As Mourners Were Honoring Tyler Clementi, News Came of a Fifth Suicide - ABC News

Mourners at Rutgers University honored the memory of Tyler Clementi, whose death last week was the fifth suicide by a gay teenager in the last three weeks.

Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge Tuesday, days after his roommate allegedly posted video on the Internet of him having sex with another man.

The recent eruption of gay teen suicides has been across the country, from the East Coast to Indiana, Texas to California, where 13-year-old Seth Walsh, who recently hanged himself, was memorialized Friday night.

Walsh, whose family said he was harassed by bullies for being gay, died Tuesday, after being in a coma for nine days.

"The harassment and the teasing and the taunting just became too much," Seth's grandmother, Judly Walsh said Friday night at a memorial service in Tehachapi, Calif.

Police interviewed some of the young people who taunted Seth the day he died, but determined that their actions do not constitute a crime.

In Clementi's case, the young man's roommate, Dharun Ravi, and another classmate, Molly Wei, face several charges of invasion of privacy for what prosecutors say was a surreptitious filming of Clementi in his own dorm room, a recording that they then allegedly broadcast live on the Internet.

New Jersey law enforcement officials have said they are still investigating the case, trying to determine whether they can pursue more serious charges against Ravi and Wei.

Lawyers for Ravi and Wei have not returned messages left by ABC News but Ravi's attorney, Steve Altman, told the New Jersey Star-Ledger that he does not think his client can be held criminally responsible for Clementi's death.

In another recent case, Raymond Chase, an openly gay 19-year-old student at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., hanged himself in his dorm room Wednesday.

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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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Polls tighten as elections approach. Good news for Democrats? Maybe. - Christian Science Monitor

It’s just four weeks (and two days) until the midterm elections. But that’s a lifetime (or two) in politics, and it’s way too early for Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Minority Leader John Boehner to be staking claim to the fanciest digs in the US House of Representatives.

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According to a race-by-race analysis by The New York Times, “Enough contests remain in flux that both parties head into the final four weeks of the campaign with the ability to change the dynamic before Election Day.”

“We have a lot of work to do,” Boehner told the newspaper.

Fund raising and targeted advertising – both for your guy and against the other guy – are important. Maybe more so – for Democrats especially – is rousing the party faithful from the typical midterm lethargy, then getting them to the polls on Election Day Nov. 2. That was the main point of the “One Nation Working Together” rally at the Lincoln Memorial Saturday organized by liberal groups.

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows the GOP edge in a generic poll asking which party should control Congress dropping from nine percentage points last month to just three points today. Gallup shows the generic poll essentially even, as does the POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll.

Meanwhile, there’s this:

“CNN has learned that Tom Donohue, the powerful president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who has vowed to spend more than $75 million on key House and Senate races, has privately told colleagues in recent weeks he believes Democrats will just barely hold on to the House majority,” writes CNN’s Ed Henry.

Why the shift (or at least the perception of shift)?

“The NBC/WSJ pollsters attribute the tightening to increased enthusiasm for the upcoming midterms by African Americans (who saw a six-point gain in high interest) and Hispanics (who saw an 11-point gain),” reports MSNBC deputy political director Mark Murray.

Still, it is the youngsters that need to be aroused if Democrats are to hold onto power, writes Murray: “Young voters, who helped fuel Obama’s presidential victory in 2008, are now sitting on the sidelines. Just 35 percent of those ages 18-34 are enthusiastic about the election in November, versus 65 percent of seniors who say that.”

That’s exactly the point that President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have been making lately.

“We have to get folks off the sidelines,” President Obama said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine. “People need to shake off this lethargy, people need to buck up.”

While the election is a month off on the calendar, in fact it’s already begun. People can already vote early in seven states. Two week from now, voters will be able to fill out their ballots in nearly half the country – 24 states.

Despite catching up in the “who should run Congress?” polls, there’s another reason for Democrats to be worried

“I hate to be a (Democratic) party pooper, but here’s the next piece of bad news,” writes Linda Hirshman at the Daily Beast. “Guess who’s not coming out to vote? White women. The enthusiasm among all women is down, but Gallup shows that white women are the least enthusiastic of all the major demographic groups.”

Time for Mr. Obama to turn on his legendary charm?

“Democrats still have a last-ditch chance to attract the crucial margin of white female voters,” writes Hirshman. “Since women poll as more concerned with children’s’ issues than men do, the recent activation of health care for children would be a good start.”

Well, maybe.

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