Angry voters flood streets as several candidates reject Haiti election - Christian Science Monitor

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Frustrated voters flooded the streets and several presidential candidates called for the government to annul Sunday’s Haiti election due to problems at polls throughout the country.

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Scores of voters said they were prohibited from voting because their names did not appear on rolls at the polling places. Angry voters threw rocks and bottles at United Nations peacekeeping forces and shut down polling places.

Twelve of the 19 presidential candidates held an afternoon press conference calling for the vote to be canceled. They accused the Inite party, backed by President Rene Preval, of "massive fraud."

RELATED: In Haiti election, voter confusion, apathy loom large

As polls closed at 4 p.m. peaceful demonstrations clogged the streets of Petionville, a neighborhood in the hills above downtown Port-au-Prince.

“We are not going to stand for an election that is not the will of the people,” says Abner Jean, who could not vote despite holding a valid registration card. His name did not appear on rolls. “If they put in a candidate that we did not choose, we’ll use whatever means necessary to kick them out.”

Observers said problems were reported throughout the country. Many voters who’d been displaced by the earthquake did not know where to vote, resulting in frustration and confusion.

The electoral commission held a press conference urging calm and reassuring the public that the vote was on track.

Representatives for the commission, CEP, said voters tried to use out-of-date cards or were going to the wrong polling places. They urged voters to call a toll-free number or go to the commission’s Web site to find their polling place.

“There are places where bandits shut down polls, shots were fired, and stones were thrown,” said Opont Pierre, director general of the CEP. “But it is only a small percentage of the polling areas and it won’t stop us from voting and getting a valid result.”

By that time, however, Haitians had already taken to Port-au-Prince streets. They rushed to the candidates’ press conference.

Michel Martelly, a popular musician considered one of the leading candidates in a field of 19, said the meeting was held "to denounce today's massive fraud all over the country."

Rapper Wyclef Jean appeared moments later with Martelly, who is known as “Sweet Mickey.” The crowd that formed erupted as Jean hugged Martelly.

Song broke out with lyrics like “Oh Mickey, now we’ve been delivered,” and “They gave us cholera, they call it poison,” a reference to the cholera epidemic that has killed more than 1,600 and continues to spread.

Nearby, blue helmeted UN soldiers and Haitian police in riot gear lined street sides.

The crowd followed Martelly and Jean, who were joined by Charles Henry Baker, a white-haired businessman who also complained that the vote was unfair.

It was a raucous end to a voting day that began quietly with teenagers playing soccer on traffic-free streets, using earthquake rubble as goal markers as women and children filtered to church.

Tensions grew as the day unfolded and more people complained they’d been prohibited from voting.

Laurent Yvone, who lives in a camp for people displaced by January’s earthquake, lined up with thousands of early this morning. The polling place for the camp, known as Camp Corail, had just 39 registered names, however.

“There are more than 5,000 people here and the [Interim Electoral Commission] sent us less than 40 names. We don’t have enough ballots,” says the polling place’s supervisor, Elizer Fritznel.

Mr. Fritznel fled before the polls were supposed to close at 4 p.m. Only a handful of voters cast ballots there.

“If we can’t vote, these ballots are not going to leave here,” Mr. Yvone said. “This is corruption.”

RELATED: In Haiti election, voter confusion, apathy loom large

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NY Governor Candidates Meet In Debate - NPR

The long-awaited debate on Monday in New York governor's race showed Democrat Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor and Democratic icon, as steeped in how New York government works and should be fixed.

Meanwhile, his top rival, Tea Party-backed Republican Carl Paladino, sought to display a passion for the work he says career politicians like Cuomo have failed.

Cuomo repeatedly criticized the government now run by his party, and harkened to a time past when he said New York state government was considered a model for other states. He praised past leadership, though he didn't specifically note his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

Cuomo spoke in detail with confidence on every subject, appearing more composed than Paladino and playing to the crowd more than the others at the Hofstra University debate, which included five minor party candidates.

"I know this state like nobody else on this stage," Cuomo said. "I understand the disgust with Albany, and I share it."

But the former federal housing secretary then added: "No state has anything on New York, and we're going to make this the Empire State again, don't make any mistake about that."

Paladino, a Buffalo developer, said state government doesn't need tweaking, but rather a major overhaul that scares career politicians like Cuomo.

"My critics," Paladino said, "want to say I'm crazy."

"No, I'm passionate," he said. He then ticked off his platform: cutting spending by 20 percent, cutting taxes by 10 percent, term limits of eight years for state officials, disclosure of all outside income to identify conflicts of interest and the appointment a special prosecutor to investigate the Legislature.

"My plan scares them to death," Paladino said. "You tell me if I'm crazy."

In the first and only scheduled debate of the nasty campaign, neither Cuomo nor Paladino targeted the other, although some of the minor party candidates took shots at both major party candidates.

Paladino, in his first public debate, stumbled early in his answers. At one point, he referred to the state Board of Regents as the state school board, which doesn't exist. He struggled with some statistics while Cuomo rattled off others.

But Paladino became more confident halfway through the 90-minute debate, striking his fist to his heart at times and leaning into the camera.

"Jobs are the No. 1 concern of our young people today," Paladino said, citing how taxes and over-regulation of businesses are forcing an exodus of young New Yorkers.

"They don't have that grounded feeling anymore," he said. "They want a government of the people, by the people and for the people and that's what we will give them."

Cuomo elicited the first laughs of the night while providing statistics that defined New York's problems and his solutions.

"I think the question in this race is who can actually do it? Who can get it done?" Cuomo asked, a stab at Paladino, a novice politician whose temperament for office has been questioned. "I have gotten a lot of legislation passed."

Also participating in the debate were Charles Barron of the Freedom Party; Kristin Davis, the former "Manhattan madam," of the Anti-Prohibition Party; Howie Hawkins of the Green Party; Jimmy McMillan of the Rent is 2 Damn High Party; and Warren Redlich of the Libertarian Party.

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In all, seven candidates took part in the first and only scheduled debate of the nasty campaign.

Shadowy independent groups are poised to spend more than $500 million on congressional elections.

Both states have high-profile and high-interest contests underway.

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Recession Not Over for Congressional Candidates Despite Panel Ruling - FOXNews

A Cambridge-based economics panel declared last month that the recession is over -- in fact, it ended in June 2009. 

Just try telling that to congressional candidates. The judgment of one Massachusetts board has done little, if anything, to change the campaign trail rhetoric with Election Day mere weeks away. Candidates and lawmakers, particularly those arguing against a massive tax increase, continue to insist that the recession is ongoing and the nation is stuck in the "middle" of it. 

Jack Conway, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Kentucky, was the latest to repeat that claim during a debate with Republican Rand Paul on "Fox News Sunday." 

"I think that raising taxes -- we shouldn't be doing it in a time of recession," Conway said, battling the charge that he in any way opposed the extension of the Bush tax cuts. 

Conway's not alone among politicians in describing the downturn as a full-blown recession. There may be good reason -- poll after poll shows most Americans are on the same page. A Fox News poll released in August showed 88 percent of voters think the country is still in a recession, including 48 percent who think conditions could get worse. A Fox News poll released in September showed 86 percent say it feels like the country is in a recession. 

A recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline. The National Bureau of Economic Research, which tracks these trends, issued a statement Sept. 20 saying the recession officially lasted 18 months -- starting in December 2007 and ending in June 2009. That marks the turnaround from economic decline to economic growth. 

But in a climate where the unemployment rate is inching back toward 10 percent and businesses are sitting on their reserves, the declaration offers little comfort. Even the bureau said the announcement does not mean "economic conditions since (June 2009) have been favorable or that the economy has returned to operating at normal capacity." 

As long as the economy is sputtering, many politicians say the United States might as well be in recession as they appeal to voters for confidence in their commitment to spurring job creation. 

Both the Republican and Democratic nominees for the 3rd District House seat in Arkansas told local news channel KFSM-TV last week that the recession is not over. Democrat David Whitaker and Republican Steve Womack pointed to high unemployment and low investment by businesses in making their case. 

The claim that the recession is alive and not-so-well is most common in the debate over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts. Those who want them extended for all income levels cite the "recession" as the reason -- it's become a talking point for members of both parties. 

"We should not be raising taxes in the middle of a recession," Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

Jaime Herrera, a Washington state representative running as the GOP nominee for the 3rd District House seat in her state, wrote in a questionnaire for the Daily News Online that "raising taxes in the middle of a recession will harm job growth." 

Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly made that argument, and his rank-and-file are starting to follow suit. 

Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter, who's facing a challenge this year from Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon, said last month it would be "crazy" to raise taxes in a recession. 

The recession rhetoric was not enough to bring up the tax cut issue for a vote before Congress adjourned last week. Democratic leaders, who want to extend the tax cuts for the middle class but raise taxes on the wealthy, are pledging to tackle the issue when they return from recess in November. 

Republicans have voiced their doubts. House GOP Leader John Boehner last week equated the vote to adjourn with a vote to raise taxes.

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Paul Accuses Conway of Flip-Flopping as Kentucky Senate Candidates Clash - FOXNews

The candidates for Kentucky's open Senate seat, one of the keystones in both parties' plans to hold the majority next year, clashed on "Fox News Sunday" over the nation's economy and over each other's personal integrity, with Republican Rand Paul accusing Democrat Jack Conway of flip-flopping on big issues. 

In a televised debate, Paul described the November midterms as a referendum on President Obama's legislative agenda. Suggesting voters are inclined to vote against that agenda, he accused his Democratic opponent of backing away from the Obama proposals he once supported. 

"What he needs to do is either defend his president or run away -- so far he's running away from President Obama and the agenda," Paul said. 

Paul, arguably the first Tea Party-backed Senate candidate to win a Republican nomination, is trying to cast his opponent as "ambivalent" on economic issues critical to his state. So far, most polls show Paul holding a considerable lead over the state's attorney general - the latest Rasmussen poll put Paul up 11 points. 

But Conway cast Paul as out-of-touch with state voters, particularly on the health care overhaul. Conway said hundreds of thousands of Kentucky residents will have access to health care for the first time, warning that Paul's pledge to repeal the law would strip away premium assistance for low-income families and protections like a ban on denying coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions. 

"I want to fix health care. He wants to repeal it," Conway said. "I think that's a stark difference." 

Conway is standing by the health care law but offers mixed, and allegedly conflicting, reviews on other Obama priorities. Conway said he supported the tax cuts component of the stimulus package but that the "shovel-ready" infrastructure component has had mixed results. He said he would not have supported the bailouts -- which started under former President George W. Bush. 

But Paul said Conway has changed his tune entirely, and repeatedly, on the issue of tax cuts. 

After Congress adjourned without taking action on the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts, Conway now says the Bush tax cuts should be extended. But he told the Courier-Journal editorial board in April: "I would favor letting expire probably the majority, the majority of the Bush tax cuts." 

Conway explained Sunday he was talking about "special interest provisions" that allow companies to ship U.S. jobs overseas. He stressed that he was originally for the Bush tax cuts in 2002. 

Paul accused Conway of simply changing his position time after time. "You were for them before you were against them before you were for them again," Paul said. 

He also accused Conway of being on "both sides" of the issue on the so-called "cap-and-trade" bill that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions. A local Kentucky news report last summer said Conway issued a statement in support of a House version of the cap-and-trade bill. Conway now says he's "against cap-and-trade" and "always have been." 

"Kentuckians are not going to tolerate someone who's ambivalent on cap-and-trade," Paul said. "Cap-and-trade will be a disaster to our economy." 

Conway says he's been consistent in standing up for Kentucky coal miners. 

Conway stressed his work battling pharmaceutical companies and criticized Paul repeatedly for controversial comments he made about the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he would be focused "like a laser" on jobs creation if elected. 

Paul said his legislative work would be devoted to reducing spending and drawing down the national debt, pledging to introduce legislation to balance the budget. 

The national debt "is threatening the very foundation of our economy," he said. "It's incredibly dangerous. It's incredibly foolhardy." 

Click here for more Fox News "Days to Decide" coverage. 

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