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By James Q. Lynch, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS Its still the economy, stupid.

Koch brothers, climate change, accusations of a scandal-a-week gubernatorial administration and the need for renewable fuels standards in a perfect world may be making headlines. But voters say the economy is their top issue going into the Nov. 4 midterm election.

That doesnt portend a Republican wave election, but Bill McInturff, a leading Republican pollster who, together with Democrat Peter Hart, conducts the NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, said it is good news for Republicans who believe economic data and the publics sour perception of the economy are moving voters their direction.

Its going to be a very good year for Republicans with a 50-50 shot of taking the U.S. Senate, McInturff said.

Not so fast, counters Celinda Lake of the Democratic Lake Research Partners, which, with the Republican Tarrance Group, conducted the George Washington University Battleground Poll of 1,000 likely voters that was released this week.

It found that Democrats get better marks (43 to 35 percent) than the Republicans for solving problems, standing up for the middle class (54 to 36 percent) and representing middle-class values (52 to 39 percent).

Most attention has focused on the U.S. Senate, where Republicans need a net gain of six seats to gain control. The GOP is expected to pick up a handful of seats in the House it outnumbers Democrats 234 to 201.

Overall, Republicans see their chances of controlling both chambers of Congress improving because polls show voters disapprove of President Barack Obamas handling of the economy. Also, by a 36 to 29 percent margin voters told the Battleground Poll the economy is worse than it was four years ago.

If Republicans can tie Iowa Democratic Senate hopeful U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley to the presidents unpopular policies, that may hurt more than actual economic conditions, according to Chris Larimer, an associate professor of political science at University of Northern Iowa.

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Republicans heartened polls show economy still top issue for voters

A new Senate report on alleged targeting of conservative groups largely continues an argument that Democrats and Republicans have been having since the controversy erupted in May of 2013.

Not surprisingly, the two sides couldnt agree on what the report should say, so theres a majority version and a minority version.

In their majority report, Democrats on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations argue again that the controversy has been unfairly depicted, because the Internal Revenue Service also targeted liberal groups such as ACORN, the community organizing group, and the Occupy movement, as well as conservative tea-party groups.

A 2013 IRS inspector generals report should have taken that into account, but instead focused on how the IRS handled applications from conservative groups and excluded any comparative data on applications filed by liberal groups, producing distorted audit results that continue to be misinterpreted, the majority report said.

After reviewing nearly 800,000 pages of documents and conducting nearly two dozen IRS and [inspector general] employee interviews, the investigation found that the IRS used inappropriate selection criteria, burdensome questions, and lengthy delays in processing applications fortax-exempt status from both conservative and liberal groups, said the subcommittees chairman, Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.).

The IRS inspector general, J. Russell George, said Friday that he stands behind the audit report and that his offices review of IRS treatment of groups that applied for tax-exempt status is ongoing.

Republicans say in essence that Democrats are comparing apples and boulders, and that conservative groups were far more frequently and heavily burdened by the treatment they got at the hands of the IRS.

The majoritys interpretation of the evidence fails to capture the extent of the IRSs bias against conservative groups and flagrant abuse of power, said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the subcommittee. The minority report adds: The inclusion of a scant few liberal groups by the IRS does not bear comparison to the targeting of conservative groups.

Each side, however, downplays some facts that might be inconvenient to their case.

The majority report, for example, tends to minimize the extensive evidence that the IRS really did start collecting tea-party applications for what turned out to be lengthy and intrusive review, starting in early 2010. IRS officials in Washington referred to the matter in emails as tea party cases for months, until they decided theyd better broaden its scope.

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Republicans, Democrats on Senate Panel Issue Duelling Reports on IRS Controversy

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The All Progressives Congress governors seem to be reversing policies in major areas such as education, job creation and workers welfare in a move considered to be a ploy to appease voters ahead of the 2015 general elections, DAYO OKETOLA writes

Notwithstanding its victory in the August 9 Osun State governorship election that saw Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola returned for a second term in office, the All Progressives Congress has yet to forget the loss it suffered in the June 21 Ekiti State election. Dr. Kayode Fayemis defeat sent shockwaves through the opposition party considering the fact that he was rooted to win the poll because of his performance. But he lost and analysts see his defeat as a reflection of the popularity of the APC across all the states where it is in control.

Also, a former Minister of External Affairs, Chief Tom Ikimi, who recently defected to the Peoples Democratic Party, reinforced this thought, saying, It is common knowledge that the vote against the very popular candidate Senator Chris Ngige in the Anambra governorship election and recently against one of the most successful governors, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State was indeed a vote against Tinubu.

Ikimi described the APC as a Tinubu party and predicted mass protest votes against the party in the 2015 elections.

The party has collapsed in very many states such as Adamawa, it is in distress in Edo, Ogun, Oyo, Lagos and Nasarawa, he had said.

Coincidentally, a Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Lagos State, Mr. Jimi Agbaje, in a recent television programme monitored by our correspondent, had explained that any government in power requires a mix in balance proportion of politics, propaganda, polity and programmes to win the election in 2015. He is of the opinion that the APC had failed in satisfactorily mixing these elements in Lagos State, adding that this may affect the outcome of the 2015 elections.

In view of this, the APC is not leaving anything to chance in its bid to retain all the states it currently controls with the hope to capture more states from the PDP.

As such, the APC governors have embarked on mild review of policies deemed too harsh on the people and they are currently wooing diverse groups such as teachers, civil servants, students and National Union of Road Transport Workers, among others, ahead of the 2015 elections.

This has become imperative since it is widely believed that many people are not happy with the party across all its states. For instance, members of NURTW, who spoke with our correspondent, described APC administration in Lagos as a government of one day one law and vowed to vote for another party in the 2015 governorship election.

The Lagos State Government, in quick response to the threats posed by this development, is perhaps relaxing some of its policies perceived to be anti-people.

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2015: APC states embark on policy u-turn

The All Progressives Congress has called for the immediate dissolution of the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal and the reconstitution of a new one, in order to engender the confidence of the public in the work of the tribunal.

In a statement issued in Benin City, Edo State, on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the reported removal of the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice I.M. Bako, on the basis of a petition written by some people, has tainted the Tribunal, hence the need to constitute a fresh one.

It said, According to the information at our disposal, the PDP used one of the candidates in the Aug. 9th gubernatorial election in the state to orchestrate the removal of the Tribunal Chairman, whom the party considered not pliable enough for the achievement of its evil machination.

Therefore, this removal is unacceptable to us, because it suggests that some dark forces are teleguiding the proceedings of the Tribunal a development that is inimical to the fair delivery of justice.

When we got this information about a week ago, we did not lend it much credence, believing that the judiciary will not pander to the PDP or any party whatsoever in the execution of its Constitutional duties. But when we read the published report on Friday that the Chairman of the Tribunal has been removed, we were very worried.

While our confidence in the judiciary remains unshaken, we believe this important arm of government must be shielded from political interference in the interest of justice, and in order for the citizenry not to lose confidence in it.

APC said the PDP, which has been roundly rejected by the good people of Osun State, is desperately seeking to barge into the Government House in Osogbo through the back door.

In pursuant of its inordinate ambition, the party said the PDP had been engaging in irresponsible manipulation of facts since it lost the election last month.

It said, The most glaring has been the attempt by the PDP to deceive the public over the reason why INEC suspended two of its staff over the Osun election. While these men were actually suspended for trying to rig the election in favour of the PDP, the PDP has put out a shameful lie that they were suspended for manipulating the election result from two local governments to favour the APC.

This is most uncharitable and it shows the lack of integrity and character by those who are desperately seeking to rule over Osun State. One of the INEC officials in question is Segun Eshinlokun, the Electoral Officer of Obokun Local Government in Osun State who, along with one Ismalia Taofik, was caught with electoral materials before they were distributed by INEC.

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Dissolve Osun election petitions tribunal -APC