectly. Husted's action is not only in violation of Ohio's own laws and in violation of a recent court decision - it's exactly the opposite of what Husted claimed he would do. Not surprisingly, Husted is already being sued over this latest attempt at voter suppression.

That's not the end of the problems, either. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the extremist right-wing group known as "True The Vote" appears to have gotten its members into poll worker positions in Ohio, not just poll observer positions. The dual training of these ethically illegitimate poll workers appears to have gone outside the rules of the Ohio State Elections Board, which could lead to any ballot they touch being invalidated, or having to be re-checked manually by contacting each voter - which could lead to Ohio's elections not being finalized until sometime in December.

If you thought the Republican Party was going to be honest and play fair in the 2012 elections, you haven't been paying attention.

We only hope that these desperate attempts by the extremist wing of the Republican Party to steal the 2012 election backfire, and ultimately result in the nuts being shoved off the GOP's proverbial bench permanently once the election is over. Otherwise, we fear greatly for the legitimate future of free, fair and honest elections in the United States.

As we said earlier, the election isn't just a game this year.

Friday Funday: Dance With The One That Brought Ya

While today is the start to the weekend for some we know, we highly doubt most people around the nation will have an empty dance card for the next few days.

For us, it's the weekend before the national general election - so don't expect us to be sitting around watching DVR episodes of 'Dancing With The Stars' or pre-recorded football games. Ethically, because of our staff members' positions within the media, we can't be involved with any specific political campaign in the traditional volunteer sense. That doesn't mean we'll be on the sidelines. There are still a huge pile of tasks for us to choreograph before the election next Tuesday.

We won't be the only ones dancing around this weekend. Both presidential candidates and their campaigns will also be dancing all over the country. President Obama will be leaping from battleground state to battleground state all weekend. He'll be stopping at events located near both our DC and Florida offices, as he reminds America of his many first-term successes and his second term plans, and enjoys his latest endorsement from Independent centrist Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City.

Mr. Romney will also be dancing this weekend, though for him it will be mostly around the issues and his explosive lies - what Greg Sargent has termed "Romney's Kamikaze strategy". The Romney campaign's continued lies about the auto bailout, and Mitt's severe rebuke from the CEOs of both GM and Chrysler make him look even more ridiculous in the face of both GM's robust earnings report and Chrysler's new sales record. That Mr. Romney's schedule also oddly includes a couple of stops in states like Pennsylvania that experienced political hands say are far beyond his reach is yet another fact Romney will be dancing around.

There will also likely be dancing today about the final jobs numbers being released prior to election day. Private firm ADP released their better than expected U.S. jobs report on Thursday, as jobless claims went down again. Gallup also released their U.S. jobs survey numbers that continue the trend  of the U.S. unemployment rate going lower - down to 7.4% in October.

In other words, the economy is steadily and certainly growing again, a fact the political right can't ignore.

There will also be plenty of dancing at the state level, as Bob Kerrey received the strong positive endorsement of his former colleague from across the aisle, former GOP Senator Chuck Hagel. When a candidate has the backing of both fiscal hawks behind the Erskine-Bowles Commission, as well as the long-proven record of Chuck Hagel, we'd say there really isn't any comparison between Bob Kerrey and his opponent, Deb Fischer, who has the support of people like Sarah Palin and Karl Rove.

Of course, a few of our readers will be dancing for joy that they can finally get back to their homes in New York City - or that they've finally got power back to their homes too.

Last but not least, if you've got the option to vote early where you live, we highly advise you to boogie on down to your local Elections office today or this weekend, and make your mark now, so you don't get tripped up next Tuesday.

However you choose to spend your weekend, we hope you can put a little fun in your steps.

Not The Treats We Expected

As we were gathering our pile of raw stories for today's edition, we had to note how glad we are that our editor Amy and her family in our DC offices are safe, warm, and relatively dry. Like millions of Americans, we have more than a few friends who remain stranded and away from their homes in the Northeast, due to an overabundance of water, a lack of power, or both.

Other than in New Jersey, where Governor Chris Christie wisely postponed Halloween until next Monday, little ghosts and goblins were begging for candy last night in neighborhoods all over the country. Some of the kids in Pennsylvania and Western New York state still got wet on their begging blitz though, thanks to the rainy remnants of Sandy.

Overall, the people we know who live in the wake of the storm are amazingly positive, even now - especially those in New York City. Yes, power is still out for millions on the East Coast, and communication issues are still rampant, as well. Thousands are living somewhere other than in their own homes right now - especially those that no longer have homes.

Even with all this, there seems to have been a few unexpected gifts in the wake of the disaster.

To start with, we've been impressed with the way New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie has been acting this past week. Christie, working side by side with President Obama, has been coordinating with FEMA and both Democratic and Republic governors of the other affected states in an example of bipartisan leadership most Americans don't see at any level these days.

The cynical part of us realizes that Christie's bipartisan actions likely aren't wholly based on his concern for the citizens of New Jersey. There is, after all, a presidential race for 2016 coming up. The less cynical parts of our staff are willing to take Gov. Christie's words and deeds at face value, because - at his core - we think Gov. Christie truly loves his state, and is heartbroken to see New Jersey and it's people so devastated.

There have been more lives lost than we'd expect to see in a natural disaster like this. The true costs of repairing and replacing property and infrastructure haven't even begun to be fully tackled yet. As we already noted, millions are still without electrical power - though we think they may have gained power of another kind.

In fact, that may have been the other gift Superstorm Sandy gave Americans.

As we heard anecdotal stories from multiple people throughout the East Coast today, neighbors are putting away their gadgets and concentrating on their neighbors. Even if they do have power, TV, and internet, they're generally leaving the machines off, save for quick posts, as they help the people they know to clean up, pick up, and deal with the storm's aftermath.

Even in New York City, businesses with power were bringing out power strips anywhere they could, letting passerbys plug in their cell phones for a recharge, free. More than a few spontaneous neighborhood Halloween parties seem to have broken out too.

We know this bipartisanship and neighborliness isn't going to last forever. That it's happened at all has shocked some of the more jaded members of our larger media industry.

Still, if the Northeastern U.S. can take something good from one of the worst hurricanes to ever hit our nation, we're hoping this outbreak of bipartisanship and neighborliness - right before the election - may have at least a few lasting effects.