Governor Tom Corbett (R) of Pennsylvania, a battleground state, is scrubbing the state budget with a toothbrush as hard as he can in an effort to remove any political gains the Republicans have achieved at the national level ahead of the 2012 elections.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) signed a disastrous state budget last night that favors the natural gas industry at the expense of the state’s children and least fortunate citizens. The $27.15 billion budget does not raise taxes, but cuts health care for more than 100,000 of the state’s poorest residents. It did this by slashing Medicaid contributions by $280 million, which will result in a $425 million loss in matching federal funds. State universities and community colleges have announced the largest tuition hikes in state history as education funding took a heavy, $863-million hit.
That's a $705 million dollar cut to Medicaid, and a $863 million dollar cut to education with no tax increases to accompany it. Sound familiar?
It should. It resembles the budget-balancing strategy employed by Republican-controlled legislatures in every other battleground state.
In the 2012 election, the Republican nominee is going to have to fight a war on two fronts. One front against President Obama, and another front against Republican state governments who are rendering it nearly impossible for a Republican presidential candidate to win by, quite frankly, fucking over virtually every voting demographic group there is other than the rich white male.