Managing the Times Observations: Monitoring the Elections in Arizona. Dr. Oz’s Response to a Call Center Supervisor’s Dilemma
The Democratic candidates for governor are doing a better job than the president in each of the four states. In Arizona, Ms. Hobbs is in front of Mr. Biden with 12 points better than him.
How Times reporters cover politics. We depend on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. Participation in rallies in support of a movement, or donating money to, or raising money for a political candidate, is included.
Voters who voted for Mr. Trump in the presidential elections are planning to support Dr. Mehmet Oz in the Senate race. Thirteen percent of Dr. Oz’s supporters in the poll said they also planned to vote for Mr. Shapiro.
Todd Rutter, 59, of Uniontown, Pa., who worked as a call center supervisor and is now on disability, said he usually voted for Republicans. He was displeased with the two major parties candidates, so he did not vote for them in 2020.
Mr. Rutter said he was voting for the two centrist candidates that he believed would honor the results of their elections.
Mastriano is too extreme for me to vote for him in the governor’s race. “I think he’s a wing nut, to put it bluntly, and I think Josh Shapiro is just more even-keeled, and I think he would do a decent job.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/us/politics/midterm-elections-governor-key-races.html
A Battleground for the Balance of Power in the U.S. Senate: What Do Americans Really Think about Biden and the Dems? The Case for Dr. Oz
Most voters in these four states did not think Mr. Biden had won, despite false claims by the Republicans. A majority of the people said that they didn’t care if Mr. Trump won.
As voters go to the polls this week, there are several states with key Senate races that could decide the balance of power in Washington. We go on a tour of these battleground states to unpack the key issues, hear how voters are feeling, and look at why election deniers continue to pose an active threat to democracy.
It was made, you guys. This week is when the elections are held. Tuesday is when the ballots will be cast. Some races will be called. A new political landscape will begin to take shape. But I totally get it. If you haven’t been able to follow every twist and turn in each and every race, there’s a ton to keep track of, and frankly, politics can just be exhausting sometimes. We’re going to get you caught up today.
I Want to start with the big picture. As of today, Democrats control the House of Representatives and have a tie breaking vote in the U.S. Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris. It becomes 51-50. Republicans will need just five seats to get back into the House. It’s not far away in the Senate. Just one flip seat will do. The stakes are there. The final outcome will largely decide whether President Joe Biden can get any legislation passed in the final two years of his term. The president’s party loses the polls more often than not. It’s happened in 18, the last 20 midterm elections dating back to 1942. It’s as close to a hard and fast rule in politics as we can get. As you watched the returns come in, keep that in mind. But they’ll be a few states you will want to focus on because they can tell us a lot about where things are headed. Let’s get the tour started.
What’s interesting about Pennsylvania is it’s an open seat. So Pat Toomey, a Republican, is retiring, which means Democrats see this as a great opportunity for them to flip the seat and Republicans certainly want to hold on to it.
So the Senate race is Dr. Mehmet Oz, celebrity doctor, been on television for years and years and years. He ran in a very close primary and is now the Republican.
John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor, is a kind of cult of personality guy. He isn’t like your typical politician.
Jessica is not taking it lying down. Fetterman is a mountain of a man. He does not wear suits. He’s more likely to be seen in shorts and a hoodie. A lot of attention has been given to Fetterman’s health as he was about to become the Democratic nominee. He suffered what we now know was a very serious stroke. He was off the trail for weeks as he recovered from his illness.
He is currently recovering from the effects of the stroke, and we saw that in the only debate. He had an issue with auditory processing and would speak very smilngly. He would lose words, mush words together. And he said at the beginning, that would happen.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
What do voters think about the practice of fack? A remark on the case of the Oz-Shapiro voter in Pennsylvania
I do want to clarify something. You’re saying that you’ve always supported the process of frack. In the interview you gave in last year, you said that you don’t support the practice of frack. How do you square the two?
The question is now what do voters make of that? I don’t know if that’s the defining issue for the voters since I think the economy is flat inflation, crime, abortion, and other things that they bring up when I talk to them.
A couple of months ago, I was talking to Pennsylvania Republicans and they started kind of just telling me, oh, Jess, it’s the Oz-Shapiro voter, someone that’s going to vote for Josh Shapiro and vote for Oz.
Jessica says in swing states the Senate race could come down to who else. Many of the swing voters live in the area around Philadelphia.
They seized on Mehmet Oz’s comment that abortion should be decided by a woman and her doctor, rather than by elected officials.
In the days after that Supreme Court decision. The issue of abortion was a large factor in the polls tilted towards Democrats. More of a concern for voters has arisen from polling trended Republican and other issues. More on that later. But we have to keep this tour rolling and as we head south. Even though abortion is a driving factor, it isn’t over.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
Walker had an abortion for his ex-girlfriend Eva when she saw a CNN article about her affair with a man at a football game
Walker is the former University of Georgia football player, a bit of a legend among fans, and he has a fan in Donald Trump, who supported his run from the start. But Walker did not arrive on the campaign trail without baggage.
He has a lot of issues. Some of them he’s been pretty forthcoming about, in recent years and attributes it to mental health challenges. Others weren’t so much. He is accused of violence and has a turbulent past. CNN, through fact checking, has learned that he has, if not lied, certainly exaggerated about his law enforcement background. And that is sort of just the tip of the iceberg because a major October surprise a few weeks ago.
Eva mentioned the October surprise when she saw a Daily Beast story that Walker paid for an abortion for his ex-girlfriend. CNN could not independently verify the allegations. Walker says that he sent a $700 check to the woman. He continues to deny it was to reimburse her for an abortion.
I think so. They were concerned about the things that had come out about him. He did a great debate with that. And so that’s really good. I think that aided him a lot.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
M&M Industries in Lordstown: An Inflationary Community in Battleground State of New York City and its Effects on the Economy
Okay. I don’t want you to think that abortion is the only motivating factor for voters in battleground states, because in poll after poll, voters place more importance on the economy and inflation than abortion.
So year over year, we’re an 8.2% inflation rate. That means that everything from your food to energy to your spending on gasoline, as well as your housing, is up in the air.
When the GM shop in Lordstown closed in the year of 2019, everything changed. That means a lot of people were suddenly out of a job. Well, over the past few years, that started to change. Big companies like Foxconn have moved in and factories are up and running again.
We visited one called M&M Industries, and it was actually an old plant that made seats for GM vehicles. They are employing local people in the area, even though they are now making plastic.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
The State of the State of Wisconsin, When Crime and Public Safety Comes into Focus: Ron Johnson and the aftermath of the January 6th Events
And that’s the main thing. It’s a strange economic moment. On one hand, inflation is definitely running wild. That’s bad. But at the same time, there are tons of jobs available. The GDP data is very strong. The economy actually grew in the third quarter. Those should be positive signs. But Vanessa says for most voters, it still just comes back to how much will the basics cost me?
Ron Johnson being a hypocrite his entire career and all he can do is distract from his own record. For the last 12 years, he’s not done anything for the working people of Wisconsin.
This is another pickup opportunity for Democrats. Polling has shown an extremely tight race and voters here have been hearing about all the usual issues inflation, abortion, etc.. But there’s another big Republican talking point looming, large; crime and public safety. Republicans claim that since President Joe Biden took office, the streets have been overrun with danger, often citing the racial justice protests of 2020.
There is a lot of it. People in areas where crime has dramatically increased feel it in particular, as you can see in parts of Milwaukee. In Wisconsin, for instance, he tried to go on offense because with him, the Senator Ron Johnson and the Republicans have tried to take some of the things he said in the past in regards to the defund of the police movement.
He did not say he would defund the police. He supports the idea of taking over excess police departments to help prevent crime in the first place. They said they have the support of law enforcement when they turned this around. Many law enforcement officers have said this to Barnes. What do you think about law enforcement, and the fact that you have downplayed the events of January 6th?
The steps that Ron Johnson has taken is just appalling, just because he didn’t like the election result, he tried to send fake electors to the VP, and he supported a violent insurrection and attempt to overthrow the government. He has been bad for this state but also a danger to this country.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
On the 2020 Presidential Election: Kyung Lah, CNN’s Senior National Correspondent, and a Project to Investigate the Wisconsin Cheese-Curd Connection
As my team and I were joking to ourselves, Wisconsin has become as synonymous with close elections when it comes to the state’s identity as cheese curds and beer. We expect things to be close.
Our final stop is in Arizona, where I found CNN’s senior national correspondent, Kyung Lah. Is the 2020 election still an issue that Republicans are campaigning on?
The ballot in Arizona is up and down. Trump backed candidates are running explicitly on the completely false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Again, it’s not true in any way. But it’s not just relitigating the past, though. The candidate for governor who is endorsed by the Trump campaign has not stated whether she will accept the results of the election.
We started seeing reports and video of people sitting outside of two outdoor early ballot drop boxes in Mesa, Arizona. Two guys carrying weapons are shown in local news video. Their heads covered, their faces covered, and they’re wearing camouflage.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
Standing up for everybody’s right to vote: a woman activist who believes in a fair racial system, I’m afraid she doesn’t feel intimidated
You know, I’ve been an activist for many, many years and I really get tired of people talking a good game. I don’t talk. I take care of business.
And we’ve already seen some conflict. There is a woman we interviewed who she’s very enthusiastic. She feels incredibly impassioned over the last two years hearing all of the lies. She feels very strongly that people should be able to vote.
And I’m standing up and pushing back against those people and standing up for everybody’s right to vote without fear of retaliation or any kind of intimidation.
She took her lawn chair and sat next to these armed guys outside of a ballot box and recorded the whole thing.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
What Paul Pelosi allegedly saw on January 6: Why we don’t know what is happening in our democracy and what we should do about it
That’s the thing. No matter what happens, there are serious concerns about the future of our democracy here. By CNN’s count there are at least 52 candidates running for senator, governor or secretary of state who have tried to overturn or question the 2020 election results. We’ve already seen how online conspiracy theories can manifest into politically motivated physical violence. Look no further than that brutal attack on Paul Pelosi just over a week ago. The suspect was allegedly looking for his wife. Nancy Pelosi is wondering, “where’s Nancy?” Just like we heard on January 6th.
There is an entire wing that believes that the entire process is not legitimate. If they don’t win, it’s not legitimate. And I’m hearing candidates say that Voters want to take part in this democracy and it is being echoed by them. You know, democracy is not the default. It is an idea that has allowed America to sustain itself. And you just see it dying in certain sectors of American society by a thousand paper cuts.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/one-thing/episodes/5ad65d51-a7d6-46e5-9b50-af4201532a0b
The CNN 5 Things Podcast: All Things Midterms in the Electrified Landau-Vilkovisky Regime (VVARIATION)
A CNN audio is one thing. I am the executive producer of this episode and it was written by David Rind. Matt is the production manager. Our senior producer is Faiz Jamil. Greg Peppers is the supervising producer. Fentress-Swanson is a producer of CNN Audio. Special thanks to you. There are three more people this week to: Anna-Maja Rappard,Geoffrey Mills and Nicole Grether. I want to thank you for listening. You can check out the CNN 5 Things podcast for the very latest on all things midterms throughout the week. We’ll be back next week. You can talk to me then.