US ELECTION:

FIRST RESULTS IN AS TINY TOWN CASTS  HISTORIC BALLOT

The ballots cast shortly after midnight by residents of dixville notch were tied for the first time in history, with barack obama and mitt romney each receiving five votes.The draw is another indication of the knife's edge separating the two candidates in a race that should be decided by the end of the day.Tanner tillotson, 24, who cast the first ballot at 12:00 am local time, said he voted for president obama."i think (the result) is very indicative, that this is the first time in dixville notch's history that there is a tie. We're still a very divided nation and it will be interesting to see how the rest of the country is," he said.

The tiny New Hampshire town, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Canadian border, boasts the first vote in US elections, but is seen as more of a curiosity than a national bellwether.Voting is usually held in the ballroom of a luxury hotel, but this year was moved to a nearby ski lodge as the building is closed for renovation.The nearby hamlet of Hart's Location has long competed with Dixville Notch to be the first in the nation, but with more than twice as many voters, its count takes slightly longer to complete.Tuesday's result in Hart's Location was a bit less ambiguous, with Mr Obama getting 23 votes versus Mr Romney's nine.Early voting has been under way for several weeks in some states, and long lines have formed outside of polling stations as the two campaigns have carried out intensive get-out-the-vote efforts.The Republican candidate has won Dixville Notch in every election since the tradition began in 1960, except for 2008, when Mr Obama won.Nationally, polls show Mr Obama as the slight favorite, with the two candidates in a virtual tie in national polls but the president holding a narrow lead in the key swing states needed to win the all-important electoral college.In US presidential elections the winner is not decided by the nationwide popular vote, but indirectly, based on each state's population, with the winner needing 270 out of 538 electoral votes.The small state of New Hampshire casts just four electoral votes, but it is considered a swing state and could prove decisive in an election that may well be decided by a razor-thin margin.

Obama Says Romney Is Dishonest For Bailout

Obama Vs Romney

 

 

Lima, ohio—barnstorming across ohio on friday,president obama threw off the appeals to bipartisan harmony that had suffused his response to the east coast storm two days earlier to mount a fiery attack on mitt romney’s attempt to discredit his bailout of detroit.

The comforting commander in chief replaced by the political warrior, mr. Obama hopscotched across this electoral battleground, accusing mr. Romney at every stop of dishonesty for claiming that the president’s auto-industry bailout had resulted in jobs moving to china.
At issue is a romney ad airing in ohio that asserts that chrysler, under new italian owners, moved jeep production to china after being bailed out by the obama administration in 2009.
“that’s not true,” mr. Obama said to a crowd of 2,800 in a cavernous barn in the town of hilliard, as they chanted “liar” and “lying” about mr. Romney. “everybody knows it’s not true. The car companies themselves have told governor romney to knock it off.”

 The commercial, mr. Obama said, amounted to a cynical ploy to make up for the fact that mr. Romney opposed the bailout and has struggled ever since with voters in ohio, where one of every eight jobs is dependent on the auto industry.

“this isn’t a game: these are people’s jobs, these are people’s lives,” the president said. Claiming that the ad had unnerved some employees at the jeep plant in toledo, ohio, he said, “you don’t scare hard-working americans just to scare up some votes.”
Mr. Obama’s harsh words, in a voice that grew raspier as the day went on, sounded like the stretch run of a marathon campaign, with the president pleading for every vote in a state where he is clinging to a narrow but steady lead in polls against mr. Romney.
Mr. Romney is putting up a fierce challenge, kicking off a major rally in ohio with his running mate, representative paul d. Ryan, and an array of prominent republican officials. The bitter confrontation between the candidates over the auto bailout illustrates the enormous stakes, and it has dominated headlines here and in michigan.
The romney campaign countered the president’s criticism by insisting that the ad was accurate.
“the facts are clear: despite his false and misleading attacks, president obama took the auto companies into bankruptcy,” said a spokeswoman, amanda henneberg. “his mismanagement of the process has exposed taxpayers to a $25 billion loss.”
To try to offset rare public criticism from chrysler and general motors, the romney campaign corralled an endorsement from a former president of chrysler, hal sperlich, who said mr. Romney would make the american auto industry more competitive.
But mr. Obama seemed energized, fortified by a better than expected jobs report and his experience in the storm, when he won an endorsement from mayor michael r. Bloomberg of new york and made a political bedfellow of the republican governor of new jersey, chris christie.
“i’ve got a lot of fight left in me,” mr. Obama said to 4,000 people in a high school gymnasium in springfield, ohio. He also went after mr. Romney’s claims that he, not mr. Obama, was a change agent.
“governor romney, he’s a very gifted salesman, so he’s been trying in this campaign as hard as he can to repackage these ideas that didn’t work, the very same policies that did not work, and he’s trying to pretend they’re change,” mr. Obama said.
The show of harmony in new jersey on wednesday seemed a world away from the chilly midwestern fairground in hilliard. Even the minister offering the invocation jabbed mr. Romney for his remarks about the 47 percent of americans whom he claimed support mr. Obama and rely on government handouts.Warming up the crowd, former gov.ted strickland of ohio characterized a canned-goods drive that mr. Romney held in dayton for storm victims as little more than a cheap photo opportunity. And he described ohio as “the firewall for president obama” — a state he cannot afford to lose.
So much attention has been lavished on this state that it sometimes seems as if the candidates have been wooing ohioans one at a time. Mr. Obama used his limousine, helicopter and a smaller version of air force one to reach ohio’s nooks and crannies, traversing the flat landscape from hilliard to springfield and then north to lima.

The obama campaign has projected steadfast confidence that it will hold on to a victory in ohio, citing public polls that show mr. Obama ahead of mr. Romney by a nearly two-to-one ratio among the 23 percent of registered voters who have already cast ballots.

Campaign aides also brushed aside mr. Romney’s plan to campaign in pennsylvania, saying it reflected the challenger’s weakness in ohio. “it’s a desperate ploy, in the last throes of a campaign, to put another state in play,” said david plouffe, a senior white house adviser.

TEN REASONS FOR SANDY

TEN REASONS FOR THIS SANDY

1. Sheer size

A TYPICAL HURRICANE SPANS ANYWHERE FROM 30 KM TO 100 KM FROM ITS EYE TO THE POINT WHERE WINDS ARE HIGHEST, SAYS RYAN MULLIGAN, A COASTAL ENGINEERING EXPERT AT QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY WHO STUDIES HURRICANES. AS OF MONDAY NIGHT, HURRICANE SANDY MEASURED 280 KM, ALMOST TRIPLE THE AVERAGE SIZE. SO WHILE SANDY IS ONLY A CATEGORY 1 STORM ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE, WHICH RUNS UP TO CATEGORY 5, THAT FIGURE IS DECEPTIVE: THE CATEGORY OF A STORM DOES NOT ALWAYS DIRECTLY RELATE TO HOW MUCH DAMAGE IT WILL CAUSE, WARNS THE U.S. NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER.

2. Storm path

WHILE FLORIDA AND THE GULF COAST ARE OFTEN BATTERED BY HURRICANES, IT’S RARE FOR STORMS TO CHURN INLAND NORTH OF CAPE HATTERAS, A SPIT OF LAND HALFWAY UP NORTH CAROLINA’S SHORE, SAYS MULLIGAN. STORMS THAT PASS THE CAPE TYPICALLY BEND EASTWARD AND HEAD OUT OVER THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, SOMETIMES CLIPPING NOVA SCOTIA AND NEWFOUNDLAND ALONG THE WAY. BUT AN UNUSUAL CONFIGURATION OF LAND-BASED WEATHER SYSTEMS IS INTERACTING WITH SANDY, DRAWING THE STORM OVER NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY.

3. Double-whammy

PART OF THAT UNUSUAL CONFIGURATION IS THE LOW-PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT BROUGHT COLD AND RAIN TO TORONTO ALL WEEKEND. THAT SYSTEM IS DOING MUCH MORE THAN HELPING TO DRAW SANDY INLAND, HOWEVER: IT’S ALSO FEEDING POWER TO THE HURRICANE. “THIS IS A UNIQUE SITUATION WHERE THE TWO ARE KIND OF MERGING,” SAYS PETER KIMBELL, A WARNING PREPAREDNESS METEOROLOGIST WITH ENVIRONMENT CANADA. THE “FRANKENSTORM” — NOW A POST-TROPICAL STORM RATHER THAN A HURRICANE, BUT NO LESS DANGEROUS — IS EXPECTED SIT OVER NORTH AMERICA FOR DAYS, DUMPING DOWN RAINFALL.

4. Freezing cold

IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS OF SOME U.S. STATES ARE EXPECTING UP TO THREE FEET OF SNOWFALL. COMBINED WITH POWER OUTAGES, THE COLD COULD BE PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS. WITH SNOW ALREADY FALLING, THE GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR 24 COUNTIES ON MONDAY.

5. Impact zone

SANDY’S UNUSUAL ROUTE PUTS UPWARDS OF 50 MILLION PEOPLE ALONG ITS STORM PATH. IT IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL ON THE SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY COAST THAT INCLUDES THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED AREA OF THE U.S. “THE TRACK OF THE HURRICANE IS PARTICULARLY BAD,” SAYS MULLIGAN. HURRICANE-FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO WREAK HAVOC AS FAR NORTH AS CHATHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, AND AS FAR SOUTH AS CHINCOTEAGUE, VIRGINIA. “IT’S GOING TO CAUSE A STORM SURGE WHICH WILL BE (THE) HIGHEST OR WORST-CASE IN NEW YORK HARBOUR, WHICH IS NOT A GOOD THING,” HE SAYS. THE AREA IS LOW-LYING AND FILLED WITH INFRASTRUCTURE.

6. Storm surge

THE NEW YORK HARBOUR STORM SURGE IS FORECAST TO PEAK ANYWHERE FROM 1.8 METRES TO 3.3 METRES. NYC’S HARBOUR IS FUNNEL-SHAPED AND ONLY 5 METRES TO 7 METRES DEEP IN MANY PLACES, WHICH WILL ENCOURAGE WAVES TO AMPLIFY, SAYS MULLIGAN. THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER CALLED THE SURGE “LIFE-THREATENING,” AND CITY OFFICIALS WARNED THAT A DELUGE OF SALT WATER COULD CORRODE SUBWAY BRAKES. OTHER COASTAL AREAS WILL ALSO BE BATTERED. A BIG CHUNK OF ATLANTIC CITY’S BOARDWALK WAS WASHED AWAY MONDAY AFTERNOON.

7. High tide

A FULL MOON OCCURRED MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE PHASE OF THE LUNAR CYCLE MEANS TIDES ARE HIGHER THAN USUAL, CONTRIBUTING TO THE HUGE STORM SURGE.

8. Leafy peril

WHILE TREES IN ONTARIO ARE MOSTLY BARE BY NOW, FURTHER SOUTH THE LEAVES ARE STILL ON THEIR BRANCHES. THAT’S SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE LEAVES HELP CATCH WIND, CONTRIBUTING TO THE LIKELIHOOD THAT TREES WILL BLOW DOWN AND CAUSE DAMAGE TO HOMES AND CARS, SAYS GEOFF COULSON, ANOTHER WARNING PREPAREDNESS METEOROLOGIST AT ENVIRONMENT CANADA.

9. Already deadly

WHILE MUCH OF THE WORLD’S ATTENTION IS FIXATED ON NORTH AMERICA, SANDY HAS ALREADY PROVED LETHAL, KILLING 69 PEOPLE IN THE CARIBBEAN. IN SANTIAGO, CUBA’S SECOND-LARGEST CITY, RESIDENTS REMAINED WITHOUT POWER OR RUNNING WATER FOR THE FOURTH STRAIGHT DAY. WITH 11 PEOPLE DEAD, SANDY WAS CUBA’S DEADLIEST STORM IN SEVEN YEARS.

10. Not going anywhere

SANDY IS ALSO MOVING PARTICULARLY SLOWLY. “SANDY AND WHAT’S LEFT OF HER IS GOING TO LINGER,” SAYS COULSON. ANY ISSUES THE STORM IS CREATING OVER THE EASTERN SEABOARD RIGHT NOW AREN’T GOING TO DIMINISH SOON, HE ADDS: “THEY’RE GOING TO BE DEALING WITH A LOT OF WEATHER OVER THE NEXT THREE DAYS.” EVEN THE CANADIAN RED CROSS AND ONTARIO’S MINISTRY OF COMMUNITY SAFETY IS URGING ANYONE IN THE STORM’S PATH TO GET TOGETHER ENOUGH SUPPLIES FOR 72 HOURS.