News & Brews October 30, 2024
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Pa. Dems ‘lean into abortion as closing message’
POLITICO reports that as Democrats seek to expand their razor-thin, one-vote majority in the Pa. state House, they are “hammering” the issue of abortion, “spending a record amount on abortion-focused campaign ads and knocking on thousands of doors making the [pro-abortion] case….” But a few weeks ago, Post-Gazette editorial writer Brandon McGinley wondered if Democrats are “overreaching” on the issue. He wrote, “The party’s single-minded focus on abortion, especially in Pennsylvania, feels more like desperation than confidence.” And, “As the issue becomes settled — almost always in favor of abortion rights — through state referenda and as the GOP distances itself from its traditional position, Democrats have had to reach further and further to articulate the stakes. In the Keystone State, that has meant breaking with reality, and the rule of law, altogether.”
Pa.’s voting law is back at the Supreme Court
It’s no badge of honor that six days before the presidential election, the voting scenario in Pennsylvania remains a mess. As the AP reports about confusion and chaos regarding our “clumsy early voting option” (which is basically early, in-person mail-ballot voting), the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board considers the latest Pa. mail-in voting case to land before the U.S. Supreme Court. This case considers whether voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected due to a mistake they made must be allowed to vote via provisional ballot. This is a good time to remember that the Legislature passed a bill to improve Pa. elections, but former Gov. Wolf vetoed it.
Catholic voters in Pa. ‘divided’ over presidential options
The AP reports that in the last presidential election, “27% of Pennsylvania voters identified as Catholic.” And while “there is no ‘Catholic vote’ as there might have been in past generations, when Catholics could be expected to support their own as a voting bloc, … there are Catholic voters — lots of them.” And they could “play a pivotal role in deciding the overall outcome” of the election.
‘Greedflation explained (or, rather, debunked)
As politicians like U.S. Sen. Bob Casey blame so-called “greedflation” for rising costs, Reason explains “the misuse of data behind” this “narrative.” Among the critical errors is the use of data from one year alone “to tell a misleading story.” Casey has a starring role in the piece.
TMI: ‘A test of nuclear power’s promise’
The New York Times has a long-form story on the plans to restart one of the nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island. The endeavor “is at the leading edge of efforts to greatly expand the country’s reliance on atomic fission to meet the growing power demands of homes, businesses and data centers.” The Times notes that the “proposed revival reflects how vastly the perspectives on nuclear power in the United States have shifted since a cooling failure led to the partial meltdown of one of the island’s reactors in 1979.”