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Monday, November 3, 2008
Pastor Rod Parsley speaks out on payday lending, gambling issues
Columbus Pastor Rod Parsley, a major force behind passage of the anti-gay marriage amendment in 2004, has spoken out on two ballot issues this year on payday lending and a proposed gambling casino near Wilmington in Clinton County.
On Monday, Nov. 3, Parsley (pictured) urged voters to vote “yes” State Issue 5, to keep a part of state law setting the annual maximum interest rate on short-term payday loans at 28 percent. A “no” vote would allow the annual interest rate to be 391 percent.
Parsley, president of the Center for Moral Clarity, an advocacy group, urged a “no” vote on State Issue 6 to permit development of the casino. Parsley also is pastor of World Harvest Church.
“The interests behind both of these important issues are deceiving voters about their true purposes by calling them economic issues, rather than the moral issues they are,” Parsley said in a press release. “Government already makes it so difficult for the poor among us to improve their economic lot.
“‘I’m convinced that approving short-term loans rates of nearly 400 percent and welcoming a casino to this state would work against the very people who most need a helping hand.”
Those urging a “no” vote on State Issue 5 said keeping the 28 percent interest rate would force payday loan businesses to close with the loss of 6,000 jobs. Backers of the casino say it would bring thousands of badly needed jobs to the state that could not be outsourced.
TweetPalin rouses Lakewood crowd with praise for McCain
LAKEWOOD- To chants of “we will win” from the crowd, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin promised to go to Washington and take care of overdue business.
“If you’re ready to shake up Washington and clean up Wall Street..if you want to win the wars, John and I want to work for you,” Palin said on Monday, Nov. 3, to more than a thousand flag-waving fans in Lakewood Park in heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County.
A day after Democrat Barack Obama drew 80,000 to a downtown Cleveland rally, Palin told the crowd not to be impressed by big turnouts.
“They can fill a stadium but they cannot keep our country safe,” Palin said.
It was expected to be the McCain-Palin campaign’s final Ohio campaign stop before voting on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
She also seized on a recently disclosed audio tape of an interview Obama had with the San Francisco Chronicle in January in which Obama criticized the use of coal to produce electricity. She said the light finally was shining on Obama’s views.
“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” Obama said in the interview. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, an Obama supporter, lashed back
“After John McCain said he’d like to ’ away from coal entirely,’ his campaign is hardly in a position to criticize a coal state Senator like Barack Obama who has outlined a $150 billion investment in clean coal and other technologies to create jobs and build a new energy economy,” Strickland said in a prepared statement.
Palin also continued to bash Obama as ideologically committed to raising taxes.
“Only John McCain has the courage and the experience and the wisdom to get this economy back on track,” said Palin.
Strickland said that McCain and Palin can’t name a “single thing” they’d do differently on the economy than President Bush.
TweetCrowd gathers early for final Palin rally
LAKEWOOD - The crowd starting gathering about 7 a.m. today, Nov. 3, for what’s expected to be the final Ohio campaign appearance for the Republican McCain-Palin ticket before the Tuesday, Nov. 4 election.
GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was expected to speak about 9:15 a.m. in Lakewood Park here in this suburb west of Cleveland. GOP presidential candidate John McCain was not expected in Ohio today. Neither was Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama but his running mate Joe Biden was expected in Zanesville and the Akron area.
“Pro-life,” said Brianne Gibson, 23, of why she supports John McCain and Sarah Palin. She and her husband Ryan, 26, got up at 4 a.m. to get here from Ravenna in Portage County, about 40 miles to the east. They brought their twins, Ryan and Alli, who will turn 3 on Friday.
“I love Gov. Palin,” said Brianne. “She’s a good conservative woman. She’s just like me.”
Alice Myhal, 53, a small-business owner from Lakewood, also applauded the McCain-Palin ticket’s anti-abortion stance.
“You can’t stand for anything else if you don’t stand for life itself,” said Myhal.
TweetTwo polls give Obama the edge in Ohio; a third calls the race a toss-up
Two polls released Monday morning give Sen. Barack Obama an edge over Sen. John McCain in Ohio with 24 hours before the polls open.
A third, an automated telephone poll by Public Policy Polling, said the race in Ohio has tightened considerably over the last week and is now too close to call.
That poll found Obama leading 50 to 48 percent over McCain after leading 51 to 44 percent a week and a half ago. The poll found Obama lost ground particularly among white voters, going from trailing 49 to 46 percent a week ago to now trailing 55 to 43 percent.
That poll also gave a lead to Democrat Richard Cordray in the race for Ohio Attorney General, with a 50 to 38 percent lead.
Elsewhere, the Quinnipiac University Poll gives Obama a seven-point lead - narrower than a week ago. And the Ohio Poll, taken by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy Research, goes even further, calling Obama the “likely victor” in the Buckeye state.
That poll found Ohioans support Obama 51.5 percent to McCain’s 45.7 percent.
The Quinnipiac poll, of swing states Florida and Pennsylvania, found Obama leads by 10 points in Pennsylvania, but is within two points in Florida.
In Ohio, Obama, a Democrat, leads Republican McCain 50 percent to 43 percent, down narrowly from a 51 to 43 percent lead last week.
The Quinnipiac poll found Obama leads among early voters in Ohio, 64 to 26 percent. Among all likely voters, women back Obama 57 percent to McCain’s 34 percent, and men back McCain 51 to 43 percent.
Quinnipiac also found McCain leads among white voters 48 to 45 percent and among evangelical Christians 59 to 34 percent.
Obama leads among black voters 96 to 1 percent, and among independent voters, which back the Democrat 48 to 44 percent.
Fifty-eight percent of Ohioans, meanwhile, consider the economy their top issue, and 53 percent of Ohio voters say Obama would be more effective than McCain in working with Congress on that issue.
The Quinnipiac poll, of 1,574 likely Ohio voters, was taken Oct. 27 through Nov. 2. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent. The Ohio Poll, meanwhile, included 1,308 probable voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent. And Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,208 likely voters from Oct. 31st to Nov. 2, and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percent.
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