Obama Launching Tour Of Purple States Next Week
In a sign that Obama is shifting more aggressively into general election mode, the Illinois Senator will undertake a tour of three purple states -- New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado -- on the first three days of next week, I've learned from a senior Obama campaign aide.
Obama will visit the Las Cruces area on Monday, the Las Vegas area on Tuesday, and and the Denver area on Wednesday, the Obama aide confirms.
The tour will draw attention to three states that Camp Obama has argued he can run well in this fall -- an assertion that's key to deflecting Hillary's case to super-delegates that she's more electable in a general election.
More to the point, it will continue to broadcast the signal -- as have his visits to other general election states -- that the Obama camp views the primary as effectively over and that his showdown with McCain has begun in earnest.
Obama should stop by Arizona also since polls aren't looking too great for McCain's home state.
May 22, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
The election will really heat up now that its coming to a close. It seems to me that the candidates have remained in a pretty close match against each other. There are only 23 weeks until the election! These polling results are pretty scary, though.
http://www.votenic.com
May 22, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
No one cares about your crappy poll, loser. Go spam TaylorMarsh.com.
May 22, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I ain't clickin on that...I'm not as dumb as I look...
May 22, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
C'mon, you only have to deal with another 23 weeks of this!
By the way,
spammed, spam·ming, spams
1. To send unsolicited e-mail to.
2. To send (a message) indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups.
Get it right!
May 22, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Though a relatively new face on the scene, votenickdotcom is already developing quite a reputation. Like Comedian JJ Walker before him he has managed to turn a simple phrase into a device instantly recognized by fans everywhere. Will "These poll results are scary" enter the American lexicon the way "Kid Dy-No-Myte" has? I can only wait with baited breath to find out.
May 22, 2008 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where's TrollCritic3000? Or TrollCritic2000?
While I adore your reviews, I have to take exception to the "relatively new" description. Ol' votenic's been around for awhile.
May 22, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, I'm afraid I've made a grave error. Thank you for correcting me CT Voter. I hope my readers will accept my apology both for my error in research and for my abuse of english grammar in my previous post. I shall do better next time.
May 22, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
My apologies, faithful reader. TrollCritic 4000 joined our efforts earlier today, heralded by a magnificent opening ceremony.
May 22, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
TC4000 is Griffin?
Do walruses have teeth? Fangs?
May 22, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry - that was unclear - I meant it as a means of introduction, as TC4K made his first appearance in the Griffin thread, which i didn't realize you might have missed until you posed the question.
I must admit a puzzled ignorance on the later.
May 22, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you're going to use James Lipton as your avatar, you have to use much more obscure vocabulary.
May 22, 2008 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
From wikipedia:
Fuck off spammer.
May 22, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
So "votenickdotcom" = "registered user"/fogu2? Or just a fan?
May 22, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you a walrus? What are you?
May 22, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
You could try looking at other polls instead of cherry-picking the ones that support your weak-ass point-of-view, you sanctimonious creep.
May 23, 2008 6:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're right, he should do some campaigning around AZ with Gov. Napolitano.
May 22, 2008 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I come from Arizona, lots of immediate family there. They all think he is a joke. I don't know why he keeps getting re-elected.
May 22, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree wholeheartedly. Plus, it would really piss McCain off. Temper, temper, John.
May 22, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Attack on all fronts. 50-state strategy!
May 22, 2008 6:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely.
Go Bama.
May 22, 2008 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please do not say "Go Bama" unless you write it as "GObama." As a graduate of Auburn University, the former has wholly different --- and entirely nauseating --- meaning.
Thank you for your support!
War Eagle and GObama! ;)
May 22, 2008 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I, a Kentuckian who went to UNC, can get over him hiring a Duke basketball player to be his body man, you can suck up a few Go Bama's.
May 22, 2008 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
GObama, and Roll Tide!
sorry... couldn't resist :)
May 27, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Full speed ahead!
May 22, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great! My mom lives in El Paso. She'd definitely make the trek to Las Cruces, which is only about 40 or so minutes away.
May 22, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
OT, but interesting:
Obama to Deliver Wesleyan University Commencement Address
By Sam Graham-Felsen - May 22nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm EDT
Chicago, IL – On Sunday, May 25, 2008, United States Senator Barack Obama will deliver the Commencement Address at the 176th Commencement Ceremony at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
Senator Obama is honored to speak on behalf of United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who was previously scheduled to deliver the address.
“Ted and I talked about me filling in for him at Wesleyan University earlier this week. Considering what he's done for me and for our country, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him. So I'm looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won't be able to fill his shoes," Senator Obama said.
May 22, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where did Clinton graduate from college?
May 22, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wellesley College.
May 22, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait! I just read today on HuffPo that Obama was going to Hawaii to visit his sister and his grandfather's grave on Memorial Day. This doesn't fit with the schedule posted here.
?
May 22, 2008 8:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
He has a private plane. (well, use of anyway) He can deliver the graduation address on Sunday afternoon and still be in HI by Monday morning. For us mere mortals who have to deal with commercial flights, it would be a difficult task. With all the flying he does, he uses his plane like most people use a car or a flying hotel room.
May 23, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
C'mon everyone! 50 state sweep in November!!! :P
May 22, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Will Bill Richardson be campaigning with Obama in NM?
May 22, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shit, I'd hope so.
May 22, 2008 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Point.
May 22, 2008 7:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, what a breath of fresh air to feel like we can start with the freaking GE already. Full speed ahead indeed!
May 22, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Will Hillary follow him to these states as well?
May 22, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama is right. Iran is a very small threat.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/mythmaking_for_the_next_war.html
Excerpt:
May 22, 2008
Mythmaking for the Next War
By Steve Chapman
At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union had some 45,000 nuclear warheads. At the moment, Iran has none. But when Barack Obama said the obvious -- that Iran does not pose the sort of threat the Soviet Union did -- John McCain reacted as though his rival had offered to trade Fort Knox for a sack of magic beans.
May 22, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
So now I just read that Hillary is having busloads of people swarm the DNC meeting on the 31st of May. WFT??? If Pelosi and Reid do not endorse Obama and stop this crap, it will be so ugly. Also, a lawsuit has just been filed in Florida to seat the delegates, thanks to Hillary "it's all about me" Clinton.
May 22, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do not be too surprised if Hillary hires James Baker to conduct the assault on the DNC rules committee. She recently planted a big wet kiss on Turdblossom, climbed on to the lap of the puppet master of "the vast right wing conspiracy, endorsed McBushCain for Commander in Chief, and ran off a bunch of elitist economists with the help of her NRA brigade.
David Duke to Hillary Clinton: You had me at White Americans.
May 22, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
David Duke, that was good Liam!
May 22, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
No kidding.. Brooks Brothers Riot '08!
May 22, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had thought --- hoped, really --- that yesterday's allusion by Hillary, which I see as an attack on the party itself, would move The Pelosi Club and other superdelegates to say, "Enough, already!"
Guess I was wrong.
Is there no backbone left among the DNC leadership?
May 22, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Most of the "Pelosi Club" are not DNC, but elected officials. And ease up... they will do the right thing. No need to get out the torches and pitchforks yet.
May 22, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd love to relax, but her behavior on the stump yesterday really torqued my ass! She pledges "unity" and then refers to Zimbabwe?!?
Her hardware's not tight.
May 22, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't get me wrong.. she is losing it and I share your frustration, just offering some friendly advice so as to be able to enjoy the upcoming holiday a little, and conserving energy for the GE.
May 22, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Although Hillary's back to her usual talk-nice-one-moment, act-scornful-the-next schtick, it's been fairly obvious for quite sometime that the SD's won't come out en masse until after the June 3rd primaries. They want to let the votes be cast so as to not be perceived as swaying the will of the people.
Ahh, only 12 days from now and we will have our nominee.
May 22, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
it is getting a little freaky that hillary is starting to stalk Obama.
May 22, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Must read from the Field on why HRC is stalking Obama.
Sad actually. She has apparently been turned down for veep. Maybe she should have been a little less toxic on the campaign trail.
http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/
On the topic of the thread - this is great that he is going to states that usually don't get much attention -- and I agree that he should go to AZ while he is at it. Make McBush defend his home turf at the very least.
Chuck Todd was just discussing this situation and the MSNBC folks think that they are waiting until after the committee meets and the June3 elections and they will endorse en masse. Not sure how I feel about that but the reality is it is only a couple of weeks and HRC is becoming less and less relevant by the day.
May 22, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
To give the money quote from that article:
I am Jim's complete lack of surprise.
May 22, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
great reference at the end... though I am not allowed to talk about it.
May 22, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, do you think that we're witnessing the behavior of woman scorned?
May 22, 2008 7:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least twice, now.
May 22, 2008 10:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah she thinks so too, so much that she compared the primary to 2000, with herself as Al Gore, the victim of election theft by Barack Obama-Bush in Florida, thereby sealing her place as the most Rovian goddamn Democratic candidate of all time.
May 22, 2008 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
now that i've settled down. one of her people are saying she's desperate and they are having a very difficult time saying in that specail politick language why they are supporting her. maybe they, SD's, are squirming and can't wait until the magic day to jump ship.it would make sense to vent your outrage, if you were hillary, before your end.SORE LOSER
May 22, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
One can only wonder if that other person's campaign is going to follow Obama's as she did in Florida.
May 22, 2008 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
good news
May 22, 2008 6:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm very surprised there has been so little super-delegate traffic this week.
May 22, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Better hit Nevada:
Nevada polling by Rasmussen:
Clinton 46
McCain 41
McCain 46
Obama 41
D'oh!
May 22, 2008 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ohmigod! And the election is tomorrow! Whatever will we do?
May 22, 2008 9:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Smart move going to Las Cruces. I was raised in El Paso (about 40 miles down the road) - same media market, huge Hispanic population, huge military base, and huge VA center with very large retired military population. I really hope he takes the opportunity to really hit McCain hard on the GI Bill....it'll play really well.
May 22, 2008 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
OOOooo, yeah. Plus you drive through rural New Mexico - every other house has an active duty flag on it. or a KIA flag or an MIA flag. I don't know the numbers, but I'm willing to guess that next to South Carolina, there are more people in Iraq from New Mexico than just about anywhere else.
McLame committed political hari kari voting against that bill. It was a big fat gift!
May 22, 2008 7:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see the words forming...wait...nasty McTroll swimming into view...I see the words...there they are..."fiscal conservative" will most certainly be their primary defense on this one.
May 22, 2008 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope so because that one should produce gales of laughter, considering the Repugs are responsible for the record deficit and the fact that China owns the United States.
You cannot trust the Repugs with your tax dollars. They fucking spend them into a deficit every damn time.
May 22, 2008 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg, God bless you, but the way you frame things some times just kills me.
Those last two paragraphs are just awful.
May 22, 2008 7:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
O'rielly got Ed sitting in for him and they're talking about the real stuff. Veep!
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas was mentioned as a VP choice for Obama. :D
Here's a couple I like to add to that list.
Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia
Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska
May 22, 2008 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reminds me ever so much of '04 when so many on the left were pushing for John McCain to run as Kerry's VP.
No Repugs. - no negotiation on that - this is a Democratic Administration. End. Of. Story.
May 22, 2008 8:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, that is a great polling number at this point in the game. Once Obama does campaign hard there (which he will) that state is easily within reach. Given that Obama is currently beating McCain in sPA, VA and within striking distance in NV, it will only get better as he gets a convention bounce, picks ads VP , and debates against McTemper.
May 22, 2008 8:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Crap, this was supposed to be in reply to gotalife's NV polling post up-thread.
I guess he sees NV being seriously in play with Obama is a bad thing.
May 22, 2008 8:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course he does.
Like Hillary, gotnolife is very interested in one thing - seeing Obama lose.
Doesn't matter how. That much is very obvious to me, anyway.
May 22, 2008 8:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus - you make a Repug your veep, you go down and Hey! The Repugs take over.
Doh!
May 22, 2008 8:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
2 caucus states and one state that he lost to Hillary. This is how Obama's going to win in the Fall?
May 22, 2008 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kerry's states plus Virginia (where Obama is now several points ahead of McCain) plus any one of thost states equals a win. He leads in New Mexico and Colorado. Nevada is close.
If he gets Virginia plus all three of these states and either Iowa or Missouri, we can win without Pennsylvania or Ohio.
Do the math.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/ecc/calculator.htm
So the answer to your question would be, yes, this is how he's going to win. Not by winning these three states necessarily, but by putting states we've been losing into play so we more outs and aren't stuck with the traditional Democratic (i.e. Hillary's) stragegy of betting it all on filling an inside straight.
May 22, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
edit: "so we have more outs"
grumble, grumble, needaneditfunction, grumble grumble
May 22, 2008 9:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
OMFG! Let's put an end to the Hagel as a DEM VP choice right now. Yes, Hagel is anti-war. That aside, Hagel is as right-wing and recessivist (anti-Progressive) as folk get.
Claiming Hagel makes as much sense as thinking that Libertarins like Paul and Barr a warmer, more fuzzy Republicans. For folk that that light is not on yet . . . The total amount of sense this makes is none. Nada. Zip. Zero. A negative infinity raised to infinity.
Also falling into this category is the ex-General, ex-Secretary of State that sold the whole world the fucking Iraq War AND who remains a ardent REPUBLICAN.
We might as well be floating the name of the Dark Sithlord Cheney was no one alive has more Republican experience and may want to remain holed up in the VP's office.
May 22, 2008 9:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh.
When I read that the first time, it came through as "Dark Shitlord Cheney".
Appropriate.
May 22, 2008 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I remember being plagued all the time I was online during the '04 campaign, with people insisting that John McCain would be the perfect veep for Kerry. Every time the subject came up.
I swear that if people start this shit with Repug veep candidates again, I'm going to reach through the screen and grab em and give them such a shake!
LOL!
May 22, 2008 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why the hell didn't Kerry or Gore pick Bob Graham...ugh...
May 22, 2008 9:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
May 22, 2008 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg,
Even though I'm deaf (technically hard-of-hearing), I was able to understand most of what you were saying in the TPM video on the front page (you enunciate pretty well). However, my feeling is that the Clinton camp would reject any compromise that doesn't include a full seating of Florida/Michigan delegates, and say something like this:
So it would give her a way out, possibly, to take it to the convention.
May 22, 2008 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's visiting southern New Mexico on Monday. McCain will be in Albuquerque (central NM) on Monday.
May 22, 2008 9:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm heartily sick of Michigan and Florida and the whole damn mess - just to veer OT since I watched the vid Greg made (and good job, Greg)
What makes me so damn mad that it has come to this - is that now everyone is backing out of the agreements made and the rules that were set in the beginning. Fine fucking way to start a new Democratic day in the sun. The Repugs never saw a rule they couldn't bend or a law they couldn't reinterpret to suit their ends.
I wish this didn't feel so very damn much like that.
I'll never forgive Hillary.
May 22, 2008 10:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just got back from perusing the facebook, and sadly the echo chamber for Hillbots is louder than ever. I"m worried that there actually will be a mass defection of people deluded by the internet. I mean, those victims of sexual harassment are calling michelle obama a b_tch, calling McCain qualified, and other kinds of extremely idiotic tripe.
Hillary finally is on the throes in her campaign, and these people on Facebook think now is the time to cry fascism, electability, and every other paranoid grievance they can dredge up. Obama's not a perfect candidate (especially after these folks vetted the sh_t out of him), but they are more than willing to give Hillary a pass.
I wish it were just Republican operatives, but no, it's just folks not used to the anonymous and intensely emotional nature of the internet.
No joke, a girl with the avatar "wen women vote, women win" called me a "fag".
May 23, 2008 12:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jedreport on HRC/FL and her acceptance of the sanctions originally. A must watch.
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/05/hillary-clint-5.html
May 23, 2008 1:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
She is not interested of the VP post people. She doesn't want to be a part of a losing candidacy. She will get out of the party just like Liberman because the liberals dump him. There will be a third party. The Democratic Party stinks.
May 23, 2008 5:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
I partly agree. GObama is good, with a Roll Tide thrown in.
(If college football rivals can agree on a candidate, it says something about Obama's ability to unite, rather than divide, people.)
May 23, 2008 7:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Indeed it does!
6!
;)
May 23, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
May 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is in formal talks with Senator Barack Obama's campaign about becoming his vice presidential running mate, CNN reported, without citing anyone specific.
The two Democratic campaigns are talking about ways for Clinton, from New York, to drop her bid for president that may include joining the Illinois senator's ticket, CNN reported. Talks are in a ``very preliminary'' stage and are described as ``difficult,'' the network said.
No
fucking
way
May 23, 2008 8:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great! Now, we can get a formal, "Hell No."
May 23, 2008 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Did Baghdad Terry mention that she authorized the 2nd war that we should not be fighting?
May 23, 2008 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
When's he visting Massachusetts?
Given that the most recent poll, albeit one that is a month old, gives him only a 2 point lead over McCain, Obama must treat Massachusetts as a purple state.
May 23, 2008 11:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I kind of agree with you, after adding some qualifications. Eventually the moderate and liberal wings of the Democratic party will split and form the major parties in our two-party system. The Republicans, whose name is now too tarnished to ever be rehabilitated, will go the way of the Whigs (Lieberman with them.) Hillary could end up a great leader in the new center-right party, or she could be one of President Obama's supreme court appointments. The latter is my wish. She'd be much better there than even the new Lioness of the Senate, another good option for her. But, Vice President Hillary Clinton is a poor fit in any administration.
May 23, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm functioning poorly in the comment world today. My post above was meant as a reply to Vidal III upthread.
May 23, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Finally, a little respect from Big Media. CNN actually cites you Greg:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/22/obama-to-tour-key-western-states/
They used to feel free to just rip you off. After all you're just a blogger, not a real journalist.
May 25, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a crock! What a group of posters! Not one word, I swear, not ONE word about NJ going to the Repubs. This is huge.
Reminds me of the bird with head in sand.
If we Dems cannot hold NJ - stick a fork, we are done. For me, its very simple : Hillary or McCain. No qualms what so ever.
May 28, 2008 8:37 AM | Reply | Permalink