Oh I see. It had to with stocks. Forgive me

no problem.

That part didn't catch my eye. Tbh I can't wait for this election to be over regardless of who I vote for.

Posted: 10/24/2012
Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Polls may show a hotly contested presidential election. But sales of Halloween masks of the candidates are already calling the race. President Obama masks have been outselling those of his Republican challenger Mitt Romney by a 60 percent to 40 percent margin, according to Spirit Halloween, the country's largest seasonal Halloween retailer.

The 1,000-store chain even has its own "presidential index," which uses nationwide sales of candidates' masks to predict the outcome of the most important U.S. election every four years.
As unscientific as the methodology may be, Spirit Halloween has accurately predicted the election winner by charting national mask sales since it started keeping track in 1996.

Okay seriously what on earth do halloween masks have to do with the election?

Now if this was an intended joke by all means I apologize but even so can we talk about the real issues at stake here?

As a fiercely interested partisan myself, it's ok to have fun at the crazy things regarding elections like this.

Also, people love patterns.

(But GOPers, I wouldn't worry about those mask sales. I assume People figure they could go out as Romney for Halloween, just comb back your hair and spray yourself with water to give off that Albert Brooks sweaty look.)

Intrade has today proven itself irrelevant when it comes to politics.

So is there really a "Mittmentum" but in the reverse?

Personally, I.think Romney has peaked and Obama's firewall will hold. The latest Ohio poll has Obama up by 5, and Romney isn't winning without it. It probably will be a close election. Obama could even lose the popular vote, but I still see him getting 280-290 electoral votes.

Personally I'm actually bipartisan. I'm an undecided independent voter. So these kinds of tidbits mean nothing to me. I'm still trying to decide who would run our country better. It's been a difficult process

Well boil down 1 (maybe 2) issues that matter most for you and decide your vote from there.

If that doesn't work, consider even 3rd party. Especially if you live in a state where the outcome is pretty much certain. (I live in Tennessee, where Lucifer would get more votes than any Democratic candidate in the last 3 elections.)

I've never understood people who dismiss 3rd party votes as "throwing them away." No throwing your vote away is when you take a right not every person on Earth enjoys (a right sustained by us by generations of dead Americans) and just decide to cast it between just two candidates because we've been brainwashed and the system rigged by the two parties, even if you don't like either candidate from those parties.

Colin Powell has endorsed the President again.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/colin-powell-endorses-obama_n_2011162.html

I live in Massachusetts, where it's been blue for I don't even know how long. We have a had a history of red governors however, that includes Romney and before him Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci, and William Weld who I think was the best.
As a resident of Massachusetts I can't speak for everyone, but I was very satisfied with Romney's tenure. He was successful in a lot of issues that he tried to address. To me, President Obama has been a major disappointment. He promised a lot of things he couldn't keep. There are some things I think he did right, the auto bailout and Iraq to name them. But what scares me about him is that the debt is now 16 trillion dollars, and it's only going to increase if Obama keeps spending the way he does. And I don't believe that taxing the rich even more is the right way to do it, taxing them more doesn't even put a dent in the deficit.
To me this election is about the deficit and the economy. I don't believe that Obama has done a good job and if he was given four more years he wouldn't do squat with it either. By the same token Romney hasn't done enough to explain what he would do and hasn't earned my vote yet. Not that it matters anyway because my state is already Obama haha.

I look at it this way - the last two times I was threatened by the economy were when Republican Presidents named Bush were in office. My husband lost his job in January of 1992 and now he's the only person left in his department now, after all the people have been laid off. I've been diligently looking for work for a very long time, and haven't been offered anything of substance, mostly part-time jobs at $10 or $12 an hour, and I used to be VP of a local non-profit.

I feel that President Obama preached Hope and he has given us some. Has he delivered on all his promises? No. But I think that he was overly optimistic, and that maybe that's what it took to get elected. The trough was too deep, and I don't think any of us realized what it would take to heal us.

However, the Dow has more than doubled, unemployment is on its way down, the housing market is on its way up, and to me those are all positive signs of a recovery. I feel that to interrupt the momentum that he has built would be a huge mistake.

As a woman, I don't agree with Romney's views on abortion. Personally, I find that a big issue. I also don't like his attitude toward the "47%". How do you dismiss half the people of a country you plan to govern?

For me, those were the issues that made my choice clear. I am not affiliated with any political party either and have voted for both Republicans and Democrats in the past. The past few years, though, my choice has been made quite clear. Between W and that idiot Palin, I feel that I haven't had a good Republican candidate to vote for. I've often wished that McCain had gotten the nomination in 2000. I think we would be a very different country right now if he had.

I have to disagree with you on three points Sicilian Babe.

One: the economy has showed signs of recovery. But the unemployment rate hasn't improved enough to make people completely satisfied with Obama. Places like Virginia and Ohio have low unemployment rates, but other places like North Carolina and Michigan are still over ten percent. That's unacceptable. And the job situation doesn't mean more people have jobs, it means companies downsized and all their available positions have been filled. The debt is still at 16 trillion and we just can't afford any more big spending which is my main worry.

Two: Romney governed my state. No one gets elected in this state if they are vehemently opposed to abortion. It's not his main concern. If it was he'd be saying more about it. He has his agenda, and abortion is low on his list.

Three: The 47 percent remark I believe was misinterpreted. He acknowledges the fact that 47 percent of people will not vote for him, but he needed support from the undecided independents. It was at a fundraiser he said this, his goal was to make money. No President can take office without thinking of every single American out there. I don't think he disregards that 47 percent.

Here's his exact quote:
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney said in the video. "There are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

That doesn't sound to me like he thinks he simply can't get their vote. He sounds like a condescending ass, because there are plenty of people in that group that are seniors and the working poor who are trying very hard to eke out an existence. He comes across as dismissive and, quite frankly, rather cruel.

Is unemployment where it should be? No, but I also know that plenty of corporations should and could be hiring, but they are enjoying record profits by squeezing their employees for every ounce of blood they can get because they know that people are terrified of losing their jobs.

And as for abortion, Mr. Romney has endorsed Richard Murdock who has said that pregnancy from rape is something that God intended, and his VP pick Ryan cosponsored a bill with Todd Akin to redefine rape, so don't tell me he's not against it. It's perfectly fine if he is, it's his right, but that doesn't make it less of a viable issue for me.

Mr Romney did indeed endorse Murdock. Murdocks comments were unethical and flat out wrong. But Romney has also distanced himself from him knowing it will hurt him in the election. That being said he can't change the abortion law even if he wanted to, a supreme court justice has to die or retire.

As for the 47 percent remark that's open to interpretation. You may think he meant something cruel but I'm not sure that's entirely the case. People want to make him out as some sort of monster when they won't see another point of view. I am not a republican or a democrat so I try to see something from both sides and make a judgement. I personally don't think Romney meant to cast out half of America as freeloaders. It doesn't make sense. A man who's trying to be president of the united states. Romney is not perfect but I certainly don't think of him as an idiot. That's not fair to make that assessment

I must be missing something. You say you're undecided, but all I see are posts defending Romney, and criticizing Obama.

I shook hands and spoke to the president today at a rally in Tampa. I was on the rope line. Obama sounded a little hoarse, and when I shook his hand I pointed to my throat and said, "Mr. President....be carefule about your voice." He gave me the "Obama stare" and he just said, "I know." then he moved on. Does this make me an advisor to the president?

The reason I defend Romney is because most on this forum seem to attack him relentlessly without seeing the other side of the issue. He governed my state well, he's intelligent and I don't see him as badly as everyone on here does.

I think Obama is intelligent and has good ideas. But this forum is way too one sided. I voted for him last election, but what he's done the past four years hasnt persuaded me to give him a second try.

123, I don't think he's an idiot, and I don't think he's bad. He's probably a decent family man. I think all of the candidates are, which is different than the past. Yes, it's fun to poke at some of his comments, but I disagree with plenty of what he's said and done, and I'm certainly entitled to my opinion.

Saying he can't change the abortion law, you're correct. However, if Mr. Romney appoints justices that oppose it, then indirectly he can. As for the 47% remark, I stand by my interpretation. He's lumped all of those below a certain income level as people who feel "entitled" and while there are certainly some people in that group who feel that way, it's disrespectful to plenty of those people.

The forum is not one sided. Everyone is entitled to speak their mind. If those who want to vote for Mr. Romney decide not to post their opinions, we can't make them.

DT, I'm jealous. Did you tell him I said hello??

Of course Sicilian babe. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I think what's wrong in today's world of politics is that both sides think they are right and will not budge on critical issues. It's been a dead stalemate in the white house the past two years and Obama hasn't really pushed an agenda. I lost respect for him when he didn't support the Simpson-Bowles plan.

In my mind this country is most successful when both sides can come together and find common ground. Such as the Clinton years, and because he didn't lean too far left and was practical the nineties were a period of prosperity. I think Obama leans too far left and if he were reelected that's the only agenda he would push.

the main problems that i have with obama are...

#1 the national debt has increased from 10 trillion to 16 trillion since he became president, bottom line. his supporters are always all too quick to blame it all on bush. he definatly deserves some of the blame and president bush was horrible, but the fact remains that our current president spends like a drunken sailor who's mind is rotten from syphilis. justify it all you want, but the fact remains that spending more money than you take in will ultimatly result in financial disaster. i'm not a big fan of this whole "spend more money to fix a monetary problem" as it just goes against common sense imo. the biggest problem we face is not what iran is doing, but rather what these fools continue to do with our tax money and it starts and stops at the federal level point blank.

#2 signing the NDAA, mainly the provision to allow the arrest and imprisonment of american citizens without trial or access to legal concil. i don't care what crime you are accused of commiting, even the modern day terrorism "boogyman", any american should have these constitutional rights no matter what. he then first promised to veto it to kill any opposition to it, then trying to be slick he signed it on new years eve thinking that nobody was paying attention and sadly he was right for the most part. then, saying he had serious reservations about certain sections of the bill,and that he wouldn't use them but then it comes out that his administation were the ones who pushed to get the whole arrest without due process pushed through in the first place. and then to top it off when federal judge catherine forrest ruled it unconstitutional in an ongoing lawsuit, his administration counter sued to keep those povisions that he claimed to be agianst in the first place active and "legal"! makes me sick!

is romney any better? i really don't know at this point as it seems that we are on the fast track to ruin regaurdless. what a shame that ron paul wasn't the republican nominee, a damn shame!

Did anybody else laugh at Obama telling Rolling Stone that Mittens was a "bullshitter"?

I'm reminded of an aide of President Truman complaining to Mrs. Truman about him repeatedly saying "manure" and if he could tone it down.

"It took me 20 years to get him to say manure."

The President votes...and gets asked for I.D.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nbc-news/49559201#49559201

I'm reminded of that anecdote about FDR voting (1940 or '42, I can't remember) at his home district Hyde Park.

Clerk: "Name?"
FDR: "The same one I used last time."

Only the US Congress can appropriate federal funds.

It should be interesting to see the polls over the weekend to see if the idiotic comments made the last couple of days by Robert Mourdock, Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, and Sarah Palin, have any effect on the race.

Man, Mourdock. That base is damn determined with their perfectly circular logical (if insane) approach that is threatening to brand the GOP the Rapist Apologist party. Anybody who subscribes to that guy and those lunatics' theology are only a few generations away from barbaric de-evolving into those wonderful nuts out in the Middle East.

Call me nuts, call me reactionary, I could very well be. But I predict knowing these genuises that within a few years they will be calling for rape laws to be rewritten, overturned if sexual assaults results in impregnation. Because if its God's will, and all life is precious, then why should rapists be punished for doing his will in creating life?

And the religious right wonders why the Gay Rights movement is succeeding.

Romney had made up a lot of ground with women in the last few weeks. Now him and his party are back to defending themselves against the "War on Women" label again.

...Not a spot they want to be in with only 12 days left.

I'm sorry but that poll I believe as much as the new AP poll claiming Obama tied him with Men.

No way.