Comments on: Poll watch: First signs of a McCain bounce, a third tracking poll (!), Indiana is competitive

By: zoot

zoot — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:07:24 +0000

Per Gallup, the bounce is gone - 47-45.

http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx

Let’s see what Tuesday/Wednesday brings. Both campaigns are suspending attack ads on 9-11.

By: zoot

zoot — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:06:09 +0000

Anonymous, agree absolutely, but it is what it is - the air is crackling with resentment over gender, class, race, globalization, hair and eye color (;-), you name it. Sure, Obama can vindicate the principle of absolute equality of treatment while starting up a dynamic that will defeat him.

It’s like a dog sizing up a raccoon - he knows he’s going to get hurt real bad if he just charges straight ahead, so sometimes the better alternative is just steer a wide arc around her….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Obama cannot frontally attack Palin just because he fears female backlash on the basis of perceived sexism? For the life of me, I cannot udnerstand this double standard culture. If male politicians fear running their campaigns effectively and efficiently because their opponents are females, then either we should never hav female politicians or let women do all the campaigning. No candidate should be insulated from intense political scrutiny on the basis of gender.
I think the only reason McCain picked up Palin is to fend off any attacks on him and his vice presidential runing mate.

By: zoot

zoot — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:56:54 +0000

Palin will not appear on any Sunday talk shows, and Rick Davis refuses to make any commitment re when or even if she will do so - http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/.

Those of us (including zoot) who intellectualize presidential politics too much risk falling into mortal sin. In a rational world, this nomination should be given the hook. In the real world, it poses one of the biggest challenges Obama’s campaign has faced.

Palin cannot be attacked frontally - she has to be forced into an environment where her inadequacies on critical issues will manifest themselves independently, and this has to be done respectfully, without the appearance of bullying. QED the refusal to expose her to interviews, thereby increasing the importance of the VP debate. In the meanwhile, they’ll keep running her onto the stump in critical states with pre-packaged speeches and total insulation from the press, while relentlessly attacking the MSM with the intent of cowing them into submission and defusing inclination when the time comes to push her too hard on questions she won’t be able to answer.

Viewed that way, a lot depends on who’s moderating the debate: - fortunately, it’s Gwen Ifill. http://tinyurl.com/5wksbu. A Wolf Blitzer would attack with a marshmallow hammer, but Ifill won’t let her stop with her pre-packaged responses.

That may also explain the current Obama strategy of ignoring her and going at McCain - they haven’t yet decided there’s much they can do about her directly without getting in too deep. Obama’s appearance tomorrow with Stephanopoulos (not the most incisive interviewer) should tell us more.

Bizarre….

By: Coco

Coco — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:19:45 +0000

Saturday Rasmussen Tracking: Obama 49, McCain 46.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:05:52 +0000

Regarding the Alaska polling result, I am not surprised given that the state is the most conservative and I would have expected McCain to win had he picked a conservative VP. And if Obama continued to lead there, it would be very surprising for me.
I wonder why voters are changing their opinions of the candidates as if they were being fickles. . Perhaps the fact that Palin was suddenly thurst into the public eye as almost completely unknown politician moved some voters toward McCain. But it is really bizarre to me that voters would think she is qualified based entirely on her speech despite all the revelations of potential abuse of power in public office. Speaking from a personl point of view, I think voters who think she is ready to be president are hypocrites and fickles.

By: bmc

bmc — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:02:19 +0000

Palin-Mania Sweeping Nation

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 5, 2008

(CBS) There’s a new economic boom in Alaska — and it has nothing to do with oil.

Call it “Palin-mania.”

Companies are cashing in on a new craze sweeping the country sparked by the sudden fame of John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, reports CBS News correspondent John Blackstone.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/05/earlyshow/printable4418621.shtml