Monday’s campaign round-up

June 9, 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:

* A new two-week tour kicks off today: “Sen. Barack Obama will kick off a two-week ‘Change That Works for You’ tour to highlight his economic plans. ‘The middle class has always been the engine of prosperity in this country — but for nearly eight years we’ve had an administration that tells working people ‘You’re on your own,” Obama said. ‘Not when I’m president.'” The tour gets started in North Carolina.

* NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ABC News were prepared to partner on a town-hall debate for McCain and Obama, but both campaigns rejected the logistics and format of the event.

* Mark Penn, Clinton’s former pollster and strategists, regrets not having taken the caucuses more seriously during the Democratic campaign.

* Rasmussen shows McCain leading Obama in South Carolina by nine, 48% to 39%. Nine points is a lot, of course, but given that South Carolina is one of the most Republican states in the Union, and Kerry lost the state by 17 points four years ago, I found the gap a pleasant surprise.

*Obama’s picking up some good staffers for the general election: “In one telling example, he is moving to hire Aaron Pickrell, the chief political strategist of Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio — who helped steer Mrs. Clinton to victory in that state’s primary — to run his effort against Mr. McCain there. In another, aides said, he has tapped Dan Carroll, an opposition researcher who gained fame digging up information on opponents’ records for Bill Clinton in 1992, to help gather information about Mr. McCain.”

* The campaign is building a team around Michelle Obama, too: “Recognizing the extent to which Republicans view Michelle Obama’s strong views and personality as a potential liability for her husband, Mr. Obama’s aides said they were preparing to bring aboard senior operatives from previous Democratic presidential campaigns to work with her, a clear departure from the typical way the spouse of a candidate is staffed. Mrs. Obama’s operation would include senior aides devoted to responding to attacks and challenges to her, particularly if she continues to campaign as much as she has so far.”

* According to the AP, Obama leads McCain nationally, 47% to 43%, but the poll shows Nader drawing 6%. Given that Nader won about 0.4% in the 2004 election, that number sounds wildly exaggerated.

* Obama delivered a very interesting speech to the staffers at his campaign office in Chicago on Friday, which is worth watching. Pay particular attention to the part in which he explains, “We have to win. We have no choice.”

* There continues to be scurrilous lies spread about Obama online — I got a heads-up on a new lie-filled video just this morning — and the campaign has added staffers to its team in place to tackle this: “One area in particular where Mr. Obama is adding muscle is a team that is tasked with tracking down rumors and erroneous statements circulated on the Internet. ‘The growth of the Internet, which has been a fabulous asset for helping to build the Obama community, is also a place where erroneous e-mails live,’ said Anita Dunn, a senior campaign adviser. ‘That’s a challenge I don’t think previous campaigns have had to deal with to the extent that the Obama campaign has.'”

* Rasmussen shows Obama leading McCain by three in Connecticut (47% to 44%), while McCain leads Obama by eight in West Virginia (45% to 37%).

* Al Franken won the Senate nomination in Minnesota over the weekend, and will take on Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in November.

* John Kerry’s Republican challenger officially ended his campaign after failing to collect the signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.

* The Obamas’ fist-bump seems to be catching on in the political world. (thanks to N.J. for the tip)

1) Mark Penn’s efforts to cover his own failures is hilarious. “It’s not the message, its the money,” says the steward of the second largest primary election haul in American history. If you can’t get your message out with that amount of money, “Its not the money, its the Mark Penn.”

2) Given the timing of the Nader 6%, I have to think that is a “halfway house” for still-disappointed Clinton supporters to cool their heels while they decide what to do next, which for the overwhelming majority will be “support Obama.”

  • One of my overgeneralizing rules of thumb is that a person’s political party can be predicted by his/her agreement with the statement “The System works for me.” Yes = Republican. No = Democrat. Obama’s “Change That Works for You” theme hits this point with perfect accuracy. Take this tour everywhere, especially in Appalachia. It might even overcome his racial handicap there.

    The 6% support for Nader probably consists largely of disgruntled Hillary supporters. Many of them will vote for Obama. Some won’t.

    The full-of-lies anti-Obama emails are ugly and will only get worse. The saying is that a lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on, but in the age of the internet that’s a vast understatement. It’s encouraging that Obama is being proactive about countering this stuff, but there can be no doubt that the lies will do damage.

  • “Mark Penn, Clinton’s former pollster and strategists, regrets not having taken the caucuses more seriously during the Democratic campaign.”

    ya think?

  • I enjoyed watching the video of Obama’s talk to his Chicago staff. It’s a different side of Obama.

    Let’s all start doing fist-bumps in solidarity with the Obamas. Spread the word.

  • Obama is down by only 8 points in West Virginia, where he lost to Clinton by 40 points and 20% of Democratic voters listed race as a “very important” issue? What’s up with that?

  • I wonder if the asslimpets who crap anti-Obama rumors into the Intertubes realize how easy they’re making it for his team.

    Yes it’s easy to get anything in there, but it is impossible to control who gets it and what they do with it. The only thing they need to watch for is responding to the rumor before it reaches the general public.

  • The Obamas’ fist-bump seems to be catching on in the political world.(thanks to N.J. for the tip)

    Political world finally catches up with jocks, school kids, old men who pull their pants waists up too high…

    Sheesh. Just from looking at the still shot I can tell these are the same type of people who think they’re uber cool when they give a high five.

    Sad.

  • Is it any wonder the Religiopolitical Right, dominated for the most part by Low Church Fundamentalists and Primitive Christians, is getting rather pathetic in the extreme (and then some) with their “Christian Persecution! Christian Persecution!!” meme?

    (Done up in a rather obnoxiously reechy singsong stylee, and in the key of “Ring around the collar! Ring around the collar!”, methinks….)

  • Re the email rumor mill:
    I recently received one about Obama (In His Own Words) that was easily debunked by checking with http://www.snopes.com (then clicking on Politics, then Obama). So I sent the snopes link to not only the person who had sent it to me, but to everyone else that had received the email. I explained that the email was false and that it is not fair to the person being lied about to send these around without checking to see if they are true. (Not to mention it breaks the Christian commandment about not bearing false witness.)

    I also advised that they read all of the snopes information on Obama because it would answer alot of their concerns that they have been hearing.

    I encourage all of you to do this as well. We can help out the Obama campaign this way. Be sure to be nice about it, though, because we want their votes for Barack! 🙂

  • Mark Penn, Clinton’s former pollster and strategists, regrets not having taken the caucuses more seriously during the Democratic campaign.

    Huh, that’s all? I expect the Senator from Mew York has some regrets of her own about Mark Penn not taking the caucauses more seriously. How about a refund to your client on your $5 mil paycheck, Mr Seriously?

  • Obama is absolutely right. We do have to win.

    John McCain: Here’s to you, poor people!
    McCainonomics 101.
    John McCain: Your retirement is too secure as it is, don’t you think?
    John McCain: Here’s to you, OH, PA, MI!
    John McCain: Can’t poor sick children just get a job already?
    John McCain: 100 more years of war!
    John McCain supporting our troops by keeping them uneducated.
    Who knows better how you should act with your own body, why of course, John McCain!
    4 more years of Bush/McCain policies! They’ve worked so well so far!

  • At the risk of sounding whacky, I have always believed Nader is getting paid to do this again and again.

  • Hannah @11, I did almost the exact same thing, for what was likely the exact same e-mail. I didn’t call the e-mail forwarder out, though, because I like my family.

  • From my friend Tessie:

    Correction: Al Franken won the endorsement of the Minnesota Democratic Party, not the nomination. The primary election is in September.

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