Friday Political Grab Bag: Will Romney Profit From Chinese Police Cameras?

Friday Political Grab Bag: Will Romney Profit From Chinese Police Cameras?
March 16, 2012
by Frank James - NPR

President Obama's campaign released a 17-minute documentary on the president's three years-plus in the White House.

The Obama administration has shifted its constitutional argument in defense of the Affordable Care Act to use the "Necessary and Proper" clause from the "Commerce" clause, leading some legal experts to suggest the change could draw support from some of the court's conservatives.

Obama's campaign is merging information from voter files and data brokers with what it gleans through social media to help it tailor its messages to voters though some privacy activists note that the campaign's practices seem to clash with the Obama administration's privacy goals.

Mitt Romney stands to financially gain from an investment made by the firm he once headed, Bain Capital, in a company installing surveillance cameras throughout China. Romney's blind trust has money in a Bain fund that purchased the surveillance technology company.

Romney and his superPAC allies have stepped up their activities in Illinois even more than some observers had expected as Romney tries to get upscale, Chicago-area voters to the polls next Tuesday in high enough numbers to offset socially conservative downstate voters who are expected to vote for Rick Santorum.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, the crusty, long-time Republican senator from Utah and target of Tea Party critics who have sought to oust him through a primary challenge, did well enough at party caucuses to appear headed for another nomination which would virtually reassure him of re-election.

Rep. Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, became the 23rd House member to announce his retirement. Ackerman, 69, a 15-term Congressman and one of the House's more colorful members, lives on a houseboat on the Potomac River called the Unsinkable II. The Unsinkable I sank in the 1980s.