Independent voters and turn-out in a handful of key states are essential for Obama

2012

• Michael Bloomberg Part 3  (by David Radler is an executive officer of Continental Newspapers which owns several newspapers including The Chronicle-Journal, Thunder Bay Ontario CAN.) I am going to make a prediction here. Michael Bloomberg claims to be an independent. By the time the 2012 election rolls around Barack Obama will be claiming the same thing. Obama has no loyalty to anybody but himself. Joe Biden has become, in some eyes, a bit of a bungler and certainly does not serve the original purpose of reassuring the American people of his competency against the potential rashness and inexperience of the current president. A prediction: Biden goes under the bus and Bloomberg becomes the VP candidate for the Democrats.
• The 4-Letter Word That Can Boost Obama's 2012 Chances: V-E-T-O (By Ben W. Heineman Jr., The Atlantic) Obviously, to win re-election President Obama must woo back independent voters who currently dislike him. But he must also get significant turn-out, as he did in 2008, from blocs of voters who won't vote Republican but are disaffected, disappointed or disinterested and may stay home -- e.g. large numbers of young, black, Hispanic and women voters. In 2008, 132.6 million Americans voted in federal elections (57 percent of the voting age population). In 2010, 90.6 million Americans voted (37.8 percent of the voting age population) and created a large GOP House majority, a typical large drop-off from a presidential to a purely congressional election year (in this case a decline of 40 million voters). Independent voters and turn-out in a handful of key states are thus essential for the president.