Ryan Bingham is not Bad Blake.

Blake, the protagonist of “Crazy Heart” (portrayed in an Oscar-nominated performance by Jeff Bridges) spends much of the film as a study in self-destruction. He’s alcoholic and overweight, with several ex-wives and a son who won’t speak to him. His only saving grace is the music he performs at the only venues that will book him: dive bars and bowling alleys.

Bingham, on the other hand, is genuinely affable, fit and clean-cut.

The two do have something in common, however: Bingham, 28, wrote “The Weary Kind,” the Blake-performed song that has won several awards this season and is up for the biggest of them all, an Oscar, at the Academy Awards on March 7. (In a coincidence, Bingham has another Oscar connection: He shares his name with George Clooney’s character in the Oscar-nominated “Up in the Air.”)

During a visit to CNN’s Los Angeles bureau, the former rodeo rider said he was excited about the Oscar nomination. He said the process of writing the music for the movie came naturally.

“It felt familiar, this guy, this story. I felt like I could describe him in a way that might be cool,” said the New Mexico native.

But did he see himself in the Bad Blake character? “You see a place you don’t want to go. That was always in the forefront [of my mind]. I definitely know people like him.”

Bingham and his band Dead Horses, who appear in the film as Blake’s backing band in the bowling alley, have an outlaw country sound that’s not afraid to go from rollicking to reserved, evoking Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle or “Exile on Main Street”-era Rolling Stones. In other words, the perfect soundtrack to the highs and lows of one Bad man.

Bingham, whose own album is due in spring, sat down with CNN in early February. The following is an edited version of the interview.

Ariz. lawman’s critics are emboldened by abuse-of-power allegations

Ross D. Franklin / AP

Five-term Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s approval ratings dropped to 39 percent in one recent poll.

PHOENIX - With a sheriff’s helicopter beating overhead, the man known as “Sheriff Joe” stood behind a line of officers as 10,000 people marched past — but this was not the usual show of affection and support for Joe Arpaio.

“Joe must go! Joe must go,” whole families chanted, as they rounded the corner in front of the county jail complex run by the five-term Maricopa County sheriff famed for his confrontational tactics, his harsh jail policies and a gift for publicity. The parade of mostly brown-skinned people wanted to show they hated his trademark immigration patrols.

For years, Arpaio has been the rare politician whose popularity remained rock solid no matter the criticism. He was the self-proclaimed “America’s toughest sheriff,” unbeatable at the polls.

Today, however, some indicators have changed for the 77-year-old lawman — and it’s not just the marching in the streets.

His approval ratings dropped to 39 percent in one recent poll. Critics are emboldened by a federal grand jury that’s examining abuse-of-power allegations against him and a second federal investigation that he says focuses on his immigration enforcement.

Political blood feud?
Arpaio and Andrew Thomas, the top Maricopa County prosecutor and a chief ally, face intense criticism for mounting what many people see as a political blood feud. They filed criminal charges against two county supervisors and the county’s presiding criminal judge, and they’ve also ignited a spate of costly lawsuits. Arpaio and Thomas say they can’t ignore credible allegations of corruption.

The charges against one supervisor were dismissed by a judge on Feb. 24. Thomas said he would seek to have charges against the other two officials dismissed and planned to turn the three investigations over to special prosecutors.

County Manager David Smith said sheriff’s investigators went to the homes of 70 county and court staffers on nights and weekends last year in an attempt to intimidate.

Arpaio’s message was clear, according to Smith: “We know where you live. We know where to find you. Do something we don’t like, and you’re at risk.” Fear was behind a decision by county officials to sweep their offices for possible listening devices, at a cost of $14,000; no bugs were found.

Dozens of lawyers rallied outside a courthouse in late December to protest the criminal charges against Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe. And a prosecutor from a neighboring county who took over an earlier case against one county supervisor eventually turned against Arpaio and Thomas, likening their actions to “totalitarianism.”

Thomas said he wasn’t worried about his allegiance to the sheriff. “The only thing I worry about is making sure I’ve done my utmost to do my job,” the prosecutor said.

Hunger for publicity
In the eyes of critics, Arpaio is a racist bully driven by a hunger for publicity who has helped manufacture criminal charges against people who crossed him politically. They say he treats powerless people harshly because it’s popular with voters.

But to his supporters, he is a standup guy who is doing what the public wants and is motivated by nothing more than a sense of duty. They say he’s the only local police boss who has gotten off his duff to do something about illegal immigration and local corruption.

Love him or hate him, Arizonans are buzzing with one question: Will this latest round of controversy bring Sheriff Joe down?

Arpaio’s response: He has survived other storms.

In a voice that sometimes evokes John Wayne, he attributes his longevity to a strong work ethic and a willingness to speak with reporters, which helped make him a nationally known figure. He also brags about his success in raising $1.2 million in campaign money over one year in a down economy.

He plans to seek another term in two years. “If people don’t want me, go vote for somebody else,” Arpaio said. “But it ain’t going to happen.”

Abortion opponents, fiscal conservatives may scuttle health care overhaul

WASHINGTON - The future of President Obama’s health care overhaul now rests largely with two blocs of swing Democrats in the House of Representatives — abortion opponents and fiscal conservatives — whose indecision signals the difficulties Speaker Nancy Pelosi faces in securing the votes necessary to pass the bill.

With Republicans unified in their opposition, Democrats are drafting plans to try on their own to pass a bill based on one Mr. Obama unveiled before his bipartisan health forum last week. His measure hews closely to the one passed by the Senate in December, but differs markedly from the one passed by the House.

That leaves Ms. Pelosi in the tough spot of trying to keep wavering members of her caucus on board, while persuading some who voted no to switch their votes to yes — all at a time when Democrats are worried about their prospects for re-election.

Representative Dennis Cardoza, Democrat of California, typifies the speaker’s challenge. The husband of a family practice doctor, he is intimately familiar with the failings of the American health care system. His wife “comes home every night,” he said, “angry and frustrated at insurance companies denying people coverage they have paid for.”

‘I think we can do better’
But as a member of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Cardoza is not convinced that Mr. Obama’s bill offers the right prescription. It lacks anti-abortion language he favors, and he does not think it goes far enough in cutting costs. So while he voted for the House version — “with serious reservations,” he said — he is now on the fence.

“I think we can do better,” Mr. Cardoza said of the president’s proposal.

Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., Democrat of Maryland, is also unconvinced. He voted against the House bill on the grounds that it is too big and too costly — a view that some constituents in his Republican-leaning district share. In case he did not get the message, one of them hanged him in effigy this past summer outside his district office on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

“This system is broken; we have to do something,” Mr. Kratovil said. “But my preference would be to do smaller things.”

Under the Democrats’ tentative plans, the House would pass the health care bill approved in December by the Senate, and both chambers would approve a separate package of changes using a parliamentary device known as budget reconciliation.

The tactic is intended to avoid a Republican filibuster, but in the Senate, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, faces challenges if he tries to use it. He is having trouble persuading a majority of his caucus to go along.

In the House, lawmakers like Mr. Kratovil, Mr. Cardoza and other swing Democrats will come under increasing scrutiny from leadership as a vote draws near. Of the 219 Democrats who initially voted in favor of the House measure, roughly 40 did so in part because it contained the so-called Stupak amendment, intended to discourage insurers from covering abortion.

Some, notably Representative Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat for whom the amendment is named, will almost certainly switch their yes votes to no because the new version being pushed by Mr. Obama would strip out the House bill’s abortion restrictions in favor of Senate language that many of them consider unacceptable.

Nervous residents in Chile’s capital woke up Sunday morning to more aftershocks, a day after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the world in decades left large swaths of their city in ruins.

“I’ve been using my glass of water to verify it’s not just in my mind,” said Luke Mescher, an American college student in Santiago. “You can see the water wobbling back and forth every time that it happens.”

The 8.8-magnitude quake struck before dawn Saturday, toppling thousands of houses, affecting 2 million people and dealing a serious blow to one of Latin American’s most stable economies.

Authorities placed the preliminary death toll at more than 300, but the government is expected to update the casualty count at 12 p.m. local time (10 a.m. ET).

“The number of victims could get higher,” said President-Elect Sebastian Piñera, who will take office in March.

Just days after India asked Pakistan to hand over Hafiz Saeed, the 26/11 mastermind has been allowed to go and rant against India.

In an interview to a Pakistani TV channel Saeed has called for jihad against India.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief’s face was not shown during the interview and he was filmed over his shoulder from the back.

On Thursday, the day the Foreign Secretaries of the two nations met, India had asked Pakistan to stop the public rants against India by people like Saeed.