MoveOn needs to stick to organizing, not messaging. They didn't manage to produce a single non-weird commercial in 2004.

Obama needs to learn that he needs to control the media agenda, not the other way around. His campaign is far too passive.

Posted at June 30, 2008 4:27 PM in response to Obama's Patriotism Speech Stresses Life Story, Criticizes MoveOn

McCain keeps this up in response to Obama being nice to him, the Obama campaign and those members of the media who aren't completely bought off with BBQ parties should start pointing out what an ungracious sore loser he is.

Posted at June 30, 2008 3:38 PM in response to Surprise! McCain Camp Keeps Hitting Wes Clark Comments, Despite Obama's Disavowals

The Obama campaign needs to harp on this constantly. If people get the sense that government can do something about this -- and how else will it change? -- it will be worth votes to Obama in the fall and worth votes down the road in Congress for actually making something happen. If people don't think government can do anything about it, they won't punish the Republicans and conservatives for allowing this state of affairs to fester and worsen for the last three decades.

Posted at June 30, 2008 1:15 PM in response to Has Corporate America Turned Callous Toward Its Workers?

Well, he's extremely close in opinion polls, and there's precisely one popular Republican in the state, and she isn't running for President, and campaigning there is easier than it looks because half the population lives in one city that has exquisitely spectacular views and would make a great campaign rally site, and there are a lot of close downticket candidates who would really appreciate it.

So really I would be more surprised if he DIDN'T go than if he did.

Posted at June 27, 2008 8:26 AM in response to The Last Dem Presidential Candidate To Campaign In Alaska? J.F.K.

The more Obama goes down this road, the less flexibility he has. There's no plausible deniability with this strategy. He can't use surrogates in the way the Republicans can.

And it also, frankly, smacks of the Chicago machine. This, in conjunction with FISA and a couple of other things, is beginning to suggest to me that he wants to be some sort of caudillo -- a Mayor Daley for the nation.

Posted at June 26, 2008 1:57 PM in response to Yet Another Dem-Aligned Outside Group Closes Up Shop

Theda is no concern troll; she is as shrewd an observer of politics as there is.

Obama has de-motivated a significant portion of the base over the past couple of weeks, and he's not setting the game like he should be. What we're seeing instead is all too similar to the Gore and Kerry campaigns at this point; passive, slow-moving and lackadaisical.

Posted at June 26, 2008 1:29 PM in response to Can the Obama Campaign Shape the Agenda?

I want to know why Obama is being such a toad on this particular issue. Is this authority thing some kind of issue with Chicago Democrats who seem to have to have some kind of Mr. Big in charge? Or is he just another tragically misguided Tony Blair character that thinks he has to sell out when he doesn't? Either way it severely undermines the idea that he's going to be able to deliver effective change, because this kind of issue more than anything is what the Republicans have used to control Democrats by getting key Democrats to do exactly what Obama is now doing.

Posted at June 26, 2008 1:12 AM in response to Obama On FISA: Telecom Immunity Issue Doesn't Override National Security

When conservatives are having to split hairs between Bill Kristol and Peggy Noonan, it proves that they're in serious trouble. Noonan is certainly more readable and interesting than Bill Kristol, but that's simply a reflection of the fact that there are many small town dailies that wouldn't take Kristol on his writing alone; he is simply there because of who he is.

The NYT's op-ed page is getting to be such a desert that it doesn't really matter, though.

Posted at June 25, 2008 2:05 PM in response to Memo To Sulzberger: Fire Kristol, Hire Noonan

He's been in good shape almost throughout this campaign season in Indiana, and let me tell you, there are a lot of Republican-leaning factory workers and farmers who are beyond ticked off at the way the rural economy has been hollowed out over the past decade. This is the stuff of realignment. It's just not happening everywhere and that's why things are still close overall. But Indiana is perhaps a perfect example of a Republican state that has been given the shaft under this administration.

That and Mitch Daniels and his privatization-at-all-costs mania have NOT gone over well.

Posted at June 24, 2008 4:13 PM in response to Poll: Obama And McCain Tied -- In Deep-Red Indiana!

An absolute gift to the Republicans. Game on. And bye-bye landslide The Dems truly are not to be trusted on national security matters; they've proved it with this so-called compromise. And it will take many years to fix. I guess the realigning election is going to have to wait until, oh, about 2020.

Posted at June 20, 2008 1:12 PM in response to NEW FISA LAW PASSED