The Republican National Convention could do without a lot of extra baggage piled on in recent days. First, only Mother Nature can control. Is a hurricane going to wreak havoc on the convention hall and make it rougher? Second, exactly what damage has been done by Missouri Senatorial Candidate Rick Akin who seemed to be the key to the GOP taking over control of the Senate until his mouth outraced his brain? Anti-abortion with no exceptions, he talked about "legitimate rape" and that women's bodies have a way to shut that down, a seemingly obvious reference to abortion.<br />
That riled the anti-abortion factions of both parties of the aisle and undoubtedly will slow, if not reverse, a beginning shift of many women voters to Romney. He forthrightly apologized for his wording, which the Obama campaign quickly attacked and it wasn't the only attacker. Republicans, including Romney himself, criticized him sharply and called upon him to withdraw from the race. He has refused to do so, pointing out his slim lead in the polls (before the gaffe) and claims reasonable people will understand it was a poorly worded statement for which he immediately apologized.<br />
His stances raise more questions and concerns. The GOP campaign finance committee immediately withdrew $5 million it had allocated to the candidate and said it would reallocate it to other tight races. Romney recently had been cutting significantly into Obama's lead with female voters. This could give back some of those gains if not all those gains plus more.<br />
September 25th is the last day a state can replace a candidate who has to withdraw, dies or becomes incapacitated or for whatever other reason. A replacement for the Missouri senatorial candidate would have little time to raise money, name recognition would be smaller, and roughly only about six weeks to campaign over that state.<br />
Maybe he still can win. I'd hope so if he stays in the race, but if he's going to withdraw, he should do it sooner rather than later.<br />
I keep hearing Obama's fall surprise move could be dropping Vice President Joe Biden and replacing him with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Many say they don't believe she'd take it if offered. She'd be tarred with Obama's unpopularity. It's no secret she wants to be president. These claim she'd wait until 2016 to take on a likely Jeb Bush run.<br />
President Obama to me personally seems to be a guy it'd be interesting to know on a social level, easy going, devoted family man, etc. Policy and action wise- he's so far underwater it's a wonder he hasn't drowned already.<br />
There is one thing I hear little about but believe it to be in the long run the greatest danger to us. The next president could be able to appoint as many as three new Supreme Court Justices. Conservatives hold only five of the nine seats, and one of them, Anthony Kennedy is often a swing voter. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts stunned many when he voted and wrote the decision upholding the constitutionality of Obamacare. Lost in that furor was the fact he ruled the grounds Obama's given reason for it actually indeed were unconstitutional. He ruled instead it was constitutional under the government's general taxing powers.<br />
If we re-elect Obama, he has four more years to turn our nation into a bankrupt welfare state with a liberal Supreme Court to help.<br />
Some positive signs I've seen include at least a dozen of my black friends who have volunteered to me that they voted last time for Obama because he was black but now they realized what a mistake they made and plan to support Romney. <br />
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