DOCSLIB.ORG

Economic Issues and the 2004 Campaign Bush, Kerry Gear up For

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Economic Issues and the 2004 Campaign Bush, Kerry Gear up For Election FOCUS October 19, 2004 U.S. Department of State ISSUE 1 • NO 15 Inside This Issue: Bush, Kerry Gear Up for Final • Bush, Kerry Gear Up for Final Days of Campaign Days of Campaign. page 1 • Economic Issues and the 2004 Campaign . page 1 • Campaign Highlight: The Fight For the Battleground States . page 4 FAST FACTS: ✔ Between August and October President Bush waves to supporters as he arrives Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry at a campaign rally Tuesday, October 19, 2004 in greets supporters at an early vote kickoff rally in 2004, 87 percent of presidential St. Petersburg, Florida. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Orlando, Florida on Monday, Oct. 18, 2004. election advertisements have run Monsivais) (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) in markets that contain only 27 National polls show a statistical dead heat between the two major candidates percent of the electorate. with less than two weeks to go until the 2004 presidential elections. President —Nielsen-Monitor Plus and the University George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and their Democratic challengers of Wisconsin Advertising Project Senators John Kerry and John Edwards face a competitive and dramatic final stretch of their election campaigns. The last of three presidential debates concluded on October 13 with a debate (continued on page 2) Economic Issues and the 2004 Campaign Voters’ concerns about their jobs, businesses, government benefits, taxes and general economic conditions are always extremely important in U.S. presidential elections. This year, the economy along with terrorism and the war in Iraq are the important issues in the campaign, according to a variety of polls. President Bush and Senator Kerry have both stressed economic issues in the debates and on the campaign trail, offering competing policies on taxes, health care and other government programs. To receive this newsletter The 2004 campaign’s economic policy debate goes back to 2000, when the via a listserv go to: U.S. economy reached the end of an extended low inflation, high growth expan- www.usembassy.de/germany/mailinglists.html sion. Rising tax revenues – bolstered by tax revenues from capital gains as (continued on page 2) ELECTION FOCUS 2004 (continued from page 1) storm”—have been the most inundated Florida since March. by political advertisements, since five Both parties are also focusing their on domestic issues in Tempe, Arizona. of the top ten advertising markets in attention on voter turnout and are The debate demonstrated the marked this campaign are cities in those states. organizing efforts to register voters, differences between the candidates and Many residents find the ads helpful, especially their core constituencies, to signaled the beginning of their final but at times overwhelming. “The ads encourage them to vote early where sprint to Election Day on November 2. can be pretty influential in terms of allowed and to help them get to the The candidates reached a nationwide focusing on the main issues that voters polls on Election Day if needed. In six audience during the series of debates, really care about,” said Anne Marie states—Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, New outlining both their foreign and domes- Mulcahy, an Immigration attorney Hampshire, Wisconsin, and tic platforms, and are now—along with from Miami Beach, Florida. “But at Wyoming—voters can register as late their families and supporters—devot- some point after hearing these ads day as Election Day itself, making predict- ing most of their time and money to in and day out, I think voters get ing eventual winners even less reliable. winning the vote in the 10 so-called advertisement fatigue.” In Ohio and Groups that are especially being swing states that many experts say will Florida, the candidates spent over 19 targeted by Republicans include decide the 2004 election. million dollars in television Evangelical Christians, who experts According to a study by Nielsen advertisements alone the week before say overwhelmingly support President Monitor-plus and the University of the final debate, airing ads a total of Bush but had a low turnout in the 2000 Wisconsin Advertising Project 17,000 times. election. Democrats are reaching out in released on October 12, Colorado, Ohio and Florida together control similar fashion to minority voters, one Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, 47 Electoral College votes, but heavy of their core constituencies, especially New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, media campaigns are also taking place in urban areas of the country. ■ Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are key in states such as New Mexico and swing states in the upcoming election Nevada which have only five electoral with both campaigns directing the votes each. With the election generally (continued from page 1) bulk of their media advertising to predicted to be extremely close, cam- these states. paign strategists are angling for every Economic Issues and the “The end-game of this advertising electoral vote they can get. 2004 Campaign battle is now purely about reaching the In addition to a media blitz during investors cashed in on the stock mar- 270 Electoral College votes needed, and the run-up to November 2, candidates ket boom—had made it possible for focusing resources on the handful of are traveling non-stop to reach as many the U.S. government to run a surplus states where the result remains in any voters in person as possible. John Kerry from 1998 to 2001, the first in 29 doubt,” said Professor Ken Goldstein, kicked off a nine-day tour of seven years. But, the expansion had run its director of the project and political sci- swing states—Nevada, Wisconsin, Ohio, course by the time President Bush ence professor at the University of Florida, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and took office, and the economy slipped Wisconsin-Madison. A candidate needs Iowa—on October 14. President Bush into recession for most of 2001. 270 of the total 538 Electoral College the week of October 18 campaigned in Unemployment rose and the stock votes to win the election. New Jersey, Florida, Iowa and market declined by 15 percent. The Voters in Ohio and Florida—states Minnesota. Both Bush and Kerry have September 11 attacks greatly exacer- that the Wisconsin study has described made more than a dozen visits each to bated the economic conditions. as “the center of the advertising The U.S. Department of State is pleased to present its election coverage newsletter, Election Focus 2004. The — BUREAU OF — newsletter will provide non-partisan coverage of the U.S. election process, featuring articles, interviews, public opinion INTERNATIONAL polls, and other information on the presidential primaries, debates, conventions and campaign activities of the major INFORMATION presidential candidates. PROGRAMS Election Focus 2004 is produced by the Democracy and Human Rights team in the Bureau of International Information Programs. THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE If you are interested in receiving this newsletter via a listserv, please send your request to: www.usembassy.de/germany/mailinglists.html 2 ELECTION FOCUS 2004 ELECTION FOCUS 2004 The cornerstone of President also increase certain tax benefits for Bush’s first term domestic economic middle class families for expenses policy has been to reinvigorate the such as childcare and college tuition. economy through four successive tax Kerry has also pledged to work to stop cuts. Bush argues that these tax reduc- companies from sending jobs overseas tions, by leaving more money with by eliminating tax incentives he said individuals and businesses, will enable encourage U.S. companies to ship jobs them to spend and invest and thereby out of the country. Kerry also said he stimulate job-creating growth, which will protect American jobs by enforc- in turn will produce more tax revenue. ing U.S. trade agreements. The cuts have reduced taxes by nearly Both Bush and Kerry also pledge $600 billion during Bush’s term, to take steps to expand health benefits, according to the Office of get coverage for people who don’t have Management and Budget. And while health insurance, implement measures the impact of the tax cuts is hard to to control costs, and improve access to precisely assess, the cuts, along with pharmaceuticals, although their plans the increased federal spending and the to achieve these goals differ. “The end-game of this Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts, Reduced tax revenues, the costs of have contributed to the continued advertising battle is now the War on Terror and in Iraq, and growth since 2001. The Congressional other spending increases reduced the purely about reaching the Budget Office is forecasting a 4.5 per- surplus, which peaked at $236 billion cent expansion in 2004, the biggest in 2000, to a $415 billion fiscal deficit 270 Electoral College votes since the 2001 downturn. in 2004. While this is the highest needed, and focusing Concerns about the economy con- dollar amount ever, the 2004 deficit tinue, however, spurred by slow job cre- amounts to 3.6 percent of GDP, well resources on the handful of ation and slow increases in employee below the worse deficit in 1983, which compensation, while the budget deficit was six percent of GDP. Both Bush states where the result grows. Kerry has charged that Bush is and Kerry have promised to cut the remains in any doubt.” the first president in 72 years to preside deficit in half during the next four over an economy that has lost jobs, years. Bush promises to do so by pro- although the President counters that the growth policies and by encouraging most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics “fiscal sanity” in the Congress. Kerry —Professor Ken Goldstein, figures show increases in jobs. Director of the University of Wisconsin said his plan on the deficit includes Advertising Project President Bush has stood by his ending tax cuts for the wealthiest, end- tax cut policy as the correct measure ing tax breaks to big corporations, and to get the economy growing, arguing imposing a real cap on spending.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • HPI Interview: Hill and Policy Crises Attorney General Talks of Drug Epidemics, Cyber and Terror Threats by BRIAN A
    V22, N39 Thursday, June 15, 2017 HPI Interview: Hill and policy crises Attorney general talks of drug epidemics, cyber and terror threats By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – Last week Howey Politics Indiana reported that new Attorney General Curtis Hill has been approached about a U.S. Senate run in 2018. In this HPI Interview, we talked with Hill at the Statehouse about his first five months after spending nearly three decades working in the Elkhart County prosecutor’s office, the last 14 in that elected position. He entered the at- For instance, the Washington Post reported that torney general office this year with some seismic issues the opioid epidemic that has “ravaged life expectancy ranging from an opioid and methamphetamine epidemic, among economically stressed white Americans is taking a to cyber security issues that are hitting Hoosier businesses and consumers in the wallet. Continued on page 3 Mayor Pete heads to Iowa By CHRIS SAUTTER WASHINGTON – It is said that no politician travels to Iowa to give a speech unless they plan to run for presi- dent. So the announcement this week that South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to be a headline speaker at a Des Moines political event “We may have our differences in September begs the question: What is Pete up to? He will be but we do well in times like these speaking along with Oregon Sen. that everyone who serves in our Jeff Merkley, who is by all ac- counts mulling a presidential run. nation’s capital is here because Undoubtedly, Buttigieg is a rising star in the Democratic above all they love our country.
    [Show full text]
  • Statement on Signing the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 December 9, 1999
    Administration of William J. Clinton, 1999 / Dec. 9 Statement on Signing the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 December 9, 1999 Today I have signed into law H.R. 3456, the I fully support efforts to make sentences in ‘‘Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Dam- criminal cases involving intellectual property of- ages Improvement Act of 1999.’’ This legislation fenses true deterrents against the commission will increase for the first time since January of those offenses and am pleased that H.R. 3456 1988 the statutory damages that a copyright will require the Sentencing Commission to ad- holder may recover for certain copyright in- dress this matter on an expedited basis. fringements. This increase in penalties would WILLIAM J. CLINTON be an effective deterrent to would-be pirates of copyrighted works. This Act also directs the The White House, United States Sentencing Commission to issue December 9, 1999. sentencing guidelines to ensure that sentences for criminal offenses against intellectual property NOTE: H.R. 3456, approved December 9, was as- are sufficiently severe to deter such offenses. signed Public Law No. 106–160. Message on the Observance of Ramadan, 1999 December 9, 1999 Warm greetings to Muslims across America Sadly, in too many communities around the and around the world as you celebrate the start world, Muslims and other believers are unable of Ramadan, a holy month of prayer, fasting, to worship according to their religious traditions. reflection, and good works. We look forward to the day when people of Islam is one of the world’s most prominent all faiths can freely express their beliefs without religions and a source of profound strength and fear of persecution or discrimination.
    [Show full text]
  • There May Be a Lot of Things That Democrats and Washington Gov
    civic engagement GOVERNORS FIGHT FOR CIVICS by Shawntaye Hopkins “That might mean having more good people to t te at e t bee te represent our state in government,” he said. “It also might mean training the next generation err ria e atteded a of policy leaders who come up with new, excit- dinner where he listened as speakers ing ideas to improve how government works on opposite ends of the political from the outside. It might mean simply voting.” spectrum championed the need for civic education in U.S. classrooms. WASHINGTON GOV. JAY INSLEE “There may be a lot of things that Democrats and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is one of sever- Republicans disagree on, but educating our stu- al sponsors of the Civic Learning Initiative dents about American civics is something almost launched by the state’s Council on Public Legal everyone can agree is vital,” Ducey said. Education. Inslee said he would like more Conversations about civic education and civic people to understand the importance of city engagement have become more and more councils and state legislative bodies on their prevalent among teachers, legislators, secretar- individual lives. ies of state, media and others. Governors—such Washington state’s Civic Learning Initiative as Ducey in Arizona, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was modeled after a California civics program, There may be a and former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell—have according to the Civic Learning Initiative’s web- also voiced concern about the decline in civic site. The initiative aims to address gaps in civic knowledge among students and adults.
    [Show full text]
  • Leadership Challenges at the Department of Homeland Security
    LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION MARCH 26, 2015 and APRIL 30, 2015 Serial No. 114–13 Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 94–888 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas, Chairman LAMAR SMITH, Texas BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi PETER T. KING, New York LORETTA SANCHEZ, California MIKE ROGERS, Alabama SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan, Vice Chair JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina BRIAN HIGGINS, New York TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania CEDRIC L. RICHMOND, Louisiana PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania* WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania DONALD M. PAYNE, JR., New Jersey SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania FILEMON VELA, Texas CURT CLAWSON, Florida BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey JOHN KATKO, New York KATHLEEN M. RICE, New York WILL HURD, Texas NORMA J. TORRES, California EARL L. ‘‘BUDDY’’ CARTER, Georgia MARK WALKER, North Carolina BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia MARTHA MCSALLY, Arizona JOHN RATCLIFFE, Texas BRENDAN P. SHIELDS, Staff Director JOAN V. O’HARA, General Counsel MICHAEL S. TWINCHEK, Chief Clerk I. LANIER AVANT, Minority Staff Director On April 14, 2015, Mr. Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania was elected to the Committee pursuant to H.
    [Show full text]
  • Remarks at a Reception for the Pennsylvania Democratic Coordinated Campaign in Philadelphia October 11, 2000
    Administration of William J. Clinton, 2000 / Oct. 11 and beyond. I am an AmeriCorps member, and AmeriCorps volunteer Ardelia Norwood-Ross, I will get things done. who introduced the President; Harris Wofford, chief executive officer, Corporation for National NOTE: The President spoke at 4:13 p.m. at Memo- Service; and Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. rial Hall. In his remarks, he referred to Remarks at a Reception for the Pennsylvania Democratic Coordinated Campaign in Philadelphia October 11, 2000 Thank you. Well, thank you for the welcome. Democrats normally do, and I just cannot thank Thank you, Mayor Street. I was honored to help you enough. So coming here to be for the you win because I wanted Philadelphia to win, Democratic ticket, for my long-time friend, and I’m glad you won, and you’re doing great. Catherine Baker Knoll and Jim Eisenhower and Thank you, Senator Tartaglione, for being the Bob Casey, Jr., but especially for Ron Klink, chair of our party and for doing such a good it’s not only easy, it’s an honor. job. Thank you, Bill George. I got here in time I just want to say a couple of things very to hear Bill George’s speech. [Laughter] You candidly. John said them before. I know Ron know, Bill is so restrained and laid back. Klink pretty well. We have worked together for [Laughter] I loved it. He said everything that a long time now. He represents a district in needed to be said and said it well. And he’s western Pennsylvania where the biggest city has been a great friend to me for more than 8 27,000 people.
    [Show full text]
  • State of Center City Philadelphia 2021
    STATE OF CENTER CITY PHILADELPHIA 2021 Restoring | Returning | Reanimating Contents Introduction 1 Office 12 Health Care & Higher Education 18 Conventions, Tourism & Hotels 23 Arts & Culture 27 Retail 30 Employment 37 Transportation & Access 47 Downtown Living 53 Developments 62 Acknowledgements 64 Center City District & Central Philadelphia Development Corporation CENTERCITYPHILA.ORG Chapter Name| 1 Reanimating the City District | Center Center of the City Park Dilworth The global pandemic, local stay-at-home mandates and civil boarded-up storefronts and installed new artwork on many. We unrest created extraordinary challenges for all cities. In Center commissioned 200 decorative banners created by Philadelphia City, pedestrian volumes initially plummeted by 72%, as office artists. Our landscape teams planted street trees, filled park workers, hotel guests, regional shoppers, students, theater and flowerbeds with tens of thousands of bulbs and upgraded street restaurant patrons disappeared. At night, streets were devoid of lighting. We continued to provide fee-for-service cleaning for five cars, sidewalks were empty. From the very start in March 2020, adjacent residential neighborhoods. we had all of our on-street and park employees designated To enhance safety, we deployed new bike patrols and security “essential workers.” The central lesson from the Center City vans in afternoons and seven evenings per week, supplement- District’s founding 30 years ago suddenly had renewed reso- ing the role of our Community Service Representatives (CSRs). nance: the revival of economic activity and vitality depends upon In 2020, CSRs had more than 177,000 sustained conversations confidence in a public environment that is clean, safe with pedestrians seeking directions, responding to inquiries and attractive.
    [Show full text]
  • 2008 NGA Centennial Meeting
    1 1 2 3 4 5 NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION 6 2008 CENTENNIAL MEETING 7 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 8 9 - - - 10 11 PLENARY SESSION 12 JULY 13, 2008 13 CREATING A DIVERSE ENERGY PORTFOLIO 14 15 - - - 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 VERITEXT NATIONAL COURT REPORTING COMPANY 24 KNIPES COHEN 1801 Market Street - Suite 1800 25 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 2 1 - - - I N D E X 2 - - - 3 PAGE 4 Governor Tim Pawlenty, Chair 3 5 6 Robert A. Malone, 18 Chairman and President, BP America, Inc. 7 8 Vijay V. Vaitheeswatan, 53 Award-Winning Correspondent, The Economist 9 10 Distinguished Service Awards 91 11 Corporate Fellows Tenure Awards 109 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 2 CHAIRMAN PAWLENTY: Good morning, 3 everybody; good morning, distinguished guests. 4 I now call to order the 100th 5 Annual Meeting of the National Governors 6 Association. I would like to begin by saying 7 what a privilege it has been to serve as the 8 National Governors Association Chair over these 9 past 12 months. 10 We also want to welcome all of 11 our governors here. We would like to have one 12 of our new governors here this morning as well, 13 Governor Paterson from New York, but I think he 14 was called back to New York on state business, 15 but we certainly welcome him and are excited to 16 get to know him better and work with him as one 17 of our colleagues. 18 At this session, along with 19 hearing from two notable speakers on creating a 20 diverse energy portfolio, we will recognize our 21 Distinguished Service Award winners and our 15- 22 and 20-year Corporate Fellows, but first we 23 need to do a little housekeeping and procedural 24 business, and I need to have a motion to adopt 25 the Rules of Procedure for the meeting, and I 4 1 2 understand Governor Rendell has been carefully 3 studying this motion and is prepared to make 4 a .
    [Show full text]
  • Vice President Joe Biden Thursday, April 25 5:30 P.M
    BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT Please join Rhonda & David L. Cohen Hon. Bob Brady | Darren Check | Sandy & Steve Cozen Michael Glatt | Dan Hilferty | Ken Jarin | Alan Kessler Charisse Lillie | Hon. Michael Nutter | Hon. Ed Rendell Marcia & Ron Rubin | Hon. Connie Williams along with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) | Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE-AL) Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA-2) | Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA-8) Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA-4) | Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA-3) Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-6) | Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-5) for a reception honoring Vice President Joe Biden Thursday, April 25 5:30 p.m. The home of Rhonda and David L. Cohen Philadelphia, PA Address provided upon RSVP To RSVP or for more information, please contact Evan Seltzer [email protected] | (215) 901-8271 Contributions to Biden For President are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes. The campaign does not accept contributions from corporations or their PACs, unions, federal government contractors, national banks, those registered as federal lobbyists or under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or foreign nationals. To comply with Federal law, we must use our best efforts to obtain, maintain, and submit the name, mailing address, occupation and name of the employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 per election. Paid for by Biden for President April 25, 2019 | Philadelphia, PA ___ Yes, I will attend with a contribution of $2,800. ___ Yes, I will attend with a young professional contribution of $250. ___ I am unable to attend but would still like to support Biden for President with a contribution of: .
    [Show full text]
  • When You Read This, You'll Have an Advantage. You Will Know
    1 Prelude March 2010 hen you read this, you’ll have an advantage. you will know who won. As i begin to write, however, i’m not even sure W who’s running. That the republican candidate for the United states senate from pennsylvania in 2010 will be forty-eight-year- old patrick Joseph Toomey, sr., of Zionsville in the lehigh valley is the only certainty. Well, that and the likelihood that this race will prove to be among the most compelling of a particularly tumultuous election year. Who wouldn’t want to write about it? Toomey’s opponent, to be determined in the may 18 Democratic primary, will be either the five-term incumbent, eighty-year-old Arlen specter of philadelphia, or fifty-eight-year-old former admiral and Congressman Joseph A. sestak, Jr., of secane, Delaware County, in the philadelphia suburbs. For Toomey, facing specter in the 2010 general election would represent a peculiar rematch of their very close primary contest in 2004. There is nothing new about trying to define each party’s ideologi- cal distinctions. Almost five decades ago Barry Goldwater pledged “a choice, not an echo.” some three decades before that, when the power of his improbable new Deal electoral coalition was at its height, Frank- lin roosevelt mused about party realignment, on the english style, with everyone on the right united under the republican banner, and all those on the left (a perpetual majority, he hoped) gathered under the great tent 2 / Chapter 1 of the Democrats. it never happened. But, in whatever form, the two-party system has survived, despite the occasional emergence of a George Wallace or ross perot.
    [Show full text]
  • Former DNC Chairs Urge Fellow Democrats to Support Trade Promotion Authority
    Former DNC Chairs Urge Fellow Democrats to Support Trade Promotion Authority March 26, 2015 To Fellow Members of the Democratic Party, As former DNC Chairs, we are proud to be leaders in a Party that seeks to strengthen the middle class and ensure America’s safety and security. To that end, we support granting Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to President Obama. TPA originates from the earliest trade negotiating authority, passed by the New Deal Congress in 1934 and signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During the last four decades Congress has granted every President, Democrat and Republican alike, some version of trade promotion authority. To continue this bipartisan tradition, we stand behind the head of our Party, President Obama, in his quest for long-standing negotiating authority that allows Congress and the Executive branch to work together to pursue trade agreements that benefit Americans across the country. Moreover, TPA will clear a path for the President to pursue his pro-growth trade agenda—an agenda that will move America forward. As Democrats, we believe in rebuilding middle class security by putting Americans back to work. America's trade agreements are delivering for middle class families and our economic security. Our seventeen most recent trade agreements have improved the goods trade balance by $30 billion every year—that is some serious progress. The United States exported $2.35 trillion in Made-in-America goods and services in 2014, our fifth record-breaking year in a row. The increase in U.S. exports has contributed one-third of our economic growth and added $760 billion to our economy between 2009-2014.
    [Show full text]
  • DEMOCRATIZING the DEBATES a Report of the Annenberg Working Group on Presidential Campaign Debate Reform
    DEMOCRATIZING THE DEBATES A Report of the Annenberg Working Group on Presidential Campaign Debate Reform TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: THE ISSUE 5 THE GOAL OF REFORM: DEMOCRATIZING THE DEBATE PROCESS 7 Expanding and Enriching Debate Content 8 Broadening the Accessibility of the Debates 18 Improving the Transparency and Accountability of the Debate Process 20 CONCLUSION: 23 APPENDIX ONE: PROCESS 25 Working Group Biographies 26 APPENDIX TWO: SPONSORSHIP 31 APPENDIX THREE: YOUNGEST GROUP LEAST LIKELY TO WATCH MOST OF DEBATE 35 APPENDIX FOUR: 1960-2012 HOUSEHOLD RATINGS TRENDS: PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES 36 APPENDIX FIVE: ELEMENTS IN MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING 37 APPENDIX SIX: AUDIENCE REACTION STUDIES 43 NOTES 47 Democratizing the Debates 3 INTRODUCTION: THE ISSUE The Annenberg Debate Reform Working Group (for Since 1960, transformational shifts in television biographies of members see Appendix One) was created viewing – the plethora of cable channels, Internet by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University streaming, and other methods of viewing video of Pennsylvania to explore ways to increase the value content – have dramatically eroded the power of and viewership of presidential general election debates, the “roadblock.” Nielsen data show that the percent of taking into account the ways in which the rise of early U.S. TV households viewing the debates has declined voting, the advent of social media, establishment of from 60% in 1960 to about 38% in 2012.2 Additionally new media networks, changes in campaign finance, and Hispanic media now attract substantial audiences. In the increase in the number of independent voters have both the July sweeps of 2013 and 2014, the number one altered the electoral environment.1 It would be difficult network among both those 18-49 and those 18-34 was to overstate the significance of these changes.
    [Show full text]
  • 12.15 Bafhandout
    EDUCATIONAL FUND www.BAFuture.org Building America’s Future – Overview Building America's Future (BAF) is a bipartisan and national coalition of elected officials dedicated to bringing about a new era of U.S. investment in infrastructure that enhances our nation's prosperity and quality of life. Founded in January 2008 by Governor Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, BAF boasts a politically and regionally diverse membership of state and local elected officials from across the nation. BAF seeks to advance a new national vision for infrastructure investment that strengthens our cities and rural communities, and focuses on economic growth and global competitiveness, creation of economic opportunity for all Americans, and environmental sustainability. In addition, BAF embraces a wide definition of infrastructure - from roads and bridges to water and sewer systems, energy systems, buses, trains, ports, airports, levees, dams, schools and housing. BAF’s Goals: • Mobilize a coalition of elected officials and like-minded organizations to advocate for increasing our nation's infrastructure investments and reforming national infrastructure policy. • Advocate an infrastructure policy that is focused on shared prosperity that reaches all Americans, revitalizes our metropolitan centers, and boosts our nation's economic competitiveness. • Advocate a new era of strategic planning, economic analysis, accountability and rigorous performance standards for U.S. infrastructure investment • Advocate infrastructure policy that is forward-thinking and comprehensive in scope, yet grounded in the need for environmental sustainability, lower carbon emissions, and reduced U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Building America's Future works closely with associations that represent the nation's top officials, including the National Governors Association, the U.S.
    [Show full text]