New registration policies may block voters at polls

Citizen advocacy organization Common Cause has identified a series of concerns surround the upcoming election.

“Probably the biggest problem we’ve seen this election is troubles with people’s voter registration, where they’ll be going to the polls thinking that they are registered and told ‘sorry, we don’t have your name on the list’,” said Derek Cressman, Regional Director of State Operations for Western States for Common Cause.

Cressman partially attributes this to new voter verification policies, such as Florida’s hardline policy which states that voter registration data must exactly match other state information.

According to Cressman, there have been some instances when voters have been wrongfully removed from registration lists.

“We’re also particularly worried that in the final days before the election we’ll see practices that are known as voter challenges, where there’ll be partisan operatives at polling places challenging a voter’s eligibility.”

Cressman said that the organization is convinced that there are thousands of legitimate voters that have been wrongfully denied the ability to vote.

President of Common Cause Bob Edgar says that the organization has mobilized against these threats by sending thousands to work for the cause of fair elections and establishing the hotline “866-OurVote”, where voters can ask questions and confirm their registration status.

McCain campaign quote proves Obama's better on health care?

Obama-Biden Senior Adviser Anita Dunn says that McCain Senior Adviser Doug Holtz-Eakin's admission that the presumed health care plan a person has at has at their job is better than any plan they could
receive with the McCain tax credit, is a "huge October surprise." Dunn said that the McCain campaign "was coming clean" in a teleconference today.

Dunn continued, saying that the Obama campaign's assertions that McCain's health care plan is "inadequate" have been proven "accurate" with Holtz-Eakin's admission. She echoed her surprise at the McCain campaign quote, and said that the Mc Cain campaign has had a "loose relationship with the truth."

Neera Tanden, Obama-Biden Domestic Policy Director, said that 20 million people will lose their employment health care under McCain's plan. She stated that putting people in an individual-based health care was inadequate because "people pay more for less." She added that the statistics and Holtz-Eakin's quote "reinforce that Senator Obama's plan has been right all along." She said that Obama's system is employer-based instead of individual-based like McCain's plan.

Tanden claimed that while Obama's plan is expensive, every cent of the plan is "fully paid for."

McCain better for economic growth?

Former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp called on Sen. Obama "to lower taxes during a recession" in a teleconference today. Kemp said he didn't know any economist who advocated "for a tax increase" during such a time.

Kemp also said it was important to "stop the hemorrhaging" of home ownership. He claimed Sen. McCain will help homeowners in default by renegotiating their payments. Senior McCain Advisor Doug Holtz-Eakin said Obama's plan of a "90 day mortgage moratorium" doesn't fix the inherent problem of home ownership.

Holtz-Eakin said he had noticed "daily shifts in the Obama tax plan." He stated that while Obama started his campaign by saying that everyone making under $250,000 would get a tax cut, Obama said recently that only those making under $200,000 would see a tax cut. In addition, Holtz-Eakin said that Sen. Biden claimed that the tax cut would only be given to those making under $150,000.

Virginia Delegate Chris Saxman said in reaction to Obama's tax plan, "I don't want Joe the Plumber's money. I want him to invest."

Speaking about McCain's chances in the battleground state of Virginia, Saxman said that Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, current and former governors of the state, "both ran as centrist democrats." He said
Sen. Obama is not running as a centrist, as evidenced by his plan to raise taxes.

Today at Talk Radio News

Pentagon Correspondent Dawn Casey will attend a briefing by Army Col. Dominic Caraccilo, Commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), live from Iraq in the Pentagon Briefing Room. UN Correspondent Tala Dowlatshahi will attend a briefing by the Russian Federation. The Washington Bureau will also attend a conference held by Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies on "Unearthing Iraq: Trajectories of Disintegration and Transformation," a discussion by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on "Past and Present Challenges for Global Health and AIDS," the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and the Institute on Religion and Democracy's discussion on "Promoting Religious Freedom in Sudan," and a discussion on "The Election and Post-Racial Politics" by the Institute for Policy Studies.

Obama Campaign: We are playing more offense than defense in the final 11 days

The Obama-Biden campaign hosted a teleconference on the state of the race and how they believe they are winning in the final days of the campaign.

Campaign Manager, David Plouffe, said that they are forcing the McCain campaign to spend money in states that they thought they were secure in. Plouffe believes that Obama is in good shape in states that were thought to be won by McCain. "If you look at the facts, it's a daunting task for McCain to win," Plouffe said.

National Field Director, Jon Carson, said that when looking at the Electoral College, "we are in good shape." Carson went on to state that Democrats are voting at a significantly higher rate than Republicans when it comes to early voting. He believes that early voting will help when election day comes.

Battleground State Director, Jen O'Malley, said that Sen. Obama's campaign is doing everything they can to sway independent voters to vote Democrat. "We have 1.5 million volunteers who are making more than 400,000 contacts a day in battleground states. These contacts will help Obama win the battleground states," O'Malley said.

With only 11 days to go till the election, O'Malley stated that a lot could still change but she believes that Sen. Obama has a good chance of taking many of the battleground states.