The President has not held a campaign rally since Friday. I find this a little concerning. In my opinion he should be building on Biden's momentum from the debate. I know he has to prepare for his big showing on Tuesday, but this is a critical point in the campaign and I want to see him out there firing up the Democratic base and driving home the message for his re-election in the battleground states.
I hear reports in the media of Romney's crowd size growing (relatively speaking) due to the Republican base been energized. Romney is also getting lots of free press in the media with his campaign stops. The Obama Team needs to counter this by been constantly present on the trail. There is no time to let up. Every lost day on the trail is a lost opportunity to effect positive media coverage and drive the narrative in your favor.
Another thing that bothers me is talk of the President adopting the Kerry strategy, i.e. focusing mostly on the traditional to bluish-swing states like Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire. That's a loosing strategy if you ask me. In 2008, Obama won a convincing victory by widely expanding the cadre of what are considered swing states to include formerly red states like Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, and Colorado. An offensive strategy is always more effective. The President needs to keep up the pressure on Romney in the reddish-swing states. I would like to see more campaign rallies in those states.
Finally, this talk of Ohio been Obama's firewall is nothing to rest on. A campaign that banks it hopes on Ohio more often than not ends with disappointment. Ohio to me is an unreliable go along state that just always seems to end up with whoever is the winner (in a kind of after-the-fact sorta way). In my opinion, Obama should continue putting as much focus if not more on the reddish-swing states as he is doing in Ohio and force Romney into defending his turf in those territories. The moment the campaign starts focusing solely on Ohio and bluish-swing states like Iowa, and New Hampshire, that's when you know we are in trouble.
Nonetheless, I have faith that the Obama team will employ the right strategy and win this thing. They've proven their resilience and their ability to achieve impressive victories when the chips are down.
9:19 AM PT: I mostly wanted to vent some frustration with this diary. I actually feel very upbeat about the upcoming week. I think the Obama campaign managed to weather the worst week in their campaign and came out pretty well. President Obama knows how to play political chess. He's proven his skill before. I am looking forward to positive developments coming down the line.