Begich doubles down on expanding Social Security in tight race
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/02/1333894/-Begich-doubles-down-on-expanding-Social-Security-in-tight-raceSen. Mark Begich (D-AK) is making a smart bet that running hard on Social Security expansion is going to give him the edge in November. He's holding town meetings with seniors, presenting his policy ideas for keeping Social Security strong, and increasing benefits.
Begich's campaign tells Greg Sargent that Social Security "will be a key component of his message in the final stretch of the race," and sends this email.
Begich has long tried to draw this contrast around this issue. "Are we for or against helping seniors have a dignified life in their later years? I'm for that," Begich recently said, by way of spelling out this contrast. "They would reduce the benefits of seniors. I'm working to make sure benefits are preserved and increased to reflect the costs seniors face." Now Begich's campaign says he will amplify this message in the final days of the race.
Making this a key issue in the campaign has been made easier by Sullivan, who says he thinks the eligibility age should be raised, and that the program should be means tested. In other words, Social Security cuts. In contrast, Begich would lift the payroll tax cap, so people making more than the current cap $117,000 annually would pay taxes on their earnings above that. He would increase benefits for surviving spouses, many who are women left struggling when their husbands die, as well as disabled seniors. These are the particularly vulnerable seniors—those who often had lower earnings in their working years either because they're women or because they left the workforce earlier because of disability. Begich would also adopt a cost of living index that is actually tied to the things seniors spend the most on—like housing and medicine.
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on this senatorial race, and I believe that Sullivan has probably bought up more air time. He has a huge amount of Koch and Rove money behind him. His parents in Ohio made the second and third largest contributions to American Crossroads GPS in August, but, of course, there's no coordination with the campaign 
However, Mark has a very strong ground game, and I'm feeling fairly optimistic about his chances now. Sullivan has made quite a few missteps in the past couple of weeks, and he is dogged by residency issues, having taken a tax break meant only for residents in Maryland when he worked for Condi Rice (gag) in 2008 but voting absentee in Alaska. This seems like voter fraud to me.
If you haven't seen this article which was in the Washington Post about Mark's amazing GOTV effort, please check it out.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251378747
