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Where the candidates stand on issues See Page B1 www.flcourier.com

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

VOLUME 24 NO. 45

#BLACKVOTESMATTER DAYTONA BEACH – Hillary Clinton’s last-minute Oct. 29 whirlwind visit to Daytona Beach, the selfproclaimed “World’s Most Famous Beach” located at the eastern end of Florida’s critical I-4 voting corridor, gives some idea of how important the Black vote is in Florida to the presidency.

Coincidentally, Clinton’s stop also came just before Donald Trump releasing a 10-point plan he calls “a new deal” for Black America.

“Nobody needs to tell African-Americans in this

Shaking up the race

As Donald Trump unveils his ‘New Deal for Black America,’ Democrats make a mad dash around the state to get Black Floridians to the polls.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

country that the old new deal from the Democratic Party isn’t working for them,” Trump said in a statement issued Oct. 31.

“In election after election, Democratic party leaders take African-American voters for granted and year after year the condition of Black America gets worse. The conditions in our inner cities today are unacceptable. Too many African-Americans have

What to take to the polls

ELECTION 2016

Activist predicts ‘chaotic election’ | A3

out and vote.

No right to vote

FLORIDA COURIER / 10TH STATEWIDE ANNIVERSARY

‘Forward, Ever’

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In order to vote at the polls during early voting or on Election Day, you must show a photo and signature identification. Acceptable forms of photo identification include a Florida driver license; a Florida identification card issued by the Department of Highway, Safety and Motor Vehicles; a United States passport; a debit or credit card; a military identification; a student identification; a retirement center identification; a neighborhood association identification; or a public assistance identification.

If your photo identification does not contain your signature, you will be required to show an additional form of identification that provides your signature.

Once your identity has been established, you will be asked to sign the precinct register or electronic device, and then you will be allowed to vote. If you need assistance in marking your ballot, inform the poll worker.

If you make a mistake when voting on a paper ballot, ask for a replacement. You may receive up to two replacements, or a total of three ballots.

Polls will be open on Election Day, Nov. 8, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. local time. Contact your Supervisor of Elections for early voting hours, which may vary between early voting sites.

To determine your polling place, check your voter information card or contact your Supervisor of Elections. You may also find your polling place on http://dos. myflorida.com/elections, through the online voter lookup, or on your Supervisor of Elections’ website.

been left behind.”

Trump’s 10 points include school choice, “saving communities,” equal justice under law, tax reforms to create job expansion, attractive credit policies for small businesses loans, less free trade, “protection from illegal immigration,” new infrastructure investment, “protecting the African-American church,” and establishing an “America first” foreign policy.

Last week, only 10 days before the election, the Clinton campaign was hit by an announcement from FBI Director James Comey, saying the FBI is now investigating newly discovered emails that may or may not affect their closed investigation into whether Clinton sent classified emails from a personal computer server.

The new emails are not Clinton’s. They apparently belong to her former aide and longtime confidant Huma Abedin, the wife of former Congressman AnKIM GIBSON/ FLORIDA COURIER thony Weiner, who is un- Hillary Clinton urges a Daytona Beach crowd to get

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Major issues the next president must face B1

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VOLUME 20 NO. 43

SpECIAl ElECTION ISSuE

INSIDE Everything you need to know about voting in 2012 A3 Election myths vs. facts A4 Pros and cons to proposed amendments to Florida’s Constitution A5

‘FORWARD, EVER – BACKWARD, NEVER’ The Florida Courier recommends voting for BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN; YES for retention of all three Florida Supreme Court judges; and NO to all 12 constitutional amendments.

We ignore those candidates who ignore us.

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER EDITORIAL STAFF

Since the 2000 campaign year, our various media properties, the Daytona Times, the Florida Courier and WPUL-AM 1590, have maintained a consistent editorial policy of not recommending candidates – whether national, state or local and regardless of race or political party – who chose not to promote their candidacies through our media when they have media budgets available.

We find it ironic that candidates, their consultants and ad agencies can easily find us when it comes to covering campaign events as news stories or appearing on WPUL’s talk shows. But when it comes to paid advertising, we hear, “We can’t get in contact with you,” or “We are utilizing our campaign resources on something more cost-effective.”

It’s also strange to occasionally hear from some candidates’ representatives that “We

Education, health care, jobs: Where Obama and Romney stand on the issues A6 Rundown of Obama’s major achievements as president over the past four years B4

www.flcourier.com

OCTOBER 26 - NOVEMBER 1, 2012

CHRISTOPHER DILTS FOR OBAMA FOR AMERICA

didn’t know you existed.” What does that say about someone’s ability to learn about and represent a sizable Black constituency if they or their support staff don’t even know that East Central Florida is one of the few communities in America that has had its own Black-owned See PRESIDENT, Page A2

Debates end with ‘beatdown’ in Boca

Here’s why we say ‘NO’ to all amendments

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER EDITORIAL STAFF

ALLEN EYESTONE/PALM BEACH POST/MCT

Patrick Scolaro as “Mitt Romney,” left, and Cory Sullivan as “Barack Obama” playfully duke it out wearing masks at a post-debate concert in Boca Raton on Monday.

Change the rules and change the refs

It’s all politics

BY THE FLORIDA COURIER EDITORIAL STAFF

All you need to know about this year’s 11 amendments is that all of them came from the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature. None came from citizens, and none came from commissions after public meetings, diligent research, and years of study.

All involve political posturing, including an impotent slap against Obamacare (Amendment 1); special tax treatment for the elderly, veterans, and the widows of first responders (Amendments 2, 9, and 11); a tax break ‘payback’ to small business owners, who generally support Re-

We’ve often said about the Republican Party that “99 and a half won’t do” for them. They’ve got to have it all.

The latest example? The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) wants to take over the top level of Florida’s judicial branch: the Florida Supreme Court.

And despite the fact that the court’s defenders have raised millions of dollars to support them, no one has bothered to speak directly to Black Floridians.

We will weigh in here anyway, as the issue is too important to ignore.

See AMENDMENTS, Page A2

How ‘retention’ works In the mid-1970s, Florida changed the

state constitution from corrupt, moneyfilled contested appeals court elections to the current “merit retention” system. Florida appeals court judges and Supreme Court justices are now on the ballot in nonpartisan merit retention elections every six years, so a majority of voters can determine whether they should stay in office.

This year, three of the seven Supreme Court justices – R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince – and 15 appeals court judges (out of 61) have merit retention elections.

A “YES” vote means you want the judge or justice to stay in office. A “NO” vote means you want the judge or jus-

| A6

www.sayyeson8.com

The major issues that worry older voters | B4

ALSO INSIDE

For Roderick Kemp, an AfricanAmerican living in Fort Lauderdale, the 2008 presidential election was a pivotal moment.

That year, Kemp become an organizer for then-Sen. Barack Obama, and Obama’s historic election inspired Kemp to stay politically engaged in the years that followed through local and state campaigns.

The election of the first Black president and the role political organizing played are both historic and emotional for Kemp, a calm and soft-spoken 60-year-old. He broke his usual ease at his home in Fort Lauderdale when he described attending the inauguration in Washington, D.C., in 2009.

“At that moment, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this is what it’s like to be a part of effective change,’” Kemp recalled, fighting back tears.

Along with aiding in the president’s re-election campaign in Florida four years later, Kemp, a real estate agent, served on local boards, ran county commission and mayoral races, and managed a field office for Charlie Crist’s 2014 gubernatorial campaign.

“It just seemed second nature to me that I need to be involved,” Kemp said.

By the time the 2016 election campaigns started, the question for Kemp was not if he would be involved in the 2016 election efforts, but how.

“My phone has been ringing off the hook from leaders of the Broward County Democratic Party asking me, ‘Are you ready? We need you,’” Kemp said.

Fateful letter FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Three justices of the current Florida Supreme Court have been targeted for defeat. Amendment 5 would also change how the court is See JUDGES, Page A2 selected.

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The man behind Clinton’s plan

BY ALEXANDRA CLINTON FLORIDA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

‘Part of change’

CAMPAIGN 2012 / THE FINAL DAYS

Another GOP power grab The amendments that you will see on this year’s ballot are proposed changes to the Florida Constitution.

Our state constitution – similar to the U.S Constitution – establishes rules and basic rights. It covers freedoms such as religion, speech, press, assemblage, work and bearing of arms.

There are four ways to amend Florida’s constitution. Two involve regular studies by commissions convened every 10 and 20 years, respectively. Individual citizens can amend the Constitution by getting thousands of signatures and going through an approval process. The Florida Legislature can also amend the Constitution by the vote of 3/5 of each of the House and the Senate.

Felony convictions disenfranchise 1.7 million Floridians

PROTECT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Four years ago, the Florida Courier published a Special Election Issue recommending readers vote for the Democratic presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

This issue received wide distribution statewide.

But this year, Kemp’s involvement came to an abrupt halt. The Florida Division of Elections discovered a skeleton in his closet. Kemp received a brief letter from the Broward Supervisor of Elections informing him that the state of Florida had revoked his voting privileges due to a previous felony conviction.

In 1986, when Kemp was 29, he was arrested for cocaine possession. After violating the final portion of his parole by missing community service commitments, he served a few months in county jail.

Didn’t know Kemp never realized his voting rights could be taken away as a result.

“I thought that once I served my time, I had paid my debt to society,” he said.

As a recreational drug user who used socially among friends, serving

COMMENTARY: ROSALIND MCCARTHY: WHY I’M VOTING ‘YES’ ON AMENDMENT 2 | A4 COMMENTARY: REV. O’NEAL DOZIER: WHY I’M VOTING ‘NO’ ON AMENDMENT 2 | A4

See NO RIGHT, Page A2

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FOCUS

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016 lando television news reporter asked the governor at a public event if he realized how difficult the clemency process had become.

“It’s not,” Scott said, shaking his head. “Just look at how many people are voting. We have plenty of turnout.”

“Felonies impact our communities more than other communities,” Kemp explained, referring to African-Americans. More than one in five African-Americans is disenfranchised in Florida – 21 percent of all AfricanAmericans living in Florida.

Three states have similarly high rates of African-American disenfranchisement: Kentucky (26 percent), Virginia (22 percent) and Tennessee (21 percent).

‘Wait in line’

COURTESY OF THE FLORIDA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Roderick Kemp is one of millions of Americans who can no longer legally cast a ballot.

NO RIGHT from A1

time shook him straight. Kemp decided to shut the door on that part of his life. “That was done.

That was in the past,” he said.

Over the next 30 years, life fell into place. Kemp’s former boss re-hired him. He went on to become a father of three, a grandfather of two, and to have successful careers in business and real estate. He continued voting as he always had.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the letter arrived. Kemp was stunned. “This must be a mistake,” he thought. It wasn’t.

“You have been convicted of a felony and your civil rights permitting you to vote have not been restored at this time,” the letter stated.

Millions suffering Kemp is one of an estimated 6.1 million Americans, and 1.7 million Floridians, who are disenfranchised due to felony convictions, according to a report released this month by the Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit focused on criminal justice issues.

When an individual is convicted of a felony in Florida, he or she loses the right to vote, sit on a jury, hold public office, and possess a firearm. This was, however, the first time Kemp was informed of the civil rights he had apparently lost back in 1986.

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der FBI investigation for allegedly sexting with an underage girl.

Where the votes are The Daytona stop was the first opportunity for Clinton to directly address FBI Director Comey’s letter.

But first things first. The Clinton campaign caravan headed to where the votes were: at Bethune-Cookman University’s annual homecoming football game.

After surprising a crowd of thousands of delighted football fans, students, and tailgaters, she made a short speech, was escorted into the stadium, stood at attention as the national anthem was played, and headed out under Secret Service escort.

Community center Her next stop: the gymnasium located at the John H. Dickerson Center, a facility on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., in the heart of Daytona Beach’s Black community.

The gym is named after the late Ralph Robinson, a youth coach and mentor who worked in the building as a custodian when it was known as Campbell Elementary, an all-Black neighborhood school.

The building itself is named after the late John H. Dickerson, one of the Black principals of Campbell Elementary before it was shut down as a consequence of the court-ordered racial desegregation of Volusia County’s public school system.

Around the state After a quick speech given to enthusiastic supporters, it was on to Miami for another rally that evening.

In less than a week before Elec-

It remains unclear why Kemp’s ineligibility has only been brought to light recently.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of State maintained that the Division of Elections follows the process outlined in Florida law and in a manner consistent with the federal National Voter Registration Act, which includes monthly voter eligibility reports on the statewide roll.

Worst in America What’s clear is that Florida is the national champion of voter disenfranchisement. More people are disenfranchised as a result of a felony conviction here than in any other state. Of the country’s total disenfranchised population, 27 percent lives in Florida.

“I immediately went into fight mode,” Kemp said after receiving the letter. “We’ve got to fix this.”

Kemp made calls and visited some of the lawmakers whom he helped elect, asking for their help. But then reality hit him.

This wasn’t something a phone call could fix. This was going to be a fight.

Rights restoration practices vary widely by state, and Florida’s is among the toughest. To have his rights restored, Kemp is pursuing clemency – essentially a pardon granted during a hearing with the Florida Board of Executive Clemency.

The board – which consists of Gov. Rick Scott, the state’s attorney general, chief financial officer and commissioner of agriculture – decides if the applicant is

tion Day, vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine will have been in Melbourne, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and President Obama in Orlando, Hillary Clinton in Miami, Daytona Beach and Dade City, Vice President Joe Biden in Tampa and Palm Beach Gardens, and Congressman John Lewis in Daytona Beach.

Contrary reports The campaign is correct not to take any chances, as reports of Black voters’ enthusiasm are contradictory.

Some Black voting experts say they see strong and steady voter participation and voter enthusiasm among African-Americans, the constituency that votes most faithfully for the Democratic ticket.

“I think it’s going to be high,” says Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, the leading organization for voter turnout in national Black communities. “There’s definitely been an enthusiasm in showing up and I think there are various reasons for it.”

Neck-and-neck The early vote so far shows Florida could be headed to yet another extremely close result, cementing its status as the nation’s most closely divided battleground.

Close to 30 percent of the state’s more than 12.8 million eligible voters have already cast ballots for the Nov. 8 general election, with registered Republicans holding a slight edge over Democrats.

Nearly 1.8 million Floridian took advantage of early-voting sites across the state in the first of the two weeks the voting option was available, according to numbers posted early Monday by the state Division of Elections.

Almost 2 million other Floridians have submitted vote-by-mail ballots.

“On occasion, I’ve thought of running for office myself. You can’t help but think of it when you’ve worked with people in office.

People have asked me to run, and I have been close to doing it.”

Roderick Kemp committed to living “crime-free,” and with a majority vote, if he or she is deserving enough to have civil rights restored.

Still active Kemp’s tall, slender figure exudes confidence as he leads a group of young activists on an effort to register minority voters in North Miami on a humid Sunday in August.

“Excuse me,” Kemp said to an African-American woman outside of a supermarket. “Are you registered to vote?’”

For Kemp, voting is not just a right; it is a way of life. Over the past eight years, Kemp has gained respect and a sense of community within Florida’s Democratic Party.

“On occasion, I’ve thought of running for office myself,” he said. “You can’t help but think of

Voters from both major parties have returned more than 1.5 million ballots each, with Republicans ahead by almost 65,000 among vote-by-mail ballots as of early Monday.

Democrats were up in early voting numbers by just over 55,000. Independents have returned more than 325,000 voteby-mail ballots and cast over 300,000 early votes.

Floridians registered with third parties have accounted for nearly 50,000 vote-by-mail ballots and more than 40,000 early votes.

Black Floridians lagging?

“It’s close here. I could make an argument for either one of them here right now, very easily,” said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who ran Obama’s campaign in Florida in 2008.

As in other states, early voting by Black voters in Florida has lagged behind their 2012 share of the electorate, which is why Obama will be traveling this week to Miami and Jacksonville to campaign for Clinton.

“We need the number to go up,” Schale said; “having the president here helps.”

No foolproof method There is no method by which to scientifically document the number of Black voters who have cast their ballots, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has given an indicator of Black participation by conducting a recent “Poll on Black Voter Enthusiasm.”

The poll results range from Black voter enthusiasm as high as 90 percent in the Midwest to the lowest of 75 percent in the West – still relatively high.

Millennials questionable Despite her observation of high voter turnout, Campbell says she remains concerned

it when you’ve worked with people in office. People have asked me to run, and I have been close to doing it.”

More difficult It has become increasingly harder for ex-offenders to regain their voting rights since Gov. Scott took office. Politics have had a direct hand in shaping the yo-yo history of Florida’s rightsrestoration process.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, a Republican, approved 76,736 cases during his eight years in office, and former Gov. Charlie Crist, a moderate Republican at the time and now a Democrat, passed reforms and restored rights to 155,315 ex-offenders during his four-year term.

Since Scott took office in 2011, just 2,340 cases have been approved.

“It just seems unfair,” Kemp said. “When you look at my record as someone who’s been involved in the process, I’m qualified. You took that qualification away from me for something that happened a lifetime ago.”

Large backlog More than 10,000 applications wait to be heard by the Florida Board of Executive Clemency.

The backlog seems by design.

The board, which meets four times annually, has tasked itself with an insurmountable amount of work and cannot keep up with the thousands of new applications it receives.

Scott rarely comments on the process, but in March, an Or-

about Black millennials, many of whom strongly supported the Democratic candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders is campaigning strongly for Clinton this week, but millennial voters, even according to the Joint Center survey, still appear sluggish in their enthusiasm for Clinton. Some question whether they vote at all.

“We still have a concern whether the millennials will turn out and vote in the numbers that they have. But a lot of millennial groups are working hard,” Campbell said.

Those groups include Black Youth Vote among other youth organizing groups. Color of Change, an online national activist organization is also doing special outreach to Black youth.

Though the economy and jobs run high among the issues that concern older Black voters, criminal justice issues are foremost on the minds of young voters with affordable education close behind.

The Black Lives Matter movement has raised the issue of disparate police killings of Black people to the level of a presidential political issue.

Latinos up, Blacks down?

So far, Latino voters appear to be turning out at levels above 2012 – far greater in some states.

But African-American voters in other states have also lagged behind.

That puts Clinton in a stronger position in states where Latinos play a key role, notably Arizona and Nevada. It could indicate trouble in industrial-belt states where a big turnout by Black voters was critical to Obama’s victories.

Obama won in Ohio in 2012 because of “tremendous performance out of Cuyahoga County and Franklin County” by AfricanAmerican voters, said Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, refer-

Kemp filed his application for clemency earlier this year, but it will likely be years, maybe even a decade, before his case is heard.

“They told me to wait in line,” he said.

Any other year, Election Day holds a sense of pride for Kemp.

This year, he will be absent from the polls. “I don’t have a voice.

I’m like an anonymous person,” he said.

Voter referendum possible Some hope rests in activist Desmond Meade and his Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

Meade’s organization has collected 68,000 signatures for a ballot initiative that would rewrite voter restoration laws.

The proposed constitutional amendment would automatically restore civil rights for nonviolent felons after they have completed their sentences. Following review by the Supreme Court, the proposed amendment could be on the 2018 ballot.

In addition to helping log some of those thousands of signatures with the coalition, Kemp is looking inward as he waits for his day with the clemency board.

As a follower of Nichiren Buddhism, Kemp chants daily. Next to the altar where Kemp sits in peace, holding his prayer beads and preparing to begin his practice, there is a list of goals for 2016.

Among them: determination.

This story is a companion to a seven-minute web documentary about Roderick Kemp that may be viewed at fcir.org.

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit news organization supported by foundations and individual contributions. For more information, visit fcir.org.

ring to the counties that include Cleveland and Cincinnati.

“But 2012 was an amazing year for African-American voters,” he added. The question for Democrats will be how much of a decline they suffer.

That decline in Black turnout is part of the reason public polls show Trump well-positioned to capture Ohio. His strong support from blue-collar White voters has also given him a potential edge in Iowa, another archetypal swing state that Obama won twice.

Trump gambles For the final stretch of the presidential race, the GOP nominee has embarked on a strategy of long-shot bids, holding rallies and airing ads in states that were reliably Democratic in recent elections. Trump’s gambit sacrifices face time in battleground states, but if successful, would upend the political map and likely hand him the White House.

“The Trump campaign is on the offensive and expanding our presence in battleground states into blue states,” David Bossie, Trump’s deputy campaign manager, told reporters Tuesday.

Trump’s campaign believes it can flip states by relying on his populist rhetoric that connects with White working-class voters hurt by the Rust Belt’s decline in manufacturing.

Michigan was among 13 states where the Trump campaign placed a $25 million ad buy for the final week of the race, digital director Brad Parscale announced.

Hazel Trice Edney of the Trice Edney News Wire; Melanie Mason and Michael A. Memoli of the Tribune Washington Bureau; and David Goldstein of McClatchy Washington Bureau /TNS all contributed to this report. Information from the News Service of Florida was also used.

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

ELECTION 2016

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Intimidating and discrimination at the polls?

Activist predicts ‘the most chaotic election for people of color in 50 years’

In their place, the Justice Department will deploy a smaller number of department attorneys and other personnel who — unlike the observers — must get permission from local election officials before they can enter polling sites in 23 states where they will be sent.

BY TONY PUGH TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON – Voting rights advocates are urging state election officials nationwide to be on the lookout for efforts to disenfranchise, intimidate and discriminate against minority voters during the general election.

They say a weakened Voting Rights Act, incendiary campaign rhetoric and confusion over controversial state laws that restrict voting opportunities have created a perfect storm for Election Day problems, particularly for Hispanic, Arab-American, Muslim and African-American voters, said Wade Wade Henderson, presHenderson ident and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations.

“State election officials must address these unprecedented threats head-on by creating and publicizing clear plans to prevent intimidation and discrimination, and to make it unequivocally clear to the voters they serve that the elections they oversee will be safe, fair and free,” Henderson said in a statement.

Varied approaches Nearly 90 civil rights and voting advocacy groups made that argument last week, sending letters to the nation’s 50 secretary of state offices calling for their special attention to the tense atmosphere surrounding what Henderson called “the most racially bigoted election in generations.”

Volunteers sought Voting rights advocates fear that potential loss of access could give rise to problems, particularly in nine states with long histories of voting discrimination.

To help ensure the integrity of the vote, the nonpartisan Election Protection coalition is recruiting 4,500 legal volunteers and 2,500 grass-roots volunteers to monitor activity at mostly minority polling locations in 29 states, said Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national civil rights group that runs the coalition.

JOHNNY LOUIS/SIPA USA/TNS

Voters line up for to cast their ballot early at Broward County library Miramar Branch during the Presidential 2016 election on Oct. 24 in Miramar. Voting rights advocates are trying to make sure that voting is safe and fair at polling places around the country.

In Mississippi, Republican Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said recently that trained election commissioners, circuit clerks, staff employees and others would help monitor polls. But the state isn’t taking any additional measures.

“This is the same thing we do for any election: presidential, gubernatorial or an election of the local sheriff,” he said. “I see no kind of disturbance.”

North Carolina is taking a different approach.

After a federal appeals court struck down the state’s voter ID law as unfairly targeting AfricanAmerican voters, the state elections board is working with law enforcement officials to explain

and inform stakeholders about North Carolina election laws, including a requirement that advocacy groups stay within designated areas when monitoring activities at polling locations.

monitor for possible voter fraud.

“We are on the precipice of the most chaotic election for people of color in 50 years,” Henderson said in a conference call last week with reporters.

More challenges

Fewer legal observers

The moves come as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump asks his supporters to act as untrained, partisan observers at polling places “in certain areas.” That could create episodes of voter intimidation and unjust voter challenges, the advocates say.

In addition, conservative groups like True the Vote are training election observers to

Compounding the problem is the Justice Department’s inability — after more than 50 years — to deploy hundreds of special election observers who can monitor Election Day activity at polling places to help ensure compliance with federal election laws.

A 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision required that a court order be issued before the special observers could be dispatched.

National hotlines The coalition hotline (866-OUR-VOTE) has already fielded more than 42,000 calls from voters nationwide. But unlike previous years, most have been to report some sort of problem rather than to answer a question about the election and voter registration process, Clarke said.

The Arab American Institute will also operate a live hotline on Election Day (844-418-1682) to provide voter assistance in Arabic and English.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials will operate a bilingual hotline (888-839-8682) to help resolve disputes or assist Hispanics who think their voting rights may have been violated.

Jessica Campisi contributed to this report.

“WHEN THEY GO LOW, WE GO HIGH!” “This November, when we go to the polls this election and every election...is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four or eight years of their lives.” ~ Michelle Obama

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EDITORIAL

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NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Why I’m voting ‘Yes’ on Amendment 2 On Nov. 8, voters will once again have a say whether Florida will join California, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon among other states who have passed a comprehensive medical marijuana law aimed at helping those who deal with debilitating medical conditions on a daily basis.

In 2014, 58 percent of Florida’s voters favored passing a comprehensive compassionate care law.

Unfortunately, Florida did not meet the 60 percent super-majority vote requirement needed to make changes to Florida’s constitution.

Weak current law In its current form, Florida’s constitution states marijuana is illegal to possess, distribute, or use. Florida’s current “Charlotte’s Web” law is weak. This law only allows a select few to use lowTHC cannabis oils.

Under the proposed 2016 amendment, medical marijuana will be regulated and controlled and only licensed medical physicians will be allowed to prescribe to patients. The new amendment clarifies key points that were implied but not explicitly stated in 2014. Ambiguity is removed and replaced with language that specifically articulates all medical conditions must be “debilitating.”

Supported by youth Polls show that most Floridians believe that medical marijuana should be made available

ROSALIND MCCARTHY GUEST COMMENTARY

to those who need it. More specifically, there are 1.5 million African-Americans in Florida registered to vote, with approximately 604,000 of them between the ages of 18 and 45.

In 2014, Florida Politics found support from 89 percent of “millennials” – voters 18 to 34 years old – who said they would vote for “yes” for legalization.

Medical research has shown that when recommended by a physician, marijuana can help patients who are suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, epilepsy, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other ailments. Medical marijuana can help patients with seizures, chronic pain, and loss of appetite.

Other impacts Consider the social, political, and business impact legalization will have on our state.

The passing of Amendment 2 theoretically could open up the doors for those who are incarcerated for small marijuana possession offenses by providing them an opportunity to appeal their conviction. Between 2001 and 2010, Blacks on average were four times more likely than Whites to

Why I’m voting ‘No’ on Amendment 2 After failing to pull the wool over the eyes of Florida voters in 2014, the proponents of Amendment 2 – the so-called “medical” marijuana amendment – have brought it back. I opposed it then, and I oppose it now.

I support efforts to help those suffering from real debilitating illnesses, but Amendment 2 goes far beyond that worthy cause. It is nothing more than a back-door attempt to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Florida.

I am not alone Both the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Medical Association oppose Amendment 2.

As T. Willard Fair, president of the Urban League of Greater Miami and former chairman of the Florida Board of Education, said in 2014: “I will not vote to legalize the street drug marijuana…label it medicine and make it available to anyone… for any condition…”

Fair’s statement is just as applicable today as it was then.

THE REV. O’NEAL DOZIER GUEST COMMENTARY

What it will do The so-called “new” Amendment 2 is still filled with dangerous loopholes including: • Allowing most high school seniors to legally purchase pot without their parents’ consent.

• Permitting pot candy and other THC-infused edibles that appeal to children.

• Placing no restrictions on the location and number of so-called pot shops.

• Allowing so-called caregivers to administer pot without medical training and permitting non-medically trained personnel (“budtenders”) to staff pot shops.

As if these facts were not disturbing enough, it is Amendment 2’s potential negative impact on Florida’s Black and low-

Malcolm X speaks on Clinton and Trump Malcolm X has been dead now a half-century – dead for more years than he was ever alive.

But since at least one of the political tricks and traps hasn’t changed much, we might want to listen carefully to what Malcolm’s words in the aftermath of the 1964 presidential election between Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson and Republican Barry Goldwater: “If Johnson had been running all by himself, he would not have been acceptable to anyone. The only thing that made him acceptable to the world was that the shrewd capitalists, the shrewd imperialists, knew that the only way people would run toward the fox would be if you showed them a wolf. So they created a ghastly al-

BRUCE A. DIXON BLACK AGENDA REPORT

ternative. And it had the whole world – including people who call themselves Marxists – hoping that Johnson would beat Goldwater.”

Scary candidate Like today’s Donald Trump, Goldwater was a truly reprehensible and frightening figure. He opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned racial discrimination in public accommoda-

get arrested and convicted for minor marijuana offenses.

The passing of Amendment 2 can protect medical marijuana laws, while supporting local jurisdictions for decriminalization laws. Both of these laws would help people get the medicine they need, while keeping people who pose no danger to public safety out of the criminal justice system.

The big medical marijuana business boom is upon us. I predict within the next decade, marijuana prohibition will come to an end. Studies show that across the country, only one percent of the approximately 3,700 dispensaries are owned by AfricanAmerican entrepreneurs. The industry as a whole is estimated to bring in $6 billion by the year 2018.

Opening financial doors The application process for growing and distributing medical cannabis is now closed in Florida. However, if Amendment 2 is passed, the doors to this industry could possibly open up again. Supporting the rights of Black farmers, entrepreneurs, and businesses who are interested in entering the industry is at the top of my agenda.

The task of getting a license to grow and distribute will be difficult. One can assume the licensing process will be strict and the fees exorbitant. Startup costs could run in the hundred thousands of dollars. Angel investors er-income communities that concerns me the most given, that the Department of Health estimates the amendment would result in nearly 2,000 pot shops in the state.

And where do you think they will be located? All we have to do is take a look at what is happening in cities in states that have legalized marijuana.

Impacting our neighborhoods In Denver, the Denver Post reported that Denver’s zoning rules are sending marijuana businesses to low-income neighborhoods. In Seattle, protesters have targeted the city’s White-owned top-selling pot store which is located in the heart of what was a predominantly Black neighborhood – where residents were once arrested for selling pot.

Black community leaders had better be prepared for similar efforts here in Florida. Several cities have already passed or considered ordinances banning or restricting the sale of marijuana products under current law and in anticipation of an onslaught of full potency marijuana if Amendment 2 passes.

In Palm Beach, the Planning tions. He favored the use of nuclear weapons to defoliate the Vietnamese countryside.

Goldwater, the wolf, was buried beneath a Johnson landslide, carrying only 6 out of the 50 states.

Johnson, the fox, went on to start a war in Indochina that killed three million Vietnamese alone.

He defoliated the Vietnamese countryside with millions of tons of Agent Orange instead of nukes, causing hundreds of thousands of hideous and gruesome birth defects that continue to this day.

The wolf and the fox this year are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Trump is a real estate con man, a racist and a hyper-entitled sexual predator who talks about building walls and banning Muslims. Fortunately for us all, Trump has never been in government.

The truth comes out Hillary has scarcely ever been

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE 2016 ELECTION

NATE BEELER, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

and investment fund managers have their eyes wide open looking for Florida entrepreneurs who have a new business model, product, service, or idea that will make them want to invest.

There are services which can be offered to the industry, such as legal, security, consulting, real estate, accounting, construction, etc., that are not dependent on coming in contact with the actual product.

Let’s figure it out What’s the best we can hope for by voting ‘YES’? I am not sure. But I do know the passing of Amendment 2 gives minority communities license to “hunt.”

Now is the time to put in the work and figure it out.

Minorities for Medical Marijuana will advocate on behalf of those who don’t have a voice in this industry. Through our partand Zoning Commission recently passed an ordinance to ban or limit medical marijuana facilities in the city.

In Miami-Dade, the county passed an ordinance prohibiting dispensaries from opening in certain areas. Orlando has approved a moratorium on any new pot outlets in the city.

We should also be wary of Amendment 2 proponents who say Amendment 2 will help not only those with the conditions listed in the amendment, such as HIV and cancer, but also “other debilitating medical conditions…”

An ‘average’ user They will not tell you that in California, a report shows that only three percent of users have “debilitating” conditions like cancer. The average user is a 32-year old White male with a history of drug or alcohol use.

I could not discuss Amendment 2 without exploding one of the main myths its proponents make to the Black community: legalization of pot will end racial disparities in pot arrest rates.

Not true. According to the Center on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Black people are twice as likely to be arrested for pot in Colorado and Washington – out of government. She’s fronted for Wal-Mart, executed bloody regime change in Libya, brought U.S. troops to Ukraine on the Russian border, and publicly itches for a showdown in Syria.

Thanks to Wikileaks there is copious evidence that Hillary’s public stands on a wide range of issues from charter schools to socalled trade agreements, to fracking and Social Security, stand in stark contrast to the promises she makes to the powerful.

Just as it worked 52 years ago, the overwhelming defeat of her wolfish opponent will give Hillary the appearance of a mandate.

But the margin of Hillary’s victory provides those of us on the left an unprecedented opportunity.

It means there is no need for those who imagine themselves on the of jobs, justice, peace and the planet to ride to Hillary’s rescue and ensure the defeat of Donald Trump. Trump has already

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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nership with organizations such as Latinos for Cannabis and the Minority Business Alliance, we are prepared to support and connect people of color who have an interest in the industry.

Marijuana is no longer a street drug. It’s a business. We have two options: get on board or get left behind.

I propose we fight for our rights and go for the former. What say you?

Rosalind McCarthy is founder of Minorities for Medical Marijuana, Inc. (www.voteyes4bud.org), a Florida advocacy, marketing, and outreach nonprofit organization dedicated to informing minority communities on the social, political, medical, and business aspects of the medical marijuana industry. where it’s legal.

To those who argue that Amendment 2 is a “silver bullet” that will end such disparities and be a “get out of jail free card,” they should read the Amendment’s fine print:

Won’t change the law “Nothing in this section shall affect or repeal laws relating to non-medical use, possession, production or sale of marijuana… requires the violation of federal law or purports to give immunity under federal law.” Under federal law, marijuana is an illegal substance.

Finally, and making things even worse, it is a scientific fact that marijuana usage dumbs down our children and makes them lazy and unproductive. At a time when Black high school graduation rates are below all other ethnic groups in our state, this is no time to give pot respectability to our youth by opening the “medipot” flood gates and making things even worse.

Vote ‘NO’ on this dangerous amendment.

O’Neal Dozier is senior pastor of The Worldwide Christian Center Church in Pompano Beach. beaten himself.

Now is the time This election is our best chance to break out of the decades-old two-party trap and build a new political force: a new political party. The Green Party is the only peace party. It stands for people and planet over profit, and our only opportunity to vote our hopes, not our fears.

If we vote Green and build Green, we can consign the political conundrum Malcolm X eloquently described a half-century ago to the garbage can of history. Or we can vote for Hillary, and Malcolm’s words will be as applicable four or eight years or twenty years from now as they have been for the last fifty.

It’s time to choose.

Bruce Dixon is managing editor of BlackAgendaReport. com.

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NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Black women must exercise their voting power With a few days left until Election Day, some are speculating what the overall turnout will be among Black women.

Black women were among the most active voters in the 2008 and 2012 elections. Black women make up 6.3 percent of the total U.S. voting age population, but represented 9 percent of the 2012 and 2014 electorate due to their higher voter turnout.

pation expanded the electorate of first-time voters and mobilized a record number of first-time political donors and bundlers.

Essential involvement

An opportunity

Over the past several election cycles, Black women have demonstrated that their robust involvement is an absolutely essential foundation of any winning coalition.

Black women’s participation in the last two presidential elections transcended just showing up at the polls and voting. A closer look reveals that voting was just the beginning.

The Obama for America strategy provided meaningful tools of engagement – from hosting house parties to organizing virtual phone banks and door-knocking opportunities. The effectiveness of the campaign’s engagement, investment and tailored messaging resulted in a surge in Black women’s overall engagement. That partici-

This post-Obama bridge election presents a movement-building opportunity designed for and

by Black women, independent of any particular candidate.

The 2016 election provides an opportunity to harness Black women’s power by turning out the vote. Furthermore, it gives us the opportunity to leverage that voting strength into the power to shape and inform political debates from equal pay and affordable health care to reproductive rights and community safety.

This November’s election results will be determined in large part by the turnout rates among Black women. There are several factors to consider: Will Black women voters, many who voted for the first time in 2008 and

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: CLINTON AND COMEY

TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

DR. E. FAYE WILLIAMS, ESQ. TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

24 percent of the Black population lives in poverty, compared to less than 9.1 percent for Whites.

In 2009, when Obama took office, the median weekly earnings of Blacks and Whites was 79 percent and has not gotten better. Today, the rate of homeownership for Blacks is 41.7 percent versus 71.5 What hope and change?

Obama, who promised hope percent for Whites, and we’ve seen and change, was supposed to lead a decline in Black business ownerBlack America towards the Prom- ship over the past eight years. ised Land (or at least in the right direction). Yet, the gap between Same concerns The Black population has the Whites and Blacks remains wide.

At 8.1 percent, Black unemploy- same concerns as of the rest of ment rate is almost double that of America: safe environments, qualWhites (4.4 percent). More than ity education, jobs, better eco-

2012 return to the polls? s there an enthusiasm gap among Black women voters? What strategies and messages will motivate Black women’s engagement?

GLENDA BASKIN GLOVER GUEST COLUMNIST

tions, Hillary Clinton is the clear choice for this nation for the following reasons: • Her commitment to HBCUs is far reaching.

Her New College Compact pledges $25 billion to HBCUs and minority serving institutions, thereby strengthening opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities to attend college. It provides that families with income up to $125,000 will pay no tuition at in-state public colleges and universities, and that community colleges are tuition free for all working families. Also, it makes debt-free college available to everyone and addresses student loan debt.

• Her pledge to protect Pell grant funding for minority students and reinstate summer Pell grants, thereby making this funding available year-round.

• Her history of supporting concerns that affect African-Americans including improved education, unemployment, civil rights, the current criminal justice system, racial injustices and other disparities in the Black community.

• Her experience with health care initiatives The clear choice which will ensure that afIn analyzing the candi- fordable health care is dates, their platforms, ex- available for families. This periences and qualifica- is especially important

DARYL CAGLE, CAGLECARTOONS.COM

Yes, we can Can we activate this critical 2008 and 2012 voting bloc, turn them out to the polls and motivate them to organize their communities? Yes! The late Shirley Chisholm once said, “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”

Black women have a pivotal role to play in helping to move the country forward. But we must activate our networks.

History has demonstrated that when you fire up a Black woman, she does not go to the polls alone.

She brings her house, her block, her church, her sorority and her water cooler.

According to Nielson, Black women are one of the largest usnomic conditions. So why have the disparities widened?

Against this grim economic backdrop, many of America’s inner-city areas continue to suffer from violent crime, failing schools, drug infestations, failing infrastructure, etc. In Obama’s hometown of Chicago, we’ve seen over 3,000 homicides, the highest number of any American city and far outpacing Los Angeles, New York – and even Afghanistan.

U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow has warned, “In addition to depressing Black employment levels… illegal immigration – frankly any low-skilled immigration – tends to drive down the wages of jobs that are available for Black Americans.”

As we move into the final days of the election, what promise have Black inner -city voters received from Hillary Clinton?

No solutions Hillary has offered no policy or solutions to directly change the conditions for struggling Black families. In fact, she has a history of calling Black males “super

Why the HBCU community should support Hillary Clinton African-Americans should be eager to vote this year. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), students, and the Black community as a whole should vote for Hillary Clinton for President. Additionally, parents should urge young millennials to support Hillary as well.

As an outspoken college president regarding civil rights, I can easily articulate that the most critical challenges facing AfricanAmericans today center around educational issues, economic inequality, and growing injustices. Voting is the first step and a necessary condition to fashioning solutions to many of these challenges.

The right to vote is a matter of dignity and democracy. Sometimes it is important to remind each other of the significant bloody and deadly battles that were fought for such a fundamental right that should have been enforced from the inception of our democracy. In fact, we honor the legacy of those who made sacrifices by exercising this decisive right.

This brings us to the critical choice between the candidates for this all-important election on Nov. 8, that many are characterizing as one of the most crucial elections in the last 60 years.

A5

GLYNDA C. CARR AND KIMBERLY PEELER-ALAN

Could Blacks swing the election to Trump?

For decades, the Democratic Party has taken the Black vote for granted – and for good statistical reasons.

Barack Obama captured at least 95 percent of the Black vote in 2008 and 2012, as did Al Gore in 2000. Even John Kerry hit 93 percent in 2004.

Will jobs and illegal immigration be the issues that finally drive large numbers of Blacks to vote Republican? Ironically, President Obama could well be the catalyst for such change.

EDITORIAL

since there are enormous health disparities that affect African-Americans and other minorities.

• Her platform advances an economy that works for everyone, and presents an investment in the nation’s infrastructure, thereby providing a comprehensive new jobs program.

• Her proven record of promoting and advancing women; and she will continue to tear down barriers, especially as it relates to African-American women.

• Finally, and most of all, her unparalleled credentials and experience in government, public service, law, and international affairs.

I’m with her These are only a few of the reasons that define the choice for Hillary Clinton, and explain why I’m with her and you should be too!

Hillary Clinton will build upon President Obama’s legacy and chart her own path toward issues that are important to us.

Your vote counts! Your vote matters! We have a responsibility as well as a duty to vote. In this critical election, we must vote to effect change.

No vote, no voice, no victory!

Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover is the eighth president and first female president of Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn. She is also an alumna of TSU.

ers of social media. The #BlackWomenVote campaign is tapping into the organizing power of Black women, encouraging them to raise their voices, cast their votes and show their power.

Use our tools The campaign has tools and resources to help everyday Black women organize their networks – from shareable graphics and videos, Facebook Live events and ‘Share Your Vote Story’ opportunities.

You must flex your power and help us move voters to the polls by Nov. 8. Join the campaign and help to register your folks to vote, take predators,” supporting incarceration of Black males at a rate higher than White males and supporting White immigrants while calling Black immigrants “professional ne’er do-wells.” She also wants to keep our children in failing schools with no option for choice.

Hillary Clinton said she will increase Syrian refugees by 550 percent. Yet, she never talks about increasing the African, Haitian or Caribbean immigrant population.

Her support for late-term abortions – 30 percent of abortions occur among Black women – shows she does not demonstrate compassion, sincerity or and understanding of what it takes to advance the social and economic conditions in inner-city America.

I believe that Black voters may give Donald Trump a chance because he’s brave enough to tackle the problems in inner-city America head-on. He offers a comprehensive program of tax cuts that targets the middle class; education reform; jobs and skill training; and preventing illegal immigrants from taking jobs from minorities.

Mr. Trump’s mission is to rekindle America’s strong economic

them to the polls, and discuss the issues and candidates that matter.

Go to www.blackwomenvote. com where you will find all of the tools, information and planning guides you need to educate yourself and mobilize your network.

Some are expecting us to stay home. Let’s prove them wrong.

Glynda C. Carr and Kimberly Peeler-Allen are co-founders of Higher Heights for America, a national organization focused on harnessing Black women’s political power and leadership potential. #BlackWomenVote (www.

BlackWomenVote.com) is a nonpartisan voter-activism campaign for Black women. growth, increase Black businesses, and thereby create millions of jobs and improving the conditions we need for renewed wage growth for everyone. Trump has a colorblind vision designed to create more opportunities and rekindle our entrepreneurial spirit.

Check his record Trump employs more Blacks and Hispanics in his own enterprises than any presidential candidate in the last 20 years. If he’s done this successfully in the private sector, he can make government work successfully for the people – especially Black people.

I believe Black voters will swing the election to Donald Trump because they are tired of being taken for granted. They want to see a brighter future and better opportunities and will make a conscious choice in this presidential election against more of the old same old political establishment.

Jennifer Carroll is a former lieutenant governor of the state of Florida.

Trump’s ‘Contract with the American Voter’ In 1994, Newt Gingrich and his Contract with America led Republicans to victory, recapturing control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. I was there as the chairman of GOPAC, Gingrich’s political operation.

I believed as early as June 1994 that we would win the House, even though most Americans were surprised on Election Night.

Today, watching another historic campaign against entrenched power, I believe Donald Trump will win in a surprise upset with his own political “contract.”

For the people Last month, in Gettysburg, Penn., Donald Trump introduced his “Contract with the American Voter,” a set of clear commitments about what he will do if elected president.

Trump said he made the announcement at Gettysburg to underscore that his contract will restore government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” as Lincoln famously described.

This new contract includes six measures to clean up Washington and rein in federal bureaucrats; five actions to restore the constitutional rule of law and improve our security; and ten legislative measures Trump promises to fight for during his first 100 days in office.

Hold him accountable Like the original Contract with America, Trump’s document is an invitation to

GAY HART GAINES GUEST COMMENTARY

voters to hold him accountable. That was the power of the 1994 contract: Republicans made such an explicit commitment that voters knew they would keep their word, or they’d be voted out in two years. And they did keep their word.

This year, Donald Trump is making voters a similar offer: he will change Washington, or voters will tell him, “You’re fired.”

Republicans and independents who are skeptical about Trump should take a hard look at his Contract with the American Voter.

Whatever they may think of Trump personally, he is offering Americans the chance to vote for a specific set of ideas.

Even the most staunchly “Never Trump” Republicans would have to admit that it’s an impressive list.

It includes a constitutional amendment to term-limit members of Congress, a hiring freeze on non-essential federal employees, and a rule that for every new regulation, two must be eliminated.

It promises repeal of Obamacare (which is currently causing insurance premiums to skyrocket across the country), a constitutional conservative nominee to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court, an aggressive plan

to halt illegal immigration, a pro-growth economic agenda designed by Reaganite supply-side economists, and a rebuilding of the American military.

And most importantly, it would make school choice a right for every parent in America, starting with the poorest who are most in need of help.

Vote for his agenda Perhaps some Republicans can’t quite bring themselves to vote for Trump the man. But what principled Republican could fail to vote for his agenda in this election, at such an important crossroads for our country?

Especially against a Democrat whose corruption and contempt for the American people is glaring – and who would fight against every single one of those policies if elected.

Once again this year, the election may come down to Florida. To Republicans and independents who have leaned away from Trump because of their distaste for his personality, remember: we have had many flawed presidents before – but we’ve never had one so corrupt as Hillary Clinton.

Take a look at the Trump Contract with the American Voter, and see if it doesn’t convince you to sign on the dotted line.

Gay Hart Gaines is a lifelong Republican activist. She resides in Palm Beach.

TOJ A6

ELECTION 2016

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016 joined Obama’s campaign after Clinton conceded a bitter primary loss to him.

He was a White House liaison to the State Department in 2009 before joining the Democrats’ congressional campaign committee and later the president’s reelection campaign before a return stint at the White House, until he was one of the first hires Clinton made in 2015.

Sophisticated data, technology

The man behind Clinton’s plan Marlon Marshall is the most senior African-American on either presidential campaign. He has helped navigate the presidential nominee through uncharted territory.

prosaic assignment of locating and assembling, motivating and deploying an army of staffers and volunteers across the country on the mission to elect Clinton.

Marshall had to be goaded into showing a photo of his ride with Obama as he ended a more typical workday the next day. His final stop: A Manhattan hotel where he would address volunteers who will make calls and travel to swing states.

BY MICHAEL A. MEMOLI TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

‘Overgrown community organizer’

NEW YORK – A surprise was in store for Marlon Marshall, a top Hillary Clinton aide, as he arrived to brief President Barack Obama at a campaign stop in Philadelphia recently. Marshall would lay out the day’s schedule in the Beast, the president’s heavily armored limousine that serves as a rolling Oval Office.

It was a rare pinch-yourself moment for Marshall, a perk afforded the man charged with the more

Barely in the door, he was in demand. A volunteer focused on New Hampshire urged him to ensure a particular member of Congress visited as a surrogate. Another came up to offer his suggestions on other ways to engage voters.

“We’re feeling really good about where we’re at in the battleground states,” Marshall told the crowd later in what was part pep talk, part debriefing on shifting polls.

“It doesn’t matter. If we do what

“

we need to do, and we execute our strategy, we’re going to win.”

If Clinton secures a historic victory in the presidential race, Marshall can be credited with implementing the plan that got her there.

Marshall, 37, oversees the largest division of her campaign and interacts with just about every other aspect of it. Officially, he’s the director of states and political engagement, but staffers toss out any number of descriptions of his job — one called him an “overgrown community organizer.”

A common refrain is to say he’s in charge of everything from “the grass roots to the grass tops” — strategizing with supporters from that New Hampshire volunteer to those as high-ranking as the president.

White House liaison It’s a high-intensity position for the low-profile Marshall, but his adeptness has earned him trust from the campaign’s highest levels, and the loyalty of his staff and field army.

“It’s like the Beatles are coming to town when Marlon comes,” said Corey Dukes, Pennsylvania director for Clinton’s campaign.

Marshall, who asked not to speak on the record for this article, was a state-level organizer for Clinton in 2008 and would become one of a few key staffers who

Shrewd delegate targeting Mook and other campaign officials credit Marshall and his top deputies for a strategy in the primaries that staved off the insurgency from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

It was as much about shrewd delegate targeting as it was ensuring that a Clinton strength — overwhelming support among Black voters — remained so amid a rapidly unfolding and at times thorny debate over issues of race and criminal justice.

A St. Louis native, Marshall is the most senior African-American on either presidential campaign. He has helped navigate

Yes on 1_3.qxp_Layout 1 10/6/16 11:25 AM Page 1

‘Please believe’ A common refrain among Marshall’s colleagues both past and present is to praise his steadiness and his ability to inspire co-workers.

Mook credited Marshall for forcing him to take a victory lap at campaign headquarters after they returned to Brooklyn on the night Clinton scored five key primary victories in March.

“I was so focused on what we had to do next, and I remember that night he was really good about just getting me to take one or two hours just to savor this winning streak,” Mook said.

One of Marshall’s most common expressions, applicable both in response to good news and bad, is to say: “Please believe.”

Constant, level, grounded Mitch Stewart, who held a position similar to Marshall’s on Obama’s re-election campaign, recalled the sense of foreboding the day after Obama’s disastrous first debate against Mitt Romney in 2012. Marshall, then one of his deputies, was a solitary voice bucking up his colleagues.

He seized on a suggestion of a state director to initiate a challenge among Florida staff members to see who could register the most voters, making it a national competition among the states “to turn what was a negative into a positive.”

It resulted in the campaign’s biggest voter registration weekend to that point.

“Those type of personalities are so critical in a campaign because it’s full of ups and downs,” Stewart said. “The people that can remain somewhat constant and level and grounded are really, really important.”

“

MARIA LORENZINO/SUN SENTINEL/TNS

Marlon Marshall, director of states/political engagement for the Hillary Clinton campaign, speaks to volunteers at a Hillary Clinton rally on Sept. 30 in Coral Springs, Fla.

Bringing on Marshall signaled to many in the party what kind of race she intended to run: adapting the Obama playbook that paired an expansive team of local organizers with the most sophisticated data and technological tools, helping to identify likely supporters and ensuring they voted.

Democrats are counting on that formula to blunt the angst-fueled candidacy of Donald Trump.

Party leaders are also looking to the formula to sustain Democrats into the future.

“We both really believe in this organizing work, not just its power to influence the outcome of an election but its power to leave something behind when the election is over,” said campaign manager Robby Mook, who worked with Marshall several times before hiring him for Clinton’s campaign.

“There are a lot of really talented, well-developed leaders in our party and in the progressive community playing really important roles in this campaign and other campaigns because of him.”

Clinton through uncharted territory, as the Black Lives Matter movement emerged and challenged politicians of both parties to demonstrate how they were addressing systemic biases.

Marshall accompanied Clinton on visits to places that have become synonymous with unrest sparked by racially tinged violence: one trip near Ferguson, Mo., outside Marshall’s hometown of St. Louis, and others to Charleston, S.C., and last month to Charlotte, N.C.

“It is important that low-income, fixed-income, and minority consumers share in the benefits of solar-generated electricity.”

“

Florida State Conference of NAACP in statement supporting Amendment 1

on S E Y Vote

AMENDMENT 1!!

Allows consumers to own or lease solar equipment on their property to generate electricity for their own use.

Ensures all energy consumers are treated fairly, whether they choose solar or not.

Protects consumers from scam artists and rip-offs.

Guarantees your constitutional right to own and operate your own solar equipment in Florida.

Supporters include: National Congress of Black Women, Inc.

To learn more visit us SmartSolarFL.org Paid political advertisement paid for by Consumers for Smart Solar, 12640-A Mitcham Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32308

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IFE/FAITH

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Candidates sack NFL viewership See page B3

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

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SECTION

B WHERE TRUMP & CLINTON Where Clinton Trump stand STAND ONand THE ISSUES Crist in another battle for seat in Congress See page B4

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA

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S

Los Angeles Times/Tribune News Service

Donald Trump speaks at the 11th annual Values Voter Summit on Sept. 9, in Washington.

(Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump is a businessman working in a number of fields, including real estate, hotels and golf courses, as well as various consumer products such as clothing and wine. He is also the author of several books, perhaps most notably “The Art of the Deal,” and has hosted two reality television shows, “The Apprentice” and “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

Hillary Clinton has served in government in various capacities for most of her adult life. She worked on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate scandal in 1974.

She was the first lady of Arkansas from 1979-1981 and then of the United States from 1993-2001. She was elected to represent the state of New York in the U.S. Senate, until 2009, when she became secretary of state.

Running mate

Running mate

Mike Pence

Tim Kaine

Governor of Indiana 2013-present U.S. House of Representatives 2001-2013

U.S. senator from Virginia 2012-present Governor of Virginia 2006-2010

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times

Economy: It’s true, as Trump says, that trade has cost U.S. jobs and held down wages.

He’s also correct that low-skilled immigrants have depressed salaries in at least certain jobs. Where he’s wrong, economists say, is in exaggerating the downside of trade and immigration and ignoring the benefits.

Guns: The NRA endorsed Trump in May, but the candidate hasn't been entirely clear about his views. After the Orlando nightclub massacre, Trump hinted that a proposal to limit gun purchases could be on the table. But then the NRA rebuked him after he said that clubgoers in Orlando could have been better off if they were armed.

Immigration: His call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the U.S. is without parallel in recent political history. Trump also wants to build a wall along the Mexican border. But he may also be attempting to appeal to a new set of voters by softening his tone on a deportation force to remove 11 million people in the U.S. illegally.

Taxes: Trump’s tax plan would lower the number of tax brackets from seven to three, and increase the standard deduction to $15,000 for individuals.

Trump would also lower business taxes from 35 percent to 15, and provide a discounted 10 percent rate for offshore corporate profits brought back to the U.S.

Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign rally at Johnson C. Smith University, Sept. 8, in Charlotte, N.C. (Davie Hinshaw/Charlotte Observer/TNS)

Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel

Economy: The Trans-Pacific Partnership, better known as TPP, has been thorny for Clinton. She worked on the trade agreement while secretary of state, but she opposed it once the details were finalized. She's pledged to toughen financial regulations, including new fees and rules for riskier trades.

Guns: A centerpiece of Clinton's campaign has been gun control. She wants federal background checks for all gun sales, and she wants to change a law that allows a gun sale to go through if a background check is not completed within three days.

Health care: As Trump vows to repeal Obamacare, he says he’ll replace it with a “beautiful,” “terrific” and “unbelievable” health care plan. His sketch of what it would look like highlights standard GOP proposals, some of which would have scant impact on the cost or quality of care.

Immigration: Pushing a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are in the country illegally is a key issue for Clinton, and one where she draws a stark contrast with Trump. Clinton's proposal would revive previous efforts that stalled amid GOP opposition. She would continue Obama's executive actions shielding some from deportation.

Health care: In Clinton's view, Obamacare is a good step toward universal health care coverage. She's called for new steps to make health care more affordable, including a tax credit to reduce out-of-pocket costs. In addition, Clinton would urge more states to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income residents.

Environment: Trump, who has often dismissed the science on climate change as a hoax that threatens American jobs, says he will withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and has promised to cut all U.S. spending on United Nations programs on global warming.

Taxes: Clinton’s tax plan would retain the current tax brackets, while adding an additional tax on all income over $5 million, and ensuring that individuals making more than $1 million pay a minimum of 30% on all taxable income. Clinton’s plan would also make it harder for companies to escape U.S. taxes by partially selling to a foreign company.

Environment: Clinton describes climate change as a looming catastrophe and an economic opportunity. She frequently pledges to ensure a half-billion solar panels are installed by the end of her first term. Meanwhile, she also wants to slash oil consumption by a third, while also generating enough renewable energy for every home in the country.

Source: TNS contributors, Congressional Biographical Directory, DonaldJTrump.com

BY MARK NIQUETTE AND MARGARET TALEV BLOOMBERG NEWS/TNS

H

illary Clinton and Donald Trump are arming up for a possible post-Election Day battle.

Clinton is assembling a voter protection program that has drawn thousands of lawyers agreeing to lend their time and expertise in battleground states, though the campaign isn’t saying exactly how many or where.

It is readying election observers in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and Arizona to assess any concerns — including the potential for voter intimidation — and to verify normal procedures.

Republicans ready The Republican National Lawyers Association, which trains attorneys in battleground states and in local jurisdictions where races are expected to be close, aims to assemble 1,000 lawyers ready to monitor polls and possibly challenge election results across the country.

Hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, one of Trump’s biggest backers, has sunk $500,000 into the group, its biggest donation in at least four presidential elections, Internal Revenue Service filings show.

“We are fighting for open, fair and honest elections,” the association’s Executive Director Michael Thielen said in an email.

More email woes Most discussion about the potential for a contested election until now has revolved around the premise of a Trump loss, his contention that the election is “rigged” his refusal to say ahead of time that he would concede.

Presidential battle could extend past Tuesday Both sides have lawyered up in case the election is contested.

But since FBI Director James Comey’s controversial disclosure last Friday that he is reviewing newly discovered emails possibly related to an investigation of Clinton, several polls have shown the race tightening considerably.

Although Clinton still holds an advantage – currently 2.5 percentage points in the RealClear Politics average of national polls – the developments have raised the prospect of a much closer than expected result and a previously unforeseen question: Would Clinton refuse to concede and wait for recounts and certified results or initiate legal action if she narrowly loses one or more battleground states decisive to the election?

“If the perception is we’re heading into a close election and it actually is close, then you’d have the sense that the candidates – maybe on both sides – would say, ‘Well, we’ve really got to make sure we look at every ballot,’ ’’ said Edward Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

Would he concede?

In the final presidential debate, Trump surprisingly said he would “keep you in suspense” on the question of whether he’d ac-

cept the election results. For the Clinton campaign, what Trump says on election night, even in the face of a clear loss, is the least of its concerns.

“If he just simply refuses to concede that night, which is a possibility we’re increasingly bracing for, we don’t think that is a worrisome prospect,” Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said last month.

The campaign is preparing more for traditional legal challenges.

While a concession from a presidential candidate has cultural significance in helping the country accept the result and move on, it has “no legal status whatsoever,” Foley said.

Other important dates The only thing that counts is the count — and then maybe the recount.

Each state releases an unofficial vote on election night that is made official after a post-election canvass confirms the accuracy. When a state certifies its official result, that determines the slate of Electoral College electors who meet Dec. 19. Congress accepts that vote on Jan. 6 to declare a president-elect.

Foley said there are three scenarios to watch for on election night: a blowout; an election in

which the race in one or more states needed for one of the candidates to get the 270 electoral votes needed to win is too close to call and recounts are needed, as in Florida in 2000; and a close race where the unofficial vote shows a winner but there are questions about whether uncounted absentee or provisional ballots could change the outcome, as in Ohio in 2004, when John Kerry waited until the morning after the election to concede.

Too close to call?

In a blowout, whether the losing candidate concedes won’t matter because the distribution of Electoral College result will be clear once state results are certified.

If the race is too close to call in one or more states and the Electoral College outcome is in doubt, the winner may not be determined until the official state results are certified. That’s what happened in the 1884 and 1916 presidential elections, when the losing candidates waited until the official results to concede but there was no civil unrest, Foley said.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore retracted his election-night concession after it became clear Florida was too close to call with

him trailing George W. Bush by only a few hundred votes in the state. After a month-long legal fight, Gore conceded after the U.S. Supreme Court barred further recounts.

Trump has been fanning doubt about the vote count by repeatedly talking about a system that is “rigged” against him.

Still, his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, has rejected the notion that the campaign is fostering the idea the election result might be invalid because of fraud.

“When Donald Trump talks about a rigged election, we’re talking as much about the documented bias in the national media that seems to be doing half of Hillary Clinton’s work for her every day,” he said Friday on MSNBC.

Request for recount The losing candidate’s ability to contest the results with a recount depends in part on how close the unofficial results are and where.

The nation’s capital and 20 states, including a handful of battleground states, call for an automatic recount if the margin is narrow enough, such as 0.5 percent or fewer of the total votes cast in Florida, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A losing candidate can ask for a recount in 43 states, while a few states will only consider that request if the race falls within a certain margin, according to NCSL. Political party officers can seek recounts in at least five states, and voters can seek recounts in at least 17 states, the group said.

If a recount is not an option, losing candidates still may seek to challenge the election results or the circumstances preceding those results in the courts.

ELECTION 2016

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NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

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Crist and Jolly battle it out in swing district Former governor facing Republican for redrawn congressional seat

BY DARA KAM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Being abandoned by national party leaders may be a benefit for U.S. Rep. David Jolly in the Republican’s effort to hold onto his seat in a closely watched congressional battle.

But shunning the GOP might be as big of a boon for his opponent, former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a Democrat who’s staging yet another political comeback in a bid for Congressional District 13.

After failing to unseat Gov. Rick Scott in 2014, Crist initially said he was not interested in the congressional post. But he changed his mind a year later, when a newly redrawn district included his St. Petersburg home.

Major moves Jolly joined Congress in 2014, after defeating former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink in a special election for the swing seat, which for years has frustrated Democrats.

He initially ran for U.S. Senate this year but bowed out of the GOP primary in June when incumbent Marco Rubio dropped White House aspirations and decided to seek reelection.

A court-ordered redistricting plan is playing a big role in the race between Jolly and Crist, who was elected governor in 2006 as a Republican but later left the GOP and ultimately became a Democrat.

Pinellas County district Jolly hopes to maintain his hold on the revamped district, which Democratic President Barack Obama carried by nearly 10.7 percentage points in 2012. The district Jolly was elected to represent backed Obama by less than 1.5 points.

The redrawn district rests solely within Pinellas County, where both men have long ties, and where Crist’s history as a Republican, an independent and a Democrat will without question be less of an Achilles’ heel than it was for him in the statewide race.

Crist, 60, defends criticism of his seemingly perennial candidacy – he’s been a state senator, education commissioner, at-

torney general, governor, and has run for the U.S. Senate twice – as a manifestation of his “servant’s heart.”

And he deflects accusations of flip-flopping with regard to his political persuasion as proof that he will “put partisanship aside” to represent the constituents in the district, where he’s lived since he was a toddler.

“I’ve done it literally. I’ve thrown it out the door. So with me, they’ll get somebody who can work with Democrats, who can work with Republicans, who can work with independents.

Because I’ve been one of them. I know how they feel.

I say it and I’m proud of it.

I’ve walked in their shoes,” Crist said in a recent telephone interview, temporarily halted so he could plant a kiss on his mother’s cheek after he arrived at his parents’ St. Petersburg home.

Big Dems support National Democrats, hoping to pick up seats in the U.S. House, have made the district one of their top priorities, dumping at least $2 million into ads backing Crist’s campaign.

National Republicans, meanwhile, have ignored Jolly’s re-election effort, something that’s turned into something of a badge of honor for the congressman.

“Name one Republican or Democrat that’s actually been willing to alienate their party,” Jolly, 43, said in wide-ranging telephone interview. “We’ve been abandoned by the National Republican Congressional Committee. … We’re in this on our own on our side. The national Republicans have walked away from us.”

While the lack of support from the GOP may hurt Jolly’s campaign war chest, the positions that have estranged his fellow Republicans make him a more palatable candidate in the leftleaning district.

The ‘Stop Act’ Jolly alienated his party leaders with a piece of legislation, called the “Stop Act,” which would prohibit members of Congress from directly asking for campaign donations – a move that he argues would be a step to reform campaign financing. He also bucked his GOP colleagues when he suggested that the Senate should give a hearing to Merrick Garland, Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.

The GOP-controlled Senate has refused to take up the nomination.

Jolly has called on con-

JOE BURBANK/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Charlie Crist thanks supporters, with his wife, Carole, during his concession speech after losing to Rick Scott, in St. Petersburg, on Nov. 4, 2014. servatives to embrace what he calls “climate science” and he supports marriage equality, positions he said he’s held long before he chose to seek another term in Congress.

He acknowledges that besting Crist – described by even his harshest critics as one of the most-polished retail politicians in modern Florida history – in the new district won’t be easy.

But Jolly, who was an aide to former longtime Republican Congressman C.W. Bill Young, maintains that voters simply can’t trust his opponent.

“Charlie has made the precise political calculus about how he benefits the most at the ballot box,” Jolly, who lives in Indian Shores, said. “Charlie has never built consensus. He’s just nice to people on both sides of the aisle. You’re not bipartisan if you just push for the litmus-test issues of your own side of the aisle but you’re at least friendly to the other side.”

Jolly of wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade, the seminal court decision that legalized abortion, of lobbying to privatize Social Security (Jolly denies it) and of being far more conservative than he appears. “(Jolly) speaks and articulates a moderate message, but he votes like Donald Trump. That point needs to be made,” Crist said. “He believes what Donald Trump believes, whether he votes for him or not.”

But Jolly has flipped Democrats’ attempts to connect GOP candidates with Trump.

Agree on one thing Jolly is linking Crist with

Trump, saying his Democratic challenger has had a 20-year relationship with the part-time Palm Beach resident and at one point called Trump “gracious, hospitable and good for Florida.”

“We know the reality is, for many independents and most Democrats, the Donald Trump narrative is toxic, which is why they’ve tried to pin it on me,” Jolly, who said he’s never met Trump, said.

“This is where all politics truly is local. It is not a direct tie for somebody like myself. People understand that there is a distinction between the top of the ticket and the congressional ballot. I just have to continue to remind them. But

it is difficult because there are many Republicans who are upset with me for not having endorsed our nominee.”

While the two candidates seek to differentiate themselves in other ways, there is one thing on which they agree: Their hometown county is pronounced PINE-ellas.

That’s the way the folks who’ve lived in the region the longest say it, said Jolly, a fifth-generation Pinellas countian who was born in Dunedin.

And that’s how Crist, whose family relocated to St. Petersburg from Pennsylvania when he was 3, pronounces it, too.

“I admire him for that,” Jolly said.

Trump’s role in race As in other races throughout the nation, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is playing a role in the District 13 race.

Crist recently urged national Democrats to stop running a television spot that had an image of Jolly beside Trump and portrayed the two Republicans as cohorts, after an editorial in the Tampa Bay Times blasted the ad as misleading.

But Crist hasn’t stopped painting Jolly – who at one point called for Trump to drop out of the race for the White House and has said he will not vote for him – as Trumpish. Crist accuses

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TOJ

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

ELECTION 2016

B3 itics pulling viewers away from the NFL. The last year the NFL’s ratings dropped was in 2012, when President Barack Obama ran for reelection against Mitt Romney. NFL ratings were also down in every presidential campaign cycle before that going back to at least 1996.

But none of those previous declines was as large as the one experienced so far this year, indicating politics isn’t the only reason.

The prime-time games have been down from last year even in weeks in which there has not been debate competition.

Online streaming

MATT FREED/PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/TNS

New England Patriots’ LeGarrette Blount celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second quarter on Sunday, Oct. 23, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Election blamed for lower viewership of NFL games

BY STEPHEN BATTAGLIO LOS ANGELEST TIMES/TNS

The country will choose a new president on Nov. 8, and no one is more eager for that day than the TV executives who do business with the NFL. Whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump occupy the White House won’t make a difference as to who makes it to the Super Bowl. But it will go a long way to explaining whether the NFL ratings downturn this season is a temporary blip or a gamechanger in the TV business.

Viewer interest in the presidential race — along with the growth of online streaming, missing star players, boring match-ups and social protests against the national anthem — has been cited as a major factor as to why the NFL is seeing its first ratings decline in four years.

More choices The double-digit declines in audience have caused some consternation in the corporate suites at CBS, NBC, Fox and ESPN, which pay a total of around $5 billion annually for the broadcast rights to the contests.

The figure has doubled in the last 10 years as the NFL has been largely immune to the audience erosion facing every other aspect of the television industry. Program choices have proliferated through online streaming, cutting heavily into traditional TV viewing, especially among younger viewers.

Wall Street analysts who follow the networks’ parent companies have raised concerns about whether the decline becomes a long-term trend.

Sports, especially NFL football, is the last surefire way to attract mass audi-

ences to live TV viewing where viewers won’t fastforward through commercials. In addition to attracting top rates from advertisers, the NFL’s massive appeal gives the networks leverage when negotiating subscriber fees from cable and satellite providers that carry their programming.

Not sticking around The NFL has maintained that while the numbers have slipped this year, its telecasts still dwarf everything else on TV. Through six weeks, prime time NFL telecasts averaged 16.25 million viewers compared with 6.9 million for a broadcast network primetime show.

But “Thursday Night Football” is down 18 percent compared with last year, while NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” is off 19 percent and ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” is down 24

percent. Sunday afternoon telecasts on Fox and CBS are experiencing single-digit declines.

The game telecasts are still reaching as many people as they did last season.

Through the first four weeks of the season, 160 million viewers tuned into a game, slightly more than a year ago over that span. But the ratings decline shows fans are not sticking around as long.

Ratings juggernaut The NFL and its partners may not know whether the game’s popularity has truly peaked until after Election Day. Through the first half of the season, the historic presidential campaign between Trump and Clinton has provided stiff competition for viewers’ attention.

“The No. 1 reason people are not spending as much time watching is the unique election cycle we’re in,” said Mike Mulvihill, executive vice president of research, league operations and strategy for Fox Sports.

Trump and Clinton have been a ratings juggernaut for cable news and the presidential debates, and there are data that support the

rationale that the compelling reality show-like story of the campaign its cutting into the time fans watch the NFL. Through the first six weeks of the football season, Sunday viewing of cable news channels CNN, MSNBC and Fox News is up 79 percent compared with 2015 in the 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. hours when NFL games air. The increase among men ages 25 to 54, a target audience for NFL games, is 120 percent.

Competed against debates The cable news networks have also seen their ratings surge in prime time, and some games have gone up against the presidential debates.

The first presidential face-off between Trump and Clinton on Sept. 26 was watched by a record 84.4 million viewers, slicing into ESPN’s “Monday Night Football. The second debate on Oct. 9, which drew 66.5 million, cut into the audience for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” telecast on that night.

There is historical precedent for presidential pol-

At a recent meeting of NFL owners, league commissioner Roger Goodell noted that the impact of shifting consumer habits on the league’s TV ratings needed to be studied.

To reach younger audiences, the NFL in April selected Twitter as the streaming platform for Thursday night football games.

TV ratings do not include online viewership. But the networks say they are seeing no evidence that online streaming — typically drawing several hundred thousand viewers for a game — is siphoning off much of the TV audience.

The prevailing view is that fans watching on computers or mobile devices are doing so because they can’t be in front of a big screen.

Ugly play on the field has been cited as a reason for the decline. But that’s in the eye of the beholder.

Personalities missing The NFL’s data show that through the first six weeks of the season, penalties are actually down slightly from last season, with an average of 16.57 per game. The average length of a game is also about the same as last year at 3 hours and 7 minutes.

The strongest play-related reason for the ratings decline likely has to do with who has not been on the field. The NFL season opened without three of its biggest star quarterbacks because of the suspension of Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, the sidelining of injured Dallas Cowboys starter Tony Romo and Peyton Manning’s retirement.

“The absence of some of those personalities has to be a factor,” Mulvihill said.

Mulvihill noted that the regional telecasts in which fans tune in to watch their local teams have not seen nearly the same declines as national contests that depend on big-name stars to draw casual viewers.

“We’re finding that people are still making time for their local team,” he said.

“The impact has really been felt on the non-local game.”

Online justice organization initiates #VotingWhileBlack campaign cal parties, but based on building independent political power that will be around after the election to hold those we support accountable. We’re translating the presence and visibility of our issues into the power to change the rules.”

TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

Color of Change, which bills itself as the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, has kicked off #VotingWhileBlack, a digital campaign meant to mobilize African-American voters to flood the polls on Election Day. Launched under the banner of the organization’s political action committee, the campaign seeks to rally Black voters behind specific candidates based on their stances on issues central to the Black community such as police violence, criminal justice reform and the lack of investment in Black schools and communities.

Legend, sororities involved

Down-ballot focus “This is a truly unprecedented program that’s laser-focused on mobilizing Black voters around the issues that matter most to our community,” Color Of Change PAC spokesman Rashad Robinson said in a statement. “Down ballot races, like those for district attorneys, often don’t get much attention. But, we know all too well how

Rashad Robinson is executive director of Color Of Change. “This is a truly unprecedented program that’s laser-focused on mobilizing Black voters around the issues that matter most to our community,’’ he said about the new digital campaign. much the perspective and practices of these local prosecutors impact Black communities.

“Rather than shoving these races to the sidelines, #VotingWhileBlack puts them front and cen-

ter in our voter outreach— and we’re doing so by engaging our communities not on the basis of politi-

The initiative is being powered by activities such as text-a-thons, which have been hosted by partners that include entertainment star John Legend, National Nurses United, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

The campaign also reaches out to voters via email drives and digital ads and provides online voting tools.

The PAC’s leaders said the goals of the campaign go way beyond Nov. 8.

“A key part of our program is holding politicians accountable after Election Day,” said Arisha Hatch, Director of Color Of Change PAC. “For far too long, elected officials have pursued Black folks’ votes, but then

failed to champion our issues once they’re in power. We’re mobilizing Black communities to vote strategically, shape political agendas, move the needle on key issues, and ultimately hold elected officials accountable for the promises they make at election time.”

Black women’s impact Studies show that Black voters and other voters of color are having an increasing impact on elections.

According to the Center for American Progress, at least 30 percent of eligible voters heading to the polls this November are people of color.

And, Black women voters are expected to be particularly important: In 2012 and 2008, AfricanAmerican women turned out to the polls at the highest rate of any group; four years ago, for example, 74 percent of eligible voters among this group helped power President Obama to a second term in office.

ELECTION 2016

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NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

TOJ

The major issues that worry older voters The state of the economy tops the list of concerns for seniors in South Florida, followed by health care, climate change and foreign policy.

BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ MIAMI HERALD/TNS

MIAMI – If you expect to find agreement about the ongoing presidential campaign among older voters, you’re likely to be disappointed. The 60-and-older set, in South Florida at least, is as divided as the rest of the country.

And if you think their votes will hinge solely on the issues of Social Security and Medicare, you’re selling one of the most politically active electorate groups short.

Across retirement communities and meal sites, at social events and in private homes, older voters publicly worry about other issues, including climate change, immigration, terrorism and the economy.

“We are interested in many things,” said Gary Sisler, an 82-year-old retiree who leads a current events group at East Ridge at Cutler Bay, a retirement community. “We’re not just about one or two issues.”

Legacy concerns Indeed, since the East Ridge group began meeting earlier this year, members have debated U.S. policy on Cuba, sea level rise, the Clinton Foundation, the war on drugs, algae in Florida Bay and the national debt.

This isn’t unusual. A January survey by Next Avenue, a PBS-supported aggregated website for older people, showed that among its readers the issues of aging actually placed fifth, but the state of the economy topped the list of concerns, followed by health care, climate change and foreign policy – ahead even of terrorism and immigration.

Those concerns have to do with legacy: Older voters want to leave a safe and healthy world to their children and grandchildren.

Art North, an 87-yearold East Ridge resident, frets about government dysfunction and Washington’s inability to get things done.

“We have become a country of rigid categories, and there is no discussion on the issues,” he said.

“The art of compromise is dead.”

Income equality, war The retired Methodist minister also worries about the growing problem of income inequality. While he feels secure about meeting his own financial needs, he knows that “younger people in their 50s believe those [social] programs that my generation has won’t be around when they get around to retiring.”

A few miles north, at the Vernon Ashley Plaza Public Housing in Hialeah, Adela B. Ramos, 71, is worried

JOSE A. IGLESIAS/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Daisy J. Baez, left, who is running for State Representative District 144, talks to members of the JIB JAB current events group at East Ridge retirement community on Oct. 17 in Miami.

WHERE CANDIDATES STAND SOCIAL SECURITY Hillary Clinton: Wants to raise Social Security taxes on people making more than $250,000 annually but opposes raising the retirement age. She also wants to give credit to people who take time off from work to fulfill family caregiving duties.

Donald Trump: Has said he won’t raise Social Security payroll taxes and will deal with a future shortfall by collecting more payroll taxes through jobs he will create or bring back stateside. Some of his advisers, however, have said everything is on the table when it comes to social service programs.

MEDICARE Clinton: Has proposed expanding Medicare to allow people 55 and older to voluntarily pay to join Medicare. She also said she will fight the privatization of the program.

Trump: Has been quoted as saying he doesn’t want to cut Medicare because “it’s not fair to the people that have been pay-

about the possibility of an abrupt change in foreign policy.

“I don’t want war,” says the former sewing and textile operator who retired two years ago. “I don’t want to send our young men overseas. We’ve already had too much war.”

Core issue: Economics At The Palace at Coral Gables, a luxury retirement community, 87-yearold Midge Pasternack says she worries about climate change and terrorism – two ongoing events that are changing the world her children will inherit.

“I tell them [fellow Palace residents] call Sen. Rubio, call Sen. Nelson, call your congressman,” she says. “These are the things I’m really concerned about and that they should be concerned about.”

While older voters’ concerns are wide-ranging, the economics of retirement — how to pay for medication, how to survive on a fixed income, how to find afford-

Two in S.F. charged with election wrongdoing THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Two people in South Florida have been charged with violating state election laws, including a woman alleged to have submitted false voter-registration applications, the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office announced on Oct. 28.

In one of the cases, Tomika Curgil, who had been hired by as a canvasser by the group People United for Medical Marijuana, is accused of submitting false reg-

ing in for years.” The Republican platform, however, calls for a form of privatization.

DRUG COSTS Clinton: Wants Medicare to negotiate drug prices for its beneficiaries. (Under current law, it is not allowed to do so now.) She favors capping what insurance can charge on out-of-pocket costs and importing drugs from other countries if they meet U.S. standards on safety and quality.

Trump: Also wants Medicare to negotiate drug prices. He has said consumers should have access to drugs from other countries as well.

HEALTH CARE Clinton: Wants to keep and expand the Affordable Care Act. She has proposed expanding Medicaid in states that haven’t done so already. She also favors a government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers.

Trump: Has said he will work to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but wants to allow the sale of health insurance across state lines, a change that he believes will force health care costs down.

able housing — remains a core issue.

The solvency of Social Security seems particularly worrisome. Yet older voters complain that this presidential election cycle is short on policy details but long on scandal and accusations.

Julia E. Montagne, a resident at Vernon Ashley, wonders if the government program that has helped her survive in retirement will be around for her daughter and granddaughter.

“I wish these things would not change, that the benefits would continue when they get ready to retire,” she says. “But I’m not sure they’re still going to be around. I do worry for them.”

Social Security A recent AARP survey showed that women voters 50 years and older overwhelmingly want fast action to strengthen Social Security. Seventy-two percent want action to be taken “immediately,” and

istration forms, including forms that listed people who are dead, the State Attorney’s Office said.

Curgil, 33, faces five counts of submitting false voter registration information, a third-degree felony. People United for Medical Marijuana is leading efforts to pass a constitutional amendment to broadly legalize medical cannabis.

In the other case, prosecutors charged 74-year-old Gladys Coego, who had been hired as a temporary election-support specialist for the county Elections Department.

Coego allegedly marked a number of absentee ballots in which the Miami-Dade County mayoral race had been left blank.

She is alleged to have marked the ballots for candidate Raquel Regalado, the State Attorney’s Office said. Coego faces two third-degree felony counts.

another 20 percent say changes need to be made within five years.

This isn’t surprising.

“Women are more concerned about this because of their longevity,” explains Zayne Smith, associate state director of advocacy for AARP. “But there’s also the fact that women don’t have as much work history as men,” and Social Security tends to provide a larger percentage of their retirement income.

Yet, the future of Social Security is an issue that transcends gender and even socioeconomic boundaries. At The Palace, residents’ Social Security checks make up “a very

small part of their retirement income,” according to Ken Fishman, a 77-yearold retired attorney, “but we’re still concerned for our children and grandchildren — what will be there for them.”

Varied solutions Trustees have warned that Social Security payouts will have to be reduced after 2034 if no action is taken to keep the program afloat, but solutions to remedy the projected shortfall have proven divisive.

Republicans favor raising the retirement age and changing the way government calculates cost-ofliving adjustments to a less generous formula. Donald Trump has said he won’t cut Social Security and expects to fund benefits by creating new jobs to generate more payroll taxes.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, wants to increase Social Security taxes on those earning more than $250,000, but she opposes reducing annual cost-of-living adjustments and increasing the retirement age. (Under current law, any income above $118,500 is free of Social Security taxes.)

Many seniors side with Clinton. In a recent Senior Citizens League poll, 70 percent of older Americans, both men and women, believe the program’s solvency can be improved by raising the taxable wage limit.

On raising age Only 38 percent of survey respondents supported raising the full retirement age to 68.

“More and more se-

niors are aware that lifting the [wage] cap is a solution, that the program would not only be solvent but continue for many more years,” explained Mary Johnson, a policy analyst for the Senior Citizens League. “That’s the preferable solution for most of them.”

As with Social Security, Medicare remains a government program older voters want to keep intact.

In interviews and polls, seniors are concerned about the increasing cost of health care. Skyrocketing drug prices and spiking premiums have eaten away at their disposable income.

“Social Security,” Johnson adds, “has simply not been enough to keep up with rising health care costs at a time of life when health is likely to be declining. So they have to dig deeper into their retirement savings if they have any, and even then there’s the worry that it will run out.”

How they’ll vote In a presidential race that has shocked the savviest and most seasoned observers, most older voters say they’ll vote along party lines.

A few, though, are switching sides. Reynaldo Sierra, 67, was a registered Republican until he changed to a nonpartisan affiliation to protest the Iraq War. This time around he will vote for Clinton — but he acknowledges it’s a dispiriting choice.

“I don’t like either candidate, but I’m not voting for Trump,” he explained.

“He has said some terrible things and I don’t trust him.”

STOJ

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Meet some of

FLORIDA’S

finest

submitted for your approval

Venus and Serena Williams have established the Williams Sister Fund to collaborate on philanthropic efforts. Their first endeavor, launched in their hometown of Compton, Calif., is the Yetunde Price Resource Center.

Named after their oldest sister who was killed by gun violence, the center will develop a comprehensive resource network to connect residents affected by violence with service providers. Serena and Venus are shown above during a doubles match this year at Wimbledon.

FINEST & CALENDAR

B5

Think you’re one of Florida’s Finest?

E-mail your high-resolution (200 dpi) digital photo in casual wear or bathing suit taken in front of a plain background with few distractions, to news@flcourier. com with a short biography of yourself and your contact information. (No nude/ glamour/ fashion photography, please!) In order to be considered, you must be at least 18 years of age. Acceptance of the photographs submitted is in the sole and absolute discretion of Florida Courier editors. We reserve the right to retain your photograph even if it is not published. If you are selected, you will be contacted by e-mail and further instructions will be given.

Chicago Cubs center fielder Dexter Fowler hits a solo home run on Oct. 29 in Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Fowler is the first Black Cubs player to lead off in the World Series. The last time the Cubs were in the World Series, 1945, there were no Black players in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

NUCCIO DINUZZO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

REX SHUTTERSTOCK/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

JARRETT HILL

The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists’ Griot Drum Awards & Scholarship Banquet is Nov. 17 at Tampa Marriott Westshore. Special guest: Jarrett Hill. Details: www. tbabj.com.

JAZMINE SULLIVAN The singer will perform at the Orlando Classic Tastemasters’ official game after party Nov. 19 at the House of Blues Orlando. The show starts at 10 p.m.

TEACH. LEAD. TRANSFORM. Join a dynamic team committed to transforming a high-need school.

Apply today!

For more information call 727-588-6224 ext. 1946 or apply here: www.pcsb.org/transformationzone Among the most competitive salaries in the state.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Tracy Morgan on Nov. 11 at The Mahaffey Theater and Nov. 13 at Hard Rock Live Orlando.

Jacksonville: Alicia Olatuja will perform Nov. 11 at the Ritz Theatre & Museum. The show begins at 8 p.m.

Tampa: St. Peter Claver Catholic School’s annual gala is Nov. 12 at 6:30 p.m. www.stpeterclavercatholicschool.org

Orlando: The Central Florida International Auto Show is Nov. 24-27 at the Orange County Convention Center – North Concourse.

Tickets: www.AutoShowOrlando.com.

Miami: The King and Queen of Hearts Tour featuring Maxwell and Mary J. Blige stops at the AmericanAirlinesArena on Nov. 29.

St. Petersburg: Catch

Orlando: A Parramore/Holden Heights town hall is Nov. 13 at the Callahan Neighbor-

hood Center. Topics: Criminal, social, economic and environmental justice. More info: 407-953-5599 or LawannaGelzer@aol.com Orlando: Tickets are on sale for the Nov. 19 Florida Classic game pitting BethuneCookman University against Florida A&M University at Camping World Stadium.

Details: floridaclassic.org.

St. Petersburg: Lauryn Hill’s The MLH Caravan: A Diaspora Calling! Concert stops at The Mahaffey Theater on Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 at House of Blues Orlando.

B6

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

Let’s bring dinner back to the table.

Let’s leave our devices and distractions behind. Let’s pass food and share stories. Let’s laugh until it hurts. Let’s smile. And love. Let’s breathe new life into old traditions. Let’s make dinner on Sunday, Sunday Dinner again. publix.com/sundaydinners

S

TRAVEL

B6

NOVEMBER 4 – NOVEMBER 10, 2016

TOJ

What’s new

IN D.C. SINCE OBAMA’S ELECTION

KEN CEDENO/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Desks from the Hope School in Pomaria, S.C. are on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Dorothy Height, a civil rights activist and educator who died in 2010, is shown on the screen in the background.

BY CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

W

ASHINGTON – You’re worried about the next president. I’m here to change the subject. But only a little.

That next U.S. president, looking out at Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day Jan. 20, will see a different city from the one that President Barack Obama saw in January 2009. The nation’s capital is wealthier, safer, livelier, tastier, more populous and more ready for tourists than it has been in decades.

What’s that, you say? The Metro still stinks. Well, yes, but Metro officials did install a new top executive late last year.

It’s a remarkable cityscape, thanks to a diversifying local economy, redevelopment and an influx of millennials who like living downtown without cars. In September, I set out to explore seven new or changed places.

National Museum of African American History and Culture On Sept. 24, after decades of talk about a Washington museum focusing on Black Americans, the Smithsonian Institution at last cut the ribbon on one.

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, designed by David Adjaye, now stands on the National Mall, a bronze beauty on a greensward long dominated by gray stone.

Its jagged walls are inspired by threetiered Yoruban crowns. The coated aluminum lattice work echoes the 19th century ironwork of Black artisans in the American South. And I’m betting that the problems I saw in the museum’s first week — long lines, balky escalators, missing maps — will be rapidly solved.

What matters most is the journey inside, starting on the bottom floors with slavery’s beginnings. It’s haunting to stand in a darkened gallery, looking at shackles and slave-ship hardware, hearing ocean waves. It was doubly powerful during the museum’s first days, when visitors, mostly African-Americans, crowded into every gallery determined to see everything.

Advancing through history, you pass a slave cabin from South Carolina, a Klansman’s hood, civil rights-era artifacts. You see and hear Black performers and read of struggle, strength and genius in politics, business, science and the arts.

You can see Harriet Tubman’s silk shawl (a gift from Queen Victoria), Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, James Baldwin’s passport, Michael Jackson’s fedora, a statue of 1968 Olympian medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos, their fists raised in a Black Power salute; and a Barack Obama 2008 campaign button.

I was startled to learn that only about 3,500 artifacts are on display. It seems like more — in a good way.

Info: 1400 Constitution Ave. N.W.; (844) 750-3012, nmaahc.si.edu. Free admission; reservations (through March 2017 no longer available) accepted for timed entrance tickets. Limited number of same-day tickets.

National Gallery of Art A blue rooster looms over Pennsylvania Avenue, and that’s good news. It means the National Gallery of Art has completed the expansion of its East Building, where curators hang contemporary works.

The renewed building opened Sept. 30 after a three-year closure. The 15-foot-tall rooster on the new roof terrace is a 2013 work by Katharina Fritsch. A few steps away, the sculptures of Alexander Calder and canvases of Mark Rothko dominate the building’s tower galleries.

The expansion gives the East Building space for about 500 pieces from the museum’s permanent collection (up from about 350) and three temporary exhibitions. Through Jan. 29, one is “Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971,” which travels to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art March 19-Sept. 10.

Info: 4th Street at Constitution Avenue.

N.W.; (202) 737-4215, www.nga.gov. Free.

Capitol Riverfront The ragged, industrial Navy Yard neighborhood along the Anacostia River was trouble for decades. Then the city chose to build a new Washington Nationals baseball stadium here in 2008. Since then, suc-

CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS/LOS ANGELES TIMES

The Trump International Hotel, on Pennsylvania Avenue in northwest Washington, D.C., opened in September 2016 in a revamped Old Post Office building.

CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS/LOS ANGELES TIMES

Washington’s National Gallery of Art reopened its East Building in September 2016 after three years of closure for upgrades and expansion. cesses have snowballed in the surrounding Capitol Riverfront area.

Nowadays, fans drink beer at the Bullpen and play cornhole in a courtyard surrounded by shipping containers. A few blocks away, the mile-long Anacostia Riverwalk begins, passing stacked kayaks at the Ballpark Boathouse, a new marina, and a reclaimed lumber shed that now houses five restaurants.

For dinner and local beer, I headed to Bluejacket Brewery’s Arsenal restaurant, opened in 2014, where every table was full on a rainy night.

“Two, three years ago, you could not walk around here after dark,” D.C. resident Genny Mayhew said. Now she roams freely.

There are still dead blocks, but hotels and residential towers keep coming. And now the Trapeze School New York is opening a few blocks from the ballpark. Let’s face it: When the trapeze school shows up, you know the hood has flipped.

Info: Capitol Riverfront, www.capitolriverfront.org. Arsenal at Bluejacket Brewery, 300 Tingey St. S.E..; (202) 524-4862, www. bluejacketdc.com. Most dinners $13-$26.

Compass Rose and 14th Street Corridor Compass Rose, a restaurant in a converted row house, has a dining room abuzz with millennial patter and a menu inspired by the world travels of owner Rose Previte. It’s also part of the great nightlife boom of the 14th Street Corridor.

In 2013 The Washington Post declared the area in “gentrification overdrive.”

Compass Rose opened in 2014. This year Previte added a Bedouin tent in back for private parties.

I recruited a party of seven, and soon we were installed in a snug private patio bedecked with Moroccan textiles and lamps, getting briefed by a waiter named Franz.

For three hours, Franz delivered an onslaught of small dishes — more than a dozen, including but not limited to khachapu-

WALLY SKALIJ/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Above is outside of the Watergate Complex. It was redone inside to make the most of its notorious history.

ri (cheese-filled bread from Georgia, as in Russia’s neighbor); Tunisian chicken skewers; Greek calamari; Portuguese shrimp; Hawaiian tuna poke; Spanish marinated anchovies; Lebanese lamb; and a digestif involving absinthe and matches. At one point, we had to ask: “Duck hearts? Or duck parts?” The answer was duck hearts, grilled. Peruvian style. Of course.

Info: 1346 T St. N.W.; (202) 506-4765, www.compassrosedc.com. Dinner small plates: $8-$20 each. Bedouin tent: $70 per person, plus tax, drinks and tip.

Union Market Northeast D.C.’s Union Market, once a wholesale zone, was reborn in 2012 as a food hall. Since then, its 40 or so local artisan vendors have won a big reputation, and it’s rubbing off on the surrounding area, which includes Gallaudet University.

“Even the name of this neighborhood has changed,” said local resident Maria Monroe. “It used to be New York Avenue.

Now it’s NoMa.” At the market’s Bidwell restaurant, opened in 2014, I tried sauteed mushrooms, Hawaiian tuna nachos and onion soup: win, win, win.

Info: 1309 5th St. N.E.; (301) 347-3998, www.unionmarketdc.com. Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays.

Trump International Hotel The Trump International Hotel, which opened Sept. 12 in downtown Washington, baffled me, and not because of its presidential campaign connection.

It’s a historic government building — built in 1899 and known as the Old Post Office Pavilion — leased by the Trump organization and repurposed as a 263-room luxury lodging and spa with a nine-story atrium, all in sober Romanesque Revival style.

But as you wander the atrium floor, you see a low canopy of steel frames, as if

somebody had grabbed the base of the Eiffel Tower and dragged it indoors. Why? Long ago, Trump sales and marketing director Patricia Tang told me, the frames held catwalks so supervisors could look down on mail sorters. Now the frames hold four crystal chandeliers.

The guest rooms are classically elegant or stodgy, depending on your taste. The location puts guests a block north of the National Mall and five blocks south of the ritzy CityCenterDC, a recently opened project that includes Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

The building’s 315-foot clock tower, still under renovation, is run by the National Park Service, which plans to open it to the public by year-end.

Info: 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W.; (202) 695-1100, www.trumphotels.com/washington-dc. Doubles $425 a night and up.

For the Inauguration, rates will start at $1,250, with a five-night minimum — no matter who is being sworn in.

Watergate Hotel Until 1972 the Watergate Hotel was just one part of an office-and-apartments complex on the Potomac River.

Then came the bungled burglary of the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate offices, which eventually brought down President Richard Nixon and made Watergate a household word. But things didn’t go so well for the hotel. Owners changed. In 2007 the hotel fell idle.

But in June it rose again, redone to make the most of its 1967 opening and notorious history. Groovy new furnishings in its 336 rooms echo the complex’s curvilinear exterior. The complex also has a spa, the upscale Kingbird restaurant and a rooftop bar with $16 cocktails.

The Watergate is a half-mile hike to the nearest Metro station, Foggy Bottom, but it has style and wit. The key cards say “No need to break in.”

Info: 2650 Virginia Ave. N.W.; (202) 8271600 or (844) 617-1972, www.thewatergatehotel.com. Doubles $425 and up.