Election Central Morning Roundup
McCain's Attack Ad Played Almost Entirely By News Media
The New York Times reports that the McCain campaign's ad falsely attacking Barack Obama over the canceled troop visit has only run as paid commercial about a dozen times. Obviously the ad has gotten a lot more play than that -- and it's all come from free media talking about the ad, which was obviously the basis of their strategy to begin with.
Obama Touring Missouri Today
Barack Obama is spending the day in the perennial swing state of Missouri, where he'll be holding multiple events focusing on economic issues. Obama will be accompanied by Sen. Claire McCaskill, and will be touring through Springfield, Rolla and Union.
McCain In Colorado Today
John McCain is spending the day in Colorado, where he'll be speaking to employees at the Wagner Equipment headquarters, a regional dealer of Caterpillar equipment for the West. Given the location, expect McCain to talk quite a bit about economic issues.
McCain Has Multi-Million Dollar Fundraising Night
McCain spent also spent last night in the Denver suburbs, where the campaign claims to have had a very good night in fundraising -- with a take of $3.2 million. "These public housing projects are quite remarkable," McCain joked to the upscale audience.
Wall St. Journal Bashes McCain On Taxes, Social Security
The Wall St. Journal's right-wing editorial page is panning John McCain for his appearance Sunday on ABC's This Week, and the fact that he refused to rule out a tax increase to fortify Social Security. "If Mr. McCain can't convince voters that he's better on taxes than is a Democrat who says matter-of-factly that he wants to raise taxes," the paper says, "the Republican is going to lose in a rout."
Obama, McCain Camps Have Spent $50 Million On TV Since June 3
A new study by the University of Wisconsin finds that the Obama and McCain campaigns have spent $50 million on TV ads since June 3, when Barack Obama officially sewed up the nomination. It doesn't look like the end of the Democratic primaries June caused any sort of lull in the campaign.
How serious do people think this Kaine thing is? Is it a head-fake? A trial balloon? A legit leak?
Have mixed feelings, seems like a perfectly nice guy, but not sure it's going to go a long way towards re-assuring those on the fence based on Obama's "inexperience."
Of course, my first choice is Sebelius, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 30, 2008 9:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
An article in today's NY Times focuses on four possible Obama veep choices: Kaine, Sebelius, Bayh, and Biden....
I don't see a reason yet to suspect any of them, or even somebody under the radar, to be more or less of a front-runner than the others. The interesting part is to see who's speculating about whom, more than who's being speculated about :-)
July 30, 2008 9:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, I'm not convinced it will be any of them. The media is merely jabbering to kill time.
July 30, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Obama will pick someone totally off the radar. I have a hunch on who it will be, but that's mainly me just really wanting that person for the job....
July 30, 2008 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is it Bill Richardson?
I keep wondering why he has totally fallen off the radar, even though he seems to fit the bill perfectly.
July 30, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
hmmmm. that's a good one too. pulling it out of my ass, my hunch, is feingold. guess we'll see.
July 30, 2008 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
i think its serious and kaine is a good pick for obama
Raw Footage Of Idiots Stealing Obama’s Prayer
July 30, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Man, the media got played, big time.
Embarassing.
July 30, 2008 9:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was thinking that too. But then I thought, fuck, they probably knew exactly what they were doing.
July 30, 2008 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think they're just lazy fucks who print out The Page between rounds of Minesweeper.
July 30, 2008 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
I concur...but it's more likely Solitaire...Minesweeper requires some funtional synapses.
July 30, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
The only reason he'd pick Kaine would be to try to tip Virginia....that way he'd only need one of the three CO NV NM...
July 30, 2008 9:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not even sure Kaine does that much in Virginia.
I like the guy, just saying I hope they've thought this one totally through.
Kaine, Warner, and Webb will be campaigning all year in Virginia anyway. Obama might benefit from Warner's coattails there.
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
July 30, 2008 9:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
The McCain campaign is completely OK with lying through its teeth. It has days for the media to catch on.
Maybe the next time the MSM runs with a McCain generated story they might try a little fact checking first. In this case they could have asked reporters accompanying Obama if there were ever any plans he would take them or their cameras to the hospital.
If I were running one of those news organizations I would be very reluctant about anything coming out of the McCain shop. They don't just spin. They outright lie.
July 30, 2008 9:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have some hope that McCain's swiftboating of Obama will have occurred early enough that its effect will dissipate before it can do too much harm. It's not exactly an October surprise. There seems to be enough awareness within the MSM that they were taken for suckers and that they might not take the bait so reflexively the next time. As slowly as they are to catch on, they're also reactive to the latest drumbeat. When the drumbeat was that Obama was getting too much good press, they turned on him. And I think the drumbeat now is that McCain's ads are misleading and they will (for a while, anyway) scrutinize them more carefully. Working the refs has often worked in the past for the Repubs, and now, when the refs actually DESERVE a dressing down, I think it could work for the Dems.
July 30, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
The number of times Senator John McCain’s new advertisement attacking Senator Barack Obama for canceling a visit with wounded troops in Germany last week has been shown fully or partly on local, national and cable newscasts: well into the hundreds.
The number of times that spot actually, truly ran as a paid commercial: roughly a dozen.
Result for Mr. McCain: a public relations coup that allowed him to show his toughest campaign advertisement of the year — one widely panned as misleading — to millions of people, largely free, through television news media hungry for political news with arresting visual imagery.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30ads.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1217426414-lXWQLcDqUCAoHLm4is7nfA
July 30, 2008 10:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
The new McCain ad blaming Obama for oil prices (running in NM) is also pretty outrageous. After seeing so many political ads through the years, it's strange that I actually get pissed off after this one runs.
July 30, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
ACTION ALERT:
If anyone sees their local TV news run this McCain ad, send them a copy of the New York Times article and ask them why they are giving McCain free publicity for an ad that he's not even spending any money on himself and whether they are going to do the same for Obama ads.
Lazy idiots.
July 30, 2008 11:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
"These public housing projects are quite remarkable".... yeah, I'd like McCain to come check out the housing projects in the inner city, give him a dose of what the real world is like.
Now, who's the elitist?
July 30, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was wondering what the hell was up with that comment.
July 30, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, is there any context to it?
Oh, it's even more gross in context:
Standing on the patio of Gallagher's home, McCain made his usual fundraiser jokes about being welcomed "into this modest, middle-income tract home." After Gallagher murmured about the possibility of a tax break, the senator continued, "These public housing projects are quite remarkable."
Ha-ha, you're wife's so rich, that's so funny.
July 30, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I know, seriously, if this isn't elitism then really, what is?
Hello? Media?
>>Crickets
July 30, 2008 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not to mention his $520 Salvatore Ferragamo fine Italian leather loafers:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/07/whats-more-elitist-than-a-400.php
July 30, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Claire is directing Obama's campaign strategy in Missouri and that's the reason he's visiting three towns outside of our big metropolitan areas. Claire ignored conventional political wisdom here in Missouri and campaigned in the "out state" areas. Her election was a squeaker but she did win it. It is also a very good time to build up the party in these areas for future elections.
I am delighted for Missouri.
July 30, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
All this money spent by Obama, plus his victory tour through Europe, and he goes from 4 point lead to trailing 6 points among likely voters. Great week.
BTW, I know this comment will get pounced on by the Dear Leader's cult following. Though, maybe I should instead say 'paid propagandists'? I challenge anyone and everyone responding to answer one question: Have you every be compensation to write for or on behalf of a candidate or against another? For myself, no, never. How many of you can honestly say the same?
July 30, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wanted to answer M.Meaver on this but honestly the above question simply did not make any sense.
School refund Matthew....
July 30, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Have you every be compensation
the glorious results of home schooling
July 30, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's home schooling by parents who actively don't like the kid and don't want to be around him.
July 30, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aB6vY_pVbU
July 30, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey man, there's plenty of sI-napses firing in solitaire! (mock hurt feelings as he closes the window)
July 30, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
supposed to be a reply to SFCWallace. doh.
July 30, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dear American Citizens and the Press
As a concerned citizen, I consider it is my duty to bring following message to you all.
"We the citizens of the United States of America have the ultimate responsibility to elect the " Right Candidate" to lead our nation, out of our huge present and future internal and external challenges as well as opportunities. This is to prevent depression and isolation in-spite of being the only superpower in the world morally, democratically, economically, and militarily.
We need to consider the "critical qualities and characteristics" of our presumptive presidential nominees at the time we vote.
In my personal and professional opinion the critical considerations are as under:
1. Calm, cool, and collected " temper " [ Presidential Temperament ].
2. Sound and sustained "Judgment and Caliber".
3. "Thought-fullness and togetherness" of purpose and positions.
4. Minimum "ex-poser and exploitation" around "Washington and Washington insiders".
5. Renewed " Vigor and Vision " for our Greatgrand Nation.
6. Foreign policy based on " American Values, Virtuous, Vastness".
Stay informed, stay involved, and stay engaged. Do not allow some partisan media, pundits, pollsters, and perpetual political opinion makers effect your vote in the wrong direction.
Don't be effected and duped by "Psychological Terrorism" that is directed at common American people without their full consent and awareness.
Long live U.S.A and its diverse but democratic people.
Col. A.M. Khajawall [Ret] MD., ABFM., ABDA.
Chief Consultant: World Wide Porfessional Consultants[WWPC]
Colonel, USAR/MC Combat Stress Control[Ret], Disabled American Veteran and Freedom team.
Consultant Psychiatrist: CA State, Medical Board of California, and Los Angeles Mental Health Department
Address: 7642 Eaglehelm Court Las Vegas NV 89123
PS: We know that Hon. McCain has problems with temper and memory. We cannot have him our next president.
July 30, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are seem to have fallen for that old mythological assumption that the American people are the sovereign rulers of America. That was, of course, a mistaken view of the spirit of 1776. Conservatives now know the truth.
That assumption was overridden when the son of the President inherited the throne of the Presidency, accompanied by his court jester - I mean regent - Cheney to keep him in line.
Of course we all know that a monarch who inherits the throne is himself sovereign, with no need to consult with the people. That's what Cheney has been telling us for seven and a half years. Our monarch - I mean President - is no longer our choice. It's luck of the genetic draw who inherits the job.
McCain, of course, claims inheritance rights because of his descent from two Admirals. It will soon be shown that they were close relatives of St. Ronald Reagan.
All those characteristics to choose a President? Forget it. It's strictly inheritance and wealth that selects our Monarchs - Presidents - in the new conservative America. Soon the consolidation of the phone companies and the media empires will eliminate all confusing ideas of sovereignty of the people and everything will be controlled.
Presidential election years will then cease to be seen as the selection of a President and become a quadrannual celebration and presentation of homage to the great leader - the current descendant of Ronald Reagan - whoever he is. There will also be a cottage industry of conservative genealogists who live by proving that the latest American monarch really is a descendant of Ronald Reagan.
July 30, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
All snark aside, your PS "We know that Hon. McCain has problems with temper and memory. We cannot have him our next president." is right on the money.
Worse than that is the advisers who surround him. They are going to be the people who determine the top government leaders who fill the jobs in the Plum Book, much as Cheney did for Bush. That's how John Bolton got his job, as well as Doug Feith, Michael Brown and Lurita Doan.
There used to be about 7,000 presidential appointee jobs in the federal government, but I'd bet that number has grown under the Bush/Cheney regime. When you consider the pool of "experienced" crooks that the Republicans have to offer those jobs to, it should make us all blanch at the thought of a McCain presidency.
July 30, 2008 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
the media is mcsame base after all so i knew msm would play that commercial... the msm didn't play obama's response ad to mcsame attack ad , so i guess news are still in mccain back pocket.......
July 30, 2008 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
The commercial had its desired effect. It distracted all of the national newsreaders and pundits from discussing the success of Barack Obama's world tour. The corrections are all too late and we will never see as many corrections as we've seen replays of the commercials
July 30, 2008 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Where's the Obama response ad? McCain is calling Obama unpatriotic, so why can't Obama call McCain a liar? The only thing keeping McCain from oblivion is his image as a nonpartisan maverick. Obama can blow that out of the water by hitting him with ads showing how craven he's become. August is the month that killed Kerry in 2004. We don't need a repeat this time around.
July 30, 2008 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Richardson has fallen off of the radar screen because the campaign showed he's inarticulate, unable to engage or motivate votors, nor particularly visionary, and perhaps not very bright. I hope Obama stays far away from him.
July 30, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am having trouble getting a straight answer from Rasmussen regarding the elimination of their reporting of daily tracking of the favorability-unfavorability ratings. They gave me one smart-assed, condescending reply---which they cannot back up.
Make a fool of mne, please---show me a link or something. I sent this to Ben Smith and Rasmussen yesteraday---no response from either.
I started out with a direct, somewhat hostile accusation:
There is a suspicion about your omission of the favorability-unfavorability ratings on McCain and Obama. Why are they being omitted?
they replied:
Thank you for taking the time to write. We're not sure how to respond, since the favorability ratings are posted every day as part of our Daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Thank you for your interest in our work.
To which i replied, after looking everywhere i could think of, and doing a search:
really. Where?
Site Search
Search for "favorability" returned 4 matches:
Presidential Favorability Ratings
A look at the favorable and unfavorable ratings for leading Presidential contenders provides a good look at a polarized electorate.
Favorability Ratings Improve for Thompson and McCain
For the first time in months, Thompson has moved ahead of Giuliani and McCain has moved ahead of Romney in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.
Hillary Meter: Just 24% Consider Clinton Likely Candidate in 2008
In the most recent Rasmussen Hillary Meter survey, former First Lady Hillary Clinton has shifted three points to the left on the ideological continuum to 58 points left of the nation’s political center.
Hillary Meter: Just 23% Say She's Likely to Be Candidate in 2008
Just 23% of Americans now believe that Senator Hillary Clinton is "very likely" to be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2008, a decline of ten percentage points over the past year and a half.
followed up today:
I am posting your non response on tpm and other blogs. You need to admit it. You have changed what you are doing, and people can no longer find the page with all the daily numbers on favorability-unfavorability ratings.
I would not be sure how to respond, either. Perhaps admitting what I say is the case, or sending me a link which refutes it.
You used to get the daily chart after sentences like these. Now you get advertizing pitches.
Obama is viewed favorably by 56% of voters, McCain by 54%. Other key stats of Election 2008 are updated daily at Obama-McCain: By the Numbers.
July 30, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I owe an apology to Rasmussen---because I am kind of stupid.
http://rasmussenreports.com/scoreboards/by_the_numbers2/by_the_numbers
At the top right of this page, which you can get to by clicking BY THE NUMBERS on the home page, you will find the favorability numbers in a chart.
July 31, 2008 2:50 PM | Reply | Permalink