Apple's Siri Cannot Inhibit Abortion Commerce: Democrats And Republicans Have It Completely Handled

Apple's Siri has failed to have real abortion savvy with regard to identifying the location of clinics. This in turn has sparked debate about if Apple is anti-abortion. Some are concerned that Apple will cave to abortion proponents' desire for clinics to have ever-present accessibility, even on every lane of the information highway.

As if the abortion industry needs one more proponent. Does anyone really believe that the abortion industry lacks supporters?

In America, abortion is commerce. It is accepted and even embraced as necessary utility by every aspect of our society. Lack is hardly evident when it comes to support for the abortion industry. There remains an abundance of apathy about the cessation of life. All the while abortion providers find every way possible to make it appear as if the sky is falling when some do not agree with the continued lack of discernment -- and unlimited procedures.

It all begins with the scientific parsing about the stages of life. The learned halls have desensitized the knowledge that life in the womb is a singularly important, uniquely designed creation that is intended to contribute in particular ways to the act of that which we call living. Life in the womb seems to have become a curiosity that is no longer considered sacred in America.

When life in the womb cannot be considered sacred, all is destined to be consumed.

America accepts abortion. Acceptance has been fashioned under pretense of law -- or under an abundance of legislations that are only loosely defined conditions. Abortion is allowed for whatever reason during any point of pregnancy. The lip service of law simply gives the illusion of reasonable restrictions.

The abortion laws are malleable and worded so that cessation of life is easily allowed. In cases where groups have tried to apply a specific and reasonable abortion restriction, those gratified by abortion shout about the slippery slope of allowing for restrictions.

As if the slope America resides upon with regard to abortion is not yet precipice enough.

Due to incentives, the abortion providers cannot function within clearly drawn lines of an absolute right and wrong pneumatic; the atmospheric black and white. The grey area is where it is at for America's growing abortion industry. Abortion can thrive and even emerge as respected commerce in the land of the grey.

In our politically correct society it is easy for the progressive among us to shout against any consideration, with regard to the consequences of abortion. The progressives often times applaud the justification of abortion cases for those who become pregnant, but do not want to be punished with a pregnancy. The progressives are also apt to derided worthy perceptions for allowing nine months of inconvenience, followed by adoption. Life less abundant, is a progressive mantra that has taken hold -- and then taken over. The mantra is spoken on the left and the right.

There are a few who understand that abortion is an issue of individual will. No matter the laws or ideologies, it is an issue of heart. Overall, it appears America has no heart for the unborn and wills to utilize abortion under the premise of progress.

Abortion makes sense to the many who are in the position to choose which path to take with regard to American progress. Our most respected peers, the smartest and most proficient within the pillars of America's; government, education, medicine, product development, and research -- have ultimately decided that they need the remains of the aborted in order to meet a greater good. The line for fetal remains starts in America*. The progressive polluted progress that America is engaging upon encompasses a defining regressive movement along the single biggest path to destruction.

Bloodshed committed not only for convenience, but also for profit. Help us all, intact remains from abortion are acquired by some for purposes of securing the blood.

Thanks to the abortion laws that are in place, life terminated in the womb has the option of; being treated as medical waste, buried, cremated, or recycled. Meaning, thanks to the abortion laws nobody really cares what happens to the remains, and this has become a win-win for some. The abortion provider has less need to predominantly utilize first three disposal options due to America's need of their final product. The abortion provider has propelled abortion services as that of a greyer, greater good -- while making additional money by selling as much of the remains as possible.

Abortion clinics allow wholesalers to acquire fetal parts in order to provide them to industry. Those involved in commerce of the aborted are sellers, wholesalers, or buyers. The sellers are the abortion clinics. The wholesalers are the middlemen who literally prepare the orders for the buyers. The buyers come from every part of education, medicine, government, research, and the food industry.

As a matter of cost efficiency, the buyers have increasingly figured out that eliminating the wholesaler and dealing directly with the abortion clinic (seller) offers fiscal advantage.

Commercial Markets Created by Abortion by Victoria Evans points to the many ways in which clinics are allowing many to profit from abortion via the sale of fetal remains. She writes that the total market for using fetal pancreatic tissue to treat diabetes is 6 billion dollars annually. As troublesome as the abortion commerce tale is, Evans shares that "Democrats are in bed with the sellers and Republicans are in bed with the buyers". Additionally, the Supreme Court offers a safe harbor with regard to assuring continued limitless abortion procedures. Therefore, abortion represents business as usual in America.

Do not worry abortion proponents, your ideology and industry will forge ahead for the greyer, greater good. It is okay if Siri cannot seem to find the way to a clinic.

*****

About our journey with autism: At the very beginning I figured, no big deal, we'll get our daughter normalized in no time and pretty soon she would be asking for the car keys. It didn't quite work out that way and as my entire family and I continued to work through the ebb and flow of her unique walk, we fell madly in love with her in all her glory. For a real life look at one case of severe autism, just Google "Hello, Dr. Wells". It is a sixteen year account of autism that turned to schizophrenic like psychosis.

I have researched the subject of human residual DNA from vaccination product cultures; the cultures, in part, are the end result of the use of tissue from fetal remains after abortion. This subject collides with autism possibly resulting from accidental integration of the human DNA residual in vaccination products.

*A per month representative list of fetal parts sold after the abortion process: 47 livers, 11 liver fragments, 7 brains, 21 eyes, 8 thymuses, 23 legs, 14 pancreases, 14 lungs, 6 arms, 1 kidney/adrenal gland, 3 intact specimens for purposes of securing the blood. (Commercial Markets...Victoria Evans)

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Senate Democrats vent anger with Barack Obama - Politico

Senate Democrats — including typically mild-mannered Bill Nelson of Florida — lit into President Barack Obama during an unusually tense air-clearing caucus session on Thursday, senators and staffers told POLITICO.

Nelson told colleagues Obama’s unpopularity has become a serious liability for Democrats in his state and blamed the president for creating a toxic political environment for Democrats nationwide, according to two Democrats familiar with his remarks.

Continue Reading “It was a raucous caucus,” said one Democratic senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity because closed-door sessions are not supposed to be discussed with outsiders.

Nelson declined to respond when asked about the incident Thursday night, saying he was in a hurry to leave the Capitol to catch a flight. His spokesman didn’t return a request for comment.

In interviews after the marathon three-hour meeting, several senators and senior aides told POLITICO that Nelson was just one of several senators to express anger at White House missteps — and air deep concerns about their own political fates if Obama and the Democratic Party leadership can’t turn things around by 2012.

Added one veteran senator: “It was the most frank exchange of views I’ve ever seen.”

Several senators expressed the opinion that Obama needed to show more passion, while party liberals renewed their complaint that Obama should abandon the pretense of bipartisanship in the face of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s intransigence and what they consider the Kentucky Republican’s blatantly political tactics aimed at making Obama a one-term president.

Others said Democratic leaders need to clearly spell out what they believe are the motivations behind the Republicans' positions: that they are beholden to special interests, who bankroll their campaigns.

If Democrats keep losing the message war, they worry, they will be wiped out in 2012.

“There was a lot of passion in that room,” one senator said. “The reason is because the public is with us on our policies, but they’re not getting the message.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders had met with Obama at the White House earlier in the day, calmly presided over the gripe session, sources say, allowing members to have their say.

Reid, who barely survived a challenge from tea party favorite Sharron Angle, has already taken steps to improve his own messaging operation, tapping New York Sen. Chuck Schumer to run the communications and policy operations of the Democratic Caucus in the next Congress.

With 21 Democrats and two independents facing reelection in 2012, Reid and the White House will be forced to deal with skittish Democrats eager to see a sharpened political operation.

But the complaints are not new. Over the past year, Senate Democrats have expressed dissatisfaction with Obama’s policy priorities, especially his determination to ram through a health care bill against the objections of party conservatives like Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). The caucus’s left wing, including Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, have argued the opposite point: that Obama’s timidity has led to the defection of liberals and young people turned off by Obama compromises on the public option and economic stimulus.

Thursday’s confrontation reminded some of a February 2010 showdown between Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod after the president’s question-and-answer session with senators. An irate Franken, witnesses told POLITICO at the time, dressed down Axelrod and the White House for failing to provide a clearer sense of direction on health reform and other large legislative initiatives.

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Democrats Outrun by a 2-Year GOP Comeback Plan - New York Times

“If the goal of the majority is to govern, what is the purpose of the minority?” one slide asked.

“The purpose of the minority,” came the answer, “is to become the majority.”

The presentation was the product of a strategy session held 11 days before Mr. Obama’s inauguration, when top Republican leaders in the House of Representatives began devising an early blueprint for what they would accomplish in Tuesday’s election: their comeback.

How they did it is the story of one of the most remarkable Congressional campaigns in more than a half-century, characterized by careful plotting by Republicans, miscalculations by Democrats and a new political dynamic with forces out of both parties’ control. The unpredictable Tea Party movement, the torrent of corporate money from outside interests and an electorate with deep discontent helped shift the balance of power in Washington.

The White House struggled to keep Democrats in line, with a misplaced confidence in the power of the coalition that propelled Mr. Obama into office. Republicans capitalized on backlash to the ambitious agenda Mr. Obama and his party pursued, which fueled unrestricted and often anonymous contributions to conservative groups, some advised by a nemesis Democrats thought they had shaken, Karl Rove. That money so strengthened the Republican assault across the country that an exasperated Democratic party strategist likened it to “nuclear Whac-a-Mole.”

Most of all, Republican leaders had the foresight to imagine the possibility of winning again. Even now, they believe they could have taken back the Senate if they had just managed to block at least two Tea Party candidates who proved unelectable.

At that Republican retreat in January 2009, gathering inside a historic inn in Annapolis, Md., the group — led by Representatives John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the whip — did not tolerate the hand-wringing that consumed so many Republicans that dark winter.

Instead, they walked through a by-the-numbers picture of Democratic vulnerability that had been lost in the excitement over Mr. Obama’s election. Some 83 Democrats held seats in districts that once supported President George W. Bush; more than two dozen won their last elections by wafer-thin margins, according to a Republican document provided to The New York Times.

In their quest to reach a majority, the Republican leaders imposed tough party discipline, warning incumbents that the party would no longer act as a “welfare state” for those who were lax fund-raisers. They began an aggressive recruiting effort for top-flight candidates in districts that seemed to be virtually owned by some of the longest-serving Democrats in the House. And they were keenly aware of the anti-establishment mood, rarely engaging with Tea Party challengers, as Senate leaders did, fearful that any efforts to influence primary races could backfire.

They also tried to push Democrats into retirement, using what was described in the presentation as “guerilla tactics” like chasing Democratic members down with video cameras and pressing them to explain votes or positions. (One target, Representative Bob Etheridge of North Carolina, had to apologize for manhandling one of his inquisitors in a clip memorialized on YouTube. Only this week did Republican strategists acknowledge they were behind the episode.)

Improbably, Mr. Boehner’s team turned the notion that Republicans could not afford to be the “Party of No” — or, in his words, the party of “Hell no” — on its ear, successfully portraying it as a virtue in the face of Mr. Obama’s legislative priorities. But even that team never predicted the sort of victory they experienced Tuesday night.

“I remember people laughing at me back when they thought Republicans were a lot like dinosaurs,” Representative Pete Sessions, the Texan who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in an interview. “Our mission statement was to retire Nancy Pelosi. That was the whole mission statement.”

Borrowed Playbook

They may not have liked Rahm Emanuel’s policies, but they envied his tactics.

The Republican leaders had watched and studied Mr. Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff and congressman who engineered the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006, and they had his playbook in mind as they plotted a course to win back their own majority.

The first step was recruiting candidates, a task that fell to Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, one of three self-titled Young Guns of the House.

Mr. McCarthy, who often saw Mr. Emanuel during workouts at the House gymnasium, admired his aggressive political style and adopted his approach by persuading Republicans to challenge Democrats who seemed far less vulnerable at the time.

A top recruit came in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, where Sean Duffy, a county prosecutor and former reality show star on MTV’s “Real World,” agreed to take on Representative David R. Obey, who had won 21 straight races and was elected two years before Mr. Duffy was born.

Over the last two election cycles, Democrats had gained 55 seats in the House, many in districts deep into Republican territory. And that is where the Republican leaders began, hoping to cut that daunting number by forcing out longtime Democratic incumbents.

They ran advertisements in their districts, hoping to scare them into retirement, given that even Democrats knew that the Congressional campaign of 2010 would be difficult. Only twice in the last 75 years has a president’s party not lost seats in an off-year election.

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GOP soars in House, state races; Democrats expected to keep Senate - CNN International

Boehner: Putting Washington on noticeNEW: Pelosi: "The outcome of the election does not diminish the work" of DemocratsTen governors' offices switch from Democrats to RepublicansRepublicans nab at least 60 more House seats, based on CNN analysis of exit poll dataCNN projects Democrats will maintain a majority in the SenateWatch CNN live on TV, online and on your iPhone to get all the news and results from the hotly contested 2010 midterm elections. And share your election experiences with CNN iReport.

Washington (CNN) -- Voters' anger over a stubborn jobless rate and anxiety over troubled economy helped propel Republicans to a sweeping takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives and a stronger presence in state offices, projections indicate.

With results still coming in, the full extent of the Republican takeover of the 435-member House was still to be determined. But CNN projected that Republicans would win at least 60 more House seats than they currently hold to wipe out the Democratic majority of the past four years.

Democrats cling onto their majority in the Senate, though in smaller numbers, according to projections based on CNN analysis of exit poll data from Tuesday's midterm elections. Democrats were guaranteed of holding at least 50 of the 100 Senate seats, with a handful of close races still outstanding, according to the projections.

Exit poll data analyzed by CNN showed the economy was the dominant issue on voters' minds and indicated that key constituencies shifted from supporting Democrats in 2008 to voting for Republicans this time.

While the ushering in of more Republicans into office might signal a rejection of Democrats in power, it might not be a warm embrace of the GOP.

Exit polling showed voter dissatisfaction with both parties, as each received a 53 percent unfavorable rating.

An energized conservative electorate, fueled by the anti-establishment Tea Party movement that emerged in 2009, helped Republicans to what could be the biggest house gain by any major party since 1948.

"With their voices, the American people are demanding a new way forward in Washington," said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who is expected to become House speaker when the new GOP majority takes over in January. But he added, "This is not a time for celebration ... not when one in 10 of our fellow citizens are out of work ...not when we have buried our children under a mountain of debt."

Current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement on the midterm elections.

"Over the last four years, the Democratic majority in the House took courageous action on behalf of America's middle class to create jobs and save the country from the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression," the statement read.

"The outcome of the election does not diminish the work we have done for the American people. We must all strive to find common ground to support the middle class, create jobs, reduce the deficit and move our nation forward."

President Barack Obama called Boehner to congratulate him as the GOP takeover of the House appeared certain. They had a brief but pleasant conversation, according to Boehner's aides. The two discussed working together to focus on the top priorities of the American people, which Boehner has identified as creating jobs and cutting spending.

The rise of the Tea Party movement added a new element to the election cycle, roiling Republican races by boosting little-known and inexperienced candidates to victory over mainstream figures in GOP primaries across the country. The movement that emerged in 2009 in opposition to expanded government and the growing federal deficit and could pose a threat in the 2012 election.

"I don't think there's any question that if it were not for the Tea Party, the Republican margin in the House of Representatives would not be as high as it's going to be," CNN senior political analyst David Gergen said Tuesday night. "They gave a lot of enthusiasm and fuel to the Republican Party."

Tea Party-backed Republicans Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida won their Senate races, according to the projections.

Adding to the Democrats' losses, Obama's former Senate seat in Illinois went to Republican Mark Kirk, who defeated Democrat Alexi Giannoulias.

"Tonight the sun set on a one-party, corrupt state," Kirk told supporters Tuesday night. "And this Senate seat was just returned to its rightful owners, the people of Illinois."

But projections show Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, will retain his seat by defeating Republican Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite who beat 11 other opponents in a June primary to clinch the GOP nomination.

A cheering crowd of supporters chanted Reid's name and "si se puede" -- Spanish for "yes we can" -- Tuesday night. The former boxer thanked them for their help securing his re-election.

"I've been in some pretty tough fights in my day ... But I have to admit, this has been one of the toughest," he said.

Democrat Chris Coons was the projected winner over Republican Christine O'Donnell, another Tea Party-supported candidate, in Delaware's Senate race for the seat formerly held by Vice President Joe Biden.

The final make-up of the Senate will include no African-Americans. The only current African-American senator, Roland Burris of Illinois, is retiring, and none of the three African-American candidates won on Tuesday.

Both Paul, the son of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, and O'Donnell rode Tea Party support to defeat mainstream Republican candidates in the primaries.

Republican candidates were also strong in governors' races, with at least 10 gubernatorial seats switching from Democrats to Republicans, CNN projected.

Republicans needed a net gain of only three governorships Tuesday for a majority nationally. Often overshadowed during midterm campaigns, governorships can impact national politics by their influence in the redistricting of state electorates.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who gained national attention for her support of Arizona's controversial new immigration law, defeated Democrat Terry Goddard to retain office.

In South Carolina, Nikki Haley became the state's first female governor by defeating Democratic opponent Vincent Sheheen in a tightly contested race.

CNN projected Democrat Jerry Brown will defeat Republican Meg Whitman in California for the governorship now held by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is stepping down under term limits. And a widely publicized battle in New York will end with Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sliding past Republican favorite Carl Paladino, according to CNN analysis of exit poll data.

Conservative candidates also made strong gains in state legislatures. The Republican State Leadership Committee estimated that at least 16 state legislative chambers had moved from Democratic to Republican control in Tuesday's voting.

Those changes have the potential to reverberate far beyond the state level: By seizing control of legislative chambers in several key states, the GOP significantly strengthened its hand heading into what promises to be contentious congressional redistricting process, where legislatures decide how congressional districts are drawn. That can mean the difference between an incumbent having an easy path to re-election -- or seeing his or her district drawn out of existence altogether.

The GOP also significantly increased its pool of viable future U.S. House and Senate candidates.

The long and bitter campaign season drew more than $3.5 billion in spending, making it the most expensive nonpresidential vote ever, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.

About 75 percent of Americans say things are going badly in the country, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Monday.

The economy was rated the most important issue by 62 percent of voters, far eclipsing health care reform (19 percent), immigration (8 percent) and the war in Afghanistan (7 percent), according to the exit polling.

Most voters, 88 percent, rated economic conditions as not good or poor, and 86 percent said they were very worried or somewhat worried about the economy, the exit polling showed.

Unemployment, at a rate of 9.6 percent amid a slow recovery from economic recession, has been a dominant issue, with Republicans accusing Obama and the Democrats of pushing through expensive policies that have expanded government without solving the problem.

Obama has led Democrats in defending his record, saying that steps such as the economic stimulus bill and auto industry bailout were necessary to prevent a depression, while health care reform and Wall Street reform will lay the foundation for sustainable future growth.

Observers warned that the expected Republican gains offer little chance of compromise or bipartisan approaches on major issues.

In the Senate, legislative gridlock is likely as Republicans strengthen their current minority of 41 seats. The Democrats' simple majority in Senate doesn't give them power to block filibusters.

Democrats are also wary of a recent comment by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who told the National Journal, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

The first test of a new relationship will come in mid-November, when Congress convenes a post-election lame-duck session to try to clear unfinished legislation before the newly elected Congress gathers in January. Among other issues, lawmakers must decide whether and how to extend Bush-era tax cuts.

CNN's Tom Cohen, Michael Pearson, Dana Bash, Ed Henry, Ted Barrett, Deirdre Walsh, Paul Steinhauser, Rebecca Sinderbrand, Jessica Yellin, Alan Silverleib, Holly Yan, Forrest Brown, Catherine E. Shoichet, Rebecca Stewart and Jonathan Auerbach contributed to this report.

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Obama and Democrats brace for possible Republican wave - USA Today

President Obama may be the latest Democratic president who has to survive a conservative "wave election."

"It's an election in which conservatives gain enough power in Congress -- even if they don't control it -- to block liberal legislation," said Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University. "They're usually some kind of response or backlash to a president who has put forth a big agenda."

If the polls are right, Obama -- whose presidency has included a landmark health care bill and a major stimulus package --is looking at the same fate that befell Democratic predecessors Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. (It should be noted that three of those presidents -- Roosevelt, Truman, and Clinton -- went on to win the next presidential election.)

A look at those previous conservative waves:

1938 -- Republicans and conservative Democrats increased their numbers, partly in reaction to Roosevelt's Supreme Court "packing" plan and New Deal initiatives, and in defiance of FDR's efforts to purge his party of conservatives. The Republicans picked up 81 House seats. The GOP remained very much in the minority in both the House and the Senate, but combined with conservative Democrats to basically end the New Deal, though Roosevelt's attention was turning to another major project: World War II.

1946 -- A year after Roosevelt's death and the end of World War II, war-weary voters in a bad economy turned against a Democratic Party that had ruled Washington since the 1932 election. The Republicans gained 55 seats in the next U.S. House and 13 in Senate, winning control of Congress. Two year later, however, President Harry Truman would run against the "Do Nothing" Republican Congress, and sweep to an upset election win over Thomas Dewey.

1966 -- Two years before, President Lyndon Johnson won a landslide that swept in huge Democratic majorities that produced such "Great Society" legislation as the Voting Rights Act and Medicare. In this election, however, the shadows of Vietnam, inflation, and race riots helped Republicans win 47 House seats. The Democrats still controlled Congress, but LBJ's ambitions faced new legislative roadblocks. One prominent Republican went across the country in 1966 campaigning for GOP candidates: Richard Nixon, who would be elected president in two years.

1978 -- A slow economy and ratification of the Panama Canal treaties gave Republicans an opening two years into Jimmy Carter's presidency. The Republicans gained 15 House seats and three Senate seats, with many new members from the South, previewing the GOP rise in the region. While Democrats still held Congress, these mid-terms also previewed Ronald Reagan's presidential election -- and a Republican takeover of the Senate -- in 1980.

1994 -- President Bill Clinton's early struggles led to a political earthquake. Under the leadership of Newt Gingrich, the Republicans gains 54 House seats, winning control of the chamber for the first time in four decades. The GOP also wins eight Senate seats to win that chamber. Clashes between Clinton and the conservative Congress led to a government shutdown, but also welfare reform and a balanced budget. Clinton played off the Gingrich Congress to cruise to re-election over Senate Republican leader Bob Dole in 1996.

Democrats have had their "wave" mid-term elections, such as the "Watergate class" of 1974. Their last wave came in 2006, as Democrats rode George W. Bush's unpopularity to re-capture control of the House and Senate -- and pave the way for Barack Obama's election two years later.

Now, Obama, with his health care plan, his stimulus bill, and other big initiatives, faces a counter-wave.

"The ingredients are there," Zelizer said.

(Posted by David Jackson)

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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FiveThirtyEight: Governors' Forecast Moves Toward Democrats in 3 Blue States - New York Times

Democrats have made progress in several states in our latest gubernatorial forecast. Although it remains very probable that Republicans will control the majority of the nation’s governorships after Nov. 2, it is now more likely that Democratic and independent candidates can hold Republicans to victories in 20 to 23 of the 37 contests that will be held on Election Day.

Most of the Democrats’ gains in the new forecast come in blue states. In Maryland, the race appears to have shifted sharply for the Democratic incumbent, Martin O’Malley, who holds double-digit leads over Robert Ehrlich, a former governor, in three new surveys. Mr. O’Malley also has at least 52 percent of the vote in each of the surveys, and Mr. Ehrlich’s winning chances have dropped to just 4 percent from 19 percent, according to the model.

In Hawaii, a state that had shown some surprisingly close polling, a survey for the Honolulu Advertiser gives Democrat Neil Abercrombie an 8-point lead over the Republican Duke Aiona; three surveys conducted earlier this month had shown a lead for Mr. Abercrombie of just 2 to 3 points. Hawaii is a tricky state to poll, and some of the work there has been odd this year — for instance, a Rasmussen poll that gave longtime incumbent Daniel Inouye just a 13-point lead against a complete unknown in the Senate race there. I’m not going to pretend to know exactly how to untangle everything, but the model now has Mr. Abercrombie as an 85 percent favorite, up from 79 percent.

Although I’m not inclined to talk about momentum, it may be an apt term in California, where Jerry Brown has improved his position over Meg Whitman for seven consecutive forecasts, and is now about 90 percent likely to win, according to the model, his chances having been as low as 36 percent in mid-September. The newest survey in the state, from The Los Angeles Times and the University of Southern California, may be a modest outlier in showing Mr. Brown with a 13-point lead — and, in a reversal of the pattern observed for Democrats throughout most of the country, performing better among likely voters than registered ones. Still, the fact is that essentially all of the recent surveys show bad news for Ms. Whitman, and she is now something of a long-shot.

We also show Democrats’ odds improving slightly in two purple states. The first is Ohio, where there’s been an odd dichotomy between surveys that show an essentially tied race and those that show a fairly clear lead for the Republican, John Kasich. The most recent poll, from the University of Cincinnati, is of the former type, giving Mr. Kasich a 2-point lead over the Democratic incumbent, Ted Strickland. The model has Mr. Strickland’s chances improving to about 20 percent from 15 percent; I’d feel a little better about them if there were more undecideds in the state (there are very few, although that’s accounted for by our forecast), or if Democrats were doing a better job of holding their own in the Senate race, which they appear bound to lose by a 15 or 20 point margin.

Florida, where the race has been nearly tied all year, remains that way, although this time the model makes Alex Sink, the Democrat, a nominal, 52-percent favorite, as a new Zogby poll shows her ahead of Rick Scott by 4 points. The race has been so tight in Florida that the lead in our forecast has been shifting back and forth in picking a leader with seemingly every new survey release.

One state shows a shift toward Republicans with this update. It is South Carolina, where an InsiderAdvnatage poll gives Republican Nikki Haley a 14-point lead, contradicting some other recent surveys that had suggested her race against Vincent Sheheen had tightened.

One last wild card for the true die-hards in the audience: it is a Nielson Brothers poll in South Dakota which shows Democrat Scott Heidepriem just 3 points behind his opponent Dennis Daugaard, who had been thought to be heavily favored. There was also a Rasmussen Reports poll out in the state this week that gave Mr. Daugaard a 19-point lead. Our model has certain failsafes under which it treats a poll as basically being an outlier, and those were triggered in the case of the Nielson Brothers poll, and so it therefore still shows Mr. Daugaard as having a fairly unambiguous advantage. Still, the state probably deserves another poll, particularly since the U.S. House race there is extremely competitive.

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Democrats Claim Momentum as Polls Tighten in Key Races - Fox News

With nine days to go until the midterm election and the polls tightening in several key races, top Democratic Party leaders claimed Sunday that momentum is on their side and that the so-called "enthusiasm gap" is closing. 

Democrats said voters are beginning to wake up to the alleged damage Republicans would do to the country by wielding the controls of Congress -- a warning President Obama has sounded at campaign rallies across the country on behalf of Democratic candidates. 

"From this point forward, it's all about turnout and ground game, and we're seeing good early voting trends," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," predicting his party would hold the House. "The polling is moving. We really haven't seen since Labor Day polls moving against us. Almost all the polls have been moving for us. Now, we still have some work to do, but what Democrats tend to specialize in is the ground game, the turnout." 

The polling offers a more nuanced picture, and Republicans are expressing just as much confidence. In Washington state, Republican Dino Rossi has whittled away Democratic Sen. Patty Murray's lead in recent polls. In California, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer watched her lead over Carly Fiorina shrink to 2 points in the latest survey out of Rasmussen. 

But Republicans have likewise watched their leads diminish in Senate races critical to their strategy for a congressional takeover. The shifting numbers underscore the unpredictability of a campaign season marked by the rise of outsider candidates, a groundswell in citizen activism and challenges to the establishment on both sides of the political aisle. 

In Pennsylvania, Republican Pat Toomey has traded the lead in recent polls with Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak, despite holding a strong advantage for weeks over his opponent. In Wisconsin, Republican businessman Ron Johnson's lead fell to the 2 points in his race against Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, according to a St. Norbert College/Wisconsin Public Radio poll released last week. Polls show the Colorado Senate race between Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet and Tea Party-supported Ken Buck a dead heat. And polling in the West Virginia Senate race between Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin and Republican opponent John Raese has been all over the map. 

"It's a very competitive race," said Manchin, who has spent the campaign battling charges that he is too close to President Obama and Washington Democrats. He suggested on "Fox News Sunday" that voters are starting to trend toward him. 

"Now this last week, people are starting to look at who's performed in West Virginia," he said. 

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he's confident Democrats will retain a majority in Congress. 

"These big interests are fighting hard to get back in power and I think the American people are waking up to that fact and that's why I think you're seeing a closing of the political energy gap," he said. 

But while Obama and his top surrogates are touring the nations in support of Democrats, Republicans are driving up enthusiasm with rallies and cross-country tours of their own. They say the scattered races where Democrats are gaining steam are nothing to worry about and that a nationwide sentiment that resents the expansion of the federal government is on their side. 

"There is a vibration out here that is unlike anything I've ever seen before," Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I think you're going to see a wave, an unprecedented wave on Election Day." 

Republicans need 39 seats to win a majority in the House of Representatives and 10 seats to win a majority in the U.S. Senate. Steele predicted Republicans would achieve both, though he described the Senate as a tougher climb. 

Toomey, in an interview with "Fox News Sunday," dismissed the tightening polls in his Pennsylvania Senate race. Toomey rocked the political scene in the Keystone State when his popularity in the Republican primary forced Sen. Arlen Specter to switch parties in order to run as a Democrat. Specter later lost to Sestak. 

Despite the sudden hiccup in Toomey's lead, the GOP nominee said he's confident he'll give Republicans a boost in their quest for 51 seats in the Senate. 

"I never expected this to be anything but a close and competitive race," Toomey said. "It's close now, but I feel great about where we are. ... I think the energy and the momentum's on our side." 

Click here for more Fox News "Days to Decide" coverage. 

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