|
(Continued from page 32)
GOP's Wisconsin win signals opportunity for Romney, challenge for Obama in competitive state
• MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Republican Gov. Scott Walker's recall victory in Wisconsin sets the stage for what's now expected to be a hard-fought presidential battle for this Midwestern state.
• The Republican's solid victory served as a warning for President Barack Obama about the potential hurdles he faces as he fights to hang onto a traditionally Democratic battleground he won comfortably in 2008. And, at least for now, it gave presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney a reason to feel optimistic about his chances of winning a state that has voted for the Democratic nominee in the past six elections.
• The Wisconsin election tested voter attitudes toward Walker's aggressive governing style as well as a law that ended collective bargaining for most public employees and teachers.
• "Gov. Romney has an opportunity ... to come in between now and Nov. 6 and make the case that he's willing to make those same sort of tough decisions," Walker told Fox News Channel on the eve of his victory.
• In the coming days, national Republicans and Democrats alike will re-evaluate the Wisconsin political landscape. In setting their presidential campaign strategies, they will take into consideration the state's 6.7 percent unemployment rate -- lower than the national average -- the heavy chunk of independent-minded voters and the partisan atmosphere that led to the effort to recall Walker.
• ___
Syria crisis causes spike in draft-dodging as young men refuse to fight for regime
• TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) -- Approaching his 18th birthday, Hamza, a merchant sailor from Syria, resigned himself to the fate awaiting him when he reached adulthood: A year and a half of mandatory military service.
• Then last year, the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted with demonstrations calling for change. Troops dispatched by Syria's autocratic regime shot protesters and shelled opposition towns, killing thousands of civilians.
• That altered the plan for Hamza, and for a growing number of young Syrians who are dodging the draft out of fear that military service will force them to kill their coun (Continued on page 34)
|
|
