Crowds swell as Ramdev comes to Team Anna's fast site

New Delhi, July 27 (IANS) There were thin crowds at the venue as Team Anna's fast at Jantar Mantar entered its third day Friday but the scene changed dramatically after yoga guru Baba Ramdev joined in with a huge group of supporters.
The empty areas of the stand at Jantar Mantar overflowed with people as Ramdev arrived at around 4 p.m. after inspecting the Ramlila ground - the site for his agitation starting Aug 9 - and vowed support to Team Anna's protest action.
"We will support whoever fights against corruption. This fight is to protect the country," he said.
His comments come on the same day when he slammed Team Anna for attacking President Pranab Mukherjee.
"President is a constitutional post. One should not criticise those who occupy constitutional posts. Even Anna Hazare agrees with this," Ramdev told reporters in Ramlila ground earlier Friday.
"The person who is sitting at the highest office of constitution, one should not make comment about him... In present circumstances, one should not name Pranab Mukherjee. Whatever is there, can be seen after five years," he said.

                    Ramdev will be starting an indefinite fast against black money Aug 9.

Before Ramdev's arrival at Jantar Mantar, there were only about 400 people at noon, contrary to the thousands that had turned out at Team Anna's earlier agitations in Delhi.
Anna Hazare, however, said that the size of the crowd did not matter.
"It is not by gathering a crowd that a movement becomes stronger. The success and failure of a movement does not depend on the size of the crowd," he said at Jantar Mantar.
Asked about the health of fasting team member Arvind Kejriwal, Hazare said it was not a matter of concern.
Referring to the future of the movement, he said: "We have nothing to do with whether the government agrees or not (to the Lokpal bill). We have to just do our duty for the benefit of the country and society. Even if the government does not agree, our movement will go on."
But he also said he was hopeful that the Lokpal bill will be passed sooner or later.
"They (the government) have not come from England or Pakistan. They are our own people. And if they do not think about the country and people, then who is to be blamed? Don't they think about it? The people of the country have selected you. Is it not their duty (to pass the Lokpal bill)?"
Team Anna member Kiran Bedi was not present Friday. "Today in Pune for two prior committed speaking engagements. Perhaps a bit of a break of a different kind," she tweeted.
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Drops of benevolence turn into ocean of charity (Himachal Pradesh Newsletter)

Shimla, July 13 (IANS) Small acts of benevolence have turned into an ocean of charity in Himachal Pradesh.
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal's request to people to contribute generously towards the Chief Minister's Relief Fund instead of buying bouquets and garlands to welcome him at functions has apparently paid off.
From contributions as little as Rs.11 coming from individual donors to a few lakhs from corporate houses, the relief fund which has so far helped over 12,000 people has swelled to Rs.24 crore after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government assumed power in the state in 2008.
A government spokesperson said in the past four and a half years, the chief minister has sanctioned over Rs.23 crore to the poor and needy.
"A majority of the recipients included those who were in dire need of money for (medical) treatment or higher studies," he added.
The chief minister said on an average "we are daily sanctioning Rs.500,000 to Rs.700,000 from the relief fund".

"Now it has become a movement of sorts. Wherever I go, be it a public function or an official engagement, I ask people not to present bouquets, shawls, caps or other mementoes to me and instead contribute towards the relief fund. The people are following this," Dhumal told IANS.

He said he feels elated when people give him money for the relief fund in envelopes at public meetings. "The envelopes contain any amount ranging from Rs.11 to Rs.101, I treat every donation as a goodwill gesture."
The chief minister's office has sanctioned Rs.10 lakh from the relief fund to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla for the poor patients to be treated on priority in a medical emergency.
"A case is decided on the basis of its merit and the doctors on their own sanction the amount. Later, the permission from the chief minister's office is taken," a government official said.
The state public relations department has come out with a 25-minute documentary on the optimum utilisation of the relief fund for public welfare.
The documentary, screened for the media this week, featured interviews with beneficiaries.
There were some heart-warming stories.
Four years ago, Seema Sood, a gold medalist from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, sought permission from the president to be allowed to die after being bedridden with rheumatoid arthiritis.
She got financial assistance from the state for her treatment in a private hospital. Now, she can move with a walker, and more than that - she has a will to live on.
"I got in touch with Seema's family when I came to know about her plight. Initially, Rs.100,000 was released from the relief fund. However she needed more money and we decided to bear the entire treatment expenses of over Rs.800,000 at the Fortis hospital in Mohali," Dhumal said.
There are thousands of other beneficiaries, most of them girls and women, who received help from the relief fund.
"I have a heart problem. The chief minister has sanctioned Rs.50,000 for my treatment. I will be fine soon," said Sangya, a primary school student.
Apart from Seema and Sangya, there were interviews with 25 people. They included meritorious students who needed funds for higher studies.
Dhumal Wednesday sanctioned Rs.500,000 for the treatment of Sunita Kumari, who is from a small village in Kangra district. She suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and is undergoing treatment at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.
Public Relations Director B.D. Sharma said the documentary would be screened in villages across the state.
"It will not only motivate the people to donate liberally for the relief fund but also raise awareness about how to proceed to get benefits from it," he added.
BJP legislator Tejwant Negi sold his collection of over 600 Himachali caps to raise Rs.81,000 for the fund in 2009.
Most of the caps were presented to him at various social functions.
Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd., Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Bank, infrastructure group Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. and hydropower major Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd. are among the major corporate contributors to the relief fund.
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Is Mitt Romney Blowing It Against Barack Obama?

The editorial board of Wall Street Journal slammed Mitt Romney Thursday accusing him of squandering an opportunity to attack President Obama. The editorial chastised the former Massachusetts governor and his advisers for mishandling the Supreme Court's ruling on Obama's Affordable Care Act, which upheld the healthcare law's controversial provision requiring all Americans buy health insurance on the grounds that it is a tax.

Obama has insisted that it is a mandate (it is known as the "individual mandate") and Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told MSNBC's Chuck Todd that the former Massachusetts government agreed with the president that people paying the government for not having insurance should be characterized as paying a penalty, not a tax. (Mitt Romney enacted a similar healthcare policy in his state before becoming a critic of "Obamacare" on the campaign trail.) Fehrnstrom's assessment of the law was confirmed by Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul. However, Romney himself then said it was indeed a tax, but failed to elaborate on the distinction.

The Wall Street Journal said, despite Romney's switch on the issue, not initially calling the mandate a tax cost the Romney campaign a key criticism that Obama was raising taxes on the middle class
The tax/mandate fumble, said the Wall Street Journal, points to a larger issue in the campaign, which "looks confused in addition to being politically dumb." The editorial said that the campaign must provide "a larger economic narrative and vision than Mr. Romney has so far provided," and that Romney's experience as businessman is not alone strong enough to take him to the White House. "Mr. Romney promised Republicans he was the best man to make the case against President Obama, whom they desperately want to defeat. So far Mr. Romney is letting them down," the editorial concludes. Is Romney blowing it? Here is the Debate Club's take: More USA NEWS

 

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Assad says Turkey party to bloodshed in Syria: paper

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has made Turkey a party to Syria's bloodshed by interfering in Damascus's internal affairs and by giving logistical support to the rebels, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told a Turkish newspaper.

Assad also accused the Turkish leader of being "two-faced" by pursuing a sectarian agenda in the region and trying to persuade Damascus to introduce political reforms while ignoring the killings and democratic shortfalls in Gulf Arab states.

"With his desire from the beginning to interfere in our internal affairs, unfortunately, in the subsequent period he has made Turkey a party to all the bloody acts in Syria," the Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying.

"Turkey has given all kinds of logistical support to the terrorists killing our people," Assad said in the second part of an interview published on Wednesday.

In the first part published on Tuesday, Assad said he wished his forces had not shot down a Turkish jet last month, repeating Syria's official position that it did not know the plane's identity when it was brought down.

Speaking to another Turkish newspaper, Vatan, on his way back from Egypt on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu dismissed Assad's comments as lies and said he did not believe the Syrian leader had any such regrets.

While the West still largely shunned Syria, Turkey cultivated close ties with its southern neighbor over the past decade. Erdogan even addressed Assad in Damascus as "my brother" and the two were even photographed meeting up during holidays.

But as Syria's president continued to ignore Turkish calls for restraint in dealing with an uprising against his government and pressed his attacks on protesters, the two leaders fell out and the diplomatic tension took on a personal dimension.

HARSH CRITICISM

Erdogan has since called for the authoritarian Assad - in power since 2000 - to step down and has compared his crackdown on opponents with the practices of Nazi Germany - some of the strongest words of any major leader on Syria.

Turkey now hosts rebels from the Free Syrian Army fighting Assad's security forces, allowing them to cross over the border freely and giving the logistical support. But Ankara denies it is arming the rebels.
There are also more than 35,000 Syrian refugees living in camps in Turkey along the 900-km (560-mile)-long Syrian border.

Asked about the political reforms Erdogan wanted Damascus to implement, Assad said he had already started to introduce changes days after the protests first started and said the Turkish leader was displaying "double standards".

"If you go and ask Erdogan now, again he will say 'reform'. However, if he was sincere he would have said the things he is saying now during our meetings in 2004. Now he is talking about all these reforms," Assad told Cumhuriyet.

"There is a double standard here, a two-facedness."

Assad said Erdogan was pursuing a sectarian agenda in the Middle East. Turkey is a majority Sunni Muslim secular democracy and the Syrian rebels are also mainly Sunnis while Assad and his power structure are minority Alawites, related to Shi'ite Islam.

The Syrian president added that the whole Arab world had changed its view of the Turkish prime minister and were questioning his reliability.

"For example, by crying for the Syrian people in a two-faced manner, why isn't he also crying for those dying in the Gulf countries? Why isn't he interfering in those countries' problems with democracy?" Assad said.

A third part of the interview will be published in Cumhuriyet on Thursday.

(Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Jon Hemming and Mark Heinrich)

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Roberts' Switch on Health Care Signals a Leaky Supreme Court

In the third and least covered branch of government, secrecy is a hallmark. Supreme Court justices rarely explain how they arrive at their votes, and when they do, it's usually long after they've left the bench, or even in papers released after they've died.

In the case of the Roberts court, that precedent might be broken.

Not four days after the court handed down its decision upholding President Obama's health care law — a case that falls into the "monumental" category even by Supreme Court standards — the decision-making process of John Roberts, the chief justice who cast the deciding vote, has spilled into the public arena.

Roberts, according to a CBS News report confirming scholars' suspicions, originally sided with the four justices who thought the individual mandate was unconstitutional, then changed his mind and wrote the majority opinion for the liberals who wanted the law to stand. And even as he signaled he was siding with the left side of the bench, the justice who was thought to be the swing vote, Anthony Kennedy, lobbied Roberts intensely but to no avail.

"This is extraordinary," said Vikram Amar, an associate dean at the University of California-Davis law school who was previously a clerk at the Supreme Court.

In 2004, a half-million papers from Justice Harry Blackmun were made public, detailing the judge's personal journey in the high court and particularly his role in writing the opinion in the landmark Roe v. Wade case that made abortion legal. Blackmun, who died in 1999, gave the documents to the Library of Congress after he retired in 1994, and asked that they not be released until five years after his death.

Their contents were remarkable. Perhaps the most revelatory letter also involves Kennedy, who wrote Blackmun previewing "welcome news" in 1992 as the court considered abortion again in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The news was that three justices appointed by Republicans had agreed to keep abortions legal; after Kennedy told Blackmun in person, the justice who had built his judicial legacy on the Roe v. Wade decision wrote on a memo pad, "Roe sound."

In 2011, another justice who had departed the Supreme Court offered a stunning regret about a vote on the death penalty. John Paul Stevens, who had retired the year before, told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos that he wished he had voted differently in the 1976 case Jurek v. Texas that reinstated the death penalty in Texas.

"I think that I came out wrong on that," Stevens said of his vote, which he wrote about in a book published after he retired.

Candor and insight into a Supreme Court justice's thought process are priceless, but unfortunately for the public are too rare while the justices are serving. Roberts's change of heart is perhaps now known because of the importance of the health care ruling, and the fancy among Supreme Court clerks and others inside the building to leak the development.

Amar said he suspected a sieve in the court six weeks ago, when he heard third-hand that Kennedy had voted in a routine conference with the other justices to strike down the mandate. And some observers noticed a month ago that conservative writers like George Will had begun writing about Roberts and his potential role in casting a decisive vote.

"The temptation might be greater than in past years, in past cases," Amar said. "The clerks generally have a pretty good idea of everything that's going on on all the cases, because if you're going to change your vote, all of that's done by memo. That circulates to every chamber."

But Amar said the bigger question to ask is, Why is it wrong for a Supreme Court justice to change his or her mind? After all, Stevens did it — after his vote. Unlike a jury, justices are well aware of the circumstances surrounding the cases they hear and the external pressure, from the other branches of Congress, the public, the media, law professors, and experts who might know more than they do.

"You really need to know whether a persuasive defense can be written, not just uttered," Amar said.

"It could be that he just came to see the issues and the arguments in a different and fuller light," he added. "There's nothing illicit about being open to revisiting your views." 

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Constitution Check: Who is to blame when the media gets a Supreme Court ruling wrong?

Lyle Denniston looks at actions the Supreme Court could take that would lessen the chances of mistaken media reports about key court decisions.

The statement at issue:

“It may be remembered as our generation’s ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ moment.  Reporting the Supreme Court’s momentous decision on health care, CNN and Fox News rushed dead-wrong headlines on-air.  CNN blasted the incorrect headline onto social media as well.  Fox News, in a screen graphic, incorrectly reported that the Court struck down the individual mandate portion of the law.”

– Joanne Ostrow, TV critic for the Denver Post, in a story June 28 commenting on news media errors in initial reports on the Court’s health care ruling last week.

We checked the Constitution, and…

The Supreme Court, not being a political branch of the government, has absolutely no duty to explain itself to the media, or to the general public, for that matter.  It is not what one would call politically accountable, and the Constitution seems to have wanted it that way.  The audience to which it believes it is mainly speaking is made up of lower courts and lawyers.

Lacking anything like a “spin doctor” on its staff, it simply hands out its final decisions and lets them speak for themselves.  In handing them out, it does as good a job as any other government agency: the copies of its output are free, abundant, easy to read, and promptly released when ready. They are put online quickly, too.  And, with every final ruling, the court releases something like an executive summary, though it calls it a “syllabus,” which is an outline of what was decided.

In a way peculiar in Washington, though, the decisions almost never leak out in advance.  (There were a good many predictions about the health care ruling before it actually emerged, but no one outside the courthouse had really solid inside information, so no prediction was exactly right.)

One might ask why would a news organization get it wrong on decision day?  And, further, could the Supreme Court be doing something different, to help the media get it right?
An answer to the first, to be unkind about it, is carelessness.  When the Supreme Court decides, it decides; there is a definite outcome and, if one takes just a minute or two to figure it out, the result will make itself known.   Failing to take that minute or two can make the difference.   But, even for a cautious reader of an opinion, trouble may loom when the court’s members are split this way and that, and there is more than one issue at stake.   That describes, perfectly, the health care ruling.

About Constitution Check

• In a continuing series of posts, Lyle Denniston provides responses based on the Constitution and its history to public statements about its meaning and what duties it imposes or rights it protects.

Another answer to the “why” about media errors, of course, is that the bigger the Supreme Court ruling, the more anticipation builds up, and the more the media feels pressure to rush out with the news.  The health care ruling, it is fair to say, is maybe a once-in-a-decade ruling in importance, with a potential impact across the whole of American society, and an immediate impact on an already lively political campaign.

In the sometimes upside-down world of new media, though, the greater the impact of a public event, the less caution will be used in sorting out the event if it is at all complex.  Grasping for a bottom line, even if it is an elusive one, is going to occur in that kind of a news environment.  One must remember that heads can roll these days if a media outlet gets “scooped.”
If that kind of grasping is the new normal in the news business, and it seems that the media just can’t save itself from error, is there anything the court could do to help out?

To ask the question, though, is really to open a fundamental inquiry into the nature of the judicial process and its transparency and accountability.  Just what does the Supreme Court (and a lower court) owe to an audience that includes many who are not trained in the law or working at it in court, law offices or the legal academy?  When does the flow of information about the process pass from information to grandstanding?  If a ruling is complex, should there be an explainer on hand at the time of release?

For reporters who cover the courts regularly, they grow accustomed to living only with ease of access to decisions, in a digestible form.  Unlike reporters on the political beat, or in a legislative hall, they do not expect to be “spun,” and they basically do not want it.

Interestingly, though, if one crosses the border into Canada, there is a different world of court-media relations.   At the Canadian Supreme Court, there is the “media lock-up,” which puts reporters into a locked room under a promise of confidentiality, gives them access to an opinion about to be released, offers them 15 minutes to absorb it, puts before them a court officer to explain the opinion and then answer questions, and then turns them loose to report when the opinion is formally made public.

Leaving aside the briefing and the Q&A, perhaps the most significant thing about the Canadian “lock-up” is those 15 minutes to read and understand.  Would it work in American courts?  Maybe not, but it certainly would reduce the chance of getting it wrong.

Lyle Denniston is the National Constitution Center’s Adviser on Constitutional Literacy. He has reported on the Supreme Court for 54 years, currently covering it for SCOTUSblog, an online clearinghouse of information about the Supreme Court’s work.

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Chris Christie on His Weight: 'If It Were Easy, I'd Already Have It Fixed'

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opened up about his weight problem in an interview with ABC News and stressed he is "trying" to lose weight, a battle he's waged for 30 years, but said he's never considered gastric bypass surgery because it's "too risky."

"I mean, see, listen, I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding among people regarding weight and regarding all those things that go into, to people being overweight," Christie said in an interview that will air Tuesday on "Nightline." "I think folks say - yeah, well he must just not be disciplined, you know, or he must not have willpower - that kind of thing. I guess the best analogy to make is some people drink too much. Some people take drugs. Some people eat too much. See, you can go live every day without drinking. You can live every day without taking drugs. You can't live every without eating."

Watch ABC News' Jake Tapper's full interview with Gov. Chris Christie on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET.

Christie, who often jokes about his weight, but rarely opens up about the struggle, acknowledged that "it's a really difficult thing to deal with."

Christie said he works out with a trainer four days a week and is "trying to eat better," but said it's "really difficult like to eat better."

"With running around all the time and grabbing things on the go. But I'm trying to eat better," Christie said in the interview from the state capitol. "I'm working at it. But obviously, I'm not there. But I also have hope that I can get there."

Christie suffers from asthma and was admitted to the hospital last summer, but said besides that ailment he is healthy and sees the doctor regularly.

"My blood pressure's fine, my cholesterol is fine," Christie said. "I'm in good physical shape in terms of those indicators. But I have to lose weight and I get it."

Christie said there are two types of people who approach him about his weight: those who "really genuinely are concerned about me and want me to be around for a long time, and really care about me" and some of the people he sometimes encounters on his Twitter feed.

"There are some people who are just - you know, incredibly nasty and, and ugly and horrible," Christie said. "That's just the way it goes. I mean, you know, people have that kind of prejudice about them. I can't do anything about that."

Christie said he's "doing the best I can" and will "continue to."

"I've been living with it for a long time, and I'm going to try to get better," Christie said. "And if I can get better, that'll be great for me and for my family and for the public who likes me … it's something that's not easy. If it were easy, I'd already have it fixed."

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New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte To Join Romney In New Hampshire On July 4

ABC News' Michael Falcone reports:

New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte plans to march with Mitt Romney in Wednesday's Fourth Of July parade in Wolfeboro, N.H., GOP sources tell ABC News.

Ayotte will be the first vice presidential short-lister to appear publicly with the presumptive Republican nominee during his week-long vacation at his Lake Winnipesaukee retreat. And her appearance also gives Romney the chance to meet with Ayotte privately at his home.

Romney arrived at his lakefront home in the small New Hampshire town last week to begin his annual family vacation, which includes such activities as the "Romney Olympics," but there has been heightened speculation about whether Romney would use the time away from the political spotlight to meet with potential vice presidential contenders.

Ayotte, the freshman New Hampshire senator, is said to be one of several potential running mates the Romney campaign search team may be considering. Also on that list: Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who plans to visit New Hampshire later this week.

Ayotte campaigned with Romney in New Hampshire June during his five-day, battleground state bus tour.

Lats week Romney sent Ayotte to address the pro-life, National Right to Life conference in Arlington, Virginia.

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In Florida fight, Obama and Romney scrap along I-4

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — In the presidential battleground with the biggest prize, Democrat Barack Obama is focused on ratcheting up voter turnout in Florida's university towns, its Hispanic enclaves around Orlando and its Jewish communities in the south. Republican challenger Mitt Romney is working to squeeze as many votes as possible out of north Florida's conservative military bastions, the senior-heavy Gulf Coast and Miami's Cuban community.

But their strategies to energize core supporters overlap in the central Florida swing-voting region that's key to winning the state and its 29 electoral votes. Voters along Interstate 4, which stretches from Tampa Bay to Daytona Beach, will determine the outcome if the race remains close into the fall, as expected. About 45 percent of the state's voters live in that 17-county area.
"Neither party has enough base alone, which is why those persuadable places, particularly along the I-4 corridor, are so important," said Steve Schale, a Democrat who ran Obama's Florida campaign four years ago.
It seems that's usually the case, judging by Florida's track record of hard-fought races and narrow presidential outcomes since the 2000 race landed at the Supreme Court, which then handed the White House to Republican George W. Bush.
Bush won the state again four years later, 52 percent to 47 percent, over Democrat John Kerry. But in 2008, the state sided with Democrats when Obama defeated Republican John McCain, 51 percent to 48 percent.
This year, the stakes are hard to overstate: Obama's re-election is nearly assured should he repeat his 2008 victory in Florida, based on how the states lean now. His standing in Florida is far more precarious than it is in other contested states — so if he wins Florida, it's likely that he's won in many other states as he looks to cobble together the 270 Electoral College votes it takes to win. Romney's state-by-state routes to reaching the magic number are more limited than the president's, and a Florida victory would make it far more probable that he could win the presidency.
The electorate in Florida is virtually unchanged from 2008 because the ailing economy stifled the population growth of the previous decade. And in this campaign, the economy dominates.
The recession took a deep toll on the state's recreation industry, especially around Orlando. A decline in foreign trade hurt the Port of Tampa, Florida's largest shipping port. The housing crisis fueled widespread home foreclosures and severely hampered the construction industry on which much of the region's immigrant-heavy workforce relies.
Florida's unemployment rate was 8.6 percent in May, slightly higher than the national average and all other presidential battleground states except Nevada.
A little more than four months before the Nov. 6 election, Obama narrowly leads Romney in statewide polls.
The president and his Democratic allies spent roughly $17 million in television advertising in Florida from April, when Romney effectively became the GOP presidential nominee, through last week. Romney's campaign hasn't been on the air in the state since then, but his allies have doled out $12 million during that time. The ads are heavily concentrated on the Tampa and Orlando media markets, which are cheaper than Miami's and reach far more swing voters.
Of the $2.8 million spent on TV ads in the state last week, $1.8 million was in this region.
Obama is on defense in the I-4 corridor, which he won by a very slim majority in 2008 after Bush won it in 2000 and 2004. Republicans hope that holding their national convention in Tampa in August will give them an edge.
In a close race where anything could be determinative, organization could count hugely and, on this point for now at least, Obama has an advantage. He never dismantled his 2008 campaign infrastructure in the state and has 36 campaign offices. Romney has quickly opened 23, run jointly with the Republican National Committee.
"In a race like this, that is so close and so hard-fought, door-to-door, mail and telephones could make the difference," said Republican Sally Bradshaw, a top Florida aide to Romney during his failed 2008 presidential bid.
Of paramount importance for both candidates right now: energizing and mobilizing core supporters.
For Obama, that means working to tap the burgeoning Puerto Rican community — an outlier in Florida's sluggish population growth — around Orlando. Puerto Ricans tend to support Democrats.
Romney aides, in turn, see a chance to shave Obama's advantage among Jewish voters, for whom support for Israel is a top issue. Aides say Romney has tapped into some Jews' irritation over the president's seemingly sympathetic statements toward the Palestinians.
But both candidates stressed central Florida early on.
Obama was in Tampa in April, announcing a measure to promote trade with Latin America. Romney was in neighboring St. Petersburg in May, promoting plans to cut federal spending. Both stopped in Orlando last month to visit businesses and appeal for support from Latino voters.
"The reality is it's the most up-for-grabs part of the most up-for-grabs state," B.J. Neidhardt, manager of Orlando Democrat Val Demings' congressional campaign, said of Florida's midsection.


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