Thursday’s campaign round-up

July 31, 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:

* New Quinnipiac polls from the three biggest battleground states show Barack Obama leading John McCain in all three. Obama leads McCain in Florida by two (46% to 44%), in Ohio by two (46% to 44%), and in Pennsylvania by seven (49% to 42%). The margins are slightly smaller than a month ago, but Nate Silver notes that Obama’s leads are stronger in all three states than they were in the spring.

* Chris Cillizza: “Barack Obama’s vice presidential vetting process has moved into a new stage in which a larger than previously reported group of candidates is being exposed to a ‘deeper dig’ into their backgrounds — in the words of a source familiar with the process.”

* The DNC’s new web video, which is pretty good, goes after John McCain for being desperate, and abandoning his commitment to a “respectful” campaign.

* On a related note, MoveOn.org has a new TV ad, going after McCain for his support for coastal drilling, which MoveOn labels “a gimmick,” not a “solution.”

* The latest CNN/Opinion Research poll shows Obama leading McCain nationally by seven, 51% to 44%.

* Some of McCain’s attacks have gotten so low, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R), who wants to be McCain’s running mate, won’t defend them — while acting in his capacity as a campaign surrogate.

* I guess the McCain gang has decided to give dickishness a try: “Staying very personal, the McCain campaign responds to Obama’s suggestion that Republicans will attack his unusual name and his race: ‘This is a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama. Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism with a mix of fussiness and hysteria,’ says McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, before trying to link the attack back to offshore drilling.”

* Public Policy Polling (D) shows Obama leading in Michigan by three, 46% to 43%.

* Rasmussen shows McCain leading in Mississippi by 11, 52% to 41%.

* Rasmussen shows McCain leading in Nebraska by 18, 50% to 32%.

* This might be a little awkward: “Governor Bill Richardson is set to announce today that he’s hosting a pair of fundraising events for Hillary Clinton in New Mexico August 17, which is being cast as one of the higher-profile installments of Obama’s effort to help Clinton retire her debt.”

* NYDN: “Those 75,000 Democrats who will pack a football stadium for Barack Obama’s convention speech won’t be there just to whoop and holler on television. They’ll form the world’s largest phone bank to boost voter registration — fired-up supporters using computer targeting the campaign has spent months putting together…. ‘This convention is going to look different and feel different and be different,’ says Steve Hildebrand, the Obama adviser overseeing the effort, during a recent visit to Denver. ‘We’re here to win an election, not throw a party.'”

* “Vote Both” is no more.

* Roll Call: “National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Ensign (Nev.) declined to endorse incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) when queried about the indicted lawmaker’s tough re-election race by reporters on Wednesday.”

Oooooohhhh, watch out for that terrible Barack Obama, he’s a “celebrity.”

“Socialite socialist” will likely be next.

  • Your flip-flop list has become a great tool for all of us… thanks!

    Can you, or somebody, do a McCain “ignorance/dementia/gaffes” list… eg., Irag-Pakistan border, Sunni-Shia confusion, etc.?

  • ” fussiness and hysteria”?!?!

    I guess this is morphing into Obama as effete girly gayman.
    Must be a leftover from their script if Hillary had been the candidate.

    Sigh.

  • “Governor Bill Richardson is set to announce today that he’s hosting a pair of fundraising events for Hillary Clinton in New Mexico August 17, which is being cast as one of the higher-profile installments of Obama’s effort to help Clinton retire her debt.”

    Yeah, asking people to give money to millionaires can be awkward. I’m pretty sure ALL of those people have truly deserving causes asking them for money every week, I know I do. And we peons who don’t have millions have limited budgets, so someone isn’t going to get funded. We mere mortals must choose our charities.

    For example, should I give a millionaire money to pay her debts, and stiff Earth Justice, a group which effectively uses legal eagles to open huge cans of whoopass* on corporations as they try to kill the planet? I don’t think so. I could send Hillary a little money, just to shut her up. But I’m lucky to have more money than average.

    A thousand other charities are also more deserving than the “bail out the lady who should have given up” fund. (although I believe they aren’t as effective as EJ in the true battle for the future of the human race)

    * http://www.earthjustice.org/our_work/victory/

  • I don’t understand the polling from Nebraska. Doesn’t Obama have a connection there? Is it really as “red state” as that poll shows? I don’t think so.

  • Will someone tell me, who put Harold Ford Jr. at the head of the DNC, I watch this nut on the not rating road to the white with D. Gregory and agree with everything Pat Buachana had to say, he use to be on Faux Noise and seem to be the second coming of Juan Williams.

  • That “world’s largest phone bank” will be in Denver—which, I might suggest, is overdue for a “major telecommunications interruption”—and the Colorado GOP is just the type to try it, too…..

  • Can you, or somebody, do a McCain “ignorance/dementia/gaffes” list?

    I second that emotion! Great idea! You could call it: “John McCain Brain Drain.” Or “Senior Moments with John McCain.”

    Or you could call it something clever and catchy.

  • Steve already maintains a list of McCain flip-flops. Imagine how busy he will be if he also tries to keep up with everything McCain states out of ignorance and every gaffe he makes. that would an even longer list than the flip-flop list. Imagine how much more bandwidth he will need to house such a list.

  • TomB…

    The spread does seem high in Nebraska, but McCain is playing up his military background and that’s HUGE out there.

  • John @6 – Harold Ford, Jr. is head of the DLC, Democratic Leadership Council – which some call the Publican Wing of the Democratic Party – The Clintons are founding members. It is very “pro-business” and pro-lobbyist.”

    The DNC – Democratic National Committee – is still headed by Howard Dean, who is still occasionally vilified by DLC types because he’s not one of their type – although he was and is more centrist then progressive.

  • I like the MoveOn “Gimmick” ad. It’s frank, it’s substance-driven, and it’s third-party. All good things.

  • I guess the McCain gang has decided to give dickishness a try: “Staying very personal, the McCain campaign responds to Obama’s suggestion that Republicans will attack his unusual name and his race: ‘This is a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama. Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism with a mix of fussiness and hysteria,’ says McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds, before trying to link the attack back to offshore drilling.”

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