Good morning Kossacks!
The McCain campaign is becoming truly hysterical in these last few days - I mean seriously, I laugh every day putting these things together - and is now calling Obama the "incumbent." News on their strategy moving forward.
Also, new polling numbers for the Minnesota Senate Race and good news for Obama out of Washoe County, NV and Wake County, NC.
And, Colin Powell's former chief of staff - also a Republican - is also voting for Obama.
The Boston Globe reports that McCain will press heavily on the "liberal majority" argument, but there are issues with this strategy as well:
Advisers say that McCain will begin marketing divided government more directly in coming days as part of a summation targeted at undecided independents, whom Graham expects will break "three-to-one" against the race's "virtual incumbent," as he describes Obama. "It's an argument that works in the last four or five days," said Black.
The problem?
Introducing a partisan edge in the race's closing days carries risks for McCain. Strategists note that polls of voters all year have declared greater faith in Democrats than Republicans, and that campaigning against "congressional liberals" goes against the very forces that have made expanded Democratic control of both chambers a near certainty weeks before Election Day.
This seems to be the losing man's argument, IMHO, which I guess explains a lot. No compelling reason for his own candidacy other than keeping the "evil" liberals out of power? I love that they are calling Obama the "virtual incumbent." That just makes me laugh... these guys are flailing! (P.S. - you have to watch this clip from McCain's interview that will air on the Early Show today. He looks like he is going to lose it one point!)
::::::
Others are skeptical as well:
Bruce Cain, director of the University of California Washington Center, said he doubts whether the McCain effort would shift many votes.
"The whole argument is a little too indirect and sophisticated to lure more than a few voters. Most undecided voters vote with their feelings, not with a rational calculation like this. This seems like insider logic," he said.
::::::
From the same article in the San Francisco Chronicle, it seems that Michele Bachmann doesn't know when to quit:
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., told Fox News on Monday: "It will be economic Marxism, that's what it's going to be. There are no brakes on that train. It's going to be a disaster."
I'm sure the folks at FOX are just loving her. I bet she doesn't even know what economic Marxism even means. It would be so sweet if she loses her reelection bid... I'm sure Tinklenberg would love some more cash if you have any to spare.
:::::
Public Policy Polling is teasing their new Indiana and Florida polls as follows:
Here's one to let your heads spin until tomorrow: Obama is doing better in our Indiana poll than our Florida one.
Is anyone else getting sick of all the poll teasing? If the poll is done, release the damn numbers. My guess is Obama +3 in Indiana and +2 in Florida.
Also, Politico has a new poll out this morning showing Obama gaining in two key counties in Nevada and North Carolina.
::::::
The Minneapolis Star Tribune has new polling out this morning on the Minnesota Senate race:
The latest Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows DFLer Al Franken at 39 percent to Republican Sen. Norm Coleman's 36 percent. Independence Party candidate Dean Barkley was the choice of 18 percent of likely voters.
A Minnesota Poll two weeks ago showed Franken leading Coleman by nine percentage points. The new poll, conducted Thursday and Friday, sampled 1,049 likely voters and has an error margin of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
In the same poll, Obama is up 52% to McCain's 41%.
::::::
In other Senate race news, the Wilmington Star News (NC) endorses Kay Hagan.
::::::
Robert Novak (I thought he retired?) dismisses Powell's endorsement of Obama, saying that Powell was a shitty Republican anyway and he may (gasp!) even have been a closet Democrat:
Powell’s debut as a Republican at the 1996 GOP convention in San Diego was not an auspicious success, particularly after the general delivered a speech that seemed suspiciously Democratic to the assembled delegates.
When President George W. Bush named Powell as secretary of state, it was no cause for celebration among Republicans, particularly neocons, who blamed Powell for dissuading President George H.W. Bush from sending U.S. troops all the way to Baghdad during the Persian Gulf War.
Sure, a closet Democrat. How quickly they turn on each other!
::::::
Colin Powell's former chief of staff, Republican Lawrence Wilkerson, is also voting for Obama:
"A year ago, I would have supported John McCain," Wilkerson said. However, he said that in the course of this campaign, McCain has caved to political pressures.
"McCain, who in the course of his senate career was never too corrupted by the process, has run a campaign that proves he wants so badly to win the Oval Office that he was willing [to] sacrifice his integrity and character and found himself in the thrall of vested interests," Wilkerson said.
::::::
More West Virginians are coming forward with the same problems others have encountered in that state - voting machines switching votes from Obama to McCain:
Deputy Secretary of State Sarah Bailey said 21,194 West Virginians had already cast early votes by Friday. "Early voting becomes more popular every year," she said. "All the voting systems [in West Virginia] are manufactured by ES&S."
Election Systems and Software, a company based in Omaha, Neb., has faced problems and controversies in other states. In California, for example, Secretary of State Debra Brown issued a legal order on Aug. 3, 2007, banning the use of ES&S machines in any future California election.
::::::
There's yet another contradiction on Palin's record, wouldn't ya know! Palin has consistently said on the campaign trail that Alaska should be allowed to tap its natural resources and supply oil and gas to the lower 48. She even claims that Congress has a non-existent "export ban" to ensure those domestic supplies stay in the US. But...
On the campaign trail, Sarah Palin says repeatedly that America must tap its own natural gas and oil reserves to become energy-independent.
But the Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate has pushed the federal government to allow a liquefied natural gas plant to continue exporting to Asia - the only such plant in the United States that sends the product overseas.
But, but, what about the "export ban?"
So while the United States imported 771 billion cubic feet of natural gas last year from Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Qatar, Alaska is expected to export 100 billion cubic feet to Asia over the next two years.
::::::
So what's on your mind today? Please keep Obama's grandma in your thoughts... I'm hoping things are not as dire as they sound. It would unbelievably sad if she could not see the grandson she raised so well be elected President of the United States.