Friday’s campaign round-up

June 20, 2008

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Earlier this week, two Muslim women were asked “not to sit where they could be photographed” behind Barack Obama because “they were wearing traditional religious head coverings.” Yesterday, Obama called both Shimaa Abdelfadeel and Hebba Aref personally to apologize. Abdelfadeel and Aref issued a statement thanking Obama for the call, accepting his apology, and vowing to “continue to support Senator Obama in his campaign.”

* According to Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), who leads the Congressional Black Caucus, Former Sens. John Edwards and Sam Nunn are on Obama’s short list for running mates.

* NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has heard the whisper campaign about Obama, and told a Jewish group in Boca Raton that it’s time to stand up against it. The deceptive campaign against Obama, who is Christian, “threatens to undo the enormous strides that Jews and Muslims have made together in this country,” the New York mayor said.
The lies are “cloaked in concern for Israel, but the real concern is about partisan politics,” said Bloomberg, who is Jewish. “This is wedge politics at its worst, and we’ve got to reject it — loudly, clearly and unequivocally.”

* Georgia should be an easy win for John McCain, right? Wrong. An InsiderAdvantage poll shows McCain’s lead over Obama down to just one point, 44% to 43%. Notably, Bob Barr is third in his home state, with 6% support. (Keep in mind, Georgia was included in the Obama campaign’s latest ad buy, which should raise a few eyebrows at McCain HQ.)

* Speaking of in-play “red” states, keep an eye on Indiana: “Does the Obama campaign really believe Indiana is in play? Team Obama has assigned one of its most valued campaign staffers to the state, reports the Indianapolis Star. The staffer, Emily Parcell, was political director for Obama in Iowa, where the Illinois Senator secured a huge win that essentially put him on the path to the nomination.”

* On a related note, Obama now has 15 paid staffers in Texas.

* According to Rasmussen, Barack Obama enjoys a slight edge in Colorado, a key swing state, 43% to 41%.

* McCain’s new-found support of coastal drilling didn’t impress Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (R), who criticized McCain yesterday for being “disingenuous” and offering “a flawed argument.”

* American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was a major force for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and now AFSCME is moving its support to Obama.

* Similarly, the Sierra Club will endorse Obama today.

* What’s the key age group in the presidential race? According to a fascinating new Gallup poll, it’s voters in their 40s.

* The bogus notion that Obama is the Senate’s “most liberal” member is drawing some fresh scrutiny from reporters who question its accuracy. (Thanks to reader W.B. for the tip)

I couldn’t be more delighted that the Obama campaign is investing money and people in possibly-in-play states like Georgia, Indiana and Texas. We won’t win all or most (or, perhaps, any) of them, but forcing McCain to defend what should be solidly red states strains his already thin resources, and Obama’s presence will have a definite effect on downticket races in these states.

High time we ran a general election this way!

  • If Obama wants to win Georgia he should invite Barr and a couple of other 3rd party candidates to one of the town hall forums with McCan’t.

    Now that would be entertainment.

  • I travel to Indiana often on business, although I live on the East Coast. Last week, as I drove from South Bend easterly, I was absolutely amazed at the number of Obama ’08 lawn signs in places like Mishawaka and Elkhart. Hardly a scientific sampling, but a very encouraging development for the Dems.

    And as a longtime Pennsylvanian, I guarantee you that Pennsylvania is NOT “in play,” as Chris Matthews and others would have you believe. Obama wins PA by at least 7-8 percent in November. Not a doubt in my mind.

  • Bush’s margin over Kerry was 548K in Georgia in 2004.

    There are 650K African-Americans in Georgia who have never registered to vote.

    If McCain needs to spend money to win Georgia he’s in deep trouble.

  • One small fact to keep in mind.

    I heard that Georgia has over 600,000 unregistered black voters. Couple this with the way that the Obama campaign has been turning out first time voters and it makes for a potential win for Obama.

    In fact I think most of the poll numbers are in fact registered voters (sometime “likely” voters). I think its quite possible we could see final numbers that surprise the pollsters and media pundits.

  • Poor Scottie McLiar, he wants to tell the truth, but he can’t keep his story straight:

    …Unfortunately, [the Valerie Plame] matter continues to be investigated by Congress because of what the White House has chosen to conceal from the public. Despite assurances that the administration would discuss the matter once the Special Counsel had completed his work, the White House has sought to avoid public scrutiny and accountability…

    …

    I do not know whether a crime was committed by any of the Administration officials who revealed Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters. Nor do I know if there was an attempt by any person or persons to engage in a cover-up during the investigation…

    http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/mcclellantestimony.php

    So he doesn’t know if there was a cover-up, but the White House is still hiding the truth.

  • According to Dana Bash of CNN, McCain is going to subtly attack Obama over NAFTA without actually using Obama’s name. Watching McCain attempt subtlety could potentially be very entertaining.

  • That is an interesting Gallup poll. McCain’s biggest lead, age-wise, is among voters in their 60s. Go to voters in their 70s and 80s, and it *narrows* until it’s almost tied for voters 80 and up. I realize that probably isn’t a huge chunk of the population, I just think that’s fascinating, and encouraging.

  • Earlier this week, two Muslim women were asked “not to sit where they could be photographed” behind Barack Obama because “they were wearing traditional religious head coverings.” Whoever made this call need to be fired pronto. I’m glad Obama called these to ladies to apologized, but he needs to shitcan the person who did this.

  • Watching McCain attempt subtlety could potentially be very entertaining.

    I predict lots of contradictions with previous statements.

  • Whoever made this call need to be fired pronto.

    I understood them to be volunteers, and I’d be very surprised if they had any further involvement in the campaign.

  • Earlier this week, two Muslim women were asked “not to sit where they could be photographed”

    Classic damned if you, damned if you don’t situation. The wingnuts are all over it, of course., claiming … well, something…

  • As I asked at another site, how do we know which states are truly in play? My guess is that we won’t see Obama advertising in or making trips to Oklahoma or Alabama unless McCain implodes and it’s clear Obama will have 350-plus Electoral votes, at which point such a visit would be to taunt McCain. But campaigns have access to all sorts of information that we don’t have easy access to, such as internal polling, detailed fund raising numbers, and information about registering and turning out voters. I’m lead to believe that the Obama campaign sees real potential in states like Georgia and Indiana. An ad buy is one thing–media markets can overlap, after all, and some of these states are quite small–but he’s putting some of the superstars in these states. Why would he waste time and money if he wasn’t serious?

    And yes, it might be out of reach, but with the enormous advantages he’s got at this point, there’s no reason not to try for Indiana, Georgia, and Alaska. How is he going to know if he doesn’t even try? If in September things don’t look good, he will reallocate his resources, which is what all campaigns do.

  • Apparently the ones who asked the two Muslim women to move were volunteers. But I agree — they need to go.

  • Watching McCain attempt subtlety could potentially be very entertaining.

    Oh, my, yes. Invest in popcorn futures now.

  • I continue to be amazed at those people who are amazed at how close the race is in previously red states — many of which are far from deep red in their Congressional districts. McCain is a lousy campaigner, Obama is a great one. These are states particularly impacted by the War — they don’t like the war, and they really don’t — or won’t — like the shafting vets are getting. They are paying $4.00+ for gas like the rest of you drivers — I’ve never driven or been in a household that owned a car — and they don’t like it. Their jobs are being outsourced, they are losing their houses — more so than in the more urban states which have more renters — and they know who to blame.

    And how much of their ‘redness’ was because of the church-fueled GOTV efforts that Bush got but McCain won’t?

    One advantage of the extended primaries is that all the slanders and fear stories that are aimed at Obama — Wright, Michelle, etc — are getting pretty tired by now, and people are tired of them.

    And McCain has yet to develop any issues at all to run on, and his ‘straight talking’ reputation is being shown up for what it is every day, as is his “I’m not Bush — well, maybe I’m not, except that I do agree with him most of the time, but I’m not Bush REALLY!”

    Even his supposed coddling by the MSM — overblown as I’ve stated — will work against him, because it creates high expectations in those who actually believe it — expectations that come crashing down once people actually see him and hear what he has to say.

    And the ‘age factor’ is already working against him, and will only get stronger — especially when people see the two of them together.

    I repeat, for the 726th time, he doesn’t stand a cance of winning more than 155 electoral votes, and that’s being generous.

    (And for those people who say “ssshhhh, don’t say that, it will lead to complacency” have you seen any sign of Obama being complacent — and that’s all that matters. In fact, are their any Illinoisians here? Can they tell me if Obama ‘shut up shop and coasted’ even against the ludicrous Alan Keyes, or did he campaign strongly up to election day even in an obviously lop-sided race?)

  • from Glenn Greenwald’s site at salon .com “…Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election, he ran ads accusing his own party of wanting to “cut and run in Iraq,” and was one of the 21 Blue Dogs to send a letter to Nancy Pelosi demanding that they be allowed to vote for the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill to give warrantless eavesdropping powers to the President and amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms.
    As a result of all of that, Barrow faces a serious primary challenge in July from State Senator Regina Thomas, who decided to run against Barrow due to — as she told Howie Klein when she announced — “Barrow’s failure to support his constituents against the encroachments of powerful Big Business interests.” As Klein noted yesterday, Thomas’ positions on both foreign and domestic policy are firmly in line with Barack Obama’s views and with the Democratic base in that district, while Barrow has continuously supported the most extremist Bush policies, as he himself proudly boasts.

    (Obama has a 60 second taped campaign ad to support Barrow. I”m not sure Obama himself is even aware of what this guy is. His campaign people may have just pushed for a quick promotion ad for the incumbent dem in Georgia without really paying attention to the players)

    “…In the ad, Obama asks voters to join him in supporting Barrow. “We’re going to need John Barrow back in Congress to help change Washington and get our country back on track,” Obama says in the 60-second ad.

    What makes this even more amazing is that, as the article notes, Barrow cynically waited until after Obama’s sweeping primary victory in Georgia to endorse him. He did so only once he saw that Obama would likely be the nominee and obviously with the hope of having Obama encourage Barrow’s sizable African-American constituency to support him. And now Obama turns around and intervenes in a Democratic primary on behalf of one of the worst Bush enablers in Congress — not in order to help Barrow defeat an even-worse Republican, but to defeat a far better and plainly credible Democratic challenger.
    For all of Obama’s talk about the wicked ways of Washington, these incumbent protection schemes — whereby Beltway power factions all help each other stay in power no matter their ideology or positions — are among the most vital instruments for perpetuating how Washington works. Democratic leaders pretend that they are forced continuously to capitulate to the Bush administration due to their “conservative” members, yet continuously work to keep those same members in power, even when it comes to supporting them against far better Democratic primary challengers…”

    Pac blue is raising funds to focus on this primary challenge to help get rid of Barrow permanently. Go to glenngreenwald@salon.com for details and how to help. Please donate to Regina Thomas’ primary challenge through pac blue or directly because this is one we can win to get rid of these republican dems once and for all. (here is Obama’s campaign ph. # 866-675-2008, dial 6, then 0, on the menu) Make him aware of Regina Thomas’ primary challenge against Bush enabler John Barrow in Georgia. Tell him that Barrow is exactly what he is trying to change as “business as usual” in Washington.

  • McCain’s move on attacking Obama for not wanting to drill off of Florida and California was yet another big blunder. Because while that might play well outside of those two states, it’ll hurt him in Florida. But more importantly, by attacking Obama on it, he’s implicitly attacking all the politicians who support the drilling ban. And so they’re forced to push back against McCain’s claims in order to protect themselves. So the more McCain pushes the issue, the more pro-ban politicians are going to pushback against him; including Republicans.

    And as with the gas tax “holiday,” the more people hear the truth, the more they’ll think McCain is a deceitful panderer, which is exactly how we want people to see him: Truthfully.

  • #5: Obama wins PA by at least 7-8 percent in November. Not a doubt in my mind

    fivethirtyeight.com agrees with you. They project Obama to win by 9.5.

    And they give him an 86% chance of winning PA.

  • In fact, are their any Illinoisians here? -Prup

    Oooh, oooh, pick me, pick me! I’m an Illinoisian!

    Still have my Obama for Senate yard sign. In fact, my whole rationale for supporting Obama is the hopes that sign will be worth something one day and I can sell it and retire! Then I could be a Republican!

    The debates between Keyes and Obama was hilarious. If you’ve not seen them, they’re worth Tubing.

    One thing about the race against Keyes applies here: Obama doesn’t want to just win. 50 + 1 is not in his vocabulary. He wants the mandate of a large majority.

    I will say that those warning you of complacency are probably not worried about Obama, but rather the electorate. They (well, we, because I’m worried about complacency) want continued donations and high turnout on election day. Thinking he has it in the bag at this stage may keep people from doing those two things.

  • A crappy Democrat who can win (Georgia. Georgia. Georgia, now.) is better than a fantabulastic one who will lose it to a Republican. Go investigate Barrow’s margin of victory and report back to us.

  • As a politically active forty-something, I’ll be overjoyed to tell Gallup my opinions on just about everything.

    And I’d like to see who is more liberal in the Senate than the junior Senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown. What’s even better is Ohio kicked the red-stained Bushbot Mike DeWine to the curb, 60-40%, to do it.

    As for “crappy Democrats who can win,” some days I can muster agreement with that. Unfortunately on a day like today, it’s tough to accept.

  • Sooo, does anyone else think that the Libertarians will get rid of the unpopular Wayne Root and ask Ron Paul to be on the ticket. There is a site dedicated to the idea. http://www.BarrPaul08.com just curious what you all think.

  • Jane, I don’t mean any disrespect, but Ron Paul is a terrible person. His immigration policy is evidence to that. As far as I am concerned, anyone who would even consider taking our birthright away is a Nazi.

  • James:
    Absolutely. In fact, Paul had the full support of the StormFront crowd and allowed sellers of their literature to peddle it at his rallies. See Orcinus — many posts, sitesearch for Ron Paul. For that matter, check out Lew Rockwell’s site — and remember that Rockwell was his Chief of Staff for years, and is believed — on good evidence — to have been the author of the ‘anonymous’ racist comments in his newsletter.

    Then add in Paul’s ‘abortion should be a matter for the states’ (bye-bye Roe v Wade) and the fact that his libertarianism is the “Christian Economic Libertarianism’ of Gary North — also on his staff at one time. He would oppose government regulation of industry/corporations, oppose government work on the infrastructure. And he’s been very silent on gay rights.

    A truly awful choice — whose only drawing card is his opposition to the war — the way the John Birch Society opposed Vietnam — and to the war on drugs — again, like Wm. Buckley’s.

  • “I can’t tell if Christina West is a parody or not.”

    Click on her link to find out.

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