'Predictive Policing' Technology Lowers Crime In Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles police are aiming to beat suspects to the scene of a crime by using computers to predict where trouble might occur.

The Los Angeles Police Department is the largest agency to embrace an experiment known as "predictive policing," which crunches data to determine where to send officers to thwart would-be thieves and burglars. Time Magazine called it one of the best inventions of 2011.

Early successes could serve as a model for other cash-strapped law enforcement agencies, but some legal observers are concerned it could lead to unlawful stops and searches that violate Fourth Amendment protections.

In the San Fernando Valley, where the program was launched late last year, officers are seeing double-digit drops in burglaries and other property crimes. The program has turned enough in-house skeptics into believers that there are plans to roll it out citywide by next summer.

"We have prevented hundreds and hundreds of people coming home and seeing their homes robbed," said police Capt. Sean Malinowski.

Crime mapping has long been a tool used to determine where the bad guys lurk. The idea has evolved from colored pins placed on a map to identifying "hot spots" via a computer database based on past crimes and possible patterns.

Over the past decade, many large police departments, including Los Angeles and New York City, have used CompStat, a system that tracks crime figures and enables police to send extra officers to trouble spots.

The new program used by LAPD and police in the Northern California city of Santa Cruz is more timely and precise, proponents said. Built on the same model for predicting aftershocks following an earthquake, the software promises to show officers what might be coming based on simple, constantly calibrated data ? location, time and type of crime.

The software generates prediction boxes ? as small as 500 square feet ? on a patrol map. When officers have spare time, they are told to "go in the box."

The goal is not to boost the number of arrests, a common police benchmark to reflect crime reduction. Officers want to either intercept a crime in progress or deter would-be criminals.

"I want to disrupt an activity before an arrest is made," Malinowski said. "You can't arrest your way out of some of these problems."

Jeff Brantingham, an anthropology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the data also is derived from criminal behaviors ? repeat victimization and the notion that criminals tend not to stray too far from areas they know best.

"If you are victimized today the risk that you'll be a victim again goes way up," said Brantingham, who co-founded a software company tapped by LAPD for its program.

So far, the program has been implemented in five LAPD divisions that cover 130 square miles and roughly 1.3 million people. In the valley's Foothill Division, where more than half of the crimes committed are property-related, about 170 patrol officers are spending a total of about 70 hours a week working in the boxes.

In one instance, a police captain questioned sending officers into a box that was on the edge of his coverage area. Officers went out and didn't find anything, but returned several nights later and found a guy breaking a window.

The division leads the department in crime reduction, Malinowski said. Crimes were down in the area 13 percent following the rollout compared to a slight uptick across the rest of the city where the program wasn't being used.

"If you had told us a few years ago you could get an algorithm to perform as the same as a crime analyst, we would think you were crazy," Malinowski said. "Even the most skeptical people are now coming up to me and saying, `I think this is working.'"

Other police departments across the nation are using similar approaches. Tech titan IBM has teamed up with police in Memphis and Charleston, S.C., to provide analysis; Minneapolis police are breaking down crime statistics and factoring in geographic locations to determine future crimes.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, an assistant law professor at the University of the District of Columbia, has written about predictive policing and how it may impact Fourth Amendment protections from unlawful searches and seizures.

Ferguson said the trend is "a seductive idea" for law enforcement agencies that carry a lot of power. He believes the LAPD has done a good job with the data but he's concerned that other departments could abuse the process with racial profiling or stereotyping a neighborhood or an area.

"There are real pressures to expand this nationally and see it succeed," Ferguson said. "I think it's an important innovation. But like any innovation, it's not foolproof, and looking closely at the data is important to ensure it doesn't harm the civil liberties of the people living in those areas."

Ferguson said he envisions a legal challenge at some point. He used an example of an officer patrolling a predicted area of burglary and who sees a man carrying a bag and detains the man because he looks suspicious.

"Alone, a man carrying a bag is not reasonable suspicion," Ferguson explained. "But in court, the officer will say, `The computer told me to go there.' For the lawyer or the court, what are you going to do with this information? You can't cross-examine a computer."

Brantingham's company has been contacted by about 200 police departments across the globe interested in the software. He wouldn't disclose the costs of the program because it varies on a city's population and size. LAPD isn't incurring any costs because it has shared data and other information with Brantingham's company for research purposes.

Brantingham and others believe predictive policing is the wave of the future and won't result in the elimination of jobs.

"It's not a replacement for police officer's knowledge and skills and not designed to take the officer out of the equation," he said. "It's about putting them in the right time and place for crime prevention."

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/predictive-policing-technology-los-angeles_n_1641276.html

horsetail falls ice t downton abbey new york knicks president day lin j.r. smith

Best Bets: 'Spider-Man' spins web with new cast

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Happy Independence Day week! If it's hot where you are, slink inside to the air conditioning and check out a big movie, and of course, don't forget the fireworks.

TUESDAY: 'The Amazing Spider-Man'
The webslinger's story gets a whole new cast, with Andrew Garfield stepping in as poor Peter Parker, the hapless high schooler who gets chomped by a radioactive spider and becomes an unlikely superhero. Emma Stone plays girlfriend Gwen Stacy (comic-book readers know she came before redheaded Mary Jane Watson) and Sally Field and Martin Sheen play Peter's Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Rhys Ifans faces off against Garfield as Dr. Curt Connors, who transforms into a giant lizard when his limb-regenerating experiments go horribly wrong. It's always good to have Spidey back, and who knows? Once he gets a movie under his utility belt, he may even join the Avengers, just like in the funny pages. (Opens July 3.)

WEDNESDAY: 'A Capitol Fourth'
If you're not heading out to a fireworks display, catch all the rockets' red glare from the comfort of your couch with "A Capitol Fourth." The annual Washington concert will be hosted by "Dancing With the Stars" host Tom Bergeron. "American Idol" winner Phillip Phillips, Kool and the Gang, Matthew Broderick and others will perform at the event. (July 4, 8 p.m., PBS.)

FRIDAY: 'Savages'
Oliver Stone returns to theaters with "Savages," which has intrigued movie buffs since the first clips were revealed months ago. Aaron Johnson and?Taylor Kitsch play pot growers who share a girlfriend (Blake Lively). When she's kidnapped, they have to go up against a drug cartel and a corrupt DEA agent?(John Travolta). (Opens July 6.)?

?Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/01/12461836-best-bets-spider-man-spins-web-with-new-cast?lite

Karen Klein jerry sandusky Colorado fires supreme court college board summer solstice Summer Solstice 2012

H.K.'s SCMP editor under fire as press freedom 'shrinks'

The first China-born editor of Hong Kong's flagship English-language paper admits he made a "bad call" in cutting coverage of a mainland dissident's death, but denies he is a stooge for Beijing.

The South China Morning Post's editor-in-chief Wang Xiangwei has himself been making the news, accused of muzzling the newspaper to appease Chinese authorities, amid a broader fear that Hong Kong is losing cherished freedoms.

Such concerns fuelled Hong Kong's biggest protest in eight years on Sunday just after a weekend visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao, to mark the 15th anniversary of the territory's handover and the inauguration of its new leader.

Angry journalists at the 109-year-old South China Morning Post, one of the world's most profitable dailies, allege a steady erosion of their freedom to report on China since Wang took over the editorship in February.

He began his career at the state-run China Daily, Beijing's leading English-language paper, and sits on a mainland political advisory body. He has even been forced to deny that he is a secret Communist Party member.

"If I had a hidden agenda, it would have come out a long time ago," Wang, 47, told AFP in an interview.

Internal bickering at the SCMP exploded into the open after the death last month of Li Wangyang, a Tiananmen Square democracy activist who was found hanged in his mainland hospital ward.

The official verdict was suicide. But his family suspect foul play given that Li was blind, nearly deaf and barely able to walk. His death received prominent coverage across Hong Kong's Chinese-language media.

But while the SCMP carried the Li story at length in the first edition of the June 7 newspaper, Wang replaced it for the second edition and reduced the original story to a 101-word brief.

"It was never my intention to downplay that story and try to exercise self-censorship," Wang said in the interview, adding he was "shocked at the scale of the reaction to all of this".

"I have to make a lot of decisions, and looking back on this one, it was a bad call."

The Post eventually went harder on the Li story, with front-page splashes, editorials and two columns by Wang, who ran a statement in the paper saying he had waited "until more facts and details... could be established".

But staff questioned why the story ran at all on June 7 if the facts were in doubt, and concerns about Wang's editorship are gaining wider traction after an SCMP sub-editor challenged him in a terse email exchange that went public.

In an opinion piece last week, the Wall Street Journal said Wang had "built a reputation as the newspaper's in-house censor since he became China editor in 2000" and encouraged stories that were favourable towards Beijing.

"I totally reject the accusations made against me by the Wall Street Journal Asia saying I act as a censor, that is totally out of line and totally biased," Wang told AFP.

"Over the past 16 years I have organised and written many important and politically sensitive stories, and we have never wavered from those. For all those people who have some concerns, read our paper and judge for yourself."

Wang joined the Post in 1996 as a business reporter covering China, after stints at the BBC World Service's Chinese unit in London and at another newspaper in Hong Kong.

He was appointed editor-in-chief this year, succeeding a long line of foreign editors, by a management team working under Robert Kuok, a Malaysian tycoon who has businesses in China and a controlling stake in the paper.

Staff at the Post said that Wang's mainland connections helped ensure that his columns were a must-read in the newspaper's China coverage, which still produces stories critical of Beijing.

But they say reporters are frustrated at having stories rejected and being told whom they should and should not interview, while experienced foreign correspondents have seen their contracts lapse under Wang.

"The whole organisation feels like it is slowly turning into the China Daily," one senior SCMP journalist told AFP. "The newspaper is pulling its punches."

In a statement, the International Federation of Journalists flagged up the "worrying" move by the SCMP to discontinue the contracts of a number of its most experienced foreign journalists.

They include Paul Mooney, who wrote many of the SCMP's award-winning articles on Chinese human-rights issues in recent years. The newspaper no longer has any foreigners reporting from mainland China.

The new chief executive of Hong Kong's semi-autonomous government, Leung Chun-ying, pledged in his inauguration speech on Sunday to "protect press freedom and defend the impartiality of the media".

But results of a survey released last week by the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) illustrated the widely held view that press freedom is declining in the territory 15 years after it reverted to China from Britain.

A total of 87 percent of respondents said that press freedom is worse now than at the beginning of outgoing chief executive Donald Tsang's term in 2005, citing self-censorship, restricted information and interference from Beijing.

"You see a clear trend of press freedom shrinking," HKJA chairwoman Mak Yingting told AFP, adding the SCMP row "is clearly a case of self-censorship".

"I hope journalists and newspaper management can adhere to professionalism. If they don't, their credibility is at stake," she said. "If credibility is compromised, you are nothing."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/h-k-scmp-editor-under-fire-press-freedom-050458102.html

obama slow jams the news metta world peace ron artest gladys knight private practice deion sanders dancing with the stars

Kenya police: church attacks kill 15, wound 40

An armed Kenyan policeman walks inside the African Inland Church, as a body of one of those killed in the attack lies on the ground underneath church pews, in Garissa, Kenya Sunday, July 1, 2012. Grenade and gunfire attacks on two Kenyan churches near the border with Somalia killed 10 people and wounded 40 on Sunday in what was likely an attack by militants from Somalia, an official said. (AP Photo/Chris Mann)

An armed Kenyan policeman walks inside the African Inland Church, as a body of one of those killed in the attack lies on the ground underneath church pews, in Garissa, Kenya Sunday, July 1, 2012. Grenade and gunfire attacks on two Kenyan churches near the border with Somalia killed 10 people and wounded 40 on Sunday in what was likely an attack by militants from Somalia, an official said. (AP Photo/Chris Mann)

Members of the Kenyan security forces inspect the scene, as a body lies covered by a sheet, outside the African Inland Church in Garissa, Kenya Sunday, July 1, 2012. Gunmen killed two policemen guarding a church, snatched their rifles and then opened fire on the congregation with bullets and grenades on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 40, security officials said, with militants from Somalia being immediately suspected. (AP Photo/Chris Mann)

An unexploded grenade lies at the scene outside the African Inland Church in Garissa, Kenya Sunday, July 1, 2012. Gunmen killed two policemen guarding a church, snatched their rifles and then opened fire on the congregation with bullets and grenades on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 40, security officials said, with militants from Somalia being immediately suspected. (AP Photo/Chris Mann)

Bodies of some of those killed in the attack lie on the ground underneath church pews inside the African Inland Church, in Garissa, Kenya Sunday, July 1, 2012. Gunmen killed two policemen guarding a church, snatched their rifles and then opened fire on the congregation with bullets and grenades on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 40, security officials said, with militants from Somalia being immediately suspected. (AP Photo/Chris Mann)

Members of the Kenyan security forces guard the scene outside the African Inland Church in Garissa, Kenya Sunday, July 1, 2012. Gunmen killed two policemen guarding a church, snatched their rifles and then opened fire on the congregation with bullets and grenades on Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding at least 40, security officials said, with militants from Somalia being immediately suspected. (AP Photo/Chris Mann)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Gunmen killed two policemen guarding a church, snatched their rifles and then opened fire on the congregation from inside and out on Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding 40, security officials said.

Two gunmen entered the simple wooden church in the city of Garissa at around 10:15 a.m. Sunday, while two others waited outside, police commander Philip Ndolo said. When the congregation fled the attack inside, they ran straight into another hail of bullets from gunmen outside, he said. At least one grenade was detonated in the attack.

Overturned wooden benches littered the church afterward. A victim wearing a simple blue dress lay on the sandy earth outside. Witnesses reported seeing the four gunmen flee in dark blue outfits and masks.

"We were deep in prayers preparing to give our offerings," said a visibly shaken David Mwange, a churchgoer. "We first had a loud bang from outside which we mistook to be coming from the rooftops. We then had gun shots which made us to lie down. Within no time we had gunshots all over. Everybody was shouting and wailing in pain."

The bloodiest of the two attacks came against the African Inland Church in Garissa, a city some 195 kilometers (120 miles) west of the Somali border. Ndolo said 15 people were killed and at least 40 wounded. A grenade attack against a second church in Garissa wounded three people.

Garissa Mayor Ismail Garat called the church assault "evil."

"We are not used to witnessing such kinds of acts in our country, where people are just shot in broad daylight. We really want to know who the heartless people who did this are," he said.

Ndolo told reporters he wanted an investigation carried out before assigning blame to the group many people in this region assume is at fault: al-Shabab, the most dangerous militant group in Somalia.

Another security official said two attackers walked up to the two policemen guarding the church, shot them at point-blank range and took their rifles. The official spoke only on condition he wasn't identified because he is not allowed to speak to media.

The police were guarding the church because of the increasingly dangerous security situation near the border with Somalia and because Somalia's Islamist militants have made Christian churches a common target.

Such a heinous attack could be a copycat strategy from Boko Haram, the group of Islamist militants in Nigeria that has made gruesome, deadly attacks against Christian churches one of their hallmarks.

Garissa is one of two major Kenyan towns near the border with Somalia. It lies just to the west of the Dadaab refugee camp, which houses nearly 500,000 Somali refugees. On Friday armed attackers kidnapped four international workers with the Norwegian Refugee Council and are believed to have taken them over the border into Somalia.

A top security official suggested after that assault that the attackers came from within the camp. Kenyan officials have long complained Dadaab and its inhabitants are a threat to Kenya's security. Kenyan officials hope to see the Dadaab refugees move back to Somalia, but they cannot force the refugees to move without breaking international law and courting wide international condemnation.

Areas of northern and eastern Kenya along the border with Somalia have suffered a series of gunfire and grenade attacks over the last year. Militants attacked a church in Garissa in December, killing two people.

Kenya sent troops into Somalia last October to hunt al-Shabab fighters. The militants, who are allied with al-Qaida, have threatened repeatedly to carry out revenge attacks for Kenya's push into Somalia. Sunday's attacks appear to be part of that trend.

___

Associated Press reporters Tom Odula, Adow Jubat and Boniface Ongeri contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-01-Kenya-Church%20Attacks/id-3045b80f18ee448b93f1c42a390616b8

beyonce gives birth portlandia kelly clarkson playoffs empty nest nbc sports bengals vs texans

Hey Everyone - Introduce Yourself - =ADK= Gaming Community

SimplyOJ, on 30 June 2012 - 12:17 PM, said:

welcome here Drunkenbear...we can help you if you want to get rid of that drinking problem....just come and join us on teamspeak and we will do an intervention with ya...

have fun bro

Hey leave him alone, sometimes I drink because BF3 stresses me out!!! >

Btw Welcome!! What do you drink??

Source: http://www.adkgamers.com/topic/13817-hey-everyone/

rose bowl johnny weir quadrantid meteor shower osu football osu football oklahoma state santonio holmes

UK politicians: Banking system is corruption

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-politicians-banking-system-corruption-130211529--finance.html

mlk memorial heather locklear hospitalized joplin tornado extreme makeover home edition constitution day constitution day coachella 2012

Analysis: GOP sees tax opening in Obama court win

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For President Barack Obama to turn his Supreme Court victory into a clear-cut political win this fall, he must do something other candidates have failed to do: make voters care that GOP opponent Mitt Romney once embraced the health care policies he now fiercely criticizes.

If Obama can't do that, then Romney may find it easy to fire up conservative activists who despise what they label "Obamacare," while also attracting moderate voters who simply dislike it.

And the Republican will have a new anti-tax argument, thanks to the high court.

On the policy front, Thursday's Supreme Court decision was a huge victory for Obama. It's trickier politically, however, because the court upheld the health care law under Congress' power to tax people, a rationale that surprised many.

In essence, the five-justice majority said, the penalty that Americans will start paying in 2014 if they refuse to obtain health insurance amounts to a tax.

Obama has insisted the fee is not a tax. He also notes that poor people would receive subsidies to buy insurance, which amounts to a tax cut. But his lawyers cited the tax-powers argument in their Supreme Court appearance.

Romney and fellow Republicans immediately launched a line of criticism that often has been potent: Democrats ? in this case, Obama and his allies in Congress ? are too eager to hike taxes.

"Obamacare raises taxes on the American people by approximately $500 billion," Romney said in his brief remarks.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Democratic lawmakers to "stand by your tax increase or stand with us to repeal and replace Obamacare."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said: "The Supreme Court has spoken. This law is a tax."

There's a political problem with that argument, Democrats quickly noted. Romney, while governor of Massachusetts, also required almost every resident to obtain insurance or pay a fee. As former Obama aide Neera Tanden put it, "If you call the mandate a tax increase, then Mitt Romney increased taxes in Massachusetts."

That might inoculate Obama from Romney's tax-hike accusations, if Democrats can make it stick. But Romney's GOP primary opponents repeatedly failed when they tried to wrap "Romneycare" around his neck.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty reminded Republican voters that Obama "said that he designed Obamacare after Romneycare." Texas Gov. Rick Perry said, "I think Mitt is finally recognizing that the Massachusetts health care plan he passed is a huge problem for him."

Former Sen. Rick Santorum tried hardest of all. He said Romney's health care legacy made him "the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama."

Romney simply stuck to his criticisms of Obama's health law and avoided detailed discussions of its similarities to his Massachusetts initiative.

Some Democrats think Obama and his well-financed ally groups will do a much better job of painting Romney as a hypocrite or flip-flopper on health care.

Romney's GOP opponents "weren't exactly the most formidable of politicians, and they lacked the resources to really make it an issue on TV," Democratic strategist Doug Thornell said. Romney "is the godfather of the individual mandate and health reform," Thornell added, and thus ill-positioned to lead a fight on the issue.

Jim Kessler, co-founder of the Democratic-leaning group Third Way, said: "The individual mandate that Romney invented in Massachusetts is now a tax. That's a real pickle for Romney."

Republicans have options. They can have surrogates and lawmakers carry the health care battle against Obama, leaving Romney as far removed as possible.

Or it may turn out that voters don't care much about what Romney did as a one-term governor several years ago. That would free him to lead assaults on "Obamacare" with minimum damage.

If that happens, Thursday's court ruling could work against Obama's re-election hopes. Recent AP-GfK polls have found that more Americans oppose the 2010 health care law than support it. Opposition to the "individual mandate" ? it would require most people to get insurance or pay a fee ? was even deeper in a March poll.

Such findings delight Republican operatives. For Obama, Thursday's ruling was "probably the most damaging of all possible outcomes," GOP strategist Mike McKenna said.

"Identifying the mandate as a tax shears away all of the pretense," McKenna said. "It will energize everyone on the right, even those with deep reservations about Romney."

Another Republican campaign veteran, Terry Holt, said: "Obama might have his law, but the GOP has a cause."

Obama seemed eager to avoid the tax debate Thursday. He did not mention taxes in his 1,200-word speech before cameras.

The president's allies might be more willing to engage. If Republicans insist on calling the health insurance fee a tax, said Tanden, who now heads the Center for American Progress, "then the only person in America who has implemented that policy is Mitt Romney."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Charles Babington covers politics for The Associated Press.

An AP News Analysis

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-gop-sees-tax-opening-obama-court-win-085127620--finance.html

bridge to nowhere primary results dale earnhardt jr michigan primary school shooting daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer