Comments on: McCain’s problem is offense

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 03:28:43 +0000

If McCain had stuck with his celebrity
ads against Obama as someone who is well liked but not ready to lead, the polls would
be much closer now, even with the ecnomic crisis.
I really don’t think the celebrity ads, compounded by Palin’s pick as a VP, will help maintain McCain’s poll numbers near the tie or even ahead of Obama even if the economy was at the forefront of the campaign. Afterall, it would even have backfired if McCain continued to air those ads while Obama focuses on the economy, demonstrating McCain’s top concern for winning the presidency and Obama’s worries about the economic plight of ordinary voters, which would make Mccain far more out of touch with average voters. McCain needs to emphasize pocketbook issues, not celebrity status or character assasination if he wants to succeed. Otherwise, he will be seen as priorizing his political ambitions.

By: fritz

fritz — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:43:23 +0000

JR: You are right about the staggered primaries and Clinton’s chances; but if a national primary is held in March and not June maybe it’s over and Obama wins.
My point is, the vote is 30 days away and they are already voting in many states. In this limited time frame I can’t see any way McCain can alter the trends. People are becoming more comfortable with Obama and less so with McCain.
Negative ad campaigns based on past associations just draw attention to McCain’s past relationships and are not going to be enough in this time of economic crisis. It will needs a BIG game changer (not the invasion of a country most Americans don’t know exists) but something like a nuclear terrorist attack on an American city.
If the vote was held today Obama wins in a landslide. It is up to McCain to somehow change the race in the next month. I don’t see how this happens without the big game changer.

By: Joe from NC

Joe from NC — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:19:00 +0000

Nevermind. I just read that Governor Blanco switched it back the the normal system starting this year.

By: Joe from NC

Joe from NC — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:17:32 +0000

This is changing the subject, but wasn’t it supposed to be election day today in Louisiana?
I know LA has that “jungle primary” and that it’s possible to be elected outright during the primary.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:17:03 +0000

Russian invasion of Georgia is not an incident Americans care about above the crumbling economy. Palin is ridiculious. That charge is so jarring that it borders on desperation which I don’t think Mccain can avoid at this zero hour. There’s is already a narrative out there that Mccain pounces on just about anything to use as attack ads. However there are still two debates left to go.

By: Jaxx Raxor

Jaxx Raxor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 01:08:47 +0000

Fritz: I don’t think that McCain’s chances are similar to Clinton’s chances, if only because of the staggered nature of the primaries, in which states vote on different days, while in the General election you all vote on one day. If we had a national primary all in late June, its is very possible that Clinton would have had a better chance with all of the late primary problems that came about for Obama, but of course it doesn’t work that way.

I think for McCain, in the long term its more like 55%-45% in Obama’s favor to win the White House. This is because while Obama is favored in an enviroment that favors Democrats, there is still a month left and 2 presidential debates left. The polls have become stable as of late, and it’s unlikely the passage of the bail out bill will remove economics from the forefront of the election because it will have no immediant impact and the slowing ecnomny is expected to last into 2009. However, Obama still hasn’t sealed the deal and he is still underperforming the generic Democrat, although this is probably more about McCain’s strength in being seen as a “new” kind of Republican than Obama’s weaknesses. In particular, he stil hasn’t sealed the deal with many voters and a slip up will move the poll right back into a tie or even a McCain lead again. And who knows, a foreign policy event could suddenly come (like the Russian invasion of Georgia in August) and once again McCain will be ahead. And perhaps being more personal and doing Rezko, Ayers, and Wright can work, althrough it will be hard this late in the camapign. If McCain had stuck with his celebrity ads against Obama as someone who is well liked but not ready to lead, the polls would be much closer now, even with the ecnomic crisis.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 00:53:35 +0000

Jarret,
I agree with you. If McCain wants to start an 11th-hour offensive campaign of tying Obama to whoever cos up in his mind, that that signals the beginning of his political suicide. Because if he really believes he has the chance to reclaim his election footing and somehow manage to narrowly get ahead of Obama, he should not have to resort to such desperate tactics that have the potential of backfiring to the point where his bid for the presidency becomes virtually impossible to achieve. And the reason why this may sound like political suicide is because McCain and Palin are opening themselves to a multitude of embarrassing attacks, possibly by independnt parties if Obama decides not to do himself. After all, Kerry lost because of swift-boating.

By: LANE CLOSURE

LANE CLOSURE — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:20:35 +0000

I think the Keating five articles should be opened
and exploited by the Obama folks. This Ayers smear would go away fast!

By: Joe from NC

Joe from NC — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:14:36 +0000

Anon,
I agree for the most part, but I think Palin may be leaving herself open to attack on purpose. Look back 20 years ago. Dukakis spent a lot of time attacking Quayle and left H. W. Bush relatively unscathed.
Still I agree that someone has to attack her on her husband’s secessionist party membership. If Obama agrees with a radical just because he lives in his neighborhood, Palin must agree with a secessionist just because she’s married to him!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:06:26 +0000

Taniel, I meant to be referring to the GOP as character assassins… Did you notice Palin is attacking Obama on Ayers? He needs to respond and try to attack her by pointing out that she received thousands of dollars in gifts as governor. This woman is the most hypocritical I have ever known.