ECDP Discussion

[discussion] Votor Registration Form

2010-09-08T18:50:11Z

This is so everyone has them available as we head down the final stretch.

Christine Mitchell

Secretary Erie County Democratic Party

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[discussion] Republicans Slip From Unprecedented Lead to a Tie in Gallup Survey

2010-09-08T11:30:02Z

Friends

I attach a recent article from Roll Call that discuss the results of the recent Gallup survey, according to this Democrats and Republicans are again tied in the generic ballot. Though, this is a piece of good news given the unprecedented 10 point advantage for GOP shown in a previous Gallup Poll, it is hardly a cause for celebration. Remember the Republicans usually do a better job than us during the midterms. Their voters tend to be older and more white, a more typical profile of the likely mid-term voters. Moreover, Republicans hold a 25-point advantage in enthusiasm over Democrats

We must reclaim the message, emphasize the Democratic accomplishments and agenda for improving the lives of our middle class, our efforts to bring the country out of the deep and wide ditch that Bush and the GOP brought us in. As for the Republicans we must expose that they are not viable, they wish to privatize Social Security and replace Medicare, they only bring gridlock and inaction as the party of NO, and they wish to roll back all the accomplishments of our President and the Democratic Congress, all that their Agenda for America is a return to the Failed Policies of the Bush Years !!!

[I will come back to this later today or tomorrow, I am finishing an essay about the Democratic Strategy and Message for 2010 with my commentary on what was recently articulated by Tim Kaine, Chairman of DNC, and David Plouffe, the President's campaign manager for 2008 and Head of OFA]

The only way to win, to elect our Democratic Candidates, to keep the House and Senate as well as many Governorships in Democratic Hands is by launching an unprecedented GOTV Effort !!!

I end again with a call to action:

It is our responsibility to rise to the occasion, explain the Democratic accomplishments and expose the Republican falsehoods and agenda, talk to our families, friends and co-workers, knock on doors, make phone calls, donate, organize and participate in fundraising events, attend rallies, write letters to the Newspapers, volunteer ourselves and motivate others to volunteer. Let us re-energize our Base and inspire again the sixty eight or so millions of Americans who believed in the President's message (of hope, intelligent efficient government and compassion for all our people) to come out again and support the Democratic Agenda and our Candidates with their vote on November 2 !!!

There are only 55 Days left to Nov 2 !!! Are we doing our best ? Don't we believe that there is no they, only us ? At the end we will have only ourselves to congratulate or to blame ...

Evan Geraniotis

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Republicans Slip From Unprecedented Lead to a Tie in Gallup Survey

Sept. 7, 2010, 7:33 p.m.
By Melanie Starkey
Roll Call Staff

Democrats and Republicans are now tied in Gallup’s weekly tracking of voter preferences, just a week after Republicans took an unprecedented l0-point lead.

Last week’s survey results showed that 51 percent of registered voters preferred Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections, while 41 percent preferred Democrats. This week’s survey shows the parties tied at 46 percent, ending Republicans’ five consecutive weeks in the lead.

The 10-point gap last week was the largest lead for the GOP since Gallup began tracking the midterm generic ballot in 1942.

This week’s “results reflect more competitive voting intentions than has been the case recently,” Gallup said in releasing its data. However, the Gallup report said, even the tie bodes well for Republicans because of the party’s typically higher voter turnout in midterm elections.

Gallup also has registered no change in the enthusiasm gap among voters, with the GOP maintaining a 25-point lead on the question of how motivated people are to go to the polls in November.

The survey was taken Aug. 30 to Sunday and polled a random sample of more than 1,650 registered voters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The tied generic ballot was a slice of good news for Democrats on Tuesday, the same day that a new Washington Post/ABC News poll provided further evidence that the party faces an increasingly tough political climate.

The Post/ABC poll found Republicans statistically tied with Democrats on the question of which party voters trust more to run the country. It was the first time that has happened in four years and came just three months after a poll found Democrats with a 12-point advantage. The poll also found the GOP ahead by a 13-point margin in the generic ballot test.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee circulated the new Gallup numbers Tuesday evening, calling them a reality check for prognosticators who spent the Labor Day weekend fueling talk of an increasingly gloomy political outlook for House Democrats. Earlier Tuesday, the committee released new polling data in several top races that showed Democratic incumbents in relatively good standing.

“With eight weeks until Election Day, Republicans and Beltway pundits may want to hold off on calling the race for the House before voters cast their ballots,” DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said.

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[discussion] Tea Party Manifesto for GOP Candidates

2010-09-03T13:10:02Z

Friends

The following scary article from ThinkProgress cites what came out of the Freedom Institute of Erie County OH, a local Tea Party outfit in our neighboring State.

It describes the Tea Party Manifesto and the litmus test that Ohio Republicans must pass to get the support of the Tea Party. Pay attention to items 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14. They get rid of abortion rights and gay rights, leave Climate Change to God, repeal Health Care Reform, do not allow Gays in the military, expose Government workers to free market tantrums, deny Unions card checks, and abolish the Fed Reserve.

It seems that John Boehner (House Minority Leader, R-OH) who aspires to become the next Speaker of the House, (God save us from this calamity) subscribes to it !!! And of course the real beauty the GOP Manifesto is coming up soon. I can not wait to feast my eyes on it ... and tear it to pieces...

If this is the future for America that the Tea Party and the GOP aspire to, Is it not worth fighting to the end with all our strength and ability to prevent them ?

Only 59 Dates Left !!! Fight Back !!! Elect our Democratic Candidates !!!

Evan Geraniotis

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Ohio Tea Party Survey To Candidates: Reject Gay Rights, Let God Deal With Climate Change

Source: Think Progress
Date: August 31
Author: Tanya Somanader

Yesterday, after soliciting input from the GOP base, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) announced that “the long-awaited Republican manifesto” will be released after lawmakers return to Washington in September. One part of that base that has been particularly vocal and influential is the Tea Party. But while some Republicans view the Tea Party as toxic to the GOP, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has fully embraced the Tea Party’s input, stating that members “represent the same values, concerns” of “tens of millions of other Americans” and that “we should listen to them, we should work with them and we should walk amongst them.”

If Boehner “walked among” Tea Party members in Erie County, OH, they may provide interesting insight for his new “manifesto.” As the Guardian’s Leo Hickman reports, a local Ohio newspaper the Sandusky Register obtained an email sent out last week by a local Tea party group called The Freedom Institute of Erie County. According to the email, the Tea Party group is creating a “Conservative voter guide” on the positions of candidates seeking office in upcoming elections in order to “rate, recommend, and endorse candidates” based on how they answer 15 questions. While such surveys may be fairly “mundane,” it’s the questions outlining the group’s priorities that provide, as Hickman puts it, “a hearty serving of insight with a side order of jaw drop”:

Now let’s hear those 15 questions. (The document states that the respondents should give one of the following answers: A = Agree; D = Disagree; U = Undecided; A* = Pro-life with exceptions of Rape or Incest, * = Added comments; NR = No Response; CR = Incumbents Conservative Rating.)

1. The Right to Life is a Constitutional right, therefore innocent human beings should have legal protection from conception until natural death. If you hold any exceptions please state them.

2. The regulation of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere should be left to God and not government and I oppose all measures of Cap and Trade as well as the teaching of global warming theory in our schools.

3. Marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman, any other type of Union is not marriage.

4. Children should not be placed into foster homes where the parents are homosexual, bisexual, or transgender.

5. Parental consent should be required for sex education that teaches more than direct abstinence.

6. The second Amendment to the Constitution [the right to keep and bear arms] should not be weakened in any way.

7. Only US citizens should be allowed to vote and a photo ID should always be required to vote. (The Mexican government requires a photo ID and fingerprint).

8. I oppose Ohio’s State Income Tax.

9. I oppose the Obama Health Care Reform and would like to see more affordable healthcare through a competitive, open, and transparent system.

10. I oppose the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy of the military and believe that all same sex partners should be banned from combat duty in the military because of the propensity to transmit blood-borne diseases in the theatre of battle.

11. I support a law that will allow the people to place on a ballot all collective bargaining agreements of all government associations, unions, and guilds, for their expressed approval. Defeat of such an agreement would mean government workers would not be immune from the free market system.

12. I oppose card check for voting to implement a Union as this could give unions an unfair intimidation tactic to implement unionisation.

13. I am not an economic pacifist. I believe that we need to protect our economic borders in order to ensure free and fair trade. Tariffs should be used to stop the wealth and jobs of Americans from leaving her borders.

14. The Federal Reserve as it is currently conceived needs to be abolished or at the very least audited.

15. I advocated moving our currency to a debt-free supply-side labour-based currency.

The email’s author, the Freedom Institute of Erie County (OH) Steering Committee member Jon P. Morrow, tells candidates to “please keep it short sweet and simple” as their answers will “reach 1,000+ Republicans and at least 4.000+ Independents that have a history of voting conservatively.”

According to its website, the Freedom Institute’s purpose is to act as the government’s watchdog and to “raise funds to advocate, advertise, educate, and inform the public on constitutionally conservative positions and conservative candidates we endorse.” Membership only requires taking “the Patriots Oath” constructed by Iran Contra operative Oliver North and right-wing Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson. But ab endorsement, it seems, requires a rejection of LGBT rights and that environmental regulation be “left to God.”

While Boehner has not outright endorsed the group’s principles listed in the survey, significant bastions of the conservative establishment, including the Heritage Foundation and the Koch-funded Cato Institute, are listed as “partners” of the group. President Obama, however, gets his own separate tab and title: “the enemy.”

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[discussion] Study Credits Federal Intervention in Preserving Jobs

2010-09-03T13:05:02Z

Friends

I forward a short and to the point article from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that echos the detailed Article from Newsweek ``Fewer Jobs, Larger Deficits if Republicans were in Charge" that I sent out (together with my commentary) on Tue 8/31. Dave Ninehouser of PennAction sent me the article.

Evan
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Study Credits Federal Intervention in Preserving Jobs

Thursday, September 02, 2010

By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A non-profit economic research group today released an annual report on the state of workers in Pennsylvania that concluded that, absent policy actions taken by the federal government in the wake of the recession, Pennsylvania and the nation would be looking at double digit unemployment rates today.

Economists at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg estimate that, without the economic policy action of the Federal Reserve and the Bush and Obama administrations, national unemployment would be approaching 16 percent and the state unemployment rate would be in the neighborhood of 14 percent.

"Our economy is a product of conscious policy choices," said Dr. Mark Price, labor economist for the KRC. "Federal policy stopped the economic free fall. And policy choices at the national and state level will powerfully shape the future health of the economy for middle class families."

First published on September 2, 2010 at 2:53 pm

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[discussion] ATTEND 2 big events to support Kathy Dahlkemper and Dan Onorato on Thursday Sept 2

2010-09-01T19:15:03Z

1.) Show up and support Dan Onorato at a press conference, here in Erie at 11:30Am Onorato Headquarters at 29 W 5th St, Erie PA 16501....info call 814.273.0450

2.) Show up and support our Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper at 3pm at the Gazebo in Perry Square. Time 3PM. for info call 814-520-8012

Come on ERIE lets get FIRED uP we have 2 months to the election. Don't let Sarah and her Tea party buddies win.

2 media Advisories for your reading.........

*** Media Advisory ***

Dan Onorato To Discuss Marcellus Shale, Protecting Pennsylvania Taxpayers

ERIE: TOMORROW, September 2, 2010, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato will hold a press conference to discuss his vision for Marcellus shale development and describe why Tom Corbett's position is bad for Pennsylvania taxpayers.

EVENT:                      Dan Onorato will discuss his plans for Marcellus shale.

DATE/TIME:            TOMORROW, September 2, 2010
                                    11:30 AM

LOCATION:              Onorato Headquarters
29 W. 5th Street
                                    Erie PA, 16501

--
Chris Fetterman
Deputy Press Secretary, North/Central Pennsylvania
Onorato for Governor
412-281-5678 (office)
610-554-2346 (mobile)
chrisfetterman@voteonorato.com

** MEDIA ADVISORY FOR THURSDAY, September 2**
Tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.: Local Teachers and Erie County Sheriff to Thank Congresswoman Dahlkemper for Saving Erie Education and Public Safety Jobs
Philadelphia—Local educators and Erie County Sheriff Bob Merski will hold a press conference tomorrow, Thursday, September 2, to thank Congresswoman Dahlkemper for saving hundreds of public safety and education jobs in Erie County. Congresswoman Dahlkemper will be on hand at the event to discuss her recent vote.
The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) extension approved last month will save the jobs of 12,500 Pennsylvanians including hundreds in Erie County, assist local communities still reeling from the economic crisis, and reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion. The legislation is fully paid for in part by ending tax giveaways for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.
While President Obama and Democrats in Congress fought to save jobs for Pennsylvanians, Republicans like Mike Kelly, have instead stood up for corporations who ship jobs overseas over teachers, firefighters and police officers.
The press conference is hosted by Organizing for America-Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
Who: Local Teachers, Erie County Sheriff Bob Merski and Congresswoman Dahlkemper
What: Thank You Press Conference
When: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Where: Perry Square
570 State Street
Erie, PA 16501
(Press conference will be in the Gazebo)
Visual: Local educators and Erie County Sheriff thanking Congresswoman Dalhkemper

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[discussion] Dahlkemper Yard Signs

2010-09-01T17:00:01Z

Friends,

We will have folks out this weekend putting up yard signs so if you would like one please email me back with the address(es) of the locations where we can place a sign. With only 62 days left until the election it?s time for us to start making some noise.

Thank you all for your past help and hope we can count on you in the coming days!

Thanks,,

Tina Mengine

Campaign Manager

Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper

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[discussion] Dahlkemper Thank you event tomorrow

2010-09-01T15:15:01Z

"Thank you" event for Kathy Dahlkemper

Kathy Dahlkemper supported legislation President Obama has now signed into law to provide $26 billion in federal aid to assist communities still dealing with the economic crisis and help states keep teachers in the classroom and safety officials on the streets. The legislation is fully paid for and will reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over the next ten years in part by ending tax giveaways for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.

Speakers:

Jodie Abbott, Teacher at East High School in the Erie School District

Bob Merski, Sheriff of Erie County

Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper

Thursday, September 2, 2010, 3:00 PM, at the Perry Square Gazebo

For further information, feel free to contact me (Bob Merski) at 490-2194.

Respectfully,

Bob Merski Jr Sargent-at-arms and Christine Mitchell Secretary

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[discussion] Media Advisory: Tomorrow 9/2 at 11:30am Press Conference in Erie: Dan Onorato to Discuss Marcellus Shale

2010-09-01T13:25:02Z

*** Media Advisory ***

Dan Onorato To Discuss Marcellus Shale, Protecting Pennsylvania Taxpayers

ERIE: TOMORROW, September 2, 2010, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Dan Onorato will hold a press conference to discuss his vision for Marcellus shale development and describe why Tom Corbett's position is bad for Pennsylvania taxpayers.

EVENT: Dan Onorato will discuss his plans for Marcellus shale.

DATE/TIME: TOMORROW, September 2, 2010

11:30 AM

LOCATION: Onorato Headquarters

29 W. 5^th Street

Erie PA, 16501

--
Chris Fetterman
Deputy Press Secretary, North/Central Pennsylvania
Onorato for Governor
412-281-5678 (office)
610-554-2346 (mobile)
chrisfetterman@voteonorato.com
www.voteonorato.com
Follow Dan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Dan-Onorato/95368733976?ref=ts
Dan's Youtube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/DanOnorato2010

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[discussion] Fewer Jobs, Larger Deficits if Republicans Were in Charge

2010-08-31T07:35:02Z

Friends

The attached excellent article from Newsweek (Aug 27) is one of the most detailed and informative written so far on comparing the proposed economic policies of the GOP (if they held power from Jan 2009 forward) and the actions taken or planned by the Obama Administration.   I recommend it most strongly for anyone who wishes to understand in depth what is going on with deficits, taxes and jobs as a result of the policies of the two parties.   It sheds bright light on the Republican misinformation and outright lies that have characterized the GOP opposition during the last 19 months as well as the GOP message and agenda for the 2010 elections.

With strong arguments, data and statistics the article presents a very clear picture of what the deficit and the jobs situation would be, if the policies the Republicans currently advocate had been enacted back in 2009.   This is very illuminating and I urge you to read it so that it sheds away any doubts or confusion that may have been caused by the GOP propaganda and the Mainstream Media's laziness and lack of substance in information broadcasts these days. Before attaching the Article I provide a brief summary of its conclusions.

The comparison is carried out first for the budget deficit (over the next 10 years) for (i) The Stimulus, (ii) Health Care,, (iii) the Bush Tax Cuts.

For the Stimulus (Recovery Act) the result of the comparison is: Administration caused a $ 814 billion deficit and GOP $ 0 since they have advocated no stimulus to the economy.   The risk of doing nothing is of course penalized in the jobs comparison below.   Comparison: Admin $814 billion, GOP: $0

For Health Care the comparison shows that the Administration will save $ 30 billion (over 10 years) while GOP will increase the deficit by $ 455 billion.   Comparison: Admin - $30 billion, GOP $455 billion

Extending the Bush tax cuts for only the middle class (incomes under $250,000), as the Administration wants to do, will increase the deficit by $ 3 trillion (over 10 years) while extending the tax cuts for all (including the wealthiest top 2%) as GOP wants will increase the deficit by $ 3.84 trillion.   Comparison: Admin $3 trillion, GOP $3.84 trillion

Comparison Totals for Deficit: Admin $3.784 trillion, GOP $4.155 trillion. That is the GOP plan would increase the deficit (over 10 years) by $371 billion, even if they had spent nothing to stimulate the economy after the 2008 Wall St meltdown.

Then the comparison is carried out for jobs. It pertains to the Stimulus and the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, since these are the two major items that John Boehner (R-OH, House Minority Leader) emphasized in his recent Cleveland speech about the "GOP Plan" for the economy.

For the Stimulus the employment (new or retained jobs) estimates (by CBO, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office) vary between 1.4 million and 3.3 million. The CBO info was sent to you in my e-mail of Fri Aug 27 as part of my essay Stimulus Added Millions of Jobs. Splitting the difference between the two numbers of the CBO report results in Comparison: Admin 2.35 million jobs, GOP 0 jobs.

Regarding the extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which is the main difference between the Administration and the GOP proposals for taxes, the article after a very detailed and objective comparison reaches the conclusion that between 200,000 and 500,000 extra jobs may be created, if the tax cuts for the wealthy are extended. Splitting the difference results in Comparison: Admin 0 jobs, GOP 350,00 jobs

Comparison Totals for Jobs: Admin 2.35 millions, GOP 350,00 jobs. That is the GOP plan would produce significantly fewer jobs at a time that Americans face a tough economy anda high unemployment rate.

Reality and facts have ceased to exist for the GOP and its followers, they are manufacturing their own facts !!! This should not be surprising; after using Fox News and Conservative Radio to soften up the intelligence of their viewers (typically blue collar whites and other low information or uninformed viewers), anything they tell them, they will parrot it back without analyzing or questioning.   Why should they care about the truth ?    Truth is irrelevant, perceptions and gut feelings are everything !!!   Glen Beck, after the speech at the Lincoln Memorial this weekend, is now the tele-evangelist in chief, not just the liar-in-chief and a self-enriching demagogue. This is what we have to fight against: ignorance, misinformation, outright lies and millions upon millions of corporate money spent by GOP and its Front Groups trying to make truths out of their distortions and falsehoods.

Keep Fighting !!! Help elect our Democratic Candidates !!! Only 62 Days Left to Nov 2 !!!

Evan Geraniotis

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Estimates Say Fewer Jobs, Larger Deficits if Republicans Were in Charge

By Andrew Romano, Senior Editor
Newsweek, Aug 27, 2010

Nothing is more important to Republican politicians these days than jobs and the deficit—at least
according to Republican politicians. As House Minority Leader John Boehner put it in a "major economic address" on Tuesday, President Obama is "doing everything possible to prevent jobs from being created" while refusing to do anything at all "about bringing down the deficits that threaten our economy." Elect Republicans in November, Boehner assured his audience, and we will put an end to this insanity.

There's only one problem with Boehner's message: so far, the things that Republicans have said they want to do won't actually boost employment or reduce deficits. In fact, much the opposite. By combing through a variety of studies and projections from nonpartisan economic sources, we here at Gaggle headquarters have found that if Republicans were in charge from January 2009 onward—and if they were now given carte blanche to enact the proposals they want to—the projected 2010–2020 deficits would be larger than they are under Obama, and fewer people would probably be employed.

The math is pretty straightforward. Let's start with the deficit. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Obama's stimulus plan is projected to increase budget deficits over the next decade by $814 billion. That's a big number. But Republicans opposed the legislation refused to provide an alternative, and now insist that it's been a total failure. So let's be generous and subtract it from their side of the equation. The Obama deficit: $814 billion. The GOP deficit: $0.

Next up is health-care reform. Obama passed it; Republicans want to repeal it "lock, stock and barrel" The reason, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell explained in July, is that "we all know that it's going to increase the deficit." Unfortunately for the GOP, though, nonpartisan experts tend to disagree.

Just this Tuesday, for example, the CBO released a letter saying that Obama's health-care-reform legislation would "reduce the projected budget deficit by $30 billion over the next 10 years,” while repealing the law would generate "an increase in deficits ... of $455 billion ... over that [same] period." Factor those figures into the equation and the Obama deficit falls to $784 billion. The GOP deficit, meanwhile, rises to $455 billion. Getting warmer.

The final piece of the puzzle is the Bush tax cuts. Obama wants to extend them for the 95 percent of taxpayers making less than $250,000 a year; Republicans want to extend them for everybody. How will these extensions affect the deficit? Glad you asked. According to data compiled by The Washington Post," the Democratic proposal would add about $3 trillion to the deficit during the next decade, while the GOP plan would cost $ 3.84 trillion".

That brings the total Obama deficit to $3.784 trillion over 10 years, and its GOP counterpart to—drumroll, please—$4.155 trillion.

That's right. Even if we assume that the Republicans would've spent $0 to stimulate the economy in the wake of the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression—an unlikely scenario, given the very real risks of inaction—their proposed policies would still produce a deficit $371 billion larger than President Obama's.

(Or $335 billion; Boehner also says he'd like to freeze nondefense discretionary spending at 2008 levels, which would save a grand total of $36 billion).

On jobs, it's a similar story. So far, Republicans have only said they'd do—or that they would've done—two large-scale things the Democrats haven't: (1) scrap the stimulus, and (2) extend the Bush tax cuts for Americans earning more than $250,000 so as not to (in Boehner's words) "impose job-killing tax hikes on families and small businesses."

How would these measures affect employment? Regarding the stimulus, the answer is pretty clear. In a report out this week, the CBO estimates that between 1.4 million and 3.3 million fewer people would be employed right now if the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act had never made it through Congress. Split the difference, and the pro-stimulus Obama moves ahead of the anti-stimulus GOP by about 2.35 million jobs. (A more dramatic estimate by the economists Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi [a McCain 2008 adviser] puts the number at 2.7 million, but we'll stick with the CBO stats for now.)

The effect of tax cuts on job creation is a little trickier to tally. Extending all of them, according to the CBO, would lower unemployment by 0.3 to 0.8 percent over the next year or so; extending them solely for people making less than $250,000 would produce a somewhat smaller effect, for a difference of roughly 200,000 to 500,000 people. The problem, as economist William G. Gale of the Brookings Institution has noted, is that "of 11 potential stimulus policies the CBO recently examined, an extension of all of the Bush tax cuts ties for lowest bang for the buck." In fact, he continues, "letting the high-income tax cuts expire and using the money for aid to the states, extensions of unemployment insurance benefits, [or] tax credits favoring job creation ... would have about three times the impact ... as continuing the Bush tax cuts."

In addition, it's unlikely that extending the cuts for the richest Americans would have much of an effect on small-business hiring, which is a claim that Republicans make with some regularity. Why? Because

of the taxpayers that report running small businesses on their taxes, only 2 percent fall into the top two income brackets. The other 98 percent of small-business owners make less than $250,000 a year and wouldn't pay higher taxes under Obama's plan.

History isn't on the GOP's side, either. If keeping the top marginal tax rate at 35 percent—the rate under Bush, and the rate that Republicans are fighting to preserve—spurs so much hiring, why didn't America experience any job growth at all during Bush's time in office? And if a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent—the rate under Bill Clinton, and the rate that Democrats are fighting to restore—is such a job killer, why did payrolls grow by 20 percent during the 1990s ?

The implication here isn't that higher tax rates equal more jobs. Far from it. But there's simply no evidence, either in the history books or the latest projections, to suggest that extending all of the Bush tax cuts would provide an employment boost large enough to offset the number of jobs that would've been lost if the GOP had succeeded in blocking the stimulus—let alone lasting enough to justify adding another $700 billion to the deficit.

The bottom line, then, is that recent GOP proposals would produce fewer jobs and far larger deficits than the plans Obama has already passed or currently wants to pass. This isn't to say that the Republicans couldn't create jobs or cut the deficit if restored to power—just that right now, they've chosen to support policies that would prove less effective in both respects than the Democratic programs they so vehemently criticize.

On the trail, it's easy to talk about cutting pork, slashing taxes, and reducing "uncertainty." But if the party wants to provide voters with real alternatives on jobs and deficits, they should start talking about the sort of deep spending cuts and targeted tax incentives that might actually make a difference someday: reforming Medicare and Social Security, cutting defense spending, reducing payroll taxes, and creating tax credits for job creation. Otherwise, they're worse than what we have now.

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[discussion] Beef & Ballots Dinner

2010-08-30T17:35:04Z

Here is the flyer on the Beef and Ballots Dinner October 1st. Please purchase your tickets and spread the word to support our major event of the fall election season!

I also included the letter for anyone interested in and ad in the program booklet.

Any questions please let me know.

Sincerely,

Christine Mitchell

Secretary Erie County Democratic Party

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[discussion] MEDIA ADVISORY/CW Dahlkemper Scores Forum Victory with Clear Grasp on Crucial Issues

2010-08-30T17:15:02Z

From: Bryan K. Oberle <oberleb@gmail.com>
Subject: MEDIA ADVISORY/CW Dahlkemper Scores Forum Victory with Clear Grasp on Crucial Issues
To:
Cc: "bryan oberle" <oberleb@gmail.com>, "Marie Francis" <marie.c.francis@gmail.com>
Date: Monday, August 30, 2010, 3:54 PM

** MEDIA ADVISORY **

FOR PLANNING PURPOSES August 30, 2010

Congresswoman Dahlkemper Scores Forum Victory with Clear Grasp on Crucial Issues

Kelly repeatedly dodges questions on Social Security, Medicare, help for businesses

In an AARP Candidates Forum Monday morning, 3rd District Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper answered tough questions from both the AARP and the Mercer County Center for Aging audience, demonstrating a clear and commanding grasp on Social Security, Medicare, the economy and a broad range of other issues.

At the same time the Congresswoman's Republican opponent, Butler car dealer Mike Kelly, pointedly declined to answer direct questions on numerous issues, ranging from Social Security, Medicare and federal spending.

On several occasions, Congresswoman Dahlkemper responded directly to Kelly's non-responsive replies, saying, "Mike - you didn't answer the question," then providing direct answers herself on questions dealing with federal spending, debt, the budget deficit and a short, concise question on how to help Western Pennsylvania's small businesses.

By contrast, Kelly repeatedly declined to offer any clear proposals or solutions for any problems other than to repeatedly say, "I don't get it."

"I don't get it" is what 3rd District voters might starting telling themselves as well while Kelly campaigns without providing any road map on what he might do to confront the pressing issues facing the district and the nation.

Contact: Bryan Oberle (814) 520-8012 Cell (814) 490-3575

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