Today on Air Talk we'll discuss President Obama's edge in swing states, New York City's "Latch On NYC" initiative, the latest Olympic games from London recap, what effect the Affordable Care Act may have on the amount of available doctors, the Supreme court taking on CA's prop 8 and a conversation with KPCC's Matt DeBord about the latest Federal Stimulus proposal. Plus, the latest news
Obama’s swing state edge and the power of negative ads
A new poll from Quinnipiac University reveals that Barack Obama is ahead of Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida. In Pennsylvania, the lead is a substantial 11 percent, while Florida and Ohio both give Obama a 6 percent advantage.
While Obama won all three states in 2008, the real reason for his lead is probably due to the fact that voters feel like they know more about him than they do Romney. For instance, 15 percent of Ohio voters wanted to know more about Romney, while only 2 percent said the same for Obama. Both campaigns will have to capitalize on this information to get their candidates into the White House this November, and you can bet your bottom dollar on the fact that they’ll turn to the trusted and traditional approach politicians have taken for decades: negative ads. It looks like Obama’s team is coming out on top with its use of negative messaging, but that may be a matter of political physics. For instance, in a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, zero percent of voters said they didn’t know how they felt about Obama.
Obama has already been vetted as a candidate and president, so any attack ads Romney runs are unlikely to change anyone’s mind. However, that’s clearly not the case for anti-Romney ads, as a sizable amount of voters are still unsure about him. This explains why a study from Vanderbilt University shows that Obama’s ads calling out Romney’s record while at Bain Capital led to a 16 percent lead in independent voters, while Romney does not enjoy a similar bump with any of his ads.
What can Mitt Romney due to counteract this situation? Should he run more positive ads about himself, as several conservatives are publicly suggesting? Even if he should, will he do it? Do you feel like you know Mitt Romney at this point? And if voters repeatedly say they want to see more positive ads, why do negative ones work so much better?
Guests:
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama advisor in 2008, who now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group
New York City's 'Latch On NYC' initiative seeks to increase breastfeeding
As part of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to make New Yorkers healthier, city hospitals will restrict and monitor the distribution of baby formula to mothers starting in September.
The “Latch On NYC” initiative, aimed at promoting breast feeding, was launched in May by New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley. It asks city hospitals to voluntarily agree to limit promotion, restrict and track access to, and discontinue distribution of free formula.
While mothers won’t be completely denied access to the breast milk alternative, they will be required to listen to a counseling session with a nurse before they’re able to “check out” any formula.
Deborah Kaplan, with the New York City Health Department, said that the initiative is specifically for mothers who decide to breastfeed.
"If a mother comes in and says I want to formula feed my baby, that is her choice and that will be respected, and she will not in any way be denied formula," she explained. "If a mother comes in and decides she wants to breastfeed, which in New York City is about 90 percent of mothers, the conversation will be about: 'How can the nurse or the other hospital staff support her decision?'"
Kaplan added that with 90 percent of mothers in NYC choosing to breastfeed their newborns, it is imperative that hospital practices focus on supporting a mother's decision.
"Mothers, pregnant women these days are bombarded by marketing materials, by email, by mail, in magazines, by the infant formula industry. When a mother comes to a hospital, the last thing she needs is more marketing," she said.
New York Health and Hospitals Corporation already banned formula from promotions and gift bags in 2007, as did the state of Rhode Island in 2011, and Massachusetts just this July. While many health advocates have shown support for the initiative, some moms are miffed.
Reason Magazine Managing Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward opposes the campaign, though she doesn't completely disagree with their mission.
"When you talk about supporting a women's choice that implies somehow that both choices will be equal, and that's just not the case. The whole point of this initiative is to push women to breastfeed," she said. "That's fine. There's some pretty good scientific evidence that breastfeeding is good for babies. But to simultaneously pretend that somehow this isn't tax payer money going to push women to do something, to choose one thing over another, is false."
Mangu-Ward added that mothers are savvy enough to navigate the infant formula industry's propaganda.
"Women aren't confused about whether or not breastfeeding is better," she said. "People choose formula all the time for very good reasons."
Breast milk versus formula debate aside, should the government legislate such a thing, or should the choice to breastfeed be left to mothers alone?
Guests:
Deborah Kaplan, Assistant Commissioner for Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health, New York City Health Department.
Katherine Mangu-Ward, Managing Editor, Reason Magazine
What’s the Olympic flap-du-jour?
Michael Phelps got the gold yesterday, winning the 800-meter freestyle relay along with teammates Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer and Ricky Berens. The medal is Phelps’ 15th gold; his two silver and two bronze make him the most-medaled Olympian ever.
Team USA scored gold in women’s gymnastics as well, winning handily over Russia by over five points. And host country Great Britain got its first gold in women’s rowing. But the real fun is in the flaps, isn’t it?
Four pairs of female Badminton doubles players - two from South Korea, one from China, and one from Indonesia — were disqualified for attempting to lose matches to manipulate their place in the tournament. In the round robin format of these Badminton matches, losing a match can actually lead to getting an easier opponent later. Crowds booed the players as they deliberately played beneath their skill.
Meanwhile, South Korean fencer Shin A-Lam argued that time was against her in her loss of the gold medal to Germany’s Britta Heidemann. Heidemann won on a final touch with one second remaining. Except it wasn’t really just one second.
The timing mechanism for the bout got stuck, giving Heidemann extra time to beat A-Lam. Though she lost the competition for the bronze medal as well, the International Fencing Federation is awarding A-Lam a “special medal” for her sportsmanship.
Guest:
David Wharton, staff writer, Los Angeles Times, covering the Olympics in London
Affordable Care Act likely to exacerbate doctor shortage
By 2014, President Obama’s landmark health law is expected to extend coverage to more than 300,000 people in California’s Inland Empire. But that new coverage might not actually translate to increased care. Why? Because there aren’t enough doctors to go around.
In California, Riverside and San Bernardino counties already suffer from the worst doctor shortage in the state. With the expansion of Medicaid, those few doctors will be stretched even further. And coverage without doctors might equate to no care at all.
Similar problems are expected to occur in the Mississippi Delta, Detroit, and parts of Phoenix. An estimate by the Association of American Medical Colleges posits that the U.S. will have 62,900 fewer doctors than needed in 2015.
Though medical school enrollment is increasing, it can’t keep up with the pace of the expanding population. And those that do make it through the 10 years of medical training required might make the choice to become specialists instead of primary care doctors, as specialists are often paid twice as much.
As baby boomers get older, they will put increasing amounts of pressure on the doctor shortage as they become part of the growing number of elderly patients.
Provisions within the health care law include money for the training of primary health care doctors and rewards if they work in underserved communities. But these incentives are but a drop in the bucket.
So what can California do to produce more doctors, especially primary care physicians? How do we get more of them to practice in underserved areas? What will be the fallout if we fail to enact real solutions?
Guests:
Dr. Richard Olds, Dean of the new medical school at University of California, Riverside
Dr. James Hay, President, California Medical Association
Dr. Temetry Lindsey, CEO/President, Inland Behavioral and Health Services, Inc.
Supreme Court asked to hear Prop 8 case
Proposition 8 may finally get its day in high court.
Yesterday, opponents of gay marriage petitioned the Supreme Court to look at the case. Attorneys for the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), part of the legal team for ProtectMarriage.com, asked the Court to reverse the 9th Circuit ruling that called a same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.
ADF general counsel, Andrew Pugno told KQED, "It's actually a relief to finally get to where we think we're going to have a fair hearing." The petition has been a long time coming. The voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage has been through California courts, federal court and federal appeals court.
If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case it will certainly impact California, but how it would affect other states is anyone’s guess. How would each side argue the case? Which states-rights cases would petitioners use? Which civil-rights cases would gay marriage proponents cite?
Guests:
John Eastman, Chairman of the Board, National Organization for Marriage; Former Dean and Professor, Chapman University School of Law; Founding Director, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
Laura Brill, Partner with the law firm Kendall Brill Klieger; former Supreme Court law clerk for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Federal Reserve releases statement as US stocks waver
The U.S. Federal Reserve wrapped up a two-day meeting today in the wake of ongoing disappointing economic news. The financial recovery has been happening very slowly, the unemployment rate has been stalled at 8.2% and economic forecasts for this year have already been downgraded as concerns linger over spillover effects from the European debt crisis.
Due to the political gridlock in Congress, Democrats have been pushing Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to take some sort of action in an effort to spur the economy. However, after the meeting concluded officials said that the Reserve will not be initiating any new steps towards recovery at this time.
What does this mean for the economy? Are members of the Federal Reserve just scared of meddling further in the economy? What can and should the Fed to do stimulate the economy and ease unemployment? Is it time for another round of stimulus?
Guest:
Matt DeBord, KPCC economy reporter and writer of the DeBord Report