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Showing posts with label Politic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politic. Show all posts

Friday, 11 February 2011

U.S. hails Mubarak exit, wants "irreversible" change

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UNITED STATES

Vice President Joe Biden hailed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's exit from power on Friday as a "pivotal moment" for the Middle East and insisted Egypt's democratic transition must be irreversible.

Biden spoke shortly before President Barack Obama was to step before television cameras at the White House as he weighs the deep uncertainty and huge challenges Washington now faces in dealing with Egypt's potentially volatile power shift.

"The transition that's taking place must be an irreversible change and a negotiated path toward democracy," Biden told a college audience in Kentucky after Mubarak handed over power to Egypt's military. "What is at stake in Egypt and across the Middle East is not just about Egypt alone."

Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Higher Military Council that took control of Egypt on Friday, has spoken with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates by phone five times since the crisis began, including as late as Thursday evening.

Washington walked a fine line since the mass demonstrations began, endorsing the democratic aspirations of the protesters but trying not to openly abandon a long-time ally or encourage an abrupt upheaval that could spill over into other parts of the oil-rich region.

Obama, who has repeatedly pressed for an orderly transition to democracy, now faces the challenge of backing broad political reform in the Arab world's most populous country while keeping Islamists from ending up with enough power to undermine U.S. interests in the region.

He will face the test of keeping the power shift in Cairo from unnerving Middle East allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel or emboldening foes like Iran and al Qaeda.

Obama, who had struggled to calibrate his mostly cautious response to a popular uprising against Mubarak's long authoritarian rule, was due to deliver a statement at 1:30 p.m. EST.

U.S. officials will now do everything possible to keep intact close ties with the Egyptian military, which relies on the $1.3 billion in U.S. aid it receives annually and is seen as the key to keep the situation from descending into chaos.

Mubarak's exit came a day after Obama seemed to rebuke the Egyptian leader for not going far enough in a televised speech in which he ceded some powers to his vice president but defiantly insisted he would stay in office until presidential elections scheduled for September.

After Obama's show of impatience, it was unclear whether U.S. officials, who have had constant behind-the-scenes dealings with the Egyptian government and military, helped secure Mubarak's decision to go now.

U.S. LAWMAKERS WEIGH IN

"The president was informed of President Mubarak's decision to step down during a meeting in the Oval Office. He then watched TV coverage of the scene in Cairo for several minutes in the outer Oval (office)," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

U.S. officials have said repeatedly they are entering uncharted waters and see a long period of uncertainty and volatility.

"This is very good news for Obama given that he and his administration so publicly staked out a position that change should happen now. But it is only the start of a process," said Brian Katulis, Middle East expert at the Center for American Progress in Washington and an informal adviser to the White House.

"This is going to be a very long and protracted process over negotiated power. The political opposition had one unifying demand, which was get rid of Mubarak. Now the real work has to begin," he said.

Obama's cautious approach has been based on Egypt's strategic importance: a rare Arab state no longer hostile to Israel, the guardian of the Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia and a major force against militant Islam in the Middle East.

"This is a pivotal moment in history," Biden said of Mubarak's departure. "It's a pivotal moment not only in Mideast history, but in history."

U.S. lawmakers swiftly welcomed Mubarak's departure.

"I am pleased that President Mubarak has heard and heeded the voice of the Egyptian people, who have called for change. It is crucial that Mubarak's departure be an orderly one and that it leads to true democracy for Egypt, including free, fair and open elections," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

(Reuters Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Ross Colvin and Alister Bull; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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Obama learns of Mubarak resignation in Oval Office

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UNITED STATES

Caught up in stunning news like the rest of the world, President Barack Obama was in an Oval Office meeting Friday when he learned of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation. He watched the celebration on television and prepared to make an afternoon statement.

"It is a historic day for the people of Egypt," declared Vice President Joe Biden during an appearance in Kentucky.

The development came just one day after Mubarak had declared that he was not resigning, despite all signs to the contrary, which enraged the protesting masses and had a dismayed White House scrambling to respond. Obama had issued a statement Thursday evening in Washington in which he challenged Mubarak, without directly naming him, to explain his actions and his plans for democracy.

And then events changed again.

Obama quickly made plans to speak Friday afternoon from the White House as throngs of activists rejoiced in Cairo.

Lost in the jubilation were questions of who will end up in control of Egypt and whether the United States will emerge with the kind of stable partner it badly needs in the volatile Middle East.

Still, U.S. lawmakers welcomed Mubarak's resignation.

"I am pleased that President Mubarak has heard and heeded the voice of the Egyptian people, who have called for change," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "It is crucial that Mubarak's departure be an orderly one and that it leads to true democracy for Egypt, including free, fair and open elections."

On Twitter, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, said the young people of Egypt were leading the country to democracy.

"Their actions are an inspiration to the world," she said.

Biden said that throughout the unrest in Egypt, which led to Mubarak's ouster in under three weeks, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. government have largely spoken with one voice.

"This unity has been important," Biden said. "And it will be even more important in these delicate and fateful days ahead."

Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on Friday after 29 years in power.

Now enormous questions loom about how the country will transition to free elections in September, which in turn will affect the important relationship between the U.S. and Egypt.

The tone from the White House has shifted right along with events. On Thursday afternoon, when Mubarak had been widely expected to step down, Obama was upbeat. "What is absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfold," Obama said at the start of an overshadowed economic event in Michigan. "It's a moment of transformation that's taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change."

Instead Mubarak seemed to dig in defiantly, speaking of ceding power to his vice president and making interim concessions. Obama responded that it was not clear whether that move was a sufficient sign of reform and he called for a "credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy." A day later, Mubarak resigned after all.
By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

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Sunday, 6 February 2011

Obama's business outreach takes him to the Chamber

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UNITED STATES

When President Barack Obama named Gene Sperling as his chief economic adviser, two of Sperling's early calls went to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue.

Known for his pugilistic style, Donohue wasted no time. Come on over, he said.

When Sperling crossed Lafayette Square, the park that separates the White House from the business lobby's headquarters, Donohue welcomed him with characteristic bluntness:

"Glad to have someone over there I'm comfortable sparring with at 10 a.m. and sitting down with at 2 p.m. to work on policy."

The story, confirmed by White House and Chamber officials, helps illustrate the 2011 version of this relationship.

After two years of vociferous conflict over health care and financial regulations, the two have entered into something of a detente.

President Barack Obama has scheduled a speech Monday at the Chamber, a first for him. Not four months ago, he had attacked the huge, Republican-leaning trade organization for failing to disclose donors to its $32 million congressional political campaign, "Their lips are sealed," Obama said at the time, "but the floodgates are open."

Their bitter fights overshadowed areas of solid agreement, including the Chamber's support of Obama's 2009 economic stimulus plan and the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler. Obama played a populist hand, referring to bankers as "fat cats," rebuking corporate lobbyists and casting the insurance industry as an antagonist in the health care debate.

The White House and the Chamber now are highlighting areas of common ground and expressing a joint commitment to creating jobs. Obama has stressed his new economic agenda, featuring competitiveness, innovation, energy and entrepreneurship. Disagreements linger and are no less vehement, but they no longer are the subject of loud legislative battles and big dollar advertising campaigns by the Chamber.

"What's changed now. I would use four words," Donohue said in an interview with the Associated Press. "The election has changed."

The Republican wave in November wrested control of the House from Democrats. It created a need for a more compromising legislative process and for the type of outreach Obama did not seek — and Republicans did not offer — when Democrats were in total control.

White House officials say Obama's speech will not break new policy ground, nor will he offer an olive branch. In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said businesses have an obligation to stay in the United States, hire American workers and invest in the nation's future.

"That's the message I'll be bringing to American business leaders at the Chamber of Commerce on Monday — that government and businesses have mutual responsibilities, and that if we fulfill these obligations together, it benefits us all," he said.

The speech — part nudge, part courtship — is a message to business that is hardly limited to the Chamber of Commerce. Obama met with some of the nation's top 20 executives in December, gently prodding them to get cash off their balance sheets and use it to create jobs. Also in December, he negotiated a compromise with Republicans on tax cuts that won him some grudging boardroom support.

Obama has offered to undertake a wholesale review of regulations to see which ones work and which ones stifle innovation. The financial sector, facing an enormous dose of new rules, is waiting to see how the banking regulatory overhaul is put into place. Bankers like his words, even if they have yet to see tangible results.

"The change in tone is a positive step," said Scott Talbott, a senior lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, a major banking industry group.

Obama needs the centrist cloak that the business community offers. The Chamber can benefit by softening the sharp edges it developed fighting health care, tighter financial rules and attacking many Democrats in the midterm campaign.

Both sides need each other for policy, as well. The Chamber can help the Obama administration win congressional support of trade deals, particularly a recently renegotiated pact with South Korea. Both the White House and the Chamber face Republican opposition to increased spending on public works, from roads and bridges to wireless networks.

On trade, infrastructure, and mostly on regulations, Donohue said, companies want certainty from the government.

"The reason the companies are sitting on $2 trillion worth of cash is because of uncertainty," he said,

Obama long has had allies in the private sector. He has given corporate CEOs advisory roles, and throughout his first two years, he held periodic lunches with executives at the White House. But until now, he had not brought them into his inner circle.

Last month, that changed. Obama named former Bill Daley, a former commerce secretary and JP Morgan Chase executive, as his chief of staff. He promoted Sperling, a known quantity to the business community. He gave high-profile assignments to General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt and AOL founder Steve Case.

"Daley is a big time Democrat, but he's a sound guy," Donohue said. "He knows how the town works, he knows how business works. He knows how the system works."

Still, the Chamber can be a sharp-elbowed foe.

"The Chamber is an enormously sophisticated Washington insider organization and is run by very conservative Republican operatives, for the most part," said Matt Bennett, a vice president at the centrist but Democratic leaning Third Way. "That relationship is always going to be more difficult than the broader outreach to business,"

But the joint focus these days is jobs. In front of the 10 massive Corinthian columns that grace the front of the Chamber's building, Donohue has authorized the placement of giant banners that spell out J-O-B-S.

The letters are visible from the White House through the bare winter trees of Lafayette Square — offering both a sign of common purpose and a reminder to the White House occupant of the 9 percent unemployment rate that still bedevils him.
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press

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Monday, 25 October 2010

O'Donnell says prayer may have boosted her polling

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UNITED STATES


Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell says prayer could be boosting support for her Senate campaign.

In an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network that aired online Monday, O'Donnell also said that God is the reason she is running for Senate.

"The day that we saw a spike in the polls was a day that some people had a prayer meeting for me, that morning, for this campaign, so I believe that prayer plays a direct role in this campaign," O'Donnell said. "I always ask, please pray for the campaign, please pray for our staff, please pray specifically that the eyes of the voters be opened."

O'Donnell has been criticized for her conservative commentary over the years — she once voiced opposition to masturbation in a campaign against premarital sex — and has been ridiculed for saying that she once dabbled in witchcraft.

She told CBN that she's being held to a different standard because she is a conservative woman.

"There's no doubt that they wouldn't say the things they're saying about me, they wouldn't do the things that they're doing, if I weren't a woman," she said. "I'm not whining, but there certainly is a double standard, especially when it comes to conservative women."

Most polls show O'Donnell trailing Democrat Chris Coons by double digits. The two are vying for the Senate seat long held by Vice President Joe Biden.

Associated Press

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Friday, 22 October 2010

Wisconsin Senate race: The most important campaign nobody's heard about

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UNITED STATED


Two things fire up Wisconsin Republicans these days. First is the Green Bay Packers and second is the chance to oust Democrat Russ Feingold from the Senate seat he's held since 1993.

Ron Johnson and his supporters are trying to get enough support in the final two weeks before the election to send the businessman to Congress, according to Businessweek.

Feingold was originally seen as a lock for his fourth term, but polls see a completely different picture. Two polls in mid October tout the slim lead that Johnson has over the incumbent. Johnson is ahead by seven points, 52 percent to 45 percent as of Oct. 12 in one poll. Another shows Johnson with a slim 2-percent lead at 49 percent to 47 percent three days later. Johnson has had single-digit leads in polls for many weeks, but now the two are in a statistical dead heat as the difference in percentages is within the margin of error.

Perhaps the Feingold/Johnson debate on television Friday night from Marquette Law School in Milwaukee will make things a bit clearer. This will be the third and final time the two have met in a debate, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Maybe the reason the Wisconsin race hasn't gotten anyone's attention is for the lack of controversy. Both men have had spirited debates on the issues including health care, government spending, energy policy and taxes.

This is the first time Ron Johnson has run for political office; he owns a plastics manufacturing company. Johnson, like many candidates this year, is backed by the Tea Party and has stances that connect with many people. Johnson originally said he wanted to repeal health care reform but later recanted and said he wants to see it modified. Johnson also wants to start exploring for oil in the Great Lakes and believes that global warming is not caused by human activity.

Feingold has been a three-term senator since 1993. He has voted in favor of Obama's health care reform initiative and wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Political ads have been relatively tame compared to states such as Delaware and Nevada.

What's most interesting is that both men are trying to come across as maverick types that do not conform to Washington politics. Feingold says on his website, "no one in Washington thinks I'm part of the team." Johnson says in a television ad that there are 57 lawyers in the Senate and there needs to be more manufacturers (namely himself). Johnson has a unique style of a businessman-turned-college professor in his television ads. Johnson faces the camera and then writes on a ceramic board in several of his ads making it simple black-and-white what needs to be done to send him to Washington. Even his logo is catchy as the "o" in "Ron" is in the shape of Wisconsin.

In a state where the politics have been relatively calm compared to other Senate races, Wisconsin may be a maverick on the national scene if Feingold loses his seat. While Delaware and Nevada may have more prominent races for Senate another exciting one to watch will be in Wisconsin on Nov. 2.

William Browning William Browning –

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Obama tells gay teens ‘It Gets Better’

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UNITED STATED


President Barack Obama has joined the viral "It Gets Better" campaign, filming another in the series of high-profile videos urging troubled gay teens not to take their own lives. The title of the series is a reassurance that bullying over their sexuality will eventually stop.

"I don't know what it's like to be picked on for being gay. But I do know what it's like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don't belong. It's tough," Obama says in the video. He said he was "shocked and saddened" to hear of bullied young people who recently took their own lives.

"The other thing you need to know is, things will get better," he says. " And more than that, with time you're going to see that your differences are a source of pride and a source of strength. You'll look back on the struggles you've faced with compassion and wisdom. And that's not just going to serve you, but it will help you get involved and make this country a better place."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also cut an "It Gets Better" video this week and wore head-to-toe purple on Wednesday as part of an anti-bullying campaign.

Ben Smith of Politico speculates that the White House "is looking for [non-legislative] ways to rally all elements of the Democratic base, including gay voters, behind the Democratic cause, and this may be a powerful one."

Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett apologized this week to the gay community for suggesting that being gay was a lifestyle choice. And the Obama administration has had a tough time explaining why it's continuing to fight to uphold the military's ban on openly gay service in the courts, even though administration officials are opposed to the policy.

You can read our interview with Dan Savage, the creator of the project, and find more videos here. You can also check out our interview with suicide prevention expert Ann Haas, who says the issue of mental illness has been dangerously ignored in the conversation around bullied kids who die by suicide.

By Liz Goodwin

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Thursday, 21 October 2010

Obama's closing, familiar argument: Time to choose

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UNITED STATED


Closing out a perilous election season for Democrats, President Barack Obama's final argument sounds like this: Do you want to stick with progress or return to failure?

He's talking about control of Congress, not himself, but there is no escaping his imprint on this election.

With every echo of the spirited 2008 campaign, every mention of the unfinished work and every photo he takes with another candidate, Obama serves up another reminder that his own agenda is at stake on Nov. 2.

It is part of the tricky balance for the White House — deploying Obama to the right places to stir up enthusiasm and recruit first-time voters from two years ago, yet trying to keep people from viewing the election as a referendum on him and the battered economy.

Half of likely voters say how they vote on their House race won't be affected by Obama at all, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. Yet almost as many said they will, in fact, base their House vote in part to send a message about Obama — 26 percent to oppose him, 23 percent to support him.

With Democratic control of the House, and possibly the Senate, in jeopardy after the Nov. 2 voting, the president is investing a lot of time to convince supporters that the midterm elections matter. As he put it at one fundraiser this month, "Unless we are able to maintain Democrats in the House and Senate, then we're going to be stalled for two years or four years, and we're going to start going backwards."

That is the message Obama has been pounding for weeks. Aides say he will stick with it throughout his final flurry of campaigning. He is referring to the fate of big items Congress already has passed, like health care and Wall Street reform, and promises not yet kept, including deficit reduction and immigration.

"We don't want them rolling back health reform, so insurance companies can deny you coverage because you're sick. We don't want them rolling back Wall Street reform, so now credit card companies can go back to hitting you with hidden fees and penalties," Obama said Wednesday night at a noisy indoor rally in Portland, Ore., for gubernatorial candidate John Kitzhaber. "We have tried that before and we're not going back."

Obama is in the midst of his longest campaign swing as president, a four-day trip through Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Minnesota. The audience in Portland, estimated at 8,000 people, leapt to its feet and erupted into cheers as Obama bounded onto the stage. That was a fraction of the 75,000 people who flocked to a riverfront rally in the city during his 2008 presidential campaign, but still more than the 5,000 people rally organizers had hoped would attend.

Obama's agenda Thursday includes an economic discussion geared toward women, a critical political constituency. And in a series of interviews and town halls of late, the president also has reached out to blacks, Hispanics and young adults to hammer home his message that the country is moving ahead despite weak economic times.

Democrats are expected to lose a significant number of seats in the House; Republicans need to gain 40 to regain control of the chamber they lost in the middle of George W. Bush's final term. In the Senate, Republicans are also likely to pick up seats, though probably not enough to win a majority.

Less than two weeks from the election, the question appears to be whether Republicans will enjoy a wave election, in which virtually all the close races tip their way and tilt power in Washington, or more moderate gains. Obama's aides profess confidence that Democrats will retain power but know all the factors working against them: near-10 percent unemployment, a history of midterm losses for the party of the president in power and public frustration with the slow economic recovery.

Obama's main roles are to raise money for the party, draw votes and media coverage for candidates in tight races, entice volunteers to knock on doors for scores of lesser-known candidates and try to shape the national election debate. He is intent on drawing a contrast between Democratic and Republican leadership of the country and will repeat it everywhere he goes, based on the assumption that it will be fresh to voters in Minnesota even if he just said it in Maryland.

His 2008 presidential campaign manager, David Plouffe, said Obama may well not be able to change the dynamic of a race in which a candidate is trailing by 8 to 10 points, but he could be a key factor if the margin is 51-49.

"The central actors in the election are the candidates themselves," Plouffe said. "It's how they handle the last two weeks that's most important."

Obama, though, is at the center of reminding voters that this election and the issues it will shape are an extension of his own win in 2008.

"I know that there are times where probably it's hard to recapture that sense of possibility," Obama said in Ohio this week. "It's hard sometimes to say, 'Yes, we can.' You start thinking, 'Well, maybe, I don't know.' It's not as inspiring a slogan. But I said during the campaign, this has never been easy."

By BEN FELLER and DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writers

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Why US lawyers fight for law on gays Obama opposes

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UNITED STATED


President Barack Obama opposes the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military, so why are Obama administration lawyers in court fighting to save it?

The answer is one that perhaps only a lawyer could love: There is a long tradition that the Justice Department defends laws adopted by Congress and signed by a president, regardless of whether the president in office likes them.

This practice cuts across party lines. And it has caused serious heartburn for more than one attorney general.

The tradition flows directly from the president's constitutional duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed, says Paul Clement, who served four years in President George W. Bush's administration as solicitor general, the executive branch's top lawyer at the Supreme Court.

Otherwise, Clement says, the nation would be subjected to "the spectacle of the executive branch defending only laws it likes, with Congress intervening to defend others."

That is why solicitors general not only serve the president who nominated them but also have a special duty to Congress, "most notably, the vigorous defense of the statutes of this country against constitutional attack," Justice Elena Kagan testified to Congress in 2009 after Obama nominated her to be solicitor general. She joined the Supreme Court a year later.

On occasion, the Justice Department will even defend a law it knows is likely to be judged unconstitutional, said Seth Waxman, who served as President Bill Clinton's solicitor

Six federal judges had ruled against the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that made it a crime to make available to minors on the Internet material that was "indecent" or "patently offensive." Nevertheless, Waxman backed the law in an appeal to the Supreme Court. He lost there, but felt good about serving "our adversarial system of constitutional adjudication."

William French Smith, President Ronald Reagan's first attorney general, once said that defending congressional action that extended the ratification period for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment for women caused far and away his most uncomfortable moments in four years in office because of the irate calls he got from administration supporters — who staunchly opposed the ERA.

Obama's supporters have similarly criticized the administration for its legal efforts on behalf of "don't ask, don't tell," the law that bars gays from serving openly in the military, even after U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips in Riverside, Calif., ordered the military to immediately suspend and discontinue any investigation or other proceeding to dismiss gay service members under the law.

Indeed, Justice lawyers delayed their response to Phillips because the White House weighed in on the matter, according to a government official with knowledge of the situation. A couple of White House lawyers did not want to seek a court order that would temporarily suspend the judge's ruling, this person said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration's internal deliberations. Failing to challenge the ruling would have had the effect of ending the policy.

Obama says he supports repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" but only after careful review and an act of Congress.

Ultimately, the government did ask Phillips to suspend her ruling pending the government's appeal.

After Phillips refused, the administration asked the federal appeals court in San Francisco to freeze her ruling temporarily, which it did late Wednesday. Justice lawyers argued that while appeals were pending, abruptly ending "don't ask, don't tell" and immediately allowing openly gay service members could harm troop morale and unit cohesion when the military is fighting two wars.

On rare occasions, Justice officials conclude there is no reasonable argument that can be made in defense of a federal law.

Clement recalled two instances during his tenure. One posed free speech problems, because it sought to prevent recipients of federal transportation money from running ads favoring legalization of some drugs. The other was an obscure 1800s statute dealing with licensing of salvage operations.

When George H.W. Bush was president, he vetoed the Cable Television Act of 1992 in the belief that certain provisions were unconstitutional. The bill became law when Congress overrode Bush's veto.

Cable operators challenged the law in court, and Bush's Justice Department said it would not defend what the president had vetoed.

But then Clinton was elected. He reversed course and sent Justice lawyers into court on behalf of the law. The Supreme Court eventually upheld it.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Mark Sherman, Associated Press Writer

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Election Day is over for millions of early voters

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UNITED STATED


Election Day is already over for more than 3 million Americans, and a surprising number of them are Democrats.

Republicans clearly are gaining ground in turning out early voters compared with their showing two years ago, but figures from the first batch of states that offer clues about 2010 early voting patterns still give Democrats an edge in a number of states and big counties.

"If people thought the Democrats were just going to roll over and play dead in this election, that's not what we're seeing," said Michael McDonald, a George Mason University professor who tracks early voting nationally. "They've got to be feeling a little bit better with the numbers that they're seeing."

With 30 percent or more of all votes likely to be cast early, both sides are going all-out to lock in supporters' ballots early. And for the first time in a midterm election, they're combining traditional shoe-leather canvassing and get-out-the-vote rallies with technological tools like Facebook and text messaging.

Strategies run the gamut: In Washington state, Democrats held a "tweetup" to rein in young early voters. In Illinois, a voter-education group posted a YouTube video about the state's early-voting law highlighting the ability to vote naked — from the comfort of home, please. In Florida, Democrats e-mailed a notice that "Today is Election Day. No, that's not a typo, because every day between now and November 2 is Election Day."

While it's impossible to tell for whom people are voting, Democrats so far are casting ballots at a faster clip than Republicans in Iowa, Maryland, North Carolina and Nevada's heavily Democratic Clark County, which supplied two-thirds of the state's voters in 2008.

Republicans are flexing their organizational muscles and leading the pace in Florida, even though Democrats have the edge in registered voters there, and in Colorado. The parties are running about even so far in Maine.

Ohio's early voting trends reflect the state's swing-voting status: Democrats are ahead in the party stronghold of Cuyahoga County around Cleveland, while Republicans lead in GOP territory of Hamilton County, which is home to Cincinnati. Ballots are virtually even in Franklin County, which anchors fickle central Ohio.

With nearly every indicator in a new Associated Press-GfK poll pointing toward big GOP victories, the Democrats' ground-game advantage is squaring off against the Republicans' enthusiasm edge — and the outcome could determine who wins close races.

Democrats hope they can minimize sweeping coast-to-coast losses with a retooled get-out-the-vote operation that's been tweaked since Barack Obama's groundbreaking 2008 presidential campaign and tested during several special House elections the party recently has won. Republicans, by most accounts, have a less sophisticated program, but they are banking on their loyalists — as well as GOP-leaning independents and disaffected Democrats — turning out in droves simply because they are fired up to vote against the party in power.

There's still plenty for the Democrats to worry about as they pore over early-vote statistics in places such as Nevada, where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in a tough re-election race against Republican tea party favorite Sharron Angle.

While Democrats so far make up about 46 percent of those who've cast ballots in Las Vegas' Clark County, compared with 38 percent for Republicans, the Democrats' 8-point advantage is down from 22 points in 2008. And Republicans, who make up a third of the county's registered voters, are turning out in numbers that exceed their share of the electorate this time.

In Reno's Washoe County, where voter registration is about evenly split between the two parties, early voter turnout favors Republicans 47 percent to 39 percent. The two Nevada counties make up more than 80 percent of the state's electorate; the rest of the state's counties are sparsely populated and heavily Republican.

Early voting also has been strong in a number of states that don't break down turnout by party. In California, for example, nearly 570,000 ballots have been cast. In Texas, 316,000 have voted, compared with 157,000 at this point in 2006, according to totals from the 15 counties with the largest number of registered voters. In Washington, where virtually everyone casts a mail-in ballot, the state estimates roughly 240,000 have voted.

Across the nation, said McDonald, early voting appears to be at a pace that equals or exceeds the high levels of 2008, when 30 percent cast an early ballot.

"This is a phenomenon that's here to stay and it's going to continue to increase in popularity, even in the midterms," said McDonald.

Those looking to read the election tea leaves also keep an eye on which party's voters have submitted the most applications for early ballots.

Twenty days out from Election Day, requests for vote-by-mail ballots in Florida favored Republicans over Democrats 48 percent to 36 percent, with 16 percent coming from independents. But Democrats are quick to point out that vote-by-mail is an area that Republicans traditionally have dominated and where Democrats have narrowed the gap this year. The Republicans' 12-point advantage this year is down from 28 points in 2006, the last midterm.

The big test in Florida will be whether Democrats can overcome that advantage now that in-person voting has begun, as they did in 2008, when they led among all early votes cast by nearly 360,000. The state GOP's first analysis of early voters Wednesday showed Republicans leading by nearly 130,000 ballots, far exceeding the party's showing in 2008.

Republicans were smiling in Colorado, too, where the number of Democrats on the state's list of permanent early mail-in voters has slipped by nearly 34,000 since 2008, while the number of Republicans has grown by nearly 22,000. So far, about 195,000 voters have cast ballots, with about 42 percent coming from Republicans and 36 percent from Democrats.

Democrats attribute their slippage in the voter list to the fact that the party had a surge in registration by young voters in 2008, and those voters are more prone to move away and drop off the list. Republicans, for their part, attribute this year's big increase to their high-voltage campaign to help people register online to automatically receive a mail-in ballot each election, followed by in-person visits to collect paper applications from those who didn't sign up online.

When applications for early ballots are parsed into smaller segments, Republicans see cause for cheer in tight House races.

Gentry Collins, political director at the Republican National Committee, said there are 71 vulnerable Democratic House seats where there is data available on absentee ballots. In 51 of those, Collins said, Republicans have requested more absentee ballots than Democrats for the first time in several elections.

Other snapshots of early voting:

_In Iowa, more than 175,000 people have cast ballots, about 46 percent of them Democrats and 38 percent Republicans. That's a somewhat narrower gap than the Democrats' 11-point advantage in registered voters.

_In Maine, about 31,000 people have voted, roughly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, although Democrats have a 5-point advantage in registered voters.

_In North Carolina, more than 174,000 people have cast ballots. Democrats account for 44 percent of votes cast so far, about matching their overall voter registration percentage. Republicans comprised 39 percent of votes cast through Tuesday, outpacing their 32 percent representation in the entire electorate. The Democratic numbers fall far short of two years ago, when Democrats cast 51 percent of all early votes.

_In Maryland, about 3,200 people have voted, about 59 percent of them Democrats and 31 percent Republicans.

_In Ohio, Democrats lead Republicans 59 percent to 26 percent in Cuyahoga County, while Republicans lead Democrats 42 percent to 33 percent in Hamilton County. In Franklin County, the two sides are virtually tied. Some 212,000 people have voted in those three counties.

This article was originally published By NANCY BENAC and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer.

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