Jackson Free Press

Don't trust everything you hear. Make sure "reliable sources" are actually reliable.

Nate Silver at Five Thirty Eight gives Obama a 91% chance of winning tonight; PPP, a left-leaning pollster, predicts over 300 electoral votes for Obama.

But others show the race closer, and the Electoral College race could be nail-biter, based on all sorts of factor such as weather, long lines, voter ID, GOTV efforts and some election officials in swing states who seem to be hell-bent on confusing folks on their way to the polls.

So here's a quick guide to watching the results tonight and getting a sense of how things are going for either side.

First, a summary: You've got to get 270 electoral votes to win the Electoral College; 269-269 is a tie (which would be decided in the U.S. House of Representatives, probably in Romney's favor).

The New York Times' Electoral Map suggests that Obama has 243 electoral votes that are totally safe or lean toward him; Romney has 206. That means Obama needs to hold those states and get just 27 more electoral votes to win; Romney needs to hold his and win 64 more electoral votes.

The Swing States in this math are New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado. (Others that lean Obama that Romney might pick off are Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota and New Mexico. States that Obama could pick up from leaning Romney are North Carolina and Arizona.)

Now, the timeline... all times are Central.

5:00 p.m. Some polls close in Indiana and Kentucky. Obama won Indiana in 2008, but it's polling strongly for Romney this cycle. Interesting to watch, though, is the race between Tea Party GOP favorite Richard Mourdock (rape pregnancy is a gift from God) and Congressman Joe Donnelly, the Democrat. Mourdock knocked off Richard Lugar in the primary, but may now lose the seat for the GOP thanks to his national renown -- and Tea Party-vs.-normal-people schisms in the Indiana state GOP.

6:00 p.m. Final polls in Indiana/Kentucky. Polls close in Virginia. (They also close in Georgia, South Carolina and Vermont.) It may not be called all that quickly but Virginia is the first toss-up state to watch closely. If Obama wins it, he's probably having a good night -- he would only need one other swing state (other than New Hampshire) to get to 270 if he holds his "leaners." If Romney wins Virginia, his path to victory could tack "Southern" and he could still win without Ohio.

6:30 p.m. Polls close in Ohio and North Carolina (and West Virginia). Ohio may still have long lines and provisional ballots to count, but it'll be one of the most important states to watch.

One particular House race to watch while the results are coming in, according to PolicyMic, is Ohio District 16, which pits "business" against "labor" in an expensive House showdown between GOP Rep. Jim Renacci and Dem. Rep. Betty Sutton. If Sutton wins, that's one sign that Obama will, too; if Renacci wins, then Ohio may be trending …

One could assume that given the GOP's fervor in pursuing voter ID laws across the nation, the party would trumpet "substantiated" cases from the rooftops. But, alas, no one can seem to find them.

Monday night football, tonight, will end the debate of who has been more underachieving in the NFC this season. New Orleans (2-5) faces Philadelphia (3-4) in a game many would have thought before the season was a playoff preview. That was before the Saints stumbled out of the gate losing their first four games and the Eagles lost four of their last five games. Now both of these teams come into this game knowing that loss could damage their their playoff hopes beyond repair.

Members of Voting Rights for All MS and the state chapter of the ACLU gathered on the second-floor rotunda inside the Capitol today at 1 p.m. to demand Gov. Phil Bryant retract recent comments about voter ID that the group believes could mislead voters.

A petition at Signon.org has received more than 1,000 signatures demanding that Gov. Bryant retract statements he made about voters presenting ID at the polls.

The state's voter ID law has not received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice, and therefore is not in effect for tomorrow's election. Voters will be able to vote without any form of photo ID.

The petition came in response to Bryant's comments Oct. 31 after the Mississippi Economic Council's Hobnob.

"If you have to show a ID to buy a pack of cigarettes or to buy alcohol, which you should, then certainly you ought to have to present an ID to vote, so that we are certain that you're not stealing someone else's liberty and their chance to vote," Bryant said.

"We are calling on Gov. Bryant to immediately retract his statements asking for voters to show ID at the polls, and to clarify that there is no voter ID law in effect for the election tomorrow," David Denney of Voting Rights for All MS said at the Capitol. "As the highest elected official in the state, Gov. Bryant should know better than to make such statements, knowing that people listen to what he has to say."

Mississippi ACLU Director of Programs Nancy Kohsin-Kintigh encouraged any voters who are victims of or witness any discrimination, unfair or illegal practices at the polls tomorrow to call the ACLU at 888-354-ACLU (2258).

The petition reads: "Governor Bryant, the people of Mississippi call on you to immediately issue a retraction of your misleading statement to the Mississippi Economic Council calling on voters to present ID at their polling places this election. Furthermore, we call on you to clarify, unequivocally that photo ID is not required at the polls and the Voter ID law will not be in effect for this election on Tues., Nov. 6th. You are elected to represent ALL Mississippians and your actions are plain wrong, bordering on dereliction of your constitutional duty."

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2012/nov/05/9151/

If Mississippians read the Sunday edition of the state's allegedly largest newspaper two days before the presidential election, you get nothing of substance about how the election affects our state.

The quest for six wins for 70 teams continues this week. Currently there are 42 teams that are bowl eligible and five of those teams are undefeated and still in play for the national championship. Ohio State is also undefeated but unable to play for the title due to NCAA sanctions. Speaking of teams not able to play in a bowl game, there are 25 teams unable to play in a bowl game currently due to seven losses, NCAA sanctions or moving from FCS to FBS transition.

Last week was a tough week for the college football teams in Mississippi. Nearly every team lost but Ole Miss and Belhaven. It was the type of week you just want to forget about but if you missed any of last week's action you can pick up the current issue of the JFP and read the round up or [follow this link][1]. Things don't get any easier this week for college football teams in Mississippi. Southern Miss is still searching for win one, Mississippi State faces a tough test in Texas A&M and Ole Miss will look to avoid a blowout against Georgia.

Sure it is November but that doesn't mean I won't dole out some late treats to you guys a day after Halloween. Before you settle in to see the Loser Gets Fired Bowl tonight night between the San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs, I have two great stats I found this week for you.

OK, we all know that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have taken presidential campaign dishonesty to a place we've seldom, if ever, seen. They don't just twist the truth as is common in politics, but they just make bald-faced statements over and over again, including in TV ads, that are easy to factcheck as outright lies.

For example: Both of them saying repeatedly before their convention that President Obama had weakened the welfare work rules; wasn't true. Ryan swearing up and down that he did not vote for the sequester when his signature is on the bill. Romney telling the nation in the first debate that his health-care plan covers pre-existing conditions, forcing his adviser to tell media right afterward that it doesn't. Or in the same debate, telling the nation that his plan did not include cutting everyone's taxes 20 percent (including the wealthy) even though he has said it for months in primary debates and TV interviews.

But this week, both media and car industry executives are in near shock that his Ohios ads keep claiming that Jeep is moving production to China (and blaming Obama for it). It is as bald-faced of a lie as one can tell and is causing panic among Chrysler employees and residents of states where jobs would be lost. And it's a lie that touches, and scares, real hard-working people.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne wrote an email to employees assuring them the accusation is "inaccurate." He wrote:

“I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China. It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.”

He added that Jeep is growing in the U.S.:

North American production is critical to achieving our goal of selling 800,000 Jeep vehicles by 2014. In fact, U.S. production of our Jeep models has nearly tripled (it is expected to be up 185%) since 2009 in order to keep up with global demand. [...]

Jeep is one of our truly global brands with uniquely American roots. This will never change. So much so that we committed that the iconic Wrangler nameplate, currently produced in our Toledo, Ohio plant, will never see full production outside the United States.

Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand.

It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.

Read whole email reprinted here. Great stuff

Now, GM is refuting the lie as well:

We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said. “No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country.”

But even under this intense scrutiny about the Jeep lie, Romney keeps telling it. Here's a radio ad his campaign released this afternoon:

What is going on here? Is he a pathological …

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2012/oct/29/9091/

Spirit Halloween, owned by ACON Investments, is running ads for costumes the company labels for teens and tweens with sexual references and innuendo.

The Mississippi State Chapter of the National Organization for Women, a liberal feminist group, and Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, are two organizations that rarely see eye-to-eye. Spirit Halloween's advertisements, which blatantly market sex to underage girls, have given the groups a common enemy to fight.

One advertisement for a "Rag Doll Teen Costume" finished with the lines: "you are all grown up now, so why not find out if big boys like to play with dolls!"

Spirit Halloween responded to a campaign on Twitter and Change.org by removing most of the sexual references in their teen and preteen costume descriptions. Many parents are still boycotting the company, though, because they still sell many costumes for minors which feature short skirts, low-cut tops and long stockings, which the women at NOW think are too sexual for young girls.

“Although Spirit changed the shocking sexual content in many of their kids’ costume ads in response to a Twitter campaign by outraged parents and consumers, the issue still remains that Spirit Halloween and its owner, ACON Investments have refused to pull their totally inappropriate sexualized children’s costumes off the market. They are marketing extremely revealing, short, tight-fitting dresses and skirts to our children – many of their kids costumes look like adult fantasy sex costumes. This is not about adult women's choices to wear sexy costumes, this is about Spirit Halloween and ACON marketing sexualized costumes to girls as young as 9 and 13 years old – they are offering sickening and horrible costume choices for children that parents don’t want,” Miss. Now president Laurie Roberts stated in a press release.

You can see the advertisements with the sexual innuendo here: Spirit Halloween

You can also sign the petition to boycott Spirit Halloween here: Change.org

New Orleans gets a chance to get one game away from .500 tonight on Sunday Night Football against Denver. The Saints need to win this game to keep their slim playoff chances alive and the Broncos (contrary to how the national media portrays them) are a beatable team. Last week the Saints got their second win of the season in a 35-28 victory against Tampa Bay. New Orleans started slowly before quarterback Drew Brees went off in the second quarter against the Buccaneers defense.

Currently there are 11 undefeated teams in college football. Louisville stayed undefeated after escaping at home against Cincinnati on Friday night with their 34-31 win. Only 10 of the undefeated teams have any hope of playing in a BCS game. Ohio State is undefeated but ineligible for a bowl game this season because of NCAA sanctions.

College football hasn't been bad to Mississippi for the most part this season. There is hope everywhere, unless you're a USM fan, and you can check out last week's games in the JFP print edition or [follow this link][1]. The big winner last week was Mississippi State. The Bulldogs took care of everything in front of them to setup a showdown this week against Alabama.

Frank, a Special Olympian, offers a reasonable and considerate response to Ann Coulter's ridiculous statement after the third Presidential debate.

The first BCS poll was released last Sunday and rumblings around the nation are already starting about an all SEC championship Game again. The SEC was the first conference to feature two teams in the title game last year when Alabama and LSU met in a rematch.

Today on the campaign trail President Obama told a laughing crowd in Virginia that he may have diagnosed why Mitt Romney seems to say one thing in the nationally televised debates and another thing while campaigning... he's got "Romnesia."

Four year schools had a great week with everybody getting a win but Southern Miss and Mississippi College. To read a full recap pick up a copy of this week's Jackson Free Press or [follow this link][1].

Appeals court upholds decision that DOMA is unconstitutional.

This season in the NFL has lacked week to week constancy by most teams in the NFL. That was most evident on Thursday night as the Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Tennessee Titans.