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Daily Archives: Sept. 6, 2012
GOP voting laws running into roadblocks
Sept. 6, 20121:27 p.m.
GOP efforts to erect roadblocks to voting have been running into their own roadblocks in the courts. And correctly so. Last week, a federal judge in Ohio blocked a GOP plan to end early voting on the Friday afternoon before Election Day. In 2008, more than 93,000 people in Ohio voted on the final weekend and Monday before Election Day, many of them African-Americans who voted after attending church. Federal judges also last week struck down Texas’ voter-ID law and a redistricting map that disadvantaged minorities. Also last week, a judge rejected new restrictions in Florida that would have prevented the League of Women Voters and other groups from registering voters. The week before that, a three-judge panel restored early voting in parts of Florida. South Carolina’s voter-ID law is still in court, and Pennsylvania’s law, which a state appeals court upheld recently, is scheduled for a state Supreme Court hearing next week.
Sebelius convention speech ‘just not very good’
Sept. 6, 20126:00 a.m.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was among the “losers” at Tuesday’s Democratic National Convention, according to Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post. “Her speech at the convention was remarkably flat, and she rushed through both her planned applause lines and ‘big’ finish,” Cillizza wrote. “Just not very good.” Earlier Tuesday, Sebelius had poked fun at Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan for recently misstating that he ran a marathon in 1990 in less than three hours when it was actually more than four. “I must confess, I do not do an under-three-hour marathon,” joked Sebelius, a dedicated runner. “Anyone who starts with the notion that you have to make up your marathon time tells you all you need to know about Paul Ryan.” Ryan has acknowledged his mistake, blaming the passage of time and confusion relating to a back injury in his 20s.
