* Republican Rick Santorum has come to the conclusion that "....smart people will never be on our side..." That should make everyone that likes Santorum and Republicans feel better about themselves??? Does Santorum mean that only dumb people are on his side and that of the conservatives??? Read the article at Raw Story.
*** There is NO surge in Ohio for Republican Josh Mandel, the state treasurer. Of course, Josh Mandel might be reading the polls upside down. Plunderbund:
...Earlier today, Rasmussen threw cold water on Mandel’s claim of his poll surging enough to make this a tight race: Brown 49%; Mandel 41%.......
..As of today, Real Clear Politics shows the average margin in the U.S. Senate race is +7.2 in Brown’s favor.....
Check out the full story at Plunderbund. If you live in Ohio and follow Twitter, the people that are tweeting the most praise on Josh Mandel are those that are from outside our state, and are supporters of right wing groups like the Tea Party, FreedomWorks, and Americans for (their own) Prosperity.
In a quick search at the FEC (Federal Election Commission), Ending Spending Action Fund (PAC) from Tampa, filed independent expenditures just today in support of Mandel.
Who is the largest contributor to the Ending Spending Action Fund? According to Open Secrets, $885,000 of the fund has been donated by J Joe Ricketts:
| Contributor | Occupation | Date | Amount | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RICKETTS, J JOE LITTLE JACKSONHOLE,WY | Entrepreneur | 7/26/12 | $375,000 | Ending Spending Fund |
| RICKETTS, J JOE LITTLE JACKSONHOLE,WY | Entrepreneur | 4/27/12 | $250,000 | Ending Spending Fund |
| RICKETTS, J JOE LITTLE JACKSONHOLE,WY | Entrepreneur | 5/10/12 | $250,000 | Ending Spending Fund |
| ENDING SPENDING, INC WASHINGTON,DC | Ending Spending | 7/16/12 | $23,507 | Ending Spending Fund |
| RICKETTS, J JOE LITTLE JACKSONHOLE,WY | Entrepreneur | 5/15/12 | $10,000 | Ending Spending Fund |
| DICKERMAN, MORGAN WILSON,NC | Wilson Times | 7/29/12 | $1,000 | Ending Spending Fund |
Of course you remember Mr. Ricketts from the controversy he stirred up earlier this year--- BostonGlobe:
The wealthy executive who considered and then dropped a proposal to revive controversy over the relationship between President Obama and his former pastor is a rising conservative maverick with ties to the Chicago Cubs baseball team. He is also linked to a super PAC that bankrolled an upset in Nebraska’s recent Republican Senate primary....
....Joe Ricketts was identified by a Republican strategist Wednesday as the financier behind plans being drawn up for a $10 million campaign that would have targeted Obama’s relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor with a history of racially incendiary sermons. Wright’s relationship with Obama, his former parishioner, was a hot-button issue in the 2008 presidential race....
....Ricketts joins such well-heeled conservative activists as the Koch brothers, who head the conservative Americans for Prosperity organization, in pumping millions of dollars into campaigns to influence elections and public policy....
That should make your stomach queasy. Will Ricketts, the Kochs, and the conservative right wing PACs buy the election?