Gosar, Nev. cohort team up on issues affecting region

BULLHEAD CITY — BULLHEAD CITY The stucco housing developments that stretch into the empty desert here on the Arizona side of the Colorado River are home to many who work straight across at Laughlin's casino towers on the Nevada side.

The twin cities' economies are so closely linked that they both suffered from the downturn in tourism and gambling in recent years, as vacationers and retirees cut back sharply on their discretionary spending.

So finding ways to boost these economies became a hot topic at joint town halls this week held by Republican congressmen representing both sides of the river.

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, of Arizona, and Rep. Joe Heck, of Nevada, said they are working hand in hand to secure funding for a second bridge to connect the cities and drive commerce. They are pushing for a crucial transportation link that would become Interstate 11 between Phoenix and Las Vegas, the only major cities in the United States that lack a direct interstate connection. And along with other members of Congress, they recently stopped the Federal Aviation Administration from closing the local airport control tower as a result of budget cuts.

Though Gosar supported the budget cuts, known as sequestration, he said the FAA needed to find other ways to cut spending than closing towers.

The congressmen were visiting among the hardiest GOP strongholds in their states.

"Even the sky is red in Mohave County," joked Mohave County Republican Party board member Michelle Arnett, after the meeting of about 50 people at Bullhead City Hall.

Audience questions on gun control, immigration and Arizona's Medicaid expansion reflected the area's political bent, though some appeared to be based on conspiracy theories, which the congressmen explained were debunked. Gosar drew applause by criticizing President Barack Obama's use of executive orders, pledging to fully investigate the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, and calling for the Republican Party to regroup and win more elections in 2014.

Summing up the failure of a bill in the Senate last month to expand background checks for gun purchases, which Gosar opposed, he said, "The Constitution won."

Gosar and Heck, who were swept into office on the "tea party" wave of 2010, promised to continue their partnership in this second term.

"We've got a lot of things in common. We both were in health care. We're both small-business owners. … We represent states with a lot of land but not many people," Heck, a physician, said, referencing Gosar's career as a dentist. "We realized that we share this common border. ? We should be doing things that will benefit both sides of the river."

Bullhead City residents afterwards said the town hall and Gosar's visits to a dinner and ribbon-cutting in recent days were more than they had seen of past representatives. Given the brutal Republican primary Gosar went through last year, they said, he was the right person to be elected.

"When you can see your congressman proactively involved in issues of concern to the constituents, it gives you some hope," said Dave Gaines, 66. "It kind of lends an argument to term limits, too. That these two young guys could come in and hit the ground running and get things done."

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At Republican Retreat, Ryan Urges Unity on Fiscal Issues

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — As House Republicans hunkered down here for a two-day retreat to discuss the future of their conference, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin warned members that they had to “recognize the realities of the divided government that we have” and urged members to unite behind leadership on the coming fiscal debates.

Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the budget committee, told reporters that he thought some of the divisiveness that had plagued House Republicans under the leadership of Speaker John A. Boehner would most likely subside once members understand the coming battles and challenges.

“I think what matters most is people have a very clear view of what’s coming so that there are no surprises, and that means setting expectations accordingly, so that we can proceed in a unified basis,” Mr. Ryan said. “And the reason we’re doing this kind of facilitation right now is we want every member to understand all of the issues and all of the consequences, so that we can come together with consensus on a plan and move forward and proceed.”

Referring to the end of the previous Congress, which left the House, the Senate and the White House racing against a deadline to pass legislation to offset across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts needed to avert a financial crisis, he added, “We have the time to do that, whereas before it was a little more rushed, and we didn’t have the time.”

The former vice presidential candidate has maintained a low profile since returning to Congress, but he surprised some when he voted with Mr. Boehner on the tax deal devised by the White House and Senate Republicans to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.

Mr. Ryan also signaled that his conference might be flexible when it comes to the coming debate about the debt limit.

“We’re discussing the possible virtue of a short-term debt limit extension so that we have a better chance of getting the Senate and White House involved in discussions in March,” he said.

But reining in outsize spending and a soaring deficit still remains a top Republican priority, Mr. Ryan emphasized.

“We think the worst thing for the economy for this Congress and this administration would be to do nothing to get our debt and deficits under control,” he said. “We think the worst thing for the economy is to move past these events that are occurring with no progress made on the debt and deficits.”

He added: “We know we have a debt crisis coming. This is not an ‘if’ question, it’s a ‘when’ question.”

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Polling-place issues are reported in Pa., Fla.

Sporadic problems were reported Tuesday at polling places around the country, many in Pennsylvania including a confrontation involving Republican inspectors over access to some polls and a voting machine that lit up for Republican Mitt Romney even when a voter pressed the button for President Barack Obama. One Florida elections office mistakenly told voters in robocalls the election was today.

Although the majority of complaints were about extremely long lines, the Election Protection coalition of civil-rights and voting-access groups said they had gotten some more serious calls among more than 69,000 received on a toll-free voter-protection hotline.

"The calls have been hot and heavy all day long," said Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

In Philadelphia, the Republican Party said 75 legally credentialed voting inspectors were blocked from polling places in the heavily Democratic city, prompting the GOP to obtain a court order providing them access.

Local prosecutors were also looking into the reports. Democratic Party officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Also in central Pennsylvania, officials said the voting machine that switched a person's vote from Obama to Romney had been recalibrated and was back in service.

Pennsylvania Department of State spokesman Ron Ruman said the Perry County voter notified elections officials of the problem after trying to cast his ballot on Tuesday. Video of what Ruman called a "momentary glitch" was widely viewed on YouTube.

Pennsylvania was also the scene of what a state Common Cause official called "widespread" confusion over voter-ID requirements.

The state this year enacted a new photo-ID requirement, but it was put on hold for Tuesday's election by a judge amid concerns that many voters would not be able to comply on time.

Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause in Pennsylvania, said election workers in many places were demanding IDs even though they are not required. It was unclear, however, just how many voters may have been turned away or discouraged.

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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Social issues keep creeping in to muddle what needs fixing

We shouldn't be talking about this silliness -- Big Bird, "bull-----er," or a girl's "first time."

We should be talking about The Issues, we keep telling ourselves. But in the waning days of the presidential campaign, these are the issues -- binders full of cultural issues that continue to divide us and by which Barack Obama hopes to win re-election.

It is no accident that the war of competing economic theories has devolved into the same old culture war, beginning with the debate about the contraception mandate under the Affordable Care Act. Ever since, the Obama campaign has strategically tried to push the Republican Party and Mitt Romney into a corner by advancing the war-on-women narrative.

That Obama has had ample help from certain outspoken players (Missouri and Indiana Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, respectively, to name the most notorious) has made Romney's challenges only greater. But the war against women has always been a red herring.

Random comments by a couple of outliers provided wind for Obama's sails. Akin's remarks, that women don't get pregnant when "legitimately" raped, was just idiotic and immediately dismissed by Republican Party leadership, including Romney. Yet Mourdock's view, that a child conceived by rape is God's will, deserves some perspective.

Obviously, he wasn't endorsing rape. He apparently belongs to that sliver of pro-lifers who insist that even babies conceived of rape are worthy of protection. They, too, are God's children.

Although most Americans, including those who are enthusiastically pro-life, support exemptions for rape and incest, Mourdock's argument is not nonsensical. If life begins at conception, then one life is not worth less than another owing to the circumstances of creation. The embryo bears no blame.

Given this context, Mourdock's argument is logical.

But we bend logic as needed. We weigh pros and cons and make difficult choices. Thus, most would resolve Mourdock's Muddle as follows: Given the horror of rape and the consequences for the woman, we find for the woman. It is no good solution, certainly not for the gestating human. It is also certainly not a decision one should make for another.

Mourdock may have been indelicate in stating his position, but he is hardly a monster for believing that the definition of life, like the definition of rape, should not be parsed. As to Romney's choice to not comment, why would he? This is the ultimate no-win.

Romney's position on the subject is clear. He supports exceptions for rape and incest. He also said early in the primary season: "Contraception, it's working just fine. Just leave it alone."

So, why are we still talking about it? This pseudo-debate is, as Joe Biden would put it, "malarkey." Just possibly, a child could recognize the "bull-----er" aspect to this non-issue, to borrow the phrasing of Obama during a recent Rolling Stone interview.

The contraception issue never would have come up but for Obama's decision to force the hand of the Catholic Church. By placing religious institutions in the position of having to provide health insurance to pay for contraception as well as sterilization, which, agree or not, are against church teaching, Obama created the conversation.

Obama reasoned correctly that he had the majority with him, especially among women and youths, for many of whom these debates seem antiquated to not-applicable. Hence, a new Obama ad by HBO "Girls" creator and star Lena Dunham in which she compares voting for the first time to, you know, "doing it" for the first time. It's … what it is: A message to young women that losing one's virginity is top of the bucket list, but first, you gotta vote for the president who touts free contraception.

The same ol' culture wars. But, of course, women have had access to birth control for decades, and no one is trying to take it away. Anyone who suggests otherwise may have been spending too much time with Big Bird.

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Groups benefit from campaigns' focus on women's issues

Women's groups on both sides of the political spectrum are reaping the benefit of the campaign-season focus on women's issues, and say they have the opposing side to thank for the windfall.

By Jim Cole,, AP

Lilly Ledbetter, whose lawsuit led to the federal pay equity law that bears her name, speaks at a "Women for Obama" house party in Concord, N.H., on April 30.

By Jim Cole,, AP

Lilly Ledbetter, whose lawsuit led to the federal pay equity law that bears her name, speaks at a "Women for Obama" house party in Concord, N.H., on April 30.

Debates this year over contraception, federal funding for abortion services and Tuesday's Senate vote on equal pay for women have invigorated women's groups on the right and the left to try to sway the female vote.

Planned Parenthood has seen a steady increase in donations since Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation announced it would cut funding to the group for breast exams. Planned Parenthood raised $400,000 in the first 24 hours after the decision was announced. It was later reversed.

Last week, the group endorsed President Obama and launched a $1.4 million ad buy in swing states attacking Republican Mitt Romney.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund, has spent $1.6 million in independent expenditures this election cycle.

"Women's issues have not been the political football that they have during this cycle," said Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood's executive vice president for policy, advocacy and communications. Obama's administration "is the last line of defense" for women's basic health care, she said.

Laguens said Planned Parenthood is on pace to raise much more than it did in 2008 and plans to keep women's issues front and center throughout the summer and fall.

EMILY's List, a fundraising group for female candidates who support abortion rights, has doubled it's membership since January 2011.

Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, said the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives spurred the group's growth.

"Our membership has gone from 400,000 when John Boehner became speaker to 1.5 million," she said. "These debates over birth control, equal pay — even the violence against women act — the Republican Party has really been driving this and trying to move the clock backwards."

The group's super PAC, Women Vote!, has spent $443,755 since the beginning of the cycle on independent expenditures, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said the group is partnering with the American Association of University Women for a voter-mobilization project in 15 states. She said NOW saw an increase in fundraising and members after the Virginia Legislature passed a bill that would have required women to get a trans-vaginal ultrasound before having an abortion.

"What followed on the heels of the (Virginia bill) was the effort in the Senate to restrict birth control, and that's when the men started getting involved," O'Neill said.

Obama leads Romney among women 49% to 43%, according to the most recent Gallup polling. But Romney has been narrowing the gap. In late March, Obama's lead with women was 52% to 40% over Romney.

Conservative groups such as the Susan B. Anthony List, Concerned Women for America and the National Federation of Republican Women said they have seen increases in their membership and fundraising coffers as well.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that supports candidates opposing abortion rights, said, "What has been going on in the public conversation has attracted a lot of new women into the political arena, and none more than in the pro-life and the conservative moment because of the role Obama has taken on himself in speaking for women."

She added the group's fundraising is up one third from where they were at this point in the 2010 election cycle. The group has pledged to spend between $10 million and $12 million on Senate and presidential campaigns in important states.

Prior to endorsing Romney in April, Susan B. Anthony List spent $512,403 on independent expenditures in support of former senator Rick Santorum's campaign during the GOP primary.

In the 2008 election cycle, the group's independent expenditures totaled around $114,000.

On June 1, Concerned Women for America launched a voter-registration program called "She Votes" and plans to spend $1 million on get-out-the-vote and voter-registration efforts.

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Huntsman: Issues not religion will decide GOP race (AP)

RENO, Nev. – Former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman said Friday that he doesn't believe his Mormon faith will be an issue in his bid for the White House, adding that he's running for president — not to be the nation's spiritual "guru."

Huntsman spoke to reporters in Nevada during an hour-long campaign stop at the Reno Livestock Events Center, where the Reno Rodeo was about to begin.

Three days after formally announcing his candidacy, the former ambassador to China said his list of priority states includes the early caucus swing state of Nevada, where Republicans sided with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2008.

Romney also is Mormon. So is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who said earlier this week he'd pick Huntsman over Romney if he had to. Polls show many voters have reservations about electing a Mormon president.

But Huntsman said Friday that he didn't believe religion would be a concern for voters choosing the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

"Nor should it be," he said. "I'm not running for guru here."

A candidate's track record, as well as "who has a world view that will get us where this country needs to be" will be much more important, he said.

Huntsman met earlier Friday with Washoe County GOP leaders and had lunch with Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, Reno Mayor Bob Cashell — a Republican who voted for Reid last election — and a number of local business officials.

Huntsman said contrary to conventional wisdom, he doesn't believe Romney is the heavy favorite to win the Nevada caucus.

"Yes, some might have a head start in terms of fundraising and name recognition," he said. "But given the nature of the media market and our ability to network with social media tools, you can overcome any gap like that over time."

Nevada's presidential caucuses are set for Feb. 18, after Iowa and New Hampshire get their turns and before South Carolina picks its favorite candidate.

In announcing his candidacy Tuesday in Salt Lake City, Huntsman stressed his record as governor of Utah, where he won praise from conservative groups for cutting taxes and recruiting new business to the state. He served as governor from 2005 to early 2009, when Obama offered him the China post. He resigned that position in April.

During a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Democratic leaders in Utah and Nevada criticized what they said was Huntsman's apparent move to the right on issues such as taxes, health care and the environment to court conservatives GOPs in the primary after developing a reputation as more of a moderate.

"We were looking forward to a campaign of ideas and having a moderate Republican in the race," Utah Democratic Party chairman Wayne Holland said. "Instead we've seen pandering that is disappointing."

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