| Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty October 2, 2014 Why Aren’t We Stopping Flights from Countries With Ebola? What’s the upside in continuing to permit U.S. air travel from countries with Ebola outbreaks right now, like Sierra Leone, Guinea, or Liberia? I’m sure if your business travel takes you to these places, you could be quite inconvenienced. I’m sure if you have family there, this, too, would make life more difficult. (Mind you, while the American government can stop air travel in between the U.S. and another country, there’s nothing stopping someone in one of those countries traveling to some other country and then getting a connecting flight to here.) Hmmm. Several African nations have restricted or banned air travel from Ebola-stricken countries, and airlines including Kenya Airways, British Airways, Air Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria's Arik Air have suspended flights from the countries. Front Page Africa reported on Wednesday, though, that Kenya Airways and Air Cote D’Ivoire are expected to resume some of their so-called "Ebola flights" this month. Others airlines have greatly reduced air travel in the region. Some of that is a natural consequence of the fact that few people, save for aid workers and government officials, are traveling in and out of the region. Add Air France to that list.
The Washington Post continues: “It is not an optimal measure for controlling the import of Ebola virus disease,” said chief United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. “The measure does not reflect what is known about the way in which the virus passes between people." The U.S. has also similarly spurned travel restrictions in the face of a more infectious, though less deadly, disease like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) for similar reasons, even when sick passengers were coming to the U.S. If someone isn't exhibiting symptoms of Ebola, that person is not infectious. And one of the first symptoms of Ebola is a fever. In airports in all of the affected regions and across the world, passengers coming from flights from West Africa are being screened for elevated temperatures. Okay, stop right there. That clearly didn’t work in this case. Despite the fact that an infected passenger flew from Liberia to Dallas this month, that passenger was not sick — and was therefore not contagious — while he was traveling. And once people become symptomatic, they become very sick, very quickly. Yes, but this means the infected person is walking around here in the United States for X amount of time before going to a doctor and getting diagnosed. And once sick, they’re contagious. Over at Ace of Spades, Open Blogger contends, “My point is that a travel ban to the US would only work if the rest of North and Central America follow suit. I don't know if that can be made to happen, and I also don't know if the folks in charge are willing to undertake something that might be construed as racially motivated.” We were recently assured by the president… I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. We’ve been taking the necessary precautions, including working with countries in West Africa to increase screening at airports so that someone with the virus doesn’t get on a plane for the United States. In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores, we’ve taken new measures so that we’re prepared here at home. “Unlikely,” huh? Here’s Ace, himself: Meanwhile, even Chris Matthews wants to know why President I Got This told the American public that it was "unlikely" that Ebola would reach America's shores. Allah disputes the "unlikelihood" of it — all we're doing is checking people for fever. That's a symptom that might not present itself for days after the actual infection. So why would Obama say this? Because he says "Nothing to see here, folks, move on" to everything. He is worried how worries will affect him politically, so he does nothing but offer empty — and often outright false — assurances that he's on top of everything. Late Wednesday, the airlines released the patient’s flight details: Details of the man's 28-hour trip from western Africa emerged Wednesday. He flew on two airlines, took three flights, and had lengthy airport layovers before reaching Texas on Sept. 20. Still, federal officials say other passengers on the flights are at no risk of infection because the man had no symptoms at the time of his trip. The patient, identified as Thomas Eric Duncan by CBS Dallas station KTVT, left Monrovia, Liberia, on Sept. 19 aboard a Brussels Airlines jet to the Belgian capital, according to a Belgian official. After layover of nearly seven hours, he boarded United Airlines Flight 951 to Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C. After another layover of nearly three hours, he then flew Flight 822 from Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the airline confirmed. Finally . . . remember the de facto travel ban to Israel? The Right’s Get-Out-the-Vote Effort Is Better — But Will It Be Enough? Remember the report that the Democratic party had put more resources into their get-out-the-vote efforts this cycle? Maybe, just maybe, outside groups like Americans for Prosperity are going to keep the GOP competitive in this arena: Americans for Prosperity (AFP), which began its television advertising bombardment against Hagan last year, is carrying out the largest field campaign in its 10-year history in the state. The group, part of the conservative network tied to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, has organized 670,000 phone calls to voters since April and has set a minimum target of knocking on 13,500 doors a week. Democrats, meanwhile, are running their biggest field operation in a North Carolina Senate campaign as part of the "Bannock Street Project." The effort is a key component of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's strategy to drive higher-than-typical turnout for a midterm election. Democrats are sending $60 million and 4,000 paid staffers to 10 Senate battleground states. An army of nearly 10,000 Democratic volunteers already is working in North Carolina. And the RNC is indisputably better than 2012, admittedly not a high bar to clear: North Carolina is one of 22 states where Republicans are carrying out a major technology initiative. The Republican National Committee has teamed up with a private enterprise, Data Trust, to marry part of the RNC's massive voter database with other consumer information about voters, such as where they shop and the magazines they read. Party officials say the new system has dramatically changed the ground game. Volunteers canvassing a neighborhood, for instance, download a mobile app that has both a street map and a list of the residents in each home. The app is pre-loaded with individualized surveys tailored to the residents' voting history and preferences. The app also allows canvassers to update the database instantly. If the occupant already has mailed in an absentee ballot for Tillis, for instance, that information is uploaded in real time, allowing the party to bypass that address on future visits to the neighborhood. This all stands in stark contrast to 2012, when the party's canvassers approached voters with paper surveys and filled in responses by hand. The New York State GOP: Stronger than Outsiders Might Think David Laska, director of communications for the New York State GOP, writes in to scoff at yesterday’s offhand declaration that the state doesn’t have a “real functioning or competitive state [Republican] party”: I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you wrote that because we don’t currently hold a statewide office. In a state in which Democrats outnumber us by about 2.5:1, winning statewide elections is no easy task. Indeed, even in the Republican wave year of 2010, only two Republicans won statewide elections in the ten most Democratic states: the symbolic Obama Senate seat in Illinois and the Lt Governorship of Vermont. But consider the following, all of which are accomplishments that have occurred under our current State Chair, who was elected in 2009: -Of the ten most Democratic states in America (New York is, of course, one of them), in only one out of twenty houses of the ten state legislatures do Republicans have any measure of control: the New York State Senate. -New York Republicans control vast swaths of territory outside of New York City. We hold 14 of 18 County Executive seats, 48 of 57 County Legislatures/Boards of Supervisors, 43 of 62 District Attorneys, 45 of 57 County Sheriffs and 46 of 57 County Clerks. -New York sent more new Republicans to Congress than any other state in 2010. In addition to our strong candidates, much of the credit goes to the Victory Program, which the State Party ran in conjunction with the RNC. -Our Republican delegation was nearly wiped out in the Obama wave in 2008. With Obama taking 62 percent at the top of the ticket, we were left with only two House seats. In 2012, with Obama taking 63 percent at the top of the ticket, we maintained six House seats. Here again, our Victory Program made a difference. -This year, all of our incumbents are poised to win reelection, and we are expecting to expand our delegation with victories in Congressional Districts 1, 18, 21 and 24. -The State Party played an integral role in Bob Turner’s special election victory for the Congressional seat previously held by Anthony Weiner. That election was seen as a referendum on President Obama, and made national headlines, as you’ll no doubt recall. The seat has since been eliminated due to redistricting. You can read more about the work we’ve done over the last several cycles in our Finance Committee Prospectus. I think Laska lays out a compelling case that the state GOP is functioning . . . whether it’s competitive is another story. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that George Pataki was governor and Rudy Giuliani was mayor of New York City. It’s accurate to say that “Republicans control vast swaths of territory outside of New York City” -- but because they lose by such margins in the city, they’re unlikely to win the statewide races. (I should point out that in 2010, they came within four points in the state comptroller race.) Maybe an outside shot at state attorney general this year?) If you said to a Republican of a generation ago that the party would be losing badly in California and New York, he would probably think the GOP was doomed. The good news is the party isn’t doomed . . . it just doesn’t compete on a lot of vote-heavy territory. ADDENDA: I’m scheduled to appear on Greta’s panel tonight.
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