(CNN) -- It's simple, President Obama said. Rape is a crime, and politicians -- especially male politicians -- shouldn't be "making decisions about women's health care."

Appearing Wednesday on NBC's "Tonight" show, Obama responded to questions by host Jay Leno about a comment about rape by Indiana's GOP candidate for Senate, Richard Mourdock.
Pregnancies occurring after a rape, Mourdock said, were intended by God.

"I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas," Obama told Leno. "Let me make a very simple proposition: Rape is rape. It is a crime. And so these various distinctions about rape don't make too much sense to me -- don't make any sense to me."
Mourdock has apologized for offending anyone. But his words have fueled the national fight to gain women voters in a very close presidential election.
Uproar over Mourdock abortion remarks Santorum defends Mourdock rape comments DNC chair: Women should be concerned Obama: 'Rape is rape'
During his chat with Leno, Obama used the Mourdock controversy to say that the next president likely would appoint a new Supreme Court justice who could potentially change federal abortion laws.
Obama's GOP presidential rival, Mitt Romney, has said he would appoint justices who would support overturning Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 court decision affirming a woman's right to have an abortion.
"Roe vs. Wade is probably hanging in the balance," Obama said.
"Women are capable of making these decisions in consultation with their partners, with their doctors," said the president. "And for politicians to want to intrude in this stuff often times without any information is a huge problem."

Reaction within Mourdock's own party has been deafening. Romney had endorsed him in a TV ad before the controversy. Afterward, Romney said through a campaign spokeswoman that he did not agree with Mourdock's comments, but the ad would continue to run.
Other powerful Republicans distancing themselves from Mourdock include 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a top GOP Senate fundraiser.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, canceled plans to campaign with Mourdock on Wednesday. And in a sharp rebuke, a fellow Republican running for Indiana's governor seat, former Rep. Mike Pence, issued a statement saying, "I strongly disagree with the statement made by Richard Mourdock during last night's Senate debate. I urge him to apologize."

Mourdock said Wednesday he's sorry for any offense, but Democrats have twisted his comments for "political gain." The whole controversy, he said, exemplifies "what's wrong with Washington these days."
I absolutely abhor any kind of sexual violence. I abhor rape.
Richard Mourdock, GOP U.S. Senate candidate
"I spoke from my heart; I spoke with my principle; I spoke from my faith," Mourdock said.

A senior Republican strategist said Mourdock may not face as much push-back from GOP leaders for two reasons: Republicans very much want to hold on to that Indiana Senate seat. That -- with less than two weeks remaining before Election Day.

Here are Mourdock's comments saying he supports banning abortions in cases of rape, word-for-word:

"I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is a gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen," said Mourdock, who now serves as Indiana's state treasurer. He also said he would allow for exceptions to an abortion ban when a mother's life was in danger.
On Wednesday, Mourdock tried to clarify his comments, saying, "I absolutely abhor violence. I absolutely abhor any kind of sexual violence. I abhor rape, and I am absolutely confident that, as I stand here, the God that I worship abhors violence, abhors sexual violence and abhors rape. The God that I worship would never, ever want to see evil done."

Sounds familiar
It's not the first time rape and abortion have dominated the campaign.
In August, Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, who's also a Republican running for Senate, ignited a firestorm when he said "legitimate rape" rarely resulted in pregnancy.
And last week, GOP Rep. Joe Walsh, who's running for re-election in Illinois, questioned the necessity of allowing abortions if a mother's life is at risk. He said such an exemption to an abortion ban was simply a political tool used by pro-choice activists.
Doctors strongly disputed Rep. Walsh¹s contention that doctors rarely, if ever, perform abortions to save the life of the mother.
McCain, R-Arizona, told CNN on Wednesday that his support for Mourdock was dependent on an apology. "It depends on what he does," McCain said on "Anderson Cooper 360."
Thursday, after hearing of Mourdock's apology, McCain said that he "is glad" Mourdock apologized and "hopes the people of Indiana will elect Mr. Mourdock."
Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum offered words of support for Mourdock Wednesday -- accusing opponents of "gotcha politics."
Mourdock's comments resulted in a misunderstanding, Santorum told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront"
"What the Senate candidate said is the child is a gift from God, whether it's conceived from rape or not, it's still -- the gift of human life is a gift from God," Santorum explained. "He didn't say rape was a gift from God. You'd have to contort words beyond meaning to get that understanding of it."
It was "gotcha politics," Santorum said, because Mourdock was "talking about the baby in the womb as something that is precious," even though it was conceived through "horrible circumstances."
The whole thing is "outrageous" and "demeaning to women," said Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a statement.
Party leaders called on Romney to stop airing his TV ad endorsing Mourdock.
"As Mourdock's most prominent booster and star of Mourdock's current campaign ads, Mitt Romney should denounce these comments more strongly than he has," DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said. "He should go further and demand that the ad featuring him speaking directly to the camera on Mourdock's behalf be taken off the air, and Mitt Romney should withdraw his endorsement of Mourdock immediately."
CNN's Kevin Liptak, and Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.

Detroit judge who sent photo upsetting to bailiff's husband censured

DETROIT -- Third Circuit Court Judge Wade McCree sent a naked picture of himself to a female court bailiff. Apparently she didn't mind, but her husband did, so he gave it to us and we gave it to you and now the Michigan Supreme Court has given it back to Judge McCree, publicly censuring him Wednesday for judicial misconduct.

"It's very rare for a judge to get a slap on the wrist like this unless the judge did something really bad on the bench. So for the Supreme Court to look at this, to review this, and for the judge to agree with it, it's pretty bad," said FOX 2 legal analyst Charlie Langton.

"A judge has to set the example for others to follow. I mean, judges are held to a higher standard. There's integrity in the system of being a judge and this guy didn't do it."

Judge McCree wouldn't come out of his chambers for an interview, but here are a few of the court's findings. During an interview with yours truly, McCree "conducted himself in a flippant manner and did not give the interview the seriousness he should have. As a result, he brought shame and obloquy to the judiciary. For example, when discussing the digital image of himself, he said, 'There is no shame in my game.'"

The Supreme Court also found that the interview and the digital image spread rapidly around the internet and became the subject of jokes and ridicule.

McCree's lawyer told me that, in the end, the judge was guilty of giving a bad interview, that McCree should have acted "more judgey".

The Supreme Court also wrote in its decision that McCree's female bailiff kept his naked picture as motivation to remind her to exercise and eat right. I spoke to the female bailiff's husband and he says all it did was wreck their marriage.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19902372/judge

* No state has renewable energy mandate in constitution

* Jobs central to both sides of ballot initiative

* Proponents say 94,000 jobs to be created

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - In less than two weeks, Michigan voters will decide on a hotly contested ballot initiative on whether the state should become the first in the country to enshrine a renewable energy mandate in its constitution, a move that backers say could put clean energy in the national spotlight.

The measure, known as proposal 3, would require that one-quarter of the electricity produced in the state to come from renewable energy sources by 2025.

Michigan, a battle ground state in the U.S. presidential election, is already halfway to meeting its current mandate, passed in 2008 by the state legislature, to produce 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro and biomass by 2015.

Thirty states, including Michigan, have a renewable electricity standard in place but if the proposed amendment passes it would be the first time a renewable energy standard would appear in the constitution, making it difficult to strike down or alter.

Proponents of the proposal have said taking the approach of including a renewable energy mandate in the constitution was necessary to ensure that popular support for green energy is not overshadowed by what they see as special interests in the state government.

"I see this as absolutely important part of the democratic process. It places checks and balances against legislature, which is unwilling to act," said Sam Gomberg, a Chicago-based energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

Gomberg said one year ago, a number of Michigan-based environmental and labor groups talked about extending the state's current renewable energy standard (RES) by 15 years but met strong resistance from utilities.

Instead of floating the expansion of the RES as a statutory initiative on Election Day ballots, proponents introduced it as a constitutional amendment, preventing state lawmakers from drafting competing and contrasting ballot initiatives.

MEDIA BLITZ

Support for the amendment has been split, prompting the coalition of opposing utilities and business groups called Clean Affordable Renewable Energy to pump $10 million into television advertising to sway voters ahead of the Nov. 6 vote.

The group argues that the measure will cost Michigan taxpayers anywhere from $12 billion to $15 billion largely from higher energy costs and argued the state already has an effective mandate in place.

Amendment backers, which include green group the Sierra Club and the United Auto Workers, say the renewable energy mandate will create 94,000 jobs in the hard-hit manufacturing state and stimulate $10.3 billion in investment.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder said while he supports renewable energy, he opposes the ballot initiative because the current RES is already difficult to meet.

The governor's energy advisor, Valerie Braden, said the state's constitution is a "bad place to put energy policy," especially one that rigidly defines renewable energy sources.

Braden said the language of the proposal does not include, for example, energy efficiency, which she said could be a key component of driving energy production while curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

She also said the governor thinks the amendment would harm both large and small utilities, and force the addition of new generating capacity in a state that has seen production and population decline in a weakened economy.

"There is now 10 percent less people and 10 percent more energy. Do we need another 15 percent even if it isn't driving costs?" she said, citing forecasts for lower demand for investor-owned utility Detroit Edison.

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

For both sides of the debate, the impact the amendment would have on jobs in a state hit hard by manufacturing job losses has formed the central part of their arguments.

Mark Fisk, the spokesman for the Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs coalition of amendment supporters, said the amendment will give Michigan its best job-creating opportunity in a while.

"If the proposition fails, those jobs will go to other states and other countries," he said.

"We believe that Michigan should become a leader in the clean energy industry with our manufacturing history and know-how. If we don't other states and other countries will be glad to take those jobs and companies."

Jeff Holyfield, a spokesman for investor-owned Consumers Energy, said expanding the RES does not ensure job creation and that Michigan voters should be wary of job creation promises after a slate of recent high-profile job cuts.

Consumers Energy parent CMS Energy and DTE Energy, parent of Detroit Edison, have spent $6.4 million to topple the amendment.

Holyfield cited solar manufacturer Uni-Solar, which had to suspend manufacturing in Greenville, Michigan, and put 400 employees on furlough last year, as well as bankrupt electric car battery maker A123, which laid off Michigan employees last fall.

"Any consideration of expanding the RES should wait until after 2015 and then we can evaluate it," he said, adding that the state should focus ensuring stable baseload electricity capacity from natural gas rather than renewables, which supplies intermittent power.

Holyfield said the vote has less to do with not liking renewable energy and more to do with protecting customers from being locked into a law.

"One of the things that people don't understand is if you have a law and its not working - you can fix it with the governors' office.

"But if you want to change something in the constitution, you will have to collect signatures."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/michigan-clean-energy-mandate_n_2007350.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit&ir=Detroit

ARLINGTON, VA – (WWJ) New evidence that child booster seats are getting better. Fifteen of 17 seats tested this year are winning the top “Best Bet” designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“Booster manufacturers have risen to the Institute’s challenge to improve seat design, giving parents more choices than ever when shopping for a booster that will provide a good, safe fit for their children,” says Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research.

Booster seats are used by children who are too old to be in regular car safety seats, but are too small for conventional lap belts. Generally speaking, that means four to eight year old.

The Institute now has 47 models that are “Best Bets.” That means there are more booster seats in that category than any other. That’s the first time we’ve seen this since the Insurance Institute started testing booster seats in 2008.

Safety experts say parents should make sure the lap belt lies flat across the child’s upper thigh, and that the shoulder belt crosses snugly over the middle of the shoulder.

read more 

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/25/better-booster-seats-saving-young-lives/

In his first policy speech since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan said he and Mitt Romney will restore upward mobility and fight poverty in part by limiting the federal government's commitment to safety net programs.

"Upward mobility is the central promise of life in America," Ryan said. "But right now, America’s engines of upward mobility aren't working the way they should. Mitt Romney and I are running because we believe that Americans are better off in a dynamic, free-enterprise-based economy that fosters economic growth, opportunity and upward mobility instead of a stagnant, government-directed economy that stifles job creation and fosters government dependency."

Ryan noted that Americans born into poor families are more likely to stay poor as adults than Americans born into wealthy families.

A Romney administration, Ryan said, would help restore mobility by turning the open-ended commitments of federal anti-poverty programs into "block grants" -- fixed chunks of money the federal government sends to states each year regardless of the amount of need. States, in turn, get more leeway to design their own programs.

"The federal government would continue to provide the resources, but we would remove the endless federal mandates and restrictions that hamper state efforts to make these programs more effective," Ryan said. "If the question is what's best for low-income Ohioans, shouldn’t we let Ohioans make that call?"

That's how a Republican Congress and Democratic President Bill Clinton reformed welfare in 1996, resulting, Ryan said, in reduced child poverty and increased employment among single mothers. (The success of the reform, however, is debatable; the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, for instance, has found that caseloads have declined as the number of families with children in poverty has increased.)

As a congressman, Ryan has authored several proposals to slash spending on programs for poor people by turning them into block grants. According to an analysis by the centrist Urban Institute, Ryan's proposal to repeal health care reform and block grant Medicaid, which provides health insurance to people below near-poverty income levels, would reduce federal spending by $1.7 trillion and Medicaid enrollment by 50 percent, resulting in a loss of insurance for 35.7 million Americans.

Ryan also proposed dramatic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps, in place of looming cuts to defense spending. (During the third presidential debate on Monday, Romney said he did not support cutting food stamps.)

Part of the problem with programs that haven't received the block grant treatment, Ryan said, is that they perpetuate "government dependency." But he also said government spending itself is a threat to people who rely on safety net programs for food and health care.

"When government’s own finances collapse, society's most vulnerable are the first victims, as we are seeing right now in the troubled welfare states of Europe," he said. "Many there feel that they have nowhere to turn for help, and we must never let that happen in America."

Ryan also said government spending discourages people from giving to charity. "Debt on this scale is destructive in so many ways, and one of them is that it crowds out civil society by drawing resources away from private giving."

Economists at the St. Louis Federal Reserve found in 2009 that increased government spending can have a limited negative effect on charitable donations, but also that growth in charitable giving had paralleled growth in government spending over the past 40 years.

A Romney administration, Ryan said, would seek balance between "allowing government to act for the common good, while leaving private groups free to do the work that only they can do."

To Americans who feel left out of America's promise, Ryan said, "I ask you to support our campaign, because our cause is yours, and yours is ours, and together we can achieve great things."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/paul-ryan-poverty-speech_n_2010827.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

More than 400 volunteers will come together to help secure Cody Rouge neighborhood

On Saturday, October 27, 2012, The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, the City o f Detroit, Mayor Bing’s office, the Detroit Media Partnership, Mitch Albom’s A Time to Help charity, and Detroit Public Schools will work together to board up 150 houses on Detroit’s west side.

The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, which successfully conducted its first 100 Houses project in August with Mitch Albom’s A Time to Help Charity and Mayor Bing’s office, was approached by the Detroit Media Partnership and asked to help conduct another project on Make a Difference Day.

“Part of DRMM’s mission is to help rebuild the city of Detroit, and the 100 Houses project aims to do just that,” said Rachael Williams, Director of Volunteer Services for the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries. “We were happy to join forces to conduct another project. We truly believe that the city of Detroit can be rebuilt, one neighborhood at a time; one life at a time.”

The project, which carries the same 100 Houses title and logo, aims to help clean up a neighborhood and make the streets safer for Detroit’s youth. With the help of Detroit Public Schools, the project has been able to target neighborhoods near schools, or areas where foot traffic from schools is highest. 

"Safety is one of the biggest concerns for our students and their families, and we know that not having a safe route to school can be a major barrier to improving student achievement," said Emergency Financial Manager Roy S. Roberts. “This is why we are so grateful for the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, the City of Detroit, Mayor Bing’s office, the Detroit Media Partnership and Mitch Albom’s A Time to Help charity for creating the 100 houses. We can't thank everyone enough for truly making a difference in the lives of our students." 

In addition to securing the safety of neighborhoods, the 100 Houses project is an attempt to unite a community through volunteer efforts while assisting the City of Detroit and the Mayor’s office. More than 500 volunteers are expected to come out for the project on Oct. 27.

Funding for the project on Oct. 27 is championed by Rock Ventures, LLC, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, The Gannett Foundation, Carhartt, and Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries.

Abandoned homes have plagued the City of Detroit for quite some time; they are frequently used as refuge by drug dealers, prostitutes, and people seeking shelter, hiding or a place to use drugs, creating potential danger for any passersby.

The 100 Houses project is an attempt to combat this issue.

Volunteers will begin mobilizing at 9:30 a.m. in the gymnasium at the CodyHigh Schoolcampus, which is the home of three new DPS Detroit Rising Self-Governing Schools. The campus is located at 18445 Cathedral Street, Detroit, MI 48228. The goal is to have the 150 Houses boarded up by 3 p.m. 

Several local companies have joined the project, including Rock Ventures, LLC, Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Carhartt, Belfor, a property restoration company headquartered in Livonia, Mosher and Associates in Birmingham, Blight Busters of Detroit, Re-Construction, Inc. in Detroit, Tamer Plumbing, Home Depot, McDonald’s, Carter’s Landscaping, Starbucks, and Shield’s Pizza. 

Special thanks to United Way, Oakland University, College for Creative Studies, Arise Detroit, and The Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance.

For more information about the 100 Houses project or the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, contact 313-993-4700 or go online at www.drmm.org.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was a hit at the Democratic National Convention in September with a spirited speech that defended the party’s principles. In a recent trip back to Charlotte to campaign for the president, he continued his attack on Mitt Romney as someone who, while a “very, very skilled campaigner,” cut funding for education and “stymied innovation” when he held Patrick’s job.

A future presidential prospect? The rapt volunteers at an Obama campaign office thought so, as they happily imagined Patrick on the 2016 ticket.

With his place in the pipeline that leads to national office, the only sitting black governor in the country is a standout. But he also stands alone. Four years after Barack Obama’s historic election as the nation’s first black president, there are fewer African-Americans in the U.S. Senate and governor’s offices across the country than at the time of his 2009 inauguration, when, in addition to Patrick, David Paterson held the New York governorship and Roland Burris replaced Obama, representing Illinois in the Senate. And no African-American from either party is likely to win a U.S. Senate or governor’s seat on Nov. 6, as the only two black nominees for those offices are long-shot Republican candidates in Maryland and Vermont.

Though the history before then had been bleak (only two blacks have ever been elected governor of a state), there was perhaps a hope, even an expectation that others would walk through the door President Obama opened, that a group that makes up over 12 percent of the population would be more visibly represented in the nation’s highest political offices. Instead, the last four years have seen Burris, Alabama’s Artur Davis and other politicians largely unable to follow Obama’s example.

“As much as President Obama brought in a wave of acknowledgement, I don’t think it radically shook the deck up so much in politics,” said Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, a 41-year-old who is considered a potential candidate for one of these offices in the future.

He said that talented state legislators and local elected officials “comprise a very deep and wide bench,” but the president’s 2008 success “doesn’t necessarily mean that that changes the occasion for everyone downstream.” Foxx said work has to be done by individual candidates to establish records of accomplishments.

“If the presidential election in 2008 meant anything, it meant that the package you come in matters a whole lot less than what you have to offer,” he added.

So did Barack Obama’s election make a difference? “Symbolically transformational, possibly,” said LaTonya M. Williams, assistant professor at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte. “Substantively, I think the jury is still out.”

Williams named California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, all Democrats, as minority politicians with a level of national visibility. And there are 43 blacks in the U.S. House, a number that could grow after the election.

She also noted that the GOP, though unsuccessful at attracting minority votes, has developed a “farm team” of prominent minority elected officials ready to move up, including U.S. Congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is black, and Latino governors Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, all elected with broad support of whites in their states.

Despite their comments, Williams, Foxx and others are not discouraged about the situation. They argued that many of the officials who Obama may have inspired are still very young and perhaps not ready to seek major offices yet.

“It’s not getting harder to run in certain states simply because one is African-American,” said Harvey Gantt, who was Charlotte’s first black mayor and ran twice unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat. “It may be getting easier to do it because people’s attitude may be changing.”

He added, noting Obama’s success, “If we’ve been able to attain the highest office, all the other offices are in play, but it takes imagination.”

And Gantt said changing demographics in states like North Carolina could help black candidates.

“You’ve got to imagine a situation as I thought I was imagining in North Carolina, where if 20 percent of the population is African-American and they all vote, then you only need a certain percentage of white votes, maybe 35, 36, 37 percent. … As the Hispanic population grows, as the Asian population grows, you may be seeing some different kinds of calculus,” he said.

The man Gantt names as one of the next generation poised to ascend politically is Foxx.

“I ran for an office in 2009 that had not been occupied by a Democrat in over 20 years, where as an African-American, some may have questioned my electability and in fact some did,” Foxx said with a laugh. “So I do think that the very fact that I’m the mayor of Charlotte [a city that is 35 percent African-American] is an indication that there has been progress.”

He added, “I do think that whatever glass ceiling there was out there has been lifted and people who feel they are qualified and have something to offer are going to run, and they’re going to have racial diversity and a lot of other types of diversity.”

http://thegrio.com/2012/10/25/four-years-after-obamas-breakthrough-few-black-pols-on-the-ballot-for-major-offices/

(CNN) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday he's endorsing President Barack Obama for a second time.

"I voted for him in 2008, and I plan to stick with him in 2012," Powell said on CBS' "This Morning." "And I'll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month."

Powell made headlines when the former George W. Bush administration official, who also worked for President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, crossed party lines and supported Obama last cycle.

The Republican said he believes the economy is "starting to pick up" and attributed the recovery to the president's polices, citing specifically the auto industry bailout and Obama's economic proposals. "Generally we've come out of the dive and we're starting to gain altitude," he said.

Powell added he was "uncomfortable" with Mitt Romney's tax plans and views on foreign policy. Pointing to Monday night's final presidential debate, Powell argued the GOP nominee had changed his positions on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The former secretary of state said he was concerned with the advice Romney was getting from campaign staff members.

"I think there are some very, very strong neo-conservative views that are presented by the governor that I have some trouble with," Powell said, though he did not elaborate on which views.

"I also saw the president get us out of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars," he said.

Powell added he was pleased with the Obama administration's views on climate change, health care, immigration and education. As for the rising federal debt, he faulted Congress for failing to reach a "grand bargain" on a deficit-reduction plan.

"This is work the Congress is supposed to be doing," he said. "Why can't they up on the Hill start talking to one another, reach across the aisle? But it will take great presidential leadership."

Asked if he was still a Republican, Powell said he still claimed the GOP as his political home. "Yes I think I'm a Republican of a more moderate mold, and that's something of a dying breed, I'm sorry to say."

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DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Tiger fans are in the doldrums Thursday morning after their team got pummeled 8-3 Wednesday night in San Francisco in the first game of the World Series.

WWJ’s Sandra McNeill was with the crowd at Herman’s Old Towne Bar and Grill in Plymouth where the rough night sent many Tiger fans home early.

Chris Miller of Plymouth was one of those headed to the exits.

“I’m leaving because of the score. It’s been a pretty terrible game. Someone allows three home runs with three at bats is pretty bad,” he said.

Miller is talking about the night for Giants’ Pablo Sandoval, who is only the fourth slugger ever to hit three home runs in the Fall Classic. He now keeps company with the likes of Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth and Albert Pujols.

The fact that Sandoval scored two of those runs on Tigers ace Justin Verlander adds insult to injury for several fans.

“This is a surprise. Verlander has been so hot. The last seven games, we won each and every one of those seven games. He’s just the best pitcher of my life time and it’s hard to see that he’s human,” said Frank Neijeo.

Mike Nittius couldn’t help but agree.

“I’m pretty disappointed. It’s rough to see Verlander come out and have a bad start. Our pitching really relies on our starters and when one of them comes out and just gets rocked like this, it doesn’t helpour cause,” he said.

Michael Ziolkowski is concerned at how confident the Giants’ hitters seem against the Tigers’ pitchers

“It’s like the curse of ’06 again, that we had this long break after sweeping the Yankees and we’re just not as sharp as we would have been otherwise. But I don’t know, maybe we’ll shake this off and come out swinging,” he said.

Other fans are trying to be optimistic, too, and leave the loss behind.

“You know, it’s just game one. It will be alright. There’s still plenty more games left to go,” said Dean Kowalski.

“Yeah, I feel like we’ve got a great chance, you know, we’re still ready to go, they’ll shake it off and tie it up in game two,” said Bobby McManman.

The Tigers play again Thursday night in San Francisco.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/10/25/tigers-fans-down-in-the-dumps-after-game-1-loss/

With polls showing effectively a tied race, here are the big keys for the two candidates in the last 13 days of the presidential race.

Obama

1. Talk about abortion and contraception-White women are the swing voters of this election. Minority voters of both genders heavily favor the president (he is carrying about 80 percent of the non-white vote), while polls show Obama could end up with much less than the 41 percent among white males he won in 2008.

Expect the president to make numerous references to abortion in the next few days. (He already is running ads in key swing states on the subject.) Most women support abortion rights, and it’s an issue on which Obama can cast his opponent as untrustworthy (Romney supported abortion rights as a candidate in Massachusetts) and out of step with the broader electorate. The president’s comment in Monday’s debate about how Romney is interested in bringing back the “social policy of the 1950′s” was a reference in part to abortion. And the Obama campaign has seized on comments by Richard Mourdock, the GOP U.S. Senate candidate in Indiana, who said women who become pregnant because of rape should not be able to get abortions because the pregnancies are “something that God intended to happen.”

Obama is unlikely to outright “win” the white female vote, as he carried only 46 percent of it in 2008, compared to John McCain’s 53 percent. But a repeat of that narrow margin would strengthen the president’s chances greatly.

2. Ohio, Ohio, Ohio-It’s almost impossible for either candidate to win without carrying this state. Obama has kept his lead there in polls even amidst Romney’s surge this month, and the president is likely to be here almost every other day through Election Day.

3. Inspire voters under 30 and Latinos-In 2008, Obama won the youth vote by 34 points, while John Kerry had only won that segment of the electorate by 9 points in 2004. Kerry won Latinos by nine in 2004, while Obama won that bloc by 36 points four years later.

Black voters aren’t really in doubt. Polls show they are very enthusiastic about Obama and will turn out in big numbers for him. But surveys have suggested that Latinos are very anti-Romney, but not as excited to vote, and young voters are slightly more positive about Romney than they were McCain. (A Harvard University poll earlier this month showed Obama leads young voters by 19 points, a big gap, but not as large as in 2008.)

Romney

1. Steer the election away from social issues-Romney’s positions on gay marriage, abortion and immigration are backed by the GOP base, but highly unpopular outside of it. In particular, he could lose young voters on gay marriage, women on abortion and Latinos on immigration.

Essentially, Romney has to hope women and young voters decide to vote on the economy, and that some Latinos stay home. He must quickly distance himself from the comments of Mourdock and other Republicans who oppose abortion even in cases of rape and incest.

2. Win Ohio

3. Convince voters he can fix the economy -In truth, presidents have little power over the American economy. And non-partisan analysts are particularly dubious about Romney’s five-point plan to create 12 million jobs in his first term. (Many of the ideas would create few jobs, and the economy could create 12 million jobs if you or I were president but growth in the private sector took off as in the 1990′s.) But if Romney’s most obvious path to victory is keeping the election about the economy.