November 1, 2010

Please send me your comments!

By Dave Andrusko

Good evening, and thanks for taking time to read Today's News & Views the night before the elections. Part Two catches you up on all things political. In Part Three you learn about our Special January 22 NRL News Commemorative Issue. Over at National Right to Life News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), Wesley Smith explains how ObamaCare has hurt Democrats. David Prentice updates us on a remarkable use of adult stem cells. There's also a last-minute look at the Senate race in Alaska. Jonathan Rogers places the Right to Life Movement in its historical context. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha.

"By 55%-40%, those surveyed say they plan to vote for the Republican candidate, the widest margin since Democrats' advantage in the 1974 elections held in the wake of Watergate."
     -- Susan Page, USA Today story, "Poll shows GOP has lead in final midterm run-up"

"Yes, they passed a health care overhaul to remake a patchwork and costly system. But the public was divided over it and cringed at how the White House and Democrats pushed it through Congress. Deals with special interests. Virtually no Republican support. Why now? asked people crying out for jobs and losing their homes."
     -- From "Analysis: Turbulent times and change elections," by the Associated Press's Liz Sidoti.

"The AP-KN poll found that among all 2008 voters, 51 percent said Obama deserves to be defeated in November 2012 while 47 percent supported his re-election -- essentially a tie. among Democrats, 47 percent said Obama should be challenged for the 2012 nomination and 51 percent said he should not be opposed."
     -- From "47% of Dems say Obama should get primary challenge," by the Associated Press's Alan Fram.

I am old enough (actually way more than old enough) to be stunned by the reality that upwards of 40% of those who will vote this time round will do so before tomorrow--and that some places out west (which do all or virtually all of their voting by mail) almost 3/4rds of the votes are already in.

Having said that, there is still mystery and magic about Election Day that captivates me. I have missed voting in only one or two elections since I became eligible to vote, and I rue that to this day. But tomorrow--no chance that I won't be there at the local elementary school at 7 in the morning.

I subscribe to the theory that most often if it is "too good to be true," it isn't true. The public opinion polls mentioned at the beginning of this post point to a very rosy scenario for Republicans. Since in almost all cases they are pro-life running virtually all the time against pro-abortion Democrats (including those who bailed out to vote for ObamaCare), this would be good for us, as well.

But we need to remember that the real polls only count those who take the time to vote. If I tell a pollster I'm voting, and I don't, that skews the projections and lessens the prospects of turning the tables on Obama.

So when pundits talk about the 435 individual house races and 37 Senate seats trending heavily Republican, we must be (a) careful not to be lulled into a false sense of security, and/or (b) not be suckered by assertions that no matter how well pro-lifers do tomorrow, it isn't enough/doesn't mean anything.

In the Senate contests, the pro-life candidate is within the margin of error (ahead or behind) in Alaska, Nevada, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Washington State. If ever elections are going to turn on the "pro-life increment" (the advantage the pro-life candidate enjoys over his or her pro-abortion opponent among voters who vote single-issue on abortion), 2010 could be it.

Voter turnout? Could be as low as the low 40s, or so I read. Will that hardy lot include you and all your pro-life family, friends, and colleagues?

Some of you undoubtedly have heard there will be a kind of meeting of the minds after tomorrow, regardless of whether the GOP takes control of the House and the Senate. Pro-abortion President Barack Obama will read the tea-leaves and "pivot to the middle."

Nothing, but nothing, could be further from the truth, especially on issues that matter to us, most particularly ObamaCare. Along with Senate Majority Reid and House Speaker Pelosi, Obama cut every corner imaginable, rattled off fib after fib, and, in the process, told us everything we need to know about his attitude and his arrogance. I am thinking especially of when he convened that pro-forma meeting with Republicans just before ObamaCare was enacted.

In response to Sen. John McCain's litany of special deals that had been cut to win over key votes, Obama uttered his famously dismissive words, "Let me just make this point, John, because we're not campaigning any more, the election's over."

Well, THAT election is over--the one in which President Obama prevailed. Please note that he did so, in large measure, because the American public had talked itself into believing that Obama was a transformative, post-everything sort of guy who would work with all sides.

Well, now we have ANOTHER election--two years later--the one in which the public says, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Please email me after you've voted. daveandrusko@gmail.com. 

Part Two
Part Three