"Support for the war in Afghanistan has reached a new low, with only 27 percent of Americans saying they back the effort and about half of those who oppose the war saying the continued presence of American troops in Afghanistan is doing more harm than good, according to an AP-GfK poll. In results released Wednesday, 66 percent opposed the war, with 40 percent saying they were "strongly" opposed," AP reports. "A year ago, 37 percent favored the war, and in the spring of 2010, support was at 46 percent. Eight percent strongly supported the war in the new poll."
“Even as opinion polls show growing approval of same-sex marriage nationally, opposition remains strong in some battleground states, as North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage and Colorado Republicans killed a measure to approve such civil unions,” Bloomberg writes. “Such divisions also reflect the split in Washington, where President Barack Obama has been reluctant to echo endorsements of gay marriage by Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.”
With 94% of precincts reporting in West Virginia, Obama had 59 percent of the primary vote (99,952 votes) and Keith Judd, a convicted felon sitting in federal prison in Texas, has 41 percent (68,157 votes), NBC’s Carrie Dann reports. That includes at least nine counties LOST by Obama, per reports.
Judd is serving a sentence at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico over a decade ago. Judd's an eccentric character who has been on the ballot in numerous presidential and local elections. (He was on the Idaho primary ballot in 2008 and won about 700 votes.) A survey he appears to have submitted to Project Vote Smart lists his religion as "Rastafarian Christian" and his favorite president as Richard Nixon. More from the AP: "Judd was able to get on the state ballot by paying a $2,500 filing fee and filing a form known as a notarized certification of announcement, said Jake Glance, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office. If he receives 15 percent of the state vote he will qualify to receive delegates to the national Democratic convention. But state Democratic Party Executive Director Derek Scarbro said no one has filed to be a delegate for Judd, and the state party was unaware that Judd has actually filed the required paperwork."
“The Democratic National Convention Committee is returning $50,000 in Walmart gift cards after a labor union said the giant retailer “flies in the face of the values we stand for as Democrats,’” the Charlotte Observer reports. “A convention official confirmed the return of the cards, which the company donated last month.”
"Forget hope and change. After months of planning, President Obama’s media team has prepared an aggressive strategy to portray Mitt Romney as insensitive to the plight of working people and beholden to powerful interests. They have researched possible lines of attack and drafted language that can be dropped into an advertisement at a moment’s notice. Campaign advisers said they were willing to commit a considerable chunk of their advertising budget — expected to be the largest any presidential campaign has ever seen — to broadcasting these attacks," The New York Times reports.
AP headline: “Dem plan: Throw it all at Romney, see what sticks.”
In an op-ed, the New York Times warns Obama that his well-known rhetoric won't cut it without specifics this time around. "Voters already know that Mr. Obama can lift their hopes with a powerful speech. This time around, they will be seeking far more than inspiration."
VP Joe Biden riled up Republicans yesterday when he attributed Iran's growing influence to America's global relationships during the Bush years. "We were the problem," Biden said of the global view of the United States before the president took office. "We were diplomatically isolated in the world, in the region, in Europe. The international pressure on Iran was stuck in neutral."
An excuse for pols to avoid awkward corn dog photos at the state fair this summer? "A group of doctors and activists will be calling on President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other members of the executive branch to refrain from turning calorie-laden pit stops into photo ops this election year. On Thursday, they plan to present the White House with a petition asking Obama to issue an executive order banning appearances with “carcinogenic or obesogenic foods.”
Reuters: "President Barack Obama, whose campaign has focused heavily on courting Hispanic voters ahead of the November 6 election, reached out to another important and sometimes overlooked voting group on Tuesday: Asian Americans. A recent poll showed the fast-growing Asian American community is largely untapped by presidential candidates even though they are expected to vote in record numbers this fall. The poll, conducted by Lake Research Partners, showed that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders identified themselves as Democrats over Republicans by a three-to-one margin. Obama seemed to know that as he addressed a gala of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies on Tuesday. "For me, coming here feels a little bit like home," said Obama, who was born in Hawaii and spent his childhood there and in Indonesia. "This is a community that helped to make me who I am today. It's a community that helped make America the country that it is today," he added in a short address."
The New York Times: “Senior leaders of the Democratic Party expressed alarm on Tuesday that a $100 million plan by liberal donors to increase voter turnout would duplicate a similar effort by President Obama’s campaign and squander a chance to fend off an advertising onslaught from Republican groups.”
The Koch Bros respond in a video to Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter on calling them out by name in campaign video. On screen: “Koch takes exception to the president engaging in inappropriate personal attacks on private citizen for exercising their constitutional rights to speak out on issues of public policy.” And they take issue with Cutter calling them “secretive oil billionaires” – “Ms. Cutter is being deceptive. Koch companies have a broad portfolio of businesses, including energy and chemicals used in manufacturing, fertilizer, pollution control, and more – oil refining is just one part of what we do.”
