The World Around You

Only the Montgomery Advertiser among the large daily papers in the state has local debate reaction,

While Bush garnered the most reaction from the crowd, that wasn’t necessarily a strong endorsement for the president.

“Did he actually say ‘rue the day’?” someone asked after one of Bush’s comments.

Another onlooker commented that Bush “was making himself look like a real putz.”

At another point in the debate, Bush took a long pause (some said he froze) during one of his retorts — garnering a bit of laughter from the crowd.

And then there was this opinion from a Mexican immigrant living in Prattville,

Some men believe in solving problems by fighting and others believe in talking through issues, Daniel Cias said as he watched Thursday night’s presidential debate between Bush and Kerry.

“Kerry believes a better way is about talking,” he said. “Bush believes the best way is fighting.”

Cias, a restaurant worker who lives in Prattville, said he does not agree with the war in Iraq, but would probably vote for Bush.

“I like the way he’s guided this country,” he said.

Overall, it appears from this story that Alabamians saw the same things the pundits did. Kerry expressed himself better, but if you were for one candidate or the other before the debate, it probably didn’t change your mind.

**Crossposted at Polstate.com

VOICES for Alabama’s Children will release the annual county level KIDS Count data today. According to the Birmingham News, the data will once again show Shelby and Baldwin counties at the top of the list and rural, poor counties with a high minority population at the bottom. This is yet another area where money matters,

The report details the stark contrasts between the lives of children in counties at the top of the list and those in counties at the bottom.

In Greene County, 20.5 percent of children live in extreme poverty. In Shelby County, 3.4 percent do. Extreme poverty is defined as a family of four with an income of $8,731.50 or less.

In Greene County, 54.1 percent of women receive first-trimester prenatal care. In Shelby County, 90.1 percent do. In Greene County, the projected school drop-out rate is 20.9 percent. In Shelby County, it’s 9.7 percent.

Tilly said that, to her, the report shows the state should not cut funding for social services and should do more in health and education.

“It is time, I think, we as a state wake up and see that investment in our children now is going to determine to a great extent what are state looks like in the next 15 or 20 years,” she said. “What kind of a work force we have. What kind of a consumer base we have. Who is able to afford a home.”

There is no doubt Alabamians need to wake-up, I don’t think this report, which has not changed much over the years, is going to be the mechanism to do it.