Brownback tweeter: I'm being bullied (Politico)

Emma Sullivan, the student who received national attention for writing a disparaging tweet about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, told POLITICO that she is being bullied by other students at her school because of the incident.

?It is just bullying, and I?m trying not to take it to heart because that?s what they want me to do,? she said Tuesday. ?I?m getting a lot of negative attention locally, and that?s a lot to deal with. The students at my high school are being really bad about the situation - it just sucks that they don?t support me at all in any of this.?

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The bullying, much of which is taking place on Twitter, is part of the reason that Sullivan was staying home from school on Tuesday. ?They?ve been sending me tweets, calling me an attention whore, saying this is all about fame and that I don?t deserve to be getting any of these interviews,? she said.

A Twitter hashtag set up against her contains numerous expletives, including one user, @PoundShop_Zoe, who calls her a ?whore? multiple times. ?When Emma Comes back she should be forced to go to north #HopeYourHappy? Whore,? he writes.

?Get Emma Sullivan out of East [Shawnee Mission East High School] please #teamkrawitz,? adds @megmms.

In fact, students have organized a rally Tuesday afternoon in support of her principal, Karl Krawitz, and in opposition to her, said Sullivan.

The cyberbullying that Sullivan is experiencing occurs at a time where there are substantial national efforts to combat online intimidation among students.

Sullivan also said her principal has been receiving threats from people all over the country. Krawitz had asked her to write an apology to the governor over a tweet she had written about him, sparking the indignation of free speech activists. The school district later said she didn?t have to apologize and the governor apologized for his overzealous staff.

Sullivan, 18, says she is trying to take it all in stride, and that her closer group of friends has been supportive of her.

?It?s hard to deal with, but my sister keeps sending me emails of national, and even international, support,? she told POLITICO. ?It?s just interesting that people who know me aren?t being supportive. I think it has a lot to do with jealousy. But it?s not about me, it?s about the issues, and I don?t know if they comprehend that.?

?I think it will blow over. I hope it will. I?m going to keep doing the things that I think are right for myself. I think it?s just petty, the things they are doing,? she said.

The incident hasn?t changed her views on where her life is heading, however.

While she is into photography ? her original tweet about Brownback partially stemmed from her distaste for the privatization of the state?s public arts fund ? she says she doesn?t seek that or politics as a career.

?I haven?t even decided where to go to college yet,? she said. ?I still plan on studying psychology and sociology.?

On the other hand, Sullivan says she plans to stay politically active ? she campaigned for Obama in 2008 and says she plans on campaigning for him again in 2012.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1111_69340_html/43749327/SIG=11m31dlhl/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/69340.html

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Editorial: Carrier IQ -- the 'evil' we agree to and hate that we did it

Seems like every time you turn around you'll see corporations using sneaky tricks to gain a competitive advantage over a different, yet equally sneaky corporation.  That's usually how money is made by the people who are best at making lots of it -- at the expense of others.  The cell phone industry is no different, even though we wish it were.  Yes, I'm talking about Carrier IQ, and it's my turn to bitch.

Carrier IQ sells a stock client for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Android.  There's strong evidence that  they also make client software for other smartphone platforms, and even semi-smartphone OS's like Bada or BREW.  But they're only making it easy to get the same type of data your carrier has been collecting about you since the minute you turned your cell phone on.  If they're collecting it in an insecure manner, which has happened, that's bad on them, and they need to fix it -- pronto. But they're not doing it on their own. They're doing it at the behest of the manufacturer and the carrier, who uses the data to determine how to make changes that get you to spend more money when they offer you the latest shiny.  If 72 percent of the people use a certain feature, you can bet your last dollar that more work goes into making that feature "better" so it's a stronger selling point.  Carrier IQ, as a company, could care less what you do with your smartphone, when you do it, or why.  All they do is make it easier for the people you give your money to each month to see why you like your phone.  I don't work for HTC or AT&T, but I'm sure easy data collection and aggregation makes for a compelling sales pitch.

CIQ isn't doing anything it's not supposed to be doing, unless there's a software bug in play.  The software was purposefully placed there in order to track what you're doing in real time.  Apparently, it works pretty well.  Some may argue that it's a rootkit, or a flaw of some sort, but to the people using the product -- again, the carrier and manufacturer -- it's a feature, one that they pay money to include.  Remember, you are not HTC's (or Samsung, or LG, or RIM, etc.) customer -- companies like Verizon and Sprint are, and all parties find the data that's collected pretty damn useful, so they aren't likely to stop collecting it.

It could be argued that you don't have a choice in the matter. You bought the phone. And while there might be (and usually is -- see the picture above from a CIQ enabled HTC phone) some vague reference to the phone collecting data about how you use it, you likely skipped over that section, and it's not all that up-front about what's being collected or how it's being done. But on the other hand, that's probably true about 90 percent of what your phone's doing at any given time.  It works exactly how it's supposed to work.  Getting mad about it after the fact isn't very productive, and isn't going to solve the problem any time soon.

Vote with your wallet.  You have the option to say no to this sort of data collection software, and that's done by not buying phones that use it.  Every major carrier in the world now carries one of those.

Yes, I think Carrier IQ is a bad thing, done by unscrupulous people so they have more pennies to count.  But all the hate towards the company that writes and sells the software is misguided.  They are only filling a need, and if they stop someone else will step up to replace them.  Enough words have been written about it, yet the solution for Android fans only needs three:

Buy a Nexus.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/dR8VqV7pzKY/story01.htm

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Yugoslavia's last PM dies aged 87 (AP)

ZAGREB, Croatia ? Former Yugoslavia's last Prime Minister Ante Markovic, who tried to prevent the country's bloody breakup in the 1990s, has died. He was 87.

Croatia's state HINA news agency, quoting unnamed family sources, said Markovic died early Monday in Croatia's capital Zagreb. It did not provide the cause of his death.

Dzevad Haznadar, his business partner in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, said Markovic suddenly died in his apartment in Zagreb of yet unknown causes after suffering "minor cold" symptoms.

Markovic, a Croat born in Bosnia, became Yugoslavia's prime minister in March 1989, two years before the former communist country started unraveling along ethnic lines.

During his tenure, Markovic launched an ambitious program of pro-Western economic reforms, including privatization of state-run companies and stabilization of Yugoslavia's currency dinar. The result of his monetary reform was a halt to soaring inflation and temporary rise in the country's living standards.

Markovic was popular among Yugoslavia's liberals because of his reforms which brought the country to the threshold of the European Union. But he was hated by nationalists for his unifying stands and efforts to mediate between increasingly hostile leaderships of the six former Yugoslav republics.

In July 1990, Markovic formed a political party supporting a reformed Yugoslav federation. He was defeated in the elections by nationalist and separatist parties.

Before he resigned in December 1991 under the pressure from nationalists, Markovic tried to find a compromise between Slovenia and Croatia, the republics seeking to secede and Serbia which insisted that Yugoslavia remain a single entity. His efforts failed and the country plunged into a series of ethnic wars.

"He was always against war, against the breakup of the country," Bogic Bogicevic, the Bosnian member of Yugoslavia's collective presidency at the time of Markovic's tenure, said. "The others who wanted war and were for the breakup of the country were obviously more successful than him."

In 2003, he appeared as a prosecution witness at the war crimes trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic at a tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

He testified that Milosevic and former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman both told him that they made an agreement on the eve of the war in Bosnia in 1991 to divide the former Yugoslav republic between Serbia and Croatia.

After the wars, Markovic dedicated himself to a business career and consulting for governments and banks.

He is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.

___

Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and Sabina Niksic in Sarajevo, Bosnia, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_re_eu/eu_croatia_obit_markovic

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Obama's Medicare nominee gets GOP leader's support (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama's Medicare nominee Tuesday got unexpected support from one of Congress' Republican stars. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told The Associated Press that Marilyn Tavenner is "eminently qualified" to run Medicare.

It may be too soon to contemplate a truce in the political wars over health care. With Tavenner, major players on both sides may be able to shift from confrontation to problem-solving.

The White House announced Tavenner's nomination last week to replace current Medicare chief Donald Berwick, who had run into a wall of opposition from Republicans and couldn't even get a hearing in the Senate. As head of Medicare and Medicaid, the former nurse would be responsible for programs that already provide coverage to 100 million Americans, as well as for putting in place the new health overhaul law to cover the uninsured.

Cantor said he met Tavenner years ago when he was a state legislator in Richmond, Va., and she was a senior executive for Hospital Corporation of America, a major hospital chain.

"She was an individual with a wealth of knowledge about the complexities of the health care system, and she came forward with solutions that actually made sense," said Cantor. "I always found her to be extremely professional and understanding of the value of the private sector in health care."

Tavenner, 60, is currently Medicare's principal deputy administrator. She started her career as a nurse and worked her way up to hospital executive before entering government service as Virginia's health care secretary. She came to Washington last year as Congress labored in the home stretch to pass Obama's health care law.

Cantor is not a member of the Senate, so he does not get a vote on Tavenner's nomination. But his views are influential with other conservatives.

"I would hope to be able to support her," said Cantor. "Obviously, I'm not in the Senate, so I don't have that vote, but I do think she is qualified. Obviously, she'll be working for a president with an agenda that's quite different from mine."

Cantor said he is convinced that Tavenner is committed to preserving the role of the private sector in health care. Responsibility for health coverage in the U.S. is close to evenly split between federal and state programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and workplace and private insurance. Republicans charge that Obama is trying to engineer a complete takeover by government, while the president insists his way is the best approach for preserving a system of shared responsibility in the face of unsustainable cost increases and millions of uninsured.

Tavenner "is somebody who understands the private sector and business concerns" said Cantor. "Marilyn Tavenner has experience as a nurse at the practical level, and as a health system administrator of a very larger national company. Hopefully she'll bring that type of experience."

Tavenner's nomination has been endorsed by groups representing hospitals, doctors and the health insurance industry. Some congressional Democrats may question her over her tenure at Hospital Corporation, which was embroiled in a major Medicare fraud investigation in the 1990s. None of that seems to have involved Tavenner, however.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_go_co/us_medicare_nominee

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CANCER IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM A SELF INFLICTED ...

I like this comment that Megan Mcardle makes in a recent piece in The Atlantic?because it raises some important points:

?But it is not true that loads of debt is just fine as long as you?re borrowing in your own currency, except in the trivial sense that a government which borrows in its own currency can always resort to hyperinflation. ? This is rather like saying, ?Don?t worry about that cancer?you can always shoot yourself!? If you take too much advantage of the benefits of borrowing in your own currency, pretty soon you have trouble borrowing in your own currency, which means that practically, the distinction is not necessarily as strong as some people pretend.?

Now, from an MMT perspective, there?s a lot wrong in this paragraph (and her article in general). ? But the hyperinflation comments always intrigue me*. ?It is the default fallback diagnosis for the debt fearing crowd (and still carries a great deal of merit in economic circles despite the persistent predictions over the last 5 years, which, in my opinion, are among the very worst predictions in the annals of economic history).

I am, as far as I know, one of the few economic researchers who has pointed out the fact that hyperinflation is a distinctly different type of death than a debt based ?money printing? death (see here for details). ?This is a fascinating finding because it shows a distinct problem in the process of economic analysis. ?It appears to me as though the field of economics suffers from an inability to ?connect the dots? and properly diagnose the causes of particular economic outcomes. ?Much of this is grounded in misunderstanding the monetary system and working from a convertible currency perspective. ?But it?s also skewed by political biases. ?When we combine this convertible currency myth with political bias we get a toxic stew that leads to very poor conclusions.

We can take the hyperinflation meme as a good example of this. ?Hyperinflation has VERY specific causes even though the mainstream has tended to conclude that hyperinflation is just really high inflation. ?I can?t even tell you how many times I saw charts of the Fed?s balance sheet in 2008/2009 accompanied by ?money printing? headlines that concluded with hyperinflation predictions. ?Of course, this wasn?t inflationary because banks don?t lend reserves, but this myth of the money multiplier coupled with anti government political perspectives concluded that the end result had to be disastrous inflation. ?Shockingly, we still hear these hyperbolic warnings to this day even though the myth of the money multiplier has been exposed for all to see in recent years?.

When I went back to study various historical hyperinflations I found some striking similarities in the cases. ?Hyperinflation is not merely high inflation or a collapse in confidence, but is actually due to very specific?severe?exogenous shocks with very real and provable transmission mechanisms. ?The explosion in money supply is almost always the result of these exogenous shocks. ? Historically, these events have been:

• Collapse in?productivity?or lack of economic stability due to lack of productivity.
• Rampant government corruption.
• Loss of a war.
• Regime change or regime collapse.
• Ceding of monetary sovereignty generally via a pegged currency or foreign denominated debt.

The most interesting conclusion from this research is the fact that the monetary phenomenon (what most economists and researchers conclude as the cause of hyperinflation) is actually the response to these exogenous events. ?The point is, cancer is a very different type of death from a self inflicted gunshot wound. ?If this were the field of medicine and we were concluding that all deaths are bad because they result in the same outcome, we?d be doing our colleagues and our patients a great disservice by making such an obvious conclusion. ?The real meat behind such a finding is in discovering its true cause so as to be able to discover and avoid future outbreaks, save lives and generate a more prosperous world for ourselves and our fellow man. ?But in the field of economics the analysis seems to break down once a preconceived bias has been met and some self interest has been verified. ?Unlike the field of medicine, the so-called ?experts? are acting largely on self interest as opposed to the interests of their patients or fellow man. ?I guess money has a way of doing that to people. ?We are, after all, acting in the self interests of ourselves in most economic endeavors. ?Economics might not be a science, but that doesn?t mean it can?t be approached rationally, objectively and without bias. ?Self interest need not poison the well we all drink from?.

This lack of objectivity has been persistent in recent years and it?s had deeply negative ramifications. ?I would argue that the diagnosis of our current crisis as a banking crisis in 2008 (and not a household credit crisis) was among the worst in economic history. ?And this hyperinflation meme has the potential to be equally destructive. ?You can?t expect to understand the risks to a system if you can?t even differentiate between the potential threats to the system in the first place. ?And if you can?t differentiate between the various causes of death and what the transmission mechanism is for the ultimate disease then you can?t be expected to diagnose or even aid the patient in avoiding or recovering from the disease in the first place?.?Dismal science? indeed. ?It need not be quite so dismal though. ?Unfortunately, eliminating biases, politics, self interest and age old mythology is easier said than done?.Perhaps even impossible when forced to combine money with the ?greater good??.

*I?ve created a new hyperinflation resource page which can be found here. ?

Source: http://pragcap.com/cancer-is-very-different-from-a-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound

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Dangerous drugs stolen from Fla. paramedics

By Associated Press

Palm Beach County authorities are searching for a stolen box of medications that includes some highly dangerous drugs.

The box was stolen from a fire rescue vehicle in West Palm Beach on Saturday.

Authorities told The Palm Beach Post??that the box contains drugs that could result in paralysis, unconsciousness and death if injected or ingested.

The box is orange, has the initials "RSI" and contains three vials of Ketamine, three syringes of Etomidate and two vials of Norcuron. Ketamine and Etomidate are anesthetics and Norcuron is a muscle relaxant.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/27/9049425-highly-dangerous-drugs-stolen-from-fla-paramedics

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Charlize Theron Teases Kristen Stewart 'Showdown'

'I'm just really, really, really hoping I get to kill her,' the 'Snow White and the Huntsman' star jokes to MTV News.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Charlize Theron in "Snow White and the Huntsman"
Photo: Universal

Ever since the trailer arrived for Kristen Stewart's next likely blockbuster, "Snow White and the Huntsman" -- a.k.a. her first big post-"Twilight" movie -- we've been chomping at the bit for more info about the film.

Luckily, MTV News had a fun-filled chat recently with Stewart's "Huntsman" co-star Charlize Theron, during which the South African-born beauty revealed that she and Stewart are about to shoot the film's climactic battle sequence.

"I'm still shooting ['Huntsman'], I'm going back in two days," Theron told us as she promoted the comedy "Young Adult." "I haven't really worked with [Kristen]. I've done some small things with her, but we're about to shoot our big showdown, and fingers crossed for me. It's the big battle. I'm just really, really, really hoping I get to kill her," she said with a smile. "That is how the story ends up, right?"

While the Rupert Sanders-directed flick is a new adaptation of the classic fairy tale, somehow we don't think Theron will get her wish. Maybe her Evil Queen will wound Stewart's Snow White in some way, but death doesn't seem too likely.

For her part, Stewart has had nothing but praise to heap on the film -- so much so that she's open to the idea of doing more than one movie as the fairest one of all.

"Oh, man, to be totally candid and honest with you, when I first signed on to this thing, the idea of doing another franchise was like, 'Wow, [we'll] cross that bridge when it comes.' It was something so far outside my realm of thinking," Stewart told us recently. "I was so focused on the first one, and I thought, 'Maybe, maybe,' but I've got stars in my eyes. I'm literally over the moon about what I'm doing right now," she said of her work on "Huntsman." "Yes, I would love to [do more 'Snow White' films]."

Check out everything we've got on "Snow White and the Huntsman."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Related Videos

• MTV Rough Cut: 'Young Adult'

Related Photos

• Scenes From The 'Snow White And The Huntsman' Teaser Trailer

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674943/snow-white-huntsmen-charlize-theron-kristen-stewart.jhtml

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Cynthia Kounaris: Small Business Saturday on Las Olas Boulevard

As a former small business owner (and as a descendant of a long line of small business owners), I embraced the Small Business Saturday idea. I decided to put my money where my opinions were and went to Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale to do some Christmas shopping.

It was great to see that the street was very busy. The restaurants were full -- as usual, there was a crowd at Mangos but many of the other restaurants were doing a good business, too (including Johnny V's and, of course, one of my personal favorites, Jimmy's Trata Greek restaurant).

I had gone to Needlepoint Originals with visiting relatives a few weeks ago (Carol, stop reading now) and saw a few things that my cousin loved (that is the great thing about browsing through shops with your friends and family -- you get a lot of gift ideas!) and I thought this would be a good time to buy. Not only did I buy something for her but I found something for one of my sisters and even a pair of beautiful earrings for myself (a bonus!).

I chatted a little with the lovely owner and she told me how she is always rethinking her inventory but that it is difficult to get enough traffic on the street (and away from the malls). After that, I stopped by Dazzles Boutique and spoke with the owner, Lucy. I got a beautiful gift for my other sister (shhh!) and was happy to hear that things were looking up. Then I stopped by Kilwin's and got a free cup of Toasted Coconut ice cream from my friend Stephen, who is also the owner. That is another benefit of shopping at your local small businesses!

One of my sisters owns Fierson's, a children's clothing store in Bronxville, NY, and she tells me that their main shopping street is really struggling and there are several stores going out of business. It is such a beautiful town -- what a shame that the locals are not making the most of those great little shops and restaurants within walking distance!

These businesses usually are solely funded by the owners -- they have taken their savings and risked everything to have their own shop. They work both in their business (sales, accounting, ordering, merchandising) and on their businesses (networking, marketing, managing) 24/7. Yes, usually shop hours are not bad but, as anyone who owns their own business knows, there is no such thing as time off. They put their whole hearts and all their energy and their hopes into their businesses.

One small business challenge is pricing. Individual stores cannot buy the same quantities as big stores and don't get those bulk prices. These stores are not overcharging. They are trying to pay for their inventory, their rent, their salespeople, their insurance, their utilities and all the other things they need (very rarely can they afford marketing!) in the hopes of making a profit.

Walking by empty storefronts is really heartbreaking. Landlords often made adjustments to the rent to accommodate the economic reality of the past few years, but not always. And empty storefronts can result in more empty storefronts. If there are several interesting stores to browse and shop and good restaurants to choose from, it is more likely that people will come.

I believe people would miss their local shops if they went out of business and their main streets looked like Old West ghost towns. Maybe people forget that, if they don't patronize them, these shops and restaurants will disappear.

It makes me think of that scene in You've Got Mail, when Meg Ryan's character is going out of business and her store is mobbed with people snatching up her discounted merchandise and waxing nostalgic about the store and saying how sorry they were that she was closing up shop. Where had they been?

Don't let this happen to your "shop around the corner"!

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-kounaris/small-business-saturday-florida_b_1115322.html

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Video: Europe, Retail Power Rally

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45464987/

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Google IO 2012 changes dates to June 27-29 in San Francisco

Can't get enough of Google IO? Google's developer conference has just announced expanded dates -- moving from two days in April to June 27-29. The conference will still take place in San Francisco, at Moscone Center West.

Source: Google Developers

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/fdjBZRHKZ-I/story01.htm

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Obama hosting EU leaders in White House summit (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is hosting European Union leaders for a summit Monday that is likely to focus on the European debt crisis.

Obama will meet at the White House with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

The Obama administration is watching warily as European countries struggle to bolster confidence in the euro currency. The crisis has seen smaller eurozone nations Greece, Portugal and Ireland bailed out and is now threatening much bigger economies, such as Italy and Spain.

The Obama administration has expressed concerns that the crisis could damage the U.S. economy.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111128/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_eu_summit

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Church sounds alarm over Zimbabwe water supplies (AP)

HARARE, Zimbabwe ? The Roman Catholic church says Zimbabwe's chronic water shortages should be declared a national disaster.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace says in a statement Sunday collapsed water and sanitation facilities will cause "more suffering and deaths" as annual rains begin.

Nearly 250 cases of the waterborne disease typhoid have been treated in Harare this month. No deaths have so far been reported, but in 2009 a cholera outbreak killed more than 4,000 people.

The commission says emergency funds are needed in areas where people take contaminated water from drains and shallow, makeshift wells.

Some impoverished townships haven't had access to piped water for months ? or even years ? amid the country's economic meltdown.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111127/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe_water

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Biden's 2012 targets: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A year from Election Day, Democrats are crafting a campaign strategy for Vice President Joe Biden that targets the big three political battlegrounds: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, states where Biden might be more of an asset to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign than the president himself.

The Biden plan underscores an uncomfortable reality for the Obama team. A shaky economy and sagging enthusiasm among Democrats could shrink the electoral map for Obama in 2012, forcing his campaign to depend on carrying the 67 electoral votes up for grabs in the three swing states.

Obama won all three states in 2008. But this time he faces challenges in each, particularly in Ohio and Florida, where voters elected Republican governors in the 2010 midterm elections.

The president sometimes struggles to connect with Ohio and Pennsylvania's white working-class voters, and Jewish voters who make up a core constituency for Florida Democrats and view him with skepticism.

Biden has built deep ties to both groups during his four decades in national politics, connections that could make a difference.

As a long-serving member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden cemented his reputation as an unyielding supporter of Israel, winning the respect of many in the Jewish community. And Biden's upbringing in a working class, Catholic family from Scranton, Pa., gives him a valuable political intangible: He empathizes with the struggles of blue-collar Americans because his family lived those struggles.

"Talking to blue-collar voters is perhaps his greatest attribute," said Dan Schnur, a Republican political analyst. "Obama provides the speeches, and Biden provides the blue-collar subtitles."

While Biden's campaign travel won't kick into high gear until next year, he's already been making stops in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida this fall, speaking at events focused on education, public safety and small businesses and raising campaign cash. Behind the scenes, he's working the phones with prominent Jewish groups and Catholic organizations in those states, a Democratic official said.

Biden is also targeting organized labor, speaking frequently with union leaders in Ohio ahead of a vote earlier this month on a state law that would have curbed collective bargaining rights for public workers. After voters struck down the measure, Biden traveled to Cleveland to celebrate the victory with union members.

The Democratic official said the vice president will also be a frequent visitor to Iowa and New Hampshire in the coming weeks, seeking to steal some of the spotlight from the Republican presidential candidates blanketing those states ahead of the January caucus and primary.

And while Obama may have declared that he won't be commenting on the Republican presidential field until there's a nominee, Biden is following no such rules. He's calling out GOP candidates by name, and in true Biden style, he appears to be relishing in doing so.

During a speech last month to the Florida Democratic Convention, Biden singled out "Romney and Rick", criticizing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for saying the government should let the foreclosure crisis hit rock bottom, and hammering Texas Gov. Rick Perry's assertion that he would send U.S. troops into Mexico.

And he took on the full GOP field during an October fundraiser in New Hampshire, saying "There is no fundamental difference among all the Republican candidates."

Democratic officials said Biden will follow in the long-standing tradition of vice presidents playing the role of attack dog, allowing Obama to stay out of the fray and appear more focused on governing than campaigning.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal strategy. The Obama campaign has been reluctant to publically define Biden's role in the re-election bid this early in the run, though campaign manager Jim Messina did say the vice president would deliver an economic message to appeal for support.

"You'll see him in communities across the country next year laying out the choice we face: restoring economic security for the middle class or returning to the same policies that led to our economic challenges," Messina said.

Democrats say Biden will campaign for House candidates in swing states as the party tries to recapture some of the seats in Congress lost during the 2010 midterms.

And here again, the vice president's efforts in politically crucial Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida could be most important. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting 12 districts in those states that Obama and Biden carried in the 2008 presidential race but are represented by Republican representatives.

New York Rep. Steve Israel, who chairs the committee, said he believes Biden could be a "game-changer" in those districts.

"All he has to do is ask voters, has the Republican strategy of no worked for you?" Israel said.

Israel met with Obama and Biden at the White House earlier this month to discuss, among other things, their role in congressional campaigns. While Israel said he hopes Obama will actively campaign for Democratic House candidates, he said "the vice president has already volunteered."

___

Julie Pace can be reached at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111126/ap_on_el_pr/us_biden2012

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