MORNING MESSAGE: The Obama Plan vs. The Romney No Plan
OurFuture.org's Bill Scher: "Mitt Romney's jobs plan is a collection of bullet points masking the fact that he has literally no proposals to create jobs. President Barack Obama's newly published jobs plan is a collection of bullet points that understates the detail in the jobs policies he has already proposed. The heart of the Obama plan is stated very succinctly, almost casually, but it's a very big deal: 'use half the savings from ending foreign wars to pay down the debt and the other half to invest in infrastructure at home.' Those savings are not chump change. They are currently estimated at $848 billion."
This Week's Smart Talk: Making Sense On China, Trade and Jobs
Powerful messaging on China in this week's edition of Smart Talk: "We have to put companies on notice: If you want to sell in America, you need to produce in America. And we need to put countries like China on notice: We will treat your exports to this country in the same way you treat our exports to your country. It's time to enforce the rules – and to change the rules that rig the game."
The Homestretch
President Obama urges voters to compare his plan to Romney's. NYT: "In the president’s minute-long ad, and in appearances at the start of a frenetic week, Mr. Obama stepped up his effort to convince the nation that he had brought it back from the brink of economic collapse and that Mr. Romney would embrace the policies that caused the problems. Looking directly into the camera, the president asks voters to 'read my plan, compare it to Governor Romney’s and decide which is better for you.'"
Even a moderate Mitt can't stand up to the radical Republicans, argues W. Post Harold Meyerson: "While Romney has become a general-election tabula rasa, he sits atop what may be the most radical major political party in American history. Regardless of Milquetoast Mitt’s positions, a government with a Republican president and Republicans in control of the House and Senate would use its budget-reconciliation powers (which enables a Senate majority to sidestep the 60-vote requirement so frequently used to stymie legislation) to defund or repeal not only the health-care guarantees and financial regulations that Obama signed into law but also much of the education funding and regulatory safeguards on which Americans have depended for decades."
Right-wing groups flood battlegrounds with smear videos. NYT: "…a new anti-Obama DVD is dropping into voters’ mailboxes, claiming that the president is the love child of an illicit relationship between his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party loyalist … a group of well-financed conservative activists had an idea for what they hoped would be a last-minute game changer in the presidential race … They went to the unusual length of arranging a focus group to test [different] anti-Obama films. Conducted by Frank Luntz … Focus groups were revolted by 'Dreams From My Real Father,' with its conspiracy theory paranoia and dubious evidence … But even though no major Republican activists stepped forward to finance its distribution, voters in Ohio and Florida have reported receiving the DVD."
Rove super PAC brings Clint Eastwood back. NYT: "Clint Eastwood is back on the Republican stage. But this time there’s a script, a 30-second time limit and none of the potential tripwires of live television."
"Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue" argues NYT's David Leonhardt: "The presidential campaign has been more focused on Bain Capital and an 'apology tour' than on the challenges created by globalization and automation. But economists and other analysts also point to the scale of the problem. No other rich country — not Japan, not any nation in Europe — has figured out exactly how to respond to the challenges."
Republicans In Key Senate Races Swerve Far Right
Sen. Scott Brown tries ObamaCare smear to regain lead over Warren. Roll Call: "Warren tied him to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who is certain to lose Massachusetts on Nov. 6. 'AARP describes Mitt Romney’s claim, which Scott Brown now echoes, that the president’s health care bill will weaken Medicare as, and this is a quote, "simply not true," … I am stunned that Mitt Romney would choose to base a central part of his campaign on something that has been proven false. And that Scott Brown would take a page out of that playbook and try to run it past the people of Massachusetts.'"
in 9-point shift, Warren now leads Brown by 6 in latest WBUR poll: "'When you go from a four-point lead for one candidate to a five-point lead for another candidate, it is a meaningful change, definitely,' [pollster Steve] Koczela said."
IN GOP senate candidate Richard Mourdock claims rape is God's will in debate. AP: "'…I think, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen,' Mourdock said … Romney distanced himself from Mourdock on Tuesday night — a day after a television ad featuring the former Massachusetts governor supporting the GOP Senate candidate began airing … Romney aides would not say whether the ad would be pulled …"
Republican regret with Citizens United? NYT: "…some Republicans are now growing more disenchanted with the system that has allowed the barrage of ads, often by shadowy groups, and the effects it has had on what they see as a sullen and disenchanted electorate. 'Once we get back, those that do get re-elected will all be commiserating about all the negative ads,' said Representative Joe Heck of Nevada, a Republican who faced ads accusing him of voting against a rape crisis center and against money to help victims of domestic violence, among other things. 'And that will start the groundswell for reform.'"
Progressives Set Marker For Fiscal Cliff Talks
Liberal groups prepare to keep Social Security and Medicare cuts out of any "grand bargain." The Hill: "…liberal groups are planning to launch an aggressive campaign immediately after Election Day to pressure Obama and Senate Democrats … It is expected to include the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union, Campaign for America’s Future, members of the Strengthen Social Security coalition and dozens of other groups … 'There’s going to be a major effort by lots of groups to make sure the people we vote for don’t sell us down the river,' said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future … Hickey and other activists say they are simply asking Democrats to stick to their promises to defend Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security."
"Americans Don't Want Grand Bargain" writes AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka in Politico oped: "What is the grand bargain? It boils down to lower tax rates for rich people — paid for by benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These are precisely the issues that are being debated so vigorously in the campaign, and voters do not want anything to do with such a deal."
Coalition partners in Greek government resist attempt to junk worker rights in bailout deal. NYT: "The leader of the moderate Democratic Left, Fotis Kouvelis, said his party, the smallest in the coalition, would oppose the labor changes if they were submitted to Parliament … Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the Socialist wing of the coalition, said the [international lender] troika’s insistence on the labor law overhaul was 'unjustifiable and provocative,' … [But he] did not explicitly state that his party would vote against the proposed labor reforms … Both sides hinted at a breakthrough last week, but negotiations subsequently stalled over the troika’s demands for changes to labor laws — chiefly the abolition of automatic salary increases in both the private and public sectors and a reduction of the severance given to employees dismissed from private firms."
