Campaign

If you are an American and you travel anywhere in the world in an official capacity, one of your first meetings is likely to be with the local American Chamber of Commerce.

Meeting with AmChams (as they are called) is an essential way to get a better understanding of how American businesses are doing in selling American products overseas. Members of AmChams (who are usually American) have an acute understanding of the local laws, the obstacles that foreign governments often place in the way of trade and the opportunities that exist for further investment.

In three weeks, it is time for America to vote for change.

The Democrats have had their run in Congress for four years now and never have we seen such low approval ratings.

They claimed to offer us a positive difference from an out-of-touch GOP back in 2006, but have proven to be worse. They neither “drained the swamp of corruption” nor listened to the voices of their constituents.

If you Google "candidate wears Nazi uniform," you would probably guess it would be a Tea Party favorite, a Republican, and someone once called "a rising star in the GOP.” If you did guess this, you would be right!

We refer, of course, to Rich Lott, the Republican nominee for a congressional seat in Ohio, a Tea Party darling and a fellow who gets his jollies dressing up as a Nazi SS officer! Where do they find these guys?

On Sunday, “Meet the Press” moderator David Gregory staged the first of the one-on-one weekly debates between Senate candidates in the lead-up to the Nov. 2 elections.

In this week’s match-up — for Barack Obama’s Senate seat in Illionis — between Republican Congressman Mark Kirk and Democratic Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, neither man came away looking like a hero. In the setup piece, the Chicago Sun-Times’s Lynn Sweet characterized the race this way: “If all you're looking at is the negative side, you have a choice between a serial embellisher [Kirk] and a mob banker [Giannoulias].” Read more...

Bill Raggio, the minority leader in the Nevada state Senate and a leading Silver State Republican, added a major new dimension to the U.S. Senate race there by blasting Sharron Angle for being radical and extreme, and endorsing Sen. Harry Reid (D) for reelection.

Raggio is no particular fan of Reid, though they share the kind of mutual professional respect that is often lacking between the political parties these days. Raggio has never before endorsed a Democratic candidate in a major race. His political viewpoint is Republican-conservative.

Republican Senate candidates may or may not agree on the science behind witchcraft, but they are united in disbelief in the overwhelming science that demonstrates manmade causes to global climate change. Increasingly, these candidates are doing their best to boil a witch’s stew of doubt by attacking the veracity of science and scientists.

Emerging from the campaign trail is the notion that vulnerable House Democrats are “losing” their races due mostly to their vote in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Let’s ignore the fact that the election isn’t over yet and drill down on the false pretense that the ACES vote or support for addressing our energy security and climate change is unpopular with voters.

At the rate he's going, President Obama may have to ask former Vice President Dick Cheney for some advice locating an undisclosed location. It's hard to believe he is about to begin a reelection campaign when there are so few swing states or districts he can campaign in now.

The current vice president, Joe Biden, isn't hiding in a bunker, but is instead leading the campaign for vulnerable Democrats running for reelection in the November midterms. Biden is going everywhere Obama cannot and even places Obama can. He is the best face the administration has right now to answer the questions of voters angry about the economy and even healthcare reform, and candidates have welcomed him in South Carolina, North Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington state, Ohio and beyond.

All patriotic Americans should demand that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and any other group making massive donations to political campaigns immediately disclose all sources of foreign money.

It is an outrage that any group can receive substantial money from foreign sources, which directly or indirectly subsidizes partisan political campaigns. It is equally outrageous that firms that outsource jobs to foreign nations can make secret donations to right-wing Republicans who support policies that export jobs abroad and increase joblessness at home.

It's more than a little disconcerting that some (not all) Republicans seem to be employing a strategy to try to run out the clock for the next month on the campaign trail. The final stretch needs to be a sprint — not a victory lap.

Yes, the polls have been looking excellent for the GOP. But every political consultant and analyst has known the gap (that much-ballyhooed "enthusiasm gap") would start closing as Election Day neared, and it appears to be the case this year in many races. Gallup shows Republicans have an edge in the generic ballot, 46 percent to 42, over Democrats. Since Democrats have figured out that they are well behind with likely voters, they know they need to get out there and create new likely voters from the voter pool from 2008. That is why the campaign ads and rhetoric are starting to become more divisive, partisan and negative.