MICKEY KAUS: The case for Romney's welfare attack.

It's not just welfare; it's the Obama administration's attitude that if they can't change the law, then they should ignore it, refuse to enforce it, or waive it -- all because they 'know better'.

JEFF JACOBY: Why beg anyone to vote?

Registering to vote isn't complicated. By and large, Americans who don't vote don't want to vote. In 2008 the Census Bureau found that by far the largest share of unregistered voters (46 percent) reported that they were "not interested in the election [or] not interested in politics." Their nonparticipation is rational, and we should respect it.

Why should those of us who take voting seriously enough to go out of our way to register want to increase electoral participation by those who won't?

TECHNOLOGY: The Kenguru wheelchair-accessible EV.

For someone with money to invest, this looks like opportunity is knocking.

IT'S THOSE DAMNED UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES AGAIN: UN Carbon Trading Scheme Increases Pollution. Follow the links for more detail.

ELECTION PREDICTION: Romney, 56%; Obama, 42%. From my Obama Approval Index spreadsheet.

THE SOLUTION FOR DOMESTIC TERRORISM BULLYISM: sit down and shut up.

PAUL RYAN represents Obama’s most horrifying nightmare: Math. Read Reynolds' column.

MSNBC'S ANDREA MITCHELL on Paul Ryan's selection for Republican VP candidate: "This is not a choice for suburban moms. This is not a choice for women."

Oh? Are my lying eyes failing again? That sure looks like a lot of humans of the female persuasion with their offspring to me.

WHERE DO YOU STAND? Higher taxes or more jobs?

THIS IS WHAT 2012 LOOKS LIKE: The Romney/Ryan rally in North Carolina.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER (PART II): Here are some photos/video from yesterday's Romney/Ryan Republican campaign stop in Manassas. This is what it looked like at the entrance to Harris Pavilion shortly after we arrived.

And here's the other end of the 1 km long line where we entered. The Obama counterprotest was a bit weak.... The barber shop was open ... the line of Romney supporters passed by for over three hours. The Obama campaign's Manassas headquarters -- they were very quiet.

We finally gave up on getting into the Pavilion and went to the overflow area to watch the rally on a large-screen video unit across the street. The rally was largely standard stump speech -- even Paul Ryan's comments were a rehash of what I had heard earlier in the morning when he was first introduced in Norfolk.

Romney did get in a nice jab at Obama's "you didn't build your business" comment, however, when he noted that he didn't think the bus driver deserved credit for the honor student's achievements even though the student rode the bus to school every day. Here's a picture of a mother sharing her joy at getting one of the very first Romney/Ryan campaign stickers. Other, smaller, stickers were being passed out just before the campaign rally ended.

And a picture of the Harris Pavilion taken from across the street at the overflow area. The police had the area cordoned off, but it's clear that the Pavilion is jammed. And finally, a short video of the campaign bus leaving afterward. Romney is in the front of the bus on the left. Paul Ryan is standing beside him, and (I think) that's Romney's wife Ann just behind Ryan.



Instapundit has much more. In the view from the campaign bus (link) I'm standing just out of the picture on the left side. Also check out Stacy McCain's Update V link for more photos.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Romney/Ryan in Manassas, Virginia.


View Larger Map

When we arrived at rally site (Harris Pavilion in Old Town) shortly after 2 pm, the entrance line started at the corner of Church and Battle streets, went south two blocks on Battle street, made a U-turn back up Battle street to Center street, turned right on Center street to South Main street, turned right on South Main to the railroad tracks, turned right and followed the railroad tracks back to Battle street, then right again on Battle street (for the third time), up Battle street to Church street (where we started), then left on Church to West street, and (finally) another left on West street to the entrance of Harris Pavilion.

The line length, measured from the map, is roughly 1 km long, and figuring a density of about 3 people per meter of length, equates to about 3,000 people. We didn't make it into Harris Pavilion, which was filled when we got to the final turn up Battle street. The line was still at least 2,000 people long when we left the line to go the overflow area next to the train station.

The mayor of Manassas estimated the crowd at 10,000; my guess that he underestimated a little. I spoke with a Romney campaign volunteer who told me they were expecting around 6 thousand and was clearly surprised by the turnout. The Romney volunteers deserve a whole lot of credit for keeping things moving when they were obviously nearly overwhelmed by the crowd. The crowd deserves equal or more credit for behaviour that was polite, cheerful, and -- clean. When we finally left, there was no trash anywhere to pick up.

Photos and comments to follow.

REAL JOBS? Or government cheese? I'm betting on real jobs.