Weekend Digest: On The Presidential Campaign Trail In Ohio

For our weekend political readers:

THE OHIO CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Since Arkansas isn’t in the Presidential spotlight as a competitive state, we thought we’d peer into press coverage of a typical day on the campaign trail in a swing state:  Ohio.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently had a choice assignment covering both President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney who were campaigning in Ohio.

For the first time, the candidates campaigned on the same day in this region of Ohio — a crucial electoral battleground that recent polls show leaning in Obama’s favor.

Go along with the Plain Dealer reporters as they skip from a factory visit, rally at a high school and town hall meeting by Romney to a university visit by Obama.

Spend a day along the Ohio campaign trail, find out who booed who, and one expert’s opinion on why the President has surged to the lead in the much needed Buckeye State.

WHERE DOES ALL THE MONEY COME FROM?
You ever wonder exactly where all the vast amount of money comes from that pours in for the Presidential candidates?  And how much will be spent by election day?  In its 2012 Campaign Presidential Campaign Finance Explorer, the Washington Post takes a look.

Go to this link for an extensive look at graphs and charts breaking down the billions that will be spent for each candidate and who their contributors are.

NEW HEALTHCARE PLAN SUPPORTED BY BEEBE GETS REVIEW
“On October 1, Arkansas will launch what’s called the Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative, aimed at taming runaway costs by offering doctors financial incentives to provide more efficient care.”

The website Governing  has taken a thorough look at this plan supported by Governor Mike Beebe (D) and has posted an in-depth piece on what the plan means for Arkansas residents and why it is being pursued.

“We had no choice,” Beebe said in an interview. “Huge, huge cost increases were driving a greater percentage of people into the uninsured category every year.”

In some ways, it sounds like other state experiments with cost-saving alternatives to traditional fee-for-service. But there is one big difference. In Arkansas, private insurers are joining with Medicaid to create a united front. Customers with private insurance will receive the same kind of care under the same billing rules as those who qualify for Medicaid. Medicare, the federal health plan for seniors, is also considering joining the initiative.

In the post, Governing explains how the plan will work and what the incentives will be.

During the year, physicians will file claims just as they always have. What’s new is that they will be given reports on the costs of all of the services they order for each episode of care, including diagnostic tests, imaging, hospital stays and prescription drugs.

Is this “cookbook medicine” as some have said and is there for improvement?  Go to this link for more.

POET ROBERT FROST ‘MEETS THE PRESS‘
Back in the mid-50’s acclaimed American poet Robert Frost was a frequent guest on NBC’s Meet the Press.  Press Pass, The Official Blog of NBC, has gone back in time to revisit the poet’s interviews that largely centered around his views on higher education.

83 at the time of his first interview, the Dartmouth College dropout said he was “very radical about education.”

On Meet the Press, it was clear that the poet’s early struggles informed his view of the modern education system. He said that colleges were in danger of conformity and encouraged students to focus instead on their artistic dreams: “I think a young writer, young musician, young painter, better get about writing, painting, and music … And it ought to be young because all the great names in literature anywhere, the big reputations were made before 25 years anyway.

He didn’t really want to do away with the college education system – just open it up.

But at his late age, Frost had become a professor at multiple colleges including Dartmouth espousing his philosophies “with his own ‘free and haphazard’ teaching style.”

To read this amazing piece of journalistic history about one of America’s treasured artists, click here.