YOUR VIEW: The Republican Party has failed Alabama - The Birmingham News - al.com (blog)

By holding a victory party at a gun range, The Alabama Republican Party is finally giving Scott Beason an opportunity to empty the barrel; the Republican Party has failed Alabama.

By passing voter ID laws to disenfranchise poor and elderly voters, the Republican controlled State Legislature has failed to protect the rights and privileges of all Alabamians

In allowing a strip mine to open in Shepard Bend on the Warrior River, just above an intake for the Birmingham Water Works, Governor Bentley and The Alabama Republican Party has failed Alabama

By passing an anti immigration bill that was destined to fail in the courts and cost Alabama taxpayers millions of dollars in lawyer fees and government waste, the Republican controlled State Legislature has failed the citizens of Alabama in its promise to reduce the size of government.

With the entire Alabama Republican delegation to the US Congress voting against the Lilly Ledbetter law, the Republican Party of Alabama failed the women in the State of Alabama.

When U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus decided to short sell stocks as the economy faltered, he bet against America and put his own personal worth ahead of his oath to the citizens of Alabama. Spencer Bachus and the Republican Party have failed the State of Alabama.

By making political appointments to the Alabama Public Television Commission that have their own private agenda, Governor Bentley and the Alabama Republican Party has failed Alabama.

With Richard Shelby pushing for 4.7 billion in funding for the northern beltline, instead of trying to fix existing infrastructure, the Alabama Republican Party has failed Alabama.

By forcing the Alabama public to help balance the State budget, the Republican Party of Alabama has failed the State.

With several members of the State Republican Party calling conserving Alabama wildlife a luxury, the Alabama Republican Party has failed Alabama.

"Doctor" Bentley was not the Republican Party's first choice two years ago. They have held every state wide position except for Lucy Baxley at the Public Service Commission, and yet the unemployment rate in Alabama remains among the highest in the country. The Alabama Republican Party has failed the State of Alabama.

Roy Moore for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. The Alabama Republican Party has failed the State of Alabama.

I could keep this list going on for several more pages, but I think you get the point. From our senior member in Congress to the our junior members like Slade Blackwell, the Alabama Republican Party has failed the State of Alabama in so many ways.

Mark Chambers

Birmingham

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Where does the Republican Party go from here? - Fox News

By Christian Whiton

Published November 07, 2012

FoxNews.com

President Barack Obama calls Wisconsin volunteers as he visits a campaign office call center the morning of the 2012 election, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)AP2012

Republicans lost and they lost big on Tuesday, November 6. The White House remains in the hands of perhaps the most liberal president in our history and GOP dreams of taking control of the Senate were dashed.

There is some good news and one consolation. Republicans have kept their majority in the House of Representatives, sustaining the rebuke voters gave to the Obama and Pelosi Democrats when they passed ObamaCare without a single Republican vote.  Furthermore, Obama ran on no real second-term agenda and therefore has no mandate.

The consolation is that in the United States and almost every other English-speaking democracy, when executive power switches to a different party, as it did in 2008 when Obama was first elected, that party almost always gets two terms in power.  We have had plenty of one-term presidents, but they usually follow predecessors of the same party.

The key now will be for Republicans not to form a circular firing squad, but to grasp important lessons as to why we lost.

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The sole exception in the last century was Jimmy Carter.  Amid his “malaise,” voters gave Democrats only four years in power.  Unfortunately, Mitt Romney was unable to convince voters that the economic and national security dangers brought forth by Obama were of a similar scale.

The key now will be for Republicans not to form a circular firing squad, but to grasp important lessons as to why we lost.

I wrote on these pages two years ago that Mitt Romney would lose if nominated for president based on the experience of Meg Whitman in California.  She was a rich, successful, businesswoman with few core political convictions, but who was able to pour money into the race.  Her claim was that she understood business and created jobs in the private sector, so could surely do the same as governor.

Voters knew better that business and government are inherently different. Furthermore, bedrock conservatives were unimpressed with a candidate who seemed to have no real fight in her to cut taxes and spending and take on the unions.  So it was Tuesday night with Romney, who took conservatives for granted—as did the Washington GOP establishment.

The two most successful conservatives of the last century were Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich.  Only they among their peers halted the growth of government and enacted real reform.  They did this not by pulling punches or papering over the differences between left and right, but by explaining conservatism in simple language. Reagan used stories. Gingrich used history.

As Mark Twain said, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. The next successful conservatives will differ from these men, but will follow the basic model of explaining plainly and confidently why a society that wants to survive must not punish those who play by the rules or are successful.  

They need to show how a private market allocates resources better than even smart Ivy Leaguers working for a government bureaucracy.  

They need to say that the American century only ends when we decide we’re no longer exceptional in mankind’s history, and choose the European model of decadent decline over a destiny of freedom and self-reliance.

In the end, the Republican establishment thought they had this election in the bag.  They decided to play it safe with a moderate.  They stuffed a candidate down the party’s throat who opportunistically had been on both sides of most issues and told people what he thought they wanted to hear, rather than what he believed.

Recovery begins with saying goodbye to this Beltway GOP establishment.  No more Romneys.  No more Bushes.  No more McCains.

There is a new generation of Reagans and Gingriches out there somewhere.  There are probably even more than a few of them who are Latino.  The task of conservatives and Republicans is to find them, cultivate them, and get behind them.

Christian Whiton was a State Department senior adviser from 2003-09 during the administration George W. Bush administration.  He is principal at DC International Advisory. Follow him on Twitter@ChristianWhiton.

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Sinema files FEC complaint vs. Parker

The Arizona Republican Party and GOP congressional candidate Vernon Parker are accusing Democratic opponent Kyrsten Sinema of being soft on crime, citing her work as a criminal defender and votes she took as a state legislator on crime-related bills.

Sinema's campaign calls the accusations an effort to "tar" her and has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Parker spread the attack illegally by including it in a phone poll without indicating he paid for the calls.

The FEC confirmed Thursday that it had received the complaint. The agency is unlikely to complete an inquiry, if it chooses to investigate, before Nov. 6.

The attacks come as Parker and Sinema are locked in a battle for the state's most competitive U.S. House seat, District 9. Arizona gained the seat this year because of population growth.

It covers parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Chandler and Mesa.

With less than two weeks before Election Day, the campaigns are working at full throttle to turn out supporters and to build doubt among swing voters about the opposing candidate.

The Arizona Republican Party has taken the lead in leveling crime-related attacks against Sinema.

The party says in e-mails and mailers that Sinema puts "felons over families," would have "spared" the "Baseline Killer" from the death penalty and is "running from her past" of representing "murderers."

The basis for the attacks: Sinema, a former state lawmaker, sponsored bills to release criminals on medical parole without a victim-impact statement and to abolish the death penalty. She voted against classifying drive-by shootings as felony murders and stiffening penalties for repeat felons.

Sinema also spent part of her career as a criminal-defense attorney. The Republican Party has called on her to release names of her clients. She has not.

Sinema spokesman Rodd McLeod said the attacks aren't relevant to issues facing residents in District 9.

For instance, he said, the death penalty hasn't been a hot topic in Congress in quite some time.

"This is just a desperate attempt by the Parker campaign to distract from serious issues, where Parker is woefully out of step," McLeod said, citing abortion, education and other topics. "He's deadly afraid to talk about real issues that matter to voters."

McLeod said Sinema has not practiced criminal law since 2006.

State Bar of Arizona records show Sinema was admitted to practice law on Jan. 1, 2006.

Her law license was active until March of this year.

Sinema has described herself as a future criminal-defense attorney, a criminal-defense attorney and an attorney in her political biography since 2005, including a book she authored in 2009.

In a 2007 story in The Arizona Republic, Sinema said she was an attorney with Martin Lieberman PC.

Lieberman is a well-known Phoenix criminal-defense attorney who currently serves as the Maricopa County defender. He founded the anti-capital-punishment group Arizona Death Penalty Forum.

Sinema was an advisory-board member for the group and has represented the anti-death-penalty position at debates around the Valley, TheRepublic found.

Lieberman has donated $2,500 to Sinema's campaign. He would not answer questions from TheRepublic on Thursday about Sinema working for him.

Sinema's campaign says Parker is the one with legal questions to explain.

According to the campaign's FEC complaint, Parker paid for a poll of likely voters that told Sinema supporters she was a criminal-defense lawyer who represented murderers and asked participants whether Sinema should release a list of her clients.

Sinema's campaign argues that the poll constituted "electioneering" and that Parker failed to provide a "paid for by" statement during the call, which is legally required for campaign ads and communications.

Campaigns often use polls to test positive and negative messages against opponents and themselves.

McLeod says the difference is that the purpose of the poll was "clearly to spread negative information."

Parker's campaign said Sinema's complaint is a distraction.

"The people of Arizona deserve to know who Sinema stands with, including her murderous clients. Unfortunately, she is dodging the issue, and this letter is her latest attempt," Parker spokeswoman Alyssa Pivirotto said.

"Our campaign has not received notice of any complaint from the FEC, but when and if we do, we will respond completely and promptly."

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Manchurian columnist outed at last <nbsp/><nbsp/>

(PNI) The conspiracy buffs are on to me.

According to recent phone messages, e-mails and blog comments, I've apparently spent decades hiding my true identity, which one reader sneeringly referred to as "a right-wing plant."

A mole.

A "lefty" in disguise, recruited in the late 1970s and nurtured within The Arizona Republic as a journalistic sleeper cell, projecting an image of independence but actually under the control of the Freemasons, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Illuminati or perhaps even the Republican Party.

I'm not sure if readers figured this out for themselves or if someone within the news operation (Are you reading this, Clay Thompson?) ratted me out.

It would appear I've managed to avoid disclosure by writing a steady stream of seemingly critical, sarcastic and even grossly unfair columns about individuals such as the late Gov. Evan Mecham, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Jan Brewer, former state Senate President and de facto governor Russell Pearce, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and many, many others.

Ostensibly, I did all this in order to solidify my nefarious "cover" while waiting for just the right moment to spring forward with a column or Internet blog that would support the views of my sinister controllers.

I did just that early this week, I'm told, when I wrote something for azcentral.com defending Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell and Elections Director Karen Osborne.

I said Purcell and Osborne were not trying to disenfranchise minority citizens.

I said they were not part of some villainous voter-suppression scheme.

I wrote, "These two women have done the work of running elections in the county for years. They are known as the straightest of straight shooters."

That claim, allegedly, was my undoing.

Purcell has come under fire from local community activists for having made a few errors.

The organization Citizens for a Better Arizona wants Secretary of State Ken Bennett to investigate those mistakes, saying in a statement, "The one thing citizens should be able to rely on from the County Recorder's Office is the correct date for the election.

"If citizens followed the instructions on the bookmark passed out at public libraries, they would in fact be denied their right to vote by showing up two days too late. This is unacceptable. Helen Purcell can and should do more to set the record straight."

Rachel Maddow of MSNBC declared Purcell's actions a "dark political art."

Actually, it's more comical than dark.

The county printed the incorrect general-election date in Spanish (saying it was Nov. 8 rather than Nov. 6) on what amounted to fewer than 50 documents containing voter-identification cards.

Then, they made the same mistake on the Spanish-language side of 2,000 or so bookmarks.

Would someone conspiring to get Spanish-speaking voters to miss the election do so by way of bookmarks?

As if voters would not hear about the correct date from TV, radio, newspapers, friends, relatives and a million other sources?

Purcell issued a statement that said in part, "Concerning the regrettable error on the Spanish-language voter ID and bookmark: I wish I could say we never made a mistake in this office. But we do.

"However, the suggestion that this office would be a party to a dark conspiracy to depress voter turnout among any constituency or ethnic group is contrary to the history, the commitment and ideals of this office, my staff and my life's work. It is simply a malicious lie."

I agree.

But this is election season. It's difficult for people who have been bombarded with negative campaign ads and nasty political accusations to believe in "innocent" mistakes.

So, more than one reader expressed "shock" that I would defend Purcell. A few others were "disappointed." And several spoke of my having gone "to the dark side."

Reader John Gallagher summed it up, writing, "Here's my conspiracy theory: the AZ Republic hires 'house liberals' like E.J. Montini and Linda Valdez so they don't have to hire real liberals."

Clearly, the cat is out of the bag.

The jig is up.

The moon landing was faked. Elvis is alive. Oswald didn't act alone.

And the "tri" in Trilateral Commission refers to Helen Purcell, Karen Osborne and me.

Reach Montini at 602-444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Obama vows swift results on deficit, border if he wins

President Barack Obama, facing criticism that he has failed to offer a vision for a potential second term, has begun sketching out his agenda with greater specificity in recent days, including a pledge to solve the nation's intractable budget problems within "the first six months."

In an interview made public Wednesday, Obama said he would pursue a "grand bargain" with Republicans to tame the national debt and would quickly follow that with a push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Obama chose to highlight two issues that have bedeviled him during his presidency: the debt, which has soared past $16 trillion on his watch, and immigration legislation, which never got off the launching pad over the past three years. Both are politically significant, with the debt a concern among independent voters and immigration important to the Hispanics who could decide whether Obama carries swing states such as Colorado and Nevada.

The interview, conducted Tuesday with the editor and publisher of the Des Moines Register, the largest newspaper in Iowa, also marked an unusual moment in the president's dealings with the news media.

Obama had initially insisted that the exchange, which he conducted by phone from a stop in Florida, be off the record. Then on Wednesday, his campaign abruptly decided to release a transcript after the newspaper's editor, Rick Green, wrote a blog post calling the interview terms a "disservice" to voters. Obama is seeking the influential paper's endorsement.

The transcript gave a surprising glimpse of Obama as political pundit, gaming out timetables and calculations for his dealings with Capitol Hill Republicans. He predicted, for instance, that an expectedly poor showing by challenger Mitt Romney among Hispanics would put pressure on GOP lawmakers to ease their opposition to an immigration overhaul that offers a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

"Since this is off the record, I will just be very blunt," Obama said at one point. "Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community."

With polls in swing states showing the race tightening, Obama appears to be shifting away from a strategy dominated by attacks on his opponent to one that includes a rationale for skeptical voters to re-elect him.

The Obama campaign is distributing brochures that repackage his proposals to hire more teachers, promote manufacturing and raise taxes on the wealthy.

Aides said the push to define the president's second term also includes direct mail and a new 60-second TV ad featuring Obama looking into the camera and laying out his views on manufacturing, energy and other issues. "Read my plan," he says.

At the top of the priority list: a promise to forge a bipartisan compromise that reduces rampant government borrowing and makes long-postponed decisions about taxes and spending. In the interview, Obama called a budget deal "one of the best things we can do for the economy."

"We're going to be in a position where, I believe, in the first six months, we are going to solve that big piece of business," Obama said. "It will probably be messy. It won't be pleasant. But I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I've been offering to the Republicans for a very long time, which is $2.50 worth of cuts for every dollar in taxes, and work to reduce the costs of our health-care programs."

Obama offered no details of how he would approach negotiations with congressional Republicans. But with Washington facing a January deadline to undo more than $500 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts next year, Obama said, "There's going to be a forcing mechanism to deal with what is the central ideological argument in Washington right now, and that is: How much government do we have, and how do we pay for it?"

Republicans reacted with a yawn to the news that Obama is ready to reengage on a grand bargain if he wins the election.

They noted that his proposal for a cuts-to-taxes ratio of $2.50 to $1, embodied in his most recent budget request, was roundly rejected in both the House and Senate.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Kielsky takes on Montgomery

In the race for Maricopa County attorney, a heavily favored Republican incumbent is being challenged by a Libertarian who has run twice before for the office.

County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who took office after winning a special election in 2010, is facing Libertarian opponent Michael Kielsky. The Democratic Party did not slate a candidate in the race.

One of the sharpest contrasts between Montgomery and Kielsky is views on enforcing laws. Montgomery presents himself as a law-and-order stalwart who, in his career as a prosecutor, has pursued tough sentences. Kielsky's main campaign promise is that he will not prosecute victimless crimes such as marijuana possession and prostitution, using the slogan, "No victim, no crime, no time, no fine!"

Montgomery, 45, has done no television campaigning and bought no print ads. He and Kielsky will participate in a lunch forum tentatively set for Monday at the Phoenix School of Law.

Kielsky, 48, says, "It will be my most successful run yet" because the voters of Maricopa County will express their dissatisfaction with Montgomery's first two years as county attorney.

The last general election for Maricopa County attorney, in 2008, was a horse race in which then-incumbent Andrew Thomas edged out Democrat Tim Nelson.

But less than two years later, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office was thrown into turmoil because of Thomas' skirmishes with judges and county officials. Thomas resigned to run for Arizona attorney general.

Former County Attorney Rick Romley battled against Montgomery to replace Thomas, but Montgomery, the party's preferred candidate in the Republican primary, won and then rolled over Kielsky in the November 2010 special election.

Montgomery's tenure has been relatively uneventful compared with Thomas'; he has presented himself as a conservative lawman in contrast to Thomas' anti-corruption crusader. Montgomery has gotten criticism from political pundits for not pressing criminal charges against politicians who allegedly took favors from the Fiesta Bowl or against Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne for possible campaign-finance violations. Horne defeated Thomas in the 2010 GOP primary for attorney general.

Montgomery said that there was insufficient evidence to warrant criminal charges and that seeking indictments "opens me up to criticism that there was a political reason to get an indictment."

Tempe-based polling expert Michael O'Neil said he thinks a Democratic opponent could have capitalized to some degree on the lack of prosecutions.

"You could say he's protecting his cronies and build a campaign on that," O'Neil said. But "nobody is willing to step up for a race that they would definitely lose."

Montgomery moved to improve relations with county managers and the county Board of Supervisors, and his press conferences often focus on community activities such as shred-a-thons to combat ID theft or anti-drug programs.

On broader political issues, Montgomery has hewed to Republican Party positions, such as supporting Senate Bill 1070, the embattled Arizona immigration law. In addition, he will defend the state's ban on abortions beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals next month.

He has been outspoken against Proposition 121, which would create an open primary system instead of separate primaries for each political party. He also has opposed the successful citizens' initiative that allows for legal medical use of marijuana. Kielsky supports decriminalization of marijuana.

Kielsky, a former head of the Arizona Libertarian Party, ran for a seat on the board of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District in 1992. He then ran for justice of the peace in 2002, Congress in 2004 and county attorney in 2008 and 2010.

As in his past campaigns, Kielsky, who has been an attorney since 2006, does not take stands on major political issues, instead focusing on not wasting resources by prosecuting victimless crimes, saying this will save money, lower the prison population and provide greater freedom and justice. He said he would not devote resources to prosecuting minor drug-possession charges, prostitution or immigration offenses.

"The job of the county attorney is to help protect individual rights by prosecuting those who harm other people," he said. "Bill Montgomery, like his predecessor, is spending a lot of resources on prosecuting people who aren't hurting anyone."

"How about if we just focus on the core issues of that office?" he said.

Copyright 2012 The Arizona Republic|azcentral.com. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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Money men: Who are top 5 donors to Romney?

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON For a casino mogul worth an estimated $25billion, $34.2 million may sound like chump change. Yet that's how much money Sheldon Adelson has donated so far to aid Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and organizations supporting Romney this election, making him the donor of donors for the GOP.

Other top donors giving millions of dollars to aid Romney's campaign include Texas money moguls and the head of an energy conglomerate.

Political donations can open doors that are closed to most people. Big-dollar donors are often invited to state dinners at the White House and other events with the president.

Based on an examination of more than 2.3 million campaign contributions The Associated Press has ranked the top five financial supporters bankrolling the Republican presidential run:

No. 1

Sheldon Adelson, 79, owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire.

Total: $34.2 million

Adelson is the largest declared donor to the Romney campaign and supporting political committees, providing more than $34.2 million this election season. He and his wife, Miriam, have given $10 million to Restore Our Future, a super PAC backing Romney. Adelson also joined relatives to give $24million to committees backing former GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. And he has made public pledges vowing to give as much as $100million this election more broadly to the GOP. He would benefit from loosened trade restrictions.

No. 2

Harold Simmons, 81, owner of Contran Corp., a Dallas-based conglomerate worth an estimated $9 billion that specializes in metals and chemical production and waste management.

Total: $16 million

Simmons is a longtime backer of GOP and conservative causes. He has donated $16 million to the party's efforts this year, including more than $11million to American Crossroads and $800,000 to Restore Our Future. Simmons also gave $2.2 million to Super PACs backing former GOP presidential candidates Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. He also owns a majority stake in Valhi Inc., a Texas-based waste management company, and could benefit from a proposed Nuclear Regulatory Commission rule change that would allow the company's Texas facility to store spent uranium from nuclear power plants.

No. 3

Bob J. Perry, 80, head of a Houston real estate empire worth an estimated $650 million.

Total: $15.3 million

Perry has given about $15.3million to aid the Romney campaign and allied causes so far this election season. Long active in Texas and national GOP politics, Perry donated nearly $9 million to Restore Our Future and a total of $6.5 million to American Crossroads. Before backing Romney this year, Perry gave $100,000 to the super PAC backing Texas Gov. Rick Perry (no relation).

No. 4

Robert Rowling, 58, head of Dallas-based TRT Holdings.

Total: $4.1 million

Rowling has given at least $4.1 million to Republican Party and candidates this election. Most of his donations, $4 million, went to Rove's American Crossroads, both through personal donations and through his firm. Rowling also has given $100,000 to the pro-Romney Restore Our Future super PAC. Rowling's holdings are worth an estimated $4.8 billion and include Omni Hotels, Gold's Gym and Tana Exploration, his family's oil company.

No. 5

William Koch, 72, an industrialist whose South Florida-based energy and mining conglomerate is worth an estimated $4 billion.

Total: $3 million

Koch has given $3 million to the Restore Our Future, including a $250,000 personal donation and $2.75 million through his corporation, Oxbow Carbon LLC, and a subsidiary, Huron Carbon. Unlike his brothers, who are longtime supporters of Republican and conservative causes, Bill Koch has funded both GOP and Democratic Party candidates in the past. Koch's corporate interests have repeatedly battled against what company officials have decried as government interference. Oxbow spent $570,000 last year on lobbying in Washington, mostly aimed at mining, safety issues and climate change.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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