Obama Has Huge Electoral Vote Advantage Despite Failures (For 2/4/12)

In spite of high unemployment, a very flawed healthcare reform bill, extending all of the Bush Tax Cuts through the end of this year, and failure to break up the Big Banks, President Obama still is likely to get re-elected this November. He has also signed bad trade deals, still has not ended all of George W. Bush's wars, expanded offshore oil drilling, and failed to reform the tax code. Twenty states with 259 electoral votes have him currently leading the Republican candidate. Republicans have only 106 electoral votes from 15 states in good shape for November. There 173 electoral votes up for grabs. Bill Clinton had 153 votes from 14 states at the same time in 1996 and cruised to re-election. The Republicans are fielding their worst field of candidates in a long time. Approval ratings are at 35% for Mitt Romney and 30% for Rick Santorum. Only 26% of the public approves of Newt Gingrich. Stephen Colbert, as a comedian who uses his sarcasm to do great impressions of conservatives, has a 38% approval rating. Most conservatives, though, do not see how bad he makes them look. Most Occupy Wall Street protesters, on the other hand, want the GOP to realize their failings. They certainly would like to see an opposition party that challenges Obama to come up with better solutions and bolder ideas to our economic problems. http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/11449339-shocker-obama-holds-huge-electoral-vote-advantage-in-statebystate-polling-

Citizens United Allows Big Lobbying Firms to Spend $4 Billion on Elections (for 1/19/12)

Two years ago at this time, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that corporations could spend unlimited, often secret, amounts of money on elections. It allows corporations to spend secretively on attack ads against candidates who intend to regulate and reform their industries. Fossil fuel and healthcare companies will run ads on issues central to their businesses to try to influence the 2012 elections. One can only suspect that many of these corporations will run ads that will protect their bottom lines and deceive the public. These ads will also ignore income inequality. Wall Street banks will likely run ads favoring financial deregulation that will ultimately screw over consumers. Energy companies will continue to run ads saying that fighting global warming by curbing our use coal, oil, and gas will hurt our economy. http://www.alternet.org/investigations/153813/thanks_to_citizens_united%2C_multinational_mega_lobbyist_firm_salivates_over_%244_billion_in_campaign_cash_/

Four Times More Illegal Corporate Political Spending (for 1/12/12)

Just one percent of respondents to the 2009 National Business Ethics Survey saw businesses breaking the law on political spending. That just jumped to four percent. The big reason this activity is occurring is the upcoming 2012 Election, with many in the business community dissatisfied with President Obama's handling of the economy. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Citizens United in January 2010 is the vehicle that let this happen, by allowing unlimited campaign spending by third parties without disclosure. Also, employees report more instances of bribery and illegal payments to governing authorities. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/01/12/403738/survey-illegal-corporate-campaign-contributions-up-400/