Friday, June 20, 2008

Analysis: Showcased in these ads, which will be the most effective storyline for the fall?

McCain "Safe" ad

Moveon.org "Not Alex" ad

Obama "Country I Love" ad


All three are running in Wisconsin. Wisconsin will be (is?) a battleground state. The Obama bio ad is running in 18 states--including many states where a Democrat has not been competitive for years. McCain's ad was the first one to be "up" (meaning: on t.v. in any given state).

So many elections are about defining yourself and defining your opponent. This is exactly what each campaign, and Moveon.org, are trying to do. Moveon.org started out as a special interest group trying to end the war in Iraq and has since expanded considerably to give its 2 cents on most liberal political causes. There is some question among Republicans as to why McCain waited so long to try to define himself. Why didn't he use the months that he had without an opponent to try to define himself and whoever his opponent would be? Notice how Obama talks about Kansas values (the values of the "heartland") and not big city Chicago values. Is he trying to court those working class Clinton supporters? Shouldn't he have won their support already?

Feel free to go to the websites to see more videos and get more information (if you like busses as much as my 2 year old son, you should check out McCains website where they have a "Cribs" tour of the Straight Talk Express Bus--no joke) (btw: shouldn't it be "Pimp My Ride" instead of "Cribs"?)

www.johnmccain.com
www.barackobama.com
www.moveon.org

Friday, June 13, 2008

There is no opinion or analysis: Tim Russert has died.

Tim Russert.

RIP

Your enthusiasm for politics and your intensity for what we think is so important are unmatched and are admired. Thank you. We will work hard to continue your tradition of clinical analysis of all that is political. We learned from you that it's OK to love politics. Again, thank you. Your influence continues. . .

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Analysis: Too little too late?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24908975/

Obama quits church after long controversy
Candidate seeks to distance himself from Wright



ABERDEEN, S.D. - Barack Obama said Saturday he has resigned his 20-year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago "with some sadness" in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and more recent fiery remarks at the church by another minister.

"This is not a decision I come to lightly ... and it is one I make with some sadness," he said at a news conference after campaign officials released a letter of resignation sent to the church on Friday. "I'm not denouncing the church and I'm not interested in people who want me to denounce the church," he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and "the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them."

Obama said he and his wife have been discussing the issue since Wright's appearance at the National Press Club in Washington last month that reignited furor over remarks he had made in various sermons at the church. "I suspect we'll find another church home for our family," Obama said. "It's clear that now that I'm a candidate for president, every time something is said in the church by anyone associated with Trinity, inlcuding guest pastors, the remarks will imputed to me even if they totally conflict with my longheld views, statements and principles," he said.

Obama said he had "no idea" how the resignation would "impact my presidential campaign, but I know its the right thing to do for the church and our family."

‘A pretty personal decision’"This was a pretty personal decision and I was not trying to make political theater out of it," he said.


--LAST REQUIRED POSTING WINDOW ENDS TODAY!!!
KEEPING POSTING ANYWAY. . .
:)

Analysis: Will this unify or split the Democrats? Good or bad for John McCain?

Fla., Mich. Delegates Each Get Half a Vote
Compromise Prompts Anger From Clinton Campaign


By Dan BalzWashington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 1, 2008; Page A01
After hours of emotional testimony and sometimes contentious debate, Democratic Party officials agreed yesterday on a pair of compromises to seat Florida's and Michigan's delegations to their national convention. But a part of the deal drew an angry reaction and the threat of a subsequent challenge from the campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The compromises by the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee called for both delegations, originally barred from the convention for violating party rules, to be seated in full in Denver but with each delegate casting only half a vote.

The actions by the committee were aimed at bringing the long and sometimes-bitter Democratic nomination battle between Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Clinton (N.Y.) to a close and to ensure party unity as the Democrats head into the general election. But the decisions prompted bitter and sometimes-tearful reactions from some members of the audience, who repeatedly shouted over the committee members as they voted.

Obama remains the heavy favorite to win the nomination, with his campaign hoping that he can secure enough delegates over the next week to do so. Puerto Rico's primary will be held today, and the last two states, Montana and South Dakota, will vote Tuesday. The committee's decisions represented a significant setback to Clinton, who had passionately called for seating both delegations with full votes.

The net result was a gain of 87 delegate votes for Clinton and 63 for Obama. Until yesterday's action, the magic number for winning the nomination was 2,026 delegates. Now the winner will need 2,118. According to a count by the Associated Press, as of last night, Obama controlled 2,052 delegates to Clinton's 1,877.

Obama campaign officials said they will redouble efforts to win over enough superdelegates to put their candidate over the top as quickly as possible, but Clinton hopes to emerge with more popular votes and continues to press the case that she would be a stronger general-election candidate than Obama.

"We're extremely gratified that the commission agreed on a fair solution that will allow Michigan and Florida to participate in the Convention. We appreciate their efforts, and those of the party leadership of both states, to bring this resolution about," said Obama campaign manager David Plouffe.
The Florida agreement included a provision calling for the delegates to be allocated on the basis of the state's Jan. 29 primary, a decision that would net Clinton 19 more delegates than Obama. Clinton's campaign had pushed for a proposal to seat the full delegation with full voting power, but when that failed, her supporters on the committee relented, and the compromise was approved without a dissenting vote, 27 to 0.

But it was the Michigan plan, approved by a 19 to 8 vote, that drew sharper opposition because of the way that state's delegates will be awarded. Under the plan, Clinton will be given 34.5 delegate votes in Denver to Obama's 29.5 delegate votes, a percentage distribution recommended by leaders of the Michigan Democratic Party but opposed by the Clinton campaign officials, who said it violates the results of Michigan's Jan. 15 primary.

This article continues at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053102355.html?hpid=topnews

Opinion: What's your opinion of this article?

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=756918

Energized McCain wins over one teen
Posted: May 31, 2008
Mike NicholsE-MAIL

Greendale - Odd men in cow suits and rubber masks, or holding handwritten signs alluding to "Adolf Bush," usually provide the only unscripted moments at big campaign events.

So I didn't show up too early for an appearance by John McCain at Martin Luther High School - and was relegated to the "remote" room where we Wisconsinites often seem to end up.

Watched him along with a couple hundred others on two television screens that could, as easily, have been transmitting from Tuscaloosa.

Sometimes, though - lo and behold - the world comes to you.

No sooner did the man walk off the screen at the end of his event, than he came through the door. Right there in the scarred and wrinkled flesh.

This is Wisconsin in 2008, baby. We're all in the front row now.

"Wisconsin," as Congressman Paul Ryan was quoted as saying, "is going to be the center of the political universe."

At least for John McCain.

And the first impression?

"Very pale," said Morgan Johnson, a senior at Muskego High School who just turned 18 and was there with her aunt. "That was the first thing I noticed about him."

Yep. There's been a lot of speculation about Barack Obama becoming the blackest president ever. John McCain might just become the whitest.

But, allowed Morgan, "he looked good for his age."

The truth is that McCain, who is 71, gets younger when he walks right up and starts talking.
This is no somnambulant Reagan. You don't worry about him being under-engaged. You worry about him being over-engaged.

With all due respect to the "McSame" crowd, this is not George W. Bush either. I mean, with our current president, you cringe every time you hear him try to pronounce Ahmadinejad.

With McCain, you worry a little he is pronouncing it with extreme fluidity, over and over, in his sleep.

Obama, then again, is apt to add a "Sir" at the end and say it in person - without preconditions.
Morgan's aunt, Lisa Klug, asked the best question of the day.

She asked McCain what he "would say to Morgan to get her to vote for you instead of Obama."

Morgan is a self-described moderate who would have voted for Hillary in the primary, had she been 18. And she lives in Wisconsin, where John Kerry beat George Bush by fewer than 12,000 votes - which means she could well be a president-maker.

Many of her peers like Obama.

"He is young," she said. "I am not going to lie. I think his race has a lot to do with it."

She, personally, is basing her vote on other things.

"Base it on issues," Morgan said.

McCain walked spryly over and responded to Lisa's question by making light of his years. What America really needs now is a president who is "very, very, very, very , very old," he said, repeating a joke from "Saturday Night Live."

Then he told Lisa, in a more serious vein, that he will "try to make sure (Morgan) can believe she will inherit a safer and more prosperous world."

Therein lies the rub, of course. Elections are about the future, and to a lot of young eyes, McCain looks like the past.

Not to Morgan, though. She likes his experience and his fiscal conservatism. Likes him on a personal basis. Thought he looked good. Is inclined to vote for him.

All you wonder now is if he can repeat the feat.
About 12,000 or so times.

E-mail mnichols@journalsentine.com.