MSNBC

A new poll released today by Suffolk University shows a majority of Florida voters believe the Republican party is "intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not reelected." 

Ray LaHood, Obama's Secretary of Transportation — and perhaps more notably a Republican — said just that in an interview with The Daily Beast earlier this week. The Washington Post's Greg Sargent and Washington Monthly's Steve Benen have interesting opinions on what the poll results mean for the 2012 election.

Even though Florida voters admit the GOP's economic sabotage is real, they are evenly split on who to vote for in all 2012 races.

Here is what the Beastie Boys have to say about sabotage:

Where are the jobs? Does the public sector really put many people to work? Plenty of Republicans like to say the answer is no, and they say the private sector is the only place people get put to work.

But The Economist wanted to know what the reality is, so they did some research and found some facts and put together this handy dandy graphic. On it the top ten biggest employers on the whole entire planet are ranked. And (not really a) surprise!! Seven of ten are government-run entities and only three are private sector businesses. The Economist blog post goes on to tell us:

... governments employ a lot of people: in our chart of the ten biggest global employers, below, seven are government-run. America's defence department had 3.2m people on its payroll last year, equivalent to 1% of the country's population. China, the world's most populous nation and a big military spender, employs 2.3m people in its armed forces. And the number of people working for the National Health Service in England is equivalent to over 2.5% of the country's population. The three private companies are Walmart, McDonald's and Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, a subsidiary of which is Foxconn, a secretive electronics manufacturer.

This is of course not to suggest that more people work, as a whole, in the public sector than in the private sector. But it's interesting to see just how many million people do work for these seven enormous public-run entities.

Last night the Republican presidential candidates met for yet another debate (yes, really). I know a lot you didn't see it because it was on another network you were still sated from the amazingness that was last week's NBC News/POLITICO Republican Debate (see highlights here). In fact, viewership for last night's debate was down considerably from that debate last week.

So in case you missed it, the fine folks at BuzzFeed have given us the 75 second version. Lawrence will also have plenty to say about the debate on tonight's edition of The Last Word.

Mark Avery/AP

(file)

All those parades and fireworks may have more of a political impact than you think. A new study by Harvard University suggests kids who attend Fourth of July celebrations are more likely to identify themselves as Republicans when they grow up.

The "Fourth of July influences people's political preferences and their political behavior. In particular, participating in the festivities during childhood shifts later-life preferences and behavior toward the Republicans and increases adult voter turnout," concluded researchers David Yanagizawa-Drott and Andreas Madestam in the 40-page report.

The study specifically defines Fourth of July festivities as fireworks, parades, political speeches and barbecues.

Part of this stems from the way conservatives tend to link GOP values to outward symbols of patriotism. Over the 4^th of July, Americana imagery is on full display.

Their evidence also found Republicans consider themselves more patriotic than Democrats.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Ever since Rep. Paul Ryan introduced his plan to kill Medicare as we know it, there's been a growing chorus of people speaking out against it. Last week, that chorus added an unlikely member: The leader of the South Florida Tea Party, Everett Wilkinson.

Wilkinson put out an email to his supporters articulating the group's position on the Ryan plan and how it relates to their overall 2012 strategy. The first reporter to take notice was George Bennett of The Palm Beach Post. The note is up on the South Florida Tea Party's website if you you'd like to read it in full.

Today, I talked to both Bennett and Wilkinson about this story to learn a bit more. Wilkinson is in the district currently held by Tea Party favorite, Rep. Allen West. Wilkinson says he thinks Rep. West could see some fallout over his support of Paul Ryan's Medicare plan.

Wilkinson also calls his opposition to Ryan's plan both "political and policy-based." He continued, "It's a politically unfavorable position. I've sat down with people on both sides of this thing. I'm all for budget cuts, but this is very pointless." On the policy side of the argument, he says Ryan's plan would create a "system of coupons that's vague and distorted and no one understands if it's going to work or not."

As for those people on both sides of the issue that Everett Wilkinson talked to, he tells me me that included FOX Newser Dick Morris, Republican political consultant Roger Stone, people at The Heritage Foundation, NBC reality TV star Donald Trump (he refers to this as a conversation in passing), and "other lesser known respected policy experts." Trump, you may remember, is (interestingly enough) one of the people calling Ryan's plan political poison for Republicans in 2012.

As Ryan's proposal gets more and more radioactive (only 22% supported it in the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll), it's going to be interesting to see how Republicans who've thrown their support behind it square that circle.

Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

President Obama at Cree headquarters in Durham, North Carolina on Monday.

President Obama hit the campaign trail today, speaking at a manufacturing center in North Carolina. The theme: jobs, jobs and jobs. He’s trying to re-assure Americans he’s focused on their top concern of the economy.

"Today, the single most serious economic problem we face is getting people back to work," the president said at a LED lighting plant in Durham. "We stabilized the economy, we prevented a financial meltdown and an economy that was shrinking is now growing. We've added more than 2 million private sector jobs over the last 15 months alone, but I'm still not satisfied. I will not be satisfied until everyone who wants a good job that offers some security has a good job that offers security."

He also announced details of an incentive program to train 10,000 new engineers every year.

Obama won the North Carolina vote back in 2008, and it remains a key state to the president's re-election.

Not helping matters, it’s been a week of lousy economic news for the White House: 9.1% unemployment rate, only 54K jobs added and stock market shrinking for sixth straight week. Depressing stuff.

Economic policies will undoubtedly come up tonight with 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls. The GOP is scheduled to hold its first debate in New Hampshire.

Former McCain campaign adviser Steve Schmidt talks with Lawrence in a Last Word exclusive about President Obama's decision to go after the terrorist leader.

Here's a look at stories we're following right now. What headlines are you clicking on, today?

• President Obama lays a wreath at Ground Zero here in New York.
• New images of the compound where Osama bin Laden was living.
• WSJ: U.S. & European intelligence services increasingly suspicious of a link between some Pakistani officials & bin Laden
• NYTimes: Head of Pakistani Army says he will not tolerate another covert raid by Washington
• Several U.S. Senators fell for fake photos of a dead bin Laden
• New Washington Post poll shows a sharp drop in number of Americans who think Pres. Obama was born outside the country
• POLITICO: Tonight's GOP debate is really all about Tim Pawlenty
• Republican leaders divided on prospects of a Medicare deal with Democrats

plannedparenthood.com

House Republicans and Senate Democrats remain huddled behind closed doors this afternoon, trying to slam out a budget deal before midnight. Both sides have taken the time out of these 24/7 talks to take swipes at one another over the holdouts. Disagreeing over their disagreements: not a good sign.

Republicans say no agreement on a specific amount has been reached yet. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is singing a different tune. He said they both agreed to cut $38 billion in spending and the main hang up was the Republicans’ rider to defund Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood accounts for .0083% of the entire federal budget.

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein, also frequent Last Word guest, had great blog post today, which lays out their allotment of federal funds. Only three percent go to abortions. Most funds go to preventative treatment towards STDs and contraception.

So though the fight over Planned Parenthood might be about abortion, Planned Parenthood itself isn’t about abortion. It’s primarily about contraception and reproductive health. And if Planned Parenthood loses funding, what will mainly happen is that cancer screenings and contraception and STD testing will become less available to poorer people. Folks with more money, of course, have many other ways to receive all these services, and tend to get them elsewhere already.

How should these riders play into the budget deal? Join the discussion in the comment section below.

Lawrence spoke with New York Magazine's Joe Hagan about Karl Rove's push to take back control of the GOP.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Rep. Ron Paul speaking at CPAC on Friday.

Rep. Ron Paul is firing back at critics today, fresh off a CPAC straw poll victory. The Republican Congressman brushed off a very public dismissal of his electability by none other than Donald Trump.

Paul pointed to his electoral success in a conservative district and questioned Trump's lack of campaign experience.  "I don’t know whether he’s earned the right — you know — for criticizing someone for not winning an election, when I don’t know how many elections he’s won so far himself,” said Paul in an interview this morning.

Paul won the presidential-preference straw poll for the second consecutive year. Paul got 30% of the vote, edging early contender Mitt Romney (23%) while no other candidate received over 6% of the vote. However, despite Paul’s strong vote of support from his conservative peers, CPAC yielded one particularly noteworthy voice of opposition via The Donald himself.

Donald Trump's bold statement that Paul "cannot get elected" drew a vocal reaction from the CPAC crowd as a seemingly off-the-cuff comment in a headliner speech. Hinting that he might even consider a run in 2012, Trump thrilled the audience forecasting, "If I ran and if I win, this country will be respected again." 

Trump's speech drew mixed reactions from the crowd, which was packed out with a bunch of Paul supporters. But even if Trump doesn't run, it may indicate a greater suspicion that Paul's libertarian platform makes him, as Trump suspects, an unrealistic GOP candidate for 2012.

Neither Paul nor Trump has committed to running in 2012.

Who do you think will win the GOP nomination? Take our Last Word poll now.

— By Pete Tosiello

House Republicans are now backing off their effort to re-define rape. Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, lead the controversial effort to cut taxpayer funding of abortions as a result of so-called “forcible” rape. (Last time I checked, all rape is forced.)

Authors of bill decided to drop language that appeared to exempt some rape victims from seeking federal aid, according to Politico.

The Daily Show took a major swipe at the bill last night. Their Senior Women’s Issues Correspondent Kristen Schaal explained the difference between rape and “rape rape.” It’s darkly humorous and worth a watch.