What We're Reading - August 7
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Good morning, everyone! Today, Kansans, Missourians, Michiganders, and Washingtonians head to the polls to vote in the primary, and our chump Rep. Todd Akin will face off against two primary challengers in the Missouri senate republican primary. Here’s what we’re reading this morning…
Governor Perry sits between a rock and a hard place on Medicaid expansion. “Perry caught in Medicaid contradiction” — “Texas Gov. Rick Perry is facing a big contradiction as he pursues two policies important to conservatives — defunding Planned Parenthood and rejecting President Obama's healthcare law. Perry has said he won't implement the healthcare law's Medicaid expansion. But his plan to cut off Planned Parenthood assumes that the Medicaid expansion will happen in Texas. Planned Parenthood noted the contradiction in formal comments on the state's plan to overhaul its healthcare programs for women. The federal government pays for about 90 percent of Texas's Women's Health Program. Perry wants to end the program because the Obama administration won't allow him to exclude Planned Parenthood clinics. The GOP governor wants to create a new program funded entirely by the state, so that he can cut off all access to Planned Parenthood. A new program, though, would be expensive. In trying to downplay the cost, Perry's administration said the state-run alternative won't need much funding because ‘all clients will be eligible for Medicaid following the expansion of the Medicaid program’ under the Affordable Care Act. As Planned Parenthood notes, however, Perry has publicly said Texas will not participate in the Medicaid expansion. The Supreme Court's landmark healthcare ruling made the expansion optional for states, and several Republican governors have vowed to opt out.”
One of the country’s fastest growing demographic groups: single women. “In Weak Economy, an Opening to Court Votes of Single Women” — “LAS VEGAS — Being single, Alyson Sheradin had no one to rely on when the financial crisis hit. She lost the considerable savings she had tucked away after selling her business in 2002, and struggled to find work as a business consultant, recently moving in with a friend in the suburbs who does not charge her rent. Ms. Sheradin, 49, a registered Libertarian, voted Republican in 2008. But now, as she weighs competing inclinations — she believes Americans should have health care but is wary of President Obama’s plan; she bristles at burdens on small business but also at constraints on women’s rights — she is not so sure. ‘I am definitely a swing vote,’ she said over a pizza lunch with single friends. ‘I have no idea.’ As much as Ms. Sheradin is up for grabs in this election, so too are the legions of unmarried women who helped lift Mr. Obama to victory in 2008. Single women are one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups — there are 1.8 million more now than just two years ago. They make up a quarter of the voting-age population nationally, and even more in several swing states, including Nevada. And though they lean Democratic — in a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, single women favored Mr. Obama over his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, by 29 points — they are also fickle about casting their ballots, preoccupied with making ends meet and alienated from a political system they say is increasingly deaf to their concerns.”
After rejecting “personhood” measures twice, Colorado voters are expected to face the issue again on the ballot in Novemeber. “Pro-Life ‘Personhood’ Movement Pins Hopes on Colorado Ballot” — “Leaders of the ‘personhood’ movement—which seeks to ban abortion by defining human embryos as people with legal rights—said Monday that they had collected enough signatures in Colorado to put the initiative on the state ballot this fall. The signatures now need to be counted and verified by state officials. Personhood Colorado, a branch of the nonprofit Personhood USA—which is pushing for bills and ballot initiatives across the country—said in a statement that it had submitted 112,121 signatures to officials in Colorado and that 86,105 were required. ‘Our opposition has built a reputation of using scare tactics to deter voters from human-life amendments,’ said Keith Mason, president of Personhood USA. ‘Now that we have specifically outlined the effects of the amendment within the law, we believe that Colorado voters will not be intimidated by those who profit from abortion.’ Personhood has made it on to the state ballot in Colorado twice before, ultimately getting 27 percent of the vote in 2008 and 30 percent in 2010. Last year, the group got on the state ballot in Mississippi, getting 42 percent of the vote. Opponents including Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Center for Reproductive Rights have been fighting personhood initiatives around the country.”
