Free Republic

The presidential election results in Ohio were close: According to still-unofficial figures from the Secretary of State, Barack Obama won the state with 2,690,841 votes to Mitt Romney’s 2,583,582 votes — a winning margin of 107,259 votes for the president. In percentage terms, that is 50.18 percent of the vote for Obama, and 48.18 percent for Romney.

Clinton Eugene Curtis testified under oath, before the Ohio State legislature, that he wrote a program to rig elections. This program would flip the total vote from the real winner to the candidate who had been pre-selected to win by the electronic vote counting machines….

The Toledo Blade reported on Monday that the state Department of Jobs and Family Services will begin reducing food stamps for Ohio residents beginning in 2013. Reduction estimates should total $50 per family which is about $520 million worth of yearly groceries from a total of 869,000 households. ..... This amount was determined by the federal department and Ohio can do nothing to change the outcome. ... “This is a federal issue,” said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Directors’ Association. “It is what it is. They have a formula. ... We just...

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has demoted the former head of U.S. Africa Command who was accused of spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and other unauthorized expenses, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday. Panetta stripped Gen. William "Kip" Ward of a star, which means that he will now retire as a three-star lieutenant general despite arguments from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff against the demotion. Ward also has been ordered also repay the government $82,000. (snip) The demotion comes as retired Army Gen. David Petraeus resigned as CIA director because of an extramarital affair...

A release issued by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network late Tuesday afternoon indicated that representatives from his local office will speak at a press conference Wednesday "to call for a mechanical and hand re-count of the ballots in ... the West/Murphy race."

ALLEN WEST: And what the supervisor of elections of St. Lucie County said, Gertrude Walker, was that they went back and did a recount of the early votes that they had already counted, the first three or four days. What we’re asking is very simple. Let’s have a full recount of all of those early votes, because to have a full 4,000-vote swing in a 35-minute period is unconscionable.

Later this week, Obama will have his first face-to-face negotiations over the Fiscal Cliff. In a post that came out this afternoon, The Washington Post's Zachary Goldfarb nicely summarized Obama's opening offer: Obama’s previous proposal called for raising $1.6 trillion in new taxes on the wealthy by allowing tax rates to increase, imposing a new special tax on millionaires and limiting deductions for the wealthy. He also proposed $340 billion in health-care and entitlement savings, continuing $1.1 trillion in spending cuts already passed into law and generating another $1 trillion in savings through the end of the wars in Iraq...

November 13, 2012 Fort Pierce mayor's candidate files injunction against St. Lucie elections supervisor Melissa E. Holsman FORT PIERCE — A Fort Pierce mayoral candidate filed a request for an injunction Tuesday against the St. Lucie County elections supervisor and Canvassing Board, asking the circuit court to postpone Wednesday's recount, impound voting machines and review the election results. Vince Gaskin asked the court to independently review "the difference in voting totals evidenced by voting machine ticker tape" before a recount of the mayor's race, scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Wednesday. Gaskin's lawsuit, assigned to St. Lucie County Circuit Judge...

High Court Delays Decision In California Gay Marriage November 13, 2012 The U.S. Supreme Court has pushed back by 10 days the date on which it will consider whether to review the issue of gay marriage in California, according to lawyers in the case. The court had been set to discuss whether to grant review of Hollingsworth vs. Perry on Nov. 20, but now says it will consider it on Friday Nov. 30, according to lawyers who represent Kris Perry and three other plaintiffs seeking to marry their partners in California. If the high court decides at that time not...

Tuesday, November 13, 2012 GoLocalProv News Team A prominent Rhode Island lobbyist and Democratic fundraiser gave a $300,000 personal loan to the twin sister of Jill Kelley, the woman tied to the love affair that ended CIA Director David Petraeus’ career, court documents show. Bankruptcy records filed by Natalie Khawam last April list Gerald Harrington, the founder of the Capitol City Group, as an unsecured creditor on the loan. Khawam owes nearly $4 million in total. The loan was first reported by the New York Post. A message left at Harrington’s Providence law firm was not immediately returned. The Post...

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” - Tenth Amendment What a nasty, sordid presidential campaign, particularly if you live in a hotly contested area. Thankfully, we watch very little television, but wow, talk about being inundated with attack ads. Apparently, Ohio got the point, Romney is evil. Some voters are now elated while others are depressed. Still more risk experiencing buyer’s remorse. Many in battleground states are just relieved it’s over. The increasingly rancorous nature of elections reflects...

November 13, 2012 West-Murphy Day 8: Al Sharpton's office getting involved PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker said she won't back down if state officials get involved in the still-undeclared race between Allen West and Patrick Murphy, but she might have other visitors now. A release issued by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network late Tuesday afternoon indicated that representatives from his local office will speak at a press conference Wednesday "to call for a mechanical and hand re-count of the ballots in ... the West/Murphy race." The NAN release said it...

An important update to this report from last week -- it appears that Harry Reid is struggling to cobble together the requisite 51 votes to nuke long-standing minority prerogatives in the Senate:   Democrats don’t have the 51 votes they need in the Senate to change filibuster rules that could make it harder for the GOP minority to wield power in the upper chamber. Lawmakers leading the charge acknowledge they remain short, but express optimism they’ll hit their goal. “I haven’t counted 51 just yet, but we’re working,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a leading proponent of the so-called constitutional...

Both sides in the 7th Congressional District race are lining up lawyers and volunteers to monitor the final counting of provisional and absentee ballots this week. U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, an eight-term Democrat from Lumberton, is clinging to a razor-thin margin of victory over his Republican challenger, state Sen. David Rouzer of Johnston County. An unofficial tally on Election Day gave McIntyre a 507-vote lead, out of more than 334,000 cast in that race. Since then, more absentee ballots have been counted, dropping McIntyre's unofficial lead to 420 votes, according to the State Board of Elections website Monday.

Ron Barber's lead over Martha McSally has increased to 698 votes, from yesterday's lead of 330 votes. We'll keep things updated as new totals come in. To track the counts on your own, check out the unofficial results here. For an archive of our updates updating you on the updates of the CD2 race, check here

At the press briefing today, White House press secretary Jay Carney was grilled about when and how the President was notified about the Gen. Petreaus scandal and the Gen. Allen scandal. Question: So is it accurate to say the president still has full faith in Gen. Allen? MR. CARNEY: He has faith in Gen. Allen, believes he’s doing and has done an excellent job at ISAF, and I would refer you to the Pentagon for the process under way with regards to Gen. Allen.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Climate change is suddenly a hot topic again. The issue is resurfacing in talks about a once radical idea: a possible carbon tax. The idea was considered so radical that in 2009, when President Barack Obama tried to pass a bill on global warming, that he instead opted for the more moderate approach of capping power plant emissions and trading credits that allowed utilities to pollute more. That idea, after passing the House, stalled in the Senate in 2010 and has been considered dead since.

.... THE PROBLEM Warning signs are flashing on the dashboard for our party. Some of the problems are tactical in nature; others are strategic. We can’t ignore them and expect to assemble a winning electoral coalition in the future. We need a state-of-the-art political infrastructure fueled by rock-solid data that can be relied upon to turn out voters when we need them in the places they’re needed most. We need accurate survey data, and technology in place that will ensure such data is put to use. And as I noted earlier, our strategy at all levels must be aimed at...

During a press conference following a wreath laying ceremony at Punchbowl National Cemetery in Hawaii, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta responded to a reporter’s question regarding the whole issue of sequestration. "Sequestration" is a fiscal policy procedure adopted by Congress to deal with the federal budget deficit. It first appeared in the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Act of 1985. Simply put, sequestration is the cancellation of budgetary resources - an "automatic" form of spending cutback. ---------- And, you know, as you know from my own history dealing with budget deficits, in order to do it on a fair and effective...