Local Cincinnati news anchor, Ben Swann takes a look at why Independents in swing states are turning away from Mitt Romney in favor of President Obama. He ultimately concludes that the GOP's problem is that it keeps packaging Romney as "Not Obama," but to attract Independent voters, candidates have to offer something of substance, a constructive alternative. It can't all just be about what they're not. This is a great watch:

http://youtu.be/Lpbxjn_cE4M

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Comic Con roars into San Diego this week for a three day fantasy, comic, video game and cinema bonanza. The famous annual conference dedicated to anything geek will run from Thursday, July 12^th through Sunday, July 15^th. The conference is expecting 123,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors.

Drug addiction in mothers is leading to a sharp and alarming rise in babies born addicted to drugs in the US.  The addictions are almost always to powerful opiates like Oxycontin and Vicodin, which are legal, similar to heroin, and sometimes sneeringly referred to as “hillbilly heroin.”  But the drug addiction is happening everywhere in the country, not just in rural south, even if the epidemic is worse there.

Today's News Tips for your lunch break. Your Independent Breakdown of Today's News.

POLITICO – Lance Armstrong Getting Help from Capitol Hill

The 7-time Tour de France champion has passed over 500 drug tests and could “be in the unenviable position of carrying the burden to rebut testimony from witnesses he cannot even cross examine.” – Rep. Sensenbrenner

File this under the oldie but goodie section. Found this graph presented by Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado to the 112th Congress. The Democratic Senator was kind enough to present this to the Republican controlled House. Yes, Congress' approval rating is higher than Castro, but is getting smoked by the IRS, the BP oil spill, and Nixon during watergate.