Afternoon Coffee at the Last Manatee

++Bloomberg reports that the upswing in the economy in the swing states will benefit  Obama. Moody's predicts that Obama will beat Romney in the electoral vote 303 to Romney's 235. Of the swing states, Moody's predicts that Obama will win New Mexico, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia and Ohio. Romney will pick up Florida and North Carolina. If Obama won Florida, that would put him at 332. Moody says that Romney to have a chance would have to do a clean sweep of the swing states, which is improbable.


++So this means the range of poll-based electoral projects runs from 284 to 303. Not a bad place to start.


++President Obama has a 61 to 27 lead over Romney among Hispanic voters. Less than his amount in 2008 but Romney's is much lower than John McCain's vote. There is room for Obama to move here.


++David Stockman appeared on the Neil Cavuto show to opine that Bain did destroy jobs to maximize profit. This is not turning out to be a great story line for Willard Milton Romney.


++Romney said today that by the end of his first term he would have unemployment down to 6%. Since Obama has done the heavy lifting, elect me and I'll do the same and I would never strap a dog on top of a car. FYI--most economists believe that unemployment will be there then. The issue is whether it can get lower unless serious changes are made in our economy.


++Mitt Romney also told Congress not to do anything about the economy until he takes office. So we would have to wait about 10 months for anything to get done. That's the patriotic spirit!


++General Colin Powell said that Romney has to think about his foreign policy team. Powell laughed off the idea that Russia is our major geopolitical threat. He warned that many of Romney's advisers are on the extreme right and need watching. Powell slapped down Sean Hannity's statement that President Obama is the most divisive President in modern history. Powell said that none of the President's proposals are divisive and that Republicans should remember when they wished the President would fail and put as their number 1 goal to make President Obama a one-term President. Powell has been reticent to endorse Obama for a second-term. Stay tuned.


++Mitch McConnell said that Obama is waging a war against capitalism, which I guess goes parallel with his war against the Catholic Church. 


++Mitt Romney came out today for school vouchers because American students receive a third world education.


++The Housing market has finally turned upward, being the best in years.


++President Obama's great expenditure of government funs didn't really happen according to the Wall Street Journal. He only averages a 1.9 percent rise in government spending, the lowest of recent modern Presidents.


++Willard the liar cut a video ad of President Obama's answer to the questions about his Bain ads and manage to seriously distort the President's words through editing. So what else is new?