Moderate Americans Elect group hoping to add third candidate to 2012 election ballot
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on November 25th, 2011 5:35 am by HL
Moderate Americans Elect group hoping to add third candidate to 2012 election ballot
The restless political middle — emboldened by the recent inability of a special congressional committee to agree on a debt-reduction deal — is staking out a controversial plan to insert itself into the 2012 election.
A bipartisan group of political strategists and donors known as Americans Elect has raised $22 million and is likely to place a third presidential candidate on the ballot in every state next year. The goal is to provide an alternative to President Obama and the GOP nominee and break the tradition of a Democrat-vs.-Republican lineup.
Tricare military beneficiaries being informed of stolen personal data
The letter that arrived Saturday at the home of Fred MacLean in Fayetteville, N.C., held alarming news: Computer backup tapes containing the retired Army chaplain’s personal information with the military’s Tricare health system had been stolen.
MacLean is hardly the only one receiving bad news. Letters are being sent this month and next to the homes of all 4.9 million Tricare military beneficiaries whose personal data has been stolen in one of the largest health-data breaches ever reported.
Obama’s Chicago campaign staff living good life — away from Washington
CHICAGO — Since May, a steady trickle of aides has left the White House for a more blustery climate, temporary apartments and minimal presidential perks. They are now reassembled here in President Obama’s home town as his 2012 campaign staff, facing a grim political environment shaped by the worst economic outlook in decades and a dismal job-approval rating for the commander in chief.
States expect budgetary fallout from ‘supercommittee’ failure
Funding cuts for school lunches, home energy assistance, child support enforcement, HIV care, Race to the Top grants and other government programs will come quicker than advertised following the failure this week of the congressional “supercommittee.”
In the malleable world of federal budgeting, members of Congress cast the breakdown as likely having little to no effect on federal spending over the coming year. The deadline for cuts, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle noted, is in 2013, and the two sides could agree before then to a new mix of cuts.
Maggie Daley dies; wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley had long bout with cancer
CHICAGO — Maggie Daley, the wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and a gracious promoter of the city’s cultural and educational programs, has died. She was 68.
The former Chicago first lady, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, died Thursday night, family spokeswoman Jacquelyn Heard told The Associated Press. Daley had been a reserved and dignified presence at her husband’s side during his 22 eventful years as mayor.
