ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

On Friday, volunteers and staff from the AARP Florida office went to Miami's historic Versailles restaurant in the heart of Little Havana to remind former Governor Mike Huckabee of the importance of health and financial security issues. While waiting for the Governor to show up for lunch, we spoke to the people milling around about the importance of ending the partisan bickering in DC and finding solutions to the issues that affect us everyday. Also in the crowd were the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Marco Rubio and Florida State Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla. Pics below.

Also, the staff volunteers and members in Florida are gearing up for a big rally on Monday, the eve before the big day of voting. Check out what the blogs have to say about it.

Perez Hilton highlights an important milestone... Ellen DeGeneres turned 50 on Friday and AARP was there to help her celebrate. Check out the video.

Wall Street Journal: Tempering Health-Care Goals

Democrats backing universal health care long favored a single-payer system, with government replacing insurance companies and covering everyone. More recently, most have advocated a more modest -- and politically feasible -- system that provides universal coverage by building on the employer-based system.

Los Angeles Times: Saving becomes a campaign issue

A dawning reality that millions of workers face an income squeeze when they retire has elevated building a nest egg to the national political agenda.

Washington Post: Longing for Size and Speed

Small-car options appeared limited, pushing aging baby boomers onto the unfamiliar territory of Scion, Toyota's youth-car brand.

"I shouldn't even be in this section," said Larry Waldron, a 60-year-old retired federal worker. The Scion could be a real draw for older people, he said. It is easy to get in and out of and has thin windshield posts, giving drivers a wider view of the road. But he said Toyota will have to dress the brand down so the car doesn't look quite so funky.

U.S. News & World Report: Health Insurance Options That Squeeze Individuals

Many people have no choice but to buy healthcare coverage on their own, despite its downsides.

The spin room post debate is a clutter of bodies and voices, all clamoring to give reporters their own "spin" on the evening's festivities. All the campaigns have surrogates who speak on their behalf and they range from current and former members of Congress to campaign staff to family members of the candidates.

There were placards notating all of the candidates, but only one little purple character was out and about...

Is it possible that these debates are getting more underwhelming? It's the closing stretch for the candidates, you would think their might be a focus on the real issues that concern people day in and day out. Fewer than a quarter of tonight's questions were about health care or financial security. Instead, tonight's discussion focused on question of religion and campaign ads- issues that at the end of the day don't alleviate what ails us as a nation.

There was a brief mention of Social Security, but honestly, all the options need to be discussed and neither Congressman Paul or former Governor Romney (who both talked about the issue) laid out the full scope of what is happening. It is important that we reform Social Security for the long haul, but we've got to do something that will be fair for all generations.

It would be great if the candidates took these debates as an opportunity to show the American people that they are committed to change. I guess there's next week.

They're already prepping for the onslaught of spinners...

Here in the spin room, press are watching the debate attentively. The early focus is on financial security issues, finally. Jim Dau mentioned it yesterday and it looks like the debate moderators are finally paying attention to the issues that families across the country have been talking about. While talking about how the candidates will improve the economy is important, there are many issues that have yet to be discussed, such as retirement security or the need for help when it comes to savings. The big picture things are important, but it's the day in, day out that people are focused on.

We're in the spin room, just across the courtyard from where the candidates will debate in under an hour. Things are definitely picking up here, with numerous prominent Republicans swirling through the room. A couple of sightings include former Senator Connie Mack, as well as chairman of the Florida Republican Party, Jim Greer. No candidates...yet.

There is a special campaigning area set up for the debate groupies. Thought you'd enjoy a look.

We're camped out in sunny Boca Raton, Florida preparing for tonight's Republican debate. A little chaotic here, with several hundred media running about preparing for the showdown.

Lots of candidate signs, but the only candidate sighting we had was on the plane from Washington, where we shared the jet way with Congressman Ron Paul. Also, his supporters took advantage of the warm weather by camping out on the main thoroughfare into Florida Atlantic University with homemade signs, lawn chairs and coolers.

Not to be forgotten, there are AARP signs and Divided We Fail signs everywhere.

USA Today: Trucking industry faces rough road

Schneider National also became an employment team member with the AARP and has increased its number of drivers older than 50 by 46%.

Wall Street Journal: Economic Slowdown Could Widen U.S. Budget Deficit

But lawmakers were more alarmed by the CBO's warnings about the approaching budget squeeze as baby boomers retire and begin drawing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits. The CBO projected that Medicare, the health plan for the elderly, and Medicaid, the program for the poor, will together cost 5.9% of the entire U.S. economic output by 2018, compared with about 4.6% this year. Over the next 75 years, the CBO expects such entitlement programs to create a fiscal gap measuring 7% of GDP.

New York Times: The Unavoidable Update

While people like to complain that there is nothing to watch on television, about 21 million American households may find that literally true in February 2009. On the 17th of that month, most TV stations will quit broadcasting analog TV signals over the air, and older sets will go blank.

USA Today: Employers put health coverage in workers' hands

Nick Trikolas plans to drop health insurance for his employees and give them money to buy their own coverage. He says doing so will put him in the vanguard of a movement by employers searching for answers to rising health costs.

Some thoughts from AARP's Jim Dau:

It’s hard to find a silver lining in the news coming out of Wall Street and Washington, where global economic volatility is further threatening the financial security of millions of Americans. However, we’re at least grateful that the political media is finally spending more time discussing the economic plans of various candidates (for instance here and here), rather than breathlessly dissecting horse race numbers, photo-ops and slung mud.

The campaign press is waking up to what voters already knew – economic security is a critically important issue. In the Iowa caucuses three weeks ago, voters cited economic concerns as their top issue. Even back in November, both AARP polling and Washington Post polling showed big concern from voters on financial security issues.
Voters want impartial and substantive information on the candidates’ economic plans. It may be that an economic stimulus package is less sexy than decades-old allegations of wrong-doing, but hopefully reporters get that it’s more important.

MSNBC: Save your parents' finances (before they ruin yours)

If our Moms and Dads are relying on us to pay for their expenses — from groceries to utility bills in early retirement to long-term health care in their 70s and 80s, how will that impact our own financial future?

Los Angeles Times: Good for borrowers, bad for savers

"It's bad for seniors who are living on fixed incomes, but this gigantic baby boom generation is largely made up of borrowers," said Gary Schlossberg, senior economist with Wells Fargo Capital Markets in San Francisco.

Wall Street Journal: Wal-Mart Insured Ranks Rise

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the percentage of its work force enrolled in its health plans has increased significantly from a year ago after it expanded choices, including lower-cost options.

Washington Post: Braving a Downdraft

The stock market heads south just as you've retired, or are about to. It's the worst-case scenario you've always feared. Is it time to scour the help-wanted ads? Do you have to put your post-work life on hold?

Here’s an update from Amy Gilbody from AARP Virginia, who is trekking around Virginia and talking about Divided We Fail:

Last week, we brought DWF to the Virginia General Assembly! We camped ourselves out for the week in the lobby of the General Assembly Building – an AARP first. Volunteers from our Driver's Safety, Tax Aide, Faith in Action, Rebuilding Together, and Divided We Fail programs all hung out and chatted with legislators and others about the good work they are doing. We finished the week with a day dedicated solely to Divided We Fail. Not only did we give away fun goodies, we also were able to talk to folks about health and financial security and get them fired up about learning about the issues.

It wasn’t just the staff and visitors who we chatted with - even those in the executive branch got involved, including Virginia Department for the Aging’s Ben Garrett.

Blogs in Florida are talking about a new survey that shows AARP members in Florida are far from settled in their candidate preferences, with over half of potential Democratic and Republican voters saying they are likely or very likely to change their minds between now and Election Day based on what the candidates are saying about the issues.

The hot stuff? Health care and financial security. In particular, financial security issues remain a concern for AARP members. More than one in four members cited the economy and jobs as the most-important issue facing the country. Just as interesting is financial security has replaced Iraq as the top issue among AARP members, with the war falling as the top priority by 30 points among potential Democratic voters and 15 points among potential Republican voters since the summer.

New York Times: Justices Add More Cases on Job Discrimination

The employees won a jury trial, but the federal appeals court in New York eventually overturned the verdict on the ground that the employees had failed to carry their burden of showing that the evaluation system was unreasonable. In their Supreme Court appeal, supported by a brief filed by the AARP Foundation, the employees are arguing that the structure of the statute makes clear that the employer must prove reasonableness of an action that would otherwise be prohibited.

Washington Post: Homeowners in Alleged Scam Get Settlement

Many of the homeowners didn't realize or didn't want to accept that their problems could have been solved if they sold their homes. The plaintiffs each had tens of thousands of dollars in equity in their homes. The amounts due on their mortgages ranged from $8,000 to $16,000.

"Each person was attached to their homes," said Jean Constantine-Davis, an AARP lawyer. One plaintiff, Idriis Bilaal, was born in the home he was trying to keep.

Chicago Tribune: A New Deal for a New Economy

These days, middle-class families across America are understandably concerned about the new economy and the prospect that globalization will send their jobs overseas or change their way of life. As they confront these new challenges we need a plan -- a New Deal for the New Economy -- that will address working Americans' concerns and prepare them for the future.

Newsweek: Careful What You Wish For

The numbers are staggering, but no longer shocking: about 47 million Americans are uninsured and millions more struggle to pay expensive health-insurance premiums.

Tonight's debate was certainly the friskiest we've seen so far, but unfortunately not as substantive. Yes, there was some talk about the economy, which was key for voters in South Carolina and Nevada this weekend. With the news of the stock market and a still shaky housing market, people are concerned about the economy. There was even a brief discussion about health care and the need for reform to the system. The candidates even talked about the importance of reforming Social Security for generations to come. This is all good stuff.

But the candidates spent as much time talking about the stuff people care about as they did sniping at each other. The hand to hand combat is part of the problem in Washington, these folks need to instead focus on the solutions. There's still at least three, maybe four debates left, so there's still a chance for these candidates to dig in and get to the things that really matter. We'll be watching.

Today's dispatch from Florida AARP staff member Jeff Johnson, who continues to follow the candidates all over the state:

Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday weekend appears to be the launch of the Florida Republican primary campaign in earnest. Till now, the only candidate actively campaigning in Florida was New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and I lost track of how many stops his bus tour has made in the Sunshine state, but we've covered 26 in the last 11 days. Now he has company, and even in our sprawling state, it makes for some interesting intersections. This morning, Divided We Fail volunteers and staff greeted Arizona Senator John McCain at his appearance at the Versailles Restaurant, a venerable hotspot in Little Havana, before sprinting north to Miami Gardens for that town's MLK Day festivities. In Tampa, more than 300 people signed on to Divided We Fail at the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival. Giuliani, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and McCain will all be in Jacksonville at some point today, and in Orlando, staff and volunteers have only three blocks to walk between a Romney appearance and a Giuliani one.