5 days from next contest, rivals race for money

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum reaches to greet children during a campaign stop in Brentwood, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum reaches to greet children during a campaign stop in Brentwood, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accompanied by his wife Callista, displays socks given to him during an event at Belknap Mills, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012, in Laconia, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaigns in Peterborough, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? As they try to derail Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, his challengers face an urgent task: raising enough cash to compete.

The campaign for the GOP nomination is moving into states that are more dependent on TV advertising, and nobody has yet been able to match the former Massachusetts governor's financial operation.

Rick Santorum, riding a wave of momentum, nearly won Iowa's caucuses on a shoestring but has no national fundraising network. Newt Gingrich vows to go after Romney in New Hampshire, but if history is any guide, he lacks the cash to do it. And Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a prolific fundraiser, still might be a threat ? but the Iowa results showed his support has waned.

Complicating this election has been the explosion of outside political action committees, known as super PACs, which have spent millions in support of their favored candidates. They must legally remain independent from campaigns but are still making their mark : The Romney-supportive Restore Our Future PAC deflated the brief surge of Gingrich by running ads critical of the former House speaker.

Romney's campaign has spent more than $17 million since January 2011, while Gingrich and Santorum have each spent less than one-sixth of that. Meanwhile, one super PAC ? the Santorum-leaning Red, White and Blue Fund ? spent about half a million dollars in Iowa media markets, raising questions of whether or not an underdog needs to raise money himself if his supporters will do it for him.

Support for Santorum ? who finished just eight votes behind Romney in Tuesday's caucuses ? has already begun to shift, with aides saying he raised $1 million Wednesday alone.

At the same time, Foster Friess, a prominent businessman from Wyoming who supports conservative causes, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that he's reaching out to supporters to back the former Pennsylvania senator.

"His energy level and his willingness to go face-to-face to people is truly impressive," Friess said of Santorum, calling him the best candidate to beat President Barack Obama. "If you go to any of those town halls, there's this great electricity ? because they believe in him as a person. And that's the magic of his campaign."

Yet with just five days until the New Hampshire primary, it's unclear how Santorum, Gingrich and Perry can compete financially with Romney beyond New England.

An Associated Press review of federal campaign-finance data reveals a stark contrast between Romney and most of the GOP's remaining candidates. Romney has a national donor network that raised more than $32 million during the first nine months of 2011, the most recent data available.

Other candidates are more limited. Santorum received many of his contributions from Pennsylvania and Florida. Much of Perry's money ? including from outside groups ? came from Texas. Ron Paul, with $12 million, has been financially competitive, but his libertarian views limit his appeal to GOP primary voters.

Romney had little trouble raising cash from across the nation during that same period ? garnering donations from liberal-leaning districts as well as GOP strongholds in the South.

Among the disparities so far:

?Individual donors: To date, Romney has drawn more than $32 million in individual contributions. Gingrich took in just under $3 million since early 2011, Santorum just over $1 million.

?Super PACs: These outside groups spent at least $5 million on ads leading up to the Iowa caucuses, notably from Restore Our Future. While Santorum's campaign spent an anemic $4,200 on ads in the state, the Red, White and Blue fund is expected to spend more in other primaries. And Perry-leaning Make Us Great Again said Thursday it would remain active in Perry's candidacy with media buys planned in the coming weeks.

"By spending millions and millions of dollars without any form of accountability, super PACs are now capable of completely changing the dynamic of our elections, shifting even more power to a wealthy elite and away from the voting public," said John Bonifaz, director of the advocacy group Free Speech For People.

?Defunct campaigns: Candidates often seek to recruit the fundraisers of their rivals who withdraw from the race. But following Tuesday's results, only one candidate ? Rep. Michele Bachmann ? has dropped out. Since January, the Minnesota congresswoman has raised about $5 million but reported about $1 million cash-on-hand this fall, putting her near the middle of the GOP fundraising heap.

As Santorum and the others rush to expand their operations, Romney is wasting no time. Since Wednesday morning, his campaign released two campaign videos, including one titled "American Optimism" that makes a nod toward New Hampshire.

___

Follow Jack Gillum on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jackgillum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-05-Campaign-Cash%20Chase/id-ab33070b911f47fc80ec3cccc1b51c43

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Coalition to pull $30B in gear from Afghanistan (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? As the pace of the drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan picks up in 2012, military planners are trying to figure out how to ship huge quantities of alliance vehicles, weapons and other equipment out of the mountainous, landlocked country.

The operation requires the removal of $30 billion worth of state-of-the-art military gear by the end of 2014, when U.S. and other coalition troops are to end their combat role, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

Most of the American equipment will be shipped to military depots in the United States for refurbishment and then redistributed to bases around the country. Some assets will go to bases in Europe, primarily Germany, or in Asian nations like South Korea.

"The stuff we have here is the very best the U.S. has ever produced," the official said. "It's better than anything available (to military units) in the United States."

He spoke on condition of anonymity because the planning for the equipment pullout is still in its initial stages.

Aside from the armored vehicles and trucks, other gear that will be shipped out includes large quantities of armor, communications and optical equipment, as well as large crew-served artillery systems.

In 2011, the U.S.-led coalition began the withdrawal of nearly 140,000 foreign troops serving in Afghanistan, and 10,000 U.S. service members have already pulled out. By the end of this year, another 23,000 Americans are due to depart, along with thousands more allied soldiers, reducing the coalition force in Afghanistan to about 90,000.

The quantity of military equipment that was accumulated here by the United States and its allies in 10 years of war is formidable. Although small amounts have already been removed, the planning is complex due to inherent complications of moving so much heavy gear out of a landlocked nation with problematic relations with some of its neighbors, said the official.

Only a relatively small number of the tens of thousands of vehicles can be flown out by air, because of the high weight of some of them, such as the as the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, and its all-terrain variety, the M-ATV, tipping the scales at many tons each.

Afghanistan's neighbor Pakistan shut down the alliance's main transit routes from the port of Karachi in November in response to a NATO air attack on a Pakistani border post that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The alliance has been able to ship equipment and supplies in from the north through Russia and the Central Asian nations. Additional agreements are needed to allow the two-way traffic to transport the equipment back to Europe via the northern route.

During the recent pullout from Iraq, the U.S. military was able to simply drive its vehicles in large convoys to neighboring Kuwait, where a deep sea port was available. In contrast, the main routes out of Afghanistan require vehicles and containers to be loaded on trucks or trains for the onward journey.

"The challenges of geography are enormous," the official said. "I wish Afghanistan was a coastal country with a great port, but it's not."

___

Slobodan Lekic can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/slekich

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120103/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_nato

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Breast Cancer Survivors Benefit From Meditation | Psych Central News

By Janice Wood Associate News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 2, 2012

Up to 50 percent of breast cancer survivors are depressed, according to researchers. But now scientists at the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing say a meditation technique can help breast cancer survivors improve their emotional and physical well-being.

The researchers, Yaowarat Matchim, a former nursing doctoral student, Jane Armer, professor of nursing, and Bob Stewart, professor emeritus of education and adjunct faculty in nursing, found that breast cancer survivors? health improved after they learned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), which incorporates meditation, yoga, and physical awareness.

?Post diagnosis, breast cancer patients often feel like they have no control over their lives,? Armer said. ?Knowing that they can control something ? such as meditation ? and that it will improve their health gives them hope that life will be normal again.?

The university?s MBSR program consists of group sessions over eight to 10 weeks. During the sessions, participants practice meditation skills, discuss how their bodies respond to stress, and learn coping techniques. The researchers found that survivors who learned MBSR lowered their blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate. In addition, their moods improved, and their level of mindfulness increased after taking the class, Armer said, noting that for best results, breast cancer survivors should continue MBSR after the class ends to maintain the positive effects.

?Mindfulness-based meditation, ideally, should be practiced every day or at least on a routine schedule,? she said.

She adds the approach works best as a complement to other treatment options, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.

The study, ?Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on Health Among Breast Cancer Survivors,? was published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research.

Source: University of Missouri

APA Reference
Wood, J. (2012). Breast Cancer Survivors Benefit From Meditation. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 2, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/01/02/breast-cancer-survivors-benefit-from-meditation/33123.html

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/01/02/breast-cancer-survivors-benefit-from-meditation/33123.html

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Russian protesters arrested in Moscow rally (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Russian police detained about 60 protesters during an anti-government demonstration on Saturday in Moscow, hours after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered a conciliatory message to the opposition in a televised New Year's Eve address.

Reuters witnesses said they saw police surround and detain protesters who were shouting slogans such as "Putin Must Go!" and "Free the Political Prisoners!."

Police said about 200 people took part in the rally, with 60 detained. Gathering in near-freezing temperatures at a major thoroughfare in the capital, many protesters wore the white ribbon that has become a symbol of the protests.

Putin has faced massive demonstrations following a December 4 parliamentary election that protesters and international observers said was marked by fraud and violations. Despite the mounting pressure, Putin is expected to comfortably win a presidential election in March and return to the Kremlin.

"Of course, I want to wish all of our citizens, independent of their political leanings - those who sympathize with the forces of the left, and those on the right, those on top and those below, as you like - I want to wish everyone happiness and prosperity," he said in his address.

He made a passing nod to political tensions but said they were "the inevitable cost of democracy," especially in election time.

"At such times, politicians always try to manipulate the voters' feelings, everything is a little shaken up and seething, but that is the inevitable cost of democracy. There's nothing unusual here," he said.

Saturday's protest took place at Moscow's Triumfalnaya Square, a traditional rallying point for the opposition that also served as the birthplace of the demonstrations that have swept Russia this month.

Police and other law enforcement officers were deployed in the area well before the protest began at 5 p.m., their buses and vans lining the streets surrounding the square.

The protest was organised by the "Strategy 31" movement, which since 2009 has staged rallies to mark the right to peaceful assembly guaranteed in Article 31 of the constitution. They gather on the final day of every month with 31 days.

"Strategy 31" rallies do not enjoy official approval, and participants are subject to arrest. Among those detained on Saturday was National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov, Russian media reported.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets this month in the biggest opposition demonstrations since Putin rose to power in 1999. The last massive rally was held on December 24. in central Moscow.

On Saturday, a separate protest attracted about 100 people in St. Petersburg, with city police reporting about 10 arrests.

Russia's Echo Moskvy radio also reported that about 200 people, including Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov, participated in a rally in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod that went off without incident.

(Writing by Alfred Kueppers; additional reporting by Mikhail Voskresensky in Moscow and Liza Dobkina in St. Petersburg; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111231/wl_nm/us_russia_putin_protests

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Police plan tight security at Times Square (AP)

NEW YORK ? Less than two weeks after graduating from the New York City police academy, more than 1,500 rookie officers have a daunting first assignment: helping to protect Times Square on New Year's Eve.

The deployment is just one of an array of security measures ? many visible, many not ? that the New York Police Department rolls out each year for the event that turns the "Crossroads of the World" into a massive street party that stretches 17 blocks through the heart of Manhattan.

Behind the scenes leading up to New Year's Eve, city police officials meticulously map out how to control crowds that can swell to 1 million. The yearly ritual also means worrying about potential terror threats.

"There will be several thousand police officers involved," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday when asked about security. "I think we do this pretty well. We have a lot of experience in doing it."

Kelly said so far there are no specific threats against Times Square. But in the post-9/11 world, the department knows from experience ? especially a botched attempted car bombing in the summer of 2010 ? that Times Square is a potential terror target.

Backed by the Pakistani Taliban, Faisal Shahzad left a Nissan Pathfinder outfitted with a crude, homemade propane-and-gasoline bomb on a block teeming with tourists. The explosive malfunctioned, but the near-miss spread a wave of fear across the city.

Shahzad was arrested and, after a guilty plea, sentenced to life in prison. But he warned, "Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun."

Since then, the NYPD has maintained a higher profile in Times Square, with mounted police and foot patrols outside hotels, restaurants and Broadway theaters. The department even elevated its neon "New York Police Dept." sign on West 43rd Street several feet so it's more visible.

The usual security is bolstered each New Year's Eve by an army of extra patrol officers who use police barriers to prevent overcrowding and for checkpoints to inspect vehicles, enforce a ban on alcohol and check handbags. Revelers will see bomb-sniffing dogs, heavily armed counter-terrorism teams and NYPD helicopters overhead.

What won't be as evident are the plainclothes officers assigned to blend into the crowd and other officers keeping watch from rooftops. Many officers will be wearing palm-size radiation detectors designed to give off a signal if they detect evidence of a dirty bomb, an explosive intended to spread panic by creating a radioactive cloud.

The bomb squad and another unit specializing in chemical and biological threats will sweep hotels, theaters, construction sites and parking garages. They will also patrol the sprawling Times Square subway station.

The NYPD also will rely on a new network of about 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras carpeting the roughly 1.7 square miles south of Canal Street, the subway system and parts of midtown Manhattan. In recent years, police stationed at high-tech command centers in lower Manhattan began monitoring live feeds of Times Square, the World Trade Center and other sites.

Times Square isn't the only show in town this New Year's Eve ? or the only security concern. Police also will be beef up patrols in Central Park, site of a midnight run, and at fireworks displays at the Statue of Liberty.

The NYPD harbor unit will keep an eye on 33 dinner cruises on the city's waterways. Add to the list the Phish concert at Madison Square Garden.

On a smaller scale in outlying neighborhoods, police are concerned about a phenomenon seen in past years: people who ring in the new year by firing guns into the air.

"We urge people not to do that," Kelly said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_re_us/us_new_year_s_eve_security

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Utah Football: Utes could play Big Ten teams sooner than later

El Paso, Texas ? The agreement between the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences has a target date of 2017 for each Pac-12 team to have a Big Ten team on its non-conference schedule. However, that matchup could come much, much sooner for the Utah Utes, according to Hill.

The only non-conference teams the Utes have on their future schedules is a Sept. 15 game against BYU next year and a three-year agreement with Utah State for the 2012-through-2014 seasons, giving the Utes some wiggle room when it comes to scheduling opponents.

?We left it open by design,? Hill said. ?We were hoping and anticipating the new TV contract might bring some new opportunities that would help us grow some national exposure and this agreement could help us maybe do that sooner rather than later.?

Hill said he has heard some Big Ten teams, including Michigan, are interested in scheduling Pac-12 teams soon but stopped short of saying a deal with the Wolverines might be in the works.

The Utes opened their 2008 season with a 25-23 win over Michigan in the Big House.

?This is a good thing for all our sports,? he said. ?It makes sense to schedule a team like Michigan or a Big Ten team like that because it would be an exciting thing, but it also makes scheduling difficult in some respects, we have to make sure we schedule ourselves to a point where we help our teams too.?

To that point, Hill doesn?t want to create a schedule that would be too challenging for the Utes. That concern could mean the rivalries with Utah State and BYU are in more jeopardy than they already were.

?I haven?t had a chance to talk to [BYU athletic director] Tom Holmoe or [Utah State athletic director] Scott Barnes yet,? Hill said. ?I don?t want to give people the wrong impression but we?ve said all along we don?t know what different opportunities are going to come our way. We have to take a deep breath and look at everything.?

Story continues below

No fans? No worries

Even though the Utes sold just 1,500 tickets to the Sun Bowl, the Utes still won?t lose money on their bowl appearance thanks to a generous allowance from the Pac-12.

The Utes don?t get any revenue from the league per their agreement with joining the Pac-12 in 2011, but Utah did receive an estimated $750,000 from the league for the bowl appearance.

In addition, the Pac-12 pays for airfare for 500 people traveling to the bowl game. The Utes had no such help in the MWC.

The Pac-12 will also help cover some of the cost of the unsold tickets.

?They have a very generous formula,? Hill said. ?We anticipate we won?t lose any money.?

Hill said he wasn?t concerned his school might make a poor impression with the few tickets sold to the bowl game.

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Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/utes/53205473-89/bowl-utes-utah-hill.html.csp

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