MINNESOTA
Gingrich: Democrats party of food stamps
MINNEAPOLIS | Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is advising Republican candidates to frame the choice for voters between Democrats as “the party of food stamps” while selling the GOP as “the party for paychecks.”
With a month left before the election, Mr. Gingrich brought his branding effort to Minnesota on Wednesday. He raised money for Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer and the state GOP.
Mr. Gingrich this week distributed a memo to Republican hopefuls saying they should stress tax and spending cuts as a way to spur job growth while attacking Democratic policies. Mr. Gingrich is considering a presidential run in 2012.
He says high unemployment has pushed the number of people receiving food stamps to historic highs. He told reporters in Minnesota that Democrats “are earning the title of the party of food stamps.”
JUSTICE
Holder confident of prosecution
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said he is confident the Justice Department can successfully prosecute a Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee in civilian court despite a setback the judge in the case has dealt to prosecutors.
A federal judge blocked the government from calling its star witness against Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani because investigators only learned about the witness after Mr. Ghailani underwent harsh interrogation at a CIA-run camp.
At a press conference, Mr. Holder said the government intends to proceed with the trial and is reviewing the judge’s ruling.
The attorney general said there have been at least 300 successful prosecutions in civilian courts in terrorism cases.
WHITE HOUSE
Green Beret given Medal of Honor
President Obama has honored the sacrifice of an Army Green Beret member who died in Afghanistan, awarding him the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor.
In a solemn East Room ceremony Wednesday, Mr. Obama told the family of Staff Sgt. Robert Miller that the 24-year-old soldier had been “born to lead,” and met his “testing point” with extraordinary courage.
On that snowy day, Mr. Obama said, “like so many times before, Rob was up front.” The president recounted the gripping story of Sgt. Miller’s leadership of a nighttime patrol near the Pakistan border on Jan. 25, 2008, when a much larger force of insurgents opened fire.
Comrades said Sgt. Miller continued advancing, firing and hurling grenades, even after he was wounded twice in the chest.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Ad targets rival over foster parents
CONCORD | Democratic New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is criticizing Republican rival John Stephen in a new television ad over Mr. Stephen’s decision while he was health and human services commissioner to let some felons be foster parents.
Mr. Stephen changed the rules in 2004 to let social workers decide whether someone would make a good foster parent even if he or she had a criminal record. Mr. Stephen said anyone convicted of a violent crime or a crime against a child would still be banned.
Stephen spokesman Greg Moore said Mr. Lynch is trying to divert attention from a new law allowing early release of felons.
Mr. Lynch is seeking his fourth two-year term as governor. A recent poll shows he is well ahead in the governor’s race.
Mr. Stephen ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2002 and 2008. Libertarian John Babiarz also is on the ballot.
CAMPAIGN
Poll: O’Donnell trails in Delaware
A new poll shows Republican Christine O’Donnell distantly trailing Democrat Chris Coons in a Delaware Senate race that Republicans were heavily favored to win until the “tea party”-backed Ms. O’Donnell pulled off an upset in the GOP primary last month.
The survey released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University-PublicMind found Mr. Coons leading Ms. O’Donnell 53 percent to 36 percent.
Unlike many underdog candidates, Ms. O’Donnell’s problem is not name recognition. After weeks of publicity from her surprise primary win and sometimes quirky background, some 97 percent of people surveyed said they had heard of her.
Instead, Ms. O’Donnell is struggling to win over her own party and independents. Only about two-thirds of Republicans and one-third of independents said they would vote for her.
“She needs to unite her own party,” said Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson political scientist who analyzed the survey.
The poll found that Ms. O’Donnell’s primary opponent, Rep. Michael N. Castle, would have a strong lead if he were the GOP nominee.
WHITE HOUSE
First lady asks party to vote
Michelle Obama has a message for Democrats as the midterm elections draw near: Don’t stay home.
The first lady delivered a political pep talk to Obama supporters across the country Wednesday via conference call, telling them that “the worst possible thing to do” would be to get discouraged and not vote this November.
The first lady acknowledged to Organizing for America volunteers that people are frustrated with the pace of change and that many are still hurting economically.
But she added that the country is “just beginning to see the results of our work, so don’t stay home. Don’t let frustration keep you from voting.”
Mrs. Obama herself will be out on the campaign circuit next week.
DISTRICT
Archives displays Nazi papers
The laws signed by Adolf Hitler taking away the citizenship of German Jews before the Holocaust are on rare public display in Washington.
The Nuremberg Laws were recently turned over to the National Archives by the Huntington Museum complex near Los Angeles. They are on display through Oct. 18.
Previously, they had only been displayed while on loan to the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.
The documents have a dubious history. U.S. soldiers first found them in a German bank vault and gave them to Gen. George Patton. At the end of World War II, Patton disobeyed orders by taking the papers out of Germany.
They should have been evidence in the Nazi war crimes trials. Instead, Patton deposited them at the Huntington.
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