TASK DEFINITION: Given a document, an entity and its sentiment towards the entity, verify if it is the correct sentiment towards the entity. Answer should be yes or no. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: Verify if the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Steve Bannon is Positive . The Dec. 12 special Senate election in Alabama is being touted as the next clash in the ongoing battle between  Steve Bannon  and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for the soul of the Republican Partyâwhat  Bannon   with characteristic hyperbole  calls a âseason of war.â Roy Moore  the GOP candidate  stands accused of numerous incidents of sexual misconduct  including allegations that he molested a 14-year-old girl. Thatâs prompted McConnell  a Kentucky Republican  and most of his GOP colleagues to disavow him.  Bannon   by contrast  was Mooreâs most important ally in the wake of the sex scandal  at least until President Donald Trump took to Twitter to weigh in on Mooreâs behalf.
McConnell knows that having an accused child molester in the Senate would be toxic for his partyâs image  and that Mooreâs stubborn recklessness would make his own job next to impossible. For  Bannon   one suspects  this is the whole source of Mooreâs appeal.
Bannonâs stated rationale for backing Moore is that heâll help carry out the populist revolt that the former White House chief strategist is attempting to lead against McConnell and the GOP establishment. Itâs an odd claim to make  since Moore is less of a âpopulistâ than a âtheocrat.â He was twice kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court  once for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument  the other time for refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay couples. Whatâs more   Bannon  has a more powerful weapon to deploy that really does align with  his  professed politics and would all but ruin McConnell:  He  could oppose the Republican tax plan.
 Bannon  rose to prominence by espousing a brand of Republican politics that differed sharply from what party leaders such as McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan were pushing. Instead of tax cuts for the wealthy and slashed entitlement spending   Bannon  thought the GOP should become a âworkersâ partyâ focused on strengthening the middle class. This idea was so popular with conservative voters that when Trump took it up  he won the Republican presidential nomination. It also helped  him  steal blue-collar voters from Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Since  his  inauguration  however  Trump has consistently deferred to the same Republican leaders whose priorities  he  exposed as being out of step with the rest of the country. Nothing illustrates this better than the tax plan McConnell and his allies are frantically trying to rush through the Senate.
In sum  the GOP tax plan makes a mockery of what  Bannon  and  his  followers claim to stand for by directing its major benefits to the kind of plutocrats who donate to McConnell and his Republican colleaguesâone reason the plan is deeply unpopular with most voters. A recent ABC News poll found that 60 percent of Americans think the plan favors the wealthy  and just one in three support it.
So far  Bannonâs populist revolt has met with only middling success. Although heâs pledged to run insurgents in 2018 against every GOP incumbent but Ted Cruz  a strong slate of candidates has yet to emerge. One place  Bannon  has succeeded  though  is in tarnishing McConnellâs image among Republicans. Polls consistently show the majority leader to be the least popular member of the Senate  and an Oct. 24 Harvard-Harris poll found that most Republicans wish  he  would resign. If McConnell canât pass a tax bill  he may have to.
Given this vulnerability   Bannon  could use his influence and platform at Breitbart News to highlight the plutocratic skew of the GOP plan and demand that its spoils be redirected to the ordinary workers who elected Trump. Calling on Republicans to swap out the estate tax repeal  carried interest breaks and cuts for millionaires for  say  a payroll tax cut aimed squarely at the middle class would put McConnell in an impossible bind  while providing  Bannon  the dual benefits of being broadly popular and entirely consistent with  his  and Trumpâs 2016 campaign message.
Instead   Bannon  has been raging at McConnell without doing much to inhibit his agenda. He may yet carry Moore to victory. But if McConnellâs tax plan becomes law  thereâll be little doubt as to who is the true victor.

SOLUTION: yes

PROBLEM: Verify if the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Lori Swanson is Negative . The company denies it did anything wrong  insisting it was acting legally at the time. The settlement did not require an admission of liability   Attorney General Lori Swanson  said.
"We're pleased with the settlement. We think the settlement will help solve a problem in Minnesota. It's been a problem that has been a long time in the making for many decades "  Swanson  said. "These chemicals  as I mentioned  were put into the ground. And we are very hopeful the settlement can help fix that."
The settlement was announced Tuesday after jury selection was halted as the trial was set to begin.  Swanson  said  she  believes it is the largest environmental case in state history.
 Swanson  said 3M will pay the state in one lump sum within the next 15 days. It will go into a fund dedicated to projects that will clean up and safeguard drinking water in the eastern suburbs of St. Paul. Details on how the money will be used are still being worked out  but it could go to help homeowners with contaminated wells  or help municipalities with sustainable drinking water and treatment plans.

SOLUTION: no

PROBLEM: Verify if the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Ryan Blaney is Positive . Ryan Blaney  drives down the front straightaway during qualifying at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday. (Photo: Ralph Freso  AP)
AVONDALE  Ariz. (AP)  â Ryan Blaney  probably needs to win at Phoenix Raceway to earn a shot at NASCARâs championship.
 He âll at least start up front Sunday in  his  bid to put The Wood Brothers in the final four contenders next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.  Blaney  won the pole in  his  final chance to qualify for NASCARâs championship race with a lap at 137.942 mph around Phoenix in a Ford.
It gave  Blaney  the top starting spot for Sundayâs penultimate race of the playoffs. There is one slot available in the field of four that will race for the championship next week  and  Blaney  is one of five drivers chasing that spot.
âOur mindset coming into this weekend was really trying to win the race and sitting on the pole. My mindset doesnât change â  Blaney  said. âI still want to go try to win the race  so thatâs the mindset weâve had all week and hopefully we can keep that and I think thatâs our goal.â
 Blaney  bested Denny Hamlin in Friday qualifying. Both playoff drivers need to win to grab the final spot in the finale  and Hamlin waited until the third and final round to cut a corner on the track in an attempt to better his time.
Hamlinâs lap at 137.936 briefly put his Toyota on top of the leaderboard  but  Blaney  bumped  him  moments later.
1. (21) Ryan Blaney  Ford  137.942 mph.

SOLUTION:
yes