Submitted by tcarpenter on December 30, 2011 - 12:16pm
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322 W Pecan St
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Sunday School 9:30am
Coffee Fellowship 10:30am
Sunday Worship 10:50am
Source: http://www.heralddemocrat.com/content/covenant-presbyterian-church.html
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Governor General Announces 66 New Appointments to the Order of Canada goo.gl/fb/1oixq 
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DES MOINES, Iowa ? With time running short, Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich battled Thursday to win over a pivotal crop of undecided conservative voters. Of all the candidates, only Mitt Romney seemed to largely escape attack as he worked to win a state that long seemed out of reach until this week.
"Don't settle for what's not good enough to save the country," the newly ascendant Santorum implored Iowans at city hall in Coralville, urging voters to put conservative principles above everything else and suggesting that his rivals, and specifically Ron Paul, lacked them.
For the first time, though, the former Pennsylvania senator became a target.
"When he talks about fiscal conservatism, every now and then it leaves me scratching my head because he was a prolific earmarker," Perry, the Texas governor, said of Santorum as the day began, referring to special spending projects members of Congress seek. "He loaded up his bill with Pennsylvania pork.'"
Santorum defended the practice as part of lawmakers' constitutional role as appropriators, telling CNBC that he owed it to Pennsylvanians to bring money to the state. He said earmarking became abused and that he would support a ban on them if he were president.
Perry also slapped at Santorum in a radio ad and in a new TV commercial that lumps him in with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Paul and says: "The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a congressman to fix Washington: bad idea."
The maneuvering underscored the fluid ? if not convoluted ? state of the GOP presidential race as Tuesday's caucuses loom while cultural conservatives and evangelical Republicans, who make up the base of the electorate here, continue to be divided. That lack of unity paves the way for someone who is seen as less consistently conservative.
Five days out, public and private polling show Romney and Paul in strong contention to win the caucuses, with coalitions of support cobbled together from across the Republican political spectrum and their get-out-the-vote operations ? beefed up from their failed 2008 bids ? at the ready. They're the only two with the money and the organizations necessary to ensure big turnouts on Tuesday.
Three others ? Santorum, Perry and Gingrich ? will have to rely largely on momentum to carry supporters to precinct caucuses. Each was working to convince fickle conservatives that he alone would satisfy those who yearn for a nominee who would adhere strictly to GOP orthodoxy.
Bachmann, meanwhile, worked to convince backers that her cash-strapped campaign was not in disarray after a top supporter in Iowa abandoned her to back Paul.
After state Sen. Kent Sorenson bolted as her Iowa campaign chairman, Bachmann continued to bleed staff, losing her Iowa political director, Wes Enos, on Thursday. Some evangelical pastors have said they've urged her to quit the race.
Bachmann condemned Sorenson for quitting, and defiantly vowed to continue in the race.
"Iowans aren't told who to vote for. Iowans are independent and they're going to make their decisions," Bachmann said in Des Moines, on the last day of a 10-day tour of Iowa's 99 counties.
Ads, mostly negative, flooded television and radio. They filled mailboxes, too.
No less than five new TV ads were rolled out Thursday, with Romney, for one, releasing a 60-second, optimistic commercial promoting his vision for America and illustrating his confidence with his standing in the primary race. He was staying far from the fray and looking toward the general election.
"In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense. And I intend to make it because I have lived it," Romney says in the commercial that includes patriotic images and scenes from his June campaign announcement in New Hampshire.
He's in the midst of a four-day trek that he hopes will seal victory here and give him momentum heading into the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, the closest thing to a must-win state for the former Massachusetts governor.
On the second day of his bus tour, Romney turned out big crowds at stops in northern and eastern Iowa, focusing on more populous areas and counties he won four years ago.
"We have a choice in this coming election of what kind of America we're going to have," Romney said at J's Home Cooking in Cedar Falls, before meeting a crowd of 500 in Mason City. "It's not just about replacing a president. It's about saving the soul of America."
He didn't acknowledge his rivals but an outside group aligned with him rolled out a new ad against Gingrich that asks, "Haven't we had enough mistakes?" and notes the former House speaker's past admissions of judgment lapses.
As Romney sailed above it all, the fight raged among his rivals elsewhere in the state, where all six candidates competing in the caucuses are spending almost all their time for the next five days.
Looking to capitalize on his burst of support in new polls, Santorum made a play for tea party backers lining up behind Paul by arguing that the Texas congressman is longer on promising sweeping change than enacting it. "The guy has passed one bill in 20 years. What makes you think he can do any of these things?" Santorum said.
He added: "We need someone who has the bold, sharp contrast not just to win the election but govern the country, not somebody who is just a little better."
And, Bachmann castigated Paul's opposition to military intervention in Iran as "dangerous." She also suggested that his opposition to the federal war on drugs amounted to supporting the legalization of cocaine and heroin.
Perry focused his criticism on all the others on the right, saying: "There are other conservatives in this contest. I readily agree. But their records don't always square with the rhetoric." And, as he argued that he was the only true outsider in the race, Perry noted that four of his rivals ? Gingrich, Paul, Santorum and Bachmann ? have a combined 63 years of experience in Washington.
"I am asking you to vote your conservative values," Perry implored.
The closest anyone got to criticizing Romney directly was when Perry was asked in Cedar Rapids about family dynasties and cited, among other families, the Romneys.
In response, Perry mentioned his own modest upbringing and said: "I'm glad you gave me the opportunity to reflect my differences with Mitt."
The worst Romney faced from his rivals were veiled shots.
Santorum said Republicans must draw a clear contrast with Obama, rather than nominate a Republican with moderate tendencies out of political expedience.
"We need someone who has the bold, sharp contrasts, not just to win the election but to govern the country. Not just someone who is a little bit better," Santorum told supporters.
Perry was asked about family dynasties and the questioner cited, among other families, the Romneys. Perry stopped short of criticizing Romney's privileged upbringing. He mentioned his own humble beginning in small-town Texas before adding: "I'm glad you gave me the opportunity to reflect my differences with Mitt."
Gingrich, for his part, spent the day trying to wrap himself in President Ronald Reagan's cloak, announcing the backing of the late president's son, Michael, and, a day earlier, support from Reagan economic adviser Arthur Laffer.
Even as the polls show him sliding, Gingrich projected an upbeat image.
"The strategy of focusing on jobs and economic growth, staying positive and being pretty relentless in answering questions at every meeting is working," he insisted.
___
Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Mike Glover, Kasie Hunt, Brian Bakst and Shannon McCaffrey contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON ? Americans are hopeful for what 2012 will bring for their families and the country, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, though most say 2011 was a year they would rather forget.
Nearly seven in 10 say the year gone by was a bad one, more than double those who consider it a success, according to the poll. But 62 percent are optimistic about what 2012 will bring for the nation, and more, 78 percent, are hopeful about the year their family will have in 2012.
Jeff Wolfe, 33, of Farmington, W.Va., said 2011 treated him well because he was able to find steady work as a lineman. But for the rest of the nation, things were "pretty rough," with so many Americans looking for jobs, he noted.
"For the first time since 2009, I worked all year," he said. Wolfe said he lost work in 2008 and again in 2010. But in 2011, the father of two school-age children said he was able to catch up on bills, buy his wife a new car and renovate his home.
Overall, the poll found 68 percent of Americans described 2011 as a bad year, compared with 29 percent who felt it was a good one.
A partisan divide, much like the one that ruled Washington this year, seems the only split in public opinion on 2011. Democrats were most likely to view 2011 positively (40 percent called it good), while independents and Republicans were less effusive. Beyond that, the poll found general agreement that 2011 is best left in the past.
Mary Burke, 57, of Ridgeland, S.C., felt economic pain in 2011. She saw prices rise for all of her expenses, from her light bill to groceries. "Paying $5 for a jar of mayonnaise is outrageous," she said.
Food and gas prices surged in 2011, but the most recent Consumer Price Index shows inflation leveling off. November statistics from the government showed a year-over-year inflation rate of 3.4 percent, the smallest such rise since April.
The AP-GfK poll found consumers are sensing the change. Just 18 percent of adults expect consumer prices to rise at a faster pace in the coming year, the lowest share to say so since the poll first asked the question in March. Most (51 percent) expect prices to rise at the same rate or more slowly.
And as the nation's economic fortunes overall appear to be tilting slightly positive, the public's expectations for the economy in the coming year are at their highest point since spring. According to the poll, 37 percent expect economic improvement in the next 12 months, compared with 24 percent who think the economy will slide downhill. That's the first time since May that significantly more people said things will get better than get worse.
On a personal level, 36 percent think their household's financial situation will improve over the next 12 months, while 11 percent think it will worsen. Americans' financial ebbs and flows affect their personal outlook for 2012. Those whose households have faced a job loss in the past six months or who describe their current financial situation as poor are less optimistic about what 2012 holds for them and their families than others, though that does not carry over to their forecast for the nation in 2012.
Optimism about the nation's path varies with views of the economy's direction. Those who say things have looked better in the past month are generally optimistic (79 percent), while just half of those who say things are getting worse feel positive about what 2012 holds for the country. And about 6 in 10 of those who distrust the two major political parties to handle the economy or job creation are pessimistic about how 2012 will turn out for the nation.
Burke said she is angered by politicians in Washington who she believes fail to look out for the interests of the American people.
"They don't care about me and you," she said. "They only care how they are going to line their pockets." As for the economy and nation improving in 2012, she said, "I pray and hope."
The partisan divide in impressions of 2011 persists in the outlook for 2012, with Democrats more optimistic than either Republicans or independents. But expectations for next year's presidential contest appear not to be a factor. Most partisans on both sides foresee victory for their side in the November 2012 presidential election: Three-quarters of Democrats say they think President Barack Obama will win re-election; three-quarters of Republicans say he will not.
The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 8-12 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
___
Associated Press writer Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.
___
Online:
http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com
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