Monday’s campaign round-up

June 23, 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:

* In a speech in Fresno, John McCain will unveil a plan to encourage automakers to sell alternative fuel vehicles. “For every automaker who can sell a zero-emissions car, we will commit a 5,000 dollar tax credit for each and every customer who buys that car,” McCain will say. “For other vehicles, whatever type they may be, the lower the carbon emissions, the higher the tax credit.”

* The latest USAT/Gallup poll shows Barack Obama leading McCain by six, 50% to 44%.

* This parity probably won’t last: “For Mr. McCain, of Arizona, [May] was one of his best fund-raising months, with $21.8 million coming in from individual donors and from three joint Republican fund-raising dinners. For Mr. Obama, of Illinois, it was one of his weaker months, drawing $21.9 million…. Obama continued spending heavily as the primary campaign extended into early June, and he ended May with $33.3 million in cash for the primary race. Mr. McCain, who raised less all year, was virtually assured of the Republican nomination by February and so spent less, ending the month with $31.6 million in the bank.”

* Obama continued to emphasize energy policy over the weekend: “Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday said that as president he would strengthen government oversight of energy traders, whom the Illinois Democrat blames in large part for the skyrocketing price of oil. The candidate’s campaign singled out the so-called Enron loophole as allowing speculators to run up the cost of fuel by operating outside federal regulation…. ‘My plan fully closes the Enron loophole and restores common-sense regulation as part of my broader plan to ease the burden for struggling families today while investing in a better future.'”

* The first far-right, anti-Obama hatchet book will be out in August: “Conservative journalist David Freddoso’s ‘The Case Against Barack Obama’ will offer ‘a comprehensive, factual look at Obama,’ according to Regnery Publishing president and publisher Marjory Ross.” Given Regnery’s publishing history, how could anyone doubt the book’s fairness?

* When Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign together this week, it will likely be in Pennsylvania.

* Obama’s looking good in New Hampshire, up by 11 points in the latest Rasmussen poll.

* McCain has a three-point lead in Nevada according to Rasmussen. Last month, Rasmussen showed McCain ahead in Nevada by six.

* Obama leads McCain by 12 in California, according to SuveyUSA.

* Obama leads McCain by four in Iowa, according to SuveyUSA.

* Obama leads McCain by 15 in Washington state, according to SuveyUSA.

* Obama leads McCain by three in Oregon, according to SuveyUSA.

* Obama may have a 50-state strategy in mind, but he probably shouldn’t count on Utah — a Deseret News poll shows McCain with a 28-point lead.

* Frank Powers, the leading GOP candidate to replace retiring Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), died over the weekend. On a personal note, my condolences to his family and friends. On a political note, that sure is a strange House race.

* Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) was not “one of the first to stand up to George Bush and other Republicans to end this war,” as he proclaims in his new TV ad.

* Ralph Nader, as he has in each of the last three campaign cycles, prefers attacking Democrats and leaving Republicans alone.

* Ralph Nader, as he has in each of the last three campaign cycles, prefers attacking Democrats and leaving Republicans alone.

GO Bob Barr…

  • On a personal note, my condolences to his family and friends. On a political note, that sure is a strange House race.

    Bwa ha ha ha. Exactly my thoughts when I read about this yesterday.

  • Back when I was a kid, Ralph Nader was someone to be looked up to – now he has become the poster boy for the concept of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. It’s amazing how many “followers” of his show up in as comment contributors on progressive blogs…

  • Ralph Nader, as he has in each of the last three campaign cycles, prefers attacking Democrats and leaving Republicans alone.

    Never bite the hands that feed, eh, Ralphie?

    And Vito Fossella’s House race is a combination of the worst luck/black eye for the Republicans – everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. It would be a shame if the Democrats can’t wrest this seat away from the Republicans.

  • My plan fully closes the Enron loophole

    This will have West Virginians wondering. After all didn’t Enron close a few years ago?

    PS. If you don’t get the joke, you didn’t read the Mudcat story earlier.

  • The first far-right, anti-Obama hatchet book will be out in August:

    I’m not happy at all with prominent Obama supporters’ preparedness to knock down wingnut attacks.

    Take the “public financing non-flip-flop” for example. On the Sunday AM talk shows, both Biden and Richardson both failed completely to point out that McCain violated FEC law. Not one peep out of anyone about that.

    Obama has a bug shortage of good surrogates – the guy had better get his act together and QUICKLY.

  • ‘The Case Against Barack Obama’ will offer ‘a comprehensive, factual look at Obama,’ according to Regnery Publishing…

    “Factual” and “Regnery Publishing.” Does not compute.

    Now, a factual case against Obama would be interesting. Especially if there were some concrete facts which would disqualify him for the presidency. Most voters can get by with values-based cases for or against candidates.

  • Grumpy said:
    “Most voters can get by with values-based cases for or against candidates.”

    I would argue that this is because the Corporate News Media spends considerably more time discussing ‘character’ and ‘values’ than policies that will actually impact the voters.

    Of course, a value held by a number of voters will be that Obama is black. In this election, I believe that race will be a factor, but not to the extent that it would if the rethugs has a viable candidate. I have had friends, who are admittedly racist toward blacks, say “McCain is too wierd, guess I’ll have to vote for the n*gg*r!” Even racists are tempered by their perception of McCain on Iraq and the economy!

    It would be great if voters could see past the ‘character issues’ smokescreens put up by rethugs and repeated by lazy media pundits. An election based upon policies and what the candidates would actually do would decidely favor Obama.

    Policies:

    Iraq – public favors Obama
    Diplomacy – public favors Obama
    Economy – public favors Obama
    Supreme Court – public favors Obama

    Flagpins – meda favors McBush

  • “For every automaker who can sell a zero-emissions car, we will commit a 5,000 dollar tax credit for each and every customer who buys that car,” McCain will say. “For other vehicles, whatever type they may be, the lower the carbon emissions, the higher the tax credit.”

    Teh McFool is a war hero, so I suppose I’m not supposed to mention the fact that auto manufacturers don’t sell cars—they just make them. I should also probably not say anything about the fact that you can’t get any lower than zero emission—but Teh McFool obviously thinks so, since he’s offering higher tax credits for them.

    Could someone grab that old coot by the throat, shake him a bit, bounce him of the pavement a few times, and tell him to stop giving REAL WAR HEROES a bad name?

  • This parity probably won’t last:

    Why not? Obama has mostly tapped his big donors for the primary though he can still get more from Hillary supporters and the small internet donors (though I’m guessing FISA won’t help with a decent percentage of the latter). McCain has been a black sheep with major republican donors and bundlers so theoretically he could get a great deal more cash in the next few months. The general election sprint to November is going to be heavily in Obama’s favor but it wouldn’t surprise me to see McCain keep up between now and the conventions.

  • Steve #12 – he means non-zero emissions cars would be eligible, too. The lower, the closer to $5000, e.g. hybrids.

    These guys just can’t, or won’t, more likely, think outside of the tax box. Gotta preserve those profits for the top 1% no matter what happens. Can’t have the government do anything except manage the war machine.

  • Obama may have a 50-state strategy in mind, but he probably shouldn’t count on Utah — a Deseret News poll shows McCain with a 28-point lead.

    OK, one more time. The 50-state strategy is about more than just Obama winning the White House. Its about down ticket races. Helping Dems in tight districts (even in ‘red’ states). It could net Dems an extra couple of house seats. It also helps Dems at the local level.

    More importantly it sets the stage for future success. Building up organizations, donor lists, experienced candidates for the 2010 midterms and 2012 elections and beyond.

    The great failure of the DLC led Democratic Party of the 90s was the lack of support state Democratic parties in any state not deemed ‘competetive’. That’s the reason even though Bill Clinton won two Presidential elections the Democratic Party as whole was crippled when he left office. Holding fewer seats in Congress, controlling fewer state houses and having less power at the local level.

    Obama and Dean on dead on right to keep the Dems on offense everywhere.

  • The ever-corporate San Francisco Chronicle buried the big story on how Obama plans to shut off oil futures speculation and close the Enron loophole on page A14. They’re lead front page story was, “GOP sees drilling as a path to victory.” Of course, drilling is a bogus issue, since millions and millions of acres of oil lease land sit undrilled on and no new oil-drilling ships will become available for five years: but the GOP never lets facts get in the way of their propaganda machine…

  • I fail to see why a tax credit is needed for alternative fuel vehicles. People will by the damn things now. All that is needed is to get automakers to build them. If the auto makers will build cars to suit the market, they will sell and the auto makers will make money,

  • SadOldVet:

    This is a subject I’ve been obsessing over for the past week or so. “Values” and “character” are alternative descriptions for labels and namecalling. It seems to me that a majority of “conservative” voters never get past the labels that politicians attach to themselves and opponents.

    “Socialist.” “Most liberal.” “Big Government.” “San Francisco values.”

    “Victory.” “Patriotic.” “Pro-business.” “Pro-family.”

    Which candidate would you vote for? A or B?

    Ideologically bankrupt as they are, the Republicans are skunking us with the voters who can’t or won’t think beneath the label. I don’t want to sink to their level, but how can we do better in the label department. Is this what the marketeers call “branding”?

  • My Electoral Analysis of 50 State Strategy

    Definite McBush
    – Utah
    – Arkansas
    – Tennessee (can’t wait for the Harold Ford type ads)
    – Alabama
    – Lousiana
    – Kentucky (pure racist reasons)

    Probably McBush
    – South Dakota
    – North Dakota
    – West Virginia
    – South Carolina
    – Idaho

    Toss Up States that DLC would not have contested
    – Montana
    – Arizona (McCain is disliked by major newspapers)
    – North Carolina (can be turned blue)
    – Mississippi
    – Texas
    – Indiana
    – Kansas
    – Oklahoma
    – Nebraska (split by district)
    – Nevada
    – Wyoming

    Obama States
    – Hawaii
    – California
    – Oregon
    – Washington
    – Colorado
    – New Mexico
    – Missouri
    – Iowa
    – Illinois
    – Minnesota
    – Wisconsin
    – Michigan
    – Ohio
    – Florida
    – Pennsylvania
    – New Hampshire
    – Maine
    – Vermont
    – Massachusetts
    – Rhode Island
    – Connecticut (debt owed for reelecting Joe LIEberman)
    – New York
    – New Jersey
    – Delaware
    – Florida
    – Georgia (thanks Bob Barr)
    – Maryland
    – Virginia

  • Have to point this out about the family of Frank Powers. As soon as he filed for Congress, his son immediately announced he was running as a Libertarian specifically to keep his father from winning. (There were hints that the son may be gay in the stories, btw, which might explain the problems he had with his father.)

  • And like the list. I disagree with some of them — I’ll still bet that WV will go for Obama — and think most of the toss-ups will be sure wins. But whatever, there is no way McCain will get more than 155 electoral votes, and I expect it will be short of that by more than 100. It isn’t Johnson/Goldwater, it is Roosevelt/Landon.

  • Obama may have a 50-state strategy in mind, but he probably shouldn’t count on Utah — a Deseret News poll shows McCain with a 28-point lead.

    Further proof that if you remove the second “m”, those people are understandable.

  • Steve @ 12

    I was just thinking about the whole war hero thing…
    McCain is a veteran and for that I thank him, like every man and woman called upon to possibly die for our sake. (for possibly unworthy causes, but that’s never their fault and does not detract from their honor)

    But what makes a war “hero”.
    Isn’t a hero someone who is brave and faces long odds and does the right thing anyway?

    The meme I keep hearing is he was a tortured P.O.W.
    That’s terrible for him, but there’s nothing heroic about being captured nor tortured.
    It evokes sympathy and his survival may inspire admiration, but was he at greater risk, voluntarily, than his peers? Did he stand out because of this unfortunate chapter in his life?

    How does this compare to the belittling John Kerry received from the defenders of the unquestionably un-heroic George Bush? Kerry rescued teammates trapped on the shoreline when he could have stayed aboard his swiftboat in relative safety. If there ARE stories like that for McCain, why haven’t I heard them yet. I would think my ears would be bleeding from hearing it by now?

    If we wish to say heroics like Kerry’s are expected of our men in uniform and convey no special credentials towards leadership and higher office, fine. But why the big hoo-ha about McCain being a “war hero”?

    “McCain’s naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.”

    Why no stories about how he earned them?
    His wiki article makes the explosion on the Forrestal sound as though he was friggin’ Superman. You’d never know it from the campaign. Just P.O.W. 24-7.
    Again. Sad. Sympathetic. Admirable. But heroic? Maybe. Just not the standard definition I’m accustomed to.

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