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Blogs Eric Reads
Archive for September, 2008
Changing the Map
Today’s polls show a lot of good news for Obama, but of particular importance is that Virginia might be just a stepping stone to a really big prize:
Barack Obama 47
John McCain 45
Bob Barr 3With concern about the economy continuing to mount, Barack Obama has taken the lead for the first time in a PPP poll of North Carolina.
Over the last year there’s been a strong relationship between the number of North Carolinians listing the economy as their biggest concern, and Obama’s standing in the polls. In January when just 39% of voters said it was their biggest issue John McCain led by 14 points. In August with it up to 48% Obama trailed by just three. Last week with 58% listing it number one the race was tied, and now with the number up to a record 64% Obama has taken a small lead. He is up 55-38 among respondents citing the economy as their main concern.
…
Independents are moving toward Obama in droves. Where last week he had a 42-39 advantage with them, now he is up 48-37. He also now receives 36% of the white vote, up from 33%. He will likely need 35-38% in that demographic to win the state, depending on how high turnout from black voters is.Full results here. (PDF)
Thanks to Barack’s strong stance on the economy and a really energizing Senate race, we could be looking at a really different electoral college map on November 4th.
Laughingstock
If you’re wondering why the McCain campaign has gone to great lengths to keep the press away from Sarah Palin, here’s why:
And WaPo media critic Howard Kurtz reports that CBS says the worst of the Palin interview is yet to come.
McCain Claims Credit for Bailout as Bill Fails in House
As Congress prepared to vote on a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, the McCain campaign was already taking credit for the bill’s success in the House:
Mitt Romney, McCain’s erstwhile rival for the Republican nomination, said the deal on a Wall Street bailout worth up to 700 billion dollars would never have happened without the Arizona senator.
Speaking on NBC television, the former Massachusetts governor said “this bill would not have been agreed to had it not been for John McCain.”
There’s only one problem. The bailout bill wasn’t agreed to:
After a series of impassioned speeches on the House floor, the Bush Administration’s $700 billion bailout bill was rejected by the House early Monday afternoon.
The controversial measure needs 218 votes for passage, but it came up 13 votes short of that target, as the final vote was 228 to 205 against.
Whoops. Will they take responsibility for the bailout’s failure and the resultant stock market plunge?
Update: Politco’s Mike Allen reports that McCain touted his “success” at a rally in Ohio today, as did campaign communications director Jill Hazelbaker on FOX News this morning.
Quote of the Day
Atrios brings us the quote of the day:
Republican MSNBC strategist talking about Biden “the human gaffe machine:”
- Here’s a guy who thought FDR was president during the Great Depression.
Probably thinks the WPA is one of those gangster rap groups.
McCain Calls for Bipartisanship But Only Talks to Republicans
When John McCain suspended his campaign and tried to postpone Friday night’s debate, he emphasized the need for a bipartisan solution, saying, ”We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.”
Per NYT’s The Caucus blog, here’s a list of who McCain spoke to regarding the proposed bailout plan on Saturday:
- President Bush
- Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson
- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Senate Minority Leader
- Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH)
- Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
- Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), the House Minority Leader
- Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the House Minority Leader
Polls Give Obama Debate Victory
The numbers are in from Friday’s debate, and it looks like good news for Team Obama:
By 46%-34%, those who watched said Obama did a better job than McCain. Obama led McCain, 52%-35%, when they were asked which candidate offered the best proposals for change to solve the country’s problems.
…
The debate had a positive impact for Obama on handling the economy; 34% said they had more confidence in him to fix economic problems after seeing the debate, while 26% said they had less. For McCain, 37% reported having less confidence and 23% said they had more.
CNN:
Fifty-one percent of those polled thought Obama did the better job in Friday night’s debate, while 38 percent said John McCain did better.
Men were nearly evenly split between the two candidates, with 46 percent giving the win to McCain and 43 percent to Obama. But women voters tended to give Obama higher marks, with 59 percent calling him the night’s winner, while just 31 percent said McCain won.
“It can be reasonably concluded, especially after accounting for the slight Democratic bias in the survey, that we witnessed a tie in Mississippi tonight,” CNN Senior Political Researcher Alan Silverleib said. “But given the direction of the campaign over the last couple of weeks, a tie translates to a win for Obama.”
…
National security has been an issue where McCain has held an advantage, but his edge over Obama — 49 percent to 45 percent — on the question of which candidate would best handle terrorism is within the poll’s 4.5 percent margin of error.The economy, which has been Obama’s terrain this cycle, dominated the first half of the debate. Debate watchers gave him a 21 percentage point edge — 58 to 37 percent — on the question of which candidate would do a better job handling the economy.
By a similar margin, those polled said Obama would be better able to deal with the current financial crisis facing the nation.
CBS:
Thirty-nine percent of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Barack Obama was the winner. Twenty-four percent thought John McCain won. Thirty-seven percent saw it as a draw.
Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama got better tonight. Thirty-two percent said their opinion of McCain got better.
Sixty-six percent of uncommitted voters think Obama would make the right decisions about the economy. Forty-two percent think McCain would.
Forty-eight percent of these voters think Obama would make the right decisions about Iraq. Fifty-six percent think McCain would.
MediaCurves: Independents preferred Obama’s responses to every question asked during the debate. 61% of Independents polled through Obama won the debate, compared to 38% for McCain.
Also, for those of you who were a little disappointed with the number of times Obama said “John is right,” Virginia Del. Kris Amundson (D-44) has some food for thought:
Fess up. On Friday night, you wanted Our Guy to strike back. You wondered why he didn’t say, “As a matter of fact, John, I dounderstand.” You wanted him to smack somebody upside the head.
Or maybe that was just me.
But as the polls have come in and I’ve had a chance to look at the internals, I was the one who was smacked upside the head with this realization: These folks know what they’re doing.
For a lot of us (on both sides) the election is already over. The Twelve Apostles could come canvassing at my door for John McCain and I wouldn’t change my vote. So in that debate, Barack Obama didn’t have to talk to me.
He did need to talk to the undecided voters. Who loved the fact that he wasn’t mean. Who loved it when he said he agreed with his opponent. Who want a President, in other words, who acts Presidential.
SNL Does Palin’s Interview with Couric
Tina Fey is back once again doing her spot on Sarah Palin impression.
What’s really sad, though, is that some of the funniest lines (like her rambling non-answer on the bailout) are Fey quoting Palin verbatim.
Phoning It In
When John McCain announced he was suspending his campaign and coming back to Washington to negotiate the bailout deal, his surrogate Lindsey Graham said “You can’t phone something like this in.”
Then, when McCain was asked this morning why he came back to Washington, he said he came back “because I wasn’t going to phone it in.”
So what is John McCain doing today while he’s off the campaign trail? He’s phoning it in:
Even though his campaign is no longer suspended, John McCain is staying in Washington this weekend to keep working on the bailout legislation. He will not be visiting Capitol Hill, however, preferring to work out of his campaign office.
“He can effectively do what he needs to do by phone,” said senior adviser Mark Salter. “He’s calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can.”
Why did he have to cancel the debate again? Oh right, so he could rush back to Washington and work on that bailout plan. But now that he’s had the debate, he’ll just wait it out until the rest of the Congress finishes negotiating. Meanwhile, what was Barack Obama up to?
“Today, as John McCain sat in his condominium in Arlington, Sen. Obama spoke directly with more than 20,000 voters in North Carolina as well as Congressman Barney Frank,Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Senator Harry Reid to discuss ongoing negotiations,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaign
Talking to the people versus sitting at home and sulking. Which one of those sounds more presidential?
RIP Paul Newman
The Oscar-winning actor and salad dressing magnate died last night after a long battle with cancer. He was 83.
McCain’s Next Stunt
First he chose certifiable idiot Sarah Palin to be his running mate completely out of the blue, then he suspends his campaign the day before the debate when the only thing that had changed since the day before was his poll numbers. Slate asks, what crazy thing will McCain think of next?
1. Returns to Vietnam and jails himself.
2. Offers the post of “vice vice president” to Warren Buffett.
3. Challenges Obama to suspend campaign so they both can go and personally drill for oil offshore.
4. Learns to use computer.
5. Does bombing run over Taliban-controlled tribal areas of Pakistan.
6. Offers to forgo salary, sell one house.
7. Sex-change operation.
8. Suspends campaign until Nov. 4, offers to start being president right now.
9. Sells Alaska to Russia for $700 billion.
10. Pledges to serve only one term. OK, half a term.
They’re apparenty taking suggestions via email. Thoughts?