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On October 15th, the Washington Post did on article on early voting in Iowa and how it is "looking good for democrats." They explained that of all ballots cast, it's 53% democrat and 28% republican - a 25% lead. In 2008, democrats won the early vote by 18% Now, today, only 3 days later, the Iowa Secretary of State reports of ballots cast, it is now 49% democrat and 30% Republican. That's a SIX POINT swing in just 3 days. Furthermore, the ballots "requested" is 46% to 31%. A report from Politico yesterday said this: "Republican voters’ requests for ballots...

Early voting: Half of U.S. begins voting by tomorrowBy NBC's Kyle Inskeep 1 day ago Election Day may be Nov. 6th, but with President Obama grabbing a lead nationally and in key swing states, Americans are already starting to vote. Idaho, South Dakota, and the crucial swing state of Virginia are the first states to begin early, in-person voting today. Also today, absentee voting begins in Minnesota, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Georgia, Arkansas, Idaho, and Maryland, bringing the total number of states already accepting ballots to 13. Twelve others -- South Carolina, New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire,...

The Department of Labor inadvertently released initial jobless claims numbers on an agency website a day prior to its official Thursday release. According to a Labor Department press release, the news announcing jobless claims data was placed in an automated software system on August 8 in preparation for being posted on the Internet on August 9. Two weeks ago, new testing procedures were implemented for the automated system. "A test of the automated system that was conducted on Thursday inadvertently triggered the release of the unemployment claims report," the release said.

North Korea could carry out an underground test of a nuclear weapon as early as Tuesday night as the North's reclusive leadership dramatically tries to up the stakes with the U.S. and the West, U.S. officials told NBC News. U.S. officials say North Korea may already have an arsenal between 12 and a "few dozen" far more advanced weapons, many more than generally believed.

As I look at the Real Clear Politics averages of the polls of the various match-ups between President Obama and the various Republican candidates, I know I am supposed to feel impending doom. But I don’t. Let’s see, the numbers this morning are: Obama 49.0% Romney 43.3% Obama 50.0% Santorum 42.5% Obama 53.0% Gingrich 39.1% Obama 48.6 % Paul 40.4% But I don’t feel doom. Here are 9 reasons why: February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October. A couple could copulate today and still have a baby by Election Day. President Obama’s leads of 5.7% to 13.9%...

On November 16, 1990, Barack Obama, then president of the Harvard Law Review, published a letter in the Harvard Law Record, an independent Harvard Law School newspaper, championing affirmative action. Although a paragraph from this letter was excerpted in David Remnick's biography of Obama, The Bridge, I had not seen the letter in its entirety before this week. Not surprisingly, it confirms everything I know about Barack Obama, the writer and thinker. Obama was prompted to write by an earlier letter from a Mr. Jim Chen that criticized Harvard Law Review's affirmative action policies. Specifically, Chen had argued that affirmative...

Potential GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin turned down a chance to speak at the prestigious Herzliya Conference this week, abandoning her plan to visit Israel early this year. "She was invited; the president was invited,” a conference spokesman said, according to the Washington website The Hill. “All of the top people in the U.S. were invited. But it's not as if her attendance was imminent or expected." Palin's advisors have not commented on her no-show. The former Alaska governor reportedly planned to visit Israel early this year to try to improve her image of being poorly informed on foreign affairs....

very early...few details

With CBS chief executive wife Julie Chen safely ensconced in CBS's new daytime gabfest "The Talk," CBS News got the all-clear to announce, just in time for the holiday season, that it was giving other members of "The Early Show" on-air team the old heave ho-ho-ho. Gone, as of Jan. 3, will be anchors Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez and weatherman Dave Price. The network wants you to know, however, that they will continue to be employed on air by CBS News - just elsewhere.

As in cities today, the earliest towns helped expose their inhabitants to inordinate opportunities for infection -- and today their descendants are stronger for it, a new study says. "If cities increase the amount of disease people are exposed to, shouldn't they also, over time, make them natural places for disease resistance to evolve?" asked study co-author Mark Thomas, a biologist at University College London... study co-author Ian Barnes, a molecular paleobiologist at University College London, screened DNA samples from 17 groups long associated with particular regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa -- for example Anatolian Turks and the southern...

Tonight's Updated Early Vote Numbers: Colorado: 2008: D +1.8 2010: R +5.3 R Gain: +7.1 Florida: 2008: D +8.3 2010: R +19.1 R Gain: +27.4 Iowa: 2008: D +18 2010: D +7.8 R Gain: +10.2 Louisiana 2008: D +29.3 2010: D +2.4 R Gain: +26.9 Maine: 2008: D +13.4 2010: D +0.1 R Gain: +13 Maryland: 2008: ?? 2010: D +37 R Gain: ?? Nevada - Statewide: 2008: ?? 2010: R +0.1 R Gain: ?? Nevada - Clark County: 2008: D +21.4 2010: D +8.7 R Gain: +12.7 Nevada - Washoe County: 2008: D +11.8 2010: R +6.2 R Gain:...

...The data made available by the Shelby County Election Commission from the first three days of early voting (Wednesday through Friday) show that of the 15,600 people who cast early ballots, 8,623 were categorized as registered white voters, or 55.3 percent of the overall total — a stunning number considering that white people make up just 29.8 percent of the county’s 603,070 registered voters.

Lets keep record and comments on early voting by mail.

MOUNT CLEMENS – Some people still take off right after Communion at St. Peter Church, but not as many now that they have to walk under signs that read "Judas left early too." Fr. Cooney says putting the signs up at each of the three exits was "a bit of Irish diplomacy" aimed at addressing a long-standing source of frustration for many Catholic priests: people who leave Mass early, rather than staying for the dismissal. Perhaps one of the reasons the signs had a positive effect is that he introduced them with humor, rather than scolding the congregation, he believes....

12/21/2009 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS) -- Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but at the 27th Special Operations Wing here he is not the jolly fat man dressed in red. All one shopper at the base exchange knows is that someone who retired from the military made her family holidays a lot brighter. Charlotte Riojas said she was patiently waiting at the BX checkout line with a cartful of presents for her children. Their move from Hurlburt Field in Florida had, like virtually everybody else who makes a permanent change of station, been stressful. She, her...

As Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, the Dalai Lama told Sky News he believed the award was "a little early". He also cautioned the US president against relying too much on his advisers. The Dalai Lama told Sky News: "I think if you are realistic, it may have been a little early but it doesn't matter, I know Obama is a very able person. "Sometimes these individual persons rely on different advice from different people so like former President Bush junior, as a human being I really love him, really wonderful person, very honest, very truthful....

In the Arena Obama's 'Mistakes': Way Too Early to Judge By Joe Klein Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates listen as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Cabinet meeting White House Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates listen as U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the White House Dennis Brack / Getty * Print * Email * Reprints * Digg * Facebook * * Twitter * MORE o Add to my: + del.icio.us + Technorati + reddit + Google...

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 22, 2009 – A California Army National Guard supply noncommissioned officer diagnosed with breast cancer is cancer-free today, and she credits early detection with her new lease on life. California Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cowie credits early detection with remaining cancer-free two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. With a yearlong deployment right around the corner when she got her diagnosis, Army Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Cowie opted for an aggressive treatment plan that would get her back to her unit quickly. “As soon as people...

In a reminder that the new strain of H1N1 influenza may not be as benign as originally thought, federal health officials reported Thursday that 100 pregnant women infected with the virus were hospitalized in intensive care units in the first four months of the outbreak, and 28 have died. "What we are seeing is quite striking," said Anne Schuchat, a physician at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta who is helping direct the government's response to the pandemic. "The obstetric caregivers here, and the ones that we're speaking with [around the country] have rarely seen this kind...

WASHINGTON – Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s. The deficits — $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 — won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses from previous years totaling $2.5 trillion. But they will add to the overall federal deficit.