This is a futile effort because it is unenforceable. Who is going to be the enforcer, the teenage cashier at the grocery store checkout? This is basic stuff and common sense. Anytime a rule, regulation, or policy is established, it must contain three components: the standard (what the law is), the conditions (circumstances surrounding the need for the law, mitigating and extenuating), and the method of enforcement as measured against the standards. If an action cannot clearly and completely fulfill all three of these components, then quit wasting time and energy and move on to something else. Of course, in this case, the better effort would be to strive to establish conditions and an environment where these people do not require food stamps.

– Don Hanson, Smithfield, Va.

The opinions contained in this column are solely those of the writer. Read 

An already volatile and unpredictable GOP primary season just became more volatile today. Donald Trump’s endorsement, originally thought to be going to Newt Gingrich, is now apparently going to be given to Mitt Romney.

The endorsement will be given officially at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time today, at a luxury hotel in Las Vegas that bears Trump’s name.  The Nevada caucuses will be held Saturday.

Trump, who flirted with a presidential run as a Republican or a third-party candidate, also tried to host a debate in Iowa in December. Only Gingrich and Rick Santorum said they would attend, and the debate was eventually cancelled. Read 

For those who see the former private-equity investor as hopeless out of touch with Americans in need, Mitt Romney’s latest comments will only add fuel to that fire.

In an interview with CNN‘s Soledad O’Brien, he had the following to say about the very poor:

“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.” Read 

While the Super PAC supporting President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign hasn’t quite hit the heights of Romney’s Super PAC yet, that doesn’t mean Obama is hurting for money. Obama has his own ace up his sleeve, in the former of “bundlers.”

What’s a bundler? Simply put, a bundler is someone who seeks out individuals to donate to a campaign. Because individuals are limited to donating a maximum of $2,500 per election to a federal candidate or his campaign commitee, bundlers work by taking advantage of community or personal connections to “bundle” up many individuals’ contributions to a campaign.

In documents released yesterday, the Obama campaign revealed it had increased the number of bundlers who had collected $50,000 or more over the last three months of 2011 from 351 to 445. Overall, bundlers brought in $74.4 million last year, over 30% of the campaign’s overall haul. Read 

How did Mitt Romney pay for the 5-1 advertising blitz in Florida that ended with a 14 point win in the Sunshine State? Well, technically, he didn’t pay for it. At least, not all of it.

A Super PAC aligned with Romney’s campaign raised $18 million in the last half of 2011 from just 200 donors, and just over $30 million throughout 2011. This Super PAC has spent $17 million so far on advertising in early primary states, helping Romney to decisive wins in New Hampshire and Florida and a near-win in Iowa.

But where did Romney’s Super PAC money come from? A New York Times interactive graphic with data from the Federal Election Commission reports that every Super PAC must file shines some light on the matter. Here are five of the most intriguing names giving big bucks to the campaign, along with the amount of their donation. Read 

Mitt Romney finally secured a huge win in a major state, winning the Florida Republican primary by an impressive 14 percentage points. His victory speech signaled that he is beginning the all-important pivot to general election politics. As ugly and vicious as this GOP nomination has become, the commentariat has speculated that the negativity will poison the eventual Republican nominee. Romney tried to assure voters that this process “would not divide us, but would prepare us” for the general election. Despite Romney’s large margin of victory, all three of his rivals vowed to soldier on.

Here are three takeaways from the Florida Primary: Romney’s Win Was Costly

First, although Romney won the Sunshine State handily, it came at a big cost. Romney outspent Newt Gingrich in Florida on television ads by a 5 to 1 margin. The vast majority of his monies were spent on negative advertising. In fact, according to some analyses, this was the most negative campaign ever, with 92% of all ads being negative. Romney was right to try and assure the electorate that the GOP was not self-destructing. Read