Obama, Romney trade jokes at Al Smith Catholic Dinner

Amid a heated presidential campaign, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama apparently decided to put their differences aside for one night as they dined together at a Catholic charity fundraiser. Or did they? Tell us what you think.

 

Romney Path to Victory still elusive despite surge

Can Mitt Romney win this November? Does he have enough momentum to overcome Barack Obama? Will he emerge victorious on election day? While some Republicans are hopeful that their robotic candidate will come out on on top, the polls say otherwise. Despite a huge surge in support that has seen Romney rise above his opponent nationally, the former Massachusetts Governor is indeed still behind in the electoral college column.

So what will it take for him to pull ahead of Barack Obama? After all, the election is less than a month away and Mr. Romney has very little time to push himself over the victory line.

Well, to begin, he needs to shore up his support in tossup states (pictured in grey) that will most likely go Republican. Some of them like North Carolina have more socially conservative electorates while others are full of cosmopolitan suburbanites who care little for social issues. Appealing to both camps will be key to ensure that these states go red in 2012.

Next, he must do everything in his power to win over Granite State voters in New Hampshire and seniors in Florida. While both electorates are vastly different, they are truly up for grabs and could be decisive come November. Colorado and Virginia certainly fall under this "pure tossup" category as well and will no doubt be part of any Republican victory.

Finally, Mr. Romney must go on the offensive in tossup states where he finds himself consistently behind in the polls. Some like Nevada will take only a little push while others like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania seem a little more out of reach.

But most importantly, Mr. Romney must win Ohio, and with polls showing him consistently two to three points behind his opponent, eking out a victory will certainly take some work. But victory in the Buckeye state will be essential to victory nationwide. After all, no presidential candidate in the past fifty years has prevailed without winning Ohio. Furthermore, without Ohio, Mr. Romney's path to the White House will be even more limited than it already is. Suffice to say, any presidential victory will require the state of Ohio.

But to put Ohio in the Republican column, Mr. Romney will have to extend his support beyond his Cincinnati suburbanite bastion in the west and must concentrate his efforts on other parts of the state, most importantly the working class areas in the north and east. Convincing these voters that the Republican ticket represents their interests will be difficult, but they are equally disgusted with Mr. Obama and his college professor elitism. Thus, with efficacy and favorability for both candidates low, turnout in these areas will be key to any success.

So with only a month to go until polls open, Mr. Romney should remember the old saying, "As Ohio goes, so goes the rest of the nation".

Florida looking much in Democrats' favor

Just two months ago, Connie Mack and Bill Nelson were deadlocked in what seemed to be one of the closest Senate races in the country. But two months have come to pass, and Nelson finds himself nine points ahead. What happened? How did Nelson pull ahead so quickly, and what could have caused this miraculous jump in support? Have voters just soured with Connie Mack, or have Democrats rebounded nationwide?

Well, I spent time going through two sets of polls from Public Policy Polling to get to the bottom of this quandary, and my findings were interesting to say the least. Aside from the obvious, which is that independents have gravitated towards Nelson, one other group has jumped ship: women. We've all known for awhile that the ever-widening gender gap has become a growing problem for the GOP, but in just two months, a four point deficit with women has increased by five fold, leaving Connie Mack a staggering twenty points behind with half his constituents.

So what could have caused such a disastrous collapse? How could an entire set of voters abandon a candidate in such a short period of time? Better yet, what drove them to "jump ship"? Well, at first glance, one might say an unpopular Rick Scott is the cause, but if that were the case, then why didn't they support Nelson when they were polled back in July? Would they not then have disliked Gov. Scott and the Republicans just as much as they do now?

I contend that the problem is much more complicated than any instate issue. In fact, I think the real root of the problem is not instate at all. With news spread so quickly in today's day and age, the problem that caused this Republican collapse must have been out of state, which leads me to believe that the comments of one man are responsible. That man is Todd Akin. His controversial comments about abortion back in August have been a lightning rod for women all around the country, and Florida is no exception.

But even this seems to be a bit of a stretch. How could one man, let alone a measly Senate candidate from Missouri, have affected the outcome of an entire election on the other end of the country? Aren't Americans politically apathetic people who care little for the intricacies of Washington? Could one thirty second comment have had such an effect?

There's no simple answer to any of these questions, but regardless of how insignificant Todd Akin's statements may seem, there's little doubt that many women, pro-choice and pro-life alike, found them abhorrent and offensive. Contrary to what Akin believes, women in fact don't have ways of "shutting the whole thing down" when they are being forcibly raped against their own will, and it's precisely this controversial rhetoric that was so off putting for so many. Voting Republican in their eyes would be associating themselves with the old wives tales and Calvinist extremism that Akin espouses, and the thought of even lending any tiny ounce of support to anyone who's name is tainted by very same 'R' that Akin finds next to his own name makes them cringe.

And it's because of this fear of association that women have jumped the Republican ship. They did so first with Mitt Romney and now they've gone overboard again with Connie Mack. If the Republican Party can't get some lifeboats in the water fast and throw some of its rowdy sailors drunk on Tea Party extremism overboard right after, it might find itself on the ocean floor sooner than we think.