Why the Housing Market Is Finally Healing

For such a long time, we've become accustomed to bad news on housing... That I couldn't quite believe my eyes at first when I saw this.

Nevada’s foreclosure rate remains fifth in the nation after big drops in activity compared with last year.

RealtyTrac reports Thursday that Nevada’s September foreclosure rate is down 19 percent from August and down more than 75 percent from the same time last year.

The drop reflects the national foreclosure picture for the month of September. RealtyTrac reports the lowest total number of foreclosure filings nationally since July 2007.

Last October, we were #1 in foreclosures and had more than 3 times as many. While there's still too much pain happening in the housing market here, it's increasingly looking like the market is healing.

So why are we finally seeing some healing now? Much of it has to do with state policies here. AB 149 was a good start in making the big banks take negotiation with distressed homeowners seriously, and further action to require proper documentation before foreclosing on a property has also helped bring down the foreclosure rate.

However, Nevada may have also been helped in the past year by recent federal action that finally seems to be taking hold and providing relief. Yesterday, Salon's Andrew Leonard noted the interesting evolution of housing policy under the Obama Administration, and how it's finally working.

The housing sector is clearly rebounding —home prices are rising, mortgage delinquencies are falling, inventory of unsold houses is shrinking. As a result, consumer confidence is growing and Americans are feeling more comfortable risking their savings on big, economically relevant purchases, like new cars.

A clear case can be made that government policy has played a crucial role in this rebound. There are two parts to the story. First, the Fed’s most recent round of monetary stimulus push —aka quantitative easing —has pushed mortgage interest rates to an absurdly low 3.5 percent, encouraging a wave of new refinancing and new purchase activity.

Second, the White House’s latest, greatest plan to help homeowners, the Home Affordable Refinance Program 2.0, has gained real traction, helping homeowners underwater on their mortgages become eligible to refinance. According to a Bloomberg report, “since the start of 2012, there's been a 65 percent increase in refis for borrowers who owe at least 20 percent more than their homes are worth; HARP now accounts for about a quarter of all refis.”

The Fed’s new determination to pursue monetary stimulus until the unemployment rate falls significantly is at least in part due to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s ability to rally support from Obama’s new appointees to the Federal Reserve. The relative success of HARP 2.0 is a tribute to the administration’s willingness to keep tinkering with policy levers until it found something that worked. In both cases, you can argue that the administration took far too long to exert its will, but this is also clearly a case of better late then never. If you want to understand why the number of Americans who think the country is on the wrong track is finally dropping, the housing rebound offers one of the best explanations, and some portion of responsibility for that goes to the administration.

It's taken a while. And during that period, people were still suffering. But now, we're seeing progress. And it's largely thanks to both and state and federal policies meant to help distressed homeowners find relief and stay in their homes.

Contrary to what Mitt Romney and the "tea party" claimed were foolish attempts to "stop the foreclosure process", it turns out that meaningful policies to stem the crushing tidal wave of foreclosures can actually work when given a chance. Don't believe me? Step out the front door. There aren't as many front doors marred by blue tape and legal notices, and that really is a good thing.

NV-01: Yes, Chris Edwards Deserves a Debate... With Himself.

Ah, so Chris Edwards is back. It seems whenever we're in the midst of important developments in the hot races that people are actually paying attention to, Chris Edwards jumps out in a desperate move to grab attention. This is exactly what he's doing today... With help from our (never to be) "trusted" local "newspaper".

Oh, yes. They went there. Again!

While I certainly appreciate the value of debates in informing voters, Chris Edwards should think twice before cheering on his favorite "newspaper" and demanding more debates. Oh, and he should actually decide what he stands for!

He keeps claiming that somehow "Dina Titus hates Hispanics!" Yet so far, he has no proof of that. And whenever asked about his own ideas for Latin@ community empowerment, he is never able to separate himself from his own party's nonstop insults directed at Latin@ voters. Perhaps this is because Chris Edwards really does agree with his own G-O-TEA base on this?

And really, what else can Chris Edwards talk about? He contradicts himself on the Recovery Act. He can't say anything on health care. He can't completely decide how he wants to balance the federal budget. And again, he has no real substance when it comes to Latin@ outreach. So really, who is this dude and why is he running?

Before Chris Edwards demands more debates with Dina Titus, he needs to finish the debate he continues to have with himself.

Why Did the Frog Give the Scorpion a Ride?

And the beat goes on. Never mind the current state of our schools...



NPRI wants to make an ideological point.

Even when NPRI sued the School District this summer — threatening to derail the tax question from appearing on the ballot — the nonprofit organization maintained it wasn't a political move.

On Tuesday, NPRI seemed to have finally taken a public stance on the issue.

NPRI spokesman Victor Joecks published an article on its website that blasted the district's tax-increase campaign as a "bait and switch" effort that would "hurt families (and) seniors, without increasing student achievement."

"The CCSD machine is, once more, waving the bait," Joecks said. "Don't bite.

What makes this story so funny in such a sick way is that that very CCSD machine aided and abetted NPRI earlier this year.

Many tried to warn CCSD administrators not to get too cozy with NPRI. After all, NPRI's goal is to starve public education to death! What on earth made Dwight Jones and Amanda Fulkerson believe that Victor Joecks and his merry band of "think tank" teabaggers cared one iota about improving public education? No matter how often they'd let NPRI stooges "slip" into CCSD's secure email network meant for official school business only, NPRI would eventually reach this point and sting them like this. [...]

They really should have known better. NPRI doesn't give a shit about our kids suffering under excessive heat and cold in decrepit public schools. If that means its PR hacks can spin the "OUTRAGE!!!" into further dismantling CCSD altogether and privatizing even more of what should be public education, then NPRI is happy. Frog, meet scorpion.

I said that just over two months ago, and I still stand by it today. Not only are attacking teachers and lying about finances bad policy, but they just make no political sense. Yet because CCSD administrators were so damned shortsighted in cozying up to NPRI in order to bloody local teachers, ironically enough NPRI has reemerged... But now, they're fighting to defeat CCSD administrators and the bipartisan backed school bond initiative meant to fix our broken school infrastructure.

If CCSD leaders had just negotiated with teachers in good faith, come clean on their finances, and refrained from giving aid and comfort to their true ideological enemies (at NPRI), they wouldn't be facing the kind of political pickle that they face now. But instead they played with "TEA" fueled fire, and now they're at risk of being burned. And to make things worse, Clark County students are at risk of being burned, too.

What They Really Mean When Crying "Integrity"

Today, the local "newspaper" posted an editorial on the importance of voter suppression "election integrity". They actually claimed that because some non-citizen accidentally got a postcard encouraging online voter registration, somehow Ross Miller is trying to steal the election for Obama... And use this to further his own career! In case you just can't read the entire piece, here's a quick summary.



No really, they might as well have let her write it. Even Jon Ralston tweeted that earlier. And it's crystal clear as to what they really want when they cry about "integrity".

Yet again, the G-O-TEA is demanding voter suppression because that's the only way it can win. As we've discussed before, the kind of "voter fraud" that Sharron Angle and The R-J Editorial Board claim to worry about so much is so rare that it's virtually nonexistent. If anything, they should be worried about the denial of voter registration to the state's poor, as well as the continuing voter registration fraud scandal started by operatives in their own party.

But they're not. Instead, they keep pursuing "integrity" via voter suppression. It pretty much reveals where the G-O-TEA's true priorities lie.

Steve Wynn Still Doesn't Get It.

So Ralston interviewed Wynn (again). Here's how it went down.



We've talked before about Steve Wynn and his his irrational view of how government is supposed to work. But now, he's falling to a new low in letting his loathing of President Obama get in the way of facts.

For one, even Wynn himself admitted that Obama inherited a terrible economic crisis from George W. Bush. Yet despite the evidence showing steady job growth and economic recovery since we hit bottom in 2009, Steve Wynn wants us to believe that President Obama is some incompetent boob who knows nothing about the economy. So if Obama really caused some terrible economic catastrophe and can't figure out how to get us out of it, then why have Wynn's corporate profits been looking so good lately?

And while even Steve Wynn himself struggled to defend George W. Bush's economic record, he seemed more than eager to return to the very Bush policies that threw the country into the mess that President Obama inherited in 2009. He even showed a bit of frustration with Bush's tendency to "tax cut, borrow, and spend" his way out of any politically thorny situation, yet he doesn't want to notice how Mitt Romney's economic proposals mostly call for the same thing. In order to pay for all of Romney's favored tax cuts for the super rich and increased military spending, he will either have to raise taxes on the middle class & working poor, slash critical investment in our middle class that's the foundation of our economy... Or do what George Bush did and borrow more money to try to avoid making tough choices.

This is why I just can't take Steve Wynn seriously as an economic policy analyst. While he's been great at building great casino resorts, he isn't as great at realizing the true economic problems of our time (and how to solve them).

NV-03: One More Reality Check for Joe Heck

This morning, The Sun had a fact check article on recent ads hitting Joe Heck on matters of women's health care. Karoun Demerjian pretty much confirmed the facts behind the ads, then said they deserved an "eye roll" because the CDC wasn't yet recommending broad coverage of the vaccine to cover cervical cancer.



But here's the thing: It didn't take long for them to come around. And in the mean time, there was more than enough information available to confirm what his fellow legislators agreed to. Here's what Nevada NOW did to set the record straight on what Heck did in 2007.

Leading American public health organizations that include the CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend wide-spread vaccination, as do all public health agencies in Europe. Nevada NOW is baffled why Senator Joe Heck, as a doctor, would vote against a bill in the state legislature that brings such health benefits to Nevada’s women at no public cost. SB 409 does not mandate administration of the vaccine (as 22 other states plus the District of Columbia are considering or have passed). Four other states, in addition to Nevada, have passed bills like SB 409, which (as passed in 2007 and signed by Governor Gibbons) requires health insurance companies in Nevada to cover the vaccine for those who opt to have it administered to their daughters. Moreover, Prior to SB409, the vaccine was already covered by Medicaid (through the federally funded Vaccines for Children program), by Nevada Check-Up, and by most insurance plans in the state, so there was really no savings for any entity, public or private, in opposing the bill. There was, however, a great risk to the public health.

To explain himself, Heck compares the vast majority of women American women who will contract genital HPV to a smoker who contracts lung cancer. It is important to note here that conservative studies estimate one in five women nationally will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, and that Nevada women are statistically more likely to be subject to coerced sex than the national average. We also understand from common sense that a woman cannot control the past or even the present partners of her husband, boyfriend or lover, so that a woman need not engage in “risky” behavior to be at risk for contracting HPV or cervical cancer. For these reasons, most in the Religious Right, including most conservative organizations in Nevada, have dropped their previously stalwart opposition to the vaccine. Senator Heck stands to the right of almost everyone in his opposition to making the vaccine more widely available.

If we were to draw Senator Heck’s analogy with smoking and lung cancer to the logical conclusion, all women should abstain from having sex. My advice to Senator Heck is to consult Mrs. Heck before he is tempted to make more misleading comparisons.

Oh, yes. He went there. And ever since his narrow election to Congress in 2010, he keeps going back there.



Joe Heck has even opposed reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act because he doesn't seem to mind violence against minority women! No really, this is what he's been doing.

Here's the thing: If Joe Heck really didn't have a "women problem", then why does he keep fighting in the G-O-TEA War on Women? If he doesn't really have a problem with women's civil right, then why does he keep voting against women's health care? From his vote to block access to the HPV vaccine to his votes to defund Planned Parenthood to his continuing opposition to the Violence Against Women Act, Joe Heck doesn't really seem to care about the well being of Nevada's women.

And it's long past due for Joe Heck to get a reality check on this.

Why Nevada WILL Remain a Blue State This Fall

So we now have a better sense of what the final voter registration totals will be. While we must wait a few more days for the final official statewide report, the Clark County (Metro Las Vegas) numbers point to a very strong finish for Nevada Democrats, which guarantees an 80,000+ raw vote Democratic advantage statewide. Just in the last week, Democrats expanded their registration advantage in Clark County from 109,305 voters (or 13.67%) to a whopping 119,314 voters (or 14.32%) just in the last week! And considering Nevada Democrats had a statewide lead of 71,561 (or 6.03%) voters last Tuesday, this kind of gain in the state's most populous county puts Democrats right where they want to be to hit the magic 80,000 marker.

So how have they been making this happen? Let me explain.





See the above photos? This was the scene at the Cowboy Barbeque in Old Town Henderson. Typically, one wouldn't expect multitudes of Democrats to register to vote here. However, Nevada is not some "typical state" and this was no typical event. Between the Nevada State Democratic Party (NV-Sen/NV-03) Coordinated Campaign volunteers and local Obama campaign volunteers, there was no corner of the event left uncovered. And believe it or not, people kept popping up to register to vote... With the bulk of them being Democrats!

And that wasn't even the start or the end of it. For 36 hours, Democratic organizers and volunteers were pounding the pavement everywhere from DMV offices to shopping malls to parks to big events like the local Renaissance Faire (no, really!) to register more voters. And in the end, all of this hard work looks to be paying off... In a very BIG way!

So what is the result of all this relentless hard work? Take a look at the key swing districts. In the Southern Vegas Valley based NV-03 swing district, Democrats expanded their registration edge from 3,402 raw votes (or 1.08%) to 5,483 (or 1.66%). In the Clark County portion of the other key swing Congressional seat that's the new Northern Vegas Valley based NV-04, Democrats expanded their advantage from 40,557 raw votes (or 16.15%) to 44,252 (or 16.90%). And remember that these are important races that will determine control of Congress next January, so gains here help on multiple levels.

But wait, there's more! Democrats also made even more big gains in the key State Senate districts which will determine control of the Nevada Legislature next year. In the Henderson-Green Valley based SD 5, Democrats' edge grew from 4.51% to 4.97% in just the last week. In the Las Vegas-Summerlin based SD 6, Democrats' advantage grew further from 5.83% to 6.67%. In the Southwest Vegas Valley based SD 9, Democrats' advantage grew some more in the last week from 6.95% to 7.64%. And finally in the Northwest Las Vegas based SD 18, Republicans' edge was almost entirely wiped out in just one week, falling from 1.60% to an infintesimal 0.01%! And remember, Democrats only need to win two of these four seats (or one of these seats and the Washoe County based SD 15) to keep the State Senate.

All in all, Democrats rocked the final week of "anywhere, anytime" voter registration. (Only in person registration at county offices will be allowed until the 16th.) Oh, and Nevada pundit/political insider extraordinaire Jon Ralston just tweeted this.

For those keeping score at home, the statewide lead for Dems over Republicans in NV has crossed 80K barrier. This is very bad news for GOP.

As I've been saying all along, field matters. And because Nevada Democrats have been working the field like no one else can, President Obama, Shelley Berkley, John Oceguera, and Steven Horsford stand to gain like no one had expected just six months ago.

One Is Never (Fully) Prepared for This

So I was helping with voter registration earlier today when I got the call. My dad called to tell me my grandmother had just passed away. And I didn't quite know what to do next.

We've known for some time that my grandmother was getting worse. It was becoming increasingly obvious by the time of her last hospital visit, when the decision was made to place her on hospice. I knew that at some point, she would have to leave us.

I just wasn't expecting this to occur today. I just didn't want to think it could happen so soon. But alas, it happened.

Even when one feels best prepared to deal with tragedy, one is never fully prepared when it finally happens. So it happened. She's gone. And I'm pretty much an emotional mess.

Yet somehow, I'm still here. And somehow, I'm continuing my day. Maybe it's because I know she is in a better place now. And maybe it's because I don't know what I'd be doing now if I had not been helping with voter registration when I got the call.

Sorry for the personal 411, but I just need to release what's been building in me since this morning. Frankly, I'm just waiting to see what happens next before deciding if I should resume my weekend blogging schedule.

Recovery... Is Finally Here?!

Here are the top lines.

The U.S. economy added 114,000 jobs in September, with the unemployment rate falling from 8.1% to 7.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

And here's what made this possible.

Also, employment-to-pop ratio and labor force participation are both up. So drop outs are not why unemployment rate went down.

And here's why this matters.

That said, the unemployment rate is a function of two things: the number of people employed, and the number of people in the labor force. But the proportion of people in the labor force actually went up, suggesting the fall in the unemployment rate reflects a real improvement, rather than people stopping their work search

Unlike some past months, the unemployment rate actually fell because people are going back to work. No really, this is for real. And because job growth this past summer turned out to be stronger than originally expected, the lower unemployment rate finally makes sense.

So what happened? Is QE3 finally raking effect? Perhaps psychologically. However, there may be more to this.

Financial markets have been doing well for some time. But for the past couple years, companies haven't been hiring with their extra cash on hand, so unemployment has lagged behind. So maybe now that the US economy is looking increasingly stable and fears of another "great depression" are finally subsiding, companies are slowly starting to hire again.

Believe it or not, perception can often turn into reality when it comes to economics. Because confidence was so low for so long, it's been a drag on economic recovery. But as QE3 takes hold, markets further stabilize, and more people look at recent jobs numbers, this can turn into a self fulfilling prophecy as people are encourage to spend more... And boost the economy some more.

So really, this is good news. It's now OK to breathe a sigh of relief.

The "Integrity"... No, the Hypocrisy.

One thing I'm starting to pay more attention to in the wake of the Nathan Sproul voter registration fraud scandal is continuing G-O-TEA hypocrisy on matters of "integrity". We recently saw this on full display in New Mexico, where the state Republican Party has actually been training poll watchers on deceptive voter suppression techniques.



The Nation's Lee Fang has more details on this new disturbing development.

The poll watchers are told to request identification from voters, even though the law in New Mexico does not require voter ID. There are other troubling parts of the video and poll watcher instruction manual, including a call for poll watchers to instruct some voters to vote by provisional ballot even if they are registered correctly in their precinct. Poll watchers are told to deceive Spanish-speaking voters by telling them ballots that interpreters are not available, when in fact New Mexico law provides for language assistance for minorities and Spanish-language ballots.

At CPAC Colorado, a conservative conference today in Denver, I asked Congressman Steve Pearce, a Republican lawmaker who represents New Mexico, about the brewing controversy. Pearce appeared to be aware of the NM GOP’s poll watching efforts, and supported them.

“We’re simply saying that we’re going to start, we’re going to take it back it into our hands,” said Pearce. “We should check for ID since you have to show an ID to do anything in America.”

He did, however, admit that doing so would be against the law. “Its against New Mexico law to check for ID,” the congressman conceded.

So Congressman Steve Pearce (R-New Mexico) is actually advocating his party breaking the law... And do so in order to pursue crimes that rarely ever occur (and probably can't be deterred by what Pearce is advocating)? Sure, that makes plenty of sense. (/snark)

Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. The "tea party" backed "True the Vote" group is aiming to have 1,000,000 poll watchers across the country... And they may already be starting to surface here in Nevada. Here's what we know so far about "True the Vote".

We've been covering the Tea Party-organized group, which trains volunteers to challenge voters' registrations and then voters themselves at the polls. True the Vote aims to have a million poll watchers ready for November, so every precinct in America gets at least one. Those watchers are supposed to give voters a feeling like "driving and seeing the police following you."

We knew that True the Vote raised $64,687 (pdf) in 2010, the first year the group sent watchers into the polls, and we knew that True the Vote reported its revenue as coming from contributions, gifts and grants. True the Vote's founder says they get money by passing around an old felt cowboy hat at meetings.

Now that we've got True the Vote's 2011 tax returns, we can tell you the old felt hat has gotten a good bit heavier. The group took in twice as much money that year --$136,957 -- as the one before. More than half of that came from three contributions: $50,000, $19,000 and $5,000. We know the amounts because the IRS requires nonprofits to itemize large donations. We don't know who made the donations, because the IRS doesn't require nonprofits like True the Vote to reveal that, and True the Vote redacted the names in the copy they sent us. [...]

True the Vote was founded by King Street Patriots, a Houston Tea Party chapter. In August 2011, according to the tax papers, the founders moved to change the official name from KSP/True the Vote to just True the Vote. The idea, they wrote, is that King Street Patriots has a different mission. In September 2011, True the Vote reached a "facility use agreement" in which it pays the King Street for "occupancy costs." By December 2011, True the Vote owed King Street Patriots $22,038 for "occupancy related costs" and "certain costs paid by King Street Patriots for programmatic activities of True the Vote."

So this shady organization that claims to be nonpartisan, yet is fully dependant on the "tea party" for survival, and refuses to release its own finances now wants to "ensure election integrity" across the country? Why are we supposed to take this group seriously?

And why again are we supposed to believe G-O-TEA spinners when they claim they just want "integrity"? Clearly, they operate with none. And what again is so "ethical" and "full of integrity" about preventing law abiding citizens from exercising their legal right to vote?

Su Voto Es Su Voz... Indeed.

Funny enough, there were many topics that didn't come up in last night's Presidential Debate. One of those was immigration. And there were many other issues, like education, that were mostly glossed over.

Perhaps Mitt Romney should thank his lucky stars for that, since he's already having huge trouble connecting with Latino voters. Today's new Latino Decisions Nevada poll shows quite the eye popping numbers.

3. If the 2012 election for President was held today and the candidates were [ROTATE: Republican Mitt Romney and Democrat Barack Obama] who would you most likely vote for? [IF CANDIDATE:] Would you say you are certain to vote [ANSWER] or could change your mind? [IF UNDECIDED:] Well, if you had to choose, who would you lean towards?

Romney – certain 15 Romney – not-certain 1 undecided – lean Romney 1 Obama – certain 69 Obama– not-certain 7 undecided – lean Obama 2 Undecided/don’t know 5
Romney Combined 17
Obama Combined 78

5. If the 2012 election for U.S. Senate in Nevada was held today and the candidates were [ROTATE: Republican Dean Heller and Democrat Shelley Berkley] who would you most likely vote for?

Heller – certain 19 Heller – not-certain 5 undecided – lean Heller 2 Berkley – certain 46 Berkley – not-certain 10 undecided – lean Berkley 2 Undecided/don’t know 15
Heller Combined 26
Berkley Combined 58

As you can see above, Dean Heller is also running into trouble with Latino voters here. Hmmm... I wonder why.



Just as I had expected, what Heller said about the DREAM Act is coming back to bite him. And what Romney won't say about immigration policy continues to haunt him. Nevada Latin@ voters really aren't as stupid as G-O-TEA strategists were hoping they'd be.

NV-Sen: Surprising Verdict from Reno News & Review

This morning, we're seeing an interesting twist of an endorsement from Reno News & Review. For Northerner Dean Heller, this kind of statement from a hometown weekly paper isn't helpful.

We hope Nevadans will replace appointed Sen. Dean Heller with Berkley because Heller has been bad for Nevada and for the nation.

Heller had an opportunity when he entered the federal arena with election to the U.S. House in 2006. He was a moderate Republican in the Nevada Legislature, fair and reasonable as secretary of state. He could have shown his party how to serve without being dogmatic, intransigent and contemptuous of his opposition. He could have shown how to work with the Democrats instead of obstructing business. That’s one reason this newspaper endorsed him.

Instead, like so many politicians, when he decided to play the big room, he dashed right where the big campaign money was —money whose givers demand obstruction.

They noted how Heller beat back a primary challenge from none other than Sharrrrrrrrrrrrrrron Angle... Only to embrace Sharrontology himself afterward. No really, that's his record.

As a member of the House he became just another polarizing, intransigent Republican. He likes attention-getting issues that accomplish little, like his bill to cut off Congressional pay when no budget has been adopted. He’s a show horse, not a work horse.

Heller voted to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases, voted to keep subsidies for oil companies, voted against health coverage for abortion, voted against extending job discrimination law to gays, voted against marriage equality, voted for and against lettings stockholders vote on executive bonuses.

Wow. Short and sweet.

Indeed, Heller has given Nevada LGBTQ families the cold shoulder, farting at Latinos while demanding their votes, and simply dismissing the concerns of the 99%. In other words, Dean Heller has become a loyal G-O-TEA follower. And apparently, not all Northern Nevadans like that.

1st Presidential Debate Liveblog

OK, this is what we've all been waiting for. Let the fun begin!

6:02 PM- BTW, Ezra Klein will be footnoting the debate.

6:07 PM- President Obama started off with a shout out to his wife (it's their 20 year anniversary)... And a quick summary of what's happened in the last 4 years, as well his his ideas for the next 4 years. He talked about education investment, help for small business, redirecting money from last decade's wars to domestic investment. He talked aboht economic patriotism, investing at home.

6:09 PM- Mitt Romney was next. He started with a sympathy move by mentioning people in dire need... And blaming the economy on Obama. He mentioned his 5 point plan, but he's not really getting into specifics. In a way, he's pretty much sounding similar to Obama.... Except that obviously it's wrong because Obama did it.

6:14 PM- OK, now we finally have some differences. Obama hit Romney on trickle down economics, pointing out how Romney's tax policy means big cuts for the super rich... And higher taxes on the middle class.

And Romney responded by... Blaming gas and food prices on Obama. Oh, and Obama LOVES taxes! Romney just can't provide any specifics on how.

6:15 PM- "We cut taxes for the middle class by $3,600. We do best when the middle class does best." There's Obama's response, short and sweet.

Oh, and he's now detailing how Romney's budget makes no sense. He can't slash taxes for the 1%, increase military spending, and cut the deficit all at the same time. Romney protested immediately, but the numbers don't lie. Either he has to increase deficit spending or hike taxes on the middle class.

6:21 PM- "His big bold idea is... Never mind." Now, that's a zinger!

Obama just went through Romney's proposed budget and noted how it includes cuts to schools, cuts to other areas of public infrastructure, and cuts to taxes for the super rich. And...

"That's not a recipe for job growth."

Here, Obama tied Romney to George W. Bush while he tied himself to Bill Clinton. Here we go.

6:28 PM- So Romney wants a stronger America... By divesting from America. And attacking PBS.

Obama then moved to attack this and point out how Romney's plan is a throwback to Bush.

And then, he pointed out Congressional Republicans' refusal to compromise on any deficit deal... And that Romney applauded them as they started the debt debacle of last year. Romney continues to attack Obama on "trillion dollar deficits", but he still can't come up with actual math to show how he wants to simultaneously cut taxes for everyone, close the deficit, and create jobs.

6:39 PM- Obama turned personal, mentioned a local teacher here, and went point by point on Medicaid, why it matters, and how real people are hurt when Medicaid is cut the way Romney wants.


And Romney's answer? Solyndra!

6:45 PM- And now, Medicare & Social Security. Basically, Obama stood up for them while Romney.... Tried to have it all ways.

Oh wait, Romney just flip-flopped. He just said he believes Obama has made no changes for current Medicare beneficiaries... Then immediately accused Obama of Medicare cuts! What Romney is defending is the Medicare Advantage program that is just a payout to insurance companies. What Obama did was make Medicare more efficient by getting rid of Medicare Advantage while providing new benefits to seniors under the Affordable Care Act.

6:50 PM- Romney continues to flip flop on Medicare... And refuses to even endorse his own running mate's plan by name!

7:00 PM- So Romney hates Obamacare... Even though it's based on Romneycare. And even though Romney was once AP proud of his own health care policy, he's now attacking Obama for applying this policy nationwide? How did Romney make any sense on health care?

7:02 PM- Yes, finally! Obama is using Romney's own signature policy achievement in Massachusetts against him. There's really no difference between the two other than Obamacare is nationwide. Romneycare even depended on federal funds to work.

7:55 PM-

sfpelosi: Again #CNN indecided women (yellow lines) rise during Obama, fall during Romney & flatline along with men as he closes. #debate

Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/sfpelosi/status/253684168586825728

This is something to keep in mind when thinking about tonight's debate. Obama didn't bring up too much of what his campaign has been throwing into TV ads... But he really didn't have to. Hey, that's why they're in the TV ads.

What Obama needed to do was keep his cool and make his case that he can continue putting the country on a better economic path. And he may have ultimately done enough of it to prevent any "game change". Mitt Romney razzle dazzled in style, but he brought no substance. And believe it or not, most American voters don't like being played for fools.

8:05 PM- And for the close, Kevin Drum.

This was an odd, off-kilter debate. Neither Romney nor Obama seemed entirely comfortable. Romney struck me as too hyper, insisting in every segment on going over every single claim Obama had just made. The result was a bunch of laundry lists that never cohered into recognizable points. Obama seemed oddly hesitant and halting, as if he wasn't quite sure what points he wanted to make.

Neither candidate landed any serious blows. Obama came the closest, I thought, in the last half hour when he attacked Romney for all his secret plans. After noting that Romney wouldn't tell us which tax deductions he wants to cut, or how he wants to replace either Obamacare or Dodd-Frank, Obama delivered the best line of the night: "Is the reason that Governor Romney is keeping all these plans secret because they’re too good? Is it because somehow middle-class families are going to benefit too much from them?"

Did that make up for the fact that Obama was strangely incompetent at attacking Romney on his tax plan in the first half hour? Hard to say. But honestly, going after Romney on the tax deduction front seems pretty obvious, and I don't understand why Obama never really did it. Sure, he made a crack about "the math," but he didn't come straight out and ask Romney if he planned to get rid of the home mortgage deduction, for example. That would have hit home a lot harder than hauling out a wonkish point about the "independent analysts" who say Romney's plan doesn't add up.

Romney avoided any big mistakes, and certainly projected more energy than Obama. But I didn't think he really delivered any great lines, or got off any really crisp explanations of his policies. I don't think tonight's performance will hurt him, but I doubt that it really helps him either.

This pretty much sums up how I also feel. Romney did well on style, but totally lacked substance. And believe it or not, voters care about substance.

It's the Hypocrisy, Stupid.

I've said this before, but I truly feel compelled to say this again. This Nathan Sproul fiasco truly exposes the hypocrisy of the now "TEA" fueled Nevada Republican Party. How? Let me... No, wait, I'll first let Desert Beacon explain. She reminded us this morning of just who was crying "FRAUD!!!" in Carson City last year.

None of these ALEC inspired [voter suppression] bills passed. Interesting… they all seem to have been sponsored by white Republicans…

Fortunately, none of those bills passed last session. However, we just can't expect ALEC & its teabagger followers to relentlessly on this. They may very well reintroduce their voter suppression "model bills" again next year.

And strangely enough, they may use this latest scandal as "reason to act". However, we should remember why this argument doesn't fly. One is that the county election departments and Secretary of State's office can easily detect and combat this kind of fraud already, just as they are doing now. There's simply no need to scare real, legitimate voters away from the polls.

The other reason should be obvious. If these "tea party" Republicans really care about "fighting fraud", why won't they demand that their own party quit encouraging fraud? Seriously, they need to clean their own stinky house before they grandstand in Carson City and in front of TV cameras on their "important efforts to fight fraud!"

And this brings me to the other Nevada Republican who should really know better. Remember that none other than Dean Heller served 12 years as Nevada Secretary of State. Above all others, he should know and care about matters of election integrity. And especially since Dean Heller has been trying so hard to make "ethics" such a central issue in his US Senate reelection campaign, one would think Heller would hold his own party and his own campaign to the highest of ethical standards.

Yet despite all his lofty rhetoric, Dean Heller did absolutely nothing to halt the blatantly unethical and potentially criminal acts coming from the very Team Nevada that's been doing field for him. Perhaps Brad Blog best describes Republicans' use of insidious tactics (even the "not so illegal" ones) to try to gain an edge in "voter registration".

While it's one thing to target your registration drives to areas which may be more friendly to your party --- college campuses or African-American communities for Democrats, evangelical communities and gun shows for Republicans --- it seems quite another thing entirely to systematically instruct registration workers to misrepresent themselves and lie about what they are doing, in order to filter out potential supporters of a party other than the one they are working for.

Our investigation to date suggests this practice is not just systematic, but may even be at the core of the registration strategy for the Republican Party and the Romney campaign. While it's only slightly less appalling than destroying Democratic registration forms, or changing voter addresses so that they will be disenfranchised come Election Day, it certainly seems as if it ought to be as illegal as it is clearly unethical and even unAmerican.

If it's not illegal already in every state in the union, it damned well seems that it should be.

And yet, "Team Nevada" Republicans have resumed using these tactics. And just before they were shamed into dropping the company that pioneered and mastered these tactics, they were outsourcing "voter registration" to this company. And "Team Nevada" Republicans are working the field for Mitt Romney... And for Dean Heller. Remember this next time Dean Heller tries to lecture anyone on "ethics".

Hypocrisy, thy home is in the Nevada Republican Party.

Update on Team Nevada/RNC Voter Registration Fraud Scandal

On Monday, we found out that the Nathan Sproul/RNC voter registration fraud scandal had spread to Southern Nevada. Yesterday, both Team Nevada and the Clark County Election Department were hoping there's nothing more to see here.



The problem for them is that there's actually plenty more to see... And to investigate.

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Nathan Sproul is now facing criminal investigation in Florida over reports of voter registration fraud. And so far, it looks like there's also potential for one here.

However, there's even more to this story. Brad Blog noted one aspect of Sproul's operation that caught fire... Yet is not being investigated.

In Florida, where the focus has been on the apparently fraudulent registration forms submitted around the state with changed addresses that could result in disenfranchised voters on November 6th, the Los Angeles Times interviewed the man who Strategic Allied has fingered as the worker who submitted the initial batch in question in Palm Beach County.

50-year old William T. Hazard of Boynton Beach maintains his innocence and says he never forged applications or even "wrote on any of the forms he collected." He says he left the firm over a pay dispute two weeks ago. Strategic Allied says the man was fired.

In any event, while saying he "did nothing wrong," he explained to the Times that he answered a Craigslist ad by a company called PinPoint Staffing seeking registered Republicans to do "voter surveys" for $12/hour.

"His only instructions," the paper reports, "were to approach people and ask whom they supported in the presidential election. When people answered with President Obama, he said, he wished them a good day. If someone said Mitt Romney, he asked if they were registered to vote. If not, he handed them forms to fill out."

He added that he was "expected to register Republicans."

Once again, it's the same ruse about taking a poll, rather than signing up folks to vote, in a fourth Strategic Allied state. That amounts to verified reports of the very same deceptive strategy used by registration workers in four of the five states where Sproul's company was working as the RNC's only voter registration outfit.

This pretty much matches what was documented in the viral video out of Colorado... As well as what's been happening right here in Nevada. And apparently, it's spread beyond Nathan Sproul. Incidents like these are being reported across the country. Yet because Nevada Revised Statutes and other state laws are often vague on what passes as legitimate voter registration and what doesn't, Republicans have jumped to operate in this "legal gray area" and misrepresent their voter registration program as a "poll".


I've recently heard reports from the ground on Team Nevada (the RNC approved "Shadow GOP") resuming its voter registration program. Apparently, it's just rehiring directly workers who had previously been on contract with Nathan Sproul. And yes, they're still hiding voter registration forms under their "Quick Poll: Romney or Obama?!" So if you see this at your local DMV some time in the next 72 hours, you can't say I didn't warn you.