Pa. judge halts state's tough new voter ID law

HARRISBURG, Pa. — HARRISBURG, Pa. One of the toughest of a new wave of state voting laws was put on hold Tuesday as a judge postponed Pennsylvania's voter identification requirement just weeks before the presidential election.

The 6-month-old law in one of the most prized states in the election has become a high-profile issue in the tight contest between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Independent polls show a persistent lead for Obama in the state, but pollsters have said the requirement for voters to show a valid ID could mean that fewer people, especially minorities, end up voting. In the past, lower turnouts in Pennsylvania have benefited Republicans.

A top state lawmaker boasted at a Republican dinner in June that the ID requirement "is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania." Republicans have justified the law as a protection against election fraud.

The law had drawn protests, warnings of Election Day chaos and voter education drives as the law's opponents began collecting stories of people who had no valid photo ID and faced stiff barriers in their efforts to get one.

The judge's decision Tuesday could be appealed to the state Supreme Court, but it could easily be the final word on the law before the Nov. 6 election. The ruling also allows the law to go into full effect next year.

Democrats have used opposition to the law as a rallying cry to motivate volunteers and campaign contributions. They accused Republicans of trying to steal the White House by making it harder for young adults, the poor, minorities and the disabled to vote.

In a statement, the Obama campaign said the decision means that "eligible voters can vote on Election Day, just like they have in previous elections in the state."

The state's Republican Party chairman, Rob Gleason, said he was disappointed.

Other states face similar debates over voting.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law in 2008, and Georgia's top court upheld that state's voter ID law. But a federal panel struck down Texas' voter ID law, and the state court in Wisconsin has blocked its voter ID laws for now. The Justice Department cleared New Hampshire's voter ID law earlier this year.

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<nbsp/> Clinton states his case for a 2nd Obama term

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CHARLOTTE, N.C. Former President Bill Clinton wowed the crowd at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday with a full-throated defense of President Barack Obama's job record during a dramatic speech that heaped ridicule on the Republicans' rationale for ousting Obama.

Clinton, who occupied the White House and handily won re-election during an economic-boom period in the 1990s, formally offered Obama's name for renomination in the latest twist in a relationship that has not always been so friendly. The 42nd president -- whose wife, Hillary Clinton, gave Obama his stiffest Democratic competition in the 2008 primaries -- delivered a powerful address that Obama may find difficult to top.

Obama will formally accept his party's nomination today, the same day that former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona is expected to lead the convention in the Pledge of Allegiance. It would be Giffords' highest-profile public appearance since a nearly fatal assassination attempt almost two years ago during a constituent event outside Tucson.

Clinton's 48-minute primetime remarks, which Obama listened to from backstage at Time Warner Cable Arena, praised the president's handling of the economy and hailed him as the man who "stopped the slide into depression and put us on the long road to recovery" and who is still "committed to constructive cooperation."

Clinton acknowledged that Obama is not satisfied with the economic situation but stressed that Americans are better off than when he took office during the recent recession, which he blamed on the Republicans.

"In Tampa, the Republican argument against the president's re-election was actually pretty simple and pretty snappy," said Clinton, referring to last week's Republican National Convention, where former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was nominated for president. "It went something like this: We left him a total mess, he hasn't finished cleaning it up yet, so fire him and put us back in."

The case for Obama's second term is stronger, Clinton said. "Here it is: He inherited a deeply damaged economy. He put a floor under the crash. He began the long hard road to recovery and laid the foundation for a more modern, more well-balanced economy that will produce millions of good new jobs, vibrant new businesses and lots of new wealth for the innovators."

Clinton's speech preceded the traditional convention roll call in which delegates from Arizona and other states announced their support for their party's renomination of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, whose acceptance speeches have been moved indoors because of weather concerns.

Arizona's delegation, which consists of 80 delegates and six alternates, were joined for the roll call by CC Goldwater, granddaughter of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater, a five-term Arizona Republican and 1964 GOP presidential nominee.

"My grandfather wouldn't recognize the Republican Party of today," said an audibly nervous Goldwater, who endorsed Obama over Sen. John McCain in 2008 and is supporting Democrat Richard Carmona in this year's Arizona Senate race. "Barry Goldwater believed in personal freedoms, the right to privacy and a woman's right to choose. On behalf of the Arizona delegation, I want to cast 77 votes for Arizona for Barack Obama."

Other high-profile speakers on the convention's second night included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Massachusetts; and Sandra Fluke, a recent law-school graduate whose advocacy for contraception coverage by insurance companies prompted conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh to call her a "slut."

Giffords, the three-term Arizona Democrat whose ongoing recovery from a gunshot wound to the head has inspired the nation, and her retired NASA astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, were sighted in Charlotte on Wednesday, and news of her likely appearance electrified the convention as it spread from delegate to delegate. Giffords resigned from Congress on Jan. 25 to focus on her rehabilitation.

The tightly choreographed convention was knocked off script briefly Wednesday as Democratic delegates amended their recently adopted 2012 party platform to include a reference to God and to acknowledge that "Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel."

The original platform, which delegates endorsed Tuesday, drew criticism for the omissions. The changes were made only after multiple voice votes and over loud dissent.

If Obama wins a second term, he will become only the second Democrat to do so since Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the first since Clinton was re-elected in 1996.

Clinton asked delegates and television viewers to choose what kind of a country they want to live in.

"If you want a winner-take-all, you're-on-your-own society, you should support the Republican ticket," Clinton said. "But if you want a country of shared opportunities and shared responsibility -- a we're-all-in-this-together society -- you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden."

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who is attending the convention, said he hopes Clinton's message of compromise resonates. Clinton stressed that in the real world, compromise and cooperation trump the "politics of constant conflict." Stanton noted that Clinton for much of his presidency had to deal with a GOP Congress and held him up as an example of someone who could work with his opponents.

"Pretty much wherever Bill Clinton goes, he's the big star," Stanton said. "Bill Clinton is very popular in America today. He is very popular among both parties. I think that was harkening back to an era when there was bipartisan agreement. And Bill Clinton was a great messenger: No one could speak to an audience of 15,000 people but make you feel like he was speaking just to you, individually, like Bill Clinton."

In another development, convention organizers announced Wednesday that Obama's acceptance speech would be moved from the outdoor Bank of America Stadium, where the NFL's Carolina Panthers play, to the Time Warner Cable Arena, a smaller, in-door facility that is home to the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats and was host to the first two days of the convention.

Steve Kerrigan, the Democratic National Convention Committee CEO, said forecast thunderstorms forced the venue change, although the decision came amid speculation that Democrats were struggling to fill the stadium's more than 65,000 seats.

On Tuesday, Ben LaBolt, the Obama-Biden campaign's national press secretary, told reporters that the plan was to proceed at Bank of America Stadium rain or shine. He denied that the campaign would have any problem finding enough people to fill the seats.

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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Aug. 4: Likely No New Blue States in November

Saturday was a light day for polling, with only the national tracking polls and a South Dakota poll out; our forecast was essentially unchanged.

The South Dakota numbers were not bad for Mr. Obama — putting him down by 6 points, closer than the margin by which he lost the state in 2008 — but look like something of a fluke. In North Dakota, which has been more heavily polled because of the competitive Senate race there, Mr. Obama has consistently trailed by double digits.

Indeed, with the presidential election likely to be much closer than it was in 2008, Mr. Obama is unlikely to paint any new state blue this year. The forecast model gives him a 15 percent chance of carrying Montana, which has been sparsely polled; a 14 percent chance of winning Missouri; and an 8 percent chance of winning Arizona. Fourth on the list is South Dakota, where the model gives Mr. Obama about a 4 percent chance after the new survey, followed by Georgia at 2 percent.

Mr. Obama is an underdog in two states that he won in 2008, Indiana and North Carolina.

An earlier post in this space about poll oversampling was published in error and will be updated and published later this week.

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Perry, Romney look beyond early-voting states (AP)

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. – Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are the only two Republican presidential candidates who can afford to spend their time and money in states that aren't first on the primary calendar.

That helps explain their appearances Saturday in Michigan, where GOP voters will have their say in 2012, but only after Iowa, New Hampshire and several other states that second-tier contenders must win to survive.

"It's really about these two up here," said Jase Bolger, the speaker of Michigan's House of Representatives.

Compare that with 2007, when the Michigan gathering drew seven presidential candidates.

And even though there were two this time, Saturday's events made clear that Michigan Republicans have just one favorite: Mitt Romney. For the former Massachusetts governor, a Michigan native, the event was a homecoming. His father was governor and Romney spent summers on Mackinac as a child at the governor's summer residence.

Romney received a hugely enthusiastic welcome. He walked into the dining room where he was giving the dinner keynote speech and wandered through the tables, shaking hands and greeting attendees as old friends. He received a standing ovation when the state attorney general announced, "our own, Michigan, Mitt Romney!"

Romney delivered for the hometown crowd, giving a longer, 20-minute version of his typical stump speech, peppered with references to Michigan cars and ginger ale. He was visibly at ease, and his strong rapport with the crowd allowed him to turn in one of his best performances on the campaign trail so far this year.

"What's needed in America is not a little stimulus, a little can of gasoline thrown on the fire, but instead, rebuilding the foundation of the economy. That's what I do," Romney said.

Romney's wife, Ann Romney, spoke briefly, prompting the crowd to tap their glasses and call for a toast.

They kissed briefly. "We're not going to do an Al Gore moment," she joked, referring to a long public kiss Al Gore once shared with his then-wife, Tipper.

It was a friendly end to a good day for the former Massachusetts governor. His chief rival, Perry, lost a key test vote in Florida, coming in second behind businessman Herman Cain. Romney, who didn't compete in that contest, came in third — and less than a percentage point behind Perry.

Romney didn't mention Perry in his speech here Saturday night. He did address illegal immigration, however, seeming to rebuke Perry's assertion in Thursday's debate that candidates who oppose in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants have "no heart."

"Let the world understand that Republicans love legal immigration. It is a good thing and we like it," Romney said. "And to protect legal immigration, we will make sure we stop illegal immigration."

Perry, the Texas governor, addressed the GOP faithful here earlier in the day. He made a glancing reference to his chief rival during a 15-minute address at the Grand Hotel, where photos of former Gov. George Romney hang from the walls.

`'There may be slicker candidates and there might be smoother debaters, but I know what I believe in," he said in between attacks on President Obama's health care law and boasts about his job-creating record in Texas.

His remarks, which offered him the chance to introduce himself to Michigan voters, also were an acknowledgement that his campaign is trying to shake off the perception that he's struggling after a lackluster debate performance Thursday in Florida.

Perry met privately with donors after the event and then some state lawmakers before heading to a fundraiser in Shreveport, La. Romney plans to stay overnight on Mackinac Island.

"I don't know whether they perceive Mitt Romney to be their hometown guy or not — I think they're looking for a leader," Perry told The Associated Press after speaking to the legislators.

Romney held a meeting with those lawmakers as Perry was set to speak at a lunch a few floors below at the hotel. One person arrived wearing a "Romney" button, from George Romney's 1962 campaign for governor.

The docks where the ferries arrive were decorated with several "Romney for President" signs and the island was packed with volunteers handing out campaign literature.

"We're not taking anything for granted," said Rob Macomber, Romney's state director for Michigan. "But obviously there's a lot of good will toward the Romneys here."

Perry's debate performance had clearly heartened Romney's associates.

"It's going to happen this time," Ann Romney told Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis on her way into the meeting with lawmakers. "Perry in the debate? Shocking," she said.

Romney sought the GOP nomination in 2008, but Arizona Sen. John McCain came out on top. Michigan was the only state that Romney won before he dropped out.

In the debate, Perry's rivals raised questions about his record on immigration, public health and Social Security.

While Romney and Perry played to the GOP faithful on this resort island in the Great Lakes, their rivals were scattered.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman was in New Hampshire, where he's staked his candidacy. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was busy fundraising as she struggles to remain a relevant force in the race. Businessman Herman Cain, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania were in Florida, site of a straw poll.

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Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in Orlando, Fla., and Kathy Barks Hoffman in Mackinac Island, Mich., contributed to this report.

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