Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Obama turns up heat on Republicans for stalled immigration reforms - Yahoo News

 

Obama took questions about his stalled immigration executive actions at a town hall-style event at Florida International University, which claims to be first in the nation in awarding degrees to Hispanic students. It was televised on Spanish-language network Telemundo and MSNBC.

Obama told the audience that he would veto any move by Congressional Republicans to block his plans, announced in November, to offer work permits and lift the threat of deportation for as many as 4.7 million undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens and legal residents, or were brought into the country illegally as children.

"They can have that vote. I will veto that vote," Obama said.

Congressional Republicans said he overstepped his powers, but Obama said the failure of Congress to reform outdated immigration laws left him with no choice but to take action.

But he said his actions were only temporary, and he told the audience that it was up to them to pressure Republicans to pass a bill to reform outdated immigration laws.

"If they start feeling enough pressure, that can make a difference," he said. "When they start asking for votes, the first question should be, do you really intend to deport 11 million people?"

Obama acknowledged that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, supports immigration reform.

But he said that he wished Bush would talk to Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner to help move things along.

Read the entire story by clicking on the following:  Obama turns up heat on Republicans for stalled immigration reforms - Yahoo News

H&R Block says tax refunds show the impact of the Affordable Care Act | The Kansas City Star The Kansas City Star

 

The Affordable Care Act helped millions gain health insurance last year but is cutting into the tax refunds for many as they file returns this year.

H&R Block said Tuesday that the health care law is changing the refunds for 90 percent of its clients who had enrolled for health care coverage through federal or state exchanges for 2014.

“Over half, 52 percent, are actually paying a portion of their refunds back,” Mark Ciaramitaro, Block’s vice president of health care and tax services, said at a presentation in Washington.

These filers are seeing smaller refunds, on average $530 smaller.

 

The change in refunds occurs as taxpayers reconcile their 2014 income with the benefits they received under the Affordable Care Act.

H&R Block said 38 percent of its customers who gained coverage under the act are seeing larger refunds, on average $365 larger, according to returns filed through mid-February.

Thanks to the bump up, their average refund totaled $3,816, Block said. Those who lost part of their refund would have gotten an average of $3,100 back but ended up with about $2,570.

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  H&R Block says tax refunds show the impact of the Affordable Care Act | The Kansas City Star The Kansas City Star

Republicans back down in fight against Internet regulation | The Kansas City Star The Kansas City Star

 

WASHINGTON

Senior Republicans conceded Tuesday that the grueling fight with President Barack Obama over the regulation of Internet service appears over, with the president and an army of Internet activists victorious.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected on Thursday to approve regulating Internet service like a public utility, prohibiting companies from paying for faster lanes on the Internet. While the two Democratic commissioners are negotiating over technical details, they are widely expected to side with the Democratic chairman, Tom Wheeler, against the two Republican commissioners.

And Republicans on Capitol Hill, who once blasted the plan as “Obamacare for the Internet,” now say they are unlikely to pass a legislative response that would undo perhaps the biggest policy shift since the Internet became a reality.

We’re not going to get a signed bill that doesn’t have Democrats’ support,” said Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican and chairman of the

Read the entire article by clicking on the following:  Republicans back down in fight against Internet regulation | The Kansas City Star The Kansas City Star

Union chief says U.S. refinery strike could spread - Yahoo News

 

total of 6,550 USW members are on strike at 15 plants, including 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of U.S. capacity. Union members work at more than 200 oil terminals, pipelines, refineries and chemical plants in the U.S.

The USW has said it is seeking to retain safety provisions from previous contracts and tighten fatigue standards for workers, as well as win back daily maintenance jobs now done by non-union contractors.

"(The strike spreading) depends on what happens in the next round of negotiations and that those negotiations resume fairly quickly," Gerard in a telephone news conference from Atlanta.

Gerard, who is attending the AFL-CIO winter conference in Atlanta, said no date has been set for resuming negotiations.

A Shell spokesman also said a resumption of talks had not been scheduled as of Tuesday morning. Shell Oil Co, the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc [RDSa.L], is the lead oil company negotiator.

Talks broke off on Friday, after which the USW ordered workers at three Motiva refineries, including the nation's largest, which are co-owned by Shell, to walk off their jobs on Saturday and Sunday.

Sources familiar with the talks told Reuters on Monday that face-to-face negotiations may not resume this week. That was a change from the weekend, when sources said meetings might resume by the middle of this week.

Union chief says U.S. refinery strike could spread - Yahoo News

TJ Maxx, Marshalls to follow Wal-Mart in raising pay - Yahoo Finance

 

Owner of TJ Maxx, Marshalls plans to boost pay to at least $9 an hour, following Wal-Mart

 

 

FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2009 file photo, a customer walks past a T.J. Maxx store in Boston. TJX Cos., the owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods stores, on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015 said it will boost pay for U.S. workers to at least $9 per hour. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole, File)

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods stores said Wednesday that it will boost pay for its U.S. workers to at least $9 per hour.

The announcement by TJX Cos. comes a week after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would increase wages for its employees and is a sign that more competitors may follow suit. Low-paying retailers are having a harder time retaining workers as the job market improves.

"This pay initiative is an important part of our strategies to continue attracting and retaining the best talent," CEO Carol Meyrowitz said in a statement.

TJX spokeswoman Doreen Thompson declined to say what workers currently earn. A recent Credit Suisse report estimates TJX's current hourly pay at about $8.24. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

TJX said hourly workers will start to receive the pay increase in June. In 2016, the company plans to pay all associates who have worked at its stores for more than six months at least $10 per hour.

The company's 191,000 associates around the world restock shelves, greet customers and ring up purchases at the cash register.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is raising entry level wages to at least $9 an hour in April and to at least $10 an hour by February of next year. Wal-Mart said the change will affect about 500,000 workers. Also this year, Swedish furniture seller Ikea gave workers at its U.S. division a 17 percent average raise to $10.76 an hour. And clothing chain Gap Inc. raised its minimum hourly wage to $9 last year and to $10 this year.

TJX, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, operates 3,395 stores, including six of its outdoor goods chain Sierra Trading Post. Its shares rose 53 cents to $68.27 in morning trading Wednesday.

TJ Maxx, Marshalls to follow Wal-Mart in raising pay - Yahoo Finance

10 states with the highest minimum wages - Yahoo Finance

 

The U.S. has been setting a floor for worker pay ever since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 and established a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour. Today, federal law requires most workers to be paid at least $7.25 per hour, a threshold that hasn't been raised since 2009. But 29 states and the District of Columbia have enacted higher minimum wages. See where the lowest-paid workers earn the most.

 

No. 1: Washington, D.C.
$9.50

The nation's capital is home not only to the highest court in the land (the Supreme Court) but also to the highest minimum wage for any U.S. state or territory, at $9.50 per hour. It's going even higher this summer -- to $10.50 an hour. Of course, government leaders in Washington make far more than the minimum. The president is paid $400,000 annually.

No. 2: Washington
$9.47

The other Washington is close behind D.C., with a minimum wage just a few cents shy of $9.50 per hour. The state's minimum rose 1.6 percent at the start of 2015; it had been $9.32 an hour. Washington's largest city, Seattle, plans to go beyond the state requirement by enacting a higher, two-tiered minimum wage this spring: $11 an hour at many companies, including large employers, and $10 at some smaller ones.

No. 3: Oregon
$9.25

Washington state's southern neighbor also boosted its minimum wage as 2015 got underway, to $9.25 an hour. That's up 1.7 percent from Oregon's old rate of $9.10. For more than 10 years, Oregon and Washington have adjusted their minimum wages automatically each New Year's Day in step with inflation. Oregon is the only state paying exactly $2 more than the federal minimum wage.

No. 4: Connecticut (tie)
$9.15

The lowest-paid workers in Connecticut got a 5.2 percent raise at the start of 2015 as the state's minimum wage rose to $9.15 an hour, from $8.70. A law passed in 2014 is raising Connecticut's minimum wage in stages, to an eventual $10.10 an hour by January 2017. "Increasing the minimum wage is not just good for workers, it's also good for business," Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy said in a statement.

No. 4: Vermont (tie)
$9.15

The year was ushered in with the first of four annual increases that will elevate the Green Mountain State's minimum wage to $10.50 an hour by 2018. The initial step lifted the state's wage floor by about 5 percent, from $8.73 per hour to $9.15. The Vermont House of Representatives had approved a much higher $10.10 minimum wage for 2015, but later compromised with the Senate and governor on a slower-going approach.

No. 6: Massachusetts (tie)
$9

Massachusetts boosted its minimum wage by $1 at the start of 2015, and similar increases in the next two years will take the state's minimum to $11 an hour by 2017. However, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor calculates that a full-time worker needs at least $11.31 per hour to afford food, housing, transportation and other essentials in the Bay State.

No. 6: Rhode Island (tie)
$9

Like neighboring Massachusetts, Rhode Island kicked off 2015 by raisings its minimum wage by $1, to $9 per hour. The Rhode Island legislation was sponsored by Democratic state Rep. David Bennett. "Our entire economy suffers when the middle class and low-wage earners can't make ends meet," he said in a statement. "This raise will provide some measure of assistance for those struggling at the low end of the pay scale."

No. 6: California (tie)
$9

With Massachusetts and Rhode Island, California is the third state where minimum-wage workers earn $9 per hour. The nation's most populous state last raised its minimum in summer 2014 and will bump it up again, to $10 an hour, on Jan. 1, 2016. A number of California cities have chosen to go even higher, including San Francisco, where a voter-approved minimum wage of $11.05 per hour took effect at the start of 2015.

No. 9: Alaska (tie)
$8.75

Alaska is the newest state in the top 10, thanks to a voter-approved raise that took effect Feb. 24. The first increase in five years has taken the state's minimum wage from $7.75 an hour to $8.75. Another $1 hike is set for 2016. Most Alaskans, including minimum-wage workers, also get some extra money directly from the state: an annual dividend from an oil-wealth fund. The most recent payments were for $1,884.

No. 9: New York (tie)
$8.75

New York raised its minimum wage 75 cents at the end of 2014, to $8.75 per hour, and will hike it by another 25 cents when 2015 draws to a close. The Empire State doesn't allow its cities to set their own minimum wages. But New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was able to issue an executive order requiring businesses heavily subsidized by the city to pay a "living wage" of up to $13.13 an hour.

More from Bankrate:

10 states with the highest minimum wages - Yahoo Finance

Scott Walker and RNC slam media 'double standard.' Why? - Yahoo News

 

Scott Walker and RNC slam media 'double standard.' Why?

Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican National Committee are upset over the media's response to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comment that he doesn’t think President Obama 'loves' America.

Christian Science Monitor

By Peter Grier 18 hours ago

Likely 2016 GOP presidential contender Scott Walker is on the figurative warpath against the “gotcha” mainstream media. So is the Republican National Committee, which on Tuesday issued a press release that was pretty thoroughly anti-press.

What’s got them upset? The journalistic response to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comment that he doesn’t think President Obama “loves” America, that’s what.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) of Florida, was ready to charge the White House with anti-Semitism and sexist behavior if she lost her DNC post, to Vice President Joe Biden’s remark that he has “great relationships” with Delaware’s Somali cabdrivers.

The RNC piled on Tuesday with a release charging that media outlets are softer on Democrats. It listed a series of news items, from allegations that the Democratic National Committee chief, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) of Florida, was ready to charge the White House with anti-Semitism and sexist behavior if she lost her DNC post, to Vice President Joe Biden’s remark that he has “great relationships” with Delaware’s Somali cabdrivers.

Lots of Republicans have been asked what they think about Giuliani’s statements, but few Democrats have been forced to say whether they think that Representative Wasserman Schultz should be fired or whether Mr. Biden’s words were appropriate, says the RNC.

“This is all just par for the course,” the release says. “A Republican former office holder says something, and they think every Republican must answer for it. A current Democrat party leader does and says something, and it’s no one else’s problem.”

We’ve got some things to say about this, of course. First, well played. Attacking the media is often a good short-term political strategy. As an institution, the press is pretty much despised, down there with used-car salesmen and loan sharks. Blaming them for something can elicit knowing nods and a news cycle or two of peace.

After all, who else will actually publicize attacks on themselves?

But, second, notice we said “short-term." There’s a fine line between blaming the press and whining. Use that approach too often, and you're beginning to look like a candidate or a party that just can’t answer questions. And the press is generally not that difficult to deal with. They’re not attack dogs, they’re hounds. Given them a nice meaty answer of any kind, and they’ll happily trot off to their kennels.

Look at Sen. Marco Rubio (R) of Florida as an example of skilled press management. When he was asked about Giuliani, he said, in essence, that he thought it was a stupid question, that the reporter wouldn’t ask it of a Democrat, that he was sure Obama loves his country, but his ideas are bad.

Boom. Done. Senator Rubio’s response was “near-perfect," said Washington Post political reporter Aaron Blake.

Finally, maybe we should have done more stories on Wasserman Schultz. Maybe the press should have followed the Biden story more aggressively. But the Giuliani story pretty clearly struck a nerve among a wide array of Americans. The media know this because they’re not guessing. In the era of Internet metrics, editors know how many people read every story, for how long, and on what kind of device.

Giuliani was, and is, big. Stories no longer just “break," they also build over time. That means their traffic can increase over hours and days as more readers and viewers learn about them and discuss and share them over social media, whether there have been new developments or not.

That’s pretty clearly happened with Giuliani’s question of whether Obama loves America, and it’s probably frustrating to politicians who just wish it would go away.

Above is from:  Scott Walker and RNC slam media 'double standard.' Why? - Yahoo News

The Dark Cold Nites will be changing

Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday March 8

 

 

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Battle Over Boone County Wind Farm Picks Up, Again

 

BOONE COUNTY (WIFR) -- It's been just over a year since Boone County voted down a change to county law to make it harder to build wind turbines but that battle has started up again as a group wants even tighter restrictions than were proposed last time.

Boone County farmer David Cleverdon says while he supports wind energy, he doesn't want to see wind turbines built near anyone's home.

"I just don't think wind turbines should be in residential rural areas, near homes," he says.

Cleverdon is part of a group trying to make it harder for wind companies to build turbines in Boone County.

This isn't the first time a group has done this. A previous proposal was asking for the current one-thousand foot setback- which is the distance between a turbine and a home- to be extended to 15-hundred feet. That proposal was struck down by county board members last January.

This newest plan is asking for an even larger setback, at 2,640 feet, exactly half a mile from all property lines unless a homeowners.

"I want a safer Boone County," says Cleverdon.

Chris Dorman works for Mainstream Renewable Power, the company wanting to build a three to four hundred million dollar, one hundred turbine wind farm in northern Boone County. He says these changes would kill their plans.

"If not zero, near zero percent of the property would be able to host a turbine," says Dorman. "That is a ban."

Deb Doetch is a big supporter of wind energy. She lives in Poplar Grove and says she's tired of the opposition to a clean energy source.

"Well I think it's forward thinking, I don't want to go backward thinking," says Doetch.

Cleverdon presented his proposed zoning ordinance change to the county's Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday night. It marks the first of what is expected to be several public information hearings on the proposed changes. It could be several weeks or longer before the proposal would come to a vote.

Battle Over Boone County Wind Farm Picks Up, Again

IL Governor Rauner Gets $750,000 Tax Break, Proposes Slashing Services to Middle Class and Poor | Robert Creamer

 

Illinois' new GOP Governor, Bruce Rauner, will personally receive a $750,000 per year tax cut as a result of his decision not to continue the state's temporary 1.25% income tax surcharge that expired last year.

His taxes were cut by an amount equal to the annual income of 14 families of four making the median income. And remember that after adjusting for inflation, that median income number has not materially increased in about 35 years, since virtually all of the income growth resulting from the massive increase in worker productivity over that period has been siphoned off by speculators like Rauner.

Rauner, who made $61 million in 2013 - or $29,000 per hour - is one of a small group of multi-millionaire speculators who would directly benefit enormously from lower state tax rates. Among them is his friend Ken Griffin, reputedly the wealthiest man in Illinois, who contributed $2.5 million to Rauner's campaign for Governor - and has also pitched in $10 million to a $20 million campaign war chest that Rauner plans to use to run opponents to members of the Legislature that oppose his policies.

Griffin and his soon-to-be former wife, Anne Dias Griffin, are involved in a high profile multi-million dollar divorce battle. He and Dias are fighting over the control of tens of millions of dollars.

One filing by Dias, quoted by CNBC, gives you a flavor:

Dias said she and their children have come to "enjoy a lifestyle reserved only for the very wealthy," including houses in Chicago, Aspen, Hawaii, Miami Beach and New York. They also have "unrestricted access" to two private jets "to travel to the aforementioned homes" as well as other destinations.
She said the family has a "large group of staff members assisting the family, including extensive household, security and family office employees," and their own company that employs staffers, called "Griffin Family Services."

Dias is asking a million dollars a month -- $12 million a year -- in child support. That's right, $12 million per year in child support - you can't make this stuff up.

Just by way of comparison, remember that a highway worker for the state of Illinois who makes an average income of $49,000 a year laying hot asphalt and filling pot holes, would take about 244 years to make $12 million. But Griffin's pal, Rauner, says he wants to cut the pay for such workers - claiming they make too much and should be paid something closer to the $39,000 a year he says they make in surrounding states.

None of this seems to bother Rauner one bit, since at the same time he and his friends get that big tax cut, Rauner's new state budget promises draconian cuts in services that benefit the middle class and the poor.

Rauner proposed six billion dollars in cuts for state spending on universities, health care, local governments and pensions for state employees.

Here are some high points:

  • Limiting eligibility for Department of Aging Community Care Programs.
  • Cutting health care benefits for homecare workers.
  • Slashing funding for the Department of Children and Family Services.
  • Eliminating all Department of Children and Family services for youths 18-21.
  • Cutting adult dental and podiatry services as well as kidney transplants for undocumented children.
  • Eliminating exemptions for drugs for severe mental illness from a state 4-prescription limit.
  • Reducing payments to facilities for children on ventilators, supportive living facilities and children with severe mental illness.
  • Cutting Medicaid spending by1.5 billion - including735 million in cuts to hospitals serving Medicaid patients.
  • Eliminating assistance to families with Hemophilia.
  • Freezing intakes on childcare for children over 6.
  • Increasing childcare copays for working parents.
  • $27.5 million in reductions to community substance abuse programs.
  • $82 million reduction to community mental health programs.
Eliminating State funding for specific organizations providing: - Services for people with disabilities - Services to children with autism - Services to homeless young people - Services to run away teenagers - Immigrant integration services - Advanced placement classes - After school programs - Agricultural education - Arts and foreign language programs - Parent mentoring - Safe Schools initiatives
  • Cuts to breast and cervical cancer programs.
  • And a 31.5% cut to higher education.
His plan would also move state employees - most of whom make middle class salaries or less - into pension plans with lower benefits.

Rauner claims that his proposal is a "turnaround budget." "Like a family, we must come together to address the reality we face. Families know that every member can't get everything they want," he said. Unless, of course, you are Bruce Rauner or one of his mega-wealthy friends.

Seems that the state can't afford more childcare for working parents, but it can afford huge tax cuts for the very rich. After all, Ken Griffin needs to make that million dollar a month "child care" payment.

The fact is, of course, that Illinois - like most other states - are not in the midst of dramatic declines in economic performance that would require this kind of "belt tightening." In fact, Illinois, like most of America, is wealthier today per person, than at any other time in its history.

The problem is that the wealthy have rigged the economic rules of the game to allow people like Bruce Rauner and the millionaires who got him elected to siphon off most of the wealth for themselves and leave middle income incomes flat.

One of those rigged rules is found in the Illinois State Constitution. It would make sense to get much of the money needed to finance public services from those who have benefited most from the state's economy - rather than those whose incomes have been flat. You'd do that with higher income tax rates on millionaires and billionaires than the one charged for ordinary working people.

But when the state constitution was rewritten in the 1970's, the wealthy organized to insert a provision preventing State Government from having progressive income tax rates. They wanted to keep their own share of taxes low, and to shrink state revenue in general by requiring that if tax rates go up for them, they have to go up for ordinary people as well.

That problem needs to be fixed with a Constitutional amendment that allows a progressive income tax - which of course Rauner adamantly opposes. But in the meantime it would still be possible to raise desperately-needed revenue in ways that mainly target the wealthy taxpayers by providing substantial personal exemptions in any new tax aimed at replacing the state's temporary income tax surcharge that expired last year.

Rauner, of course, opposes any new state taxes and if you want to know why, just ask the mega-wealthy donors who financed his $63.9 million campaign to occupy the Governor's mansion.

Through his new state budget, Rauner intends to continue his life's work excavating the pockets of the poor and middle class in order to benefit himself and his wealthy associates. That's why Rauner serves as the personal embodiment - the poster boy -- for Wall Street's War on the Middle Class.

Bruce Rauner may think that he is auditioning for a spot on the 2016 GOP ticket or a cabinet post in a Bush, Walker or Christie administration.

In fact he could easily become the national symbol of the trickle down economic theory that has failed to produce benefits for everyday Americans and is at the core of the economic philosophy of every one of the 2016 Republican Presidential aspirants and their billionaire backers.

Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com. He is a partner in Democracy Partners and a Senior Strategist for Americans United for Change. Follow him on Twitter @rbcreamer.

Above is from:  IL Governor Rauner Gets $750,000 Tax Break, Proposes Slashing Services to Middle Class and Poor | Robert Creamer

Chicago Mayoral Race Isn't Over Yet, As Rahm Emanuel Falls Short Of Votes Needed To Avoid Runoff

 

Former congressman and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel won the most votes in Tuesday’s Chicago mayoral election, but he failed to receive the degree of support needed from voters to avoid a runoff election in April.

In his quest for a second term as Chicago mayor, Emanuel won 45 percent of the vote with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Election law states that should the winning candidate in a municipal race fail to win more than 50 percent of the overall vote, he or she must face off with the second-place challenger in a separate runoff election.

That election will take place April 7 between Emanuel and Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, who outperformed recent polling on the race to win 34 percent of the vote Tuesday. The Associated Press confirmed Emanuel is heading to a runoff.

In the 20 years since Chicago’s mayoral elections have consisted of one election potentially followed by a runoff, an incumbent mayor has never before been forced into runoff.

Among the three other candidates, entrepreneur Willie Wilson won 10 percent of the vote, Chicago alderman Bob Fioretti won 7 percent and perennial candidate William “Dock” Walls won roughly 3 percent.

Two years ago, Emanuel’s paltry approval rating seemed to indicate that the mayor was vulnerable as he looked toward reelection. Criticism of Emanuel only increased after the school board he appointed voted, in May 2013, to close 49 of the city’s public schools, largely in minority neighborhoods, all at once. It was the city's largest mass public school closure on record.

Violent crime and controversy over the city’s red-light cameras further angered many residents, but critics of Emanuel had difficulty fielding a candidate with a high enough profile to defeat the mayor. Early favorites, like Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, ultimately opted not to enter the contest, while Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, who had all but declared her candidacy, abruptly withdrew from the race in October 2014 after she was diagnosed with a serious illness.

Lewis later threw her support behind Garcia, who says the fiery labor leader essentially talked him into running.

Challengers to the mayor also struggled with fundraising. While Emanuel raised some $15 million in his campaign, almost half of which he spent on TV ads, the next best funded candidate was Wilson, who raised more than $2 million, most of it his own money.

The barrage of ads, in addition to a last-minute visit from President Barack Obama, appear to have helped Emanuel’s approval rating climb significantly in the weeks leading up to the election. The latest pre-election poll showed the mayor inching toward the 50-percent-plus-1 mark he would have needed to hit to avoid a runoff.

However, Garcia and his fellow challengers had some success painting Emanuel as out of touch with Chicago's neighborhoods and obsessed instead with the city's central business district and tourism reputation. Garcia was particularly critical of Emanuel for not hiring 1,000 new city police officers, as he had said he would do during his 2011 campaign. Garcia has insisted he would make good on that promise but has offered few details on how the cash-strapped city would finance it.

Garcia tweeted Tuesday night on the heels of the runoff news:

While voter registration was up in Chicago leading up to the election, compared to 2011 numbers, voter turnout on Tuesday was expected to be on par with the 33 percent record low turnout set in 2007, RedEye reported.

Chicago Mayoral Race Isn't Over Yet, As Rahm Emanuel Falls Short Of Votes Needed To Avoid Runoff

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