Record Powerball Jackpot to Grow Even Bigger

The jackpot for Wednesday's Powerball drawing now stands at $425 million -- the richest Powerball pot ever -- and it's likely to get even sweeter.

"Back in January, we moved Powerball from being a $1 game to $2," says Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa lottery. "We thought at the time that this would mean bigger and faster-growing jackpots."

It's proved true. The total, she says, "has been taking huge jumps -- another $100 million since Saturday." (The most recent drawing, on Saturday night, produced no winning numbers.)

Until now, the biggest Powerball pot on record -- $365 million -- was won in 2006 by eight Lincoln, Neb., co-workers.

In Photos: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

Lottery officials in Iowa, where Powerball is headquartered, have started getting phone calls from all around the world. "When it gets this big," says Neubauer, "we start getting inquiries from Canada and Europe from people wanting to know if they can buy a ticket. They ask if they can FedEx us the money."

Don Smith/The Record (Bergen County)/AP Photo

Powerball Drawing No Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million Watch Video

Powerball Fever: Millions Chase the Chance to Hit Jackpot Watch Video

The answer she has to give them, she says, is: "Sorry, no. You have to buy a ticket in a member state from a licensed retail location."

About 80 percent of players don't choose their own Powerball number, opting instead for a computer-generated one.

Asked if there's anything players can do to improve their odds of winning, Neubauer says no -- apart from buying a ticket, of course.

Lottery officials put the odds of winning Wednesday's Powerball pot at one in 175 million, meaning you are 25 times more likely to win an Academy Award.

Skip Garibaldi, a professor of mathematics at Emory University in Atlanta, provides additional perspective: You are three times more likely to die from a falling coconut, he says; seven times more likely to die from fireworks, "and way more likely to die from flesh-eating bacteria" (115 fatalities a year) than you are to win the Powerball lottery.

Segueing, then, from death to life, Garibaldi notes that even the best physicians, equipped with the most up-to-date equipment, can't predict the timing of a child's birth with much accuracy.

"But let's suppose, however, that your doctor managed to predict the day, the hour, the minute and the second your baby would be born," Garibaldi says. The doctor's uncanny prediction would be "at least 100 times" more likely than your winning Wednesday.

Even though he knows the odds all too well, Garibaldi says he'll usually play the lottery. "When it gets this big, I'll buy a couple of tickets. It's kind of exciting. You get this feeling of anticipation. You get to think about the fantasy."

So will he be purchasing two tickets for Wednesday's Powerball? "I can't," he tells ABC News. "I'm in California" -- one of eight states that doesn't offer Powerball.

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Egypt's Mursi to meet judges over power grab

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi meets senior judges on Monday to try to defuse a crisis over his seizure of new powers which has set off violent protests reminiscent of the revolution last year that led to the rise of his Islamist movement.

The justice minister said he believed Mursi would agree with the country's highest judicial authority on its proposal to limit the scope of the new powers.

But the protesters, some camped in Cairo's Tahrir Square, have said only retracting the decree will satisfy them, a sign of the deep rift between Islamists and their opponents that is destabilizing Egypt two years after Hosni Mubarak was ousted.

"There is no use amending the decree," said Tarek Ahmed, 26, a protester who stayed the night in Tahrir, where tents covered the central traffic circle. "It must be scrapped."

One person has been killed and about 370 injured in clashes between police and protesters since Mursi issued the decree on Thursday shielding his decisions from judicial review, emboldened by international plaudits for brokering an end to eight days of violence between Israel and Hamas.

The stock market is down more than 7 percent.

Mursi's political opponents have accused him of behaving like a dictator and the West has voiced its concern, worried by more turbulence in a country that has a peace treaty with Israel and lies at the heart of the Arab Spring.

Mursi's administration has defended his decree as an effort to speed up reforms and complete a democratic transformation. Leftists, liberals, socialists and others say it has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

Mursi's office said he would meet Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, on Monday, and the council hinted at compromise.

Mursi's decree should apply only to "sovereign matters", it said, suggesting it did not reject the declaration outright, and called on judges and prosecutors, some of whom began a strike on Sunday, to return to work.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekky, speaking about the council statement, said: "I believe President Mohamed Mursi wants that."

LIBERALS ANGRY

The protesters are worried that Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood aims to dominate the post-Mubarak era after winning the first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

A deal with a judiciary dominated by Mubarak-era judges, which Mursi has pledged to reform, may not placate them.

A group of lawyers and activists have also challenged Mursi's decree in an administrative court, which said it would hold its first hearing on December 4. Other decisions by Mursi have faced similar legal challenges brought to court by opponents.

Banners in Tahrir called for dissolving the assembly drawing up a constitution, an Islamist-dominated body Mursi made immune from legal challenge. Many liberals and others have walked out of the assembly saying their voices were not being heard.

Only once a constitution is written can a new parliamentary election be held. Until then, legislative and executive power remains in Mursi's hands, and Thursday's decree puts his decisions above judicial oversight.

One Muslim Brotherhood member was killed and 60 people were hurt on Sunday in an attack on the main office of the Brotherhood in the Egyptian Nile Delta town of Damanhour, the website of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said.

The party's offices have also been attacked in other cities.

One politician said the scale of the crisis could push opponents towards a deal to avoid a further escalation. Mursi's opponents have called for a big demonstration on Tuesday.

"I am very cautiously optimistic because the consequences are quite, quite serious, the most serious they have been since the revolution," said Mona Makram Ebeid, former member of parliament and prominent figure in Egyptian politics.

Mursi's office repeated assurances that the steps would be temporary, and said he wanted dialogue with political groups to find "common ground" over what should go into the constitution.

Talks with Mursi have been rejected by members of a National Salvation Front, a new opposition coalition that brings together liberal, leftist and other politicians and parties, who until Mursi's decree had been a fractious bunch struggling to unite.

MILITARY STAYING OUT

"There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," prominent opposition leader and Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday. He has said he expected to act as the Front's coordinator.

The military has stayed out of the crisis after leading Egypt through a messy 16-month transition to a presidential election in June. Analysts say Mursi neutralized the army when he sacked top generals in August, appointing a new generation who now owe their advancement to the Islamist president.

Though the military still wields influence through business interests and a security role, it is out of frontline politics.

Egypt had hoped to stop the economic rot by signing an initial deal last week for a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. As well as tumbling share prices, yields at a Sunday treasury bill auction rose, putting even more pressure on the government that faces a crushing budget deficit.

"We are back to square one, politically, socially," said Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities, an Egyptian brokerage firm.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Patrick Werr and Marwa Awad in Cairo; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Giles Elgood)

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Thailand lifts Internal Security Act in Bangkok

BANGKOK: The Thai government has lifted the Internal Security Act (ISA) invoked in some parts of the capital as the security situation returned to normalcy following an anti-government rally.

Government spokesman Tosaporn Sereerak said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra signed the order on Monday.

Initially, the ISA was invoked for nine days starting last Thursday in the Pranakorn, Dusit and Pomprabsattrupai districts, close to the Royal Plaza, following anticipation that violence may occur during the anti-government rally there last Saturday.

The rally, organised by the Pitak Siam group, however, attracted some 20,000 protesters, far short of the target of one million people.

Eighty-two people, consisting of protesters, policemen and a soldier, sustained minor injuries during the rally.

The invocation of the ISA, among others, allows the mobilisation of soldiers to help the police to control the security situation and imposition of curfew.

Police have already stopped blocking roads around Government House and Parliament.

But anti-riot police are still protecting Parliament, where a no-confidence debate against the government of Yingluck Shinawatra is into its second day.

The debates will run till Tuesday, to be followed by a no-confidence vote on Wednesday.

The opposition Democrat Party has accused Prime Minister Yingluck of allowing corruption, and of being a puppet for her fugitive brother, ousted premier Thaksin.

But the motions, which also target three other ministers, are not likely to pass, as the legislature is dominated by the ruling Puea Thai party and its coalition partners.

- BERNAMA/CNA/de

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Make workplace harassment laws gender neutral, demand NGOs

NAGPUR: Workplace harassment laws in the country favour women and differentiate against men. These laws should be made gender neutral, demanded a coalition of multinational NGOs.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2010 was passed by the Lok Sabha in September. NGOs like Save Indian Family Foundation, Men Seek Justice, All India Men's Welfare Association, Indian Affiliate Chapter of Association for International Men's Rights Activism and Welfare believe that the bill is a violation of the fundamental rights of any citizen not to be discriminated against on grounds like religion or sex.

"It is an outdated concept that only women are victims of sexual harassment. The bill was gender neutral to begin with till the intervention of the Women and Child Development (WCD) ministry and some militant women's NGOs, after which the name of the bill was changed to The Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010," informed Rajesh Vakahria of city unit of Save Indian Family Foundation.

The ministry had said that they would conduct a survey on workplace harassment to see if it needs to include men but the survey has been pending since the last 15 years. "Some independent organizations have shown that a big proportion of those harassed at workplaces were men, who were abused by female bosses," he said. The words men and women must be replaced by gender-neutral terms like person, employee and boss in the bill, he added.

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Bounce houses a party hit but kids' injuries soar

CHICAGO (AP) — They may be a big hit at kids' birthday parties, but inflatable bounce houses can be dangerous, with the number of injuries soaring in recent years, a nationwide study found.

Kids often crowd into bounce houses, and jumping up and down can send other children flying into the air, too.

The numbers suggest 30 U.S. children a day are treated in emergency rooms for broken bones, sprains, cuts and concussions from bounce house accidents. Most involve children falling inside or out of the inflated playthings, and many children get hurt when they collide with other bouncing kids.

The number of children aged 17 and younger who got emergency-room treatment for bounce house injuries has climbed along with the popularity of bounce houses — from fewer than 1,000 in 1995 to nearly 11,000 in 2010. That's a 15-fold increase, and a doubling just since 2008.

"I was surprised by the number, especially by the rapid increase in the number of injuries," said lead author Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Amusement parks and fairs have bounce houses, and the playthings can also be rented or purchased for home use.

Smith and colleagues analyzed national surveillance data on ER treatment for nonfatal injuries linked with bounce houses, maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Their study was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Only about 3 percent of children were hospitalized, mostly for broken bones.

More than one-third of the injuries were in children aged 5 and younger. The safety commission recommends against letting children younger than 6 use full-size trampolines, and Smith said barring kids that young from even smaller, home-use bounce houses would make sense.

"There is no evidence that the size or location of an inflatable bouncer affects the injury risk," he said.

Other recommendations, often listed in manufacturers' instruction pamphlets, include not overloading bounce houses with too many kids and not allowing young children to bounce with much older, heavier kids or adults, said Laura Woodburn, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials.

The study didn't include deaths, but some accidents are fatal. Separate data from the product safety commission show four bounce house deaths from 2003 to 2007, all involving children striking their heads on a hard surface.

Several nonfatal accidents occurred last year when bounce houses collapsed or were lifted by high winds.

A group that issues voluntary industry standards says bounce houses should be supervised by trained operators and recommends that bouncers be prohibited from doing flips and purposefully colliding with others, the study authors noted.

Bounce house injuries are similar to those linked with trampolines, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended against using trampolines at home. Policymakers should consider whether bounce houses warrant similar precautions, the authors said.

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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President Obama Prepares for Cabinet Shuffle

Nov 26, 2012 6:45am

Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

As President Obama prepares for his second term, preparations have begun for the traditional shuffling of the Cabinet.

Top priority for the president: filling slots for those top officials heading — if not running — for the door: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner.

To replace Clinton, Democratic insiders suggest that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice is the frontrunner, with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., also a viable candidate.

Rice has been harshly criticized by Republicans for the erroneous comments she made on Sunday news talk shows after the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, comments that were based on intelligence reports that falsely blamed the attack on a protest against an anti-Muslim video. When the president, during his recent press conference, offered a vociferous defense of Rice, many of those close to him began to suspect he was tipping his hand as to what he might decide.

To replace Geithner at Treasury, White House chief of staff Jack Lew is thought to have the inside track if he wants it, with other possibilities including Neal Wolin, the current deputy secretary of the Treasury and Lael Brainard, current under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs.

Other informed sources suggest that there is consideration being given to a business/CEO type such as investor Roger Altman, former Time/Warner chair Richard Parsons, and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.

Those are the two most pressing jobs to fill, with Clinton exhausted from a long stretch in government — eight years as first lady, eight as senator, and four as secretary of state — and the president having personally promised Geithner’s wife that he could leave as soon as possible after the election.

Any of the business/CEO types being discussed for treasury secretary could also serve as secretary of commerce, a position that for the Obama administration has proved as troublesome as the role of drummer in Spinal Tap. Jeff Zients, the acting director of the Office of Management & Budget, is said to be under consideration.

It’s too flip to refer to it as a consolation prize, but informed sources say that — with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also planning on leaving — Kerry could be offered the position secretary of defense if he wants it, though the Massachusetts senator has suggested he only wants State. Another option, Michelle Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense for Policy, would be the first female to serve in that position. There was some discussion of National Security Adviser Tom Donilon moving across the river, but it seems clear, sources say, that he’s staying where he is.

If Lew leaves to take the position at Treasury, some possible replacements for him as chief of staff include deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough or Vice President Biden’s former chief of staff Ron Klain. Tom Nides, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, has also been discussed.

President Obama’s senior adviser David Plouffe has also long discussed leaving the White House. There are many options to fill his shoes, including the elevation of communications director Dan Pfeiffer. Also possible: bringing back former press secretary Robert Gibbs, or former deputy chief of staff/campaign manager Jim Messina. Another option might be to bring in some of the people who were part of the messaging shop in the campaign — David Simus, who served as director of opinion research for the campaign, or Larry Grisolano, who did ads for campaign.

– Jake Tapper

SHOWS: World News

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Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions.

The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mursi's political opponents and supporters, representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and their critics, called for rival demonstrations on Tuesday over a decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. The decree defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary. The Judges' Club, meeting in Cairo, called on Mursi to rescind it.

That demand was echoed by prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei. "There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," he said.

"I am waiting to see, I hope soon, a very strong statement of condemnation by the U.S., by Europe and by everybody who really cares about human dignity," he said in an interview with Reuters and the Associated Press.

More than 300 people were injured on Friday as protests against the decree turned violent. There were attacks on at least three offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that propelled Mursi to power.

POLARISATION

Liberal, leftist and socialist parties called a big protest for Tuesday to force Mursi to row back on a move they say has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

In a sign of the polarization in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood called its own protests that day to support the president's decree.

Mursi also assigned himself new authority to sack the prosecutor general, who was appointed during the Mubarak era, and appoint a new one. The dismissed prosecutor general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was given a hero's welcome at the Judges' Club.

In open defiance of Mursi, Ahmed al-Zind, head of the club, introduced Mahmoud by his old title.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

Analysts say it reflects the Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

ADVISOR TO MURSI QUITS

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of tear gas hung over the capital's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and the stage for more protests on Friday.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near the square, where activists camped out for a second day on Saturday, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising.

But the ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind Mursi's decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Samir Morkos, a Christian assistant to Mursi, had told the president he wanted to resign, said Yasser Ali, Mursi's spokesman. Speaking to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Morkos said: "I refuse to continue in the shadow of republican decisions that obstruct the democratic transition".

Mursi's decree has been criticized by Western states that earlier this week were full of praise for his role in mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair and Shaimaa Fayed and Reuters TV; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Football: S'pore attains 3-0 victory against M'sia

SINGAPORE: Singapore kicked off the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup campaign with a match against traditional rivals Malaysia.

The much-anticipated match saw Singapore winning 3-0 at the 100,000-capacity Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Singapore, the three-time winner, got off to a strong start against the co-host and defending champs.

At the 31st minute, skipper Shahril Ishak controlled the ball well, to score from close range, and gave the Lions the lead.

An error from the Malaysian goalkeeper gave Ishak a second goal five minutes later.

After the break, Singapore continued to pile the pressure, with substitute Aleksander Duric slotting in the third goal.

Singapore's next Group B tie is on Wednesday against Indonesia, who drew 2-all with Laos in their opening encounter.

- CNA/xq

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Entire BJP behind Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley says

AHMEDABAD: Leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley on Sunday said that since so many leaders have campaigned in Gujarat, it indicates that the entire BJP is behind Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

"Many BJP leaders are going to address rallies. This is a indication that the entire party is standing behind Gujarat BJP and Narendrabhai. We are here to give our party a historic victory," Jaitley said.

BJP has organized 87 public rallies in the state on Sunday and Monday in which leaders will campaign for phase one of the poll.

However, though Jaitley is scheduled to address public rallies in Jamnagar district, names of LK Advani and Lok Sabha's leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj are missing.

Replying to a question about rebellion within the party by former chief minster Keshubhai Patel who has fielded candidates from all constituencies during the first phase, and another MLA Kanubhai Kalsaria fighting under the banner of Sadbhavna Manch, Jaitley said, "People will not accept those leaders who have left our party".

"People left BJP not because of ideological differences, but due to personal differences. Those who left the party have regretted their decision. How they will affect us will be clear on the day of result," Jaitley said.

"The Congress does not have any leader to match the calibre of chief minister Narendra Modi and that is the reason they are targeting him. I believe that Modi is one leader whose stature has increased due to this systematic targeting," he said.

On the issue of Modi being prime ministerial candidate for 2014 elections, Jaitley said, "His stature has increased at the national level, but the party will take a decision at an appropriate time on how to use him in future".

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New Congress: Fewer Moderates Make Deals Harder

When the next Congress cranks up in January, there will be more women, many new faces and 11 fewer tea party-backed House Republicans from the class of 2010 who sought a second term.

Overriding those changes, though, is a thinning of pragmatic, centrist veterans in both parties. Among those leaving are some of the Senate's most pragmatic lawmakers, nearly half the House's centrist Blue Dog Democrats and several moderate House Republicans.

That could leave the parties more polarized even as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders talk up the cooperation needed to tackle complex, vexing problems such as curbing deficits, revamping tax laws and culling savings from Medicare and other costly, popular programs.

"This movement away from the center, at a time when issues have to be resolved from the middle, makes it much more difficult to find solutions to major problems," said William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a private group advocating compromise.

In the Senate, moderate Scott Brown, R-Mass., lost to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who will be one of the most liberal members. Another GOP moderate, Richard Lugar of Indiana, fell in the primary election. Two others, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Olympia Snowe of Maine, are retiring.

Moderate Democratic senators such as Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, James Webb of Virginia are leaving, as is Democratic-leaning independent Joe Lieberman.

While about half the incoming 12 Senate freshmen of both parties are moderates, new arrivals include tea party Republican Ted Cruz of Texas, conservative Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and liberals such as Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Hawaii's Mazie Hirono.

There's a similar pattern in the House, where 10 of the 24 Democratic Blue Dogs lost, are retiring or, in the case of Rep. Joe Donnelly, R-Ind., are moving to the Senate. That will further slash a centrist group that just a few years ago had more than 50 members, though some new freshmen might join.

Among Republicans, moderates like Reps. Judy Biggert of Illinois and New Hampshire's Charles Bass were defeated while others such as Reps. Jerry Lewis of California and Steven LaTourette of Ohio decided to retire.

"Congress seems to be going in the opposite direction of the country, just as the country is screaming for solutions to gridlock," said Democratic strategist Phil Singer.

Whether the changes are good is often in the eye of the beholder.

Seventy-one of the 83 House GOP freshmen of 2010 were re-elected Nov. 6, but 11 lost, including one of the group's highest profile members, conservative Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. Another faces a runoff in December.

"Some of the people who are the anti-government ideologues, some of them are gone," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "And that message has been rejected by the American people."

Sal Russo, strategist for the Tea Party Express, said such departures would be balanced by newly elected conservatives, including the Senate's Cruz and GOP Reps.-elect Ted Yoho of Florida and Mark Meadows of North Carolina.

"Pretty much everybody that ran in 2012 was talking about the economic woes we face, stopping excessive spending, controlling unsustainable debt," he said.

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