Mullings An American Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Arf!

Rich Galen

Wednesday October 31, 2012

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You ask what's in its last week? No, not the Presidential campaign. But, the MULLINGS Subscription Drive!

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From a Soggy (but not Flooded)
Mullings World Headquarters

For those of us of a certain age, the name "Sandy" has been connected with a comic strip character named "Little Orphan Annie." Annie, a plucky little girl who never aged much because she had been born on February 29, had a dog. The dog's name was "Sandy."

All Sandy ever said was, "Arf!"

With six days to go in the Longest-Election-Season-In-The-History-Of-The-World nothing gets in the way of politics.

No wind, nor rain, nor flood, nor fire, nor gloom of night can stop the candidates and their staffs from looking for ways to continue campaigning even while appearing to - no, that's not fair - actually using the tools they have available to give help and solace to those hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

President Barack Obama has a lot of tools. Many of those tools include stripes on their sleeves and brass indicia on their shoulders; others have wings and rotors on their aircraft; and motors on boats.

Governor Mitt Romney has fewer tools as a private citizen. But, he's using those he does have. Romney turned what was supposed to be a political rally in Ohio into a food drive for people on the East Coast who were affected by this storm.

Governor Chris Christy of New Jersey praised President Obama's involvement. But Bill Clinton couldn't resist acting like a political jackass by choosing an appearance in Iowa to talk about Romney and global warming.

I got back into the correct time zone at about 6:30 last night, surprised really, that DCA was operating. The flooding along the Potomac was limited to the low-lying places we've grown used to in Old Town Alexandria.

Farther north in New Jersey where the bulk of the Galen clan lives, there was no cell service to check on them so I had to resort to the old way: email.

They're all fine.

Watching the overnight news coverage of Hurricane Sandy the image that struck me the hardest was not the flooding nor the fires. It wasn't people being rescued by helicopter or police boat.

Not the President at the Red Cross headquarters, nor the Governor urging people do to something to make someone's life a little easier.

It was during the 4 AM replay of Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN of doctors, nurses and orderlies evacuating patients from NYU Hospital after the city power went out, the backup generators failed and the secondary generators failed.

In particular was footage (or it might have been a still photograph) of a premature baby who had been on a ventilator being carried out of a hospital with a nurse manually, gently, blowing air into the baby's lungs.

Back to politics, the national polling continues to show Obama and Romney in a dead heat - as I type this at 6 AM on Wednesday morning the Real Clear Politics average of national polls has Romney with a lead of zero-point-eight percent.

Amazing.

The storm will put a huge crimp into national polling for the next few days because a significant portion of groups that survey research firms need to reach are dealing with the after effects of Sandy.

The thing about the polls - state polls, national polls, or tracking polls is: We're going to know the answer in less than a week.

Meanwhile reporters are analyzing every shift in tactics for a deeper meaning. An Associated Press piece by Tom Beaumont and Brian Bakst led:

Mitt Romney is suddenly plunging into traditionally Democratic-leaning Minnesota and Pennsylvania, and his GOP allies are trying to put Michigan into play. It's forcing President Barack Obama to defend his own turf - he's pouring money into television ads in the states and dispatching top backers - in the campaign's final week.

The Romney campaign want's us to believe that MN, PA and MI are all back in play; but it might be a feint

SIDEBAR

Spelling tip: Feign is spelled with a "g." Feint is not.
Oh, wait. I just looked it up. Feign is from the Middle English. Feint's etymology is French.
Whew. Glad we cleared that up!

END SIDEBAR

A feint to take Obama out of Ohio for a few days or a few hours in the few days and hours remaining.

Arf!

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On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to Little Orphan Annie (along with a latter day drawing of Sandy) and to that AP report on Romney expanding the playing field. Also a cute Mullfoto from Ukraine.

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